Firefall fans, we owe you an apology. When Open Beta commenced on July 9th, our servers were overwhelmed. There were several issues that prevented people from logging in, completing the tutorial, or using calldowns and garages and printers. As I stated on the forums, this was our fault, and we take full responsibility. Stage 1 of Open Beta was meant to stress our system, and we gained many, many players during that time that did, indeed, stress our servers.
We have also taken many steps to improve the way the service handles load. While we still have more to do, we have greatly stabilized the service and restored functionality. Some specific fixes include:
Login Works - We have resolved the vast majority of login errors, including 503 errors, and have raised server capacity in all regions to better handle the load.
Blackwater 5-man instance & Melding Pockets Online - Nearly all issues with visiting these new zones have been resolved. Players can reliably reach these new areas now.
Enjoy the frozen Antarctic, or molton lava of Diamondhead, two all new playables instances!
Printer & Garage are Greatly Improved- The responsiveness of these terminals are greatly improved and enhanced. The vast majority of UI glitches have been fixed with these stations. Tutorial videos have been added to help explain how to use the garage and crafting system.
Quicker responding and smoother interactive terminals.
Calldown Menus are Back - Players no longer lose their calldown menus and do not have to relog to get their 5th ability slot to work. Players can now reliably access their thumpers, daily mission crates, scanhammer, etc.
Dropships Resume Regular Flights- Dropships are now working consistently and can be found ferrying passengers all over New Eden.
Dropships have returned with improved and quicker routing systems.
Tutorials are Unstuck- Players who create new characters no longer get stuck on the secondary weapon or jet crafting missions. Most characters who were stuck should be able to resume play normally, or have customer support restore their character. Our support staff has cleared their tickets and are now back to running at nominal 24-48 hour response time. We expedite all stuck character issues, so often this issue will be resolved the same day.
Please accept our apologies for the rocky start, and while we are not past all of it yet, things have improved tremendously and we are working on resolving the remaining issues.
Meanwhile, please join us for a series of new content and features that are rolling out regularly. Its been an incredible experience and only made possible by you, the community.
Thank you and see you in Firefall.
Mark Kern CEO & CCO, Red 5 Studios