Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 11:59:15 AM PST
Subject: Addressing realm performance |
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Dear European World of Warcraft Players
We are working on various measures to improve our overall performance and particularly on those European realms that have suffered ongoing problems recently and we'd like to take this opportunity to share our plans with you.
The load on our data centers that host the longest established realms with the highest number of players overall has been causing some problems for many of the realms in those data centers. Hardware to upgrade and improve the performance of these data centers is on order and will be installed next month. Meanwhile we are implementing a number of changes to improve the performance in the short term:
Immediate action has been to tag all realms on affected data centers as ‘Full' to discourage more players from joining the realms and adding extra load to the backend for the affected realms.
We have also opened four new realms today for those wishing to start new characters. We will continue to open more realms as needed to always have several recommended realms of the most popular realm types.
In addition to this we're considering more direct actions to limit the load, like lowering the population caps. This will allow fewer players to connect at the same time on those realms but will help in providing the best game experience possible for those playing.
While those are our immediate plans we continue to work on long-term solutions to provide the best game experience possible for all World of Warcraft players in Europe. We will continue to update you on timelines, changes and results, and will let you know as soon as we have exact times of the hardware upgrade. We greatly appreciate all the feedback on the performance matters and aim to keep an active dialogue to see how you perceive these changes and their effects.
Thank you for your understanding and for your patience while these changes are put into effect and the results come around.
Best regards,
The Blizzard Europe team
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post759468 |
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Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 12:00:45 PM PST
Subject: Affected realms |
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Will receive the hardware upgrade
English
Earthen Ring
Ravencrest
Runetotem
Shadow Moon
Shadowsong
Shattered Hand
Silvermoon
Skullcrusher
Spinebreaker
Stormrage
Stormreaver
Stormscale
Terenas
Thunderhorn
Turalyon
German
Aegwynn
Alexstrasza
Alleria
Antonidas
Arthas
Azshara
Baelgun
Blackhand
Blackmoore
Blackrock
Destromath
Die Silberne Hand
Eredar
Frostmourne
Frostwolf
Gilneas
Gorgonnash
Gul'dan
Kargath
Kel'Thuzad
Khaz'goroth
Kil'Jaeden
Lothar
Madmortem
Malfurion
Mal'Ganis
Mannoroth
Nathrezim
Nozdormu
Perenolde
Proudmoore
Zirkel des Cenarius
Zuluhed
No upgrade, but subject to the other changes
English
Agamaggan
Aggramar
Al'Akir
Arathor
Argent Dawn
Aszune
Azjol-Nerub
Bladefist
Bloodhoof
Bloodscalp
Burning Blade
Burning Legion
Crushridge
Daggerspine
Deathwing
Doomhammer
Draenor
Dragonblight
Dragonmaw
Dunemaul
Emerald Dream
Sunstrider
Twilight's Hammer
Warsong
Zenedar
German
Dethecus
Forscherliga
French
Arak-arahm
Archimonde
Cho'gall
Dalaran
Elune
Garona
Hyjal
Illidan
Kael'Thas
Kirin Tor
Medivh
Ner'zhul
Sargeras
Sinstralis
Vol'jin[ post edited by Thundgot ]
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post759469 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 2:34:39 PM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
Should we consider this a response to the "Retrieving character list" problem? If it's so, that's nice. :)
Login and character list retrieval is part of this, yes.
Q u o t e:
I realise why this is...but its concerning. Means we cant even get on at all? This will cause the RCL issue just youll sit in the queue instead....
That's our concern too, and the reason we're not rushing it in without thorough consideration.
Q u o t e:
"No upgrade, but subject to the other changes"
May i ask what this means as my realm is under that list?
Those realms have received the "Full" tag and might be subject to lower caps or other changes just like those realms that are scheduled for the upgrade.
Q u o t e:
close realms from new users until ppl unsubscribe from that certain server
This would probably have very little immediate impact, and might not even show substantial population decrease by the time the hardware upgrade is ready. It has been suggested before though and might be something to consider.
Q u o t e:
If you lower a realm player cap by 1000-2000
you WILL create a ridiculously LONG queue..
I don't think a cap reduction would be around that size, but quite a bit smaller. We're talking many realms, so a small reduction across the board means a big one for the entire data center.
Q u o t e:
At last Blizzard...
And next time, pls don't tell ppl that they all have problem with ISPs.
Not all players, but there have been (and unfortunately probably will be) cases where a huge number of players will suffer from ISP problems. Such ISP problems are rarely an issue with the player's own ISP, but a peering issue between major ISPs' networks in Europe. We're always coordinating with the ISPs to locate such issues and have it corrected as quickly as possible.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post759746 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 3:11:40 PM PST
Subject: Re: Affected realms |
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Q u o t e:
I can't belive Frostwhisper isn't listed here. FW is one of the most laggy realms outthere nowdays , The ms itself is ok , but the looting can take up to 15 seconds , and creating Shards which is based on looting can someone destroy a whole battle for a lock , as it sometimes takes over 30 seconds to recive the shard , and you're on a huge lagspike all that time. FW should be looked into ASAP , it can't go on like that.
