What exactly IS the problem? You can tell us!

When the housing lottery bug first happened, there were a bunch of armchair programmers saying this and that, when the real issue was just how the information went from one server to another.

And though he didn't have to, YoshiP took time out to explain what was happening, step by step in a way that we all understood.

Even with Crystal Conflict in PVP, they didn't HAVE to redo it, but they did, because the old version, despite them throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it in terms of rewards to get people interested, the very core of the thing was broken from the start and no amount of band-aids could fix it. So they had to scrap it and start over.

So why not do the same for housing? Tell us what the problem is. Server architecture problems? Too many players even for instanced housing? Something else? (I'm the farthest thing from an armchair programmer so I have no idea). I'd like to think they can be honest and open with us and admit that there are problems. Nobody's perfect. But I've never heard a word about what's really wrong with housing.. other than just guesses. :confused:

https://i.imgur.com/YR4HMnN.jpg

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Originally Posted by Markfresh

https://i.imgur.com/YR4HMnN.jpg

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The experts are the ones who made this mess in the first place.

They're probably trying to figure out how to tie housing to NFTs.

They've explained a few tech things in the past. Restrictions on the number of housing wards is similar to any other limited thing like dresser space and inventory space. In all cases it's not a lack of data storage but rather a server performance bottleneck.

If wards kept generating automatically to meet demand, they couldn't guarantee a lag-free player experience due to the server strain of running so many ward instances simultaneously. Every time they add wards it must be considered carefully and tested beforehand.

Similar rule applies to why they can't just add hundreds more dresser slots. They need to consider the performance cost of many players accessing that amount of data simultaneously. Player inventories have to be backed up at regular intervals to ensure there's no rollback in case of a disconnect, etc. Lots of annoying management of server resources that prevent them from just adding lots and lots of stuff people want.

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Originally Posted by Markfresh

https://i.imgur.com/YR4HMnN.jpg

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The same experts that brought us FFXIV v1.0? At least in that version, when you rolled on loot, there was no rolling a zero.

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Originally Posted by Markfresh

https://i.imgur.com/YR4HMnN.jpg

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This HAS to be satire. Please say it is...

Another thread batching about the same thing zzzz

they wont tell us probably all the winner plot has the shadow "0" participaters. So if they disclose the truth they may have to rollback all the entries,

so they will keep playing the game of pretending they are the respnsible developer.

btw everytime they say please enjoy the housing system, it makes me sick

before bursting into tears they already told that.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

before bursting into tears they already told that.

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The ammount of times I've seen the developers cry in live letters leades me to believe its fake.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

The ammount of times I've seen the developers cry in live letters leades me to believe its fake.

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Jesus Christ...

I just find it hilarious that homies like me that actually build high rises on plots in real life; cant even have his piece in a video game.

We dont need to know the exact problem. They told us there was problem and thats all we need to know. End of story.

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Originally Posted by Bunnycake

Jesus Christ...

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Idk man the only time it felt really genuine to me was when they were discussing Soken, I thought the delay thing was a little weird, considering they disregarded peoples PTO when trying for a house by disclosing fuck-all about it in almost exactly the same way.

Those are the only 2 times. One is a life threatening issue, the others are shortcomings of foresight; and I feel like there's greed beyond it people arent seeing because they think of the tears. I remain unconvinced that they cant do better with everything they actually have at their disposal

So whether it's real or fake doesnt make a difference, because:
1. This is just as likely a result of a bureaucratic/or budgeting related failure that doesnt even necessarily need to land squarely on the heads of people who "cry". Its SE's fault in its entirety
2. It doesnt change that some people who have their hopes/free time essentially wasted because of these failures shed tears that are indisputably real. Stop quantifying people's problems as greater just because theyre celebrities.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

The ammount of times I've seen the developers cry in live letters leades me to believe its fake.

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They already told you, you wont get such a clear answer from Blizzard, Sony Onlien Entertaiment, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and unfortunately for you, then they are actually going to do something about it as well, they even shut down the lotteries until it is fixed, no other company dares to do that.

They even told how many business days for each step it would take, what more do you want?

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

They already told you, you wont get such a clear answer from Blizzard, Sony Onlien Entertaiment, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and unfortunately for you, then they are actually going to do something about it as well, they even shut down the lotteries until it is fixed, no other company dares to do that.

They even told how many business days for each step it would take, what more do you want?

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I mean so far the only answer wev'e gotten is "we're working on it, no eta"

which is EXACTLY the kind of response you'd get from....basically anyone.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

I mean so far the only answer wev'e gotten is "we're working on it, no eta"

which is EXACTLY the kind of response you'd get from....basically anyone.

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Except they did give us an initial ETA. Go back to Lodestone and read the third follow-up.

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Reproducing the Issue and Further Investigation

The root cause of the issue has been determined, and we are currently running a test to reproduce said issue on the development servers. To complete this testing and verify that we have correctly identified the cause will require at least one more business day.

