Maintenance - 8/18

[GroupMagma]

Hey all,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our games went into maintenance in Aug. 18, from roughly midnight PDT to a little before 2 AM. As a result, many users have lost their Newsfeeds, Comment Walls and Gifting history. Unfortunately, we are not able to recover this info.

If you have any further questions, let me know.*

*Though I reserve the right to sleep for about 6 hours first.

[MrsShrek]

Thank you very much for this information, GroupMagma.

Yes, I did lose my Wall & News Feed. :-(
When you say Gift History, do you mean we cannot receive gifts today? I was able to send gifts to all my nbrs. However, when I went to accept my first gift of the day, system told me that I had already accepted my max gifts for today. Again, this was my first gift for today.

Playing iPad version of Farm Story 1.7.8 (Koi Pond version)

I respect your right for 6 hours of sleep. ;-). Sweet Dreams! ;-)

[LanokaHarbor]

Well, it is a bummer, but hey, [edit] happens. There are so many other horrifying things going on in the world, anger about game maintenance, games going down, and loss of messages on walls is misdirected.

Be angry at something worth being angry about, I say. Like corruption, crime, murders, and overgrown lawns.

[briguynv]

Well, it is a bummer, but hey, [edit] happens. There are so many other horrifying things going on in the world, anger about game maintenance, games going down, and loss of messages on walls is misdirected.

Be angry at something worth being angry about, I say. Like corruption, crime, murders, and overgrown lawns.

I'm not 'angry' exactly, although it felt like that at first... but I AM very frustrated & irritated. It takes a lot of work & time to carefully type out messages that we KEEP on our walls, where they actually fit and look okay... without them cutting off or missing words. It's not based on character count... I've tried that... apparently if you type more wide/fat letters, it uses more space... so more 1's and i's fit than o's or w's or something... it's impossible to figure out or pre-plan... so many times I have to type it out numerous times to get it right! I don't understand why it doesn't just stop typing when it's out of room to show up!!!! That is just common sense!! And I can't copy & paste because it's different wording in each game. So it's very frustrating to lose that especially on 4 different walls... as well as losing other important conversations and info that others had posted. So yeah, IMO it's very reasonable to be frustrated and irritated at losing all that info, and the time we have to spend re-doing some of it! Not to mention I now won't be able to gift today, because it messed up my gifting time even more than usual... which is why gifts should reset at midnight, same as tips. Now I need to skip a day again, and wait till shortly after midnight to gift again... it's bad enough it gets pushed back a few mins every day.

But yeah... even though it's just a game, and there's other things more 'horrifying' as you put it... these games, when working properly, give me some peace and help to try to keep my mind off other things, like extreme pain 24/7... but when stuff like this happens, it just makes things worse. So yeah... I get upset & frustrated... and that won't change just because there's other things in the world to get angry about. It's a nice thought though... heck, I wish these games didn't mean anything to me... but I've become attached quickly... but so many issues keep coming up just in the short time I've been playing, I'm starting to wonder if I'll be able to continue playing at all... and that will frustrate me too to lose them. So each major issue that comes up frustrates me more. But it seems like, they update to fix one thing, and cause 5 other issues/bugs... or crash out and more issues happen because of the crash, like this. So yeah... not technically 'angry'... but certainly not happy. :-(

[MrsShrek]

anger about game maintenance, games going down, and loss of messages on walls is misdirected.
Be angry at something worth being angry about, I say. Like corruption, crime, murders, and overgrown lawns.

Not sure if your comment was directed to me or just a general comment. Just to clarify, I am not angry. A little disappointed, but not angry.
Was looking for an answer to my question since I am not sure if my situation where the system is saying that I have already received my 20 gifts today is what GM was referring to in his post.

[MFAcct]

I just noticed this now upon checking my stories. I had so many wonderful things neighbors wrote on my wall so I am a bit upset but I will let everyone know.