Please note that this thread is addressing issues affecting entire data centers. Realms in other data centers are of course not forgotten and we're constantly watching their performance and making improvement where possible. We're also making sure these other data centers do not enter the same scenario as those causing trouble right now.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post759807 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 3:13:34 PM PST
Subject: Re: Affected realms |
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Q u o t e:
For crying out loud. l launched wow for 15mins ago, and i got in to frostwhisper for like 14mins and 40sec ago. if i would have logged in to stormreaver i'd stil be on retrieving character list and stil have 5mins left for the loading screen.
so sod off with that about frostwhisper.
u guys have it good compared to us others!
Please, there's no need to start a "we have it worse" discussion. Let's keep this thread suitable for structured two-way communication without requiring heavy moderation. :)
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post759817 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/6/2006 7:06:53 PM PST
Subject: Re: Affected realms |
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Q u o t e:
A few things however, if you can improve the servers with hardware, why only chose the servers with current problems, instead of all servers so we wont run into these problems in the future.
I believe the idea is to observe what effect these improvement will have first. There are many components one may upgrade, though the actual gain from such upgrades are not certain until tested. If the upgrades (or some of them) prove to be very effective I'm sure we will do the same for other data centers that may need it.
Q u o t e:
Lowering the server pop cap is of course solution that might be neccesary, but you should then also offer more migrations away from the servers.
Absolutely something we keep in mind. However, load issues do limit the number of realms we can migrate from at the same time, thus this might not be practically doable. As an example, offering one week of migration for each realm on the list in post number 2 will take several months.
Q u o t e:
Announcing a hasty servertransfer ("next week you may move"), and then a few days later announce that our server will be fixed..
The migration to Drak'thul is as much to provide more players on that realm as to reduce queues on Shadow Moon and Zenedar. Shadow Moon was one of the most suitable realms to migrate from, and at the time migration was decided on these improvements were thought to be a bit further away.
I'm sorry if this affects the Shadow Moon community in such a negative way, and it's of course unlucky timing that these issues reach a peak just as migration away from the realm is opened. Then again, we do of course hope many (but not too many) will migrate as Drak'thul is on the (currently) least populated data center.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post760123 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/7/2006 12:17:03 PM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
how old is drak'thul actually? is it a new server with already better HW than shadow moon?
Drak'thul was opened on December 19th. The performance issues are not due to hardware on single realms but the backend supporting all realms in a data center.
Q u o t e:
Lowering the player cap will only result in longer queues... Honestly i can't see the point in that.
It will result in longer queues, but not only longer queues. It will also result in fewer players in-game, meaning less strain on the data center and a better play experience for those who are in-game.
Does one give X players a bad game experience with Y in queue, or does one give X-z players a better experience with Y+z in queue? That's not an easy decision, which is why it's still under evaluation.
Q u o t e:
Well Thundgot you are saying that you hope that: "many (but not too many) will migrate". I would like to ask you how much do u consider <b>too many</b>. Because as far as I know nearly whole CZ/SK community is moving thanks to ongoing server problems (major lags and DC in raid instances, + retriving character list and loading lag). And this will just my personall guess but that community is counting about 1000+ ppl. And most of those people will not only their main toons but also alts. So I am little bit worried that Blizzard will cut the migration in half - leaving half of the community stranded. On other hand if Blizzard would postpone the migration of SM until the HW upgrade then there could be a consensus that we dont need to migrate. (Current situation is such that many are saying that it wont change a damn)
I can't give a number for the point where we have to consider closing the migration. It's probably all about not going above the population cap on Drak'thul, creating new queues for those migrating. You mention 1000+ though and I can say that it can easily receive 1000 players without trouble. The point where we evaluate closing the migration is much higher than that.
If you're want to be absolutely sure to not end up on different realms you should make sure to migrate the same day, just in case.
Q u o t e:
What about Kor'Gall?
We've had some insane lag for the last week. Please check our realm forum.
Q u o t e:
How can Magtheridon not be a part of this? We've had extended maintance SERVERAL times, not to mention TWO DAYS downtime when you applied the new patch.
Kor'gall and Magtheridon are in newer and less loaded data centers. While realms in these other data centers have their own performance issues these are not affecting the entire data center and is not part of the actions covered in this thread. They're still being addressed though.
Q u o t e:
I search for your guideness at this dark hour.
You promissed a hardware update to stormreaver ( EU , english). To the best benefit to me and to other stormreaver players I ask you how long is it goint to take, are we talking about weeks or months?
Currently I can't give any better ETA than what's given in the first post: next month.
