Jump to content

1337 Reporting for duty


1337

Recommended Posts

  • Administrators

First of all, I would like to thank Optimus for all the work he's done for the server. I just got my forum access so this introduction is a bit late Syphon was too excited to announce me. 😅

Anyway, I've seen that there are some things everyone wants me to address first as soon as I get the access I need to act on them. 
I've made a list of Priorities, however just-in-case I would like to encourage everyone to go to our Suggestions and Bug Tracker(https://community.ragnarevival.com/index.php?/forum/61-bugs-and-suggestions-tracker/) and make sure your issues/suggestions are there and don't forget to thumbs up/down existing posts so I will know if those were priority or not, good idea or bad.

 I'm not someone who remembers everything in my head so the Tracker will be a good way to make sure I don't miss anything important for the server.

I also need to learn a lot of things that I normally wouldn't have to care for in the past when I was fixing bugs in the background during the "Rebirth Era". So please bear with me.

I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that soon we will be having a Pardon System of some sort. This is not an April Fools Joke, though I've seen someone did try to make a Joke similar to that. But it turns out it's going to happen for real. I've just obtained permission from Syphon about it.

So this means some Banned people may be allowed to go back if they met certain requirements. One of these requirements will be that each Month(once it's started) only a few people(probably less than 3) will be the Top Candidates for Pardon for that month. 

This is because some cases take a lot of time to retrace and we have a lot of catching up to do, we just missed Easter cause I didn't have access to do Easter stuff and there's a pile of work to be done, I don't have all the time in the world to check out everyone's request for Pardon. 

The rules for the Pardon System will be announced, but we are considering not only Staff will have a say on who will be the Top 1-3 candidates per month, but the players will also have a vote and be able to nominate candidates. This also does not mean complete unban / removal of punishments. 

Certain cases will still have a penalty for the damage done to the server. For example, if its item exploits/abuse related, some items including those that are not part of the abuse will be taken. But at least the player won't lose everything forever. 

That is it for now. I look forward to the cooperation of the players who love this server and want a better future for it. Together we can make this server better every day.

 

Update*

I've updated the bug & suggestions tracker settings so it's easier to post issues. I've heard the staff made it a little strict for new users to do that due to some people abusing the tracker and posting grudges when things don't go in their favor. Please encourage others to post there.

What I'll be doing in bug suggestions is rotate from new and old issues. this way both new and old issues/bugs/suggestions will be resolved 1 by 1. So if you are concerned about some old issues/suggestions suddenly being implemented/rejected you have to take a look at the tracker and make sure you say a few words to those topics.

Also, I won't be unbanning 3pp users until I fixed adelays and possibly get us gepard. I will probably lift the top 3 limits for 3pp and put 3pp users in a different threshold, but still not going to unban everyone at 1 go after all these guys did cheat so they must be punished.

I've also noticed that some of you left some good ideas, I appreciate that.
Please keep doing so. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome 1337! hope all is well! I know you have a lot in your hands right now, but if I could, I would just like to share my thoughts on what I think went wrong or how server was not managed properly. Not to say that previous admin was bad but in fact he was good but just made bad decisions handling certain issues.  

- mass banning of players (at least 1/2 of the population lost, 3/4 of the 1/2 was banned the rest left since they weren't having fun anymore --- pre covid server had a 500+ stable population, covid it peaked at 700+, after bannings, we barely make 300).

Who were banned?

           those who advertised other servers --- I agree with this. These people should be banned and should remain banned and if found to be in the server should be banned immediately

          Critical exploits (example. the zeny case) --- I also agree that this should be immediately banned however,  on the report there was no mention of what was used for the exploit and no sign of any patch or fix applied to ensure that no exploits like this would happen again. ban was the only solution mentioned.

          Third party program users (For WOE or farming) --- This is where things got shady as he wasn't that transparent but I think he did the right thing sharing the needed info only but to my knowledge, as admin, he should be applying patches/fixes to block these third party programs from functioning. There should be protocols like "Investigate > Patch to block software", another software found? Block it and apply disciplinary action, player found to be a persistent cheater? then no choice but to ban. These protocols would ensure a healthy population retaining the fun environment while having less cheats in game. but the solutions applied only were straight bans and nothing else. no software side fixes whatsoever as no notes in patch client (at least that I know of).