[Hawaiianmomma]


on many levels I have tried to convey that being apart of the social gaming provided by your company you have willing integrated your product to become a piece of each users lifestyle, such as in Facebook & Twitter. And within those Regards better Communication between Us and You as A Company Needs To Evolve. Its not just Pure Gaming Anymore, You have Surpassed That Stage of Milton Bradley~ish Packaging Because Of The Way You Set it up. The Sheer Ease of Limitless Connections Between One Person To Another Person Within The Games have set you apart in your field. I'm not singling you out Mr.G., Just Addressing the Company in General. Stabilizing,More Effective Communication, And A Protection Policy Designed Specifically For Us Women And Not Just Our Male Counterparts (Storm8).It's not asking for much.Even if its a Free Download You Cannot Neglect Certain Aspects And Requirements Needed to Retain The Audience You Are Seeking.
Aloha Nui

[Hawaiianmomma]

http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?16531-Bouncing-water-drops-farm-story

[Hawaiianmomma]

and yet I personally truly like this feature but understand others feelings on that subject which I know is different from your original announcement at the top. I'm just putting emphasis on my post above.

[bigbux3]

Since we lost all this stuff, cant TL give us 15 gems and cash like you did for the first maintenance?

[joyirene]

I had about 15 users on RS and a few on BS who has really nice places but weren't adding new neighbors... I purposely didn't delete their messages so we could still tip each other every day lol. Oh well I guess I won't see them for now 

[bigbux3]

I had about 15 users on RS and a few on BS who has really nice places but weren't adding new neighbors... I purposely didn't delete their messages so we could still tip each other every day lol. Oh well I guess I won't see them for now 

That sucks, I feel your pain. I havent checked yet, but all my stuff is probably gone too

[moratorro]

All my news and wall messages had gone....
Very well! TL saved me a lot of time to delete al those messages!
It could be better if they deleted 'pending neighbors' too!
I hate that thing!

[xcellent]

why do u have to put so many updates (new items) if ur server cannot handle it?
u have to fix ur system first b4 adding things that will clog ur system.....
altho im thankful to the updates, it also annoys me that instead of gaining some things in-games, we are losing more (gems,money,foods,dress etc)......

hopefully this constant crashes of ur server (admit it or not) will be fix soon.....
if we have to deal with twice a month updates, and getting better service, then i will accept that...
but to get weekly updates with constant maintenance(!) due to unstable system; and losing items in all stories (tips,items,gifts,gems to name a few)-- then expect a thunderous complains in here from players...... apologizing everytime the game goes offline doesn't compensate our loss.....

i know, i know, this is a free game.... but some players do spend real money in here..... (i stop being stupid since the game crashes most of the time)

[pchaneats]

why do u have to put so many updates (new items) if ur server cannot handle it?
u have to fix ur system first b4 adding things that will clog ur system.....
altho im thankful to the updates, it also annoys me that instead of gaining some things in-games, we are losing more (gems,money,foods,dress etc)......

hopefully this constant crashes of ur server (admit it or not) will be fix soon.....
if we have to deal with twice a month updates, and getting better service, then i will accept that...
but to get weekly updates with constant maintenance(!) due to unstable system; and losing items in all stories (tips,items,gifts,gems to name a few)-- then expect a thunderous complains in here from players...... apologizing everytime the game goes offline doesn't compensate our loss.....

i know, i know, this is a free game.... but some players do spend real money in here..... (i stop being stupid since the game crashes most of the time)

But I love updates! They provide new goals, interests, n discussion topics amongst nghbrs n within the forum! I'm not upset by this current removal of msgs. We just have to go out there n visit others n who knows, u might find great new nghbrs doing it :-)

[GroupMagma]


on many levels I have tried to convey that being apart of the social gaming provided by your company you have willing integrated your product to become a piece of each users lifestyle, such as in Facebook & Twitter. And within those Regards better Communication between Us and You as A Company Needs To Evolve. Its not just Pure Gaming Anymore, You have Surpassed That Stage of Milton Bradley~ish Packaging Because Of The Way You Set it up. The Sheer Ease of Limitless Connections Between One Person To Another Person Within The Games have set you apart in your field. I'm not singling you out Mr.G., Just Addressing the Company in General. Stabilizing,More Effective Communication, And A Protection Policy Designed Specifically For Us Women And Not Just Our Male Counterparts (Storm8).It's not asking for much.Even if its a Free Download You Cannot Neglect Certain Aspects And Requirements Needed to Retain The Audience You Are Seeking.
Aloha Nui

I'll take personal responsibility for the lack of communication. I was planning to post something on FB/Twitter/the forums when the games initially went down, but the games came up shortly after. Then they had to be taken down again, when again, I considered posting, but the estimated time to bring the games back up was short. Had I known that some users would have lost messages/gifts, I probably would have posted, but the effects weren't known until after maintenance was over. In any case, the information would have only been made public slightly earlier; there wasn't a way to prevent gifts, etc. from being lost had I informed the community during the maintenance. I did, however, respond to individual users on Twitter.

