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Development Update 10/20 -- Updated Everyone's going to be running around crazy and just a little bid on edge this week, because we have so much stuff going on. Not only is there our Halloween event (which, true to form, Fleep and company have done an amazing job with), but we're also going to be preparing for the release of zOMG. zOMG Rollout Over the past few weeks we've been rolling out portions of the zOMG code base to the main site; this is why you've seen little changes here and there, and the occasional mysterious bug (such as not being able to sell back in stores, which should be working now, by the way). It might seem odd that we'd roll out only part of a feature, but we did this on item norm and it really helped us with making sure that the site remained stable, since it reduced the total number of changes that we had to push on the day of the launch. It's like that old tactic for moving in with someone: you move some clothes, then your XBox, then maybe a kitchen appliance or piece of furniture, and with enough of that you get to the point pretty quickly where you can say, "I should just move in -- all my stuff is here!" Well, zOMG is pretty much all moved in. Rollout Specifics The specifics for the rollout will be announced pretty soon. The zOMG Head Start ticket owners will be the first into the game, and they'll have an exclusive amount of time to play the game: not a full week, but at least a couple of days, with some provisos: - since the Head Start ticket owners paid cash for their Head Start ticket (at least nominatively), we want to guarantee them the ability to play the game exclusively for some period of time. So, if there are teething problems in the first couple of days, we'll extend the Head Start duration by the time that the game was unavailable for play. - the Head Start tickets are freely transferable (and are on the marketplace now), but one of your tickets will be frozen when you enter the game. - as we do for most of our features, we'll be slowly metering people into the game, based on a number of possible criterion Are the Head Start tickets worth it? It's really up to you, depending on how much free gold and desire you have. We deliberately limited the tickets, so if you have a Head Start ticket you will be able to play the game when it is relatively uncrowded. If you're seriously into zOMG you'll be able to stay ahead of the main crowd simply by virtue of the fact that you'll have had time to build up your charge levels. Update Saturday: You've seen the announcement, undoubtedly; Head Start ticket holders will get in on the 27th, and then we'll let older members of Gaia in first. This is partly to give long-term Gaia members a bonus and a thank you for being on the site for so long, and partly to give us some predictable measure of metering for the zOMG games. We have scores of servers lined up and ready to go, depending on how traffic is to the new game. Aquarium There have been ongoing bug fixes in aquarium, thanks to our rockin' ChuckP2 and salakan, and it looks like the Overseer problems are licked: everyone is saying that they're getting regular Overseer grants. If you're still having problems with the Overseer leave a journal comment, because I think they're solved. I've also heard isolated reports of not being able to change the aquarium lighting, temperature, and whatnot -- anyone have a reproducible case of this? Update Saturday: Arrgh, some people are still having problems with their aquarium. I swear this should have been licked. We'll look at it. Ferretizing A Best Buy card came out that gave out a Pongo the Ferret, and unfortunately, the People Responsible For Putting Out Cash Cards did not let us know that the card was hitting. We had to scramble around and figure out the UPC for the card, but even worse, we have to find out the Retailer Identification String for the stores that had the card. You see, a card with the same UPC may be available at different retailers even though it is an entirely different card. (Which makes me think that "Universal Product Code" should actually be "Arbitrary Product Code", but whatever). This means that the only method we have to distinguish retailers, and give people their proper items, is to use the Retailer Identification String that we get, which is not simple. 7-11, for example, isn't just "7-11" -- it's a hundred different strings, some looking like integers, some looking like "Good Time Store," and whatnot. I am not making this up. At any rate, the code to ferretize people with the Best Buy cards is in there, so if you redeem a card now you should get your Pongo the Ferret (Best Buy) or zOMG Box (Target). People that exchanged the card but did not get their Pongos/boxes should be getting them today. Update Saturday: Arrrgh, Rite Aid has now released cards. We'll deal with this next week. Minor Bug Fixes All minor bug fixes are on hold this week as we roll out the zOMG patches. Inventory Fieryange1 started working on inventory this week. First order of business is to fix it so that it doesn't randomly rearrange items. She says that it looks fairly straightforward. Bugs We're Tracking - some people's inventories are vanishing for an hour or two. We think it's related to a caching issue; in every case I've seen so far, the inventory comes back after a couple of hours. - Skin Tyte isn't dispensing tattoos. Probably related to a zOMG patch we pushed out this week; we'll take a look at it next week. Well Read Congratulations to Kunai Jones, who managed to get every single novel quote from last week. Clearly, I must pick more challenging clues. biggrin

Posted by: Panagrammic Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 05:43pm

Read my journal!

