NA/EU Server Congestion: The Problem & A Solution for Devs (PLEASE READ)

[Ebojager]

I dont understand servers much, cant they do anything to increase the capacity of each world vs adding new ones?

[Tsuroku]

I dont understand servers much, cant they do anything to increase the capacity of each world vs adding new ones?

A lot of the problem is not only the installation, but also the configuring, testing, ordering, shipping, budgeting or just anything that is related to upgrading a piece of hardware (even more so for something of this magnitude). I am somewhat familiar with servers, but I think the best way to describe it would be like getting tires on your car switched out.

It would seem like a very simple switch, but what is time consuming are all the steps that lead up to the end result. What type of tires are you going to get, where are you going to get them, are they optimal for your car, can you afford them, how long will it take a technician or yourself to install them, if it takes longer do you have a back up vehicle to use? Its just stuff like this that make it a big pain.

[Ebojager]

A lot of the problem is not only the installation, but also the configuring, testing, ordering, shipping, budgeting or just anything that is related to upgrading a piece of hardware (even more so for something of this magnitude). I am somewhat familiar with servers, but I think the best way to describe it would be like getting tires on your car switched out.

It would seem like a very simple switch, but what is time consuming are all the steps that lead up to the end result. What type of tires are you going to get, where are you going to get them, are they optimal for your car, can you afford them, how long will it take a technician or yourself to install them, if it takes longer do you have a back up vehicle to use? Its just stuff like this that make it a big pain.

Thank you, that helps. Ive always wondered how the servers got full, or whatever, hard drive space, is each world multiple computers and can be enlarged by adding more space or computers, etc. Sounds interesting. Thanks for your reply.
Can I ask an unrelated question...the forum is only letting me post in the Technical Support forums, not the General or anything else ("New forum post cannot be made due to either you have reached to your daily limit or your main character's level is not high enough.")

[Tsuroku]

Thank you, that helps. Ive always wondered how the servers got full, or whatever, hard drive space, is each world multiple computers and can be enlarged by adding more space or computers, etc. Sounds interesting. Thanks for your reply.
Can I ask an unrelated question...the forum is only letting me post in the Technical Support forums, not the General or anything else ("New forum post cannot be made due to either you have reached to your daily limit or your main character's level is not high enough.")

I think you have to be level 25 to make a New Thread, but replying to an existing post should be fine.

[EmiliM]

I dont understand servers much, cant they do anything to increase the capacity of each world vs adding new ones?

It will probably be just as much work to upgrade existing servers vs getting new ones altogether. I'm led to believe the existing limit also takes into consideration of the game world design. For example, assuming at any given point 10% of players in each server can be found inside Gridania, and let's say Gridania can hold a maximum of 500 people before things start to look really crowded and unnatural. Then raising the population limit above 5,000 will potentially make a lot of the busier places very difficult to navigate.