Downtime Notice: Wednesday, August 4th 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

[Cordovan]

UPDATE: The game worlds have opened!

UPDATE: The downtime has been extended until 4:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) due to additional time needed for the deployment. We will keep you updated.

The DDO game worlds will be unavailable on Wednesday, August 4th from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) to release Update 50: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Release Notes, a FAQ page, the Market page and more will be released on Wednesday morning.

[MistaMagic]

before the downtime or during?

[Anuulified]

The DDO game worlds will be unavailable on Wednesday, August 4th from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) to release Update 50: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Release Notes, a FAQ page, the Market page and more will be released on Wednesday morning.

Yay 500,000 more renown loss coming. Does this update fix my Very Small Guild Renown Decay bug? Or do I have to wait til my guild hits level 1 again before I can advance it?

[MistaMagic]

Yay 500,000 more renown loss coming. Does this update fix my Very Small Guild Renown Decay bug? Or do I have to wait til my guild hits level 1 again before I can advance it?

But an alt in to hold it and come join us :)

[Yokido]

Thanks for the heads up Cordo! Thanks to the Dev team for putting things on for us! :)

[DareDelvis]

It seems like an odd marketing-strategy to release a (mini-) expansion with little to no advertising.

Shh, it is all but a secret that it will come out tomorrow (Unless someone has checked the Dev Tracker or the launcher... "unlikely" to attract any new players (consumers) that way).

[mikarddo]

The DDO game worlds will be unavailable on Wednesday, August 4th from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) to release Update 50: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Release Notes, a FAQ page, the Market page and more will be released on Wednesday morning.

I find it very odd that you neither advertise more nor allow a pre-purchase. You are effectively limiting sales in a most puzzling manner which seems like bad business.

[Gniewomir]

I find it very odd that you neither advertise more nor allow a pre-purchase. You are effectively limiting sales in a most puzzling manner which seems like bad business.

I'm not finding it odd at all. Firstly, prepurchase week before release is not really real prepurchase. They would have to do it (imao) at least month earlier. Secondly, in last few years SSG accustomed us to pushing updates no matter they're ready or not and working on them to literally last moment, then "downtime in 12h to release new update" +few hotfixes next day(s). I suspect something like that:

Peorders usually require something to be released earlier than the "main content" itself. Thats how it works in almost all games, thats how it worked in ddo before (like releasing tiefling months before sharn, if i remember correctly feywild preorder was cosmetics + unicorn) and since week ago they still didint knew when saltmarsh will be ready for release (maybe next week, maybe not, idk - Cordovan) i assume there was nothing really ready to release as prepurchase bonus. And lets be honest - for example if they have released cosmetics as prepurchase only bonus, then there would be not much to put into ultimate saltmarsh bundle. Judging from the fact that even saltmarsh price was a huge secret until like week before release (and like i said - for example sharn price was known almost 3+ months earlier) i assume even pricing was a decision made at the very end, so it would be hard to start selling something month before they'll even know when they'll finish it, what will be in bundles, what will be price etc. Bear in mind that releasing feywild raid more than 6 months after releasing feywild made many players pretty disappointed, so they might also try to avoid situation when nothing is ready and they've got no idea what will be ready/done for release, so they didnt wanted to "promise" stuff month earlier without knowledge if the stuff they'll promise will make it to live servers.

Edit: also, prepurchase usually require to provide information when the stuff you paid for will be delivered to you. And like i already said, decision was probably made last week.

[dunklezhan]

I find it very odd that you neither advertise more nor allow a pre-purchase. You are effectively limiting sales in a most puzzling manner which seems like bad business.

I've seen a FB post and a youtube video the algorithm highlighted for me, but it's next to impossible to get details on pricing unless you go watch a video and even then it's only in US dollars. Not even on the 'news' of the website or on DDO market (even as of right now and it's the 4th August now even over in the US). Not seen any actual 'advertising', but this kind of thing is aimed at existing players not new. "Come join DDO, we just released the latest of £200 worth of expansions for our free to play game!" isn't exactly an enticing message.

