Update on Roadmap

[casirabit]

4 more days and I bet the Roadmap will not be released. Unless it is but its poorly advertised.

 

Yes, that's the plan. It's completed and going through the normal review processes.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9315737#edit9315737

[DarthVoyevoda]

When is Jaesa coming back for my Sith Warrior main? I've heard nothing about it.

[Zolxtren]

Il damn hope crossrealm q ing is on the roadmap ..... Everysingle existing game have it bassicaly by now.... They have no excuse anymore..... And dont come with the engine crap that has nothing to do with crosserver stuff... Its all about codes and setting the servers and q s up that way.

 

Even indie level multiplayer games and mmos can do it....

Edited May 28, 2017 by Zolxtren

[Quraswren]

4 more days and I bet the Roadmap will not be released. Unless it is but its poorly advertised.

 

My worry isn't if we get it or not as I do think we will get something.

 

My worry is keith's road map will have little "meat" on it. How many times have we been asked to tune into something all so we can be told to tune in again later for the very reason we turned in to start with.

 

Thats my worry. We will get something but I worry it wont have much to it. Just some vague BS about what might happen because you all know how game companies love to PR content to boost sales or whatever only to turn around later and say "well we were not able to do that or it's technically not possible or some other well spun reason as to why it didn't get added.

 

This road map has to be good otherwise it will very likely be a waste of time.

[Kaizersan]

Il damn hope crossrealm q ing is on the roadmap ..... Everysingle existing game have it bassicaly by now.... They have no excuse anymore..... And dont come with the engine crap that has nothing to do with crosserver stuff... Its all about codes and setting the servers and q s up that way.

 

Even indie level multiplayer games and mmos can do it....

 

Hahahaaha that is never going to be on the map because to make the game able to do cross server queuing it would cost them a whole years budget at the lowest.

[Kaizersan]

Il damn hope crossrealm q ing is on the roadmap ..... Everysingle existing game have it bassicaly by now.... They have no excuse anymore..... And dont come with the engine crap that has nothing to do with crosserver stuff... Its all about codes and setting the servers and q s up that way.

 

Even indie level multiplayer games and mmos can do it....

 

See the problem with your line of thinking is those games that have cross server they were designed to have cross server the games code was built to do it the servers we setup to do it that is not the case with swtor is was not designed at all to do cross server so what you are asking them to do is spend a ton of money to rebuild the game code and server architecture EA will never approve them to use money in that way so just let it go.

[Savej]

See the problem with your line of thinking is those games that have cross server they were designed to have cross server the games code was built to do it the servers we setup to do it that is not the case with swtor is was not designed at all to do cross server so what you are asking them to do is spend a ton of money to rebuild the game code and server architecture EA will never approve them to use money in that way so just let it go.

 

Wow added x-server after release (several years after release). ESO also added x-server features if I remember right (but could be wrong on that one).

 

The designers of this game were advertising x-server and mentioning it in this game's original UI and at least one dev blog that came out within a month or two of launch. So BW was at least thinking about it while they were making this game.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Savej

[Ratajack]

Wow added x-server after release (several years after release). ESO also added x-server features if I remember right (but could be wrong on that one).

 

The designers of this game were advertising x-server and mentioning it in this game's original UI and at least one dev blog that came out within a month or two of launch. So BW was at least thinking about it while they were making this game.

 

I'd be willing to wager that neither of those two games were using a heavily modified alpha version engine, either.

 

Let's not forget to mention that BW did test cross realm queuing, but were not able to make it work properly due to technical issues. At a guess (although it's a good guess, IMO), that heavily modified alpha version engine had a lot to do with those issues.

 

Remember, as well, that there is no one remaining on the staff who is familiar with the modifications made to that alpha version engine, let alone how any changes made in one area will affect other areas.

[Kaizersan]

Wow added x-server after release (several years after release). ESO also added x-server features if I remember right (but could be wrong on that one).

