Log archive
The server log from before the Pantheon project, kept read-only. No new entry is added to it.
The game server starts on its own after a machine reboot
After the machine reboots, the database, the login server and the world server start automatically, in the right order. Startup was checked by replaying the boot sequence.
Auto mode: the player decides
New rules: the server no longer plays a character whose player is logged off, and auto mode starts disabled at every login. The auto mode spell now opens a window where you choose what your character does.
A pet that fights, quests again, and a spell to hand your character to the server
Crashtroller's boar stayed passive and never fought: that is fixed. Crashtroller is questing again, saving up for a better bow and reacting faster. New: every character gets a spell that turns automatic mode on or off.
Crashtroller: out of the vicious circle, with a pet and a filling purse
Crashtroller was stuck in a vicious circle: broken weapons, no coins picked up, deaths one after another. The causes are fixed. He tamed a boar, reached level 12 and has not died since.
Crashtroller rests at the Orgrimmar inn
After a morning of fixes and tests, Crashtroller heads back to the Orgrimmar inn to rest. Once next to the innkeeper, he lies down and does nothing else.
Autonomous players paused: all resources go to Crashtroller
The 299 other autonomous players are paused. The server now only plays Crashtroller, the main prototype, to focus work on making him an elite hunter. A first one-hour monitoring report was sent, and its first fixes are in place.
Crashtroller: a hunter played by the guides
While Crashtroller danced and kept saying a troll must be patient, hunter best practices were gathered from levelling guides. He now follows a Beast Mastery talent plan, opens with his pet, manages aspects, uses Berserking, keeps ammo stocked, pulls one monster at a time and travels far to train.
Crashtroller: learning to repair and taming his first beast
Crashtroller becomes the main prototype. First findings: an autopilot frozen by a teleport the client never confirmed, fully broken gear with no money to repair it, and no pet, because he had not done the hunter taming quest. All three are fixed, and the first taming just succeeded.
Autonomous players: why they were so weak in combat, and what changes
A diagnosis of their combat weakness revealed several flaws. Their talents were stuck at the first rank, and warriors and rogues ended up wielding a skinning knife when their weapon broke. On top of that came the hunters' dead zone and the loss of their pet. Everything is fixed, and a new fleeing rule is being put to the test.
Autonomous players: after resurrecting, move away first
Nearly one death in three happened less than two minutes after a resurrection, at the same spot. Now a player resurrected near where they died first moves away, then rests further off.
Autonomous players: potions drunk wisely, and a first night report
Potions went too fast (1,197 in 40 minutes). They are now kept for real danger, and players buy more from vendors who sell them. Fishing also starts with a few weak monsters nearby. Since the start of the night, mortality has dropped by about a third.
Autonomous players: they finally drink their potions, and pick targets more wisely
272 players carried 1,393 healing potions without ever drinking one. In combat, below 35% health, they now drink their best potion, like any player in trouble. Target selection also accounts for the approach path and for humanoids that help each other. Night-time offline breaks survive server restarts.
Autonomous players: the hunter backs off, the angler heads to the shore
In melee, a hunter wing-clips their target to slow it, then steps back to resume shooting instead of insisting with refused shots. A player who feels like fishing walks to the nearest shore instead of waiting for water to come to them. Warriors, with their stance back, now account for 17% of deaths, down from 23%.
Autonomous players: warriors get their stance back, plus a series of common-sense fixes
Warriors never took a battle stance: their abilities were refused over and over, and they accounted for about 20% of deaths. That is fixed, along with a series of absurd behaviours: tools sold then bought back, swimming to an island, AFK at the water's edge, looting while half dead, logging off in the middle of a camp.
Server: the cause of isolated crashes found and fixed
Four isolated crashes during the evening had the same cause, identified thanks to a memory dump: a consumed item (the last ration fed to a hunter's pet) was read again right after being destroyed. All four affected places are fixed. Guilds also get French rank names and officers.
Autonomous players: bandages actually used, safer hunting, calm logins
Crafted bandages are finally used after fights. Free hunting is limited to prey of one's own level or below, and a player logging in among monsters first moves away from them.
Autonomous players: first aid and fishing
Autonomous players learn first aid and fishing. They make bandages from the cloth they loot and bandage themselves after a fight. Now and then they take out their rod by the water, watch for a bite and strike.
Autonomous players: day/night rhythm, real AFK breaks, fewer vendor trips, and A/B test conclusion
At night, autonomous players play shorter sessions and take longer breaks, as on a real server. They go AFK when no monster is near. They only visit a vendor when selling is worth the trip. The A/B test is closed: none of the tested features explained the excess mortality.
Autonomous players: reliable professions, livelier guilds, respected prey
A new audit fixed the early days of professions and guilds: no more mass departures to trainers, no more fruitless picking of quest plants, skinning that really works. Home inns and refuges are no longer in regions that are too strong. Autonomous players leave real players the monsters they target.
Autonomous players: skinning, little hops while running, and real AFK breaks
After herbalism, autonomous players learn skinning: they buy a knife and skin the beasts they have just killed. They hop now and then while running, like any player, and their AFK breaks finally trigger wherever they are.
API : /api/devlog