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Jun-20-2006 10:44

Over the past six months, we've been struggling to maintain a decent level of Sleuth server performance, despite increasing numbers of simultaneous players.

This is a great problem to have! It means there are lots of new people trying out Sleuth, but it's a bit of a losing battle logistically. There has been some success making software changes to improve things, but those gains are quickly eclipsed as traffic continues to increase. There is only so much the current hardware can handle.

New server machines will be purchased in the next couple of months. This will help, but if Sleuth continues to grow, it won't be long before capacity is reached on the new machines as well, and things will slow down again.

This situation is unfair for paying subscribers, who cannot enjoy the game at peak hours due to the lag of the servers. So, in the interest of fairness there will be a rule change that will limit when unsubscribed players will be able to access the game.

Starting later this week, detectives who are unsubscribed and older than 7 days, will not be allowed to login if there are already 60 or more detectives online.

You will not be allowed to login to the game if all three of the following conditions are true:

1) There are already 60 or more detectives logged in
2) Your detective is not currently subscribed
3) Your detective is older than 7 days

Sleuth has always been as welcoming as possible to non-subscribed players. We also recognize that in some countries, the monthly subscription price is not affordable to everyone, but this rule change is necessary for the well-being of the game. Paying subscribers deserve to have access to a game that is playable, accessible and fun.

Thanks,
The Sleuth Team

Jun-20-2006 19:01

well jojo, adventure quest has a guaranteed server only for subscribers. Sleuth isn't going to be quite like that.

Jun-20-2006 19:43

But it has the same idea that if you aren't subscribed, then you can't get in when there are so many people.

Jun-20-2006 21:02

LilRach, the 0 experience people are probably less than 7 days old (I'd hope), so they would not be locked out at any time with this rule change. I estimate that this rule should reduce peak time usage by about 25%.

If that doesn't turn out to be sufficient, we may have to also consider limiting when new accounts can be created, but that would obviously be a pretty big drag on new players, so we'd rather not do that.

Jun-21-2006 01:11

Great news to hear that guys! I'm not subscribed yet but I am totally in favour of the new limits because they are fair for the subscribed ones.
By the way, does deleting old retired accounts help at making the server work better?

Jun-21-2006 02:45

Wooohooo , thanks Ben.

Jun-21-2006 06:03

Fair limits... no problem for me, although I'm not subcribed. But, can you please add on main page or login page the information about current number of logged people. Something like "There are XX detectives currently logged on." Without list that is inside, only the number. I think, this will be helpfull for all of us to see how the situation looks like in every moment.

Jun-21-2006 15:43

Yeah, maybe it could say:

"There are currently 67 detectives logged on. Non-subscribers can only log in when there are 60 or less detectives logged in."

That way they know if it is a tiny amount or a big amount of people.



*applauds Dreonil for great idea*

Jun-22-2006 04:34

Last day I try to track down how it looks like with number of people that are logged on. Well, it doesn't look good for players as me.
Almost the whole time there was more then 60 players. I found only once the number of 55. Usually more then 80 players. But I found, that the server slow down only when there were more then 100 players logged on.
Maybe the limit 60 can be increased, or increased later. I wanted to track it more days, but I'm afraid, I will not be able to log next time, therefore I'm writing this now.

Jun-22-2006 06:19

Although I have ethernet internet, it is usually slow for me when there are 65 or more players. So slow, that although I am subscribed, I only do cases for hunts, and thats it. So I am very glad that this will help with traffic. I only hope that it will work:)

Jun-22-2006 06:27

Sorry for disturbing again, but I found a question, that looks important in my opinion.
There is no option how to subscribe when you are not logged on (I did not found one). Well, when someone (e.g. me) decide to subscribe his/her existing skilled detective, but he/she is not able to log on because of limit, there is no chance how to do it.
I only want to topic this to not forget this situation after implementing limit.