Delete Skirmish Stats

[Almagnus1]

Following from https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...31#post6956631

General

We've discovered that a very significant chunk of time is spent during logon to read and calculate your skirmish stats. Instead of doing these calculations during logon, we will now do them after. Your Skirmish stats will then update in the background, as you play. This should allow some characters who have been unable to login due to a timeout to get into the game. Please note, your Skirmish stats will not display correctly until all of the processing is completed after logging in. Please note: Exiting the game or logging out your character before the skirmish data has finished updating may cause your client to crash. No data is lost or damaged if this occurs.
Fixed an issue where objects/textures would not render correctly on some machines.

These.things have been making my login times stupidly long for basically no good reason.

I don't use these stats, don't care about them, and want them gone so I don't have to suffer any more of their effects.

[banjolier]

Deleting them outright won't be happening, but an option in UI Settings to disable the client-side calculation might be reasonable.

I might even use that to avoid the slight post-login performance hit, though I don't expect that to be significant on my main rig. The boxen I used to play on would appreciate it, though. I'm sure a significant chunk of players would use such an option if it existed (and they knew about it).

[Fredelas]

After Monday's update (11.5), you won't suffer any longer. These statistics will be calculated in the background AFTER you log in.

[Almagnus1]

After Monday's update (11.5), you won't suffer any longer. These statistics will be calculated in the background AFTER you log in.

I'd rather not take the performance hit to begin with.

Never used them, and I want them gone.

[Khafar]

Never used them, and I want them gone.

There shouldn't be any need to get rid of them. Lazy evaluation is often done to solve issues like this... they're only calculated when you first need them. If you never need them, then they're never calculated. Win/win, typically. The one problem can be that if it takes a very long time to do the calculations or gather the data, the first time you go use that feature in a given session, it might take a long time to come up. Then after that it's fast.

I have no idea whether these can be reasonably done via lazy evaluation or not, but it would be nice if they could be.

Khafar

[banjolier]

I have no idea whether these can be reasonably done via lazy evaluation or not, but it would be nice if they could be.

Sounds like they're sending the raw data during login and the client crunches the numbers before the login process completes. I assume the only change will be to when the client crunches the numbers; it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to delay that indefinitely until the system needs it (say, when the user opens up the Skirmish Panel to look at the stats). If they changed the Skirm Panel around so that the Traits tab was default, even opening the panel wouldn't necessarily trigger the calculation.

Such a delay might look a little bit like the delay a player sees on first accessing a vault during a given play session. You get a blank screen for a few seconds, while the vault contents are downloaded from the server. There's a similar delay when activating the quest log's "Show Completed Quests" option.

My main problem with these delays is that they're input-blocking: the entire game seems to freeze up while the client processes the new data. You can't move for 5 seconds or so, and that makes the game feel positively antique. There's no reason I can't be typing in the chat window or casting skills at a mob while waiting for the completed quests to load.

If they can avoid the input-blocking delay during the number crunching, I don't really care where they do it. If the input-blocking delay is a necessary evil, only doing the calculation when the skirm stats tab is first opened makes sense to me.

[YamydeAragon]

The LOTRO Game Servers will be taken down on Monday October 14 from 7:00AM Eastern – 11:00AM Eastern (-4GMT) for Update 11.5. Your Skirmish stats will then update in the background, as you play. This should allow some characters who have been unable to login due to a timeout to get into the game.
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...Notes-Official

[Almagnus1]

There shouldn't be any need to get rid of them. Lazy evaluation is often done to solve issues like this... they're only calculated when you first need them. If you never need them, then they're never calculated. Win/win, typically. The one problem can be that if it takes a very long time to do the calculations or gather the data, the first time you go use that feature in a given session, it might take a long time to come up. Then after that it's fast.

I have no idea whether these can be reasonably done via lazy evaluation or not, but it would be nice if they could be.

I would doubt that they could be done that way, since it was taking me ~5 minutes or so to log in. It rendered logging in on my laptop a futile exercise.

And if they are what's really causing the login time, it (most likely) means the first few minutes after logging in are probably going to be pretty sluggish......