[Hawaiianmomma]

Mahalo Nui Mr.G  Me Ke Aloha Pumehana

[pinkster73]

I'll take personal responsibility for the lack of communication. I was planning to post something on FB/Twitter/the forums when the games initially went down, but the games came up shortly after. Then they had to be taken down again, when again, I considered posting, but the estimated time to bring the games back up was short. Had I known that some users would have lost messages/gifts, I probably would have posted, but the effects weren't known until after maintenance was over. In any case, the information would have only been made public slightly earlier; there wasn't a way to prevent gifts, etc. from being lost had I informed the community during the maintenance. I did, however, respond to individual users on Twitter.

No worries. These things happen.

[kooky panda]

No worries. These things happen.

Yes and GM instead of sleeping and dreaming of ways to torcher us with new teasers was up late last night covering the forum to keep everyone informed of the maintenance.(Mods were fast asleep dreaming of Fridays updates.)

[David_S]

5 minutes (at most) is coming back up?? Even that's questionable... because I would do something, and 45 seconds later have to redo it... because it never made it to the servers.

Also, yes, I understand that things happen, and that it's just a game, but like other people, I have non-neighbors that it'll be hard to find again... especially since I have yet to find someone that did NOT lose their wall. I'm sorry for being upset... but when you build a game around chat boxes, and then lose those chat boxes... you're losing a LARGE part of the what sets the stories apart from Zynga's Villes.

@Hawaiianmomma... I appreciate your comments, other than the sexism. Fair treatment for BOTH genders, please.

[driftboutique]

5 minutes (at most) is coming back up?? Even that's questionable... because I would do something, and 45 seconds later have to redo it... because it never made it to the servers.

Also, yes, I understand that things happen, and that it's just a game, but like other people, I have non-neighbors that it'll be hard to find again... especially since I have yet to find someone that did NOT lose their wall. I'm sorry for being upset... but when you build a game around chat boxes, and then lose those chat boxes... you're losing a LARGE part of the what sets the stories apart from Zynga's Villes.

@Hawaiianmomma... I appreciate your comments, other than the sexism. Fair treatment for BOTH genders, please.

I'm sure if there was a way to restore the comments they would do so. I don't mean to suggest that you're not well within your rights to let your frustration be heard, but I don't think there's anything to be done about it.

[litup22]

With the "unexpected" maintenance dishes spoiled and wasted time till 2am thanks

[shakiba]

Since we lost all this stuff, cant TL give us 15 gems and cash like you did for the first maintenance?

They did that before? Aww I missed it!! I wish they can do that again!

[Hawaiianmomma]

5 minutes (at most) is coming back up?? Even that's questionable... because I would do something, and 45 seconds later have to redo it... because it never made it to the servers.

Also, yes, I understand that things happen, and that it's just a game, but like other people, I have non-neighbors that it'll be hard to find again... especially since I have yet to find someone that did NOT lose their wall. I'm sorry for being upset... but when you build a game around chat boxes, and then lose those chat boxes... you're losing a LARGE part of the what sets the stories apart from Zynga's Villes.

@Hawaiianmomma... I appreciate your comments, other than the sexism. Fair treatment for BOTH genders, please.

I'm Sorry If It Seems That Way, My Statements Are Based On Information From A Q&A Editorial Done Recently With The Acting CEO Of Storm8(The Parent Company of Teamlava) In A Portion Of The Article Marketing Strategies Are Discussed As Male(Storm8) And Female(Teamlava). Though Both Genders Participate In The Gaming Of The Story Series, The Q&A Clearly States The Differences Between The Two, And With That In Mind I Would Like The Equality That Is Provided For Storm8 Male Oriented And Advertised Games........The Block Button. If It Can Be Written In For Them It Should Be Written In Across The Board. It Is A Needed Feature And Missing From The Feminine Mate(Teamlava Story Series). So If You Continue To See Future References From Me In This Nature It Is Due To The Advertising Being Directly Gender Specific.

