My review - Life as a server owner - Server owners read - Rust

Hey fellow server owners, players of rust, and the staff here of Facepunch. Before you do read this, I'm well aware of the game being in an Alpha phase, we tell this to our players all of the time. Secondly, we run a modded Australian server with a constant 100+ player base online all of the time. Garry and Co, I'm sure your multi millions of dollars is keeping you quite busy, that's not my issue. My issue isn't the fact the game is in alpha as we have been around since Vanilla as players before we bought our own server. My issue is the fact that I have paid money, and a fair bit of money to be invested into my server not only for myself, but for players that are spending countless hours on it. With a player base of 100+ we have an average of 1,000 hours easily a day. I don't like letting my players down, and having to constantly do wipes. Rust staff, all I ask of you is before you release a bloody major patch, please test it on major servers over a period of a few days. I'm sure owners would love to participate, and then at least we'd have working servers. It's not fair that I'm paying, you are making money constantly for something that isn't even online and running. Nor is it fair that we are wiping constantly because of stupid errors like this. I love you, we'll always continue to run a Rust server and strive to be one of the best. But this, actually ruins servers and people will just give up on coming back. I'm sure many people + server owners will feel this way. Just my two cents. TLDR ; JUST READ IT.

100% agree. Almost all servers have an issue, it really isn't fair on the players nor the people supplying the servers. Constant emails and contacting to server providers are going through the roof right now haha.. Hopefully the devs can see this and try and do something about it.

its alpha. get over it

[QUOTE=Braedan;43835810]I don't like letting my players down, and having to constantly do wipes. Rust staff, all I ask of you is before you release a bloody major patch, please test it on major servers over a period of a few days. I'm sure owners would love to participate, and then at least we'd have working servers. [/quote] I understand the frustration but seriously, this is Alpha! I know you stated it already but you need to realize it's an alpha build and major issues are going to happen. [U]We are the test bed for this[/U]. They could release it on the test servers but since there are so few the bigger issues may not be as apparent. Know the best way to find issues? Test it on a large number of people. Bam, issue is spotted in a couple of days versus weeks, and it can be patched faster due to the larger sample. [QUOTE=Braedan;43835810] It's not fair that I'm paying, you are making money constantly for something that isn't even online and running. Nor is it fair that we are wiping constantly because of stupid errors like this. [/quote] Really? We all paid money for an Alpha game knowing issues like this could happen. We are lucky more haven't happened. You knew that you were paying for an Alpha level game so your complaints are just ignorance at this point. [QUOTE=Braedan;43835810] I love you, we'll always continue to run a Rust server and strive to be one of the best. But this, actually ruins servers and people will just give up on coming back. [/quote] While I feel your pain here to a point, there is no point in fretting over it. If people enjoy your server they will come back. [QUOTE=Braedan;43835810] I'm sure many people + server owners will feel this way. [/quote] I actually don't feel this way. I knew I was buying a completely broken Alpha game when i clicked purchase. I also knew that I was buying a server for a completely broken Alpha game when I put up money for hosting. Yea it sucks that this stuff happens but guess what? It's an [B][U]ALPHA[/U][/B] version of a game. Be glad there haven't been more issues up to this point.

Clearly you din't read. But cheers for your stupid spam post to get your post count up.

You want the devs to alpha test their patches before releasing it for everyone to test? Are you sure you understand what it means to be in an alpha phase? Wipes are a fact of life in alpha and the sooner your players come to grips with this fundamental aspect of alpha testing, the happier they'll be. Are you sure that the devs are making tons of money off the server hosting? The GSPs run that, not the devs. Unless you've seen the agreements between the GSPs and Facepunch Studios, you might want to check to make sure you know what you're talking about. If you can't take the wipes, get out of the alpha. Come back in six months.

[QUOTE=rampageous;43835858]100% agree. Almost all servers have an issue, it really isn't fair on the players nor the people supplying the servers. Constant emails and contacting to server providers are going through the roof right now haha.. Hopefully the devs can see this and try and do something about it.[/QUOTE] Every person who bought this game know it was an [B][U]ALPHA[/U][/B] level game. They knew when clicking purchase that there was a very good chance that game breaking bugs were going to happen. I deal with it and go on even after buying the game and paying for server hosting because I am not ignorant to the point that I paid for an Alpha game

We are aware it's alpha, hence why I stated it's not the alpha that bothers me. I don't care about alpha rofl, I've been here since day 1 playing rust as a normal person before we decided to even manage a server. I don't think everyone is reading into it the way we are. But having our server offline not, without the possibility of getting it back online anytime soon because we have way to many connections trying to income is stupid. You guys are having memory leeks on your server? Try having a server that reboots every 2 hours and rolls back because of the last patch lol. I'm saying that this is also on behalf of my players, as I have over 300+ steam messages of people upset and connecting to other servers. Which generally means, they won't come back because they start fresh and build. That is how Rust works, but no it's not fair when I've invested so much time and effort into what we do. I don't see why people are thinking that I'm talking about the wipes? It's nothing to do with the wipes LOL. And yes, Rust would make a profit from the servers being hosted, that's just stupid if you don't think they'd have some type of % income from it.

