Wipe

[Mordaan]

Whew!  This is a tough one.  I have to say I'm torn.  I don't think I have the heart to start over at this point.  Too much work put in to get to this point.  But of course a wipe soonish is definitely a must, especially if it will kick start some development that is being held back because of database issues and get some of these bugs fixed that can only happen once a wipe is done.  I just don't think we're quite at that point yet.  Almost, but not yet.  At least get crafting worked out a bit more.  As for the economy, there needs to be some things put in place so that it can be balanced.  We are not even close to a balanced economy yet.  A wipe is not going to fix that until those pieces are in place (armor crafting, maybe even the beginning of herbalism and alchemy).  Otherwise we are just going to have to do another wipe once those things are in place because the economy will be just as imbalanced then.

I'd say at least set a hard date well in advance.  For example, at the end of this year.  Then there will be plenty of advance and it will soften the blow.  First, get those bugs fixed that don't have anything to do with bad data.  There certainly seems to be enough of them.   

[Yamera]

  dammm straight it is.

*edit*

  I think there are too many big egos and arrogant players on the game as it is. They need to be humbled and be nice again and not be so dismissive of others that they find so inferior to them intellectually by  calling the "girlies" and such.

[Technomage]

I boted NO!

I have spent waaaay too much time getting to where I was.   
if a wipe happens, that means a lot of expended effort just went for naught! 

now, if there were signs of rampant cheating, then a database purge of those committing
the most cheating would be more effective, would it not?

why punish everyone for the actions of a few?

[RoberetGoldsmith]

I voted no simply because im lazy when it comes to training and i concentrate on RP...but lets consider it

 

 Pros-

 Character wipe...means i could be called Robert :O 

  Useleess data means less lag? Always a plus  , hydlaa plaza is lagfest at the moment

 ..everyones the same again ahhh the perfect world...for stats anyways

 Cons

  Gah! all those pointless hours training, keep in mind i RP most of the time, so while RPers will lose there stats and wouldn't look like a guard or something along those lines. While powerleveers will do it in a week...or leave (insert the last two words in pros)

Any actul reason apart from the updates and changes  , then again im not a tech wizz



Wipe yes..for the good of the game

Wipe no for the good of Roberet

[Jeraphon]

So you expect people wipe their chars from their memories and wont recreate them? Er.. interesting way of thinking?

Please keep in mind that settings has gone on record saying "the clock hasn't started" and won't for a while yet. When 1.0 comes out, it will still be about 750 years after the creation of Yliakum, not 750 + 4 or so per year since CB came out.

People will probably recreate their characters if there's a wipe (even though I think with several character options out there, creating anew would be good too) but players should remove from those chars' memories the events that transpired prior to the wipe.

Yes. You've all worked hard on your characters. We get it. Players don't stop playing D&D after their first TPK, even after they spent the time creating the charsheet and developing their character and gaining loot throughout the campaign, do they? Also, you knew this game was in development. If you started a character in the hopes to keep it permanent, you came at the wrong time. I'm not trying to be cold, but when you see 0.3 anything, you shouldn't expect longevity from your character. If you're thinking of leaving because you're about to lose a character, you should have joined a game that was fully developed in the first place.

That's just my personal opinion. I'm not speaking on behalf of the settings department (except for the first paragraph,) or on behalf of the devs when I write this. And hey, there might not even be a wipe in the near future. We're discussing it now with you because it's been discussed, and yes, you MAY have to prepare yourselves for the inevitability. One should always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Oh, and by the way...just cause I've gotta be true to me...

Did someone say wipe? 

[Lanarel]

If lag issues are caused by tons of bad or useless data in the database, then a wipe will help with lag. I say do it. Do it now.

Unfortunately, most of the recent lag is due to graphics.

[Yamera]

This is an opinion that I totally and fully support. The game is open source. Therefore, it is in constant development. The players are test subjects at best as to how the game mechanics will work. Yes, there is no permanence here and to be so vested in it as a character is mental suicide for when the developers choose to go in a fresh direction.

[Leama]

If you think wiping a character that only role plays is ok because they do not level up, you are wrong. This also takes a lot of work. If I was a power leveler though I think it would be very boring to do all the things I have done before. We want more people to join the game. I am certain that many ‘old players’ would leave.

Just think of the role play:

Hi my name is Wendy
Hi I am Gus.
Gus sends a tell: [who were you before?]
Wendy sends a tell: [I was Leama and you?]
This is just totally ridiculous says Gus I do not know anyone anymore.
Leama agrees.

Another reason is the rich history that the characters have developed. The wars, the guilds, and anything else you wish to name.

If the game mechanics were to totally change then I would say yes. Then it would be ‘Welcome to the New Planeshift.” That would mean all new Game Masters as well.

Yes when the game is has reached 1.0 then do your wipe otherwise it will be like everything was done in vain up to this point.

Not to mention that dreaded tutorial. I would hate to do that again.


(Besides who will read my story with all this talking about wipes)

[Zan]

There wasn't an "I don't care." option so I voted "No" out of convenience. If there was a full character wipe I'd have to rewrite my descriptions and train some characters until they could equip suitable armour and weapons again. I do like a certain amount of realism to my characters but I won't go crying when another wipe comes.

Question though, if full wipes happen and guilds have to be recreated .. what happens to guild houses and guild future property? Are they wiped as well or will they be restored after the wipe?