[Tarlywyn]

an option in UI Settings to disable the client-side calculation might be reasonable.

I'd like to see this implimented - not as a store brought disabler tho - as I don't think I've bothered looking at my skirm stats - only the skirm deeds.

Exiting the game or logging out your character before the skirmish data has finished updating may cause your client to crash.

IMO having a crash as a feature is not good programming. An option would be to disable logging out until the skirm info has updated, which would prevent unavoidable crashes from logging out alts to quickly.

[Almagnus1]

IMO having a crash as a feature is not good programming. An option would be to disable logging out until the skirm info has updated, which would prevent unavoidable crashes from logging out alts to quickly.

Eh, I'd rather have them gone.

What's the point of skirmish stats without the leaderboard?

[robbie1435]

I'd rather not take the performance hit to begin with.

Never used them, and I want them gone.

You want them gone. Just because you want them gone doesn't mean we all do.

Some of us like to do skirmishes every now and then

Glorgnorbor
Happy Halloween!

[Khafar]

What's the point of skirmish stats without the leaderboard?

That's an odd statement. Many people like measuring sticks, even when just looking at their own characters - or perhaps doing some comparisons between them. It's like asking why anyone would want to time themselves on a run or walk unless it was at a track meet. Some won't, of course, but a non-trivial percentage of people will.

The skirmish leaderboards were far and away the least used feature of the old forums, according to Sapience. Yet I'll bet a lot of the people who never looked (or cared) about those leaderboards would bring up their skirmish stats now and again. That certainly describes me. I quit looking at the leaderboards within a few weeks of Mirkwood's arrival... I simply didn't care. Still don't. But I like seeing some stats tracking what I've done while playing the game, quite independent of how anyone else does.

Khafar

[Tarlywyn]

Eh, I'd rather have them gone.

I agree, I wouldn't miss them, as I never look at them. I was just pointing out previously a solution to prevent leaving people open to crashing while the info is updating, as it looks like the skirm info is here to stay for a while yet.

[Almagnus1]

You want them gone. Just because you want them gone doesn't mean we all do.

Some of us like to do skirmishes every now and then

Glorgnorbor
Happy Halloween!

I want to clarify that I'm referring to the statistics that we can browse, NOT the skirmishes themselves.

I run skirmishes myself, but have not looked at the statistics in years.

That's an odd statement. Many people like measuring sticks, even when just looking at their own characters - or perhaps doing some comparisons between them. It's like asking why anyone would want to time themselves on a run or walk unless it was at a track meet. Some won't, of course, but a non-trivial percentage of people will.

The skirmish leaderboards were far and away the least used feature of the old forums, according to Sapience. Yet I'll bet a lot of the people who never looked (or cared) about those leaderboards would bring up their skirmish stats now and again. That certainly describes me. I quit looking at the leaderboards within a few weeks of Mirkwood's arrival... I simply didn't care. Still don't. But I like seeing some stats tracking what I've done while playing the game, quite independent of how anyone else does.

Khafar

Yeah, I'd agree.... if it was anywhere close to right (I've only killed 3 monsters?), and had a playtime of 1 minute? **facepalm**

Why spend the time processing information that's laughably wrong?

[Tarlywyn]

I want to clarify that I'm referring to the statistics that we can browse, NOT the skirmishes themselves.

I assumed that's what you were referring to - I don't agree to losing access to skirms I've paid for.

[Khafar]

Why spend the time processing information that's laughably wrong?

Well, mine seems correct. Over 5K kills on the character I looked at, nearly 150 skirmishes total, a little over 4 per hour of gameplay. The other characters I looked at today seemed correct as well.

Khafar

[robbie1435]

I want to clarify that I'm referring to the statistics that we can browse, NOT the skirmishes themselves.

I run skirmishes myself, but have not looked at the statistics in years.

Have you viewed your marks and medallions recently?

Those are considered skirm stats.

Glorgnorbor
Happy Halloween!

[mjk47]

Have you viewed your marks and medallions recently?

Those are considered skirm stats.

I rather doubt that they recalculate how many skirmish marks/medallions/seals every time you login. Common sense says they are just counters.

