there were stairs, they were steep, I was falling, falling deep

There's a lot of things I'm working up to talking about--I want to do a run-through of the last-name JIRA, and I want to toss up some of the pictures I've been taking in Octoberville, but today's going to be shorter than that; this is both advice and a posting of intense gratitude towards Cherub Spectre (who co-runs Octoberville, along with Master Kaos and Nathan Oddfellow).

Last night, I wanted to get a hunt item for the Indian Summer hunt held at 22769. When I ported away from Octoberville, I had 41 groups. I really don't like maxing out my groups, in case I need one for a job slot (....notthatI'mworkingrightnowbutshhh, it's habit). So I found a store group I could leave without too much angst, and joined the 22769 store group.

I had been at 41 groups; I dropped a group, making it 40; I joined a group, bringing me back to 41. Then I ported back to Octoberville.

When I returned, I had 39 groups. And one that wasn't there? Octoberville.

Frankly, I panicked. It's bone-deep in me now--I can't leave Octoberville as a group, I lose my ranking. And in that sense, I don't blame them, because Ms. Spectre was constantly (may still be constantly) getting IMs saying, "yah I left the group 6 mos ago can I have my rank back now?"

And the answer to that, of course, obviously, is no.

But I didn't voluntarily leave the Oville group. I know that because I've never taken off the notification button for leaving groups. If I leave a group, I want to be asked if I'm leaving. The only pop-up I had was for the Ambrosia group--and I was asked if I really wanted to leave, to which I pushed the Yes button.

I wasn't asked that question about any other group. And yet, I left with 41 groups, and came back with 39.

(I still don't know which other groups I lost--everything looks like it's still there, and--after rejoining Oville last night--I'm up to 40 groups. I know I lost something, though. And yeah, it bugs me.)

But I was in panic mode, so I sent a notecard to Cherub Spectre and Master Kaos. I didn't realize until I opened Ms. Spectre's profile that she states there to contact her, or Nathan Oddfellow, with requests.

Oops.

But I hunted about in Octoberville, solving occasional quests, getting frustrated at not finding other items, until it was time for bed. Having sent the two "halp, halp" notecards, I figured that was really all I could do. The rest was up to them.

This morning, I woke up to this IM in my email:

[8:49] Cherub Spectre: This is why we have people register on the site. I was able to verify your rank and gave you your epic tag

Cue huge sigh of relief.

So yes, much gratitude and full props to Ms. Spectre, thank you thank you thank you, and for everyone else, if you're interested in maintaining rank at all, register on the website. It's www.octoberville.com, and they have forums (for those what like the chat option), a place to upload a pic of you for a little profile section, an online web HUD that tracks what you find in the game, videos, polls, Facebook updates (not that I care, but I know I'm in the minority with Facebook loathing), and more. And they're still working on making Octoberville a PC game.

For the rest, yeah, I'm pretty sure we're in another unstable portion of SL's weekly run. From the grid status site:

Ongoing Issue with Offline Regions
Posted by Status Desk on October 29th, 2011 at 02:10 pm PDT

[POSTED 10:08AM PDT, 25 October 2011] We are aware of a problem that causes regions to go offline more frequently than normal. Our developers were alerted to the issue over the weekend and continue to work around the clock towards a solution. We understand how disruptive this is to your inworld experience. If your region is offline, please go to your support portal and submit a case using the following types: "Land & Region" > "Report an Offline Region". This queue is being closely monitored to ensure the fastest turnaround possible. We will post an update as soon as we have more information on resolution.

So, did that have anything to do with losing groups on teleporting? No idea. Also, I find it odd that that paragraph was supposedly posted yesterday, yet is dated five days before.

Odd, that.

But yes, the grid's still flaky, it was flaky yesterday, it's been off-and-on flaky since the server upgrade...this really isn't anything new. What is new is losing the groups I lost...but at least one of them (and to me, the most important one) I've got back.

Sometimes, we get a simple, easy solution for things. It's always nice.