User Comments: [52] Viewing page 0 of 2 · Goto Page: 1 2 » [add]

PUCCIBBY
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 05:54pm


	I'm still not receiving anything from my Overseer. :<

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:08pm


	Yay! I can't wait to get my ferret and zOMG box! heart

Mythey Maysonia
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Necromacide
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:09pm


	.:. dOn'T tOuCh! .:. Thanks for the update biggrin The Overseer is granting like it's supposed to, and I am glad that we're not receiving anymore armour now, but also store items. And I have to agree on the Halloween event: It's very beautiful! heart Is there any chance we can get the music from towns as a downloadable mp3? Because I'd like to have it as a ring tone 3nodding [profile][comment][PM][journal][trade] .:. nAvIgAtIoN .:.

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:10pm


	Pan!!! Thank you so much for keeping us updated AND working hard. If you haven't noticed it about the Gaia Users (Site Feedback much...?) we like to know what's going on. I understand that everyone is busy, but yet... you find 5 minutes to type out what's going on for us... I know it means a whole lot for me. I'm really excited to receive my Pongo. Question though, If I did not report that I didn't get a box, and I don't have the pin number anymore (I have to hide the evidence!!), will you guys know and still be able to give me a box? I understand if you can't. I just didn't even realize that this was a problem until I bought a pongo card and didn't get him either. Thanks as always. Hope to hae an update from you soon. Anbaa

Anbaachan
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PCLong
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:13pm


	Thanks Pan for the awesome work and up-dates

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:13pm


	So much love this Halloween. Excellent work. I really can't wait for zOMG! Side note. Seems that you really need an inside newsletter to know what all of you is doing xd

Ungoliath
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AlicesProgeny
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 06:42pm


	ok pan, i have an aquarium issue but not an overseer issue. apparently it seems that i have lost one of my cuttlefish. it didnt die, because i dont have a drop in my inventory. so what happened to it? i would really like to have it back if possible! thanks Edit: never mind. he wasnt lost. somehow he got put in my storage chest of my inventory. guess he wanted out of the water for a little while lol. thank you pan for letting us use your journal as a quick route to you all. we appreciate it.

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 07:17pm


	Ummm....why are all of my fish wearing helmets? My mule account's fish are not. Is it a happiness thing? EDIT: Also, when I click the "Attach Signature" box for this comment, instead a "Read My Journal" link appears in my comment, which links to Panagrammic's journal... Okay...so I just had magic timing and the change must have occurred while I switched accounts. And I guess I was out of the loop on the comment thing too. EDITED AGAIN: Now I remembered what I was meaning to ask you Panagrammic. How official are the ads that are in the mix that link to Gaia profiles and promise to grant 100 gold? One is for the Ember game to promote the fourth City of Ember book and one is for that Take 180 short video thing (with the Juice Box).

Lissianthus
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Chocobo Princess
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 07:28pm


	I can hardly wait for the Halloween event~! whee Thanks for making sure the people who bought the cards get the special item; I was pretty sure they would get it eventually, so it's good to know it's being taken care of. Waah, my fish are looking . . . scary? Is this their Halloween outfit? rofl @Lissianthus: Concerning the sig button adding Pan's sig to your post, it's always done that with Journals. sweatdrop

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 07:55pm


	Hey I got a question. I have a ticket but my head points to her pumken head won't let it equip. Will this be a problem? Because I love my halloween avi. o_o

Srintella Tiagara
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Legend
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 08:21pm


	Your journal was so exciting to read! Thanks for all the information and hard work! I'm looking forward to the Halloween event!

