A Summary of Everything 64bit from Friday@4 w/Severlin

[Kobay]

Keep in mind, some of the topics were a bit all over the place so it was kind of hard to keep track of when they were talking about what, so there may be some incorrect things here. But I did my best to organize all the bits of info I could pull from watching the stream. More Information about a lot of this should be coming in the weeks ahead. But hopefully this will help some of you get an idea of what's ahead and what exactly got said during the stream.

Standard 64-Bit Server Information

• First and foremost, Severlin lets us know that this is NOT a Commodore 64 OR N64 Port. (Little bit of Humor there)
• They are still trying to figure out how exactly they want to use the technology and integrate it into DDO.
• Do not have the capability nor do they want to just deploy this to all the servers cause they want to see how this works over time and keep an eye on it
• New 64-Bit Servers will be hosted on New Datacenter in Las Vegas, so it’s not only a new server, but a new Data Center. Ping will be slightly higher on East Coast then.
• EU Server not likely to happen. Can’t justify the cost. It would be even more expensive. Will see how things go though.
• DDO Store Account Purchases will carry over to new servers. (Just not Character or Server Specific purchases that you would typically have to purchase on a new server anyways.)
• Uses Cache of backend processes to optimize memory.

First Test Server

Next Week or week after: Test of 64-Bit Server that allows Free "Character Copies" (Similar to it is currently done on Lammania) for all players to flood the server and stress test the server. Free to all players

• Lammania Game Launcher
• New Server, not Lamannia.
• Future Stress Test Servers expected as well.
• Event won’t be previewed on this server

First LIVE 64-Bit Server:

• Cormyr is the name of the Server
• VIP Only Server No Character Transfers
• Server will stay up long term. Not limited to like a 90 day period like a traditional hardcore server, but the event could come and go.
• Normal Server so doesn’t have the restrictions that a normal hardcore server does.
• Launch of Server will include the Lanterns in the Mist Event: (Associated with Mist of Ravenloft)
• Server will stay up long term. Not limited to like a 90 day period like a traditional hardcore server, but the event could come and go.

Lanterns of The Mist

Associated with Mist of Ravenloft, so can expect things to take on this theme.

Lanterns:

• Claim 1 or more lanterns at first level. 5 in Total Available
• You equip it to your trinket slot.
• One Lantern Allows you to See Mistwalkers, but it can’t be destroyed. (Thus not earning rewards? Like participating in the event but not being forced to worry about the “Hardcore Aspect”
• One Lantern you equip and if you die it is destroyed and it destroys any other lanterns you have. “Hardcore-Esque where you earn rewards”
• Have to get to certain level or goals in order to proceed. I.E. Level 20 and earn Lanterns that give you rewards?
• Can use Lantern that is not destroyed and still play with players that are using Lanterns that can be destroyed. To encourage people to stick around and play even if you aren’t participating in the hardcore aspect of the event.
• Lantern is Opt In

Mist-Walkers

• Similar to Hounds from Previous Hardcore Event. A mob that spawns during the event.
• Mistwalkers won’t appear to people outside level range of quest.
• Can only appear if someone in group has a lantern.

The Future of 64-Bit

This is all speculation for the most part because it depends entirely on how all the future server tests go down the line. But it establishes kind of what they are hoping to do.

They would like to set up New 64-Bit Servers that allow for transfers and free to all players, but have to first establish a successful 64-bit Server. Still a ways off. Will require:

• Setting up and Reworking the data Center to make room for them, which is more time intensive than they’d like.
• Needs to see how it performs because there is a cost.
• Wants to open new server and allow transfer, which eventually people will move from old server to these new consolidated servers (Mega Servers). This doesn’t happen now because of performance of servers. Many people are on smaller servers now cause less performance issues associated with lower number of players playing on that server. A consolidated server however on better performing servers will make that less of an issue. The idea is to have fewer servers to hold more players.
• Need to work on issues with Guild Transfers, Monster Manual Transfers and other things that currently don’t transfer before asking players to transfer from 34 bit to 64 bit.
• Need to work on serialization of characters (your character footprint per say) that would help so that bringing over these characters with all this preexisting memory would not degrade not only your game and the performance of the new 64 bit server but also how it might affect other people. (A good test will be getting as many people with their big high level characters in on these server stress test)

Other News:

• Night Revels coming 1st or 2nd week of October
• Mimic Hunt Still on schedule of events for the future.
• Will have more Sun/Moon Augments in the future
• Goal is eventually get to the point where players aren’t locked into big set bonuses.
• Expecting to see more Ravenloft content in the undetermined future.
• New Adventure pack for 4th Quarter still coming. No news on that yet.

 

[Jasparius]

So a heap of effort for new servers which noone will migrate to.

What an awesome use of time.

 

[Positive thinking]

So a heap of effort for new servers which noone will migrate to.

What an awesome use of time.

You dont migrate your toons, you start fresh.

 

[Jasparius]

You dont migrate your toons, you start fresh.