I myself rent and run a server. I do not agree, this is alpha, and only a 10% done alpha. This game is going to be constantly broken possibly EVERY update. It sounds to me you need to stop renting a server and wait until the finished product. You are running a server to play seriously in a game only 10% complete and doesn't even have an exact direction on which it will go. You are only going to get yourself upset every update if you continue with the mindset that this game is in an playable state to take it serious. What I do and hopefully a lot of other admins, we try to break things. I do constant wipes, I try very hard to place things in way that can be exploited and then report. Just because you boast a 100+ player count doesn't change that this game is only 10% complete and no set direction.

Sounds to me like you have a 20 pop server to be honest. Come back when you hit 100-150+ and then let me know how you feel about how hard it was to actually build up a decent community without idiots, hackers etc. Then to let them down constantly. With you saying you purposely try to exploit, now I know you're just a tool because what are you going to exploit? Oxide? Rust++? Rofl that's about all the access you have buddy. Don't worry guys, I can't even be bothered to argue, this was never an attack on the developers or anyone for that matter, it was my point of view. We wiped yesterday for the new patch, then we had to wipe again today. That's how it is unfair to my players, clearly you aren't close like I am with mine. Especially when we've had over $700+ in donations in 14 days: [url]www.aunz-rust.com/donate/[/url]

[QUOTE=Braedan;43836015]Sounds to me like you have a 20 pop server to be honest. Come back when you hit 100-150+ and then let me know how you feel about how hard it was to actually build up a decent community without idiots, hackers etc. Then to let them down constantly.[/QUOTE] Umm, I don't even have 20. I have 4-5 set people that we do testing, as it is alpha, my server is even listed as wiped daily. We do have some fun, we do build arenas and PvP a bunch, but we do not take it serious. Again, you are wasting your money as this game is not finished. You are playing it as it is a finished game. To think an update is not going to cripple the server tells me just that.

Rofl alright mate, enjoy your 4-5 players LOL. Fun? arenas? for 5 people? cool, I'd really love to come to that event, sounds like a hoooooooooooooot. I don't play my server either, I maintain and run it, there is no raiding, playing, for the admin staff.

i've never known an australian that wasn't hard headed and abrasive as hell. lol!

Personally my only issue is the fact they don't just release the server files so we can host our own servers. These GSP shouldn't have proprietary server files. Let people who actually know how to setup a dedi test. That way we get a broader more in-depth look at what is going on. Bug reports would come quicker fixing issues faster. We have 5000+ servers and 8-10 GSP that have the core server files. I think 5000 or so hosts is better then 10 as far as testing goes.

The sooner people accept this is an Alpha game and issues are going to happen the better. Yea I am going to say Alpha every time I post here. Maybe then people will get it through their thick skulls. Server population is irrelevant if your members aren't ignorant to the fact that they are playing a game that is essentially broken. Complaining about an Alpha game is a complete effort in futility. BTW, not everyone had to wipe their server so enjoy that. Even though you said it wasn't about having to wipe you tend to mention it a lot. [editline]8th February 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Shadow Walker;43836222]Personally my only issue is the fact they don't just release the server files so we can host our own servers. These GSP shouldn't have proprietary server files. Let people who actually know how to setup a dedi test. That way we get a broader more in-depth look at what is going on. Bug reports would come quicker fixing issues faster. We have 5000+ servers and 8-10 GSP that have the core server files. I think 5000 or so hosts is better then 10 as far as testing goes.[/QUOTE] Now that I can agree on. Although at this point in development I can understand. I am hoping as it hits around 80-90% complete that we will see the ability to host our own servers.

[QUOTE=Shadow Walker;43836222]Personally my only issue is the fact they don't just release the server files so we can host our own servers. These GSP shouldn't have proprietary server files. Let people who actually know how to setup a dedi test. That way we get a broader more in-depth look at what is going on. Bug reports would come quicker fixing issues faster. We have 5000+ servers and 8-10 GSP that have the core server files. I think 5000 or so hosts is better then 10 as far as testing goes.[/QUOTE] The reason they don't do this is because the server is not ready to face the worst the internet can throw at it. The devs are not finished putting the server together and getting it to a state where it could handle the public internet. However, they need testing, so they have agreements with certain trusted GSPs. These agreements include taking reasonable steps to protect the Rust server files from being leaked. This will change in time, I'm sure.

