Over the course of the last few weeks, the Star Vault team has been working on achieving a better experience for not only Mortal Online and the current state of beta, but also trying to lay a roadmap for the future of their account management site, their beta forums, bug tracking, and more. With that, Star Vault is announcing their first step to that goal, with an upgrade of the forum system from vBulletin to Invision Power Board.
Now, many of you here may be curious to know why the upgrade is occurring, and what benefits, downtime, etc there may be, and this post is here to address common concerns that may arise.
Why are you upgrading?
Well, there are a multitude of reasons. First, Invision Power Board (IPB) is demonstrably faster than vBulletin, using less queries against the database to accomplish many of the same tasks, like a post display, a search, etc. But of all the reasons we have, speed and efficiency is actually at the bottom end. The biggest benefit IPB gives Star Vault, is a system they call "Converge". This is essentially a programming API that allows Star Vault to 'hook' the forum user accounts into their account management system (amongst other things) so that they can deliver you a single sign on experience. Now you might say, "well, vBulletin can do this too!" and that is true, however it requires complex code hacking to do this of the SOURCE of vBulletin, where IPB has an API, so the software that Star Vault builds around this will be upgradeable in the future. vBulletin will require a lot of re-writes if they are to upgrade later on.
What are the added features/benefits of IPB?
Well first of all, there is a bug tracker that is built into IPB that works well for the needs of Star Vault. While the bug tracker is *not* as good a tool for internal bug tracking, this is an online game with beta testers providing feedback, and in order to bridge the gap between the development team and the beta testers, this is a great tool that Star Vault can use, and also utilise the benefit of single sign on, furthering the user experience. That means if you are registered in the forums, and you're a beta tester, then you'll have access to the bug tracker.
Speed. I think we covered that above.
User "homes", where there are far more detailed statistics and information about a user.
Threaded private messages and 'conversations', so you get a format like a forum topic, rather than a bunch of private messages strung together.
And a lot more, most of which you'll find as you use the software.
Will there be downtime? Will we lose anything?
There will be downtime, which will be scheduled in advance and we'll give you another announcement for that. We expect the downtime to be a few hours, however since we are converting the database over, we also have to be precise in our upgrade process. As far as post counts, member names, passwords -- those things will all stay. Other miscellaneous items such as 'reputation' and such may be lost, as we have to coordinate with the folks at IPB, and as we find out what will be kept and lost, we will let you know and update you accordingly.
Does this mean we are getting beta forums?
Not right away. The forum upgrade is step #1, and there is yet work to be done to integrate IPB with the account management site. Of course however, this goal is on the agenda and after the upgrade occurs we will try to inform you better of what is happening on the site and when you can expect the beta forums. With a limited staff of developers, obviously the focus has been given to the game so you will have to continue to bear and be patient as Star Vault makes it available for you.
Will it look and feel the same?
Yes and no. We've taken steps to have a similar UI for the new forums, however -- this is an entirely different software and as such, there will be quirks about it versus vBulletin that will take a little getting used to. However, moderation for the mods will be easier as there are a lot of 'mass management' tools, plus there are a lot of bonuses for users as well, in making their forum experience better and faster.
We should add, there are two distinct changes going in that users should be aware of:
1. The new forums will have a new URL.
http://forums.mortalonline.com. If you go to the old URL, you will be redirected so this is not a concern.
2. The new forums will require you to log in WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, NOT YOUR USERNAME. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but ultimately because Star Vault is attempting to use this as a single sign on platform, email is generally the preferred method for that. We will in the interim, make it available to sign on with your username but later this will be switched, as to give some users the ability to adapt to the new setup.
I have a question/comment/complaint
Post them below, I'll be answering them as best I can.
That's about it folks -- I hope that this is informative and shows that Star Vault is dedicated to working towards a better experience for its users. Obviously there are teething pains we've all been going through, and over time as the game is debugged and there is less work on that side, the better the experience will be for users before they even enter the game.
Thanks, and please post any questions or comments you have below.
EDIT: In order to test out the skin, and let people have a feel for how it looks and feels, check it out yourself!
http://moforum.sinnersamongsaints.org/
You can register an account there and play with it, though there's no security on the current forum so you can go nuts and play around with it. The bug tracker is also up and running, so you can get a feel for that as well. Your feedback is appreciated!