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Feature Episode Early Access

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Generally the release of a Feature Episode results in two things:
  1. A huge increase in the number of players trying to get online.
  2. A server load issue.

So I have come up with an idea that would spread the load, thus ensuring everyone will be able to get on. Stagger the release times based on status. For instance.

8AM PST Gold
10AM PST Silver (100CP C-Store Token)
12PM All Players

This would not only ensure that the bulk of the load is spread out ensuring the server stays up, but would also give a minor perk to Gold members. Plus it would give Cryptic another very minor source of revenue. Not to mention, the latest anyone would have access is only one hour later than they would have otherwise (assuming the server would have been up anyway). Everyone is happy.

Thoughts?

Edit: Removed the LTS distinction due to concern people were focusing more on that rather than the subject of the thread.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Spreading it out by hours doesn't seem worth it, and I will not support anything that discriminates between LTS and sub.

    We've been down this road on the forums before, so I'll just leave it at that.

    I'd rather see;

    Gold = Access on release day
    Silver = Access day after release day
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I agree, hours wouldn't do it - the instability in the first three missions of Cloaked Intentions lasted more than 6 hours.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Spreading it out by hours doesn't seem worth it, and I will not support anything that discriminates between LTS and sub.

    We've been down this road on the forums before, so I'll just leave it at that.

    I'd rather see;

    Gold = Access on release day
    Silver = Access day after release day

    This^^^

    LTS and gold should be counted as one, silvers play a day later...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    server will crash. Just expect it and show up the following day guys.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I see the logic, and I think a staggered launch to ensure server stability would be a good thing, however it's broken up, but I question whether or not the capability exists to do so.

    Maybe it does - for example, do silver players see the Aenigma Nebula portal thing in Sol/Quo'nos? Or do they just not get the option to go through it?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I do not support this idea.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I, on the other hand, see merit in it.

    On the angle of server load on release day.

    And also on the angle of giving Gold players an extra perk. Because... they still don't get a whole lot for 15$ a month.

    I like the notion of release day being for gold players, and silvers getting to it a day+ later.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I do not support this idea.

    Seconded. Considering $TO miraculously survived the F2P launch, I'm sure it'll survive the episode release.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Dont be daft. Cryptic wouldnt do this.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    I believe the priority login queue is supposed to give gold better treatment in high load situations.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    But the priority login queue doesn't help when the whole server crashes and nobody gets online.

    I think it would be a good idea for Golds to get one day head start on the FE episodes. It's not blocking anyone from the content, should help smooth things out on the servers, and give the Golds a "+1" for their patronage.

    Unfortunately I think it may be a bit late in the game for the devs to pull this on the first episode of the upcoming FE. They have broadly advertised it to be on a specific date and it's too close to really change that. Maybe for subsequent FE episodes, or subsequent FE series (haha, subsequent FE series... as if those'll ever get released)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    The reason I broke it up into the four groups is the system already has those distinctions built in.
    LTS (Gold + Lib Borg)
    Gold
    Silver + Purchase
    Silver

    While I agree that having only a couple hour difference between them wouldn't make much difference, one thing we have always seen is everyone tries to play the game the moment it goes live. And with the priority queue, Silver players aren't going to get to play anyway. So we might as well just say this:

    "Feature Episode launches at 12PM PST! Gold Players get early access at 8AM! Silver players can buy a token for 100CP that will give them early access at 10AM and will not subject them to log in queue."
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    We also need to keep in mind that the new FE could be level-gated just like the first 3 are now. Since it's set in Cardassian space it could have a Captain (level 30) restriction on it. That would certainly cut down on the spawn camping and server issues - and it's quite common for games to add level specific content rather then any-level content.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    We also need to keep in mind that the new FE could be level-gated just like the first 3 are now. Since it's set in Cardassian space it could have a Captain (level 30) restriction on it. That would certainly cut down on the spawn camping and server issues - and it's quite common for games to add level specific content rather then any-level content.

    As far as I know, the FEs are always scaled to any player when they launch. They are only sliding them into the gaps after the next one launches.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    As far as I know, the FEs are always scaled to any player when they launch. They are only sliding them into the gaps after the next one launches.
    Not exactly true. They had level 6 or level 10/12 requirements to do them - and that was before they were added to the mission chain and level-gated into the system like they are now.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    Not exactly true. They had level 6 or level 10/12 requirements to do them - and that was before they were added to the mission chain and level-gated into the system like they are now.

