Forced update destroys world

[fimmatek]

So, here's what happened yesterday:

I was playing on the "Rabbits and Bunnies" Klei Official server and we had a pretty nice world and people around there when yesterday's update hit us and I got lost connection to the server. As I wanted to rejoin, I saw that this server isn't listed. Then I saw there was an update, so I updated too and finally found the server, however the world was reset and the people of course weren't there anymore.

I know that we didn't lose too much, we were only in first autumn, but still, it could have been a good game with cool players. I guess a server must have been updated immediately, but I found it a bit brutal. I don't know why was this necessary, why couldn't it wait till the world resets (Klei Officials reset really often anyways). 
Is there a way to avoid such a situation in the future? 

Btw I wasn't sure if this thread supposed to be in Suggestions, Tales or General, so I put it here.

[Zillvr]

Hey there @fimmatek, with regards to subforum placement, I think the General Discussion is okay since this is fairly a good topic to talk about concerning public Klei official servers. Technically speaking the main thing this post is about is, "Is there a way to avoid such a situation in the future?". Answer is probably. And since you offered no actual suggestion, I think this is a topic better discussed. (if the other mods disagree, feel free to move it.)

Personally though, I haven't experienced a forced update in a long while since I've only started playing again rather recently. But it's pretty much expected that the world resets if the new update is available, since there was always updates way back before that changed/added new stuff to the world so resetting the world would make those new things spawn. So regardless of whether or not an update has new stuff or world-changing stuff a reset occurs since it's still an update. 

I guess its possible to manually pick do not reset / reset for servers once an update is available depending on whether the update is world-changing stuff or not, but there are a handful of servers already and micro managing servers that much might be a little too much. I don't know, that's just me cause I've personally already tried managing my own server... it's pretty tedious to simply just update. You have to shut it down then update the server files directly and then getting the server back up again, check and double checking everything to make sure it's running correctly... and that's for only one server. 

Thinking about it, the only alternatives I can think of right now is that the actual servers shout out announcements about force closing/force updating in advance, just so players on the current server gets a heads up about what's to come and can hand out friend requests to each other until the server closes for the update. If something like this were to be implemented, I'm hoping it's not just a mod but a built in feature for server owners to utilize when they choose to automating the shut-down-update-process. I haven't managed a personal server in a long time so I'm not particularly caught up with the current capabilities of servers, I do know it's possible for server announcements to be made.

Alternatively though, you can find those random people again by viewing the History Page from the main menu. Once opened, you'd be greeted with your obituaries first but after that you will also notice the Encounters tab. That tab shows all previous in-game encounters you've had, and you can view their steam profiles or remove them from the encounters list. So with that, you have the option to reconnect with players you've had good interactions with.

Anyway, I've said my piece. Think positively though, updates are always good. More updates = more good things to come, and there are definitely more good things to come. Cheers.

[fimmatek]

@Zillvr, thanks for the answer! I didn't know that managing a server can be so time consuming. 

I really love that Klei makes updates to the game, it is always fascinating to try and play new content

It's logical and I agree with that a server must be updated if one is available and the server resets. What I don't really understand is why did the server update immediately as it came out, while other Klei Officials didn't. (At least I didn't see them for some time after I also updated, only the Rabbits and Bunnies.) I would find more logical if the server would update when it it resets, and not resets when it updates.

Anyways, I still play and love Klei's public world because they're great and we can meet new nice people. What happened was just an annoying episode and I felt a bit sad after it, but actually I didn't lose anything. 

[Justme111]

Oh jeez I had that happen to me.

Day 500 playing Wolfgang and killed almost every giant I was doing good and I could survive anything Until the server had to reset.

I was sad at first but then I was feeling happy latter because playing Wolfgang and getting everything handed to you is boring. So I started playing Wes and it was FUN there was challenge, Giants running over my base, hounds everywhere, and winter. Those were a challange to survive on a less resource world playing Wes. I've even seen hilarious and amazing things in the new world were as in the old one it was something like: oh it was a glitch or a AI malfunction Ex: that one time Ancient guardian was flying, that was fun.

I've also took pictures and videos of them wich I could share in my own subform. And overall the new world is not always a bad thing.

Klei, can we have references plz?