Hey, admin here.This topic is now outdated. Please read the patch notes for v1.0.
diablo2.io was a very small, underground community only 3 weeks ago, and the trade section was something I quickly hobbled together in one week before launch as a side-kick feature for the 50 or so active users here and nothing more. I didn't expect it to become so popular - we didn't have an audience here who expected robust trading features. The site didn't have 20,000 members registered. It wasn't designed to be used by 2000+ concurrent online users at any time. Usage has shot up by the multiple-thousands of percent and it's been a struggle to even keep the site online since then.
A lot of bug reports/feedback are coming in from newer members who don't realise that this place is new, who don't realise that the trade section was never designed to be used on this scale, and most annoyingly for me personally - don't read what other people are reporting before they post themselves. It's usually the same things said over and over again, and to save having to repeat myself in every single thread, someone suggested I make a 'common issues' post and sticky it in the hope that people see it before they go ahead and post about filters not working correctly for the 20th time that week for example.
So here are some of the things that WE KNOW are not working and are being worked on RIGHT NOW for the next update.
Speed
This isn't a static site serving blog content, it is a living, breathing thing that has to process thousands of requests every second for all the trading activity, user profiles, notifications, database updates, and forum discussion, to name just a few of the myriad of things happening back end. The site wasn't designed to be used by this huge number of people, and therefore many of the queries I wrote (last year!) are simply not optimised and take a large amount of server processing power to handle at this kind of level.Query optimisation, cacheing, and further performance improvements have already been made since the traffic spike as emergency measures to stop it from going dark. I have upgraded the server 3 times already to cope with the current traffic and level of optimisation. Performance continues to improve as the site is being continually re-engineered to handle these new and unprecedented levels of users. I monitor the traffic and manually tweak the server config throughout my working day and do everything I can to keep it usable during these times.
I know that the site is slow at peak times, probably better than all of you, because I spend all day on it. If you feel frustrated just imagine how I feel.
What is being done about it? Much of the database query logic is being rewritten in a more performant manner for the next patch, and to aid me in managing the server and discussing optimisation I have the help of two experienced developers. This is a seriously big job but it will ensure that the site remains in the long-term a stable and fast way for you guys to trade.
Filtering for Hardcore, other platforms etc. not working properly
The first implementation of the trade system assumed that about 3-4 trades would be posted a day. This allowed me to load the entire marketplace of a hundred or so active trades on one page, and then filter them client-side with the Isotope.js library, as it is done on the other parts of the site (see the different database sections for example). So the filters were working just fine back then.However, when I logged on and found 40,000+ trades all of a sudden, that became untenable - if I tried to render 40,000 trades on your screen at the same time not only would my server just shut down but probably your browser would hit its Memory limit and crash, forcing a reload or even worse a lock-up of your own device. Not to mention how long it would take the JS to filter through all of the results on the page.
I know full well that it is ridiculous to have to navigate from page to page and apply a filter every single time. People click a filter for Hardcore and see no results - because currently the pages are only showing the 50 latest trades, and if one of them isn't a hardcore trade for example, nothing shows up, and this makes people mad.
What is being done about it? - I am doing a complete overhaul of the logic behind filtering in the upcoming patch 1.0, it will allow you to filter ALL trades by platform, region, hardcore/softcore, ladder/non-ladder etc. in a paginated way that is server-friendly with having 2000+ constantly refreshing it. In the meantime, use the market search on the /trade page and look for the icon that indicated hardcore/playstation etc. to find trades suitable to you.
How do I delist/delete a trade that I no longer want on the market?
At the moment you can currently only do this if the trade has received no offers. Just click the little 'X' on the trade description (the first post by you) and it will delete the trade. However, if it has offers, it cannot be deleted by yourself - you would have to contact Stormlash or Beardozer (moderators) and ask them to do it for you. Alternatively, just wait 3 days for it to auto-expire. If the trade receives no comments or offers during this 3 day period, it will delete itself automatically.What is being done about it? - I am having to hack some of phpBB's permissions system to allow you guys to sort of have moderator permissions but sort of not have them, so that you will have the ability to delist a trade completely with no hindrances. Coming in the next patch.
I can't mark my item as sold
You CAN mark your item as sold - you're probably just pressing the wrong button. This is because most are scrolling to the bottom and pressing 'Submit' after having entered the details of the sale. Do not press Submit, press the 'Mark as Sold' button immediately after those fields. Then it will work.What is being done about it? - Obviously this is bad UI and people are getting confused, and it doesn't occur to them that the Submit button doesn't do anything in this case. So once again, this is being changed in patch 1.0, which is being worked on all the time.
I can't give trust as a seller to my buyer
Currently you can only give trust as the buyer of the trade - that is, you are only eligible to give trust if you have been named as the purchaser of the trade, and then see the 'give trust' button on the trade. Also, there is supposed to be a notification for when an item is marked as sold - but it is currently out of action because a rogue query in this part of the code was causing thousands of emails to be sent a second and crashing the server. This is changing in the next patch.What is being done about it? - Next patch you will be able to give trust both ways (both buyer and seller can 'vouch' for each other), and notifications will be there when an item is marked sold, for anyone watching the topic.
My trade isn't showing in search/profile/latest trades/on the item entry
I have had to introduce a cache for some of the queries associated with trade creation. If you don't see your trade immediately on the various parts of the site, it is because another query hasn't yet been made and it is still showing cached content. Just wait a few minutes and it will appear eventually. This was an emergency measure put in place to ensure that the site can continue to function at peak times.What is being done about it? - Due to the sheer volume of trades coming through on the site, this will likely remain in place into the future or until traffic reduces. It may be the case that optimisations in other places allow the site to relieve this cacheing requirement. Not clear yet whether that is possible.
And finally some other questions that are getting asked non-stop that can be answered here and now:
- Are you going to make it easier to search for, filter for, and create trades for magic and rare items such as charms? Yes
- Are you introducing WTS/WTB tags, and additional trade creation options like Ethereal/no. sockets etc? Yes
- Are you introducing an advanced keyword search allowing searches of offers within trades as well? Yes
- Will I be able to paste clipped screenshots straight into the editor? Yes
- Will I be able to make trades for different platforms and regions rather than just base them off my account settings? Yes
- Are tooltips and autolinked items in text going to return as they were before the tidal wave of users? Yes
- Are you starting to lose your mind having to answer the same complaints every single day? Yes
- Why is the site so slow? Seriously, again? Scroll up if you somehow reached this sentence without a detailed explanation from me somewhere.
- When will this update to v1.0 be ready? When it's ready
- Why don't you get some help from other people instead of doing everything by yourself? I have help from other people already
- Do you need help from me? I am a developer etc. - No, I don't, everything that can be done is being done
Doing everything I can to bring you guys a site that meets your expectations. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Teebling
6846
Admin