The Beta of the hardcore, sorry, heroic, version of DOFUS has come to an end and the release of Oto Mustam, the server which will cradle this new game mode, was imminent. No definitive release date has been announced for the server, however. So… what’s going on? Well, we delayed it. Why we did that, you ask. For one, we have to wait for the migration to our new hoster before we do anything. Since the migration planned for the end of this year has been pushed back to the beginning of the next, the heroic server will have to wait patiently in the wings. But that’s not all. In actual fact, a deeper and more obstructive obstacle lies in our path (well, above all in the path of the the valiant developers, after all, I only stand back and watch… ) This strange problem quickly became evident to the beta-testers, and many reported its occurrence: Frequent disconnections. The very principle of the heroic server mode is that all death is permanent outside challenges. Well, that’s okay so far, for those of you who agree to take the risk… Unfortunately, unlike in an ordinary video game, where you can play away in peace on your own, with an MMORPG, the wellbeing of your modem comes into play… mini-interruptions in signal, server lags, mood swings on the part of your ISP… The terrain is much more complex. As irritating as it is in DOFUS (it’s a problem we’ve been working hard to solve), it’s simply critical in the heroic mode. The smallest reboot from your modem can fry your hero instantly and for good. Frustrating to say the least We are in the process of examining any and all possible solutions to improving the stability of your DOFUS connection. The migration to our new server is an integral part of this, but we are also concentrating on getting to the root of the lags, as well as a re-evaluation of one of our oldest projects… the d/c system (to reconnect after being disconnected.)The principle is simple: keep a player from being excluded from combat (and declared the loser) if his modem has a hiccup. So if your modem loses the connection for one hour it won’t change a thing, but in case of a smaller interruptions, or a nasty lag, you’ll be able to continue where you left off. In practice, it’s more complicated since DOFUS is not really a game that lends itself to all this, but we still hope one day to resolve the interaction between turn-based play and frequent disconnections. Unfortunately all this takes time, and we have many projects, but we’re hoping to get as much of this new approach as possible into development before the release of the new Oto Mustam server… to serve you, O players, and to save your nerves. We’ll be keeping you posted during the beginning of 2008! Well, happy playing to everyone, and keep training, one day you might become the strongest… You have the potential, I can tell! So don’t give up hope.