[TW/PW] - A Word From the Founder & New Developments.
Posted: 31 Mar 2020 00:58
Greetings,
I'd like to take this time to personally apologize for the recent string of crashes on Saturday and Sunday. As you may have noticed, our population has finally been going into the triple digits. Last Sunday, we hit 104 online. This Saturday, it was 106 and on Sunday, we hit 109 online players.
As I'm sure you're aware, the more players there are, the more activity there is going on - be it PvE or PvP. As more content is being run with all their complex scripts in operation, bugs inevitably reveal themselves - bugs that are usually not known unless someone specifically runs some content that could have it. The complexity of any activity is often eclipsed by the complexity of its code. Unfortunately, such complexity inherently tends to have flaws as well. After all, we're only human. And code is man-made.
The recent crashes we experienced were due to code from TrinityCore that is quite ancient by current standards. This ancient code couldn't be debugged unless we had adequate data from our crash logs. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to diagnose and properly fix such issues.
However, Andriuspel, Natnat, Doctor_J and Heihachi are constantly doing their level best to stay on top of each issue that comes up. Bear in mind, they do this while also keeping up with the constant stream of reports on the bug tracker, our private Trello issue tracker (and several other places). At the same time, their regular duties (internal maintenance, tickets, development) are also a constant load whenever real-life permits them to carry them out.
With that being said, I'd like to take a moment to share some new developments with you all.
For the past several years, our previous update system revolved around a weekly schedule. We updated the server every Wednesday, for all realms. This process involved compiling the core on the server itself. Some of you may be aware that as our population declined, it became unfeasible for us to continue operating on our old host that was intended for a much larger load and population. Thus, when we downsized to a more economical and feasible host, our capacity to put heavy loads on the server was slightly diminished. Unfortunately, this meant that whenever we compiled the core on the server, the realms would usually lag a bit until the core was finished building. As such, doing daily updates would have meant lagging the realms daily just to keep everything up to date.
However, those days are now long gone. For more than 6 months now, we have been operating on a new system called Deployment. It was developed and implemented by none other than our brilliant and gifted administrator, Heihachi. Deployment is a system that allows us to off-load all compiles to an external server. This external server runs an identical copy of TrueWoW, PrimalWoW and the PTR. So, whenever we compile the core with new updates, they are handled on the build server, not the server that the realms are hosted on. This means that the realms don't lag at all due to absolutely no external loads being placed on it other than its normal operations. This new system allowed us to discard our old weekly update schedule and change over to a daily or semi-daily update schedule instead.
Additionally, Heihachi has also shifted our entire operations from IRC to Discord as well as integrated Discord into our server itself. Since compile lag is no longer a factor, thanks to Deployment, our developers can commit core fixes at any given time straight from Discord itself. They are free to request an update and/or request a compile. This said request can then be approved by our staff's Quartermaster, Axis, or any available Administrator. The approval of any new updates is as easy as a simple chat command that can be entered via the Desktop or Mobile version of the Discord app.
Here is an example of how these new systems allowed us to handle the recent crash crises on TW realm this past weekend:
In case any of the 3 realms ever crash, the staff is automatically pinged with the crash log attached to the time and date of the crash. Developers can quickly view the attached log, analyze it for issues and commit a fix as soon as time allows. Once the crash fix is approved by the appropriate personnel, compiles begin for both live realms and the PTR realms via the deployment system. Once they are deployed, any GM, Dev or Admin can order a server restart from Discord and the update goes live immediately thereafter.
This new system also allows our GMs, Devs and Admins to perform other server related tasks as well, such as answering tickets, making announcements, monitoring security feeds and various in-game chat channels, etc - all from the convenience of the staff section of Discord. For example, when players submit a ticket in-game, the entire staff is automatically pinged on Discord with the ticket, the name of the player who submitted it and the realm they did it from. Depending on the nature of the issue, concern or question submitted in the ticket, GMs are free to answer the ticket either by logging into the game on their GM character, or by submitting a response directly from Discord on their PC or their phone. The convenience, efficiency, and ease of operations that this transition has allowed us compared to our previous IRC system cannot be understated - this effectively allows our staff to respond to and/or deal with situations/issues on our server without having to be online in-game or on the website all the time. The result is faster response times and in turn, a player base that is free from the burdens of being underserved or overlooked in their time of need.
We sincerely hope that the development and changes to our backend and support systems have contributed to a more efficient and satisfactory handling of your tickets, issues, concerns and/or questions. It is our goal that every player receives the best service and support we have to offer as they make a home for themselves on our humble server. If you have any suggestions or comments you'd like to make, please do feel free to let us know.
Thank you all for your boundless patience and support.