 

The designers of this game were advertising x-server and mentioning it in this game's original UI and at least one dev blog that came out within a month or two of launch. So BW was at least thinking about it while they were making this game.

 

WoW is run by blizzard a company that cares about there game swtor is run by EA a company that will not invest the kind of money that it would take to make cross server for this game so once you take that into account you will start to understand why it will never happen and you should just stop.

[Savej]

I'd be willing to wager that neither of those two games were using a heavily modified alpha version engine, either.

 

Let's not forget to mention that BW did test cross realm queuing, but were not able to make it work properly due to technical issues. At a guess (although it's a good guess, IMO), that heavily modified alpha version engine had a lot to do with those issues.

 

Remember, as well, that there is no one remaining on the staff who is familiar with the modifications made to that alpha version engine, let alone how any changes made in one area will affect other areas.

 

What makes you say "that there is no one remaining on the staff who is familiar with the modifications made to that alpha version engine" or is that just another guess? SWTOR's version of the Hero engine is basically their own engine at this point - if no one on staff can make changes to the game then they're in even worse shape than I thought.

[Ratajack]

What makes you say "that there is no one remaining on the staff who is familiar with the modifications made to that alpha version engine" or is that just another guess? SWTOR's version of the Hero engine is basically their own engine at this point - if no one on staff can make changes to the game then they're in even worse shape than I thought.

 

Show me where I said no one on staff can make any changes.

 

Some changes are easier to make and have less of an impact on other areas of code than other changes, though.

[adormitul]

My worry isn't if we get it or not as I do think we will get something.

 

My worry is keith's road map will have little "meat" on it. How many times have we been asked to tune into something all so we can be told to tune in again later for the very reason we turned in to start with.

 

Thats my worry. We will get something but I worry it wont have much to it. Just some vague BS about what might happen because you all know how game companies love to PR content to boost sales or whatever only to turn around later and say "well we were not able to do that or it's technically not possible or some other well spun reason as to why it didn't get added.

 

This road map has to be good otherwise it will very likely be a waste of time.

 

That is an valid issue but if he does not release the roadmap until the end of the month well he broke his word and that means trust players had in him is gonna be gone.

[DarthSpuds]

See the problem with your line of thinking is those games that have cross server they were designed to have cross server the games code was built to do it the servers we setup to do it that is not the case with swtor is was not designed at all to do cross server so what you are asking them to do is spend a ton of money to rebuild the game code and server architecture EA will never approve them to use money in that way so just let it go.

 

Just to note ESO never added X-Server - ESO uses megaserver technology so that, technically, all players are on the same server anyway.

 

We've just had a series of maintenance periods that Keith has confirmed we to do with undertaking and verifying a data centre change. Now, there are obviously some issue with server performance, especially on Harb, so it could be that data centre change is to fix that - but why would that need all the other servers down too, if it is just a fix for Harb.

 

But if they have managed to get EA to clear a budget for server architecture change, then surely it would make sense to do as much as possible with that architecture change. More server mergers (we see them asked for on a daily basis) are really just kicking the can down the road because there will always be a lower populated server that people will move from to get better group access, and that just leads to the problem repeating itself.

 

So if funds have been cleared for server investment to only logical thing to do with that money is a mega-server, to entirely circumvent any need for a server merge in the future.

 

IF they go down that route I sincerely hope they do something with character data logging so we don't see enforced name changes.

 

All The Best

[Kaizersan]

Just to note ESO never added X-Server - ESO uses megaserver technology so that, technically, all players are on the same server anyway.

 

We've just had a series of maintenance periods that Keith has confirmed we to do with undertaking and verifying a data centre change. Now, there are obviously some issue with server performance, especially on Harb, so it could be that data centre change is to fix that - but why would that need all the other servers down too, if it is just a fix for Harb.