Hi, i will leave this over here. Hopefully you will understand what happends. [QUOTE=Facepunch / playRust Official Blog] Why not just sell it when it’s done? This doesn’t really work for us. We want the players to influence the direction we take development. Having a huge amount of people testing the game and giving us constant feedback about the things we’re adding, removing and changing is a huge deal for us. We also believe that you as a player benefit from this too. You get a game that is well supported and regularly updated. And you get to influence the final product.[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty much in agreement with op. Servers have been a nightmare since last patch. This could have easily been tested/avoided through test server channels.

The OP has a point, and this is something GSPs should learn about alpha builds. The majority of GSPs RUSHED to get the latest update out, where really they shouldn't have done that. But then right now they don't have much of a choice seeing as the patches are released to Steam. I think Rust needs to release a public test server which can only be accessed by those with the dev mode setting enabled under Steam. That way, if their dev mode is turned on then they get the latest patch & it gets disabled if you're not on dev setting. (Not 100% sure if that's the way it works so pls don't flame meh) It's obvious they test the patches internally, but it'd be good to see them test publicly and get some feedback before pushing it out to the alpha servers and clients. They'll still pick up glitches here and there, but at least they'll be able to get rid of the most game-breaking glitches (such as the red bears & zombies spawning at a rate of 2 per second, or this CPU usage glitch). I don't think that's an unreasonable ask of a game in alpha?

[QUOTE=Arenthas;43836421]I'm pretty much in agreement with op. Servers have been a nightmare since last patch. This could have easily been tested/avoided through test server channels.[/QUOTE] How long do you think it would take to notice on the test servers vs public servers?

You didn't have to buy a server... That was your own decision. This is alpha though you even state that you realize it is alpha. So there is no room for you to complain about this.

[QUOTE=MindlessMe;43836443]How long do you think it would take to notice on the test servers vs public servers?[/QUOTE] 24 hours. Have players volunteer to play on a patch test server (patch preview server) and check stability.

Why would the [B]alpha[/B] need [B]patch preview[/B] servers? If you aren't ready for the problems that come with an alpha, go away for six months and go play games that have actually launched. You are actually expecting too much.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;43836676]Why would the [B]alpha[/B] need [B]patch preview[/B] servers? If you aren't ready for the problems that come with an alpha, go away for six months and go play games that have actually launched. You are actually expecting too much.[/QUOTE] Already expecting too much? That is an assumption clearly made to my non-judgemental post. Providing a test system for server stability with new patches would allow Facepunch more focus and feedback on the game itself, instead of hurdling over issues with a patch released to the masses. This could be done on a volunteer basis. It's called "focus testing". It's simple, Releasing a patch to trusted server providers that has such monumental impact should always be tested. And please stop acting a White Knight to the term "Alpha" as its clearly an abused excuse for critical issues that need to be addressed. Feedback such as ideas and recommendations to alleviate an obviously common issue (latest patch) only assist the developers.

I think the best approach here would be to deliberately introduce serious show-stopping bugs to the server software that frequently and randomly causes rage-inducing issues for server owners. Perhaps then the "I know it's alpha but I want a stable-release-branch option for my very serious high population server" idiots will cancel their server rental and the rest of us can continue to alpha test this game in peace. For the love of all fucking things, stop asking for pre-patch "test channel" servers - you are the test server! Saying "I know this is alpha" apparently doesn't mean you know what an alpha actually is.

[QUOTE=brokengod;43837015]I think the best approach here would be to deliberately introduce serious show-stopping bugs to the server software that frequently and randomly causes rage-inducing issues for server owners. Perhaps then the "I know it's alpha but I want a stable-release-branch option for my very serious high population server" idiots will cancel their server rental and the rest of us can continue to alpha test this game in peace. For the love of all fucking things, stop asking for pre-patch "test channel" servers - you are the test server! Saying "I know this is alpha" apparently doesn't mean you know what an alpha actually is.[/QUOTE] A person after mine own heart...

[QUOTE=Arenthas;43836491]24 hours. Have players volunteer to play on a patch test server (patch preview server) and check stability.[/QUOTE] They already use this exact system you're asking for. Every server is a patch test server, and every single person who bought Rust has volunteered to play on these test servers to test new patches.

[QUOTE=brokengod;43837070]They already use this exact system you're asking for. Every server is a patch test server, and every single person who bought Rust has volunteered to play on these test servers to test new patches.[/QUOTE] My god. Someone gets it.

Why even release servers to GSPs then? If that's the case? What's the point, should've just hosted official servers and not supplied any providers with anything until it was at somewhat stable.

I swear it seems like your just trying to troll people with your responses Braedan.....