New accounts disabled

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:16 pm

While we understand the shard is not as active as before and is in dire need of players, we have waited months until all the drama has cleared so we can actually concentrate on coding so I'm not willing to add more potential for drama at any given time. There are hackers, spammers, and other troublemakers dying to get in every second and I do not want them to get in. Period. The manual account activation is too tedious so it has also been canceled.

With the redrum gang the ice rocker gang (may be same gang) and others constantly hounding our gates, we will not open them until the perimeter is secured to the max.

Part of the revamp involves a very intense security audit of all the code, as well as the implementation of extra security measures/engines which will continuously be tweaked as needed. We will get right down to automated packet analysis and generalized situation analysis that will detect weird activities that are not really humanly possible.

There is also the possibility of splitting the revamp in several releases, which may possibly involve opening registrations when we feel that enough tracking systems have been put in place and tested.

At this point the revamp is on schedule, but it will be a bit more tight then I hoped, so I cannot make any promises at this point.

Accounts now enabled - note that this is a trial bassis, we don't have time to deal with troublemakers so we may need to close again.

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slacman69 · Post by **slacman69** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:11 pm

any idea when we can do registrations or is there a place i can look for updates?

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:18 pm

It may be a while until new registrations are activated again.

I sometimes make exceptions and create new accounts but lately I've been very busy with other stuff as I recently bought a house.

I'm also afraid I won't be able to afford to run the shard anymore so may end up having to downgrade the server which will also mean no room for new players. But I might be able to pull through ok. It's the initial part that will be hard. Lot of renovations to do which will make me go from 30k saved to pretty much 0.

There is still lot of work to be done before we can launch the new systems.

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DOCTOR THUNDER · Post by **DOCTOR THUNDER** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:54 pm

Red Squirrel wrote: I'm also afraid I won't be able to afford to run the shard anymore so may end up having to downgrade the server which will also mean no room for new players.

Yeah, sorry to all the vets and newer players... That sounds like the uovalor death rattle. Its been fun but now its time to move on to different games or different servers.

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Dollpartz · Post by **Dollpartz** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:09 pm

Hey Doc, sad to see you go. See ya on the flipside buddy.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30584

DOCTOR THUNDER · Post by **DOCTOR THUNDER** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:12 am

I was speaking for all the players who still log in, not just me. Red keeps saying that he isnt gonna be able to afford the server, and with new accts disabled there isnt the new playerbase to donate enough to help with the cost of the server. I can just forsee sometime in the near future when you try to log in and only get the cannot connect to server message. Valor has been fun, but Red has to take care of his real life obligations first. I am not bashing him, its just time everyone realizes that the server is gonna shut down, Red himself posts about it quite frequently. I think we owe him and all the staff some thanks for a few great years of playing a great server. With new player accts closed, valor has been dying for a few months. Just pull the plug and get it over with.

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Death · Post by **Death** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:32 am

DOCTOR THUNDER wrote:I was speaking for all the players who still log in, not just me. Red keeps saying that he isnt gonna be able to afford the server, and with new accts disabled there isnt the new playerbase to donate enough to help with the cost of the server. I can just forsee sometime in the near future when you try to log in and only get the cannot connect to server message. Valor has been fun, but Red has to take care of his real life obligations first. I am not bashing him, its just time everyone realizes that the server is gonna shut down, Red himself posts about it quite frequently. I think we owe him and all the staff some thanks for a few great years of playing a great server. With new player accts closed, valor has been dying for a few months. Just pull the plug and get it over with.

If that were true, why would red continue with the SQL project and I with coding in the background. Onykage has also been working on a jailing system in the background. Life is busy, all Red's saying is that in the future there may not be enough to host a dedicated server for a bit as he now owns a house.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30598

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:09 pm

hey if everyone stopped sooking and we all chucked in $20 every few weeks they server cost wouldnt be an issue.
Red might be wise to send around an email to note that fact.
If he was keen I would find $20.
hell $10 might be enough unless your completely unappreciative.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30611

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:21 pm

Every bit counts. The server cost is about $160/month or so. But even if it only covers half, it's still money that stays in my bank.

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:38 pm

Send out the bloody Emails whoop whoop

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:42 pm

There's donate stones in luna that are seen every day. I rather not mass mail asking for money when it will end up to people who don't play much or don't play at all. I need to GM begging before I can do that.

