I have wrote about this a while back but wanted to revist it because most of the developers on staff now where not around.
I would like to make a suggestion for this game. Using multiple versions to provide more choices and preserve snapshots of the game.
If we look at the model of Project 1999. How they can have lots of servers with lots of different rules, configurations and even art sets. If this can be used with Pantheon. I think yes it's more work but we can see it working with P99 and like when other games have a Test built with a seperate client server.
For instance a classic server could be made at some point of major expansion to Pantheon that would "head off the pass" and nip a problem or request in the bud. By doing this now it's a framework that can pay of for the game and bring in more sales income by having more choices at the food buffet. And the great thing is you won't have to call George Lucas to beg to keep overpower Rancor pets.... since the I.P. Is wholly owned it boils down to disk space and maybe some extra time to manage it. But if customers are subscribed I dont see the big deal it's a win win concept.
Vash.,
I suggest you continue this discussion: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2389/please-plan-ahead-for-progression-servers
I think it is safe to say that, given Brad's work on EQ and the rest of the team's total experience in MMOs, that (as long as we remind them from time to time) there will be metrics put in place to snapshot the code tree before all major changes (zone releases, class inserts, xpacs, 'balances' etc) such that there will be a historic (chronological) record of code images for both client as well as server.
This would certainly make setting up TLP/other servers easy to organise.
However, much (if not all) of this was discussed in the thread Bazgrim mentions above!
Evoras, likes the idea of a 1 year anniversary 'Battle Royale' server (up for 1 month only, permadeath PvP, FFA) with accolades and prizes he will never win!
Bazgrim said:I suggest you continue this discussion: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2389/please-plan-ahead-for-progression-servers
Well for the most part Bazgrim is a machine... but in this case he's linking to a VIP thread that many of us don't have access to.
I would actually like to see how this thread played out. I was wondering myself how launching a fresh server from day 1 every expansion (yearly) would work together with progeny. Could progeny then give additional bonuses and each expansion even the noobs zones get increasingly harder... if new players wanted to TRY to break into an established server they could... or they could start on a fresh server.... just a thought (probably not what they have in mind)
Zorkon said:Bazgrim said:I suggest you continue this discussion: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2389/please-plan-ahead-for-progression-servers
Well for the most part Bazgrim is a machine... but in this case he's linking to a VIP thread that many of us don't have access to.
It's a champion level thread but you were on the right track :)
Sydor said:Zorkon said:Bazgrim said:I suggest you continue this discussion: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/2389/please-plan-ahead-for-progression-servers
Well for the most part Bazgrim is a machine... but in this case he's linking to a VIP thread that many of us don't have access to.
It's a champion level thread but you were on the right track :)
Ah yeah it's in the Champion subforum. I didn't even notice, sorry. Alas, I am human :P Evoras summed it up pretty well though.
I will attempt to redeem myself by providing another relevant thread that everyone can read lol: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/5192/any-thought-to-a-classic-server-years-from-now
It is closed now, but Kilsin has a pretty good answer :)
This would be something they would have to adapt early on when they branch their code.
However, at launch the game is going to require many patches to fix things leftover from beta. Many of those things you would probably want fixed in a second version of the game (say later revisiting a "classic" experience).
I would say, at first this probably will not matter much but within a couple years of launch they may want to start considering it. However, if they do allow certain servers to run an old branch of code, are players going to expect bugs fixed? Now you are asking them to possibly fix the same bug twice which is going to raise cost to run the game. Would you pay more for that?
bigdogchris said:This would be something they would have to adapt early on when they branch their code.
However, at launch the game is going to require many patches to fix things leftover from beta. Many of those things you would probably want fixed in a second version of the game (say later revisiting a "classic" experience).
I would say, at first this probably will not matter much but within a couple years of launch they may want to start considering it. However, if they do allow certain servers to run an old branch of code, are players going to expect bugs fixed? Now you are asking them to possibly fix the same bug twice which is going to raise cost to run the game. Would you pay more for that?
I would think if they planed for it from the start, they could snapshot things just before each expansion. This should give them a fairly solid starting point they could use after all testing and after it had been Live for a year or so (whatever time frame they went with for expansions) for additional debugging if they found any.
I think I understand the OP now, and I'll say it's more complicated than an application versioning system, they would also have to maintain the database(s) in a manner that would allow them to cherry pick segments or eras. This is why the current progression servers are anything but classic.
Zorkon said:I would think if they planed for it from the start, they could snapshot things just before each expansion. This should give them a fairly solid starting point they could use after all testing and after it had been Live for a year or so (whatever time frame they went with for expansions) for additional debugging if they found any.
Definitely. And it depends on how they handle expansions. They may wait until they get to a really solid point before they branch code to start say on a new expansion or changes to the game. But if they don't, and some bugs remain unfixed for years, I assume players expect them to eventually go back and fix old bugs whether they are playing on a current branch or an older one. Either way, the work is done twice.
So yeah, all depends how they handle development.