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Information about server capacity needed.

How will the AOC server architecture handle the masses that want to play on a popular server? is a solution in place to increase the capacity? Will the servers have layers?
I'm asking because atm I'm playing WOW classic and anno 2022 blizzard still has not yet found a solution to increase the server capacity on the wow classic realms. Personally I find it very unlikely that there is no solution to the server capacity anno 2022 and was wondering how Intrepid will approach this on their end.

Comments

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  • XenotorXenotor Member, Alpha Two
    Natasha wrote: »
    Mrdgames wrote: »
    How will the AOC server architecture handle the masses that want to play on a popular server? is a solution in place to increase the capacity? Will the servers have layers?
    I'm asking because atm I'm playing WOW classic and anno 2022 blizzard still has not yet found a solution to increase the server capacity on the wow classic realms. Personally I find it very unlikely that there is no solution to the server capacity anno 2022 and was wondering how Intrepid will approach this on their end.

    Servers won't have layering/sharding, servers will be limited to 8-10,000 concurrent players on release with a capacity for 15,000 players total. with this gradually increasing to 50,000 player capacity after launch (keeping the 8-10,000 concurrent player limit)

    You can find more information here: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers

    Interesting to know that they plan to limit it to 15.000.

    I would limit it to 10.000 at launch and only increase it after a week.

    Reason being that at launch every person will want to play.
    Most people will also take vacations for launch week.
    So with a limit of 15.000 you will have a 5000 person que.
    Nobody will want to logoff to avoid the que so people will do everything to stay afk ingame.
    From running scripts to having a poket watch under the mouse.
    This in return increases the que time to hours.

    Nothing makes people quit the game at launch more then being unable to play at all due to being stuck in que for 5 - 16 hours.

    So yah i am hoping they change the limit it to 10.000 and avoid ques all together for the first couple days /weeks and later increase the cap.
    53ap2sc6pdgv.gif
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  • bloodprophetbloodprophet Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Server population

    Population limits will be enforced on each server.[32]

    Around 8-10k concurrent users per server is projected.[33][13][34][35]
    Initially there will be a limited number of registered accounts (approximately 15,000) per server to help mitigate login queues.[36]
    This limit will increase over time to around 50,000 registered accounts per server.[36][37][38]

    The developers intend to carefully manage server populations via the use of character creation throttles to avoid the need to merge servers.[37][39] There may be queues to get into high population servers, but the aim is to avoid excessively long queues.[38]

    Part of the equation of essentially watching to make sure that we don't over populate the server selection, but at the same time making sure that there's not a queue system in place that's so long it's detrimental to the concurrency of the player's will to play so to speak. It's a tough balancing act.[38] – Steven Sharif

    Registered accounts is the key phrase here. that is not the number of people in queue. As the world spins people log in and out and servers not being region locked we will see people from all over the globe playing at different times.
    Most people never listen. They are just waiting on you to quit making noise so they can.
  • ScarbeusScarbeus Member, Alpha Two
    I don't have the quote but Steven was asked about this on (I think) the August stream and he was mentioning they were looking at seeing if they could expand the number of players per server. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will if they find out it's possible.
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  • VoxtriumVoxtrium Member, Alpha Two
    Can someone detail what exactly character creation throttles is?
  • edited September 2022
    This content has been removed.
  • Xenotor wrote: »
    Natasha wrote: »
    Mrdgames wrote: »
    How will the AOC server architecture handle the masses that want to play on a popular server? is a solution in place to increase the capacity? Will the servers have layers?
    I'm asking because atm I'm playing WOW classic and anno 2022 blizzard still has not yet found a solution to increase the server capacity on the wow classic realms. Personally I find it very unlikely that there is no solution to the server capacity anno 2022 and was wondering how Intrepid will approach this on their end.

