The game took a night off last night, and of course Games Campus doesn't provide around the clock support, so a few of us went and had a forum event instead. We were mostly just goofing off, but it all remained pretty civilized. Pretty much just on time, like when Camlost got to work this morning, the game was up and running again.
As a compensation event we are getting 2x the usual experience rates until Wednesday at noon. It would be nicer to have this sort of thing on the weekends when more people could take advantage of it, but 48 hours of compensation time, for less than 12 hours of down time is still pretty generous. Drop rates and skill rates are not affected by this.
I personally have some down time today too, and wont be playing. Maybe not even tomorrow too. We'll see. I think many of you know that my wife is a doctor and one of the down sides to that is, sometimes she comes home with a bug from a patient. She was sick 3 days last week, and today it's my turn. Norovirus is not fun at all.
Another guy taking some unwanted down time is our former league member St33L. His account has been hacked and the characters deleted. Obviously he's not very happy about this. I've talked about hackers here a few times but lately it really hasn't been a problem. I think everyone has gotten used to the idea that you have to keep your account name and password a secret. Sharing your account with someone, so that you can level up faster is just begging to lose everything you had on that account.
Camlost did answer him in public and they appear to be willing to help him rebuild that character. At least to a certain extent. I really doubt Games Campus will be willing to do that regularly, so don't count on it.
Have fun with the event, and maybe I'll see you tomorrow.
- AxtTreiber
No, I'm not leaving the game. My wife and I are going to visit a beach for a couple of weeks because we're already tired of the cold. But before I go I thought I would make a list of things we've all been bitching about, and who knows? By the time I get back some of them might be solved!
Ok, that might be a bit of wishful thinking but I know at least a couple of the staff at GamersFirst do actually read this blog. The staff and forum mods at G1 can track the IP of each user on their forums and I find it really nice that I can do the same thing here. At least one has been seen reading the bosses section of the blog. I wonder what that means?
So anyway, lets think of this as a Players Priority List, as opposed to whatever priorities G1 and Hyperion may have in mind.
1. We Want Our Characters Back: GamersFirst obviously knows this one, but they aren't doing a damn thing to make it happen. The standard line is that Indy21 is handling the issue but by now G1 has probably seen that Indy21 isn't much good at handling in-game issues, never mind anything else. G1 is going to have to get involved in the process of getting our characters back, if it's ever going to happen.
This thread from the forum pretty much sums up a lot of players feelings on this subject. We're wasting our time here and I'm in the same frame of mind. I don't have much interest to grind, never mind spend money on the game.
2. Stable Servers Would be Nice: You can look back on the load-0-meter website for the last few weeks and see that almost daily there has been a server outage or a mass disconnection. This particular situation is actually worse than anything Acclaim ever threw at us. This is one issue that G1 cannot blame on Indy21.
3. Mapload Disconnections: This is one issue that G1 is blaming on Indy21, but I don't understand that at all. I've been having this problem since G1 took over the game, and it has only gotten worse over time. I estimate that I get disconnected from the game on 4 out of 5 map changes, or character changes.
4a. Respect for European Players: I'm not saying "more respect" for European players, or even "some respect" for Europeans. How about any respect at all? The European players outnumber all others by about 2:1, but it's like pulling teeth to get announcements published that include GMT times.
4b. Weekend Event Decisions on Thursday: I'm making this 4b because it's part and parcel with "respect for European players". Peak playing times for all players are Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. The decisions about our weekend events are happening on Friday afternoon in the California timezone, which is well after midnight for us. We Europeans lose that event time for one peak playing period. The events are often extended to Monday but that is a work/school day and most of us can't take advantage of it. Let's have these decisions by Thursday at the latest so we can all enjoy our weekend.
4c. Black vs White War on Phoenix: Why is the weekly war scheduled for midnight GMT on a Sunday night? Oh right, it's that complete lack of respect for European players again. Silly me.
5. Payment Options for G1 Coins: The payment options for G1 coins are a patchwork at best, with most countries using different systems. If you're going to accept Paypal, why not accept Paypal from every country where it exists? This makes no sense.
6. Test Characters Should Be Retired: Everyone likes to see how they are doing compared to the others, particularly the high level players, but G1 test characters are taking up the top spots on those lists. I remember I almost had an orgasm when I made it to the Bardo top 100 list. How hard is it to mark the "retired" option for test characters in order to take them off the lists?