With our very best regards,
TrueWoW Staff
I'd like to take this time to personally apologize for the recent string of crashes on Saturday and Sunday. As you may have noticed, our population has finally been going into the triple digits. Last Sunday, we hit 104 online. This Saturday, it was 106 and on Sunday, we hit 109 online players.
As I'm sure you're aware, the more players there are, the more activity there is going on - be it PvE or PvP. As more content is being run with all their complex scripts in operation, bugs inevitably reveal themselves - bugs that are usually not known unless someone specifically runs some content that could have it. The complexity of any activity is often eclipsed by the complexity of its code. Unfortunately, such complexity inherently tends to have flaws as well. After all, we're only human. And code is man-made.
The recent crashes we experienced were due to code from TrinityCore that is quite ancient by current standards. This ancient code couldn't be debugged unless we had adequate data from our crash logs. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to diagnose and properly fix such issues.
However, Andriuspel, Natnat, Doctor_J and Heihachi are constantly doing their level best to stay on top of each issue that comes up. Bear in mind, they do this while also keeping up with the constant stream of reports on the bug tracker, our private Trello issue tracker (and several other places). At the same time, their regular duties (internal maintenance, tickets, development) are also a constant load whenever real-life permits them to carry them out.
With that being said, I'd like to take a moment to share some new developments with you all.
For the past several years, our previous update system revolved around a weekly schedule. We updated the server every Wednesday, for all realms. This process involved compiling the core on the server itself. Some of you may be aware that as our population declined, it became unfeasible for us to continue operating on our old host that was intended for a much larger load and population. Thus, when we downsized to a more economical and feasible host, our capacity to put heavy loads on the server was slightly diminished. Unfortunately, this meant that whenever we compiled the core on the server, the realms would usually lag a bit until the core was finished building. As such, doing daily updates would have meant lagging the realms daily just to keep everything up to date.
However, those days are now long gone. For more than 6 months now, we have been operating on a new system called Deployment. It was developed and implemented by none other than our brilliant and gifted administrator, Heihachi. Deployment is a system that allows us to off-load all compiles to an external server. This external server runs an identical copy of TrueWoW, PrimalWoW and the PTR. So, whenever we compile the core with new updates, they are handled on the build server, not the server that the realms are hosted on. This means that the realms don't lag at all due to absolutely no external loads being placed on it other than its normal operations. This new system allowed us to discard our old weekly update schedule and change over to a daily or semi-daily update schedule instead.
Additionally, Heihachi has also shifted our entire operations from IRC to Discord as well as integrated Discord into our server itself. Since compile lag is no longer a factor, thanks to Deployment, our developers can commit core fixes at any given time straight from Discord itself. They are free to request an update and/or request a compile. This said request can then be approved by our staff's Quartermaster, Axis, or any available Administrator. The approval of any new updates is as easy as a simple chat command that can be entered via the Desktop or Mobile version of the Discord app.
Here is an example of how these new systems allowed us to handle the recent crash crises on TW realm this past weekend:
In case any of the 3 realms ever crash, the staff is automatically pinged with the crash log attached to the time and date of the crash. Developers can quickly view the attached log, analyze it for issues and commit a fix as soon as time allows. Once the crash fix is approved by the appropriate personnel, compiles begin for both live realms and the PTR realms via the deployment system. Once they are deployed, any GM, Dev or Admin can order a server restart from Discord and the update goes live immediately thereafter.
This new system also allows our GMs, Devs and Admins to perform other server related tasks as well, such as answering tickets, making announcements, monitoring security feeds and various in-game chat channels, etc - all from the convenience of the staff section of Discord. For example, when players submit a ticket in-game, the entire staff is automatically pinged on Discord with the ticket, the name of the player who submitted it and the realm they did it from. Depending on the nature of the issue, concern or question submitted in the ticket, GMs are free to answer the ticket either by logging into the game on their GM character, or by submitting a response directly from Discord on their PC or their phone. The convenience, efficiency, and ease of operations that this transition has allowed us compared to our previous IRC system cannot be understated - this effectively allows our staff to respond to and/or deal with situations/issues on our server without having to be online in-game or on the website all the time. The result is faster response times and in turn, a player base that is free from the burdens of being underserved or overlooked in their time of need.
We sincerely hope that the development and changes to our backend and support systems have contributed to a more efficient and satisfactory handling of your tickets, issues, concerns and/or questions. It is our goal that every player receives the best service and support we have to offer as they make a home for themselves on our humble server. If you have any suggestions or comments you'd like to make, please do feel free to let us know.
Thank you all for your boundless patience and support.
With our very best regards,
TrueWoW Staff