 - (I hope I am wrong with this one) he meddled with the small things not that game affecting like gpacks and LPP and welcome back rewards. These things do not affect game performance in any way. In fact they are good for attracting new players or players from pre-historic times (ehehe :D) to join us, so I don't understand why mess it up? I am not eligible for any of these rewards like LPP and the like but I feel for those who came back and got nothing. This led me to believe that the bigger issues like the above mentioned couldn't be handled and so make these changes so at least people can see that some changes are being applied.

Edited by Monch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest this all boils down to the core issue in this server: The lack of communication.

The circle that repeats itself is always the same: Staff stays radio silent (working tho) > things happen > the Staff takes actions > the Staff DOES NOT explain itself > people throw a fit over it (and worse, blackmailing them).

A lot of those dramas (ban or just a mechanic change) could had been prevented by more communication. Best example: The Eden set change. The topic was in Gitlab for over half a year, nothing happen, and then BOOM change, without any notice. And believe me, I regularly check gitlab and even to me that was out of the blue.

What we really need, and what I already tried pushing to Oppai in the past (with lackluster success), is a sort of "Dev Notes" blog/forum topic/whaterver. Something that tells the players "Yo we are working on this, X gonna happen, what's your thought on project Y", that kinda thing.

 

======

 

Now the points that make me probably again the no1 boogey gei on the server. Note, all statements are under the assumption allegations are valid and not some shady "we dunno" case.

 

While I agree, punishments should have a sense of stacking up on another (for example, you won't lose your driver license after 1 mistake (assuming it wasn't THAT bad)), BUT. The thing that kinda annoys me the most with especially the thrid party/macaroni/whatever cheaters is,

IT IS IN THE RULES. IT IS IN THERE IN EVEN A BIG RED FONT. It should be f***ing common sense to not cheat in the first place.

I can understand a bug abuse, that might accidentally happen. But using a macro? THAT AIN'T HAPPENING ON ACCIDENT. The person did that INTENTIONALLY. A person doing this does this being WELL AWARE they break the rules (and no, the "but I didn't read the rules" excuse doesn't count; Ignorance doesn't protect from punishment) and (in my opinion) should face the CONSEQUENCES.

And on that note, since people connect it with "the woe will become alive". Like, really - they never ever thought of, idk, MAYBE get a newer generation to woe? Instead they cling to the old cheaters and hope that they will come back not cheating again? Guess the egos too big to get newbies on board and teach them.

 

God, this really - Yes Oppai did mistakes, but one thing he did well was, that he gave people consequences for their actions. And I respect that.

And @1337 I really hope you make a good research on that and don't just unban people 'coz a certain someone wants more money or a bunch of kids pressure you because their egos are hurt. I really hope. Thanks.

 

Also welcome gei, I hope you enjoy hell.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest this all boils down to the core issue in this server: The lack of communication. --- I don't know about this, there is discord? not sure if they use this though?

The circle that repeats itself is always the same: Staff stays radio silent (working tho) > things happen > the Staff takes actions > the Staff DOES NOT explain itself > people throw a fit over it (and worse, blackmailing them).

A lot of those dramas (ban or just a mechanic change) could had been prevented by more communication. Best example: The Eden set change. The topic was in Gitlab for over half a year, nothing happen, and then BOOM change, without any notice. And believe me, I regularly check gitlab and even to me that was out of the blue. --- this did not make players leave, it sparked drama but it was not the cause of losing players.

What we really need, and what I already tried pushing to Oppai in the past (with lackluster success), is a sort of "Dev Notes" blog/forum topic/whaterver. Something that tells the players "Yo we are working on this, X gonna happen, what's your thought on project Y", that kinda thing. --- This does nothing if we continue the trend of losing players. this is a petty need that will help somewhere down the line but it's not what the server needs right now.  Maybe this is what opti thought too which is why he didn't act on it.

