Server Move

[Surf314]

We have been recently reviewing what hardware we host specific services on and looking to make improvements where possible. We have recently upgraded a series of machines to E3 processors and will be slowly phasing out our old hardware.

As such we will be migrating your Nuclear Dawn service on IP address 69.65.43.229 to a different machine.
The IP address of this new machine will be 199.21.112.114 however due to the nature of the move the port will be unknown.

A change of IP is something we frown upon and where possible we try to avoid this. The move will be occurring on Thursday 22nd December 2011 between 09:00am and 14:00 GMT (03:00am - 08:00am CST).

If you have any queries or concerns regarding these migrations, please raise a ticket at Multiplay Support.

Many thanks,

The Multiplay Gameservers Team

So this sucks, but at the same time maybe new hardware will run better?

[at0m]

Yeah that's bogus. So my favorite will stop working, since they don't even know the port# yet. I guess I'll just re-add when I get the chance.

[Kirby]

I think this is the 3rd time I've had cause to comment "Wow what a shitty server host"

[CaffeinePowered]

I think this is the 3rd time I've had cause to comment "Wow what a shitty server host"

Well, maybe it will stop the thing crashing very time it hits high load...

[Surf314]

What I just sent Multiplay:

Since starting a server with you guys we have had a terrible experience from server crashing under load, server not updating when restarting after patches, server not updating in a reasonable amount of time after patches, server having broken gravity with projectiles (confirmed to be a server end problem and not a software problem), and now the server changing IPs with no port given so we can notify our community of how to edit their favorites. This was our first experiment with a new host. We have a vibrant gaming community across multiple games and interactions with other communities. In fact one of our members is a developer for Nuclear Dawn. Because of this experience we have had a hard time convincing our own members to play on our own server, much less build a population of regulars needed to sustain a server. I hope with the server migration a lot of the problems will go away, but as the person who payed for this server I feel like my money has been wasted. I would like for you to add the time we have payed for so far to our account for free and hopefully we can have a different experience going forward after the migration. If not I will not be renewing and will recommend that no one use your servers for any game.

From one of our members on our forums:
"I think this is the 3rd time I've had cause to comment 'Wow what a shitty server host'"

[Surf314]

BS response:

I'm sorry to hear you're upset, but we'd like to help you get any problems you're having resolved as soon as possible. If your machine was changed this was to make room for other servers and to also get your performance increased - you should have received an email about this and you can always check your details in ClanForge as well.

If there's anything in particular you're having trouble with we'd be happy to help you get them fixed.

Again, sincere apologies for any inconveniences.

My reply:

We've been submitting tickets since starting the server. The last issue that has been lingering is the server crashing when it gets full. Hopefully that will be fixed with the server move. A lot of people are upset at the change in IP addresses though, especially since you haven't even given us a port. That will also wipe out all of the people who have our server on their favorites and don't know we had to move or don't visit our forums. As you know the main challenge of running a server is maintaining population and getting on favorites lists. While the move may help us in the long run if it stops us from crashing, it is again another blow to the value of us having a server through you. I mean honestly we only picked you because you were on the recommended server providers list on the Nuclear Dawn website. Your customer support has always been polite and responsive but your server service has been terrible. What we'd really like is for you to add time to our account to make up for all the lost time from dealing with hardware issues and this IP move. Hopefully then we can restart and have a better experience. Otherwise I believe our time is up soon and based on the experience so far I will not be renewing and will recommend that Nuclear Dawn removes you from it's site as the bad server experience can reflect poorly on them.

Again based on our experience so far none of our community of over 1,000 registered members would ever use your services again. If you can make it up to us maybe we can start over and have time to change our opinion. If not you are losing a customer and gaining a lot of bad goodwill.

[Surf314]

Hi Matthew,

Firstly do allow me to apologies regarding this issue. I have been leading these recent hardware upgrades and can assure you that these upgrades are for the benefit of the customer and we explored every route to keep IP address and port, however since this is on a different network, retaining this addressing information was not possible.