Q u o t e:
nothing being done about daggerspine? :(
The data center hosting Daggerspine is not scheduled for a hardware upgade this time around, but Daggerspine is subject to other changes to address the performance issues.
Q u o t e:
But i cant connect to Defias Brotherhood and Venture Co for example whereas i can connect normally to the french servers. Not seeing those servers on the list , do you acknowledge there's a problem with those 2 servers???
Those two realms are in a different data center than most French realms. Try look for Lightning's Blade (English) or Khaz Modan (French). If you can't see those either you're probably having problems connecting to that data center. I'm able to connect to all from home (tried right now) and the realms are not down. It could be a temporary peering issue. I'm sorry but I can't use this thread to address all technical issues as they happen. I must leave that to our GMs and technical staff.
Q u o t e:
Another thing. I've seen of lots of peoples having problems connection to www.wow-europe.com/en
The website naturally get a lot of traffic whenever there are technical issues, as players are looking for news and using the support contact forms. We see some of the same with the forums, but they usually manage to stay up albeit being very slow at times. I'm not sure what the status is on trying to make the site more robust but I'll bring it up next week.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post761321 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/8/2006 8:06:18 AM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
Thundegot, we already have 300 ppl in queue on our server and sureley other server has alose same queue. If this go through the queue will surley be up tp 600-700 ppl and wating time 1 hour to play. You think it sound logical?
That depends entirely on how much the cap is lowered.
Q u o t e:
Why then is Argent dawn *not* getting a hardware upgrade? Why are you, as you clearly imply, going to *lower* the population cap?
As posted before the upgrade is not based on single realms but entire data centers having performance issues. Argent Dawn is not in the most loaded and thus most troubled data center.
Lowering the realm cap is a temporary change to see how it impacts the performance.
Q u o t e:
it seems to me that the recent performance issues are directly linked to the 1.9 patch.
I've seen players link it to the maintenance during Christmas too, and yet others saying this has been happening for 3 months. It's very possible that everybody's right, but are referring to different issues, as some realms have had performance trouble for some time, but the overall issues on entire data centers are more recent.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post762894 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/8/2006 12:03:22 PM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
And while you are arsing around considering things at datacentre scale, I have to put up with 650 persons in the queue for my realm. You have lowered it's server cap by a few hundred, on the most populous server no less.
...
This decision re: cap reduction and your action to implement it, specifically on Argent Dawn, are utterly IMBECILIC.
The cap on Argent Dawn has not been lowered.
Q u o t e:
You should really move the server to another country, that got data centers able to handle this.. France clearly doesn't!
btw.. with don't these problems affect the french realms?!
The two data centers affected are the one in France and the first one in Germany. The one struggling the most is the German one. All old French realms are located in the French one.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post763688 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/9/2006 1:47:03 PM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
A) I did not see The Venture co. on that list. We are experiencing huge lag (not showing on ping, but its still there). And when I see we I mean everyone on the server.
The Venture Co., and many other realms, are not on the list because it's not in the data centers suffering from these issues across every realm. The Venture Co., like those other realms, are still being looked at, but do not belong under this particular topic.
Q u o t e:
I am asuming that one piece of hardware (one tower server) in a hardware center manages a couple of realms at a time, right? So heres a suggestion; Why not LOWER the amount of realms managed by one piece of hardware and keep the player cap the same per realm or RAISE the cap slightly?
A good suggestion, but not as easily done as said.
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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| | http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general-en&t=759468&p=#post766612 |
Poster: Thundgot at 1/10/2006 12:58:07 PM PST
Subject: Re: Addressing realm performance |
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Q u o t e:
Please Thundgot,
let me know if i've to consider my moneys wasted, or if there are possibilities i could reach my friends soon.
I'm sorry but there's still no ETA on lifting the character creation block. We'll let you know as soon as we have an ETA.
Q u o t e:
This begs to proove; its not a question of *can* do, but a question of *want* to do.
Obviously there are some people who want to improve gameplay, otherwise nothing would happen, yet if the person(s) that have the final word *wanted* to, everything could be better in a flash.
Nothing is done in a flash. Everything can be done. But the more extreme changes the more time is needed. ("Nothing is impossible. Miracles just take longer time" as they say.) If all hardware and software optimization could be done in a few hours, there would be absolutely no discussion about it. It's extremely rare that things are as simple in reality as a ~20 word description. As an example, see the "move Ravencrest to Sweden" post above. ;)
Q u o t e:
Hurray for blizard! They are gonna make the queue longer so we don't have to wait 50 minutes in retrieving character list! :D This means, 1 hour and 50 minutes in the queue instead of just one hour :) This owns!
A lower cap has already been tried out, and the cap is now back to normal.
Q u o t e:
this is the cause of lag problems? or is only for the long qeues?
This is addressing the performance issues (login and game-play). It's not addressing each individual realm's population (i.e. queues).
That there is one damn fine epic you're wearin'.
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