Server Issues and Limitations

[captainpicard]

SE would never outsource a MMO that will be constantly updated for its life, which they want to be as long as possible, if they outsource the server builds, the servers are not SE's property and cant touch them, only buy new ones, there are plenty of companies with servers that just arent plugged in because they cant touch them and the vendors did not collect them after relationships broke down, there are also servers that are running and the company doesnt want to switch them off because they could be important.

Also with the software builds outsourcing them is just plain stupid for a games manufacturer, you know people who make games.

It is impossible to speculate what goes on behind the scenes because the possibilities are endless. Yes there are programming problems and network/server problems but these can be hard to find without starting from scratch, and poor programming makes it alot harder, if the programming is really bad it can take a team of 5 people twice as long as one person using good code to do one thing.

The problem is not the amount of staff its the quality of the origanal progamming which makes everyones life harder. If they want to work on the core programming they will need to pull people from other projects to keep pushing content and features out, so they will probably do that a bit later because it is needed.

I think you make a lot of valid points here and it fairly kills my idea that they outsourced the code.

I just can't get past the actual changes they have made in the game. When I look at whats really been changed, it seems like very small pieces of code. Lets evaluate a few examples with the understanding that in my opinion, these are not major coding feats that should take the kind of time we are talking about:

1. Adding NM to the various zones = add a mob with a hidden level that drops a new item and has a unique name
2. Change skill point calculation from random to predictable = delete randomizer, tie player level to mob level, create base sp modifer, add group bonus
3. Simplify recipes = add new simple recipes with same outcome as more complex recipes, delete complex reciples from db later
4. Make hotbar not disappear = "hotbar.disappear = false;"
5. Change hotbar graphics = draw new icons, replace old icons with new ones
6. Speed up (if you call it that) retainer interactions = delete line of code that was requesting server confirmation every time the user moused over an item
7. Events = cut and paste, new skins, new text
8. Delete Stamina Bar = /* comment stamina bar code */ add timers to each skill

You see where I am going with this. The change we have seen over the past year since release, when evaluated honestly, is not at least from the outsider looking in standpoint, major code changes. If this was your C# program, then you know how easy these things would be to accomplish in very little time.

The fact that simple things like kick user from linkshell, or mounts, or airships, and so forth have not been added as of the date of this posting tells me either

1. There is next to no staff working on this project
2. The staff working on this project doesn't understand the code
3. The staff working on this project are very, very bad coders
4. All of the above

Take your pick. I mean really there is no explainable reason for the lack of overall sweeping change. That is what led me to speculate on this games development having been partly outsourced.

When you look at the quality of some of SE's none MMO titles, it looks as if a completely different company developed them.

I also seem to recall an announcement around the time of launch that there would be Chinese servers and the game would be served up by a Chinese company, and modified to suit that audience appropriately, which also makes me wonder if said company didn't actually author the game itself or have a hand in some of the code we see in effect today.

We have gotten incremental change. You typically give incremental change when you don't want to inadvertently take down critical systems. Baby steps. They have already stated that player retention is not a goal at this time, and they are not charging for the game, so this is the time to make those changes that could take down the system. What do they have to lose?

I am just stumped.