Lapsing Cloud Storage

[phloog]

Couldn't find this elsewhere.

I am assuming that the timer still hasn't started on the cloud access, and won't until whenever the Player Edition is released. However, I am finding myself hit with a number of bugs, the interface seems to be slow even on a near-empty realm, and so I find myself wondering:

What happens to our realms in the cloud if we drop the cloud license? Are they still stored in case we return (like many online subscription-based games, where you can start back up where you left off)? Can we store them offline, and then if we return to paying for cloud upload/sync them again?

I just have the feeling that I may want to not pay for the cloud service until the product/feature set is a little bit more fully developed, and I'm wondering if my content would essentially be at the mercy of my continuing payment for cloud. It SOUNDS like you would still be able to get at your stuff offline, and still might be able to resync later, but I'm not sure. This might also be handy for people who like RW as it is now but hit financial hurdles.

[mirtos]

Keep in mind you have 6 months of free cloud storage, and that 6 months doesnt start until the player version is available so by then hopefully the bugs that make you concerned will be gone.

However, you would always have your offline content, and you can create offline backups as well.

The resync question, though, is an interesting question. How does/would that work if cloud storage was elapsed?

[rob]

If you drop the cloud, you'll first need to make sure everything is synced down to your local computer, where it will live thereafter. This can be achieved via the "Sync All" option that already exists. You'll then be wholly responsible for backups and the like, as your content will be removed from our servers at that point. If you decide to utilize the cloud again in the future, you will just sync your realms back up to the cloud and again have access to those features.

We actually expect some percentage of users will selectively choose which realms to keep in the cloud in order to keep costs down. If a user is just preparing a realm for future play, or if a realm has completed and is only wanted for historical reference, keeping it in the cloud might not be necessary. So we expect users at some point will want to control which realms are/aren't synced to the cloud.

[mirtos]

Thanks for the advice Rob!

[mirtos]

On another but somewhat related topic - ad I realize this has been asked in the past, have you guys come up with a pricing/amount of storage scheme yet for the different cloud levels?

[rob]

Originally Posted by mirtos

On another but somewhat related topic - ad I realize this has been asked in the past, have you guys come up with a pricing/amount of storage scheme yet for the different cloud levels?

Nothing has been nailed down yet. We're focused on Player Edition right now to the exclusion of just about everything else. And we've got six months after that before we have to nail those numbers down.

Edit: Not that we'll wait all that time, but we don't feel that there's an urgency to finalize anything right now.