Nov 13, 2024

Path of Exile - Natalia_GGG

Today at 9am NZT we took down the realm for the deployment of the new account system. This migration was expected to take around 4 hours.

The first thing that went wrong was that the migration took longer to run than it did on our test hardware. This extended the downtime for an extra hour past the point that we had budgeted for.

After the realm was brought back up around 2PM NZT, we found that many players were getting disconnected frequently. This was caused by crashes in one of the backend master servers that caused online account session information to be lost.

We spent around 15 minutes trying to investigate the causes of these crashes but were unable to immediately come up with any solutions so we decided to roll back the patch.

Unfortunately in this case, what would normally take a very short amount of time to roll back took a very long time due to the extensive database migrations that had occurred during deployment. The databases are very large and restoring the backup took quite some time. The realm was brought back and the game restored at 3PM NZT.

The restore of the website databases took even longer and resulted in extended website downtime as well (the website was not available until 4:30PM NZT).

After investigation we have discovered that the crashes were caused by a very simple flaw. The constant that represents the length of an account name used in the account session was still accidentally using an old value, before we added the discriminator. If a player logged in with an account name longer than 27 characters then it would result in an exception being thrown when trying to copy the account name into the account session.

This on its own should not have resulted in the master crashing, but this occurred in an area of the code base that was designed to be exception free, which resulted in the entire process crashing.

The bug itself is already fixed, and we have also changed the code to be more resistant to exceptions occurring.

However, we have decided to delay the redeploy of the patch until Monday NZT. It is clear that we need to do another round of QA on this deployment to make sure that we have found all corner cases before we can be confident in deploying it again.

This is not the level of service you should expect from Grinding Gear Games and we are very sorry for the extended downtime.

Nov 13, 2024

Hero Plus Facebook Follow Event

Hero Plus - Hero Plus

Dear Hero Community!

During the event period, follow New Hero Plus Facebook Page and receive valuable reward!
To receive the reward, player should follow and like Hero Plus Facebook Page.
Then click the link below to fill out information needed to receive it.

Facebook Follow Event
- Period : November 7th ~ December 5th, 2024
- Mission : Follow New Hero Plus Facebook Page and send screenshot attachment.

[Requirements]
Screenshot of follow and like
Character name

[How to Participate]

1. Click the “Like” button on our new Facebook page.
(☞ Hero Plus Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/heroplus.netgame/)

2. Take a screenshot showing you have liked the page and send it to us via Messenger.

3. Rewards will be distributed in phases: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds.

*Week 1: (07/11/2024(Thursday) ~ 13/11/2024, 23:59(Wednesday)
ㄴ Reward Distribution Date: 15/11/2024(Friday)

*Week 2: (14/11/2024 00:00(Thursday) ~ 20/11/2024, 23:59(Wednesday)
ㄴ Reward Distribution Date: 22/11/2024(Friday)

*Week 3: (21/11/2024 00:00(Thursday) ~ 27/11/2024, 23:59(Wednesday)
ㄴ Reward Distribution Date: 29/11/2024(Friday)

*Week 4: (28/11/2024 00:00(Thursday) ~ 04/12/2024, 23:59(Wednesday)
ㄴ Reward Distribution Date: 06/12/2024(Friday)

[Hero SNS Box]
EXP Charm(40%)(SNS)
EXP Charm(50%)(SNS)
Deathking Ticket(3d)(SNS)
Bagua Charm(SNS)
Large Book of Arts(SNS)
Esoteric Pill(5)(SNS)
* Reward has been distributed to the players that have participated the event.
* If player wants to change Transformation Paper, then please do not use the item and place it in the inventory. We will change it to Large Book of Arts.

※Note!
- Event Reward will be provided within 2~3 days.
- You can only receive a reward for one account per YouTube subscription.
- For the raffle event, even if you participate multiple times, each individual will only be counted once.
- Raffle will be drawn after Week 4 is completed.
- The items for Weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the event are all the same; however, they will be distributed on Fridays each week.
- All information collected from the survey will be deleted after 12/19 maintenance.

Regards,
Team Hero

Nov 13, 2024

NORTHAG Operation #4 Survivors

WARNO - [EUG] Gal Marcel Bigeard

We are back again, commanders!