[Dholgrin]

I find it very odd that you neither advertise more nor allow a pre-purchase. You are effectively limiting sales in a most puzzling manner which seems like bad business.

Say goodbye to advertise, say hello to DBG marketing strategy!

[drathdragon]

I want some candy for this.

bonus xp , buddy bonus, a free stone xp ???? :)))))))))))

please please please

[enkka1]

I want some candy for this.

bonus xp , buddy bonus, a free stone xp ???? :)))))))))))

please please please

On the other hand be happy there is no reason to buy anything but the cheapest pack because there is just cosmetics and such on 60$ and 100$.
Have to really love cosmetics for that 80$ extra or buy the ultimate collector's edition just for a habit, to support the game ...

[LordDunmore]

Not showing up on the DEV tracker as of when I write this message. The release notes and FAQ are posted here:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/525768-Saltmarsh-FAQ-and-Release-notes-posted!

[M0rfeo]

Yay 500,000 more renown loss coming. Does this update fix my Very Small Guild Renown Decay bug? Or do I have to wait til my guild hits level 1 again before I can advance it?

??? Don't understand...

[DoctorOfLiterature]

On the other hand be happy there is no reason to buy anything but the cheapest pack because there is just cosmetics and such on 60$ and 100$.
Have to really love cosmetics for that 80$ extra or buy the ultimate collector's edition just for a habit, to support the game ...

The rogue and the sentient jewel and the hireling folder are all pretty tantalizing so I don't really agree. My question is will the rogue be able to trap effectively? I think the Heroic is lvl 3 so does that mean he is useless by level 5 or 6 or does he level up with you?

[Zarkarion]

The rogue and the sentient jewel and the hireling folder are all pretty tantalizing so I don't really agree. My question is will the rogue be able to trap effectively? I think the Heroic is lvl 3 so does that mean he is useless by level 5 or 6 or does he level up with you?

Oh, if only these permanent hirelings levelled with you, they might actually be worth having then.

[enkka1]

The rogue and the sentient jewel and the hireling folder are all pretty tantalizing so I don't really agree. My question is will the rogue be able to trap effectively? I think the Heroic is lvl 3 so does that mean he is useless by level 5 or 6 or does he level up with you?

Feywild gave us +1 ap in a destiny tree that made me to buy the collectors edition. This is the first time I don't see value in it besides cosmetics (new
sentient jewel can be considered as one too)

[Cordovan]

The downtime has been extended until 4:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) due to additional time needed for the deployment. We will keep you updated.

[Iwant_DiabloThree]

Well....... in just a few minutes the game is reopening
But the market is still not accessible....... got that sinking feeling they mean 2:00 in new zealand...... not EST.

[octoparrott]

UPDATE: The downtime has been extended until 4:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) due to additional time needed for the deployment. We will keep you updated.

The DDO game worlds will be unavailable on Wednesday, August 4th from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) to release Update 50: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Release Notes, a FAQ page, the Market page and more will be released on Wednesday morning.

hey devs,

i know you LOVE dodging proper questions, but why - STILL - after all this time, all these updates, is it the same every.....single.....time

literally every time

and we all know the game will be down again either tonight, tomorrow, or both for a hotfix for oversights

every
single
time

[Randomdude1223]

The downtime has been extended until 4:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) due to additional time needed for the deployment. We will keep you updated.

Every single time there's an update you always delay why cant you just set the proper time from the beginning? you even do this delays with your deplorable weekly server restart seriously have some decency and do something about your time management.

[MJtheKing]

Every single time there's an update you always delay why cant you just set the proper time from the beginning? you even do this delays with your deplorable weekly server restart seriously have some decency and do something about your time management.

Not really. Most of the time worlds are up before the schedule time.

[donblas]

Every single time there's an update you always delay why cant you just set the proper time from the beginning? you even do this delays with your deplorable weekly server restart seriously have some decency and do something about your time management.

They nearly always beat their deadline - years ago this was not the case.

[rabidfox]

Need to follow the Scotty Star Trek rules for giving downtime reports: "It's gonna take a 8 days to fix that server's warp nacelle." 3 hours later: "Servers are up" Players: "You're a miracle worker!"

