Regarding 2.5 Complaints

[Taryth]

I expect complaints. I really do. And yes, I've heard a LOT over the past week.

You absolutely are welcome to express your frustration over things. I ask that you either do so via personal messages, email or, if you really feel compelled to do so publicly, at least make it constructive criticism.

What I do not appreciate is "staff sucks/devs suck." We have spent close to 4 years on this. We're taking a game that has been in operation for 10 years and converting it on the fly. The fact we haven't had to have a major server-wide rollback or revert back to 2.0 to me is kind of cool. To be honest, the transition is less painful than I thought it would be, though I admit I wish we were squashing things a little bit faster.

So if this game is the worst thing in the world to you, that's ok. You are welcome to play a competing game. There's plenty of room in the gaming community for everyone to have a good time. All I ask is that you not make a huge scene and insult people who have literally spent thousands of hours on this. That's not cool.

Fortunately, the vast, vast majority of folks have been supportive, even as there have been VERY frustrating bugs! I can't thank you enough for that. We really are making great progress, and after a bit this frustration will all be a distant memory and we can focus on adding new cool things. I've already laid claim to a new zone.

Feedback, again, is welcome. I'm in IRC about 20 hours a day it seems, and my email is [email protected]. You can call me any name you want there. Just don't be a jerk in public channels, please - just because YOU don't like something doesn't mean others aren't trying to have some fun.

-t

 

[Rikunda]

Highly appreciate the work and effort going into this upgrade. One thing many people need to notice is there is only so much beta testing you can do before a launch like this. The fact the dev team is working as hard and fast as they are is a true testiment to their determination and love of this project. Frustration today, paradise tomorrow.

 

[Salarus]

If anyone is getting that bitter about a few inconveniences occurring during an overall positive change for a free to play online video game, they should probably take a few days to consider what they are doing with their lives.

That or go for a long walk outside in Alaska right now. Without any clothes on.

 

[Ryst]

I would like to echo the couple of responses already made on this thread. The staff should know that the majority of this server is behind them and is both supportive and grateful for their efforts in getting things running more smoothly. Sometimes it just needs to be said so I am going to say it, "Thank You SoD Staff!" Also, "Merry Christmas" to the staff and to everyone else here as well - I hope that you all find some time to spend with family and/or friends this holiday season, even if it is logging in to have a pixelized ale in Newport with your fellow online Dalayan friends.

 

[DodoBot]

I don't think most people realize how difficult it is to work with someone else's codebase, much less a codebase that has been hacked together for 10 years by a million different people - that was originally built by a madman on some already pretty shaky EQ code. Going through the client overhaul may suck in the near term, but it gives this game a MUCH better long-term future, both in terms of performance optimizations and the kinds of content that can be created. That doesn't even touch the potentially expanded playerbase from EQEMU compatibility. It totally sucks that things are buggy now, but it will be MUCH LESS BUGGY IN THE LONG RUN.

In any case, now is a terrible time for bugs, because for many of us, this game is the only thing getting us through the holidays. Not having a fix this time of year can put even the strongest neckbeards into a fit of nerd rage... So use that rage for the better good - smash your head against all the bugged content... rage... and carefully document everything you see. The better /bug reports the staff gets, the faster the bugs go away. Or if not, there is always the option to spend time with your families...

 

[Taryth]

The Nerd Rage is real, you are right sir. It's rage here too, I assure you. We do appreciate the kind words, folks.

 

[AngryCow]

Strange,loosing a third (counting from the EQemu list) of your players since 2.5 launch isnt enough ?


Yeah,quite inconvenient not being able to log in at all with WinXP anymore.


For now they broke compatibilty for some of their existing players.
But I guess they consider that just as "collateral damage" to say so.

I'm looking for the constructive part here...

 

[Salarus]

Bitter words

Calm your tits. CALM THEM.

Or how about you get off windows xp and walk into the 21st century? Then again, with how you're reacting to this maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you should take the walk in Alaska I was talking about earlier.

 

[Paxit]

The players will come back ! If you have been on SoD regularly for many years you should notice that playtimes drop at this time of year for the holidays.
So if your counting heads I am busy baking Fruit Cakes to send to my most favorite family members, I will make one for you as well Ulandx.
Merry Xmas and Good job getting 2.5 out for 2016, Wtg SoD staff !