======

Now the points that make me probably again the no1 boogey gei on the server. Note, all statements are under the assumption allegations are valid and not some shady "we dunno" case.

While I agree, punishments should have a sense of stacking up on another (for example, you won't lose your driver license after 1 mistake (assuming it wasn't THAT bad)), BUT. The thing that kinda annoys me the most with especially the thrid party/macaroni/whatever cheaters is,

IT IS IN THE RULES. IT IS IN THERE IN EVEN A BIG RED FONT. It should be f***ing common sense to not cheat in the first place. --- yes, actually even if you don't state it in the rules I am sure that people know this but it doesn't mean that you wouldn't apply any security controls that should block these from working. it is like a law with no police, only a judge. Prevention is always better than cure, it applies to everything and this game is no exception especially if it helps preserve your community. This is a competitive game and unfortunately it is automatic that it will also bring in players that take it to the next level and end up using 3rd party tools of some sort to gain that competitive edge (happens to every game) that's why applying controls to prevent these 3pp tools from working is a "worth-a-try" solution instead of moving in to bans directly because as players they are vital too in keeping the server up and running.

I can understand a bug abuse, that might accidentally happen. But using a macro? THAT AIN'T HAPPENING ON ACCIDENT. The person did that INTENTIONALLY. A person doing this does this being WELL AWARE they break the rules (and no, the "but I didn't read the rules" excuse doesn't count; Ignorance doesn't protect from punishment) and (in my opinion) should face the CONSEQUENCES.

And on that note, since people connect it with "the woe will become alive". Like, really - they never ever thought of, idk, MAYBE get a newer generation to woe? Instead they cling to the old cheaters and hope that they will come back not cheating again? Guess the egos too big to get newbies on board and teach them. --- this is possible however a bit hard to do since these new players are looking for servers with active WOE already. They want to join guilds and not manage their own since most of them are family people and wouldn't want to spend too much time in game. I know this since I got to play with some new players and unfortunately are no longer active.

God, this really - Yes Oppai did mistakes, but one thing he did well was, that he gave people consequences for their actions. And I respect that. --- I do too...

And @1337 I really hope you make a good research on that and don't just unban people 'coz a certain someone wants more money or a bunch of kids pressure you because their egos are hurt. I really hope. Thanks. --- this could work as long as you have solutions to bring in a new wave of players in a timely manner.

Also welcome gei, I hope you enjoy hell.

At the end of the day, this is a BUSINESS, it needs to make money and not just pay its bills to continue to operate. More players will mean more income. More income will mean better opportunities for our admins and our GM's. Motivating Admins and GM's will mean better gaming experience. Better gaming experience will mean new players coming in. and let's be honest here, we are in a situation now that the server population is in "No good shape" anymore and it continues to diminish, this is the biggest problem now that needs urgent attention. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Edited by Monch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Update:
I've updated the bug & suggestions tracker settings so it's easier to post issues. I've heard the staff made it a little strict for new users to do that due to some people abusing the tracker and posting grudges when things don't go in their favor. Please encourage others to post there.

What I'll be doing in bug suggestions is rotate from new and old issues. this way both new and old issues/bugs/suggestions will be resolved 1 by 1. So if you are concerned about some old issues/suggestions suddenly being implemented/rejected you have to take a look at the tracker and make sure you say a few words to those topics.

Also, I won't be unbanning 3pp users until I fixed adelays and possibly get us gepard. I will probably lift the top 3 limits for 3pp and put 3pp users in a different threshold, but still not going to unban everyone at 1 go after all these guys did cheat so they must be punished.

I've also noticed that some of you left some good ideas, I appreciate that.
Please keep doing so. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
5 hours ago, Krz said:

In my own personal opinion, If you would like to push Gitlab discussion, why not make it accessible in game? Just saying...

That is a good idea. But for now, we'll just have to deal with what we have. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/6/2021 at 8:56 PM, Hyuna Yubin said:

Gitlab is a Joke bro ❤️

well for me empowering player to make suggestions is kinda bad thing well although its gonna be under strict checking before emplimenting ... changes made in this game have been hard for others that they ended uo quitting ! 

for me why not ask more people instead for those who just active in gitlab ??? 

well to be honest im not into it 

the gitlab had been a reading material to me 

 

!!!!!!!

p.s. welcome sir @1337 how you enjoy ot here and please please if you are about to change / nerf something make sure to ask those people that are going to be affected by it thanks and more power ..