[Hawaiianmomma]

As Per Stated Respectfully By The CEO.


[LanokaHarbor]

I didn't direct my message toward anyone, for the record. I suppose when we get older, other things take priority and are far more important. For example, losing a parent as opposed to losing wall messages, is far more upsetting. So be it anger, disappointment, upset, etc... No matter what the feelings, when put into perspective, this is a game.

I have a suggestion.

If you have a set message for each game, consider saving a document that records the message. Then, all you need to is copy it, return to the game, and paste it in.

[bigbux3]

If this is maintenance, then why would it mess up the servers? Will you guys give an update to get our newsfeeds and messages back? I want gems and cash for the inconvience. Just sayin.

[LanokaHarbor]

I don't think they are coming back.

[pinkster73]

I don't think they are coming back.

You're right. They have never restored wall messages or news feed after maintenance

[bigbux3]

You're right. They have never restored wall messages or news feed after maintenance

They should own up to it. This has inconvienced some of us (me) haha, but why not a few gems and cash like they did the first maintenance?

[GroupMagma]

They should own up to it.

I did immediately after it happened. :p


As a result, many users have lost their Newsfeeds, Comment Walls and Gifting history. Unfortunately, we are not able to recover this info.

[bigbux3]

I did immediately after it happened. :p

Not actually "own up" Sorry, I meant like give us something in return. Wow, now I sound wanty and needy

[gabo84]


on many levels I have tried to convey that being apart of the social gaming provided by your company you have willing integrated your product to become a piece of each users lifestyle, such as in Facebook & Twitter. And within those Regards better Communication between Us and You as A Company Needs To Evolve. Its not just Pure Gaming Anymore, You have Surpassed That Stage of Milton Bradley~ish Packaging Because Of The Way You Set it up. The Sheer Ease of Limitless Connections Between One Person To Another Person Within The Games have set you apart in your field. I'm not singling you out Mr.G., Just Addressing the Company in General. Stabilizing,More Effective Communication, And A Protection Policy Designed Specifically For Us Women And Not Just Our Male Counterparts (Storm8).It's not asking for much.Even if its a Free Download You Cannot Neglect Certain Aspects And Requirements Needed to Retain The Audience You Are Seeking.
Aloha Nui

very well said.

[pastrychef17]

Is Bakery Story still down for anyone else? I can get into RS but not Bakery Story for the last few hours. I'm on an iphone 4.

[Mogwai4111]

And A Protection Policy Designed Specifically For Us Women And Not Just Our Male Counterparts (Storm8).

Hi, I'm a male, and I play the TeamLava games, but not the Storm8 games. Do I need to turn in my man card? :confused:

[di1975]

Hi, I'm a male, and I play the TeamLava games, but not the Storm8 games. Do I need to turn in my man card? :confused:

Lol....maybe, according to the company ;)

[Hawaiianmomma]

Hi, I'm a male, and I play the TeamLava games, but not the Storm8 games. Do I need to turn in my man card? :confused:
No, Lol.....I Just Want My Block Button Too

[1Funkyf]

OK, thanks for that scoop, but I have more glitches now than I did prior to this "update". for instance, I lost 2 dog bowls while accepting them, it glitched & then said my gift had expired (this was a new, previously unaccepted gift); I keep getting the same materials request from the same neighbor moments after accepting it, even when declining it took a couple times to get it to go away; I have all the inventory needed for the koi pond, yet every time I "Build It" I receive an error message stating I m Out of Sync, we are refreshing the server" my pond disappears! I have reset my device, even tried closing out right after building it, no dice!; also, I have planted & harvested enough cantaloupe that I am now receiving 190 coins, yet it will not show that I passed the level - meaning no gem, no gnome:-( BTW I am discussing Farm Story on my Ipad2.. Would appreciate feedback & suggestions please.

