Starry Studio has been forced into limiting Once Human server counts after hosts of players began reporting an increase in queue time after logging in this week. The development team explained that there would be catastrophic data loss without such limits and is offering in-game compensation as an apology.
Starry reaffirmed its commitment to the growth of Once Human in a July 14 FAQ, addressing concerns over an uptick in players stuck in queues on login. The dev team said personnel were already working around the clock to help handle the influx of players flocking to the survival game, adding the “increase in the number of players exceeded our expectations” and that if too many people access the same server, “we risk losing data.”
Between unstable endgame content and a limited number of collectible resources on each Once Human server’s map, Starry has been forced into implementing caps—6,000 to 8,000 players on each server. “Once that limit is exceeded, players will have to wait in queue. This is all for online players to enjoy a better gaming experience,” Starry wrote.
Nine Once Human servers have already reached this capacity since it was imposed, while a further 18 have far too many players signed up, according to the devs. As a result, new players hoping to link up with friends in one of the maxed-out servers will instead find themselves sitting in long queues or, even worse, arriving in Nalcott and simply failing to get started due to a lack of resources. Fortunately, Starry is planning major fixes.
“Shortly, we will raise the limit for each server,” the devs said, adding they hope the sudden influx of players wanting to try Once Human will at the very least be able to join their friends. Starry also plans to list each server’s current count in future updates, which may improve congestion and direct new players to emptier servers.
More servers are due to be added, while the July 18 patch will reward all players with goodies to alleviate time spent in queues. In August, players wanting to catch up with friends on full-up servers will be allowed to join via their friend’s invite code.
We’ll know more about the Once Human compensation in the patch tomorrow.
