What is wrong with this game, I am tired of the server problems.

[alison22000]

I started playing today approx 8:00am Australian EST, and the server has gone down so many times, it gets tiresome. In just a couple of hours of me playing today the server has gone down around 7 times. Approx every 15 - 20 minutes it has gone down, that gets me angry. I understand that there are times when the server repair guys and the people who update the games files. But surely they would choose an exact time for all players. Say for example 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Tuesday Mornings. That way people know not to play at these times and don't bother logging in. I mean most of the other MMORPG games I have played like, Knights Online and Rappelz Epic 4, they are 2 of the leading MMORPG games and widely used, there can be thousands of players playing at one time so that's why they have so many servers. But they have so many players and often need to work on the game. So they have a set time in which the server is down for maintenance.

Why can't these guys do the same thing for this game. I have to say it gets very frustrating when you are playing and you are about to get paid for a quest, then once the money is changing hands, the server fails and shuts off and then after 5 minutes, you log back in only to find you lost the money or the item you worked so hard for. Some of these quests can be difficult and it's unfair that you can lose what you are getting paid due to a server malfunction. To put it in a few words, it's ridiculous. I think the admin of this game really need to look at this matter as I am tired of getting ripped off on my quests. Not to mention the annoyance of the server going up and down every 5 - 15 minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I like this game, i find it to be more realistic then most other MMORPG's and this game is more like a normal game you would by in a store like Morrowind and Oblivion, the Elder Scrolls PC Games. I thrive to wake up early just to get to play for a whole day, due to me being confined to a wheel chair as I am a paraplegic, I cannot get any work, not even volunteering, so I mainly do surveys online and that makes my money, but usually, most of my days are filled up with playing MMORPG games and i think this is one of the best, even better then that MU Online game. At;east this game doesn't reset your character at a certain level.

[Xordan]

Most of the server downtime is due to crashes in the server, which aren't easy to fix (or even find the cause). The difference between us and most MMO games is that we're working part-time, and with no set time either. Some days we might have everyone working for a few hours, other days we have almost nobody working at all. So we don't have the manpower to track down all these problems quickly and sort them out.

[Mordraugion]

I am sure you noticed the Tech Demo sign when installing the game, we do not hide the fact that the game is in heavy development and has for the last few days become a little unstable.

If you like the game please have a little patience and remember everyone who works on it is a volunteer and we are in the middle of the holiday season

[alison22000]

OKY DOKY. I will give it some time. Thank you for your help. I appologisae if I seemed rude at all. Take Care.

[Zetsumei]

OKY DOKY. I will give it some time. Thank you for your help. I appologisae if I seemed rude at all. Take Care.

Take your time; things are more stable now, but things've been like this for at least four years.

[Liadan]

to be honest, the server's lack of ability to keep it up does make for some really good jokes...call it the server's way of reminding us that we should be taking a break every 15 minutes... =P

sorry, humor probably not appreciated, but you have to spectulate and anthromorphsize the server to deal with the frustration.

here's a hint: when it goes down, go to IRC...we'll keep you entertained. =P

[ddreggors]

Are these crashes (and  intermitten lag) due to heavy traffic? Have you considered clustering (via software or hardware load balancer w/ active failover)? Will Fragnetics allow that and do they support that model?

These are just a few topics that come to mind when I see these kinds of issues. Load balancing or clustering can increase performance and increase connections/network speeds but it takes planning and precision when you start thinking session state (even if only to track logins) and file/data sharing (NFS/SAN/NAS).  I am sure you have alot of these topics on a whiteboard already but I was just curious as to the roadmap for the future because I would love to see this MMO survive when others like WoW fail. WoW is quite poular but the RP is really lacking in that game, and I do believe this platform offers way more to the serious RP'ers.

Cheers

[Shakilai]

It's not at all due to heavy traffic, but instead because of the early development stage of the game. Not all code is polished, and features are being developed all the time on a public server, where the players also act as testers at times. Crashes may happen because of script errors, code conflicts, etc.

[Eriroley]

as people have said... PlaneShift is  , but you may also find that sometimes when the server is restarted something new comes out... it might be some new mobs, or it might be a bug-fix, or something that you don't even notice.

now... that's not to say the server doesn't crash too (and more often than not it is a crash), but keep your eyes open

 

[tux_johny]

Hello!
Nothing is wrong with this game.
It is ALPHA, not even
so we are far more testers than players.
Feel free to improve it. That is why it is open source (partially, at least).
The game is for free, and it is great, when it works. So what else do you want? (If this sounds too offensive: It is not meant to be agressive.)
You girls 'n guys of the PS staff are doing a great job. 
Even if you get bored or annoyed sometimes (greetings to Xiavia, the Rogue  )
Big Thank You for your work! 

Yours

tux_johny