7. Punishing Players for Being Players: Players are being punished for doing what they do, deciding for themselves how best to spend their time in the game. The case in point is the Major Levels gift event. Some of the noobs in the game have collected a couple hundred or more XP cards, and they're being banned for a week or more and the cards taken away? Hey, the noobs didn't invent the event. They're just being noobs.
Maybe the next time you want to run an event you could talk to a couple of veteran noobs first.
There are a few of us left, for now...
8. We Want Our Characters Back Dammit: First and last, because it's that important.
Now about that beach...
- SpearDriver2
Yesterday for me wasn't a great day in terms of the withdrawal from 9Dragons. Yesterday was exactly 2 weeks since Disney/Playdom pulled the plug on the game and I'm really not happy with what has been done since to get us back up and running with our characters. Compared to some of the first letters we received from the executives at GamersFirst and Indy21, very little has been done to get our characters back.
The first letter from Joshua Hong pretty bluntly stated that they would rebuild our characters manually if need be. Here it is, as he wrote it;
Our goal is to make the character restoration process as painless as possible. We know how hard you worked to build up your characters. To some of us, it means more than just a game. It’s our life. Although there will be some minor hiccups along the way, I assure you that we will help you restore all your previous characters with or without the screenshots of your characters.
My problem with this is that nothing has been said or done since. In fact the update yesterday from Hyperion said pretty much that the matter was out of their hands, and Indy21 is dealing with it. So much for the promises of a manual rebuild from Joshua Hong.
I'm not too impressed with the idea that Indy21 is dealing with this issue themselves. Indy21 has never impressed me for being able to get things done in a reasonable time frame. Actually, they are better known for adding random bugs to the game that seem to live on forever. We did get a letter from them too;
Recreate ALL player characters and accounts: It is my promise along with the rest of my team that we will move mountains to make this happen.
So far I haven't gotten a change of address notice from any mountains and it's becoming painfully obvious to me that we aren't getting our characters back.
The last thing that's really bugging me is that I don't have much to do around here at night. My days are well filled out. I'm at the gym most days and lately I've been doing "doubles" because I have time. That's 2 hours on the step machine every day instead of 1 hour. I do all the grocery shopping for us, and the cooking too. The apartment is pretty clean every day. My kitchen certainly is.
At night though, it's a different story. Television here is a wasteland of stupid crime stories, even though my wife seems to like them. We're usually here together and can talk about the day, or anything really while she's watching television and I've been playing. It became a comfortable routine for us, but now I can't find anything I want to play!
I've been through several games so far and I'm downloading Heroes of the Three Kingdoms now. I'll let you know what I think. Anyone else find something fun?
- SpearDriver
I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog in the last couple of days, about the ongoing situation. To be honest I just haven't had the time, even though I've been in-game and grinding. Now though, the grinding has come to an end. In typical Acclaim fashion the servers were switched off with just a few hours notice, and if you didn't happen to be online at the time, you didn't get the message.
No doubt many of you are wondering about the promised 10x event that was planned for tonight. Ravenclaw/Kane started that event last night at midnight and let it run until the server shutdown at midnight PST. Not fair to many of you, but that is Acclaim. Sometimes I get the feeling that Acclaim has been run by this guy...
That guy is about to cook a chicken, and the chicken isn't even scared. Maybe the chicken knows more than the cook? You could probably say the same about Acclaim.
Anyway, so where are we at now?
We don't have a game to play, and I sincerely doubt that anything can be done to fix the situation today, tomorrow, or even this weekend. The people at G1 have a team building fun day going on today, even though I know many of them are actually at work trying to deal with this situation. From what I understand, it's all in the hands of the lawyers right now and no one can say what will happen in the near future.
And I'm sorry to say, that's all I know. Normally I'm better informed than this and I'm just as unhappy as the rest of you. Please check in here at least daily because I will post what I know or find out, and if you want to chat please join us in the IRC channel. There is a link on the top bar that will get you an almost instant connection.
Stay happy people, and maybe go do some real life stuff for a change. My wife and I are going to the movies tomorrow night! And if you really have to do something game-related, I'm going to leave the league deco contest open at least until G1 reopens the game.
