We’re starting a series of targeted load-testing events for the game, which means you’ll see a bunch of extra players around every now and then. Here’s the low-down on what’s happening:
What this load-testing business?
In a nutshell, load-testing allows us to stress specific parts of the game’s infrastructure with a predetermined number of users. It’s a great way to efficiently hammer extremely precise portions of the back-end. We’re using a load-testing agency for this, and you’ll see their minions around on the servers during the load-testing events (handily identified by “CC” tags).
We’re aiming to have several load-testing events, with the first being tomorrow. Look out for the extra targets.
Why do it now?
As we move deeper into closed beta, we’ll want to significantly ramp up the number of players. Load-testing allows us to make sure our systems don’t insta-gib when that happens, all in wondrously controlled fashion.
Why not just invite more players?
Having planned load-testing allows us to hit our CCU (concurrent user targets) as we need to hit them and it can be extremely targeted. We can basically press a button and have people show up to kick the crap out of the system we’re wanting to test. Inviting more players doesn’t grant us the kind of control needed for this particular aspect of testing. That said, we do have plans for expanding the player pool in the coming weeks, and there’ll be more information on this at a later time.
How long are you load-testing for?
We’ve got several load-testing events planned at the moment. The first is focused on the US and will take place tomorrow evening at 7 – 9 PM Pacific. Later events will span the US and Europe, so you’ll all get to enjoy a few/several/many extra targets on the servers. We’ll try and let you know in advance of each of them, so you can get your guns cleaned in time.
If you have any questions about load-testing not covered here, post them up!