 

But if they have managed to get EA to clear a budget for server architecture change, then surely it would make sense to do as much as possible with that architecture change. More server mergers (we see them asked for on a daily basis) are really just kicking the can down the road because there will always be a lower populated server that people will move from to get better group access, and that just leads to the problem repeating itself.

 

So if funds have been cleared for server investment to only logical thing to do with that money is a mega-server, to entirely circumvent any need for a server merge in the future.

 

IF they go down that route I sincerely hope they do something with character data logging so we don't see enforced name changes.

 

All The Best

 

All that was for is server stability nothing more as constant downtime was costing them money because the longer the game is down the less time players have to buy CM packs and that is the only thing that matters to EA.

[DarthSpuds]

All that was for is server stability nothing more a

.

 

You don't know that.

You have no insider info.

 

All The Best

[Kaizersan]

You don't know that.

You have no insider info.

 

All The Best

"So, what’s been going on this past month? Essentially, we have been migrating from one Datacenter to another and upgrading the Game Server hardware and supporting software. You won't directly notice improvements in performance, but these changes dramatically help us maintain the game and improve its overall reliability."

 

Given what Keith himself said yes that was what it was for if you can't accept that then it's our fault for believing what you want instead of the most likely reason server stability.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Kaizersan

[DarthSpuds]

"So, what’s been going on this past month? Essentially, we have been migrating from one Datacenter to another and upgrading the Game Server hardware and supporting software. You won't directly notice improvements in performance, but these changes dramatically help us maintain the game and improve its overall reliability."

 

Given what Keith himself said yes that was what it was for if you can't accept that then it's our fault for believing what you want instead of the most likely reason server stability.

 

If they were moving toward Server Mergers or Megaserver they would not announce it until a) they were sure the tech was in place to handle it, and b) they were ready to make it public. Given it may require one period of extended downtime the logical time to do it would when servers are down for a significant update.

 

All The Best

[Ratajack]

"So, what’s been going on this past month? Essentially, we have been migrating from one Datacenter to another and upgrading the Game Server hardware and supporting software. You won't directly notice improvements in performance, but these changes dramatically help us maintain the game and improve its overall reliability."

 

Given what Keith himself said yes that was what it was for if you can't accept that then it's our fault for believing what you want instead of the most likely reason server stability.

 

A man far wiser than I am once wrote something along the lines of (I'm going to paraphrase):

 

People will believe a lie (or what they want to believe) for one of two reasons. They either WANT it to be true, or they are afraid that is it true.

 

My guess is the poster to whom you responded WANTS what he "believes" to be true. It appears that he is not alone in that desire, though. There are more than one thread with posters who have jumped to conclusions and made assumptions that "X means Y".

 

Server consolidations do not magically solve all of the issues surrounding server merges, nor would a "mega server".

[Aael]

A man far wiser than I am once wrote something along the lines of (I'm going to paraphrase):

 

People will believe a lie (or what they want to believe) for one of two reasons. They either WANT it to be true, or they are afraid that is it true.

 

My guess is the poster to whom you responded WANTS what he "believes" to be true. It appears that he is not alone in that desire, though. There are more than one thread with posters who have jumped to conclusions and made assumptions that "X means Y".

 

Server consolidations do not magically solve all of the issues surrounding server merges, nor would a "mega server".

 

In my personal life, I try and give someone or something the benefit of doubt before jumping to conclusions or just flat out not believing in something that was said. I understand quite well the hierarchy that unfortunately is found in most administration, especially when you work in a corporation.

 

I always want to believe when someone is telling me is the truth first hand because I have to believe people within this corporation still want my money. Now, I understand that in the long run just "my" money is insignificant compared to the millions of dollars that probably obtain through their many investments, but if they, they corporation, continues to give us material that is not to our liking more then just myself will stop throwing money into something or someone we do not believe in anymore. No matter how much our hearts are broken.

[stoopicus]

Well, one way or another, we will know by Wednesday.