[Kylstrem]

They need to learn to under promise and overdeliver.

They gain nothing by setting expectation at say 2pm Eastern and meeting that time, but knowing there is a big risk to actually meeting that time.

If they announced downtime from 9am to 5pm Eastern, but then beat that time, they gain all sorts of goodwill by doing better than expected.

[Volumptuous]

Thanks for the heads up Cordo! Thanks to the Dev team for putting things on for us! :)

Yes even thought there are squeaky wheels that i am sure become redundant, there way more of us who actually like what you all are doing and are grateful for all your hard work, thank you from the silent majority!

[Mindos]

Need to follow the Scotty Star Trek rules for giving downtime reports: "It's gonna take a 8 days to fix that server's warp nacelle." 3 hours later: "Servers are up" Players: "You're a miracle worker!"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRqXYsksFg

[Jerevth]

Kind of excited. This just builds the anticipation.
Having troubleshot gear in the past and everyone calling every ten minutes for an update, pfft.
"It'll be up when it's up, faster if you quit calling!"

I got my twenty ready. Gimme saltmarsh.

[Tyrande]

hey devs,

i know you LOVE dodging proper questions, but why - STILL - after all this time, all these updates, is it the same every.....single.....time

literally every time

and we all know the game will be down again either tonight, tomorrow, or both for a hotfix for oversights

every
single
time

I do not speak for them, but from my guesses:


There are no proper Quality Engineering involved, no automation, no test planning up front, and developers running the production QA and said its 'good', but in fact its not.
Last minute some feature request from management sneak in, scrum scope is updated and the devs were forced to put it in.
Found out last minute that the database was not updating as it should, this causes dups, database errors causing character load, ETR, LTR, TR problems. Inventory corruption.

[vms4ever]

Every single time there's an update you always delay why cant you just set the proper time from the beginning? you even do this delays with your deplorable weekly server restart seriously have some decency and do something about your time management.

i do IT-ish work for a living, including managing software development and scheduling production deployments. Scheduling is hard. Identically configured servers aren't identical. Any system sufficiently complicated is indistinguishable from magic and any computer that has a database is sufficiently complicated. And magic always makes things unpredictable.

And that isn't even taking into account the random actions of the Change Control Board (CCB). Whose primary motivation seems to be to making my life miserable.

All in all, I would say that if they get through the downtime with less than a 50% overrun they have done well and should count it as a success.

[WaxLyrical]

i do IT-ish work for a living, including managing software development and scheduling production deployments. Scheduling is hard. Identically configured servers aren't identical. Any system sufficiently complicated is indistinguishable from magic and any computer that has a database is sufficiently complicated. And magic always makes things unpredictable.

And that isn't even taking into account the random actions of the Change Control Board (CCB). Whose primary motivation seems to be to making my life miserable.

All in all, I would say that if they get through the downtime with less than a 50% overrun they have done well and should count it as a success.

You are kidding right? Who do you work for that a 50% downtime overrun is normal?

[vms4ever]

I do not speak for them, but from my guesses:


There are no proper Quality Engineering involved, no automation, no test planning up front, and developers running the production QA and said its 'good', but in fact its not.
Last minute some feature request from management sneak in, scrum scope is updated and the devs were forced to put it in.
Found out last minute that the database was not updating as it should, this causes dups, database errors causing character load, ETR, LTR, TR problems. Inventory corruption.



There are 15 classes, 22 races, 3 enhancement trees per class (45 total), 5 universal enhancement trees, scads of monsters, unique abilities, hundreds of quests (each with multiple triggered events), etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I have pondered how many test cases would be needed to full test DDO and conclude that it would be in the millions, if not billions. I'm just surprised it all works as well as it does.

[Cordovan]

The game worlds have reopened.

[Qlumsee]

Bought my expansion and the client is updating as I type this.

[MJtheKing]

The game worlds have reopened.

Awesome! Release notes?

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

The Spooky Summer of the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh ...

[vms4ever]

You are kidding right? Who do you work for that a 50% downtime overrun is normal?