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:16 pm

hey worked for angel island

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:28 pm

Since the shard is practically dead anyway I decided I may do an early release of the SQL engine and also open up registrations. I'm not sure yet though and I still need to test this on live to see if it would even work properly (may not have enough resources) but we'll see.

So you can expect more details in the next few weeks. This is not for sure though. After Friday I will be very busy with my house as I get the key, but this week I want to drill through the remains of the SQL project and do some more testing.

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DOCTOR THUNDER · Post by **DOCTOR THUNDER** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:46 pm

Red, you have to do somn man. By the time you get around to enabling new accts again, everyone will have moved on and forgotten about valor.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:51 pm

Yeah but my IRL comes first, I do what I can for AoV.

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dprantl · Post by **dprantl** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:29 pm

So because hackers and retards were threatening the integrity of the shard, you guys just kill it all by yourselves? Kinda silly, don't you think? It's better to have a shard with a few a-holes than no shard at all. Also, if you think you will stop them 100% you are wrong. It's kinda like Bush trying to fight terrorism. When you can never identify the enemy, the war is futile.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30660

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:23 pm

dprantl wrote:So because hackers and retards were threatening the integrity of the shard, you guys just kill it all by yourselves? Kinda silly, don't you think? It's better to have a shard with a few a-holes than no shard at all. Also, if you think you will stop them 100% you are wrong. It's kinda like Bush trying to fight terrorism. When you can never identify the enemy, the war is futile.

No we stoped them from destroying the shard and putting our entire infrastructure (even non aov related services) at risk.

Once we have developed better tracking, blocking and other security features then we will be able to better deal with those people. They will still find ways to get in, but we will be able to be more proactive about removing them fast, even if we are not in game. (web based banning)

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Death · Post by **Death** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:58 pm

Seeing as red is the primary developer for AOV, he needed to make a decision in terms of what was most important. What was most important, was rebuilding the shard's foundation to improve upon many flaws and strengthen the infrastructure.

Handling futile problems on the shard was getting in the way of progress, so something was done to reduce the problem. If things had stayed the same, I would have no doubts that the SQL project wouldn't even have moved.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30662

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:22 pm

Death wrote:Seeing as red is the primary developer for AOV, he needed to make a decision in terms of what was most important. What was most important, was rebuilding the shard's foundation to improve upon many flaws and strengthen the infrastructure.

Handling futile problems on the shard was getting in the way of progress, so something was done to reduce the problem. If things had stayed the same, I would have no doubts that the SQL project wouldn't even have moved.

Pretty much. Now I don't even have to patrol the shard as I know there are no trouble makers left. If there are, they wont be there long as minute I hear about it their accounts are gone and they can't remake them.

We're actually still behind schedule because of redrum and gang(ice rocker etc), but also because of uogateway (my own fault, but I could not let that domain sit and do nothing).

I'm confident that we will be able to make our deadline though. I actually arranged so we are done way before the deadline, so even if we don't meet that "virtual deadline" we should hopefully still meet the real one.

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Dollpartz · Post by **Dollpartz** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:34 pm

While I can understand both POV, as a player I'd have to agree with Drprantl and Doc Thunder, I've stopped playing AOV altogether now because theres just nobody ever on.
I love AOV and the staff but TBH playing right now would be beating a dead horse, hopefully with the revamp and secure hosting the shard will grow in numbers but until then I'm saying ce lest vie to AOV.

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:32 am

i rather it empty with no cheating newbs ruining it

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DOCTOR THUNDER · Post by **DOCTOR THUNDER** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:35 pm

Drucilia wrote:i rather it empty with no cheating newbs ruining it

yeah, its quite a deal for you. You guys get to play the server all by yourselves. Sooner or later you will realize its pointless to play unless there are other people to play with. Redrum and gang have won, thru Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters. Its pointless to play on a server where you are the only person logged on.

"Woot! I just got a totem in gauntlet!!!" oh wait, it doesnt really matter cause there isnt anyone to sell/trade it with...

