Q: The LOS problems in the Labyrinth are pretty severe. What are you doing about them?

A: Be aware that this answer is simplified very dramatically for a number of reasons, and that if you think I’m leaving something out, I probably am. I am not terribly technical, and I also get nervous when I am discussing things that could be abused. The combination of the two factors is going to make this answer a little vague. I’m sorry.

The primary problem is a computer program that takes several days to run. We call it the “pathing computer,” but it does a lot more than pathing. It sets up many of the parameters that control what your characters can and can’t see or do in a particular location. It is not the ONLY thing that controls what you can see and do, obviously. We use the pathing computer program to lay a foundation, and build on that foundation with code.

It takes more than five days to run a full pathing program even on a crazy computer. The trick is to start late enough that we’re using the very latest data from testing and feedback, but early enough that the process will finish before we patch.

The program failed halfway through, for the first time in my memory. We couldn’t have started running it any later than we did, but we didn’t have enough time to finish running it a second time before we launched. Attempts to apply the code as a temporary fix, without the pathing computer’s foundation delayed the launch, by several hours and didn't work.

All this incredibly dull behind-the-scenes information has been shared strictly so that you’ll understand when I say we literally could not get the LOS issues addressed this week, and that the first stage of the LOS fixes will be done next Tuesday. Immediately after that is taken care of, we’ll start implementing the code fixes, which we have been working on while we wait.

The current situation is not okay with us, I very much apologize, and we’re doing the best we can.