I work in the real world. Simple tasks are more predictable. The more complicated things get, the less predictable they are. So far people seem to be happy with my performance, they keep giving me raises.

[Hulligan]

Awesome! Release notes?

https://www.ddo.com/en/update-50-release-notes

[MJtheKing]

https://www.ddo.com/en/update-50-release-notes

Thank you

[Sylvado]

i do IT-ish work for a living, including managing software development and scheduling production deployments. Scheduling is hard. Identically configured servers aren't identical. Any system sufficiently complicated is indistinguishable from magic and any computer that has a database is sufficiently complicated. And magic always makes things unpredictable.

And that isn't even taking into account the random actions of the Change Control Board (CCB). Whose primary motivation seems to be to making my life miserable.

All in all, I would say that if they get through the downtime with less than a 50% overrun they have done well and should count it as a success.

Try it for GxP applications for a real hell. I've even had my own signature rejected.

[Tremes]

Ok bought the standard edition, logged into game and noticed all my legendary eq abilities have been lowered to 13 from, the 19-21 they used to be. What did you guys do to nerf them? I could probably understand if it was on the first toon I logged in, but it's on all my toons. I would appreciate any assistance in this

[rabidfox]

Ok bought the standard edition, logged into game and noticed all my legendary eq abilities have been lowered to 13 from, the 19-21 they used to be. What did you guys do to nerf them? I could probably understand if it was on the first toon I logged in, but it's on all my toons. I would appreciate any assistance in this

There was a stat squish for endgame where gear and monsters were reduced in stats to make leveling curve smooth instead of the huge jump at 29.

[Krelar]

Ok bought the standard edition, logged into game and noticed all my legendary eq abilities have been lowered to 13 from, the 19-21 they used to be. What did you guys do to nerf them? I could probably understand if it was on the first toon I logged in, but it's on all my toons. I would appreciate any assistance in this

You should read the release notes that were posted up above. They explain it.

You could also look at the numerous threads over in the lamannia forums from the past couple months explaining what and why they lowered things.

[Powerhungry]

Ok bought the standard edition, logged into game and noticed all my legendary eq abilities have been lowered to 13 from, the 19-21 they used to be. What did you guys do to nerf them? I could probably understand if it was on the first toon I logged in, but it's on all my toons. I would appreciate any assistance in this

it's in the release notes

[Fauxknight]

Threw my Epic Midnight Greetings into a stone of change and ... nothing. Would prefer the new version. Will find some other item to attempt to see if it works.

[Mindos]

Threw my Epic Midnight Greetings into a stone of change and ... nothing. Would prefer the new version. Will find some other item to attempt to see if it works.


Players with old Epic items can update them into a new version by placing them into the Legacy Altar of Rituals located in The Twelve along with 50 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments. NOTE: Please note that this process permanently consumes any Augments or Sentient Filigree on your old item. Make sure you have removed any and all Augments and Filigree you wish to keep prior to placing the item into the Legacy Altar of Rituals.

You had the 50 siberys with it?

[Fauxknight]

You had the 50 siberys with it?

Why would I do that, the lammania notes make no mention of siberys being needed as well?+

Edit, threw them in with some siberys, also nothing. Does it take a specific larger type? Also tried Antique greataxe both ways, no change.

[Mindos]

Why would I do that, the lammania notes make no mention of siberys being needed as well?+

Edit, threw them in with some siberys, also nothing. Does it take a specific larger type? Also tried Antique greataxe both ways, no change.

The "Legacy altar of rituals" in the 12?

[Fauxknight]

The "Legacy altar of rituals" in the 12?

I'm not aware of such an altar, nor do I see such in the twelve.




Coco said:


If we have old Epic items, will we need to reobtain them?

There is already a stone-of-change recipe that will let you turn any epic s/s/s item into a new version, so no, just throw it in the stone of change, it'll fix itself.

[Fauxknight]

...also received a Sharn high society cloak instead of a lizard cloak.

[Fauxknight]

Found the legacy altar hiding below the other altars in the 12 and it does require siberys shards for a reset.

I'm far from dumb, so why was it soo much effort to figure this out?