[xcellent]

But I love updates! They provide new goals, interests, n discussion topics amongst nghbrs n within the forum! I'm not upset by this current removal of msgs. We just have to go out there n visit others n who knows, u might find great new nghbrs doing it :-)

Loool! Im not just talking about messages..... Lucky u, guess u never lost anything except those "messages".... I dont mean to offend or be rude, but as u can read, it is not "just messages" to others- some players take those deleted messages seriously cos they treasure some player's place they visit that can't be their nbrs..... Oh well.....
Better luck next time!

[xcellent]

I'll take personal responsibility for the lack of communication. I was planning to post something on FB/Twitter/the forums when the games initially went down, but the games came up shortly after. Then they had to be taken down again, when again, I considered posting, but the estimated time to bring the games back up was short. Had I known that some users would have lost messages/gifts, I probably would have posted, but the effects weren't known until after maintenance was over. In any case, the information would have only been made public slightly earlier; there wasn't a way to prevent gifts, etc. from being lost had I informed the community during the maintenance. I did, however, respond to individual users on Twitter.

As the saying goes:

"better late than never" !!! Loool

[kooky panda]

OK, thanks for that scoop, but I have more glitches now than I did prior to this "update". for instance, I lost 2 dog bowls while accepting them, it glitched & then said my gift had expired (this was a new, previously unaccepted gift); I keep getting the same materials request from the same neighbor moments after accepting it, even when declining it took a couple times to get it to go away; I have all the inventory needed for the koi pond, yet every time I "Build It" I receive an error message stating I m Out of Sync, we are refreshing the server" my pond disappears! I have reset my device, even tried closing out right after building it, no dice!; also, I have planted & harvested enough cantaloupe that I am now receiving 190 coins, yet it will not show that I passed the level - meaning no gem, no gnome:-( BTW I am discussing Farm Story on my Ipad2.. Would appreciate feedback & suggestions please.
this is a known problem and has been flagged to team lava. here is the thread so you can keep up with everything.,

http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?16471-New-Farm-update-(with-Pond)-syn-and-gifting-problems

[tinyl]

Since it's due to unforeseen circumstances, it means Team Lava did not take the necessary precaution to prevent this from happening. I've also lost more than 50 worth of tips! All gone! Since it's a service lapse, we as paying customers should be 'compensated'. How about some GEMS back?

[jaid666]

Actually I've got a question GM, if TL supposedly saves all our progress and game data to their servers, why can't they restore the walls/newsfeeds/tips and such when lost? That should be considered part of the progress of our games shouldn't it?

[bigbux3]

Since it's due to unforeseen circumstances, it means Team Lava did not take the necessary precaution to prevent this from happening. I've also lost more than 50 worth of tips! All gone! Since it's a service lapse, we as paying customers should be 'compensated'. How about some GEMS back?

Thats what I (basically) said!!

[joyirene]

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

[MiniLaura]

Since we lost all this stuff, cant TL give us 15 gems and cash like you did for the first maintenance?

If I remember correctly, the only time that TL gave gems/cash after maintenance was when there were huge problems and the games were down/buggy for a couple of days. The latest downtime hardly compares.

[bigbux3]

If I remember correctly, the only time that TL gave gems/cash after maintenance was when there were huge problems and the games were down/buggy for a couple of days. The latest downtime hardly compares.

Really, because I remember the (night for me) day when that happened. It was only out for 15 minutes or an hour for me. Then I opened up City Story, no, Restaurant Story, and i was happy, because they awarded 15 gems/cash to every game. But just think, everything was gone after this maintenance.

[bawpotter]

How long ago was that? I only started playing like early April, so I don't remember that.

[greygull]

How long ago was that? I only started playing like early April, so I don't remember that.

I want to say it was Nov or Dec 2010.

[MiniLaura]

How long ago was that? I only started playing like early April, so I don't remember that.
Yup, as greygull said, it was in Nov 2010. Here's the thread (now locked): http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?3114-Thank-You-from-TeamLava

It may have been an hour-long problem for bigbux3, but I was an intermittent problem for days for most other people.

[bigbux3]

Yup, as greygull said, it was in Nov 2010. Here's the thread (now locked): http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?3114-Thank-You-from-TeamLava

It may have been an hour-long problem for bigbux3, but I was an intermittent problem for days for most other people.

Really?!!!!! Wow. Now I get it. But still, who doesn't like free cash and gems!? :)