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 08:32pm


	Hey Pan, thanks for the always informative Dev. Update...Yup, Fleep guys did an awesome job so far on the Halloween event, the towns, music, etc. Also looking forward to zOMG going into open beta (just read Q's journal too)...and as you know, I'm also receiving my overseer regularly now (will always be greatful for your help earlier this week). And in the immortal words of the Pets.com dog hand puppet mascot thing with a mic: "Where's the love for the ferret?" Well, you've just shown us, thanks, now I can go buy that card.

morozco024
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Masco
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Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 08:35pm


	I actually have been one of the ones with the problem with the not being able to change the lighting and whatnot. It's really not fun xd I really hate that I can't listen to the music the most though, I remember what it was like D:

Commented on: Thu Oct 23, 2008 @ 10:48pm


	you should make items that look like pokemon or cloths that look like lpoke mon or costumes...that would be awsome... razz

ilove_inuyasha247
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xGHSL
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 12:47am


	I cant wait till you talk about inventories again. So ill be waiting anxiously i was a bit bummed that you hadnt written about it and about stuff i dont care about and dont affect me. But then i saw the More Here and got a light of hope. I hope you wont disappoint me and all the other suffering people who have waited a long time to hear something about the inventory problems.

Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 04:45am


	still nothing granted from the overseer...i would love to get reimbursed for all the days i haven't gotten a thing...

dizzledobsession
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Arlecchina
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 06:11am


	Quote: If you're still having problems with the Overseer leave a journal comment, because I think they're solved. Two days ago I received two overseer grants. Is this normal? I am not sure what item I got the second time but I think it was Leviathan's Grace (Anklets). Also yesterday I got Tama's Basket 3rd gen from the overseer. Is this normal? I wasn't aware you could get cash shop items from the overseer that weren't fish... I don't want to do anything with those items unless I'm sure it wasn't a glitch... Thank you for your time.

Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 03:36pm


	Oog. sounds like you guys are hacing some fun. ^^; Just make surre to take a good rest once everything is set up, okay? Don't over-stress yourself! WE LOVE YOU!

MokieMorty
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PCLong
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 05:20pm


	Pan, my overseer didn't open today. I put in the creepy phonograph yesterday and today the overseer didn't open

Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 05:55pm


	Pan, your avatar looks adorable with the dark elf skin!!! heart

Anbaachan
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Sweet Lisa_Ann
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 09:18pm


	I play puzzles very often and it seems that, although the site is supposed to be running fairly well right now, I am never granted gold for completeing them. Could this be a problem with my personal computer?

Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 10:33pm


	Ooooo, I can't wait to see what you'll add in a bit! Skin Tyte has been broken all week (all you can do is mix ink, you can't make any tats), and I'm hoping there'll be something about it (and hopefully a brief explanation on why it's down and when it will be fixed).

Kai-Shan Valandria
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Rya Dracosin
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 11:01pm


	the only aquarium issue i've been having lately is when i go to change settings, my sound goes off. i haven't tested it 100% to see if changing the settings works or not as my fish are only happy with one set of settings (i'll go look after this). I've done with with Google Chrome 0.2.149.30 and Firefox 3.0.3 (Vista Home Premium SP1) Edit: It happens when i feed my fish and the little food sound occurs. then the music stops playing. It will only return if i change the current music and save. But if i don't feed them then i don't have that problem.

Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 11:47pm


	Aquarium issues - My Overseer is working now but I STILL can't change the temperature or music. =( I can click the arrow to open the selection box but it won't let me CLICK anything. It used to be just the music, but now it's both music and temperature. It doesn't matter which browser I use - IE or Firefox - and both Flash and Shockwave are updated. Please help my fishies? =)

LisaAnne Kitten
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10Mil_Peace
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Commented on: Fri Oct 24, 2008 @ 11:58pm


	please remove the brown magical giftboxes from the overseer. and could you make them a little less common on the site? i got two in one month. in this account. i am not joking. they are far too common now. annoyingly common. domokun stargate

Commented on: Sat Oct 25, 2008 @ 08:37pm


	I am continually having intermittent overseer problems. It will open each day for 1-2 days, then not open for another 2-3. I've reported in the thread for it here each day it does not open (with the date of the occurrence), yet I continue to have problems. Currently, the overseer has not opened for two days in a row. This cycle has happened three times now. Twice, after not opening for two or more days in a row, it decided to open and grant two times in a day. I assumed that this was to "make up" for the lost openings. However, I would much rather have it open up just once a day, ever day, like it should. It does seem to happen after my tank health message changes (yes, it's going up), but I can't vouch for that totally. Could you please tell me what's going on and what to expect? Thanks for your time.

