I've seen lots of commentary on persistence on Facebook and figured it would make more sense to discuss it here.
A few things I've noticed:
Confusion about loot cycling - for those that understand loot cycling, that is what is going on in Vybor/Veresnik military base, and supposedly in other locations as well. I believe that with the current state of persistence, and the fact that it is almost impossible to identify who is responsible, this is inevitable. People want the best military loot and the only way to rapidly acquire it on a persistent server is to find a place like VMC that has its own loot system and cycle it until your guns/ammo/attachments/clothing spawns. We (Potatoes) raided VMC yesterday and found that two people had executed a huge loot cycle. We really can't even be sure if it was them who loaded all the backpacks, or if they just added on to someone else's project. I don't speak for us all but I'd be willing to bet that we would provide protection for a group if they wanted to clear the loot from the packs to encourage de-spawning.
Server stability - can we separate the current instability from the lag we had on the previous IP due to DDOS? Is it purely due to persistence and the inevitable "features" that come with it in its current state (loot cycling, natural loot explosions not caused by players, etc.) My experience with the server as it stands is that I have virtually zero lag or desync, but the constant restarts are off-putting. The folks we killed at Vybor had a MP5 but we lost it because the server restarted before it could be looted. Is it possible to perform a manual wipe of all loot on the server without affecting characters?
Finally, would it be worth de-activating persistence to see how the server behaves without it? Each game mode has its strengths and weaknesses, with persistence offering a sort of base-building and hoarding and non-persistence offering base-races at restarts, heli crashes, and seemingly more stability.
I think it is admirable how, despite some animosity between groups in-game and on the forums, this community is able to discuss things like this and make decisions by vote. These are just a few thoughts and questions on the issue.
A few things I've noticed:
Confusion about loot cycling - for those that understand loot cycling, that is what is going on in Vybor/Veresnik military base, and supposedly in other locations as well. I believe that with the current state of persistence, and the fact that it is almost impossible to identify who is responsible, this is inevitable. People want the best military loot and the only way to rapidly acquire it on a persistent server is to find a place like VMC that has its own loot system and cycle it until your guns/ammo/attachments/clothing spawns. We (Potatoes) raided VMC yesterday and found that two people had executed a huge loot cycle. We really can't even be sure if it was them who loaded all the backpacks, or if they just added on to someone else's project. I don't speak for us all but I'd be willing to bet that we would provide protection for a group if they wanted to clear the loot from the packs to encourage de-spawning.
Server stability - can we separate the current instability from the lag we had on the previous IP due to DDOS? Is it purely due to persistence and the inevitable "features" that come with it in its current state (loot cycling, natural loot explosions not caused by players, etc.) My experience with the server as it stands is that I have virtually zero lag or desync, but the constant restarts are off-putting. The folks we killed at Vybor had a MP5 but we lost it because the server restarted before it could be looted. Is it possible to perform a manual wipe of all loot on the server without affecting characters?
Finally, would it be worth de-activating persistence to see how the server behaves without it? Each game mode has its strengths and weaknesses, with persistence offering a sort of base-building and hoarding and non-persistence offering base-races at restarts, heli crashes, and seemingly more stability.
I think it is admirable how, despite some animosity between groups in-game and on the forums, this community is able to discuss things like this and make decisions by vote. These are just a few thoughts and questions on the issue.
-Carter
