More than one regualar downtime a week is a SERIOUS problem...

[TheAlmightyPoe]

No i dont miss the argument... they could just put everything in one single weekly-patch. This would mean that everyone with a gamebreaking problem would not be able to play for 6 days in the worst case. So you have to prioritise ... whats more important?

 

1. the 20% of the playerbase (that have a gamebreaking bug) will not play for 6 days!

 

2. 100% of the playerbase will not be able to play for 2-8 hours

 

The only answere to this is: OPTION 2 ^^ and thats what Bioware is doing. I agree it would be best if those bugs would not occure in the first place ... but cmon

 

 

but when problems like these surface after every patch, then they patch it every 2-3 days; yes, the problem gets fixed, but the people that play during the 'wrong times" get screwed. Every time.

 

Personally,i love that they try to fix the worst problems as soon as possible. However, they should change the server update times so that the same people aren't always on the short end of the stick. Especially if those people are paying monthly like the rest.

[defiantlegacy]

To try and put this as plainly as I can, taking the servers down as often as they have been is completely unacceptable. It is also painting Bioware as completely amateur regarding their understanding of both how MMOs are run and what customers expect.

 

It is NOT acceptable to take servers down every couple of days to fix minor exploits, performance issues that affect less than a majority of customers, or any other reason besides extreme stability issues which make the game unplayable. Because I can guarantee that most people would rather deal with such issues than not play the game at all.

 

I realize this is a young game and there will be some growing pains. But I know for a fact a LOT of people are becoming really turned off by this attitude of "OOoooo! We found a bug, let's take the servers down!". I am mad enough as it is and I am on EST. Can you imagine how pissed people in the West Coast are who are getting their service shut down at midnight every couple of days because of relatively insignificant issues?

 

I am not sure what the reason is for this apparent total lack of concern for industry standard patching schedules, but it had better end quick or this game is going to lose a lot of subs. That is not a threat, it is just reality.

 

EDIT: If you are going to make some comment about "I am glad the servers are down at least they are fixing the game", save your breath. Every other MMO I have ever played has fixed their games by taking the servers down once a week. And I will add this: I guarantee you wouldn't be singing the same song if they took them down during YOUR prime playing hours.

 

 

The beginning of any MMO is hectic.

Use your head and quit complaining about things you know nothing about.

[Nighthawked]

They are taken down while America sleeps.

 

If you are in Europe they servers have gone down every single time when Europe is awake.

 

Lots of people want to play during the day such as :

 

- People who work from home and have breaks during the day

- People who are retired

- People who are on holiday

- People who work weekends

- People who are unemployed

- People who work odd shifts

 

There are just lots of examples of people who want to play the game at some point during the day.

 

And do you have any statistics as to how many people this is? If 90% of the games population works NORMAL hours and goes to school, BW should make only the other 10% happy?

 

Do you have ANY evidence that says what you say above accounts for at least more than half of the game's population?

 

Should BW go to Bob's house, sit down, and wait for him to stop playing before they take the server down?

[Kfab]

Oh for goodness sake! Read a good book, catch up on sleep, spend some quality time with your significant other . . . that's just a few things you can do during downtime.

 

I'd say go outside but there's not much to do at night if you don't own a telescope and it's cloudy.

[Mr_Crueak]

what you people need to understand, a new mmo has more issues than most games that are releaseed, they are also mostly a payed subscription plan so when an issue arises that affects a good portion of that paying playerbase they need to act on it as soon as possible whether it is with a patch to fix bugs or exploits or emergency maintence etc. This is all the price we pay to play MMO's. We even agree to these terms when we click "I Agree" to the eula the first time you log into the game.

 

I know people get ticked off about it, especially when the downtime interrupts their playing schedule for those that play during the off hours these downtiems occur at, but look at it in the other direction whether you agree they are fixing anything or not atleast they are actively supporting the game by working on the issues. I will probably get flamed and be called a fanboy for this because that is the only arguements that can be used to try to unjustify my point but it doesn't work as any intelligent person would understand it.

[rafter]

Both of you see my edit. Love to see your reaction when they do this at the times you prefer to play.

 

They do and I deal with it. It's not a big deal, play something else, go outside, live your life.

Here's an idea, play the other 150+ hours a week they are up and take a break when they are down.