    Servers won't have layering/sharding, servers will be limited to 8-10,000 concurrent players on release with a capacity for 15,000 players total. with this gradually increasing to 50,000 player capacity after launch (keeping the 8-10,000 concurrent player limit)

    You can find more information here: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers

    Interesting to know that they plan to limit it to 15.000.

    I would limit it to 10.000 at launch and only increase it after a week.

    Reason being that at launch every person will want to play.
    Most people will also take vacations for launch week.
    So with a limit of 15.000 you will have a 5000 person que.
    Nobody will want to logoff to avoid the que so people will do everything to stay afk ingame.
    From running scripts to having a poket watch under the mouse.
    This in return increases the que time to hours.

    Nothing makes people quit the game at launch more then being unable to play at all due to being stuck in que for 5 - 16 hours.

    So yah i am hoping they change the limit it to 10.000 and avoid ques all together for the first couple days /weeks and later increase the cap.

    Not everyone will log in at the same time. The problem with new world for example was there was a 10k person queue with a 2k server limit lol. If that queue was limited to 1k or if they put a cap on the amount of people registered per server there wouldn't have been a problem.
  • Scarbeus wrote: »
    I don't have the quote but Steven was asked about this on (I think) the August stream and he was mentioning they were looking at seeing if they could expand the number of players per server. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will if they find out it's possible.

    He did mention that, but thats not really a solution for the problem at all.
    Whether its 10k concurrent and 5k waiting or 15k concurrent and 7.5k waiting is really not relevant to the issue at all.

    The huge influx of players during launch week followed by an exodus of all the tourists will be the exact same, whether its 10k or 15k concurrent.

    This hasnt been a hardware related issue in a long time either. Its game and world design that feed into and facilitate the launch problem. Can it be solved? No, but it can be minimized.
  • BaSkA_9x2BaSkA_9x2 Member, Alpha Two
    What really matters is how they'll deal with the initial hype: low number of servers and big queues or high number of servers, low queues and server mergers down the road.

    Hopefully the latter.
    🎶Galo é Galo o resto é bosta🎶
  • SapiverenusSapiverenus Member
    edited September 2022
    Xenotor wrote: »
    Nothing makes people quit the game at launch more then being unable to play at all due to being stuck in que for 5 - 16 hours.

    You're exaggerating lol. People didn't quit/avoid Diablo 3 because of a bad start if that's what you're thinking of.

    i guess letting 1000 people login a char every 4 minutes up to 10k is something approximating a solution.
    Let people create a char before the server is 'open' and randomly pull 1000 in over the course of 30 seconds, every 4 minutes or something until hitting the 10k max or whatever it'll be.
    Don't let people have more than 1 char per server and don't set account limit higher than server max on launch day.
  • LordPaxLordPax Member, Alpha Two
    I know it will be no where near the release levels, but when Alpha 2 gets introduced(and later, the Betas), I will be interested to see how everything holds up.
    jlyhubmxm6w1.png

    Founder and Guild Leader of -Providence-
  • mobtekmobtek Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    no that's a studio not providing enough resources for the issue not an issue caused by the infrastructure
  • XenotorXenotor Member, Alpha Two
    Natasha wrote: »
    Xenotor wrote: »

    Interesting to know that they plan to limit it to 15.000.

    I would limit it to 10.000 at launch and only increase it after a week.

    Reason being that at launch every person will want to play.
    Most people will also take vacations for launch week.
    So with a limit of 15.000 you will have a 5000 person que.
    Nobody will want to logoff to avoid the que so people will do everything to stay afk ingame.
    From running scripts to having a poket watch under the mouse.
    This in return increases the que time to hours.

    Nothing makes people quit the game at launch more then being unable to play at all due to being stuck in que for 5 - 16 hours.

    So yah i am hoping they change the limit it to 10.000 and avoid ques all together for the first couple days /weeks and later increase the cap.