- SpearDriver
For the rest of the week the teams in the World Cup will be playing the last games of the round-robin stage of the tournament. By Friday night we will know which of the 16 teams will move up to the next round, and I thought we would make a league event out of it. This event is open to all Disconnected and Restless League members, so let's have some fun together.
This will be a betting pool using Blood Essence as our prizes. Every player who wants to join us can select which team they think will win from the Round of 16. You will pay 1 BE into the pool with your choice and the players who correctly pick the winner will share the BE prize pool.
If your team is eliminated from the tournament in the Round of 16 I will allow a re-entry pick from the Round of 8, but you'll have to pay another BE into the prize pool. There won't be a re-entry pick from the Round of 4 because that would probably be just a bit too easy.
If no one picks the actual winner of the tournament, the prize pool will go to the players who picked the second place team, and if we have to we'll go down to the third place team but I doubt that will be necessary.
So, on Friday night after the Group H teams have played their final games I will be in Hefei at the event stage to take your picks and Blood Essence. At the same time I will build a public googledoc so that every one can see who has picked which team. Because I'm holding the prize pool, I won't be making a pick even though Germany is obviously going to win the World Cup.
And last of all, if the prize pool is not a round number that can be shared out equally I will add to the pool so that it can be shared equally.
Sound like fun? You think you know Football?
- SpearDriver
Vagabond event rewards were good but they came too late to change my mind... RedCross CS6 SF healer, Painajainen GL6 WT hybrid and --------]-- PS5 vagabond, you wont see those names anymore after today, so this is my official resignment notice. If you owed me something, keep it. If I owed something to you, you wont get it :)
so what am i going to do now? after 3 years of playing this game feels really dull. i have a promising business life ahead (leading my own company), different hobbies (wii's good) and better things to do during my free time.
end of motivation, its time to face the reality and move on!
^,..,^ cheers Disconnected and Restless.
- Red
We've now got our second refugee from the Japanese version of the game, and welcome Bluffing. If there is anything you need please speak up. We have plenty of stuff in storage including manuals, elixirs, clothing, weapons, and more. We even have a small number of dungeon passes so we can get more materials if needed. Please ask your friends if they would like to join us. All are welcome.
In other news, Bardo died a painful death overnight. GM NeverMore has said that there is a problem at the data center. Something about a terrorist attack, and that Sedbona may have finally lost it. I doubt that bit about the terrorist attack, but nothing that Sedbona does would surprise me at this time.
I just hope we're not going to have any sort of a roll back after this problem is fixed. I just got back from vacation and made over 45% yesterday at HM9, and I refined a Hermit Axe to +7 last night.
Anyone doing anything fun? I played mybrute. Come fight me! You can be a Disconnected Brute too!
Edit: GM NeverMore has said there will be an extensive compensation event after this is fixed, but it may take several more hours. I have also been reassured that there will be no rollback because of this issue.
- SpearDriver
I've mentioned a couple times in this blog how important it is to have goals, both in life and in the game. Goals can be a daily event, or something that takes longer, and it's something you have to reach for. Let me tell you, at the higher levels of this game the goals take longer and you have to reach for them.
But that's how it is in life sometimes too. I know most of you are quite a bit younger than I am, and many of you are even still in school. I've been missing Bardonian lately, wondering where he is, but he's just checked in. Exam time in school. Cool!
Get that done young man. Your real life is always more important than any game. Our white clan -Disconnected- league could use some organizing and some motivation, and some recruiting help, but your school work comes first! We will get by.
The black clans are in the same shape. We could use some organizing and some motivation, and some recruiting work but nothing is going to happen soon. One of our black clan bandmasters has gone missing and another two of them are on vacation, because it's that time of year.
We who are still here will keep up the grind, and do the recruiting as we can. When you guys get back, you can shoulder your load again. As for me, well, I haven't quite met my in-game goals either, and I'll write about that soon too. The Liaodong map is turning into quite the frustrating place to play, and the Ice Map is not any better.
I don't like winter time at all. It's cold, and wet and the days are just too short. You just don't get enough sunshine. We've had our first winter storm of the year and while we didn't get any snow, we're supposed to get that this weekend.
There was a break in the storm today. We had over an hour of clear blue sky and sunshine so I grabbed my bike and went for a ride. The real world is out there and you can enjoy that too. Believe me, an hour of sunshine on your face is far more important than grinding for that next level. After all, you can grind at night.
Let's keep it real out there.
- SpearDriver
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