Fixing Identified Errors

The processes causing the issue will be adjusted so as to function as intended and correctly notify the housing server. We will then verify whether or not implementing these fixes resolves the overall issue.

Verifying Fixes

After we are certain of the root cause of the issue, we must test whether the implemented fix indeed resolves it. We expect this process to take approximately three to five business days, but ask in advance for your understanding in the event that it takes longer than expected to determine with certainty that the issue is resolved.

Restoring Lottery Data

The lottery data that exists on the server responsible for processing results will be used to overwrite the housing server so that the correct data is reflected. This will be done at the same time that fixes for the issue are implemented, and will require a maintenance period for all Worlds. Maintenance times will be shared as soon as we have determined them.

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Then the fourth follow-up:

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Reproducing the Issue and Further Investigation
Fixing Identified Errors

These steps are now complete. During this process, we also identified and addressed an issue affecting relocation between plots, which occurred rarely under certain conditions.

Verifying Fixes

We are currently in the process of verifying our fixes to the program on an internal development server. We previously announced an estimate of three to five business days to complete this step, but as we are checking everything with meticulous care, it may require several extra days to be fully certain that the issue is resolved.

Restoring Lottery Data

The same meticulous care is being taken with the lottery data. In our internal testing, we are replicating the exact same environment on the public servers to ensure that the data restoration proceeds without issue.

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Now he's saying it will take longer than expected, but the time frame is still additional days. That's better than it taking additional weeks.

Do you really wanting them rushing out a half-baked fix that ends up not working, or would you prefer one that fixes the problem so all future lotteries work as intended?

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Originally Posted by SuperSxyNerd

Another thread batching about the same thing zzzz

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Nah, I don't even have a house nor do I want one. I'm just curious that if we could get a very long, detailed and understandable response to the lottery system error, why they couldn't do something similar in terms of an explanation as to "why we can't have instanced housing" or "why island sanctuary isn't going to be what you think", threads that show up here every week.

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

"why we can't have instanced housing"

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They did already. They stated many times before that they simply prefer the Neighborhood Style. Just as simple as it is.

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

"why island sanctuary isn't going to be what you think"

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Because Players are dumb as f*** or not able or both to read interviews or official given information and therefore cant stop dreaming and wanking about a imaginary projection which we know nothing about till Square shares more information about the Island.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

I mean so far the only answer wev'e gotten is "we're working on it, no eta"

which is EXACTLY the kind of response you'd get from....basically anyone.

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You got the ETA they even gave a date for it, 16th of may or there about, you must be traumatized from other MMO's where Devs/GMs give a damn about the players.

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

When the housing lottery bug first happened, there were a bunch of armchair programmers saying this and that, when the real issue was just how the information went from one server to another.

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For a basic communication issue, taking an entire month to fix it is excessive though. It surely might be the most simplistic explenation, but its definitely incomplete.

I think there are a lot more underlying issues that they refused to mention because they are a lot more technical. My guess would be that it has to do with corrupted data (and something like rolling the winner and then discarding all participants can already be considered corrupted on that), and fixing those issues are a lot more complex. Testing can on that also be difficult as you actualy want to try potential issues in those tests (and even just getting a good and reliable executing method there can be difficult). But without any information it can be a lot of things, even just basic timing checks can create a conflict when you try to fix it.

I definitely would like a lot more technical details on that. But hey, at least it were some details... plenty of companies would just be silent, fix it the ugly way and even state it was working as intended while in the mean time just fix it and give some temporary bandaid fix with a false argument.

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Originally Posted by UkcsAlias

For a basic communication issue, taking an entire month to fix it is excessive though. It surely might be the most simplistic explenation, but its definitely incomplete.

I think there are a lot more underlying issues that they refused to mention because they are a lot more technical. My guess would be that it has to do with corrupted data (and something like rolling the winner and then discarding all participants can already be considered corrupted on that), and fixing those issues are a lot more complex. Testing can on that also be difficult as you actualy want to try potential issues in those tests (and even just getting a good and reliable executing method there can be difficult). But without any information it can be a lot of things, even just basic timing checks can create a conflict when you try to fix it.

I definitely would like a lot more technical details on that. But hey, at least it were some details... plenty of companies would just be silent, fix it the ugly way and even state it was working as intended while in the mean time just fix it and give some temporary bandaid fix with a false argument.

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It is a very sensetive area when it get to housing, they know that, they are going to make rock sure on that it is going to work as intended for starters and as for anyone who know a little about in general work procedures not only towards video games but other industries as well... you don't just fix something... release something and more before all tests are done, and if you got a serious RMA case, then it is going to take time as well.. it can be everything from food types send to analyzis... to a piece of metal inside a plane that need to be stresstested or found a replacemant alloy to permanently replace something.

That it only take around a month to fix, is nothing compared to cases elsewhere.. where it can take months... as third party investigations enter as well.. security procedures and more, and they already told how many business days each step will take and that is excluding National Holidays and weekends as well.