7/15 @ 7pm EST - Ok, servers back up. Pardon the downtime!

7:15 @ 6:55pm EST - Our Chicago location is having connection issues. We're looking into it with our server host now.

4:20pm EST - All of our servers are up to date a live again. Thank you for your patience. Also, I have replenished the VIP stock on all servers - get em while they're hot!

3:40pm EST - The update and devblog are live! Server update process will take a bit longer today given the XP rigmarole. 

2:05pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:00am EST - It is update day - not much new functionality coming in this week, but we are seeing some significant changes to XP gains, unlock levels, gunplay, and performance. Also, the forced XP wipe announced earlier this week is no longer being forced - maps will still be wiped.

Our update stream will go live at 2pm EST and follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

Forced XP wipe not required

After a persistence++ and save++ earlier in the week  -which force a XP and map wipe respectively - Garry has implemented a new way for server owners to forgo the ‘forced’ nature of XP wipes. Although it’s not the most straightforward process (instructions below), it allows server owners to retain their XP information after the update today (if they so choose).

This change was only for XP data, so a map wipe will still be forced on all servers.

Changes to the XP system

Helk has made some changes to nerf certain xp gains and provide more of a reason to help new people instead of just your friends. Here are the shifts as he described in a reddit post:

• Max XP you can earn from any one player is limited to 6xp.
• No more xp gained from the usage of resources - instead its from the first few times crafting an item
• XP diminishing is in effect. This means the more someone harvests for you the less xp you get
• Radial XP falloff (working on it ) this means that you will not earn xp for player actions farther than n units from your current position, hopefully meaning you'll have to mentor people or be around them rather than AFK in your base.
• no double xp from breaking lootable objects
• fixed earning xp from eating your own food

New unlocks / leveling time

With these changes, come shifts to some item unlocks and overall time it takes to level. Helk sent me these two images for reference:

Shotgun nerf

Helk also made shotgun bullets have a much shorter raycast range - making them less deadly at mid range.

Other things

• A ton of performance fixes - stay tuned to the devblog for details
• Large furnace no longer placeable in water
• reseteverything - a new command to relock blueprints and refund all spent xp
• Gunplay changes - see previous post
• Fixed bald patch on wolf head dress

Server owners: How not to wipe your XP

1. Shut your server down
2. Run the update
3. Start the server
4. Go to: “/server/[IDENTITY]/”
5. Delete the xp.db and xp.statistics files with the highest number (example: xp4.db and xp4.statistics)
6. Rename the next lower increment of the files (xp3.db and xp3.statistics) to the files you just deleted.
7. Restart the server - levels will be restored

Edit: You also need to change UserPersistence.db to user4 and it turns out you can save the map too. Check out the devblog for better instructions.

Rustafied servers are not wiping XP

We wiped XP last Friday after the fix for people getting massive XP gains went live. Given that, we are not going to wipe the XP again this week.

Edit: So I fucked up. In the heat of the moment, I didn't copy the UserPersistence.db files over. This caused unlocks and experience points not to carry over (levels still did though). Unfortunately, I didn't realize the source of this fuck up till people had already been playing for almost an hour. Rather than shut down and lose all the new progress, I decided to just let it ride. My bad all.