 

(Actually I could easily see this be caught up in process before it can be communicated and I could totally believe he will have to delay it into next month. The more meaningful the information in it, the more likely that seems. But people will explode if he doesn't post something by Weds so I assume there will be at least some kind of communication before then.)

[psandak]

WoW is run by blizzard a company that cares about there game swtor is run by EA a company that will not invest the kind of money that it would take to make cross server for this game so once you take that into account you will start to understand why it will never happen and you should just stop.

 

It's not that EA/BW does not care. It is that Blizzard implemented cross-server queuing at WoW's height - 12 million subs; that's $180 million a month. Blizzard could afford to throw away the many millions of dollars it took at the "problem" and make it work. And that is what Blizzard did: they threw away that money; players of WoW back then were not quitting the game because there was no cross-server queue, but they were requesting it and so Blizzard gave the players what they wanted.

 

You're right that EA/BW will not simply throw resources at a "problem" like Blizzard can, and will NEVER be able to do so (even in WoW's current "depressed" state, it is still king of the hill in MMO sub numbers; no MMO comes close). EA/BW has to KNOW that there will be a significant return on investment: i.e. paying for and implementing a feature WILL bring back X number of subs and therefore they will recoup their investment within a specific amount of time.

 

All that said, (totally wishful thinking on my part) maybe somewhere behind the scenes BW is working on the problem but because they do not have the dollars, it is a slow process to get it right (good and cheap won't be fast) and only when they are close to implementing it will they announce it i.e. even if they are working on it, it may be years before they get it right therefore there will be no announcement on the roadmap.

[Andryah]

"So, what’s been going on this past month? Essentially, we have been migrating from one Datacenter to another and upgrading the Game Server hardware and supporting software. You won't directly notice improvements in performance, but these changes dramatically help us maintain the game and improve its overall reliability."

 

Given what Keith himself said yes that was what it was for if you can't accept that then it's our fault for believing what you want instead of the most likely reason server stability.

^^ This part is being almost completely ignored by players in the forum.

 

That statement clearly shows that A) we the players will not see direct (visible) results of the datacenter actions direction. and B) it is clearly updates/upgrades designed to improve the studios ability to maintain the servers in a more reliable manner.

 

As to what specific "under the hood" changes were made, that was not given to us by Keith. Which just means players will make stuff up in their heads that conforms to their personal narrative about the state of the game.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Andryah

[DarthSpuds]

^^ This part is being almost completely ignored by players in the forum.

 

That statement clearly shows that A) we the players will not see direct (visible) results of the datacenter actions direction. and B) it is clearly updates/upgrades designed to improve the studios ability to maintain the servers in a more reliable manner.

.

 

See, that's my reason for something more is going on.

 

What was the purpose of moving data centre and server hardware and software upgrades if there is no direct tangible benefit for the customer - the people who pay the bills?

 

That's a lot of money spent to not make players any happier; and happy players spend money.

 

I didn't ignore the part you highlighted; it was the key segment that led me to the line of thinking I have.

 

All The Best

[stoopicus]

See, that's my reason for something more is going on.

 

What was the purpose of moving data centre and server hardware and software upgrades if there is no direct tangible benefit for the customer - the people who pay the bills?

 

That's a lot of money spent to not make players any happier; and happy players spend money.

 

I didn't ignore the part you highlighted; it was the key segment that led me to the line of thinking I have.

 

All The Best

 

One possible explanation is that the new datacenter is cheaper and easier for the server operations team to manage and this just represents the next stage of maintenance mode.

[Kurj]

One possible explanation is that the new datacenter is cheaper and easier for the server operations team to manage and this just represents the next stage of maintenance mode.

 

Anything is possible, although they would have to plan the run the game in maintenance mode long enough to offset the cost of the switch. Otherwise they would just keep it as it is and shut it down. I'm hopeful that this signals an intent to keep investing in the game, but it's just that - hope, unsupported by anything other than my own bias for the outcome I want.