Event structure and server load

shteev

We really need to talk about this now.

The structure of the events necessitates that everone log on at exactly the same time to avoid danger of losing overall total games to play, and also to beat other players in tie breaks (I am fighting for 5th place right now so I get the chance for a Deploy the Gatewatch rather than a load of old ****).

To avoid these problems everybody has to start playing immediately at the start of the event, and then again when their final nodes respawn. As a result, server load always, predictably, goes up at these times, and often causes problems, from temporary lag to an outright crash of the game which requires 'A Maintenance'.

I suspect that *even the Americans* have been badly affected by todays A Maintenance, as they will have just got out of bed and will need to clear their nodes after a night's sleep.

The structure of the event can EASILY be changed to avoid this problem. Firstly, do not start with the nodes full. Give everybody 12 hours to start playing their games. I know, I know, it's important for you to instill Pavlovian reactions in your user base because you want them to keep playing because of the addictiveness of the system (and not because the game is 'fun' or any nonsense like that), but believe me, you've accomplished that now. We spend all day on Slack talking about nothing but this game. You should join! You might learn something. We talk a lot about MPQ. Have you ever played it?

Secondly, do not rank players above other players who have the same number of points for prize purposes. Again, I know why you're doing this, the benevolent dev team have been beaten into submission by their evil corporate overlords who won't allow them to give out any more prizes, and giving everyone prizes for the higest rank they are tied into would cause this. So why not just give everyone who is tied prizes for the lowest rank? You know you're shafting us, we know you're shafting us, you might as well be honest about it.

Thirdly... Oh, I don't know. This isn't my damn job. You think of something. What percentage of your team gets called off content creation every time your server falls over? Think of your bottom line!

Nitymp

Yup! The first-come-first-served system is pretty rubbish!

Events start at 5pm for me, which is when work finishes. So, if I have any delay in being able to leave work, I automatically forfeit all tie breaks. Not to mention that most of the time now, the server goes into maintenance and then usually comes back up while I'm driving home.

CH3COOH

Well I ,got ranked about 30 in this event (could be precise, as game went to maitenance..)...BUT I could easily be in top 25!!!
I Lost several nodes and points, because several times after i won a fight it went to "fetching player event", "error getting data" and now "maintenance"...

Another event where i lost, mainly TIME,of my life...and respect for D3...
And i dont want the 1000 runes.... I want the card I was supposed to get, since I applyed my time playing the game for it...

About time zones: I also got Scr**ed on this. Because i went to bed for nodes to recover, then in the morning with nodes recovered these errors started...(its 12.46 now)

jimilinho_

shteev wrote:

We really need to talk about this now.

The structure of the events necessitates that everone log on at exactly the same time to avoid danger of losing overall total games to play, and also to beat other players in tie breaks (I am fighting for 5th place right now so I get the chance for a Deploy the Gatewatch rather than a load of old ****).

To avoid these problems everybody has to start playing immediately at the start of the event, and then again when their final nodes respawn. As a result, server load always, predictably, goes up at these times, and often causes problems, from temporary lag to an outright crash of the game which requires 'A Maintenance'.

I suspect that *even the Americans* have been badly affected by todays A Maintenance, as they will have just got out of bed and will need to clear their nodes after a night's sleep.

The structure of the event can EASILY be changed to avoid this problem. Firstly, do not start with the nodes full. Give everybody 12 hours to start playing their games. I know, I know, it's important for you to instill Pavlovian reactions in your user base because you want them to keep playing because of the addictiveness of the system (and not because the game is 'fun' or any nonsense like that), but believe me, you've accomplished that now. We spend all day on Slack talking about nothing but this game. You should join! You might learn something. We talk a lot about MPQ. Have you ever played it?

Secondly, do not rank players above other players who have the same number of points for prize purposes. Again, I know why you're doing this, the benevolent dev team have been beaten into submission by their evil corporate overlords who won't allow them to give out any more prizes, and giving everyone prizes for the higest rank they are tied into would cause this. So why not just give everyone who is tied prizes for the lowest rank? You know you're shafting us, we know you're shafting us, you might as well be honest about it.

