From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:
The merges are still going fine. The chat/mail portion of the merge is a little behind schedule unfortunately so chat may be down longer than expected. I’ll try to provide an ETA later today.
From Rothgar:
Update:
So far everything is still on schedule. Chat is due to come down in about an hour so we can move mail and friends lists.
The Kithicor/Butcherblock and Mistmoore/Permafrost Server Merges are now underway and you may be wondering if these mergers will lead to more zone lag when the Destiny of Velious expansion launches. Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:
The existing hardware should handle it fine. The merges will actually improve the performance by consolidating zones and making the hardware more efficient. There’s still the possibility of some lag because most of the population will congregate in the new zones, but we will do our best to adjust population limits to keep lag to a minimum. With the last expansion we had issues with lag in some of the new overland zones, but we will do everything we can to keep that from happening this time.
If you are finding yourself at the Character Select screen with duplicate characters or characters still indicating they exist on a server which has been merged, Rothgar offers this advice:
There’s a file on your hard drive that keeps a cache of your characters so the client doesn’t have to query the server each time. If you delete your “cache” and “logincache” directories, it should clean them up.
Believe it or not SmokeJumper posted a bit about Game Update 60, which will be anywhere from 1-3 months after the Destiny of Velious expansion launches. It’s expected to have some Battlegrounds and PvP tweaks. His post also talks about EQ2X marketing and EQ2X PvP servers:
Answers (but you might not like them):
1) We haven’t started spending marketing cash for Extended yet. That’s slated for January. The reason I bring that up is until we bring more people into Extended, we have no plans to open up a PvP server because too many servers dilutes the population and we’re not willing to do that yet. However, we *would* like to do a PvP server. It’s currently slated to be the third server, assuming we can kick start population beyond its current levels.
From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:
I just wanted to post another update and post-mortem for the Unrest merge explaining a few of the issues that occurred.
SmokeJumper has posted a message regarding Server Merges:
Hey, folks,
We’ve been posting information about the downtimes, and Rothgar has been pretty cool about talking about the issues and such, but we haven’t made an official posting. So here goes:
1) The pain is short-term. The merges are being done to make the EQII Live gaming experiences better. I think most folks agree that higher populations make better gaming, so we’re doing the merges for that reason. And we’re working hard to get most of them done *before* the holiday break.
Here are your hotfix notes for December 15 2010:
LIVE EVENTS
Frostfell
- Tuwasp bixies in Greater Faydark are now the target for the level 5, Kelethin version of Gh’lad Tydingz’s quest, “A Gigglegibber’s work is never done.”
- Grikbar scamps in Steamfont Mountains should once again advance the level 35, Kelethin version of Gh’lad Tydingz’s quest, “A Gigglegibber’s work is never done.”
Update: Unrest is now online!
Unrest is undergoing final testing after a followup 1 hour maintenance was required beyond the Server Merge to fix some broker and other issues. Once it’s back up, we hope Rothgar and Zoltaroth will drive safe and get some sleep (I recommend blackout curtains, they’re a staple here in Denmark) and we’ll see you back in a few hours for 2 more mergers. 😉
Tonight, Kithicor, Butcherblock, Mistmoore, and Permafrost all go under the Server Merge knife, so this means all servers will experience some loss of Chat functionality, in-game Mail, and Friends lists. On the Najena -> Unrest merge, this worked out to about 12 hours, so we expect that tomorrow, there will be 12-14 hours of these features being unavailable on ALL servers during the heart of the merge window.
If you are on Splitpaw or Runnyeye, Innovation or Valor, Rothgar has provided the reasoning for why your server merges are delayed until after the new year:
The EU servers need database upgrades and these have to happen before we do the merge. [Further] we take holidays here in the U.S. too and many people will be gone starting next week. We have a company wide “freeze” near the end of December where we don’t do any major maintenance or hardware work so as not to risk outtages for the holiday when people are on vacation.