That is my point. who is going to do this?

We put thousands of hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars into our toons and then throw that away and start again ?

I dont see that being popular.

If they gave stones of PL, stones of RXP, and stones of tomes, stones of bag/bank space there is still the issue of accumulated gear.

Then you have monster manual, astral shards and probably a dozen other things.

Even just all the mules we have built up and paid for backpack space to hold all our stuff.

WOW people routinely roll new characters because end game offers the same potential power to literally everyone. Just do the work.

DDO the power has taken years or even over a decade for those who dont pay huge amounts (or exploited) for 50% xp pots, otto boxes, etc.

Your style of play may be fine because your toon dies and you start again. Hardly anyone does that. It will be very lonely on the new server.

 

[Ryiah]

So a heap of effort for new servers which noone will migrate to.

The implication is that everyone will eventually migrate to these servers. It's just the first one that is VIP-only.

That is my point. who is going to do this?

We put thousands of hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars into our toons and then throw that away and start again ?

No, and it's spelled out in the summary post and in the livestream that you won't be expected to just throw everything away and start again unless you happen to want to start characters on the initial new server. I do understand the joy of a good rant though so don't let me rain on your doom parade.

 

[seph1roth5]

Thanks for the summary. Hard to say if it's pointless or not until there's a better idea of if they can make new 64bit servers that will allow people to transfer existing stuff to them. If not, the whole thing is pretty much moot and a waste of time. BUT, if it's possible (and not years and years down the line), it's good.

Oh and also if it actually makes any difference lag-wise lol. Or if they use this opportunity to make a few mega servers instead of making 8 NEW 64 bit servers and only letting orien transfer to newrien, argo to nergo, etc.

 

[Mornyngstar]

That is my point. who is going to do this?

We put thousands of hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars into our toons and then throw that away and start again ?

I dont see that being popular.

If they gave stones of PL, stones of RXP, and stones of tomes, stones of bag/bank space there is still the issue of accumulated gear.

Then you have monster manual, astral shards and probably a dozen other things.

Even just all the mules we have built up and paid for backpack space to hold all our stuff.

WOW people routinely roll new characters because end game offers the same potential power to literally everyone. Just do the work.

DDO the power has taken years or even over a decade for those who dont pay huge amounts (or exploited) for 50% xp pots, otto boxes, etc.

Your style of play may be fine because your toon dies and you start again. Hardly anyone does that. It will be very lonely on the new server.

You either didn't watch the video or read the op too carefully. The whole reason behind 64 bit server is to eventually lead to 64 bit megaservers that will have free transfers to them from the 32 bit servers. They just have to take the baby steps to get from point a to point b.

 

[Dragavon]

Noone that has developed characters on current servers are going to abandon those characters to play on this new server, so it will only be interesting for new players.

Most new players will not be VIP, so they can not play on the 64 bit server.

*crickets*

 

[Positive thinking]

That is my point. who is going to do this?

We put thousands of hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars into our toons and then throw that away and start again ?

I dont see that being popular.

If they gave stones of PL, stones of RXP, and stones of tomes, stones of bag/bank space there is still the issue of accumulated gear.

Then you have monster manual, astral shards and probably a dozen other things.

Even just all the mules we have built up and paid for backpack space to hold all our stuff.

WOW people routinely roll new characters because end game offers the same potential power to literally everyone. Just do the work.

DDO the power has taken years or even over a decade for those who dont pay huge amounts (or exploited) for 50% xp pots, otto boxes, etc.

Your style of play may be fine because your toon dies and you start again. Hardly anyone does that. It will be very lonely on the new server.

Not all casual players play permadeath, many of them just play many alts or just have alts with a maximum of two or less past lives, they will all be drawn to the fresh server. Half of the players i play permadeath with only play permadeath half the time, the rest of the time they play alts, but none and i mean not one wish to hang out at cap grinding the same small sample size of quest/raid content over and over, not a single one. I acknowledge very well that there is a group of people that do exist to do that, its time that group of people took the time to acknowledge that there is a group of people that dont do that.

 

[Dragavon]

You either didn't watch the video or read the op too carefully. The whole reason behind 64 bit server is to eventually lead to 64 bit megaservers that will have free transfers to them from the 32 bit servers. They just have to take the baby steps to get from point a to point b.

You sweet summer child
I do hope this happens soon though.

 

[Positive thinking]

Noone that has developed characters on current servers are going to abandon those characters to play on this new server, so it will only be interesting for new players.

Most new players will not be VIP, so they can not play on the 64 bit server.

*crickets*

Wrong, the only reason you dont see a boot load of replies to this mind of notion is that end gamers are greatly committed to time spent and thereby wish to have a voice on the forums, where as the casual players have never even registered a forum account yet. I bet the population on the new server will be explosive.

 

[Ryiah]

Noone that has developed characters on current servers are going to abandon those characters to play on this new server, so it will only be interesting for new players.