[eldoth_terevan]

The wipe can be done, leaving all characters names and guilds in place. It could just reduce stats, skill and inventories to default. That is why some say it is okay to wipe the characters, as it does not have to affect any RP and everybody can still know who everyone is. Nothing would really change, except you would be training everything again from the start, which should not be a big deal with all the emphasis on RP. Bear in mind, I have 30+ characters and have spent days and days of my life in game. And the glut of old data in the database is affecting the system, even if it is not the primary source of the lag.

[Raa]

Let's think. If there is a wipe (assuming it's a total wipe)...

Pros:
- Deterrent for powerlevellers.
- Players get to start equally.
- Old, inactive characters will be deleted.
- Data will be nice and shiny.
- Characters won't have to deal with specific glitches that were unfixable.
- Players can remake their characters with better stats.
- Pressure to roleplay more, which is the point of the game.
- Characters who previously cheated/exploited won't have to be dealt with.
- Lag issues caused by bad data will be gone.
- Quests will be reopened, so players who screwed up could start again.
- Smoother gameplay.
- Uber-powered noobs might understand PS a little better if they do the tutorial.

Cons:
- Old players will have to restart and do the tutorial again, or for the first time.
- All skills, tria, and progression will be lost.
- Quests will have to be redone.
- All characters G0N3.
- Time spent levelling put to waste.

Pros heavily outweigh the cons. Now, if there isn't a wipe...

Pros:
- Characters not deleted.
- Skills, tria, progression kept.
- Keep on levelling without losing anything (but you know you will eventually ;P).
- Players won't have to restart or do the tutorial.

Cons:
- Powerlevellers can keep on levelling.
- Just makes it take even longer to wait for a wipe. We know pretty darn well that it's going to happen anyway.
- Previous wipe is ineffective regarding powerlevelling and player balance.
- Still uber-laggy.
- Duel system will continue sucking worse and worse.
- Character glitches not dealt with.
- Cheaters/exploiters not dealt with.
- Data will still be screwy, meaning more and more crashes.
- Gameplay will become even more glitchy.

By the way, I listed these as best as possible without trying to be biased on my own opinions. Seems that a wipe would be a good choice. If you're so sad that your character's going to be wiped, let me remind you how pathetic that is. Few things to remember: 1) it's just a game; 2) it's in development, so expect things like this; 3) wipes are good for the server; 4) wipes are good for players too, just to be fair and make it balanced; 5) this is a roleplaying game, so it shouldn't really matter if your skills are lost.




I voted yes. 

[Zakrei]

Hello all,
I voted on no, i thought about the pros and cons. I grew fond of my character and I think I would keep on playing after a wipe, but not with Zakrei, there are so many little things that happened to him during this almost one year that cannot be recreated.  If i would have to start all over again, i would do things differently. And the result wouldn't be Zakrei anymore. Some parts of him are due to some error I made or things someone else said. And what about the people he met, the guild and the friends ? It wouldn't be the same anymore.

[eldoth_terevan]

If you're so sad that your character's going to be wiped, let me remind you how pathetic that is.

Hah! Don't mince words, Raa, just tell us how you feel! Good summary, by the way...

[Dajoji]

All the training done now will be erased eventually, so for all those posting against the wipe because they have trained a lot, don't bother. It WILL happen and your stats and skills WILL be set back to 0. Go getting used to the idea because it might happen today or it might happen a year from now. And then again, and probably again many times before we reach v.1.0.

If players leave because of this, too bad, but wipes are necessary and new players will always come. The question is: how necessary is it to wipe now? Is the server so strained with data that a wipe is the only way to debug it efficiently? Are new mechs that make the current ones obsolete, and as a consequence, the advancement achieved by current characters incompatible going to be released? Is the economy problem going to be fixed from the core? Have serious exploits and bugs been found that only a wipe can fix?

If the answer is yes, then smite them all! Wipe everything, I say. In fact, I'd love to throw a doomsday event. Can't wait for v.1.0

But if the reason behind the wipe is to filter players that only like to train, it's useless. There will always be powerlevelers. If the reason behind the wipe is to remove the huge fortunes from the game and balance economy, it's useless as well. Those millions will be mined again because the economy problem, which stems in part from the way the advancement system is set, will not be fixed by emptying pockets. If those are the reasons behind the wipe then the real impact would be that we'll end up changing half our current powerlevelers for new ones.

[ianislavus]

It is RIDICULOUS!!!
We have almost 500000 accounts registered but about 200 people on server at the best time of day (now 142 for example).

FIRST of all you should delete those accounts which have last login time older than 1-2 months. You would clean DB in a GREAT way and nobody would get hurt. I can Estimate it for about 200-300k for deletion at least? Many people just logs in, haves a look and never again looks for an account.
You should make for example quarterly accounts revalidation. It can be done easily and it can be done automatically.
SECOND: Backup accounts that are being used lately and delete the rest (trash, dumps, old accounts) that won't impact active, good players.
THIRD: The rest of data should be kept away from Accounts so in case of any damage it can be restored, backuped separately without any negative impacts as well.

I was working on commercial servers in comparison to which this one is Atari XT... and believe me - you have no need to wipe players accounts.
Besides that would be a great experience how to solve critical situations without loosing crucial data.

You need action plan and do it wisely! Let me know if I can help.