Old Beta player trying to return

[ZenToo]

But here is the tale of why I didn't.

I tested the game a lot in beta - enjoying some aspects and disliking others. I heard about the 14 days trial recently and decided to try it again. Now, when you go to the download page, you are offered 2 options - a 1 GB file (0.98 to be exact) or a 34MB fast installer option. I naturally assumed that the "fast" option would indeed be fast. After 12 hours the patcher had gone to 50% and this is on a 4MB adsl line, so I decided to stop it.
I cant see the point in starting a trial when you cant even get the bloddy game up and running in a resonable time. If the trial is supposed to attract more customers (I would expect this is the goal - but thats an assumption on my part), I would have thought it wise to make a patched downloadable single file - perhaps via bittorrent.

To the community I would just like to say, I really do hope the game have improved - but I think I will give it a miss when its not possible to even streamline the install process for new potential customers.

-
Zentoo

[AA0]

Patching isn't fast, download the full installer and have to patch much less.

[ZenToo]

Its funny how very clearly marked as the "fat" way. Especially since you take all the new "trial members" comming fresh out of the blue and following the official guide. Nevertheles I actually tried the DL - it vent at 40KB/s.... not so fast

-
ZenToo

[AmonGwareth]

ZenToo, make sure you have your antivirus protection disabled while patching. IT will attempt to scan every file and will kill your download rate.

[ZenToo]

Ah, will give that a try.. Still a bit confused as to why such a measure is necessary - especially considering this is the most likely route for all teh new trial members. Just thought it odd to make your customers experience such a wait - when human patience on the net is a rare thing :)

Anyways, thx for the hint - will test it
-
ZenToo

[Dalton]

ZenToo, make sure you have your antivirus protection disabled while patching. IT will attempt to scan every file and will kill your download rate.

That might be worth mentioning on the download page. When I bought my new machine I tried the 34mb insstaller and experience a similar slowdown. It took nearly 12 hours to patch.

[Royal]

I think its not the size of the download what matters in the patching/updating/downloading of the game files.. but more the amount of files? its about 16k files here which wil be much more to process then just downloading 1 zip/iso etc...
btw.. game in mosts stores is just 6?

[ZenToo]

The gameprice in stores is really not the best thing to bring into a discussion as to how to test the game via the free 14 day trial. I am still baffled at the lack of preperations that there is behind this trial - I mena if they want ppl to come back / join - they maybe should have streamlined the trialdownload / install a bit more.

-
ZenToo

[Pharcellus]

Umm. Just how do you think you can make a 1GB+ download more "streamlined"?

I hear this complaint all the time, and just don't get it. If you want it fast, pony up the cash for the box and go. Still going to be a signficant patch no matter which way you go.

Remember the old adage:

1) Good
2) Fast
3) Cheap

Pick any two.

[AA0]

Downloading 1 file is always faster than downloading 16,000 or so...
Free is free, I wouldn't complain

[Fratricide]

I have actually submitted a support ticket suggesting something similar to this already... I work at a facility where users download files upwards of 10GB in total size. Some of them complained about slow download times which they could not account for. We asked them how they were trying to download the files and they stated they were trying to ftp them all separately. The problem with downloading files separately is that every time you need to stop one file and start the next, the system has to actually search for the next file and where its at.

the problem with doing it that way ( the way HZ does it now ) is that a very large number of the files needed to be downloaded are < 10Kb. I noticed when I reinstalled HZ that it was taking more time to start the next file, then it actually took to download said file. The biggest problem with that is that those of us with High Speed internet are not able to take full advantage of our DL speeds if the files keep having to start the next file.

I actually suggested to have a sort of groups of files, grouped by updates, so that there could be say perhaps 10-15 larger files to download. Once those files were downloaded, the files could extract from the wrapper file ( cab, zip, rar, whatever ) and insert them where they needed to go. That way, the bandwidth could be maximized and the whole process of patching should not take more then 4 hours Max. I would suppose that after the patch was complete, the patcher should reverify all the files are there and are the correct version, just incase there are stragglers.

Anyway... I spose that since I put it into the CSR hands I would hope they would at least look at the suggestions so that the incomming potential playerbase will have a much faster DL of patched files, and be able to get enveloped in the game that much faster, as when they are patching the game, they are already using their "free" trial.

Anyway... I spose that where Im commin from.

[ZenToo]

Well, I had guessed something like this is the real reason for the slowdown. I might add, I am not trying to flame horizons - all I am saying is, that if they really want lots of new potential members to try the trial it would not hurt to streamline the lengthy install process a tiny bit. You might say I am arguing a thing I would assume everyone got aggree upon would make the chance of people trying the trial and signing up bigger.

I know how the launch wasn't the most.... how do I put it... perfect?. But if the community is really interested in getting new members, I would have thought they would see the wisdom in making the trial as easy to go to as possible. Seems some do and some dont.

I might add, that I am not going to spend any money on a game just to see if they fixed a lot of the things that kept me from playing it from beta->retail. No matter how rich you are, I dont thing anyone would just throw money at that. The trial was a way for me to see if the game had matured enough that I would participate.

Then again, I actually but it to download the whole file - crashed at 52% and it had gone with 38KB/s a far cry from the max speed.

[Pharcellus]

Well, I am sure they would consider it, if you suggested to them with a way TO streamline it. As it stands, I think it is about as streamlined as it can get. If your download is crashing, you need to use a resumable download program. As for the speed, 38KB/sec is pretty darn good for download speed, and it is affected by multiple factors, not the least of which is how busy your ISP is at that time.

You have to get 1 GIGABYTE+ of data onto your hard disk. There are currently two best ways to do that: 1) install it off of another media (CD/DVD/etc); 2) download it.

How much easier can the process get? I mean, I understand the concept of making things easy for new customers as much as you or anybody; I am just at a loss as to how it could be made easier. Since you seem to think it can be, all I am trying to do is to get you to elaborate on how.

As for "throwing money" around, people spend money on frivolous things all the time. I don't think that the vast majority of people out there couldn't find something they were throwing away money on to come up with $13 (or less) to toss at Horizons to try it for a month.

Even still, it is free for a week or so, IF you can do the bare minimum and get that gigabyte of data downloaded onto your HD somehow. If you know of a better way to do it, please enlighten them and the rest of us.[:)] I'm sure you'll be thanked by all those who come after.

[ZenToo]

Well, lets start with the basics of ease of download then :)

Supports picking up the transfer in case of dropped connections.
Possibly use peer to peer so the server load would be spread to the downloaders as well.
Have a single fully patched file for transfer, as the overhead of requesting individual 1KB files have a detrimental effect on the download efficiency.
Have enough bandwidth to transfer the needed data to the clients Now, most of the other MMORPG's I have played have done most of these things - yet Horizons have none. heck, the current MMORPG I am playing (eve-online) have the latest build as a single install file and is updated with a new each time there is a patch/version change. The single file approach secures that the transfer speed can be optimized, and that each single file doesn?t have to be checked for errors etc. This, furthermore, makes the install process fast and painless.

If one could add FTP/Bittorent as a transfer choice, you could get a faster download speed and guard against dropped connections. Bittorent would even lessen the load on the servers during the download. Again, all this would be relatively easy to accomplice ? which is why I am baffled at the lack of its usage in Horizons. -
ZenToo

[LaughingOtter]

OK, how's this for a suggestion to streamline things?

Add an option to ftp zipped CD image files covering the base install and an additional image with the latest and greatest update?

[ZenToo]

would be pretty darn sweet to be honest :)

-
ZenToo