    That's exactly how you end up with a dead server. you need a concurrent player base when the original hype for the game dies down. the method intrepid has planned includes a small player buffer zone at launch so that the servers will always have people. the capacity for accounts increasing over time will just ensure the life of the server over time. people also don't want to become split from their friends in a game that will not have server transfers at launch (which becomes more likely with the lowered launch cap.)

    they've said character creation will be throttled to avoid excessive queue times and funnel players into the lower population realms.

    People will just have to come to terms with the fact that there will always be a queue for the launch of games. the only way to skip the queue was to get a headstart from the kickstarter campaigns.

    Only ends with dead servers if the population does not grow after launch.
    Yes the tourists will leave but there are cases where MMORPG population grew afterwards.
    I believe FFIV is one of them
    If the game is good, it will attract people.


    Giving people the ability to easy delete their character and start somewhere else without waiting in que will also help to mitigate the problem.
    That is, if they limit to 1 char on an account at launch.
    That way the number of chars = the number of players on a server.
    Easy close or open the flood gates.

    "people also don't want to become split from their friends in a game that will not have server transfers at launch "
    People dont want to become split period.
    A game should do everything so friends can play together and stop anything that will hinder that.
    -being forced to play on different servers as they cant select the same server.
    -being unable to start in the same region of the world.
    -being unable to login due to que while your friend is already online.

    Any kind of server cap, will make it that some friends will be already registerd on a server while the others are unable to do so as the cap is reached.
    No cap will however make it that friends sit in que all day while part of the group is already online.
    A balance aproche also doesnt work as the same problems with que happens here.
    Only the aprioch of everyone who is registerd, can play will allow friends to play together.
    Of course only if its easy to find a server to play together on.

    How about a friend menu not in world but inside the main menu.
    Group up there like the mobas do.
    In stat of finding a match together they find a server together.
    Hell that could be expanded to guilds.

    And if some of them are on a locked server, they need the ability to easy and quickly delete their character.
    No waiting hours for the character to delete.
    No waiting hours in que just to get the ability to delete the character in the first place.

    Xenotor wrote: »
    Nothing makes people quit the game at launch more then being unable to play at all due to being stuck in que for 5 - 16 hours.

    You're exaggerating lol. People didn't quit/avoid Diablo 3 because of a bad start if that's what you're thinking of.

    i guess letting 1000 people login a char every 4 minutes up to 10k is something approximating a solution.
    Let people create a char before the server is 'open' and randomly pull 1000 in over the course of 30 seconds, every 4 minutes or something until hitting the 10k max or whatever it'll be.
    Don't let people have more than 1 char per server and don't set account limit higher than server max on launch day.

    I didnt even think of diablo 3. I mean MMORPGs in general.
    I have been part of quit a large number of launches over the last 23 years i have been playing MMORPGs.
    One would think the industry learned from past lessons but its the same every time.
    But nooo, the more popular the mmo the worse the launches.
    Ashes does good with limiting to 15k out of 10k max pop.
    But thats still too much.
    Limit to 10k at launch day and increase the cap every day by 100 for the first 7 days.
    I grantee you will get a 700 que that way but thats still better then 5000 que.


    While the 1000 login every 4 min sounds great on paper.
    It would mean friends being unable to group up be-course one guy got in first while the last guy had to wait 40 min due to bad luck.
    And i dont want to see the shitstorm such a thing would create on the forum.




    What about locking off servers from the headstart who already have 10.000 registered accounts before launch?
    Not forever but for a week maybe.

    While opening every headstart day another "new" empty server without pre registerd that have a limit of 15.000.

    Reason for this is that people who bought in kickstarter, Alpha 1 , 2 , beta 1 packs are already invested.
    Beta 1 sits currently at roughly 150€. Thats a high investment to quit within a couple days.
    Far different from the 15€.

    So i think people who invested so much are more likely to not only stay for quit a while, but will also take weeks of vacation for the launch.
    That means that the servers will run at or near capacity for at least 1 week maybe even 2 or 3 weeks.
    Sure the capacity will go down while people are sleeping.

