Hello everyone!
T3 is finally deployed! So what comes next? Here we go for a new DEV DIARY.
PAST
Spoiler:
Since the last DEV DIARY in October (10 years ago, as Coryphaus says 
), all of us have experienced many difficult moments and situations in the RoR world. We were saying T3 was ready, but delayed it due to server lag and DDOS attacks. We felt the need to find solutions for these issues before pushing T3.
Experimental code optimizations have been implemented with varying degrees of success. Hardware has been upgraded, improving performance for most of us. Many options are still open to reduce lag, but they need testing, different skills, many lines of code, even more debugging, and in general, a lot of time.
We are still in this fight, and we won’t back down over new hardware giving us some room to breathe.
), all of us have experienced many difficult moments and situations in the RoR world. We were saying T3 was ready, but delayed it due to server lag and DDOS attacks. We felt the need to find solutions for these issues before pushing T3.Experimental code optimizations have been implemented with varying degrees of success. Hardware has been upgraded, improving performance for most of us. Many options are still open to reduce lag, but they need testing, different skills, many lines of code, even more debugging, and in general, a lot of time.
We are still in this fight, and we won’t back down over new hardware giving us some room to breathe.
Spoiler:
*MAJOR ISSUE
Pushing T3 is a real pleasure for us, but as intended, new content = new bugs. Some of you have experienced the “Full Realm”, which at times was actually full, and we discovered a new issue with ghost connections that made it appear more full than it was. These resulted in a greater number of errors and hard kicks. An increased capacity, now with 1000 slots + an “ugly” fix will help with this issue. For now we have scheduled an automatic reboot every 22h to purge unused memory and forcefully remove these connections. Our core team continues to track down the source of the problem.
*THE DATABASE TEAM
The Database team works very quickly to track down and correct as many things as are reported on the Bugtracker.
We have this nice Alpha tag right at the top of the page, which means we need you to report as often as possible to the Bugtracker. Classic quests, vendor prices, missing NPCs, influence rewards, all need to be tested and reported on. Our teams work with what information they have, but with hundreds of thousands of lines in the database, there will always be some bugs when content is released.
A point to remember, abusing bugs leads irremediably to the same consequences: bans and/or wipes. Do your part to report abusive behavior so we can keep the server moving forward without disruption.
*LEVEL CAPS
For now, the T3 level cap is R31/RR40. Some of you are already asking to push up these caps. As we have a need to test higher level content in the world, these will increase. RR40 will be in place for T3 with additional RR’s unlocking in T4.
Pushing T3 is a real pleasure for us, but as intended, new content = new bugs. Some of you have experienced the “Full Realm”, which at times was actually full, and we discovered a new issue with ghost connections that made it appear more full than it was. These resulted in a greater number of errors and hard kicks. An increased capacity, now with 1000 slots + an “ugly” fix will help with this issue. For now we have scheduled an automatic reboot every 22h to purge unused memory and forcefully remove these connections. Our core team continues to track down the source of the problem.
*THE DATABASE TEAM
The Database team works very quickly to track down and correct as many things as are reported on the Bugtracker.
We have this nice Alpha tag right at the top of the page, which means we need you to report as often as possible to the Bugtracker. Classic quests, vendor prices, missing NPCs, influence rewards, all need to be tested and reported on. Our teams work with what information they have, but with hundreds of thousands of lines in the database, there will always be some bugs when content is released.
A point to remember, abusing bugs leads irremediably to the same consequences: bans and/or wipes. Do your part to report abusive behavior so we can keep the server moving forward without disruption.
*LEVEL CAPS
For now, the T3 level cap is R31/RR40. Some of you are already asking to push up these caps. As we have a need to test higher level content in the world, these will increase. RR40 will be in place for T3 with additional RR’s unlocking in T4.
Spoiler:
Some of you might have an expectation for T4 to be at the top of the list. I regret to announce that it’s not the first priority, although that doesn’t mean we will not work on it!
After this major update, the time has come for us to make a small break and refine the actual content. Many things have to be fixed, tweaked, and adjusted. Many mechanics and scripted interactions have to be understood and introduced (consider that’s not easy to find them). There is a lot of T1-2-3 content to add.
We would like to focus on Dungeons (it seems to be a part of your concerns too), to justify all the good PVE stuff (sets), and bring a different experience to players. It means understand agro, AI, script actions, manage timers, loot droplists, spawns, chests, etc etc, a big piece of cake. Some parts are “easy”, some will cause us to lose hair. Be patient as we tune some of these more complicated aspects. This choice impacts directly on the RR cap lock. If we push RR higher than 40, dungeons and related PvE gear will become useless.
After this major update, the time has come for us to make a small break and refine the actual content. Many things have to be fixed, tweaked, and adjusted. Many mechanics and scripted interactions have to be understood and introduced (consider that’s not easy to find them). There is a lot of T1-2-3 content to add.
We would like to focus on Dungeons (it seems to be a part of your concerns too), to justify all the good PVE stuff (sets), and bring a different experience to players. It means understand agro, AI, script actions, manage timers, loot droplists, spawns, chests, etc etc, a big piece of cake. Some parts are “easy”, some will cause us to lose hair. Be patient as we tune some of these more complicated aspects. This choice impacts directly on the RR cap lock. If we push RR higher than 40, dungeons and related PvE gear will become useless.
Spoiler:
You can find on the “About Us” page, a list of the RoR staff and their responsibilities. Depending on your needs, be sure to contact the appropriate person. For example, don’t bother DaScoub (web), Dana (database) or Azarael (core) with a reporting a player who may be breaking rules. Talk to one of our GM’s instead.
The Bugtracker is the best way to deal with broken aspects of the game, complaining on the forums will not only do you no good, but may potentially get your topic locked. For exploits and abused bugs, use the Private Message function and contact one of the GM’s directly if they are not in-game at the time.
Many of you (especially new players) will have problems using the launcher, it’s not a solid piece of technology for us either. 95% of problems are well already known, and the solutions are in the Sticky post at the top of the Technical Support forum.
Often times you may feel your questions fall on deaf ears, but please search first. After a thousand repeated answers, you can be sure our patience is running short. We will be making changes to the launcher itself to provide better clarity on current issues.
The Bugtracker is the best way to deal with broken aspects of the game, complaining on the forums will not only do you no good, but may potentially get your topic locked. For exploits and abused bugs, use the Private Message function and contact one of the GM’s directly if they are not in-game at the time.
Many of you (especially new players) will have problems using the launcher, it’s not a solid piece of technology for us either. 95% of problems are well already known, and the solutions are in the Sticky post at the top of the Technical Support forum.
Often times you may feel your questions fall on deaf ears, but please search first. After a thousand repeated answers, you can be sure our patience is running short. We will be making changes to the launcher itself to provide better clarity on current issues.
Spoiler:
Like 10 years ago (i.e. last month), I'm still very happy to share this amazing adventure with all of you, as a staff member and as a player above all. I would like thank you - yet again – on behalf of the RoR staff, for making this project a wonderful experience.
Greatest work guys. Thanks for that