[Zyanzor]

I remember back inWoW vanilla days when Blizzard was upgrading hardware they had thE servers down for several days. Granted they reimbursed people for days lost but that wasn't the first or last time Blizzard shutdown their servers for more than 1 day in a week. When WoW launched it was littered with bugs and imbalance issues even worse than SWTOR. Not making excuses but, just saying even huge company's like Blizzard/Activision has/had their rough patches.

[MadcatGTs]

lol, ************ about them fixing the game in a timely fashion, Really? If they patch fast you are like " y u half so much downtime?". If they patch slower you are like " y u no fix???!?!?".

 

Stop ************, They are doing their job's. Plus, theres other MMO's out there that have Daily down times AND take 24 hours to put in patchs. No one in them games ***** about it, 'Cause its something thats required.

[Jackobite]

EU player here,

 

I'm sorry to hear its a serious issue for you, it doesn't bother me that much, I mean Ill swear out loud usually when I read in the launcher that its going down but for me its not a big issue.

 

The one thing that does annoy me is the notice given, its usually posted after iv started playing and normally I close the game without knowing its coming in the morning, get up 8am and the server has just shut down for the day.

Now of course Iv learned to check but still, some more notice would be appreciated

[MilkPudding]

I'd rather they fix things right the first time, so they don't need to follow up with patches to fix what they broke by fixing something else that was broke.

 

 

Second this. But seeing how the bug-fixing patches always break more things than they fix...

 

I will take the downtime, sadly.

[Tigrakis]

It is a legit request to introduce separate weekly maintenance downtime periods for every region because :

 

- it is not possible to find a 8 hours downtime that makes happy everyone . Remember that the Earth has a round shape and it's rotating ...

 

- an decent downtime would something like 4am - 12am . This allows people to play at night, and also doesn't kill the entire day for those who are home during the day for some reason. This is more appropriate than 9am- 17pm .

 

- in time, it would be of course nice to see shorter downtimes . Maybe 4 hours ?

 

 

I am quite certain that no other MMO companies own patents regarding the downtime schedules. So there is nothing stopping Bioware to research what are the others doing, and take advantage of the experience of others ...

 

If they used the "industry standards" when setting the monthly fees , they should also use the "industry standards" for choosing smoother maintenence downtimes ...

 

 

 

Secondly, Bioware please send your employees home during weekends. No more patches on Saturdays ... thanks

[Revenaught]

I am not sure what the reason is for this apparent total lack of concern for industry standard patching schedules, but it had better end quick or this game is going to lose a lot of subs. That is not a threat, it is just reality.

 

EDIT: If you are going to make some comment about "I am glad the servers are down at least they are fixing the game", save your breath. Every other MMO I have ever played has fixed their games by taking the servers down once a week. And I will add this: I guarantee you wouldn't be singing the same song if they took them down during YOUR prime playing hours.

 

Odd, the majority of MMOs I've played over the last ten years have had regular down time for patching and maintenance anywhere from two to three times a week standard.

 

Oh and you owe me a refund on that guarantee, I would not have a problem if it happened during my primetime. Next time before you put a guarantee on what I would or wouldnt accept you really might wanna ask me first.

 

So long story short. The games down for a little bit. Big deal. Are you trying to tell us that you have absolutely nothing else you can be doing during those times? Really?

[Mr_Crueak]

It is a legit request to introduce separate weekly maintenance downtime periods for every region because :

 

- it is not possible to find a 8 hours downtime that makes happy everyone . Remember that the Earth has a round shape and it's rotating ...

 

 

good point but even with seperate maintenance times for geographical locations they still will not make everyone happy, there will still be these posts on the forums complaining about it as there will still be people that play during the off hours of the downtime regardless of when it happens

 

 

- in time, it would be of course nice to see shorter downtimes . Maybe 4 hours ?

 

 

They are usually already shorter than the announced downtime schedules, in the IT world you always give yourself more time than you actually need. Sometimes with complex systems things happen that are out of your control so the extra time is to cover your butt. I work in the IT field for one of the largest school districts in the states and we do the exact same thing when something has to be taken down for maintence/upgrades/ or repairs.

 

 

I am quite certain that no other MMO companies own patents regarding the downtime schedules. So there is nothing stopping Bioware to research what are the others doing, and take advantage of the experience of others ...

