What's this about a 'Restart'? (AKA "Topic of Interest")

[Kretol]

Yes. It's time to bring this up, as there have been intermittent rumors about the possibility of one ever since... well, several months.

As some folks may be aware, the topic of it has cropped up a few times in the GM Discussion forum (and of course the public thread a while back). One of the big things that has hindered me in the past was the issues with trying out a dedicated server. For those that had the pleasure of trying that out, the bandwidth and lack of lag was truly awesome! However, the stability of it was horrendous, and it constantly lost connectivity and went into limbo. Of course, that was the downside of it being inexpensive, and I'm not about to try another one with the monthly fee approaching the 100s, especially since we're a relatively small community anyhow.

Anyway, the specifics of a restart have been hashed a bit, and initially we were going to do a full restart, as before. After discussing a bit, and trying to be a bit more accommodating, what I have in mind is to let people keep their characters so long as they can fit around the server lore changes, which I intend to bring up to speed with Blizzard's current lore. We were intending to at least do events in Northrend leading up to current time and then wipe out server-specific permanent changes (such as the Sin'sholai plot, slain NPCs, etc), due to things we've learned.
As stated previously, what I intend to do with characters is to accept them so long as any necessary changes are done. Bear in mind that we will be requiring a resubmission of character profiles, but you should be able to just copy and paste from either the wiki, or the archived character profiles (we'll be opening them back up for folks to easily find their profiles in there). Also note that no new profiles will be accepted at that time, since we'll be having a massive chore of just reviewing previous profiles. We'll also be requiring that any noted alterations to a profile are mentioned in a reply. This should help immensely.

Now, the other thing that I had been contemplating when I was initially trying out a dedicated server was a new core. Specifically, TrinityCore. Back then, when I was testing it out, it seemed pretty nifty, though I wasn't really up to the task. After revisiting it, and looking a bit more into the database organization, I think it would be a nice step up. (Not to mention it supports the latest patch!) It will be a lot of work transferring stuff over to the new format, however.

While on the topic of migration, the characters table will not be migrated. Yes, that means all your characters will be lost. I cannot think of a feasible way to transfer characters, guilds, etc. over. On the plus side, what I'll probably be doing is temporarily instituting a new type of token that people will be able to use, something like a Bronze Token. This token would be used for -strictly- RP items, no grinding gear. I'll probably make a limit on the item level or quality that these can be used for, as people will still be getting their 10 silver tokens in addition to the bronze ones (I'd probably offer something like 20, so people can still have about two sets of RP apparel, in addition to whatever they use their silver tokens for).

The benefits of not migrating the characters table include freeing up a lot of old names of characters that are rotting away, including many of those that quit. To give an idea, there are... well, tons of characters. Thousands. I'll give a more accurate count when I get back home. This also includes guild names! I would highly suggest not to try and steal a name from an active player, however. That will be dealt with accordingly.

Going back to the core, Trinity seems to be a very nice upgrade. Even little things such as NPCs actually emoting and having text bubbles above their heads when having them speak, so you actually know -which- NPC is talking/emoting, is very nice. And, from what I've heard, the scripting is also far superior than what ArcEmu is at the moment. Lastly, it's also allegedly a lot more stable, although I admit the server has already been pretty stable. The slew of new commands will be a challenge to learn, but the customization possibilities seem very nice. The fact that it has a native AH Bot and configurable settings that I've previously had to code in manually (or find a code patch for) is also a huge boon.

As far as when this could happen, it likely wouldn't be for another few months. For one, considering I just started college classes again (in week four currently!), my free time is even less than before, and with someone leaving my department at work, that doesn't help either. The other thing is that though I can run a local test version of the new core, I cannot set it up to allow outside connections, since the login server can only connect to one port (to my knowledge). Therefore, outside connections are not possible, meaning I would be unable to get other GM assistance. Of course, once I get the custom creatures, items, quests, gameobjects, etc. ported over, the big part would be to start respawning our custom areas, which may also change.

That leads me to another reason for a restart - there's a lot of crap spawned in the world, and a lot of changes that were made that I want back to normal. In addition, using a new (better-populated and current) database is also a boon, considering I like having retail-like spawns of most areas, unless it's a customized area (like the Gurubashi arena).

Finally, the OOC zone will probably change as well, since WSG is, quite frankly, very big and confusing if you're not already accustomed to where everything is. We have a map available, but it's still a lot of running. The new zone would -proooobably- be GM Island, considering that will never get retail additions. A few GMs already started work on it about a month or so ago, but I suppose that will have to be restarted with a new core.

So, that's that! No full character-history wipe, partial server lore ret-con, accommodations being made, ideally-better core, and schtuff. Questions and discussion are welcome, but do not turn it into the last restart discussion. We know how that went. I also hope I didn't forget anything in this post.

[Azheron]

Wait wait wait, we're going to lose our characters? : / And get them back by making their lore fit in to the cataclysm one?

[ChampionMouse]

Don't worry, Azheron. It isn't as bad as you'd think! While you will temporarily lose your character, it seems like it will be a lot easier to get them back with this server restart than it was with the other.