According to Severlin every time they started up hardcore it emptied the main servers for a period of time which lines up with the complaints many people have of hardcore. So in the very short term (~1 to 3 months) that statement of yours doesn't hold any water. We'll have to wait and see what happens when the Ravenloft-inspired event has ended to know the true impact.

 

[Mornyngstar]

You sweet summer child
I do hope this happens soon though.

OK. The op went into great detail so making a summary:
64 bit servers:

1. Stress test using Lammania to COPY toons.
2. "Cormyr" server opened for VIP only with Lanterns of the Mist opt in.
3. Work thru issues of transferring Guilds, Monster Manual, Pets and anything else that doesn't transfer.
4. Setting up new MegaServers that will allow anyone free transfer to from the old 32 bit servers.

I hope this helps.

 

[Ryiah]

4. Setting up new MegaServers that will allow anyone free transfer to from the old 32 bit servers.

IMHO if it reaches this point it's not going to stay "allow" forever. Whether it's because the servers will have largely emptied or because the 32-bit tech will reach an upper limit they will eventually force migration away from the old servers to new 64-bit ones. I recommend reserving any character names that you can't live without on the new servers once they're available.

 

[rabidfox]

1. Stress test using Lammania to COPY toons.
2. "Cormyr" server opened for VIP only with Lanterns of the Mist opt in.
3. Work thru issues of transferring Guilds, Monster Manual, Pets and anything else that doesn't transfer.
4. Setting up new MegaServers that will allow anyone free transfer to from the old 32 bit servers.

My only concerns are the state of the existing worlds during the time period between steps 2 and 4. If they're still full of people and fun to play on then I'll be content. If they're ghost towns, that'll be a big issue. And since going from 2 to 4 could be a short while or several years, it's hard to have a feel for anything until things go live and we see how it plays out. I hope for the best, but I also worry about it making already slow worlds feels completely dead.

 

[Spook]

My takeaway is Cormyr is going to be the new event server going forward to replace hardcore with the hardcore stuff (lanterns) being opt in.

Will be persistent unlike current hardcore. Also like hardcore its initially VIP only but I guess they will relax this later (no guarantee)

 

[Smelt]

You dont migrate your toons, you start fresh.

No they want as many people as possible to migrate their main toons to stress test the servers properly. I can't see that happening unless, for the stress test thingy they do a copy your main over like on lamania. Because I for one wouldn't migrate my main over to a stress test server in case they turn round in two months and say no it's not gonna work or it's not worth the cost or what ever.

If you do move your toons over you don't lose character bank or inventory space that you have paid for. You do lose shared bank space, guild, pets, mounts and shard's.... not sure about monster manuals because I have always been a vip when I've swapped servers so they are free any way and of course the initial server is VIP only so you won't lose your monster manuals themselves, but you may lose you monster manual achievements though.

It did seem to suggest that this lantern event is only on the new server and therefore only open to VIP's?

More sun/moon augments coming to stop players getting locked into big set bonuses and someone has looked at the sales of jewellers tools vs sentients tools and decided that jewellers tools just weren't making enough money, so they came up with this system to boost the sales.

 

[Kobay]

No they want as many people as possible to migrate their main toons to stress test the servers properly. I can't see that happening unless, for the stress test thingy they do a copy your main over like on lamania. Because I for one wouldn't migrate my main over to a stress test server in case they turn round in two months and say no it's not gonna work or it's not worth the cost or what ever.

If you do move your toons over you don't lose character bank or inventory space that you have paid for. You do lose shared bank space, guild, and shard's.... not sure about monster manuals because I have always been a vip when I've swapped servers so they are free any way and of course the initial server is VIP only so you won't lose your monster manuals themselves, but you may lose you monster manual achievements though.

It did seem to suggest that this lantern event is only on the new server and therefore only open to VIP's?

More sun/moon augments coming to stop players getting locked into big set bonuses and someone has looked at the sales of jewellers tools vs sentients tools and decided that jewellers tools just weren't making enough money, so they came up with this system to boost the sales.

Correct. The Stress test are done on the Lammania client and thus the "transfers" are actually just copies that get wiped. I'll update my post to reflect that.

 

[Jasparius]

Wrong, the only reason you dont see a boot load of replies to this mind of notion is that end gamers are greatly committed to time spent and thereby wish to have a voice on the forums, where as the casual players have never even registered a forum account yet. I bet the population on the new server will be explosive.

Like your permanent hardcore server idea which noone else wants.

The new server will be a ghostland until we can transfer characters which lose nothing. That is the simple truth.

And if new players are pushed there they will quit very quickly.

 

[Spook]

Like your permanent hardcore server idea which noone else wants.

The new server will be a ghostland until we can transfer characters which lose nothing. That is the simple truth.

And if new players are pushed there they will quit very quickly.

Meh I think in between events you are probably right but during events? I think it will be as busy as hardcore is now (depends on the rewards) especially if they open it up to non vip down the line.