As some of you might have noticed, the server has been acting up a bit here and there lately. While things still function they have not been functioning top notch like we like. We are aware of the issues and are working nearly around the clock to figure them out, address them and get them corrected.
So what exactly does this mean?
Simple, we are preparing for another code update in the near future. The code has become a bit unstable due to various reasons that we will not bore you with, but know this, things will be better, that's a fact.
What about the massive update back in february the messed some stuff up?
Back in February, the code recieved a much larger update than what is planned right now. We are not planning to go further in revisions (at this moment) simply only to remove the excess code which is slowing down the server and causing some issues.
What happens if this goes badly?
It won't, but we have back ups upon back ups. In fact, we have back ups in over 5 different countries around the world on top of backups on many different machines in those countries, so do not worry about this. If things go bad, we will have the capability to restore to a previous backup very, very quickly and fix the issues and try again.
What about testing? Will there even be any?
Really? The answer is always yes. Things are always tested before they are released. Are they tested to the greatest magnitude possible? No. There is no way that the dev team can test anything and everything to the same level as the community as a whole. When the update is ready, we will make announcements in game and on the update page for people to come help us test on the test server. The more people help us, the less headache it is on both sides when the update goes live.
When will this be happening?
Right now we don't have an exact date set. We have been going through the code and fixing what we can for the past week and hope to get all of this up and running as quickly as possible. As always look to the update page for the latest information on the server.
Why not just keep things the way they are?
The server is ever changing, ever evolving, the fixes that were made prior were accomplished to address the issues at the time. However some of them are now causing issues that have to be addressed. If we leave things the way they are, things will not get better.
What will be the outcome of this?
In the end, it allows for two major things: 1. The server will respond much faster and be less boggled down by excess code that it is trying to call/process. 2. Much faster updates on the developer side since we will have a better comparison of our code versus EqEmu's code. Thus allowing us to install patches to fix error/exploits/bugs faster than before.
As always, we strive to improve the server and offer the best custom content and gameplay available throughout the EqEmu community. All we ask is for some patience and understanding as we sort through all of the issues we are coming across.
P.S. On a lighter note, we are planning to have a Double Experience weekend next weekend (September 23-26)! So pull out those alts and get grinding!
Enjoy Your Stay,
THF Team