Johnny Paranoid
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Broken Less
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Commented on: Sun Oct 26, 2008 @ 03:41am


	I love the Halloween event! You guys did an awesome job, between the event itself and the items ... Towns looks better than it did last year! And the Aquarium fishies ... I was like "WTF?!" when I first saw that! But I love it ... I'm just wondering, though, what's the deal with Skin Tyte? I haven't been able to make any tattoos in days now. I'd posted in SF, along with a number of other users, but ... no word at all from On High! Please fix quickly?

Commented on: Sun Oct 26, 2008 @ 10:57am


	This is kind of offtopic, but any particular reason you wear that robe on your avi? xd The katana and peelunger make some sense, the time is nigh for zOMG; but you always wear that robe and theres no apparent reason why! Do you have one?

dreamsk
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Aldo Simoncini
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Commented on: Sun Oct 26, 2008 @ 10:05pm


	As for the zOMG Headstart: I was really looking forward to the day the game will be open for those with a Headstart Ticket... BUT I'm really upset that those exclusive days will be during the Halloween Event. It would have been better if the exclusive days would have been before or after the event. So the zOMG Headstart will make me miss something else... >_< Aquariums: The Hearts instead of the green bar are cute, but it's impossible to see the daily improvement. I can't tell if my fishes are more or less happy than yesterday. So I and many others would appreciate to see the numbers too. 3nodding

Commented on: Mon Oct 27, 2008 @ 06:35pm


	Thanks for the up-date Pan. I hope my efforst to try and track the overseer issues is helping some. I have removed stuff thinking it was over-loaded and recently removed the creepy phonograph - issues for me begain when I added that

PCLong
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Waverlie
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Commented on: Mon Oct 27, 2008 @ 06:56pm


	I have a small Aquarium problem. It's not related to the overseer. I would go to Aquarium and everything's going well, and I would feed the fish, but immediately after I feed them and they show hearts, the music stops. I don't know if that's related to the overseer patch or the zomg implementation, or something entirely. But yeah, just reporting. Thank you for your hard work!

Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:08am


	speaking of aquarium bugs... the music won't play unless i change it to a defferent type and then save it. But on the other hand, i am getting items from the overseer everytime now!! thank you!! and keep up the good work!!

raphael of tmnt
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F A 12 12 E L L
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Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:37am


	Thanks for keeping all of us updated. Your works for us really is cool. I hope everything goes back to normal.

Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:50am


	10/28 Overseer--not granting gold (seems like lots of people are having this issue) and overseer is continuously reopening (but not granting). Hope this isn't a major headache! Thanks, in advance!

razincayne
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Kinnder
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Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 02:11am


	Inventory issues - Thank you very much for putting this on the list of things to look at! HATE HATE HATE the way the organization has to be done now to put things back where they belong. It does seem to have gotten worse since the zOMG rollouts started. Dawn Dreamer and I both spent about an hour putting items back in place from TWO outfits each. The way it works - open inventory and click arrange inventory open storage and scroll to bottom of both inventory and storage place one or maybe two items into storage close storage click on avatar to reopen inventory repeat until all items are in storage open inventory arranger scroll to bottom to make sure all item icons have been loaded scroll back up to the section I want to replace items in place one or two items, being sure to always work from the top down and ONLY within the items currently visible within the arranger screen close storage click on avatar to reopen inventory verify that items moved correctly open inventory arranger repeat until done. I CANNOT scroll up and down the entire inventory arranger placing things where they belong or everything gets scrambled. Everything. I DO have to save after every couple of things I move - after every one thing if I realize I need to move something above the item I just moved. I'm giving myself chronic migraines from beating my head against this. I hope knowing how it works from THIS side helps figure out what to fix on THAT side.

Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 05:57am


	ooooooohhhhhh kewl! blaugh

Silent___Angel0823
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Mini Mistral
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Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:47pm


	Today (Oct. 29) my overseer keeps opening and, each time, it says that it's going to grant me 130 gold. The gold doesn't get granted though. Also, am I supposed to have a save option after getting an overseer grant? Because my save prompt doesn't show up anymore. Thank you very much! Edit: My tank health is 46.08%. And I've also got that problem where I feed the fish and the music stops.. Thanks again!

Commented on: Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 07:28pm


	you said to leave a comment on aquarium problems, yesterday and today my overseer gave only a gold grant that could not be accepted. even if i hit the thank you overseer button. Every time i revisit the page the shell still opens and tries to offer the pearl again, and it never actually grants the gold. On that note i thought id voice an opinion, i love getting items from my overseer, at 80% overall health the items are great, often worth allot, and fun for my avatar. Gold grants are a major disappointment, and i would prefer to never see them from the overseer. Just thought i would let you know.