We’re already pushing it with the U.S. servers but the sooner we get them done the sooner we can do the non U.S servers when we return from Christmas.
Rothgar has posted some issues regarding Keymapping, Guild Hall Beacons (call of Guild Hall) and housing and guild halls to be aware of once the servers come back up.
Updated 3:15pm PST. And um, again today.
Subject to change, yadda yadda, here’s the updated U.S. Server Merge Schedule and a note about European Server Merges. From Rothgar:
Tonight will complete the second merge of U.S. servers leaving us with 4 remaining merges to perform (8 servers). During the next two merge windows we will be performing two merges at a time.
- Najena -> Unrest – IN PROGRESS on Dec 14, 2010
- Mistmoore -> Permafrost – Dec 15, 2010 at 10:00pm PST (Dec. 16 06:00 GMT)
- Kithicor -> Butcherblock – Dec 15, 2010 at 11:59pm PST (Dec. 16 07:59 GMT)
- Befallen – Oasis – Dec 19, 2010 at 10:00pm PST (Dec. 20th 06:00 GMT)
- Nektulos -> Guk – Dec 19, 2010 at 11:59pm PST (Dec. 20th 07:59 GMT)
The schedule for the remaining non-U.S. servers will be announced after Jan 1st. We understand that the extra downtime during this process is an inconvenience and we appreciate your patience as we work through it. We have some fun promotions coming up in December so keep your ears open for announcements.
Rothgar has posted the following update on the Najena -> Unrest Server Merge so far to include info on worldwide chat:
Update:
The merge process is moving along and still on schedule. Nothing interesting to report, so I guess that’s good.
The chat system has been brought down as you’ve probably noticed. This is because we are moving all universal chat data for Najena characters to the new server, Unrest. As soon as this process is complete, we’ll bring chat back up for everyone.
So it looks like chat may not be down for the entire time of each merge. This is definately good news.
Another progress report from Rothgar:
Update:
The merge is still progressing very well. We are hoping to bring chat back online around 1pm PST. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for bringing Unrest up earlier than anticipated.
Server merge titles will be granted after the next hotfix. We found an issue with the auto-consume code that was causing players to not receive the title. If you’re reading this and were part of the Butcherblock Blackburrow merge, and already have the title item in your inventory, this item will convert into the title after the next hotfix.
Note: He meant Blackburrow, not Butcherblock. I mix them up sometimes as well. It happens. 🙂
And yet another progress report from Rothgar:
Update:
The merge process is still going very well. The chat merge is complete but we are running one more maintenance script while it is down. This script should recover mail that was orphaned after the Everfrost/Blackburrow merge. As soon as this is done, we will bring chat back up.
Rothgar has been providing updates on the EQ2 Forums:
Aaaaaand, we’re off!
Things are moving fast in the Server Merge process, and even we are having trouble keeping up. From Rothgar:
We plan to have all U.S merges done by Monday night, the 20th. International merges will come after the first of the year due to database maintenance that must be performed before we can start the merges.
Wednesday night at midnight we will perform two more mergers. Then Sunday night at midnight we will perform the final two U.S. mergers.
I’ll post the server names sometime tomorrow with the corresponding day that we are planning to do the merge.
Rothgar has given us the all clear on those AA Reset issues:
It looks like we’ve found the issue related to the AA reset and coming up with a plan to fix it as soon as possible. Even though we’ve seen a few posts of people mentioning this happening prior to the merge and on other servers, we are currently only aware of a merge-related issue. There may be something more obscure happening to cause this problem elsewhere, and if it comes up we will look into it as well.
So it looks like Research Assistants weren’t so ready and willing to depart Guild Halls, despite yesterday’s hotfix. It looks like guilds did receive a refund, but the NPC is still on he list of Amenities and now counts against the number of amenities any guild can have. Fortunately, Rothgar has fixed the fix and we should expect it in the next scheduled hotfix.