Thirdly... Oh, I don't know. This isn't my damn job. You think of something. What percentage of your team gets called off content creation every time your server falls over? Think of your bottom line!

This!

Everyone gets wound up with these issues mostly cause they love this game and know that it could be so much better than it is with just a few tweaks.
The reluctance on your part not to put such changes into place is certainly concerning for the future of this game.

shteev

Has it started back up again?

The game I'm still in is still locked up. Have I just lost that one?

Ciotog

It is back up for me, but it counted my match as a loss as far as I can tell.

galro

I am still not in... finished match almost an hour ago and as I was on the bubble for top 5, I would REALLY like my match to count...

shteev

I had to quit in the end. Bye bye top 5. I can't remember the last time I played in an event when gameplay was more important to my final result than crashes.

jimilinho_

shteev wrote:

I had to quit in the end. Bye bye top 5. I can't remember the last time I played in an event when gameplay was more important to my final result than crashes.

Let's be honest, Nowadays it comes down to whether freezes or maintenance puts you out of the top 5. Its pretty tough to actually lose a game.

shteev

I just want it to end now. When will this nightmare be over?

jimilinho_

shteev wrote:

I just want it to end now. When will this nightmare be over?

It can't end yet, I need someone else to overtake me. Can't deal with finishing 6th because of a freeze, Id be much happier if it was 8th or 9th!

shteev

jimilinho_ wrote:

shteev wrote:

I just want it to end now. When will this nightmare be over?

It can't end yet, I need someone else to overtake me. Can't deal with finishing 6th because of a freeze, Id be much happier if it was 8th or 9th!

I'm in 12th, I'm not happy

PajdaCZ

Chill out, guys, you know you'll get your 1k runes as a compensation

jimilinho_

shteev wrote:

jimilinho_ wrote:

shteev wrote:

I just want it to end now. When will this nightmare be over?

It can't end yet, I need someone else to overtake me. Can't deal with finishing 6th because of a freeze, Id be much happier if it was 8th or 9th!

I'm in 12th, I'm not happy

Can we trade, you can have my 6th place, I don't want it!

Nitymp

jimilinho_ wrote:

shteev wrote:

I just want it to end now. When will this nightmare be over?

It can't end yet, I need someone else to overtake me. Can't deal with finishing 6th because of a freeze, Id be much happier if it was 8th or 9th!

I know the feeling! I finished 6th in 3 events in a row a few weeks ago! Rather be 24th lol

Corn_Noodles

shteev wrote:

I'm in 12th, I'm not happy

Even if you were in 1st, you might not be happy.

Feagul

Corn Noodles wrote:

shteev wrote:

I'm in 12th, I'm not happy

Even if you were in 1st, you might not be happy.

What's happy, precious?

shteev

Wow.

Of all the solutions you could have come up with, starting 2 hours early and not telling anyone is not one I would have thought of.

Ohboy

shteev wrote:

Wow.

Of all the solutions you could have come up with, starting 2 hours early and not telling anyone is not one I would have thought of.

Did it just start?

I want to know if I should just consider it a wash

HunMike

Heya Steev!

It was a pleasure to meet your undoubtfully event-compatible Koth at this perfectly scheduled event, which hopfully won't crash on us. Not that it was your fault in any way
I beg your pardon, that was my limit of how much irony i could compress in a single sentence. None of it was meant towards you.

Story time: I've got one adverse condition and one imprisoned in the moon, and that was it for the whole match. I've wasted both on a reinforced rumbler, silly me. I've also had wave and crush in the deck. Launched a creation too. Not a single one removal came up after the mentioned two. So you can say i was far from the ideal hand. Also, kiora's mana denial isn't an ideal thing against a miracle-matchmaker koth. He shot the first ab almost every turn. Changed strategy, almost made it to the octopi. This match was in that 1-2%, no biggie.

Well, at least i don't have to try to compete in this ............. anymore. It's far, far cleaner and less bothersome then what hapened to me in the last event.

shteev

shteev wrote:

Wow.

Of all the solutions you could have come up with, starting 2 hours early and not telling anyone is not one I would have thought of.

... but BECAUSE you didn't tell anybody, they all logged on at the same time and crashed the servers anyway