Aussie Server Maintenance

[Rtwozero]

' The upside is that players have no restrictions on where they can play - something many players in Oceanic regions continue to benefit from....'

 

Really? So no matter what servers we play on we can still benefit from prime time downtime?

 

So we get a choice of low ping, prime time downtime and no legacy (or start a new legacy with no information provided how this will effect transfers)

 

Or, high ping, all of our level50s, legacy and prime time downtime.

 

Thank you for providing such great benefits and still charging a undeserved subscription fee.

[Rtwozero]

Once again thats not exactly true at 3am mountain (Arizona time) there are 300 people in fleet. 150 on dromund kaas) changing this downtime will surely anger these after midnight warriors

 

Which server? The Harbinger or Swiftsure?

[Micksteroo]

6 days until my initial month's subscription runs out, I will not be renewing.

 

I sincerely hope BW loses a LOT of money in lost subs because of their crappy maintenance schedule and other issues.

 

They spent what 5-6 years developing this? The end result is a good game sure, but it's obvious they don't know how to run a business. I will never buy another BW / EA game and I will never recommend SWTOR to a friend (I've been badmouthing it for a while now and will continue to do so).

 

As for the idiots at EA - don't sell your game for $20 more in Australia, the Aussie $ is worth more than the US $ and the price difference can't be justified.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Micksteroo

[ferroz]

After paying for a good or service we are not reasonably provided we are entitled to a refund. I suggest we create a petition to recoup these lost funds, or we get our maintenance during our off-peek time

No, the services is provided per the ToS... so I'm pretty sure you're SoL as far as getting a refund for the time that you can't play.

 

Why are the Aussie servers going down for maintenance in the prime time of playable hours for us Aussie's?

 

The U.S. server go down at 2am so why don't the servers in Australia go down at 2am AEST?

Is that 2amPST?

 

If so, the US servers go down at 9:00AM GMT; the australia servers go down at 9:00AM GMT. Seems pretty clear.

Edited March 28, 2012 by ferroz

[ferroz]

The way I see it, their maintenance staff already come in at obscure times of the night (the maintenance starts at 2:00am their time) so, if anything, I would think the staff would be happy they'd only have to come in at 2:00am once a month.

Unlikely; the maintenance team is almost certainly a team that normally works at night, the same shift every day.

 

And really, you're making a lot of assumptions about the game infrastructure .... it's quite possible that the way it's designed requires that all live servers come down at the same time because the Data storage cluster of servers is just unavailable at that time.

Edited March 28, 2012 by ferroz

[Dsan]

And really, you're making a lot of assumptions about the game infrastructure .... it's quite possible that the way it's designed requires that all live servers come down at the same time because the Data storage cluster of servers is just unavailable at that time.

 

/sigh

 

I don't think I've said, at any point, that Bioware needs to have seperate maintenance times for each region or suggest any solution that involves bringing down some servers for mainenance while others stay online. Even it it were physically possible, I doubt they'd do it because it would be too much hassle trying to co-ordinate the rollout of a new patch across the world compared with their current method of "bring down all servers at the same time then patch them all at the same time".

 

The only suggestion I put forward for Bioware to consider (the rotating maintenance schedule) still has all servers across the globe taken offline at the same time for a mass patch rollout - it just varies the starting time of that downtime each time maintenance is needed. Global downtime at a time to suit US players one week, time to suit EU players the following week etc.

 

I just think handling maintenance that way would avoid any big changes to the way Bioware currently roll out patches (because it still takes every server offline at the same time to patch - it just starts a couple of hours later or a couple of hours earlier depending on which region is due to be catered for that week) but will make a BIG difference to the players most affected by taking the game offline during prime hours.

 

Sure, there will definatly be people upset by the fact they now have to suffer the occaisional time where the game is offline during their prime play time but please spare a thought for those of us that currently experience that EVERY week.

[Viera]

Why are the Aussie servers going down for maintenance in the prime time of playable hours for us Aussie's?

 

The U.S. server go down at 2am so why don't the servers in Australia go down at 2am AEST?

 

A Little Unfair!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Also why are the forums shut down as well?

 

Some people used the maintenance time to check out forums, Like they did with WoW to catch up on anything new.

 

Maintenance is global. The game uses a global client, not a region specific client. That makes it impossible for them to have separate maintenance times.

[Viera]

' The upside is that players have no restrictions on where they can play - something many players in Oceanic regions continue to benefit from....'

 

Really? So no matter what servers we play on we can still benefit from prime time downtime?

 

So we get a choice of low ping, prime time downtime and no legacy (or start a new legacy with no information provided how this will effect transfers)

 

Or, high ping, all of our level50s, legacy and prime time downtime.

 

Thank you for providing such great benefits and still charging a undeserved subscription fee.

 

They said at the guild summit that when you transfer, the legacy transfers, and the highest level legacy absorbs the lower level legacy.

 

Now you know~!

[Rtwozero]

I don't know if it's funny or sad that people living in the US continue to post their opinion on a thread entitled Aussie Server Maintenance....

[Botinatortwo]

We post because they closed our thread complaining about their horrible maintenance windows and duration. They directed us to this thread. See last post here:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=360351&page=120

 

This product is pretty poorly designed if every time you update the code you require several hours of downtime including your website.

