Friday with Means - April 24th, 2009

[Means]

Two patches this week...and even on a FRIDAY...but it seems like things are finally where they should have been some *ahem* time ago. From the number of corpses I've seen so far it seems the difficulty is where it should be..and the loot seems about right now too. Thank you all for the constructive feedback and patience that has brought us to this point.

On to much more important things:

TestLive is now running at the IPSoft hosting center. The move happened on Thursday after the update to the Live dimensions. This is a very significant step in moving to our new host in our efforts to bring you guys better stability and performance. Going hand-in-hand with this move will be a move to newer and simply "more" machines. A veritable wall of hardware is being thrown at the lag issue to see if we can reduce its impact on your enjoyment of AO. This is not an insignificant investment and I am thankfull that after almost 8 years company management still has the faith and pride in AO to continue to invest in the future of our world in both development and support for our initiatives. This is a very, very good week for us...even when taking into account that we just patched on a Friday.

Assuming all looks well we hope to migrate completely (all dimensions) to our new host and new hardware within the next month.

Progress! Progress! Progress!

From Macrosun:

"secret testlive get-your-chat-bot-working protip: chat server is cm2.dt.funcom.com:7109"

Cheers,

Colin "Means" Cragg

[Ruffixx]

I've never done this before... so... First!

Glad to hear about FC addressing server issues. /crosses fingers for the best

[shadowgod]

2nd!

[krumpfwild]

Thanks ! These are great news for blunt enfos & ranged advies !

[RedR053]

yay for more progress from FC <3

[Vhax]

More hardware <3

[sultryvoltron]

So like... Neutrals? The weeks are going by and we're continuing to get "brushed under the rug."

[mansh0]

Yay Means! Thank you for replying to my suggestion IG, we'll get right on coming up with ideas to throw at you .

Hard. Think fast!

[Technogen]

So like... Neutrals? The weeks are going by and we're continuing to get "brushed under the rug."

Hope is that all of you will give up asking for stuff and just pick a side and we can forget this whole debate.

[Con]

Gah i wanted to be first!!

[Wrangeline]

Nice to hear about the imminent host-change.

*fingers crossed that the results will be as good as the effort made to fix the stability issues*

[shadowgod]

hope is that all of you will give up asking for stuff and just pick a side and we can forget this whole debate.

.

++

[Gastastic]

Hope is that all of you will give up asking for stuff and just pick a side and we can forget this whole debate.

The debate being: "Give us more stuff" and "No"? I didn't see the neut's post as anything clearer than that.

[vadagget]

Good news all around, though I wonder if the 'wall of hardware' may simply be stuff we have already leased or bought to support (now) excess AoC servers and applying that equipment to AO is a better use then letting it all sit there doing nothing.

As for neutrals, if they were given advantages on a par with Clan and Omni, then there would be a lot more people picking to stay neutral rather than joining a faction. Since Neutrals were, from the outset of the game, clearly intended by the developers to be a minority with a bit of a tough row to hoe there must always be a differential between them and the two factions. This insures that those staying neutral are doing so for political or philosophical reasons and not to 'have their cake and eat it too'. As it stands, Alien and OFAB armor has closed much of the gap already.

[Troxxor]

Wow great news, ty Means

Lol, I hope your Operations team enjoy their new toys :P

[Rewo]

Uber news!

Hope all goes well with test and we can start the move soon.

[Sterva]

good stuff--I sincerely hope this reduces some of the server side lag problems. That and the graphics overhaul would go a long way towards making the game more appealing in the long term.

[Sama]

So like... Neutrals? The weeks are going by and we're continuing to get "brushed under the rug."

<lifts rug.....> COUGH...COUGH.... sure would be nice of you to clean under here if you are going to keep shoving us under here....

in the end we just want to be addressed and not be left in the dust as sides get better ad better gear while we sit tight...

[Means]

Good news all around, though I wonder if the 'wall of hardware' may simply be stuff we have already leased or bought to support (now) excess AoC servers and applying that equipment to AO is a better use then letting it all sit there doing nothing.

Of course it is Conan related hardware (not purchased). Laying out this kind of capital to "Try and see" if it makes a difference would be crazy. That being said migrating is certainly not free but rather complicated, time consuming and difficult. The commitment to continue to utilize this amount of hardware (assuming it improves our issues) is also not free and something I am gratefull for. We have an ongoing financial commitment to our current provider for some time to come...so our current servers will be sitting and doing nothing shortly...and being paid for.

Neutrals, Blunt Enforcers, and Ranged Advies are not issues that are going to be addressed in a quick band-aid like fashion. These issues will just have to wait until an appropriate and discussed resolution can be found.

[IHaveHugeNick]

Good news.

What's the status of the fix to forum pvp coming?

I already see there are completely new sections where we can pvp, will there be a nerf to moderators anytime soon, and i also think trolls have been left behind long enough and they need some kind of boost. There would be nice if we had some a new toys to fight with, maybe a karma module, or voting for post Digg-style or posting cat pictures!