Given that we no longer have the skirmish leaderboards on the website, there seems very little point in keeping these stats at all now.

[Zepherzaper]

who would even think removing the marks and stats would be a good idea. in my opinion you would have to be crazy to want to remove skirmish stats.


skirmish stats include
A: Marks.
B: Medallions.
C: Seals.
D: Superior Fourth Mark.
E: Any mark or money type earned in a skirmish.
F: How many skirmishes and instances you have done.

[Tarlywyn]

I rather doubt that they recalculate how many skirmish marks/medallions/seals every time you login. Common sense says they are just counters.

Given that we no longer have the skirmish leaderboards on the website, there seems very little point in keeping these stats at all now.

who would even think removing the marks and stats would be a good idea. in my opinion you would have to be crazy to want to remove skirmish stats.


skirmish stats include
A: Marks.
B: Medallions.
C: Seals.
D: Superior Fourth Mark.
E: Any mark or money type earned in a skirmish.
F: How many skirmishes and instances you have done.

Mmm - so which one is correct? It does seem odd they'd be recalculated each time you log in - the differences (when you spend some) would also need to be stored and then worked into the calculation as well. Seen as most, if not all, are account bound then each calculation would also take into account all alts activities on an account. If it's just the running total of how many an alt has earned, and not related to what's in the wallet - is this really needed?

[Zepherzaper]

Mmm - so which one is correct? It does seem odd they'd be recalculated each time you log in - the differences (when you spend some) would also need to be stored and then worked into the calculation as well. Seen as most, if not all, are account bound then each calculation would also take into account all alts activities on an account. If it's just the running total of how many an alt has earned, and not related to what's in the wallet - is this really needed?

well my comment was to the op and about there comment and there thread so I have nothing to do with that other person.

and to be right both of us are correct because my comment and theirs were both pulled out of context.

[Tarlywyn]

well my comment was to the op and about there comment and there thread so I have nothing to do with that other person.

and to be right both of us are correct because my comment and theirs were both pulled out of context.

K - just trying to figure out if the skirm stat info calculated at login for marks etc is just how much an alt has earned over it's lifetime, and not calculating how many marks etc you have in your wallet. If this is the case, then IMO I agree with the OP that it's not really needed.

[mjk47]

Retrieving the number of skirmish-related currency items should be no different to retrieving the amount of anything in your wallet. If the system was actually recomouting your entire skirmsh history and skirmish currency transactions to compute the current totals, that would be an act of immense programming folly.

I am sure that what the calculatioon refers to is the hugely verbose statistics that the system keeps for every skirmish you ever do. If you bring up the Skirmish Panel, the amount of information is mind-boggling, and one has to serioudly question whther it is of any use or interest to anyone. When we had a Skirmish league table, then it had some relevance, but as it stands now, I would just delete the vast bulk of it.

It may be that Turbine makes use of it for their data-mining studies of player behaviour, but as far as the in-game display is concerned, it should be computed on demand only, not every time you login. Even with the current computation in the background, it is still a huge waste of client-side resources if most players never bother to look at it. let those who want it choose to pay the price of calculating it. Don't assume that 100% of the players need to do it every time.

[YamydeAragon]

well my comment was to the op and about there comment and there thread so I have nothing to do with that other person. and to be right both of us are correct because my comment and theirs were both pulled out of context.

This tread is so over due. It should have being deleted yesterday. The OP is not requesting to remove the stadistics or the marks, of the skirmishes. He is requesting to remove the automatic chat that on logging was giving about the skirmishes. This was corrected on yesterday update.

[Almagnus1]

This tread is so over due. It should have being deleted yesterday. The OP is not requesting to remove the stadistics or the marks, of the skirmishes. He is requesting to remove the automatic chat that on logging was giving about the skirmishes. This was corrected on yesterday update.

No, they "fixed" it by pushing the calculations to this "loaded" side of the character loading, which gives me the benefit of being able to play my captain on the laptop again.

Howerver.... it still causes performance issues once I'm loaded, and I'd rather not have to deal with the slowdown to begin with.

I have no use for the stats, I'd rather not waste my CPU cycles calculating information I do not care about.