"Wow, a 120 mage and a 120 eval scroll dropped from the same baracoon, now I can scroll up my pvper! I am going to bucs to kill newbs!" *a tumbleweed rolls across the main st at bucs*

No matter what you accomplish or what items you get, it all doesnt mean shit because NO ONE ELSE PLAYS VALOR anymore. I have more fun playing FarmTown.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30682

Death · Post by **Death** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:21 pm

DOCTOR THUNDER wrote:
Drucilia wrote:i rather it empty with no cheating newbs ruining it
yeah, its quite a deal for you. You guys get to play the server all by yourselves. Sooner or later you will realize its pointless to play unless there are other people to play with. Redrum and gang have won, thru Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters. Its pointless to play on a server where you are the only person logged on.

"Woot! I just got a totem in gauntlet!!!" oh wait, it doesnt really matter cause there isnt anyone to sell/trade it with...

"Wow, a 120 mage and a 120 eval scroll dropped from the same baracoon, now I can scroll up my pvper! I am going to bucs to kill newbs!" *a tumbleweed rolls across the main st at bucs*

No matter what you accomplish or what items you get, it all doesnt mean shit because NO ONE ELSE PLAYS VALOR anymore. I have more fun playing FarmTown.

With so little faith in the shard, I'm surprised you are actually still posting on the forums.

Redrum and gang have won, thru Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters.

Redrum's actions opened our eyes to numerous problems and have made us all the wiser. A shard that has had problems like these learn from them and grows stronger.

After the security upgrades are done, things like this will be taken care of before they escalate. It would be easy to say that we can just overlook problematic players and cheaters but that would be far from reality.

Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters shows a passion for bringing a shard everyone can enjoy and play equally. If you don't believe the same, you are free to join many of the other servers who let problematic players walk all over them and who poison the community.

If you don't feel like playing a server with 1 player on, then simply don't. I think it's pretty obvious we are not concentrating on promoting the shard at this point in time, as it's planned to be changed. You're also forgetting that the shard is being rebuilt and tested in the background, which means that when the time is right, players will get to experience the improvements we've been making all throughout the year.

Those players who are currently collecting items will have a larger benefit when the shard is converted to the new core. There's nothing stopping you from training your characters in the meantime so that you'll be able to craft new artifacts or battle new monsters, hence why we kept the shard opened instead of shutting it down while we work on coding.

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d. · Post by d. » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:35 pm

Death wrote:Redrum's actions opened our eyes to numerous problems and have made us all the wiser. A shard that has had problems like these learn from them and grows stronger.

After the security upgrades are done, things like this will be taken care of before they escalate. It would be easy to say that we can just overlook problematic players and cheaters but that would be far from reality.

Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters shows a passion for bringing a shard everyone can enjoy and play equally. If you don't believe the same, you are free to join many of the other servers who let problematic players walk all over them and who poison the community.

If you don't feel like playing a server with 1 player on, then simply don't. I think it's pretty obvious we are not concentrating on promoting the shard at this point in time, as it's planned to be changed. You're also forgetting that the shard is being rebuilt and tested in the background, which means that when the time is right, players will get to experience the improvements we've been making all throughout the year.

Those players who are currently collecting items will have a larger benefit when the shard is converted to the new core. There's nothing stopping you from training your characters in the meantime so that you'll be able to craft new artifacts or battle new monsters, hence why we kept the shard opened instead of shutting it down while we work on coding.

He speaks the truth.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30685

Nosferatu · Post by **Nosferatu** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:46 pm

d. wrote:
Death wrote:Redrum's actions opened our eyes to numerous problems and have made us all the wiser. A shard that has had problems like these learn from them and grows stronger.

After the security upgrades are done, things like this will be taken care of before they escalate. It would be easy to say that we can just overlook problematic players and cheaters but that would be far from reality.

Ryan's obsession with stopping cheaters shows a passion for bringing a shard everyone can enjoy and play equally. If you don't believe the same, you are free to join many of the other servers who let problematic players walk all over them and who poison the community.

If you don't feel like playing a server with 1 player on, then simply don't. I think it's pretty obvious we are not concentrating on promoting the shard at this point in time, as it's planned to be changed. You're also forgetting that the shard is being rebuilt and tested in the background, which means that when the time is right, players will get to experience the improvements we've been making all throughout the year.

Those players who are currently collecting items will have a larger benefit when the shard is converted to the new core. There's nothing stopping you from training your characters in the meantime so that you'll be able to craft new artifacts or battle new monsters, hence why we kept the shard opened instead of shutting it down while we work on coding.
He speaks the truth.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:4686, old post ID:30686