Xhaztol wrote on 2019-05-06 10:37:38:
As some may remember, when the site was young, these items were attached to private messages. As time went on and the player base grew, that became more and more taxing on the messaging system.
We moved to performing that functionality on the backend, but the player population has again grown so vast that it results in considerable strain to the system to deliver these items simultaneously to hundreds of thousands of inventories.
It also requires manual work by the engineering team to make these deliveries possible, often requiring they be present at odd hours and off-days.
After reading through some of the replies again, a thought occurred.
If this is REALLY the reason Galore is necessary then... I wonder why they don't just change the distribution system to not do all the deliveries at once.
Unless the birth of Galore brings more gifts to the table. We can only 100% be guaranteed of two (if even that really) each year. The one we (usually) get for the Anniversary event and the April Fools day gift.
If the strain comes form the fact that all items NEED to be distributed all at once during the 30 minute rollover period... why not just make it standard to have an increased rollover period on or during the day of the event?
I understand the part about staff needing to be present but even then, why not just have an extended maintenance period that ends with the announcement going up. Be it at standard Rollover (00:00 - 00:30) or another one entirely an hour to thirty minutes before the announcement is posted.
So that way, even if the item isn't distributed AT rollover, the site is still in prime condition to have the back-end systems deliver the items in batches over the course of a longer period of time?
I have to assume we'll be getting more event gifts based purely on the fact that having an NPC only be necessary two times out of the year seems excessive but I suppose it would also not be viable to extend or schedule extended maintenance periods if we're getting more than what we normally do.
While it's sorta too late for other ideas, I feel, with the art and update already being posted. But another idea would be to skip the maintenance period entirely - in the sense that you could release items in batches over the course of the day. It would be easy enough to stop them from being 'spoilery' by just making it a like present box that pops up a lot like Marva's stuff does. When you try to open it, it cycles through more versions of itself (all being the same thing even) or isn't open-able at all until it's 'activated'. Whether that be after rollover the next day or during the event itself.
I guess it could be confusing to have some people with a gift and some without as they're slowly distributed but I imagine it would become something people get used too. Especially if things are communicated in the status box or with full blown advisory updates.
It's of course a spur of the moment idea though and again, probably already obsolete considering but it felt worth mentioning I suppose.
Either way, I do enjoy Galore but it just seems odd that this is the solution. Granted, I don't know how the back-end operates but it just seems like if the problem is that it's a strain to do the job in that timeframe.. that the timeframe isn't just increased or moved to accommodate. Rather than rolling out a whole NPC for something that only happens two or three times a year.
Pyercé | they/them