Today’s hotfix refunds the purchase cost of Research Assistants, adds 200 house item slots to The Mistmoore Crags Estate and a few other things. Read the full hotfix notes after the jump.
Rothgar checked in with this announcement on the EQ2 Forums:
Monday morning will be a short maintenance in order to prepare for more upcoming mergers. The offical announcement should follow soon, but this should be a typical 7am downtime with 30-60 minute ETA.
Monday night at midnight we will begin our next merger with Unrest and Najena. Estimated downtime as with the last merger will be 24 hours but we hope to have servers up earlier. Several minor issues with the last merger have been fixed so we expect this one to go smoothly. We will do our best to keep you updated with the merger progress as it is happening.
Ok, that was bad even by our standards… 😉
Anywho, Cronyn has put his two cents in on the Vampire Lore, to try to reaffirm that this isn’t just an afterthought to leverage other popular vampire franchises:
Heya folks! I thought I’d pop in here to help a bit.
So, I wanted to assure you that the lore for the vampires is indeed tied to bigger events and characters. The piece that was posted was mostly intended to be more of an overview, and was intentially more vague. I was hoping to get you all talking, and they start releasing more pieces fo the puzzle to have you work into your discussions. Unfortunately, it clearly did not work how I intended it to, and I apologize for that. What you see (and have surmised) is not the entirety of their origin, and there is more still to be told – I didn’t mean to give the impression that this was all you would be seeing.
Again, my apologies, everyone. I’ll try to fill in the blanks here sooner rather than later.
Thanks again, guys. You all are awesome.
Since the most recent hotfix (and believed to be unrelated to the Server Merges), some players are reporting complete resets of their AA (Alternate Advancement) points each time they Log Out or Spend an AA point.
AA Mirrors to the Rescue
A workaround that some players have discovered is to use your AA mirror once and that apparently stabilizes the resets. If you don’t have an AA Mirror, you’ll need:
By the way, if you would like a website to help testing out AA setups, there is no finer website than Beetny’s EQ2 AA Calculator. It allows you to test out different ways of spending your points, and no cost to reset. 🙂
Also, if the “Are you sure you want to spend a point in XX ability?” prompts are about to get on your last nerve, go to your Options, make sure it’s set to Advanced and not Basic. Now navigate to User Interface -> Game Features and find the setting labeled “Confirm Alternate Achievements“.
Long Term Solution
SOE, specifically Rothgar, is aware of the issue, and some of the underlying causes and fixing this bug is a top priority for Monday or possibly Tuesday. In the meantime, use the workaround described above.
While there were some interesting changes to how disputes over Character Names were handled in the first of these new Server Merges, Guild Names stuck with the original rules established long ago. During a Merge, if both servers have a guild of the same name, the one created first keeps its name, while the other receives an unceremonious “x” suffix.
While it has been a relatively smooth Server Merge between Blackburrow and Everfrost, it has been marred by some Guild and Player Name issues, other scheduled server downtime and maintenance, and some niggling issues with Mail.
More after the jump…
Covic and Gninja have had their share of the hotseat lately over the appearance and lore of the new Freeblood vampire race. After the jump, their insight and responses to questions on these subjects, including some further revelations about the fate of Marcus Thex and the Evernight Abbey fight.
Covic (Dave) on the EQ2 Forums, designer of the new Freebloods vampire race gives some insight into the design and issues:
I agree that most of our players want to have some freedom in customizing there characters. With the vampires I want there to be enough color options with eyes, hair and skin that players can get the unique look they want. When I make the color wheels for the custom colors I will have most of the color combos pointing to more of a dead look with greens and blues. But I dont want to take options from players that they might want.
New screens should be up soon. Still dialing in some polish and hair combos.
These are the first models that use normal maps instead of bump maps, the models are higher poly count then other character models but still within reason. The most time consuming task is getting outfits to fit on the new geo and the facial custom bone skinnning. But its all be worth the extra effort.
I will give more info about the models when the new screens are up. They are near completion but still doing some tweaks.