[MasterUtlaga]

Really, I wouldn't normally have problems with maintenance because I can see that it is good for the game, but fact is, I have work from early till 4. I can of course manage and its no big deal, but of course, if possible It would be good if BioWare could please change maintenance times for AP/ Euro servers :-D Edited April 24, 2012 by MasterUtlaga

[SaphraxDark]

Why are the Aussie servers going down for maintenance in the prime time of playable hours for us Aussie's?

 

The U.S. server go down at 2am so why don't the servers in Australia go down at 2am AEST?

 

A Little Unfair!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Also why are the forums shut down as well?

 

Some people used the maintenance time to check out forums, Like they did with WoW to catch up on anything new.

 

because everyone around the entire world all gets maintenance at the exact same time.. How can they keep servers up for america at one point while doing maintenance on aussie servers at the time U.S is down? think about it, its an online game we are all connected.

[Driveinns]

Its because the Australian servers would be flooded during other countries downtimes, simple as that.

 

So when you boil it down either way you would be unable to login. Our server are already very full, add to that a whole bunch of other countries players and suddenly crashing and ques.

[Kolreth]

The reason that they HAVE to bring the servers all down at the same time is because of the lack of region locks. If you can connect to any server from the 3 different regions, all the clients HAVE to be on the same version.

 

Example of what could happen : You log into the launcher, game patches you to version 1.2, which adds a field to a database table, say biometric crystal alloy, say stack_total, so you can now stack said item. You log into a server that isn't on the same maint schedule and expects client version 1.1.5, your game tries to write to the stack_total field, it isn't there, client craps out from a database error.

[Waxninja]

Oh noes rl must exist at least 1 night a week =x

[EvilZeRo]

The reason that they HAVE to bring the servers all down at the same time is because of the lack of region locks. If you can connect to any server from the 3 different regions, all the clients HAVE to be on the same version.

 

Example of what could happen : You log into the launcher, game patches you to version 1.2, which adds a field to a database table, say biometric crystal alloy, say stack_total, so you can now stack said item. You log into a server that isn't on the same maint schedule and expects client version 1.1.5, your game tries to write to the stack_total field, it isn't there, client craps out from a database error.

 

this plus they deploy patches to all servers at the same time.

 

imagine all the ************ that would insue if one region got a content patch before anyone else or an event and so on.

also theres only 1 patcher so all servers have to be done at the same time.

[Syanis]

Well they could take the servers down instead of at 2am CDT push it back to say 8am CDT. That should allow Aus and the US both have their primetimes which is the main 2 markets. Heck, seems the only growing market actually is Aus while the US leaves the game.

[KraGiEFunctional]

In my experience (Software Architect), releasing changes tends to be automated these days, but it's not like you flip a switch and go to bed. Even the best deployments require eyes to watch, react, and verify to avoid public embarrassment. I believe the times are selected by # of users affected. If your traffic overall is lowest during certain hours, that will be the most opportunistic time to conduct the maintenance window.

 

And for the Asia Pacific servers being busy... you guys are lucky. Some of the US servers have very low populations making grouping a challenge.

[_TrasH_]

I love the part where they close a thread and direct you to one that was started 1.5 months ago and still nothing has changed.

 

It has probably been said before, but why not start a subsequent outage time from the time the last one finished?

 

IE:

 

Outage A : 5PM AEST -> 9PM AEST

Outage B: 9PM AEST -> 1AM AEST

Outage C: 1AM AEST -> 5AM AEST

 

etc etc.

 

You know it's bad when you hit the launcher icon and wonder whether the game will actually launch this time...or whether it is another outage.

 

Like...its always exactly when we get home to exactly when we go to bed. Thanks, Bioware.

[Avacyn]

I love the part where they close a thread and direct you to one that was started 1.5 months ago and still nothing has changed.

 

It has probably been said before, but why not start a subsequent outage time from the time the last one finished?

 

IE:

 

Outage A : 5PM AEST -> 9PM AEST

Outage B: 9PM AEST -> 1AM AEST

Outage C: 1AM AEST -> 5AM AEST

 

etc etc.

 

You know it's bad when you hit the launcher icon and wonder whether the game will actually launch this time...or whether it is another outage.

 

Like...its always exactly when we get home to exactly when we go to bed. Thanks, Bioware.

 

You go to bed at 9pm? What are you 6?

[_TrasH_]

You go to bed at 9pm? What are you 6?

 

Hahaha. Get back under your bridge, nightwalking troll.

 

[TziganeNZ]

You go to bed at 9pm? What are you 6?

Probably employed (you know, working for a living).

[Avacyn]

Probably employed (you know, working for a living).

 

Much like me then. Although I have not gone to bed at 9pm since I was a little kid. Adults don't need 11 hours sleep unless we are fat greasy cow men who live on KFC.

[TziganeNZ]

Much like me then. Although I have not gone to bed at 9pm since I was a little kid. Adults don't need 11 hours sleep unless we are fat greasy cow men who live on KFC.

Except you don't know what time he has to get up in the morning.

 

Some people start work at 5am or earlier.

[Wiserza]

Much like me then. Although I have not gone to bed at 9pm since I was a little kid. Adults don't need 11 hours sleep unless we are fat greasy cow men who live on KFC.

 

Not everybody starts work at 8/9 am some actually start waaaaaay earlier mate.