 

If they used the "industry standards" when setting the monthly fees , they should also use the "industry standards" for choosing smoother maintenence downtimes ...

 

 

I've played mmo's since the late 90s and the industry standard is exactly what BW is using, very few mmos have serperate downtimes for the servers, most of them happen during the same time frames, and all of them have the exact same posts as here with people complaining about it. WOW is the only one off the top of my head that has seperate maintenance schedules but even they did not start doing so until a year or two after initial release.

 

 

 

Secondly, Bioware please send your employees home during weekends. No more patches on Saturdays ... thanks

 

If it takes a saturday patch to fix something important than do it, there is no need to wait.

[Ironcleaver]

There are mmos on the market that have been out for 5+ years that have more downtime then this game, and its now just over a month old.

 

Name almost any other AAA mmo out there, and chances are it was down more in it's launch month.

[JDTC]

when would u like to see the downtime take place OP

[Evilidea]

New games, MMO's in particular have many patches in the beginning. Once major bugs and etc are fixed this will not be the case.

 

It is my guess that maybe thisis your first MMO or at least the first that you have played in it's infancy.

 

TL:DR = Your complaint completely invalid, as much so as my hate for server maintenance times as I am a late night early morning player (SUP EU!).

 

Edit - US Mountain Time player not EU whine!

Edited February 2, 2012 by Evilidea

[SlickDevlan]

There are mmos on the market that have been out for 5+ years that have more downtime then this game, and its now just over a month old.

 

Name almost any other AAA mmo out there, and chances are it was down more in it's launch month.

 

No no no. Didn't you get the memo? EVERY MMO before SWTOR was perfect and had zero bugs. All maintenance was done when we weren't playing and hardly occurred at all. There were no gameplay issues, all classes were balanced and there was 4 xpacs worth of content at release.

 

I mean seriously, have you ever played non-SWTOR MMOs?

 

yeah...

[Kypp]

Wait? You'd rather it just stay broken? I think its great that they are fixing thing as soon as they can. There were too many times in WoW when things were broken they would leave it till the next maintenance or longer...which really was horrible.

[RocNessMonster]

I'm pretty sure the OP has only played WOW and I'm also betting they joined later in it's life time. Every new MMO has random days of maintenance, quite honestly OP if you have a problem with it then you should already know not to join a MMO within the first six months.

[DannyInternets]

The biodroning in this thread is nauseating.

[areto]

other MMOs can hotfix, that is fix important things while the servers are still up, it seems swtor can't for whatever reason..so ,although it's more noticeable with swtor, other games do need mid-week fixes, so give bioware a break.

[Tigrakis]

good point but even with seperate maintenance times for geographical locations they still will not make everyone happy, there will still be these posts on the forums complaining about it as there will still be people that play during the off hours of the downtime regardless of when it happens

 

Yes, but with a separate schedule there will be just much fewer complaints (like people who wake up early who wants to play before going to work , maybe).

 

The main idea is that separate schedules allow the hours to be later tweaked for every region as appropriate. With the current situation : if you adjust the time so that it's better for west US you break the time for east or Europe , and so on ad infinitum.

 

A unique schedule could work only if they manage to significantly minimize the downtime period.

 

 

They are usually already shorter than the announced downtime schedules, in the IT world you always give yourself more time than you actually need. Sometimes with complex systems things happen that are out of your control so the extra time is to cover your butt. I work in the IT field for one of the largest school districts in the states and we do the exact same thing when something has to be taken down for maintence/upgrades/ or repairs.

I also work in the IT field . Yes, you always increase the estimations whenever it's possible

 

Well, i have played only Wow (for about 1 year). And never felt the need to curse due to the maintenance downtime : it happens somewhere during wednesday morning.

 

 

I've played mmo's since the late 90s and the industry standard is exactly what BW is using, very few mmos have serparate downtimes for the servers, most of them happen during the same time frames, and all of them have the exact same posts as here with people complaining about it. WOW is the only one off the top of my head that has seperate maintenance schedules but even they did not start doing so until a year or two after initial release.

 

If it takes a saturday patch to fix something important than do it, there is no need to wait.