In this week’s second DevBlog installment, we look at the final NORTHAG Operation to be included in our new expansion.

Let’s go behind enemy lines with Operation #4 - Survivors.

NORTHAG’s Historical Context

For more info on NORTHAG’s historical context, check out this DevBlog for extra insights into the military situation on the northern front in West Germany.

In brief, NATO is being threatened by two different Warsaw Pact offensive thrusts, a northern one aimed at Bremen and a southern one with Hanover as its objective. The Survivors Operation is set even further south, on the frontier between NORTHAG and CENTAG.

As you might remember, the hammer-blow “Left Hook” attack (as depicted in the base game’s Army General campaign) by the Soviet 1st Guards Army smashes through NATO’s defenses after the initial surprise attack at Kassel. Quite a few allied units, including British, West German, and Belgian combat groups, find themselves behind enemy lines as the Soviet armor surges ahead. Close behind are second-tier communist formations, including East German reserve units, tasked with securing the Warsaw Pact’s rear.

Among the NATO units behind enemy lines are remnants of the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers. For the British troops, (relative) safety lies behind the Weser River, which means a perilous life-or-death journey through enemy territory.

Survivors

Interestingly, this Operation is one of the few that didn’t see its name change from initial conception to the final testing round. The mission’s objective is straightforward: the troops under your command must survive! Survivors is a rather demanding mission in which your units are isolated and cut off from friendly lines. We have played with these concepts in other scenarios (including Running the Gauntlet and Marauders), but not on this scale and intensity.

The isolated elements of the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers comprise a handful of FV432-transported infantry squads and anti-air teams, plus several ATGM-equipped Striker vehicles. You’ll also get Spartan and Scimitar recon units. Opposing you will be the East German Res. Mot.-Schützenbataillon operating T-34s and T-54Bs. No big deal, right? WRONG! The closer you get to friendly lines, the stronger the communist forces will get (you know, moving up to the actual frontline). These will include numerous T-80 tanks.

The Operation Itself

In this Operation, the British NATO forces are under-equipped and outnumbered, with a scattering of equally dispersed allied units on the battlefield. The choices you make matter; if you might run solo, beeline toward friendly lines, and abandon your allies. However, this might not be a surefire way to make it out alive, as linking up with other encircled units might give you a boost in firepower and increase your chances of success making it out in one piece.

These include recapturing (you read that right) West German Leopard 2A3s, getting together with the SAS, refueling and using a Belgian recon chopper, and more. The last push across the Weser River will be done under the cover of a massive allied airstrike. In Survivors, you need to use your recon carefully, check engagement ranges, and, step by step, make it out of the forward battle zone.

The new WARNO - NORTHAG expansion

WARNO - NORTHAG is the first major expansion coming to WARNO. World War III hits the North German Plain where the attacking Warsaw Pact needs to overcome the staunch defenses of NATO’s NORTHAG. Under British command, Belgian, Dutch, West German, and American forces battle against the powerful northern formations of the Soviet Group of Forces in Germany, including East German and reinforcing Polish armies. The expansion is planned for later in 2024.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978620/WARNO__NORTHAG/

WARNO - NORTHAG will feature:

2 new Army General campaigns.
4 new Operations.
10 new Divisions, including NATO’s Belgian 16e Pantserdivisie, Dutch 4e Divisie, the British 4th Armoured Division and MultiNational Airborne Division, and the American 9th Infantry (Motorized) Division, while the Warsaw Pact deploys the Soviet 25-ya Tank. Diviziya, the East German 9. Panzerdivision, and the Polish 4 Dywizja Zmechanizowan, 20 Dywizja Pancerna and Grupa Desantowa.
3 new playable nations: NATO’s Belgium and the Netherlands, and Warsaw Pact’s Poland.
New voice acting.
New units and models.

The new WARNO- NORTHAG detailed

Check the dedicated forum post for all the detailed previews for WARNO - NORTHAG!

[url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1611600/discussions/0/4700161359562121615/
]NORTHAG ... what to expect?[/url]

Until Next Time

That’s it. We’ll return with another WARNO - NORTHAG’s expansion preview next week! Note from next week onwards that we’ll go back to the regular schedule of 1 WARNO DevBlog per week.

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.

See you on the battlefield, commander.