    Well, I was talking beyond the general "SPAM" account prevention measures. I'm sure they'll still have min level, but I doubt it'll be as high as waiting to get to the Cardassian front. With the new XP rewards, everyone would have to be a RA.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Well, I was talking beyond the general "SPAM" account prevention measures. I'm sure they'll still have min level, but I doubt it'll be as high as waiting to get to the Cardassian front. With the new XP rewards, everyone would have to be a RA.
    Level-gated is not system-gated. Anyone around level 30 can do the mission in the Cardassian front. The fact that the XP system often gets most of them there at RA doesn't mean they aren't level 30 missions. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    would be nice, but it'd still take time to implement :)

    and since it's highly unlikely to be done before the release of the new FE, i'll wait till the day after it releases (despite my burning desire to play it, and not because of the content drought, as it didn't affect me at all).

    that way, i'll avoid much server lag, and any possible crashes ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    Level-gated is not system-gated. Anyone around level 30 can do the mission in the Cardassian front. The fact that the XP system often gets most of them there at RA doesn't mean they aren't level 30 missions. :)

    Can they? I thought they had it set up sequentially now so that you cannot start the Cardassian front at all until you finished the Romulan front regardless of whether you are of minimum rank or not.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Can they? I thought they had it set up sequentially now so that you cannot start the Cardassian front at all until you finished the Romulan front regardless of whether you are of minimum rank or not.
    That's why all missions have a Skip function. You can bypass any Missions you want to go to the next one, as long as you meet the level requirement for the next one.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    That's why all missions have a Skip function. You can bypass any Missions you want to go to the next one, as long as you meet the level requirement for the next one.

    Ah, I got you. I have an alt I'm starting from scratch and never really had any desire to go out of order so I didn't realize how that worked.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Can they? I thought they had it set up sequentially now so that you cannot start the Cardassian front at all until you finished the Romulan front regardless of whether you are of minimum rank or not.

    They added a "skip" function on the mission window. You can skip up to your level. Now when it was on Tribble, it had no skip and forced you to do everything. And that royally sucked.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    i have to agree, spreading access to featured episodes won't cut it. i think lifetimes and subs should get access on the 1st day, And everyone else should get it on the 2nd day.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    wrote:
    i have to agree, spreading access to featured episodes won't cut it. i think lifetimes and subs should get access on the 1st day, And everyone else should get it on the 2nd day.
    That would just make Cryptic need to keep extra people in the office on Saturday and Sunday. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Trek17 wrote:
    would be nice, but it'd still take time to implement :)

    if (status = Gold)
    { ReleaseTime=0800}

    else if (Status = Token)
    {ReleaseTIme=1000}

    else
    {ReleaseTime=1200}


    And I even had to quickly look it up to get the syntax right. I'm sure the programming guys would be quicker.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    if (status = Gold)
    { ReleaseTime=0800}

    else if (Status = Token)
    {ReleaseTIme=1000}

    else
    {ReleaseTime=1200}


    And I even had to quickly look it up to get the syntax right. I'm sure the programming guys would be quicker.
    on a large team with many members, sure.

    on a small team like Cryptic, who's priorties, list of things to do, etc etc are highly stressed... i doubt it will be high on the priorties, or even on the list, with everything else to do. so i'm skeptical here
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Can they? I thought they had it set up sequentially now so that you cannot start the Cardassian front at all until you finished the Romulan front regardless of whether you are of minimum rank or not.

    You can hit the skip button repeatedly but then you have to be the minimum appropriate level so they are basically just combo-gated by level and mission pre-reqs in the form of other missions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Trek17 wrote:
    on a large team with many members, sure.

    on a small team like Cryptic, who's priorties, list of things to do, etc etc are highly stressed... i doubt it will be high on the priorties, or even on the list, with everything else to do. so i'm skeptical here

    True, but I think server stability is at the top of everyone's list. And if a five minute code addition could help spread out the load, I think they would make time.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    True, but I think server stability is at the top of everyone's list. And if a five minute code addition could help spread out the load, I think they would make time.
    What seems like a 5 minute code addition to you might take them 10+ man-hours - we have no way of knowing how their system is set up. Everything's always easy when we're not the ones having to do it. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    What seems like a 5 minute code addition to you might take them 10+ man-hours - we have no way of knowing how their system is set up. Everything's always easy when we're not the ones having to do it. :)

    You are right, I don't know. But this entire thing is just discussion. I think it would be worth the effort even if it only applies to future events. I think the server is going to be hammered when the next FE launches due to all the new F2P traffic trying to all access the same mission at the same time.
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