 

This depends on the situation. The fix must be very-very-very-extremely-critically-very important so that in makes sense to rush applying it when there is normal weekly maintenance anyway after 3 days.

 

It's perfectly normal to complain when : on Friday evening i "begin my own saga" , and on Saturday suddenly discover that the game goes offline 10am-15pm. With just a brief "scheduled maintenance" minimal message that didn't even explain which is the critical bug that is supposed to be fixed in the patch.

 

The next time i hope that they do this during a weekend day in US time , so that the other part of the swtor gaming community can also feel the rage , too. It is not fair that only the EU people had the chance to immerse in the hot bugfixing experience ... everyone should benefit

 

Whenever it's something critical being deployed, it's important to at least explain what's going on.

[Mr_Crueak]

This depends on the situation. The fix must be very-very-very-extremely-critically-very important so that in makes sense to rush applying it when there is normal weekly maintenance anyway after 3 days.

 

It's perfectly normal to complain when : on Friday evening i "begin my own saga" , and on Saturday suddenly discover that the game goes offline 10am-15pm. With just a brief "scheduled maintenance" minimal message that didn't even explain which is the critical bug that is supposed to be fixed in the patch.

 

The next time i hope that they do this during a weekend day in US time , so that the other part of the swtor gaming community can also feel the rage , too. It is not fair that only the EU people had the chance to immerse in the hot bugfixing experience ... everyone should benefit

 

Whenever it's something critical being deployed, it's important to at least explain what's going on.

 

But who gets to say what fixes make sense to rush and apply the patch in a emergency situation such as a saturday? What may not make sense to you doesn't mean it will not make sense to someone else, just like today's patch for the freezes and lock up, some may say this didn't make sense but if you were one of those people that had the issue it definately makes sense in that case. YOu are right it does depend on the situation but everyone's situation is different from another!

 

As far as downtime during a us weekday if it happens it happens, you will not see me complaining. I'm sure some will and maybe even some who tell you EU guys to live with it will too. Even so from past experiences the downtiems in SWTOR is nowhere near as bad as i've seen during launches. After another month or two when all the high priority issues get ironed out you will see these maintenance periods settle into a routine timeframe, this has been true for every MMO.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Mr_Crueak

[daddymoofle]

It is NOT acceptable to take servers down every couple of days to fix minor exploits, performance issues that affect less than a majority of customers, or any other reason besides extreme stability issues which make the game unplayable. Because I can guarantee that most people would rather deal with such issues than not play the game at all.

 

Why do you think that your opinion represents the majority? They take it down at 3AM EST... if you're up and playing at 3AM EST and this severely hampers your enjoyment, then quit and go play WoW. Sorry, Europe is an afterthought of American companies - deal. Stop crying on the forums about the game getting fixed, when you would otherwise cry about the game being broken.

Edited February 2, 2012 by daddymoofle

[Caballera]

To try and put this as plainly as I can, taking the servers down as often as they have been is completely unacceptable. It is also painting Bioware as completely amateur regarding their understanding of both how MMOs are run and what customers expect.

 

It is NOT acceptable to take servers down every couple of days to fix minor exploits, performance issues that affect less than a majority of customers, or any other reason besides extreme stability issues which make the game unplayable. Because I can guarantee that most people would rather deal with such issues than not play the game at all.

 

I realize this is a young game and there will be some growing pains. But I know for a fact a LOT of people are becoming really turned off by this attitude of "OOoooo! We found a bug, let's take the servers down!". I am mad enough as it is and I am on EST. Can you imagine how pissed people in the West Coast are who are getting their service shut down at midnight every couple of days because of relatively insignificant issues?

 

I am not sure what the reason is for this apparent total lack of concern for industry standard patching schedules, but it had better end quick or this game is going to lose a lot of subs. That is not a threat, it is just reality.

 

EDIT: If you are going to make some comment about "I am glad the servers are down at least they are fixing the game", save your breath. Every other MMO I have ever played has fixed their games by taking the servers down once a week. And I will add this: I guarantee you wouldn't be singing the same song if they took them down during YOUR prime playing hours.

 

This was so funny i almost fell out of my chair laughing so hard. Go play your Wii or XBox, this MMO is a PC game, and anyone that has played more then one PC game knows that there are tons of bugs, and a lot of downtime as things get sorted.