    But with Node and castle siege times limited by time zones, its unlikely that people are active at night only will play on a server where siege time is in the evening.
    They will find servers with a prime time window where they are active.


    You cant build a server on the rule that it runs at capacity 24 hours a day.
    In stat during the prime time window everyone who wants to play, should be able to play and not spend hours in que missing the events.

    Also think of this.
    You come home from a hard day at work and just want to watch Netflix.
    You pay your monthly sub for it after all.
    In stat you get a message stating that you have to wait 4 hours to watch.

    That is unacceptable in 2022 and you would demand a refund of your money if this went on for more then a single day.


    If all else fails i advocate to at least limit it to 11.000 - 12.000 accounts at launch and go up from there.
    Not ideal, a mistake in my eyes but better then the current 15.000.

    Hopefully we will test this during either Alpha 2 or one of the Betas and Intrepid acts accordingly.

    53ap2sc6pdgv.gif
  • norjjnorjj Member, Alpha Two
    I also want to voice concern over the proposed padding of 5k additional slots on server launch. Everyone plays games like this 24-7 on launch regardless of time zone\sleep schedule. Logging in late or getting a game crash only to be stuck in queue position 5000 is a deal breaker. Servers and slots should be 1:1 for at least the first week. ;)
  • DylbillyDylbilly Member
    Following on from Xenotor above.

    I hope this discussion has grown legs over time and I believe this is integral to any game, let alone a MMORPG at launch, for example, the latest big MMO was New World & at launch nearly reached 1mill players trying to play a month after launch. Lost Arc reached 1.3million. Of course the WoW sits well above the norm... but still, people are looking for a MMO change.

    Anyone who wanted to play the MMO was stuck in the endless sign in loop and sat for 2-4hrs wanting to play. As a casual gamer these days with the work life, all you want to do is sign on, play for 2-3hrs before bed and away you go until the next day.

    I really hope the server capacity put in place is ready for the 500K+ players that will be coming to Vera? It's coming and if you think its not your naive. Not 10k -15K...... let alone 50K that has been mentioned befor.

    Yes the eventual player count will relax down a little, but still if you want people to purchase a subscription, they need to be able to play, if you cant play, you will want to get a refund and go elsewhere until it gets lifted. If that's the motto, well that is a shame for us all that are wanting to play......

    Personally I want to pay for my subscription and play to my hearts content.
  • Mag7spyMag7spy Member, Alpha Two
    Dylbilly wrote: »
    Following on from Xenotor above.

    I hope this discussion has grown legs over time and I believe this is integral to any game, let alone a MMORPG at launch, for example, the latest big MMO was New World & at launch nearly reached 1mill players trying to play a month after launch. Lost Arc reached 1.3million. Of course the WoW sits well above the norm... but still, people are looking for a MMO change.

    Anyone who wanted to play the MMO was stuck in the endless sign in loop and sat for 2-4hrs wanting to play. As a casual gamer these days with the work life, all you want to do is sign on, play for 2-3hrs before bed and away you go until the next day.

    I really hope the server capacity put in place is ready for the 500K+ players that will be coming to Vera? It's coming and if you think its not your naive. Not 10k -15K...... let alone 50K that has been mentioned befor.

    Yes the eventual player count will relax down a little, but still if you want people to purchase a subscription, they need to be able to play, if you cant play, you will want to get a refund and go elsewhere until it gets lifted. If that's the motto, well that is a shame for us all that are wanting to play......

    Personally I want to pay for my subscription and play to my hearts content.

    It is a lot more difficult now a days its not easy to just be ready for however many people play the game suddenly. Since hype can bring a lot of people quickly, it should be expected you will have some server issues at the start of any launch. Its not really a new concept.

    Rather then jumping on instantly have patience and give them time to figure things out when they get there. The first few days - week is generally the worse time.


