Lack of AFK timers is perplexing

[Arcayne]

I've been playing MMO's for roughly 13 years now. I've been apart of just about every major NA MMO release day since then. Blade and Souls has been amongst the smoother I've seen in quite a while. Primarily lag free, no major game breaking bugs, its been alright. Now, as far as Que's are concerned, well, it was to be expected. Anyone whom played Aion from launch remembers how bad Que's can be. This is relatively close to that. But what can you do? Its a highly anticipated F2P game, of course there would be Que's. Any reasonable person would've expected this to happen.

 

I don't have any issue with how NCsoft is handling the congestion situation for the most part. Adding servers would be a quick fix, but potentially hazardous to the games population health as the initial rush dies down, and the pop stabilizes. Thinned out/spread populations due to underpopulated servers is not optimal. What I do, however, have an issue with is the lack of any sort of AFK timer. Knowing full well that there would be an incoming rush of players, and not establishing some form of method to combat inactive players from clogging up server que's is rather unacceptable. It may not be a complete fix to the que situation, but it certaintly would help alleviate the problem.

 

Please look into adding an afk timer asap NCsoft. Without one I'm afraid, this will only get worse.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[omeed]

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

[FaeQueen]

3 hours ago, Arcayne said:

I've been playing MMO's for roughly 13 years now. I've been apart of just about every major NA MMO release day since then. Blade and Souls has been amongst the smoother I've seen in quite a while. Primarily lag free, no major game breaking bugs, its been alright. Now, as far as Que's are concerned, well, it was to be expected. Anyone whom played Aion from launch remembers how bad Que's can be. This is relatively close to that. But what can you do? Its a highly anticipated F2P game, of course there would be Que's. Any reasonable person would've expected this to happen.

 

I don't have any issue with how NCsoft is handling the congestion situation for the most part. Adding servers would be a quick fix, but potentially hazardous to the games population health as the initial rush dies down, and the pop stabilizes. Thinned out/spread populations due to underpopulated servers is not optimal. What I do, however, have an issue with is the lack of any sort of AFK timer. Knowing full well that there would be an incoming rush of players, and not establishing some form of method to combat inactive players from clogging up server que's is rather unacceptable. It may not be a complete fix to the que situation, but it certaintly would help alleviate the problem.

 

Please look into adding an afk timer asap NCsoft. Without one I'm afraid, this will only get worse.

 

Just my 2 cents.

I agree with you 100%. I have been a closed and open beta tester for 4 years and I have never seen such smooth gaming but the AFK issue is a big problem. 

[Transcendence]

I have 3 people on my friends list that have only played 3-4 hours total since release, 2 of them below level 15, and they haven't gotten kicked off once. While I do understand people don't want to wait in queue, this is what you'll see people resort to and avoid the wait.

[Arcayne]

56 minutes ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

 

That really great to hear, thank you!

 

Things seem bad thanks to the overwhelming server congestion, but honestly, a tip of the hat for an otherwise very successful launch. If the worst thing I experience today is that I don't get the opportunity to play due to high Que's on launch day, (again key word, "launch day", its to be expected), welp then, I consider that a win. I have high hopes for this game, and so far so good. Good luck, and keep up the good work!

[Vigilus]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

Thanks for chiming in.

 

Lesson here folks... polite requests receive responses.

 

Vig

[omfgwtfbbq]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't say its a relatively smooth launch (can't really say much of bugs and such since...it's not like you guys developed it/wrote the src...you guys do suffer from fun client crashes) when people who spent 130$ on this can't even log in...how have you guys not implemented anything from CBT? This isn't the first game you have launched and surely not the last...it just feels really unprofessional and a huge disappointment. 

[Wataru]

Would be nice if the AFK timer was temporary or only affected non-premium users.

[Ynaro92]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

This made my day. 

[JustFiyen]

Why not just fix the reason why people are afking and not the afking?
People only afking to stay on server so they don't have to wait 2 hours or FOREVER to get thought a 3k OR MORE Q wait. :T

[Vuvuzela34]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

 

 

any update on this subject folks? The queue time its out of control, it hurts to see alot of bots and spammers inside the servers when the real players cant get in.

[Rusharion]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

This has been a relatively smooth launch

Smooth for who asshat?

[Rusharion]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

Well good for you, because once I'm in, I'm not logging out. 

[Vigilus]

Rofl

 

+1 (billion)

 

TBH, I don't really mind queues, unless the slots are taken up by Spammers and Bots... do we have the technology to stop them???

 

No, of course not. It is only 2016.

 

Some day people, some day.

 

Vig

[Slirith]

1 hour ago, omeed said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the praise! This has been a relatively smooth launch... but it's definitely still been a launch... so we're working hard to get where we need to be. 

 

Just to clarify, adding servers is not a quick fix (unless you already had a bunch of servers ready to go... in which case, the question might be "why didn't you just deploy them?"). It also requires downtime... which we always try to avoid. 

 

We're working on an AFK timer - and should have more info on that soon!

 

Will it be an afk timer that everyone and their dogs can easily get around or an ACTUAL afk timer where everyone and their dogs can't easily get around? If it's an easy one, bet your arse I'll just auto run into a wall or make a DIY space bar pusher

[TooriAoi]

Well AFK timer is not a complete solution but it sure will give us more chance to play the game so I will hope it come as soon as possible.

Also should kick those bots too, kick characters which chat something again and again in fixed interval, i don't think that's too hard or pop up require you answer question or type in code which give you a short buff after you success  or kick you if you type wrong 3 times, a lot of games use that.

[Arcayne]

28 minutes ago, TooriAoi said:

Well AFK timer is not a complete solution but it sure will give us more chance to play the game so I will hope it come as soon as possible.

Also should kick those bots too, kick characters which chat something again and again in fixed interval, i don't think that's too hard or pop up require you answer question or type in code which give you a short buff after you success  or kick you if you type wrong 3 times, a lot of games use that.

 You bring up an interesting point. I wonder if its possible to create an afk timer wherein after a set amount of time, (something ridiculous like an hour or so), the user is given a chat prompt box, and asked to enter said characters name or something like that. Would cut off the many ways currently available to circumvent traditional afk systems.

[Moderator]

SoonTM

[wolkenfels]

7 hours ago, Slirith said:

Will it be an afk timer that everyone and their dogs can easily get around or an ACTUAL afk timer where everyone and their dogs can't easily get around? If it's an easy one, bet your arse I'll just auto run into a wall or make a DIY space bar pusher

You can spend a lot of time into making a good AFKTimer - or you can make a very simple on that will kick 80% of the AFKler and ignore the 20% you don't get with it. 
As developer i would go for the second version. Cheaper and easier to do so it can be added fast and it will free the servers good enough. 

[Slirith]

2 hours ago, wolkenfels said:

You can spend a lot of time into making a good AFKTimer - or you can make a very simple on that will kick 80% of the AFKler and ignore the 20% you don't get with it. 
As developer i would go for the second version. Cheaper and easier to do so it can be added fast and it will free the servers good enough. 

That's fine really but even a simple one needs to beat players just auto running into a wall.