Shotbow

Today I did the first piece of the EU infrastructure upgrade. Here is what has happened so far:

• Doubled the capacity of the EU proxies. This is probably the most important part of the upgrade, as it should mean the lag issues at peak time will go away.
• Added four new Wasted servers.
• Redid the EU lobby (thanks to Coleey for all his help today with this) to add the additional Wasted servers and prepare for Gun Game / Shotbow Games servers.
• Added the first set of Shotbow Games servers to the EU lobby. For now, EU will have eight Shotbow Games servers, but that number may grow or shrink based on actual usage.
• Updated the current Wasted #1 and Wasted #2 servers. I was using an older, more expensive server to get you guys a couple servers while I waited on my EU host. So these should run much faster after I do the upgrade.

Next steps:

• Will be adding a set of Gun Game servers. I will start with a few and see how popular they are during peak time.
• Will finally add an EU DBV server. Maybe two. Time will tell (no pun intended).
• Upgrade the current MineZ servers to better hardware. This should help overall performance on the MineZ side, although the MineZ servers seem to be running fine right now.
• Upgrade the EU database. This is the final step and will require network down time. I don't plan to do this until next week during off peak time to minimize impact.

I will update this post as I finish things.

Good news. My EU host finally has new inventory. Over the next couple of weeks I will be upgrading all of the existing boxes to faster processors, as well as expanding the current infrastructure.

My current plans are:

• 4 new Wasted servers
• 8 Shotbow Games servers
• 6 Gun Game servers

In addition, I will be expanding the proxy system to increase overall performance and help distribute the load better.

The proxy changes can be expected first, probably before the end of today. The Wasted servers will come next, followed by the Shotbow Games servers / Gun Game servers. After that, we will probably have some short down times for various servers over the next couple of weeks as I migrate all of the existing servers on to the new hardware.

If you are an EU player and were on the fence about supporting the network, now is the time to do it. I am being very aggressive with adding new servers based on feedback from EU folks. Also, tell your friends about the expansion. I know EU has been a bit laggy lately and these upgrades should make things run very smoothly going forward. Spread the word and let folks know that EU Shotbow is getting a nice bump.

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know that we are planning some awesome things for Shotbow Games. Given that the mode is so new, I want to give everyone a chance to play and get good at the mode. However, at the later half of next month we will be hosting our first official tournament. We will run multiple games, taking the top placed players from each game for a "final tournament". The sole survivor of the final tournament will be awarded this:



Pictured above is a gold Minecraft sword. These can only be purchased from Think Geek at conventions, meaning you'll own a rare little piece of Minecraft memorabilia! Not exciting enough? You can opt to take a gold premium package if you prefer. I'll leave that up to you. I actually have a few of these, so I may expand the prize list in future tournaments to include first/second/third place.

So arm up folks and get ready for our first tournament! I will begin announcing additional details in a couple of weeks. We plan to do tournaments like this on a monthly basis, awarding some fun stuff to the champion. You will also get a special forum rank indicating your rule as champion.

So train up folks, you only got a few weeks to get ready.

EDIT: With 1.6 out, I am moving this back again since June is now over. My apologies, this is primarily due to the staff being very busy with outside things. I personally had a wedding, vacation, and my birthday to attend to this month and has left me with limited time. I'd expect a tournament in the next few weeks once things calm down and return to normal.