    I will say a positive would be if they allowed people to server transfer early on for free with the server issues the game will have at release. If they can't roll out new servers or they plan on locking servers. Since the thing people care about most is playing with their friends.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited May 4
    I think it’s going to be much less than 500K.
    But it’s a good goal.
  • OtrOtr Member, Alpha Two
    Dygz wrote: »
    I think it’s going to be much less than 500K.
    But it’s a good goal.
    Dygz wrote: »
    Azherae wrote: »
    50 servers to start sounds about right. 4-5 per timezone.

    Based on their expectations, that is.
    250K peak players for launch?

    There will be a peak interest at Alpha 2 launch.
    If A2 fails to maintain the interest while it gets more and more features, it might get fewer new subscribers.
    But the A2 key owners are automatically part of the release too as they payed for a number of months. So even if they didn't helped testing might join the release.
    And IS said

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=rrD4RCTbxds&t=2230s

    What is supposed to happen in order to make the A2 players ignore the release?
    IS to ignore the feedback received from the vast majority?
    What if they are closer to your play-style?
    Will their feedback be ignored?
    I think is easy to measure feedback, choose and predict during alpha 2.
    I cannot even predict my own votes now until I don't move the character with my own keyboard and mouse and do some leveling.
    And remember I keep insisting you to play and give feedback.
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    Dylbilly wrote: »
    Following on from Xenotor above.

    I hope this discussion has grown legs over time and I believe this is integral to any game, let alone a MMORPG at launch, for example, the latest big MMO was New World & at launch nearly reached 1mill players trying to play a month after launch. Lost Arc reached 1.3million. Of course the WoW sits well above the norm... but still, people are looking for a MMO change.

    Anyone who wanted to play the MMO was stuck in the endless sign in loop and sat for 2-4hrs wanting to play. As a casual gamer these days with the work life, all you want to do is sign on, play for 2-3hrs before bed and away you go until the next day.

    I really hope the server capacity put in place is ready for the 500K+ players that will be coming to Vera? It's coming and if you think its not your naive. Not 10k -15K...... let alone 50K that has been mentioned befor.

    Yes the eventual player count will relax down a little, but still if you want people to purchase a subscription, they need to be able to play, if you cant play, you will want to get a refund and go elsewhere until it gets lifted. If that's the motto, well that is a shame for us all that are wanting to play......

    Personally I want to pay for my subscription and play to my hearts content.

    servers* fixed it for you.
    Otr wrote: »
    Dygz wrote: »
    I think it’s going to be much less than 500K.
    But it’s a good goal.
    Dygz wrote: »
    Azherae wrote: »
    50 servers to start sounds about right. 4-5 per timezone.

    Based on their expectations, that is.
    250K peak players for launch?

    There will be a peak interest at Alpha 2 launch.
    If A2 fails to maintain the interest while it gets more and more features, it might get fewer new subscribers.
    But the A2 key owners are automatically part of the release too as they payed for a number of months. So even if they didn't helped testing might join the release.
    And IS said

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=rrD4RCTbxds&t=2230s

    What is supposed to happen in order to make the A2 players ignore the release?
    IS to ignore the feedback received from the vast majority?
    What if they are closer to your play-style?
    Will their feedback be ignored?
    I think is easy to measure feedback, choose and predict during alpha 2.
    I cannot even predict my own votes now until I don't move the character with my own keyboard and mouse and do some leveling.
    And remember I keep insisting you to play and give feedback.

    more people always play on release than in alphas or betas .-.
  • OtrOtr Member, Alpha Two
    Depraved wrote: »
    more people always play on release than in alphas or betas .-.

    Only if they like the game.
    Some will get invested into their dreams and be unhappy with choices and balancing made during alpha.
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  • IskiabIskiab Member, Alpha Two
    For a game with no teleporting and a large map, server capacity is a concern of mine. No idea what number will be required, but it’ll take a lot of people per server for the game to play well.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Otr wrote: »
    And remember I keep insisting you to play and give feedback.
    I will test and give feedback.
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