 

[Haenir]

Yeah,quite inconvenient not being able to log in at all with WinXP anymore.

At least one person has gotten it working on XP --

I have the problem solved on one machine at least and I am in the process of implementing it on the other. I had to do the following:

1) Download and install Service Pack 3 for XP
2) Download and install newer version of Windows Installer
3) Download and install .NETFramework 4.0
4) Download and install the C++ 2013 redistributable x86 version
5) reinstall DirectX from the link on the patcher

First try, XP machine once again runs better than Windows 8

 

[lynnettell]

https://shardsofdalaya.com/donate.htm

My guess is 99.5% of the complainers have never even thought of that link, they just expect *their* game to be perfect for them, no matter that the staff is all volunteer, and all donations go towards running & promoting the server, NOT paying staff, who are completely volunteer and even on bad days do more work than some of my RL cow-orkers (intentional misplace of -).

Attrition happens, on every game, I listened tonight to people complain about p99 in the beginner's channel. And compliments on how much better this server is run. To each their own. What this server has no room for IMHO is the people who complain about a very progressive move, with bugs that were expected to an extent, without giving credit where credit is due. Look at my old posts in the 2.5 forum... while I was not active recently in the Beta testing, I was in that during ALPHA where taking a step broke something. And those posts go back to 2013.

Many thanks to the staff, the testers, and everyone now helping to get this client stable (even with /bug reports that are coherent). Sometimes you have to deal with bad things to make a good thing happen, and this upgrade is one of those times.

 

[Tevinter]

i dont think slaariel has asked me to dev his zone since 2.5 release, 10/10 change imo

 

[Otcho]

I feel bad for the people stuck with xp but really your operating system is old as dirt(and/or the toaster its running on). If you're really committed to your toaster you can probably run the game through some linux distro. Or hope they get it fixed(no idea how many people are actually on xp).

For everyone else tough shit, welcome to content testing. At the end of the day its an attempt to improve the game you're playing and everyone should have known it was going to be a rough buggy ride. Its not the first time shit has gone horribly wrong and probably won't be the last.

If you're quitting over the bumpy ride then welp I don't know what to tell you.

 

[daenar_sod]

100% honest.. I read the first post up to something about not liking "devs suck", and then I stopped.

Taryth you suck. And one day I will TP your house. Until that day good sir...

 

[Kedrin]

I had fun playing SoD tonight.

 

[narmarratuk]

I'm actually enjoying 2.5 a whole lot and will like to take a few minutes to thank Taryth, Secrets and the rest of the staff for what they have accomplished here.

 

[Gund]

Taryth looks at "You suck"
Taryth looks at ban hammer
...looks at "You suck"
...looks at ban hammer

I admire your restraint and maturity. A+ on this FREE and AWESOME game.

 

[Tevinter]

2.5 SUCKS no new slaariel zones

 

[Soicon]

its nice to take a break for a bit and things are being fixed a lot faster than I thought they would, good job all around dev team.

 

[Daffie]

Yeah,quite inconvenient not being able to log in at all with WinXP anymore.


For now they broke compatibility for some of their existing players.

Today's Date: December 29, 2015
Windows XP release date: August 24, 2001
Number of major windows operating system releases since XP: 4 (5 if you count 8.1) (not counting mobile and server)
Windows XP support history: Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support ended on April 8, 2014.
Cost to upgrade to windows 10 from xp: $120
Cost for a new laptop already running windows 10 that will also run SoD: <$200 (example: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-in...lack/4344000.p?id=1219734729526&skuId=4344000
Cost benefit analysis for spending <$200 to play 1000s of hours of SoD: Do it

While the intent of the 2.5 upgrade is not to cause you to spend money on a new operating system or hardware, running a 15 year old operating system, and expecting to do anything in the modern age, may cause you unneeded problems. This is especially true since the publisher of said operating system no longer offers any kind of support. It should be shocking in no way, shape, or form to have a major software update implemented and have compatibility break with XP.

Just for some reference at how out of date the use of XP for personal computing really is: Smartphones made the jump from Japan to the US in 2002 (which is after XP was released). The original xbox came to America in 2002 which is after the XP release date. The iPhone wasn't released until 2007 and it was the first multi touch interface (this is 6 years after XP was released. Over 700 million iPhones have been sold since release.) There will be 1 billion windows 10 users after 3 years from release (with about 1.5 billion total windows users.)