Edited by unLuckyHP
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

@unluckyhp

We're not actually telling "gitlab active" people to lead this server. We're asking " the cooperation of the players who love this server and want a better future for it. " regardless if he's gitlab existing user or not hence i made it easier to access gitlab again, cause before you have to request access and you can't really post anything unless a staff approves your access. you can login to github with gmail or other accounts it allows, so its actually not that hard for someone who do love the server and want to make it better to get into it.

But hey I am open to suggestions here, with current things that we have what do you suggest? how else do we keep records of players opinions if not from bug tracker that will be more encouraging/acceptable to majority of the population active or not active.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, 1337 said:

@Krz Can you elaborate "accessible in game?" like doing @gitlab will lead you to the site?

maybe he means like trying to have a active gm in-game that can talk to about suggestions more like a open forum map where gm and players can have a talk over a cup of coffee thingy !!!  

more like matters in-game should be talk in-game

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, 1337 said:

@unluckyhp

We're not actually telling "gitlab active" people to lead this server. We're asking " the cooperation of the players who love this server and want a better future for it. " regardless if he's gitlab existing user or not hence i made it easier to access gitlab again, cause before you have to request access and you can't really post anything unless a staff approves your access. you can login to github with gmail or other accounts it allows, so its actually not that hard for someone who do love the server and want to make it better to get into it.

But hey I am open to suggestions here, with current things that we have what do you suggest? how else do we keep records of players opinions if not from bug tracker that will be more encouraging/acceptable to majority of the population active or not active.

well yeah i got the point sir but since those previous changes ! i noticed that more amd more players quitting as time goes by ! 

lets be honest most of players arent kids anymore so pushing changes on them wont be easy ! 

its like pouring a water on a full cup ! 

 

my friends are those players who got affected by the bounty on mvp rooms ! they all quit now as far as i can remember the purpose on putting bounty on mvp rooms is to boost mvp cards prices but look what happened now i can even sell mistress cards for 10m 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

I get it. Let's go back to my question then what do you suggest? how else do we keep records of players opinions if not from bug tracker that will be more encouraging/acceptable to majority of the population active or not active.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
37 minutes ago, unLuckyHP said:

maybe he means like trying to have a active gm in-game that can talk to about suggestions more like a open forum map where gm and players can have a talk over a cup of coffee thingy !!!  

more like matters in-game should be talk in-game

or is this your suggestion?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello @1337, for low to no impact changes and bug reports gitlab is good, but for changes that has mid to high impact I think you need to have other ways of gathering opinions as people in gitlab will just argue and you will have string and strings of arguments to read which will take your whole day. Maybe appoint POC's who handle people like farmers, WOE players, PVM players, etc... who are capable of setting up communication channels with these players and giving you summarized reports of what these groups of players think about the change and how it may affect their gameplay and from here you can decide if the change will be done or denied (that is if you have that type of manpower). 

A lot of players really don't like arguing that much so they don't go gitlab. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Monch said:

Hello @1337, for low to no impact changes and bug reports gitlab is good, but for changes that has mid to high impact I think you need to have other ways of gathering opinions as people in gitlab will just argue and you will have string and strings of arguments to read which will take your whole day. Maybe appoint POC's who handle people like farmers, WOE players, PVM players, etc... who are capable of setting up communication channels with these players and giving you summarized reports of what these groups of players think about the change and how it may affect their gameplay and from here you can decide if the change will be done or denied (that is if you have that type of manpower). 

A lot of players really don't like arguing that much so they don't go gitlab. 

+1 to this

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 4/8/2021 at 3:42 PM, 1337 said:

@Krz Can you elaborate "accessible in game?" like doing @gitlab will lead you to the site?

@1337 not really redirecting to the site where you post but it' like having an integration of post in game to the site. You write a post in game then you tag it whether its a bug, enhancement, or issues then just like posting on gitlab but you are doing it in game. Then submitting the post in game will integrate it as a post in gitlab. 

