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Staff Topic

Release Notes: Test period 21 - 24 July

Hello!

Ready for the test? Well, we are ready for you! Let's take a look at a few things to go over as we start!

Quest Revisions:
For many, the plaintive cry from a new player of 'Where can I find a patch?" was oft heard, and not easily answered. Likewise, getting trees to a "level" which you can't really see, until it just shows as complete in your quest list was frustrating for many. We've replaced the quests which were offered after the Soil Appreciation and Better Learning skills were completed to some that make a little more sense in the game today. There are even two that take advantage of collective work in digging. Even if you are already past those levels, you'll get the chance to do those quests and we’d love your feedback.

Butterflies and Chickens Lifespans:
The world can get overpopulated fast with butterflies and chickens hanging around and cluttering up streets. But, the Giants now grant them some sweet relief: once a chicken or butterfly has fulfilled its Glitchy destiny by providing sustenance and wisdom to enough players, it will ascend to a Higher Plane of Being. Salute these noble creatures, for they gave themselves for us to play!

Post Game Server Restart:
So, as many of you recall, last test there was a restart of the game server about 12 hours before we ended the test. We’ve fixed most if not all of the issues you reported. But, we’ve left behind a number of things to collect in many of the streets -- meat, grain, butterfly butter to name a few. Feel free to pick them up and add to your inventory! No need to report it, we know there's a lot there. Also, you may see items hanging above the ground in some spots. The underlying issues is fixed, so no need to report it back to us. You should be able to grab items that are there, so, go right ahead! (We'll evaluate things towards the end of this test to see if this is indeed a dead bug.)

East & West Spice:
There were many reports of problems in these streets. We found the issue (related to spritesheets in these locations) and fixed it. Should be waaaay better. Try it and see!

Lag in General:
There were many more reports of lag in the last test, and after it was all over our front-end client giants went to work with the information supplied by you folks. We think we solved most of the problems that surrounded it, but of course if you still see issues, let us know. For those who were stuck loading the game at 49% and no more, let us know if you still have problems. Before reporting, try to start from a fresh browser session, not one that you have had going for a long time, and try a couple different browsers as well to see if there is a pattern for you. And again, please use the debug Flash client while you are testing the game.

Rolling Restarts:
Ideally you won't notice this other than an occasional "reconnecting" message (or a complete reload) but we're going to be aggressively testing restarting live game servers during this test. The result will be that your connection to the game world will occasionally be passed from one server to another (as your initial server is stopped). This helps us ensure continued operation even in the case of bad hardware, network problems in our datacenters or the need to make critical patches to the lowest levels of our server code while the game is running.

Posted 17 months ago by kevbob Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I haven't a clue Sean, I don't bother keeping that S and D stuff straight. I leave it to you to sort out. :)
    Posted 17 months ago by kevbob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Sean of the Moor - That would 7/25 01:00 UCT-8
    Posted 17 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lol I know what PST is but where is UCT? Hawaii? I'm in CST so am hoping it gives me a couple extra hours ... anyways ... I've enjoyed the time I've had so far I hope the invite this time will allow me to play next time as well ...
    Posted 17 months ago by Brekkana Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We're on PDT this time of year - Pacific Daylight Time. Also known as GMT -7 

    At this time, 5:00pm would be 16 hours and 15 minutes from the time I'm posting this reply.
    Posted 17 months ago by Essie Kitten Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I thought they were on PST -- Pacific Standard Time ("San Francisco Time"), which is -8 GMT.
    Posted 17 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nope, not at the moment.  Currently GMT -7.  Early November, we'll be back to GMT -8.
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hawaii is HST (Hawaiian Standard Time), not UCT.  UCT is Coordinated Universal Time.
    Posted 17 months ago by Sindee☆Cyanide Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks kevbob for the reply.  Had figured you had changed the quest, but missed some of the wording. Didn't realize I got caught in between the quest change, but that's cool (and thanks for the info so I didn't continue to think I was losing my mind - well, at least not over this one item).
    Posted 17 months ago by Uniquely Prime Subscriber! | Permalink
  • http://www.whattimeisit.com/  No more confusion! :)
    Posted 17 months ago by Lelu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I use www.worldtimebuddy.com/
    Posted 17 months ago by Victoria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm sure it's been mentioned above but would have to sift through all...all my pigs were dead when I came back. :( Lots of poo and meat 
    Posted 17 months ago by Sunny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ugh! that's not good sunny. *moment of silence*
    Posted 17 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Somebody needs to release the 23 pigs in the model home in Alokol, it is downright cruel.  I caught one of the piggies in the house and released it but can't catch anymore for 42 days.  Whoever thought it was funny or an easy way to get meat needs some lessons on kindness, even if the piggies are virtual.

    How come there are so few bean or cherry trees in Alokol ?  We have an over abundance of vapor and bubble trees but food trees are few and far apart.

    The test was good but reloading the game took up to 5 minutes the fastest reload was 3 minutes, which felt like forever.  Yes I shut the computer completely down and restarted my browser and that restart was 4 minutes, I'm not sure if that helps one little bit or not.
    Posted 17 months ago by xoxJulie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @xoxJulie - Odd. Except at the party and when I apparently started up my email program up by accident, it went smooth for me.

    UCT (Universal Coordinated Time) is just GMT basically. UCT is the standard time used by scientists and engineers. I'm just used to setting up computers and software and that's the time standard that's used. PST or PDT is simply US PT to me (UCT - 8).

    Oh. And I'm on US CT (United States Central Time) myself. UCT - 6

    Full US Time Zones are US AT, US ET, US CT, US MT, US PT, and US HT.  I don't remember the offset for the last, but the rest are -4, -5, -6, -7, -8 (real surprise there).
    Posted 17 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Had some down times this test, and some issues yesterday, but blame it on the massive thunderstorm in the area that dropped my power (and router) a couple times, and then it took a couple computer reboots to get whatever was in the cache cleared. 

    I'm surprised they said they didn't do the rolling restarts because I did have a few times where it seemed like my game was in limbo like during a probable server transfer, and it hung up until it was able to reconnnect (that was today).

    Overall a good test.  Liked the new housing that was released.  Liked the style of the new rock houses, though I have to say, it seems like you get less for your currants (would rather have the cheaper ones in the heights due to getting three trees).  Seemed like the 10K ones with the pen was a pretty good deal, though the 5K and 7.5K ones didn't seem like it was worth the currants (especially since they aren't on streets with great mining potential like the 2.5/2.75K rock houses).  I guess for me, more tree patches is more valuable than more gardening patches, but I'm sure others would disagree, and appreciate more gardening patches. 
    Posted 17 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hi there, just wanted to thank all the developers for the improvements made during the July 12-24 test. It definitely made a difference.
    Posted 17 months ago by Spellbound Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Spellbound speaks the truth.
    Posted 17 months ago by Muncey Mango Subscriber! | Permalink
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