Curse

Regina Buenaobra · Apr 29, 2008, 12:40 AM // 00:40

I'm posting to address the discussion and speculation that has been going on in this thread (and this one as well).

To recap, the problem was that people believed that some folks had gotten third year birthday presents/minipets early. Reports of a third year minipet being seen began on 25 April 2008. People were also concerned when they saw more third year birthday minipets appearing on 26 April 2008, when according to the web site, the birthday presents for year three were not due to arrive until 28 April 2008, three years after the game was launched.

Early access for the game for those who had pre-ordered began on 27 April 2005. Those players who had characters created on this date should have received their birthday minis on 27 April 2008. However, the game's code treats one year as 365 days long. 2008 is a leap year. Since it is a leap year, characters created on 27 April 2005 turned 'three years old' on 26 April 2008, which is why people received their birthday minipets 'early.'

What about the appearance of minipets on 25 April 2008? As far as folks here are aware, the only people who had access to the game before 26 April 2005 are developers. If a developer created their character on 26 April 2005, and keeping in mind the leap year issue, this means that their birthday minipet would be available in their inventory on April 25 2008, which would account for a developer's third year minipet being seen on April 25. There is no developer command to create birthday presents or birthday pets. The only birthday pets in the game come from presents automatically generated on the anniversary of a character's creation date.

I hope this clarifies matters.

Stormlord Alex · Apr 29, 2008, 12:41 AM // 00:41

First!

And thanks for clearing the matter up

ly xxx

IattackU · Apr 29, 2008, 12:42 AM // 00:42

This clears up a lot, I was kind of confused about the whole thing, but I get it now. Thanks. =)

I MP I · Apr 29, 2008, 12:44 AM // 00:44

I knew it! There is a logical explanation for everything! Thx Regina.

-Sonata- · Apr 29, 2008, 12:45 AM // 00:45

Thank you, Regina. It clarifies it for me and I never even had issue with the mismatching of the dates to begin with. Thought the whole thing was just silly to begin with.

However, I still have wagers that the conspiracy theories will still run wild.

slowerpoke · Apr 29, 2008, 12:58 AM // 00:58

bit redundant, Andrew already took the bullet
but gotta luv the spin

gief us gw2 news as compensation

**cosyfiep** · Apr 29, 2008, 01:02 AM // 01:02

nice to know that even though things were reset---that reset doesnt seem to remember leap years and such......

doesnt matter to me since my 3rd year bday isnt until the summer, and by then all those minis will be much cheaper

arcanemacabre · Apr 29, 2008, 01:03 AM // 01:03

So... I was right?

Well, I guess it has to happen sometime.

Blu · Apr 29, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Thanks for clearing things up.

dunky_g · Apr 29, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

tbh it was pretty obvious

but was quite funny watching the people spazzing

El Presidente · Apr 29, 2008, 01:10 AM // 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by arcanemacabre

So... I was right?

Well, I guess it has to happen sometime.

Yes ~ and here's a cookie...

Thx, Regina...

Creeping Carl · Apr 29, 2008, 01:15 AM // 01:15

Yes, a few of us had already worked this out in those threads, but it's always easy for angry mobs to ignore reason.

Dr Strangelove · Apr 29, 2008, 01:23 AM // 01:23

I liked it more when we were angrily yelling at people for no apparent reason. Anyone have anything else to whip ourselves into a frenzy with?

Tyla · Apr 29, 2008, 01:56 AM // 01:56

Nice one.
Thanks for clearing it up.

VitisVinifera · Apr 29, 2008, 02:06 AM // 02:06

so, regina, since you admit that only devs had pets on the 25th, and since their non-dev guildmates were selling these pets on the 25th, are you ok with devs giving their pets as such before the announced 3rd year pet date so that their guildies can command huge cash dividends?

Ekelon · Apr 29, 2008, 04:03 AM // 04:03

Thanks Regina for giving us some simple logic even sheep could've reasoned!

StormDragonZ · Apr 29, 2008, 05:00 AM // 05:00

It still doesn't say the one thing I want answered:

Did ANet know about the leap year, or were they too busy with GW2 to notice?

pamelf · Apr 29, 2008, 05:07 AM // 05:07

I have absolutely no issue with people getting mini's early...

however...who's brilliant idea was it to program the time period as the number of days, and not the dates given that EVERY four years is a leap year? It's not like this year was just a freak of nature... :S Lol, it's like the mess up with the Y2k issues, just because a programmer was too lazy to program 4 numbers instead of 2.

Savio · Apr 29, 2008, 05:13 AM // 05:13

This may be just a guess, but I don't think making sure the minipet code checks for leap days is a high priority task.

Mammoth · Apr 29, 2008, 05:17 AM // 05:17

This issue was cleared up a little to.. perfectly, this must be beginner's luck for our dear Regina

I mean answering it on the first try! Impressive!

Ah well, it's all fine and good now... Good job on that one Regina... Good job indeed!