I fully understand the issue at hand here and I have made the decision to extend your service by five days as a result of the recent switches.

Once again, do allow us to apologise and I hope we can make amends which will allow you to enjoy your service here at Multiplay.


--
Regards,

Dan 'Deehem' Miller

OK that is bullshit. Anyways what are everyone's thoughts? Should I keep at it or should we just cancel our server with them?

[k0ala]

shit sucks. give them like two weeks "on notice" probation, and if they fuck up or crash ONCE then rename the server browser name to "FUCK YOU MULTIPLAY" and cancel.

I can throw a few bucks into the hat to finance the move to a new host.

[Dtrain323i]

Sounds like renewing would be throwing good money after bad. I say scrap it and try a different company.

I too could throw a couple bucks to help facilitate the move.

[at0m]

I agree with the above sentiments. If they're not going to give you the free time that you requested in your first email (ask again, just to be sure, since they didn't directly address that request), then make good on your threat and pull out. We can find a different hosting company.

I've stated before I have no problems helping fund this myself. I thoroughly enjoy the game, and if I'd known we were throwing in for a server I'd have pitched in from the start. Let me know how much the server is (via PM or such), and I'll figure out how much I can pitch in to help out (send me a paypal address as well for that).

[Surf314]

Five days is grossly insufficient. I just checked and we've had the server for almost our three month pay period. During that time we've had numerous problems including the big problem of our server regularly crashing when it fills up. I think the fact that you are moving servers in spite of the fact that you know how hard it is to change your customer's IP shows that even Multiplay realizes how insufficient the servers you ran for us are. I've had to hand off management for the past month or so because I've been too busy, but I just checked with the community and they have still been having problems and are all unhappy with the current server. In fact they are willing to chip in to start a new server now after hearing we were thinking of a switch. I think it is only fair you give us a new 3 month period of server rental for free considering the amounts of problems we've had and the time and energy we have had to put in for a server that ultimately was running on broken hardware that couldn't handle a full load of people. We purchased a server that could hold 32 people and we did not get that. If you cannot give us the product I payed for then we would like for you to go ahead and cancel the server and keep the 5 days. There is no point in us moving IPs twice, and as I have already stated the community wants us to move so desperately they are willing to pay for a new one now.

If you believe your new servers will be the product we thought we were getting then I'd love to try it, but I'm not throwing good money after bad in paying for another three months and my community is not going to put in the effort to rebuild populations if we are likely to switch again. Give us the three months or we are changing hosts as soon as we can. Also as I've said in my previous email, one of the devs of Nuclear Dawn is in our community. I've been sharing these correspondence with him. Based on our current experience with Multiplay I've let him know that being linked with your company can damage their brand.

[Surf314]

The end of the story is Multiplay sucks and we need a new server. It looks like Nuclear Dawn now hosts Nuclear Dawn, since they host our TF2 servers it would make sense to just clanpay the money and let Caff add it. If we do this just let Caff know exactly how much and that it is to go towards the ND server so we can make sure this funding is separate and does not dip into TF2 funds. I will try and get the details.

I got our host mixed up with another host with a similar name. Looks like we need to find a host from this list:
http://www.nucleardawnthegame.com/providers

Anyone know anything about any of them?

[at0m]

Your sentence about who the new host would be isn't coherent, but I agree that if we're going to change IPs, we might as well change to a decent host.

How much does it cost?

[Surf314]

Your sentence about who the new host would be isn't coherent, but I agree that if we're going to change IPs, we might as well change to a decent host.

How much does it cost?

Yea sorry, I thought our TF2 host was Nuclear Dawn for a second (one of the ones on the list) so I was just assuming we were going to add ND (the game) to our account. But then it wasn't. But that host offers ND servers at a buck a slot with half off the first month. Not too shabby. Also full FTP access unlike Multiplay. Oh and a free trial period.

[at0m]

I'll pitch in for half of a full-size server, then.