I like the idea of a Bronze Token, Kret, but I'm wondering how you decide what "RP" gear is when some people love to walk around with epic lookin' stuff as the norm. xD (Pfft, and I am so guilty of that to some degree. I confess!)

[DaveM]

Perhaps a Reserve-Char-Names thread would be in order? For the un-archived(approved) yet active characters?

Aproximately when will this be 'going down'?

Thanks for all of the (sounds-like-it's-a-real-bish) work, Kret.

[PiesOfNub]

I believe what Kretol was talking about was that transferring the character databases over from Wrath to Cata is impossible, so pretty much recreation and re-uploading the character profile is all we need to do in order to get our characters back, as long as the profile fits with the new Cata Lore (IE: No Sin'sholai stuff/etc). So, in effect, any characters from before the Sin'sholai events, or those made after who weren't affected by it should be instantly allowed back. For those who are affected, a few profile changes are all that's necessary for them to be in sync with the new Lore.

Unless I'm sorely mistaken and we somehow have to diffuse a nuke to get back our characters.

[Anski]

And remember folks; in the wise words of the late Douglas Adams:

Don't Panic!

This restart is hurtful to everyone in some ways, but the benefits seem to outweigh the pain. For those of you who have been here a long time, you understand how much chaos happened during the previous reset, because (for those of you who haven't been here that long) -everything- was lost and destroyed, and people had to start at square one.

This will also give us, the staff, a good grip on preparing for Cataclysm and implementing what we have planned for it. It isn't easy making a change like this, but soon enough if we can get it smoothly sailing, you'll all certainly enjoy the rewards.

[Hawk]

<3

I've been wanting a restart for a while. As Anski said, when we upgraded from TBC to WotLK, all the Grunts save for 5 or so were demoted back to peons. All characters were deleted. Basically it was a huge purge, which many people disliked.

Best restart evur.

[ThePharaoh]

^_^ I Can't Wait! The possibilities... * geeks out *

flying in Azeroth,

Worgen + Goblins

Plus revamped old Characters... * wipes drool *

Caaant...Contain....excitement. * is splasheed *

Whew...Yeah.. UH My bad. I think the Character Reservation name thread would be cool.

[Kretol]

As far as Cataclysm goes... regardless of which core I end up sticking with, it'll probably take a while to be compatible. Therefore, people will have to be sure to have two copies of their WoW folder (when the time comes) if they play retail.

[ThePharaoh]

Aah I see. That's also really sweet too. Because if we restart and play WoTLK we will be able to RP experiencing the Cataclysm, yes? That would Be awesome as well. As I was under the impression that we would start Cataclysm, Day: 001 So both prospects are very intriguing.

I know there is nothing set in stone but uh... * scratches neck * How uh...How uh...Long do you think it would take after Cata comes out before it can be emulated * tweaks * O.-

[Avitz]

Respect for asking for reactions. Some questions however.

That leads me to another reason for a restart - there's a lot of crap spawned in the world,

So does that mean locations like the Ratchet Arena will be going bye bye?

we will be requiring a resubmission of character profiles,

Will this have to be one at a time like before? Or will we be able to post multiple to get our characters on to the new server?

Thats all my concerns for now, I guess any improvements to the server, is improvements to RP

[Dilly]

Ah yes, Trinity... Pretty awesome. :B Though I remember it having some map/zone/whatever issues (like, the "inaccessible" places like Azshara Crater, the Emerald Dream, etc. being unavailable). I might be totally wrong, too. It's not like that's important anyway, heh. :3

Also, this thread made me happy. ;>

[Cowssaymoo]

So should we consider all character interactions to, never have happened? not too clear on that part *shrug*

[Harmonic]

Whatever you decide is fine, but it has to fit in with the new server lore, which would be akin to the current live. However, we will have some Northrend events, and other fun things.

Anything that has to do with our custom events, such as Gnomer, Gurubashi Grindfest, the Wyrmrest Accord, Sin'Sholai, all that jazz... hasn't happened. It's a light reset, really. Except we allow you to keep your characters and mod them to the current lore.

[Kretol]

I was able to get into AC with no issues, when I was doing some brief testing the other day. Also, it seems there's a similar gameobject port function available for Trinity as the one I'm using for ArcEmu, so people should still be able to use custom portals.

As far as interactions, that will be a somewhat-difficult part. As I said, since people will be able to keep their characters and simply ret-con anything that doesn't fit with any changes we do (such as removing certain events, like the Sin'sholai), it'll have to be your responsibility to find out if anything has changed with the characters you've interacted with in the past. In most cases this should be fine, unless the only way your character knows someone is as a result of an event that will have no longer taken place.

The Ratchet Arena, while a popular destination and a great place, is a big pile of gameobjects creatively meshed together. I'd rather people make use of an already-existing arena (ie, the Gurubashi arena), which we'll simply add on to, instead of create entirely from game objects. Besides, there's enough pre-existing arenas as it is (Gurubashi, Orgrimmar, Dire Maul).

For resubmitting of profiles, we'll probably indeed require only one in the forum per player at a time, so more people can have at least a character reverified at a time. Some people have a metric sh**-ton of characters, so having them resubmit ten profiles at once would be ridiculous.