GrimmsMoldyCorpse
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Antiq
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Commented on: Thu Oct 30, 2008 @ 01:08pm


	Although my Aquarium has been very glitchy on and off, today I found it worked very well, better than before. Thank you to ChuckP2 and salakan for fixing whatever the problem was, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed biggrin

Commented on: Fri Oct 31, 2008 @ 06:19pm


	Aquarium semi-rant: As you asked for it. My aquarium isn't granting. Not that the overseer isn't opening, it constantly is. But when I click it it closes but never opens the page to thank it. After a (long) while I refresh the page and the overseer opens again. No new item in my inventory either.

dreamish
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SunBurstkid
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Commented on: Sat Nov 01, 2008 @ 08:11pm


	My overseer didn't open today sad but it did yesterday

Commented on: Sat Nov 01, 2008 @ 08:17pm


	Hi I just posted a problem with my mule(Sunburstkid) by accident sweatdrop but the problem with the overseer is on this account, the overseer didn't gave me an item today but it did yesterday

Superdudepr
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DawnaV
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Commented on: Sun Nov 02, 2008 @ 12:49am


	Now what about the new Walmart cash cards and sven the penguin? it isn't granting either...but you are doing great...

Commented on: Sun Nov 02, 2008 @ 07:37am


	I'm a little concerned with what the Overseer is giving. I got this today: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/ginger2/gaia/messed-up.png That seems very odd to me to get such an item at a low level tank. The box is still in my inventory and will remain there until I hear something of this. As a note, one of my other accounts received Fairy Wings two days in a row. It too is a low-level tank. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/ginger2/gaia/again.png That account is _Kitsune_Wind_Dancer_ Both pair of wings remain in her inventory as well until something of the matter is said. If the items need removed from the inventories, by all means, please do so. If not and it's fine to keep them, please let me know. Thank you for your time. =3

chaos_of_Angels
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RahdeManthus
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Commented on: Mon Nov 03, 2008 @ 06:40am


	I'm having the oversear problem myself, I got this Script error: TypeError: Error #2007: Parameter type must be non-null. at flash.events::Event() at com.gaiaonline.events::SimpleDataEvent() at src.com.gaiaonline.FishTank.events:: DataConnectorEvent() at src.com.gaiaonline.FishTank.services:: DataConnector/onGSIError() at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEventFunction() at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent() at com.gaiaonline.gsi::GSIGateway/onComplete() at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEventFunction() at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent() at flash.net::URLLoader/onComplete() Hope this info helps in figuring out the problem, not sure if it's the site or my comp.

Commented on: Mon Nov 03, 2008 @ 05:49pm


	Please please PLEASE tell me tell me that means Inventories might finally be fixed soon so I can arrange mine? With sending items over from my mules, gaining items from the zOMG/DC/Overseer, and all the other stuff, the tail-end of my inventory is a crying mess. Stuff everywhere! I want so badly to fix it and be able to safely move things around for the purpose of easy selling.

KawaiiKittenCalico
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Lady Stoneblade
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Commented on: Tue Nov 04, 2008 @ 08:38am


	Walmart has had the cards for Sven in their stores since before Halloween. I bought one today and thought cool Sven the pengiun will be by my side... all i got was the cash.. so i sort of freaked a bit.. But now I am just hoping you guys wont forget me when you give the others their Items... I really think Sven looks cool... sweatdrop note to developers: if you need to know which Walmart I went to just PM me. 3nodding** Keep up the good work Gaian Developers!! We know you guys work hard! crowds cheer

Commented on: Wed Nov 05, 2008 @ 07:14pm


	will fieryange also fix putting the items you wear at the end? that's really buggin me still...

dizziedobsession
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pinku777
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Commented on: Fri Nov 07, 2008 @ 12:16am


	nice 1 Have FUN!!!

Commented on: Fri Nov 07, 2008 @ 04:38pm


	ok i have a concern towards people who bought the gaia cash card for 25 dollars that says bonus item sven the penguin i havent received mine and its been well over a week. i should be getting 2 of them. i was just wandering when they would be released to everyone who bought a cash card with that bonus item in it

Averosse
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