@1337 it may be in the form of a Gitlab NPC in game where the NPC asks if what type of report (Bugs / Issues / Enhancements), then asks the rest of the details then after completing the report, will fire a post request in gitlab and record it as a post.

I think you can copy the implementation done with GM Assistant in Prontera and code re-engineer it to align with gitlab post.

You can also implement a bulletin board in game of the currently in progress,  lined-up,  parked/rejected and completed request from gitlab.

Well this is practically an open book of gitlab in game. :) I hope you get the idea.

Edited by Krz
additional info
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am honestly astonished and a little bit terrified, how this community here will do literally ANYTHING just to not post on gitlab. I feel like gitlab became this demonic entity that you need to avoid at all cost.

God forbid we take out 5min of the 24/7 online play in rro to read/suggest a idea in gitlab.

 

16 minutes ago, Krz said:

@1337 not really redirecting to the site where you post but it' like having an integration of post in game to the site. You write a post in game then you tag it whether its a bug, enhancement, or issues then just like posting on gitlab but you are doing it in game. Then submitting the post in game will integrate it as a post in gitlab. 

@1337 it may be in the form of a Gitlab NPC in game where the NPC asks if what type of report (Bugs / Issues / Enhancements), then asks the rest of the details then after completing the report, will fire a post request in gitlab and record it as a post.

I think you can copy the implementation done with GM Assistant in Prontera and code re-engineer it to align with gitlab post.

Or ... you know, you open up Discord/your internet browser, type in gitlab link/take the link they provide in there, and post your topic DIRECTLY in there. Are you really THAT addicted to the game that you can't pause it 5min to write a post (and if your issue is the "wahhhhh I don't wanna log in" --- you are aware you can have burner emails, it's 2021).

I am not here to sound mean, I am just. I am honestly a bit shocked.

 

On 4/8/2021 at 8:57 PM, Monch said:

Hello @1337, for low to no impact changes and bug reports gitlab is good, but for changes that has mid to high impact I think you need to have other ways of gathering opinions as people in gitlab will just argue and you will have string and strings of arguments to read which will take your whole day. Maybe appoint POC's who handle people like farmers, WOE players, PVM players, etc... who are capable of setting up communication channels with these players and giving you summarized reports of what these groups of players think about the change and how it may affect their gameplay and from here you can decide if the change will be done or denied (that is if you have that type of manpower). 

A lot of players really don't like arguing that much so they don't go gitlab. 

A bit late but just saw that now.

You know that makes literally 0 sense. Big issues SHOULD be argued there, 'coz literally EVERYONE can join in there (if you notice, git is open again freely for all after Oppai left).

 

"you will have string and strings of arguments to read which will take your whole day. "

Oh, so you wanna tell me, reading gitlab string is bad, but (I lets assume), reading the (possible) SAME STRING on forums or discord, that is ok? ... I, jesus ...

 

"A lot of players really don't like arguing that much so they don't go gitlab. "

One one side, you want to argue about bigger issues with all. Gathering opinions. On the other side, you don't want to argue 'coz that basically takes too much time.

This is not how discussion work buddy. A discussion literally is argue about the Pros and Cons of a thing, a "Consideration of a subject by a group; an earnest conversation"- and this will come with more points to discuss and different perspectives. And a big topics WILL take time, things especially in a high customized server like rro are multilayered. You need to think outside the box (just take the MVP arena/tomb dramas as example, this doesn't only affect the system themselves, it affects economy, market, value of items, coins, zeny, cedi, regular/custom mvps, artistry, certain headgear quests, and on and on and on).

Your post basically says, you want to be able to say "I don't like this" and expect others to be like "f**k yeah, that's a good argument, I take it", without further thinking.

 

========

God I am so fed up with this, ya know what, whatever. Do what ya guys want. Cry a river how much the people are bad that put effort in suggestions and thought about arguments, 'coz they clearly don't care at all with their mini essays and suggestions.

In the end the superior argument should always be "I don't like it, so change it to how I liked it", right.

Such a Kindergarden.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...