maintenance, why so much

[SirRhyno]

Cute job pidgeonholing the negativity in an easily ignored thread. Well trolled, BW.

 

I realize none of y'all have ever made an online game and you're grossly underprepared, but shouldn't you be LEARNING by now? Yes, you didn't expect this many players. Yes, you don't have the staff necessary to support it... But really?

 

You've got revenue. You can afford a team. You can afford QA. When we're on the fix to the patch to the update to the hotfix to the patch to the fix to the patch that was originally 1.2 but mostly tabled... What reaction do you expect?

 

I'm actually impressed by your optimism. I mean, it takes guts to basically say, "There will be a 4-48 hour maintenance that's perfectly natural" when it's basically "13th time is a charm... maybe. We have no idea what's wrong and we're throwing random things at it in hopes they help".

 

For a 1.2 patch that had no major features, limited non-cosmetic content (a "plague", a world boss, and some dozen new enemies), you've managed to bug every major system of the game. That's actually a dramatic achievement.

 

Please, spend the money we throw at you toward actually improving the game, not supporting Bioware's numerous recent failures. Many of us have already DONE the broken, ineptly managed in Austin bastardization of a Star Wars MMO. This one's got enough promise. Why try so hard to screw it up. Save these sorts of debacles for major changes. Don't waste intellectual capital on such a minor update.

[Tigalo]

I have never come across an mmo that goes down as frequently as this. My list of mmo"s is extensive ranging from asherons call, daoc , eve , aion, Conan, coh, SWG, warhammer and probably some I've forgot. Is something so broken it needs fixing immediately and can't wait till next Tuesday? I know some people are complaining about things suh as sound problems etc but unless I've missed something have they announced what the downtime it for?

Most emergency patches are due to biowares own incompetence. I know some people defend Bioware saying fixes are needed but they must realise that with servers going down same time globally they are pissing off a lot of people.

 

Bioware should implement the 6 P philosophy .... Perfect Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

 

This, so very this.

 

If there is a blatant exploit that needs fixing ASAP, then you can bring down the servers outside normal maintenance hours, but only for urgent exploit fixes (like money duping etc). You do not bring the servers down outside of weekly maintenance to fix sound/graphics bugs etc.

 

And, 4 hours every time? Really?

[maxilo]

how come every time ( and i mean everytime) we have a patch, 2 days later we have another 4-8 hours down time to correct something ?

[Dhampiri]

honestly the maintenance is pretty unfair for asia pacific players because it goes on at our playing prime time, i.e when people are home from work..it's starting to get a bit ridiculous..

 

I agree here, shunning aside the fact that there has been 4 maintenance downtime in a week, maybe there should be a consideration to asia pacific servers for a seperate maintenance time?

[Himeji_Endless]

I'm pretty irritated - just got the kids to bed, wife is out w/ friends and i can play ... and w t f ? server shutdown in 10mins message. holy $h**! I normally don't QQ about things, but this same time shut down is just pissing me off. Its always 9pm where I am when they shut things down *gawd*

 

I've been lucky to avoid most of BW's problems game-wise, but GW2 is around the corner and if things keep screwing up like this, tons of subs are gonna poof! my sub is up at the end of the month and all these constant inconveniences are starting to add up ... kinda reminds me of nexon.

 

Bottom line is:

DONT RELEASE NEW CONTENT W/O TESTING AND DEBUGGING IT! AND BEFORE YOU RELEASE NEW CONTENT, FIX THE DAMN GAME IN ITS CURRENT STATE! TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT THEY'RE HAPPY THAT BW IS IMPLEMENTING FIXES, YOU'RE JUST THE SHEEP THEY WANT! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! IF THEY HAD JUST DONE IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, WE WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE TO PATCH THINGS.

[Dracurian]

Did anyone else notice that after 1.2 your 'puter fragged up real quick?

I know mine did. In the coupla days it took for the next patch, I had to do a defrag twice a day, went from 0% to over 60% really quickly.

 

Then they did a new early patch, & the problem has cleared up.

 

I acknowledge the need for maintenance, such things must be done after all, but I would like them to change the times it is done. Each of the regions can handle once & awhile having their serves unavailable during their peak times. Does not have to be the same servers affected during their peak ALL the time.

 

Unless the non-pacific server players are all sooks & might cry for mummy.

[MstSage]

One thing i always said about this game was that it reminded me too much of Star Trek Online and DC Universe Online, both of which are F2P. I have no doubt this is end up as well

 

This game reminds me nothing of Star Trek Online or DC Universe. Yes those went Free to Play, DC Universe after Sony was hacked repeatably and had so much downtime that was the only way to recover. Star Trek Online just didn't have enough followers.

 

This game will not end up like them.

[rgdelta]

I love how people say why so much maintaince this game has had less maintaince since launch then other major mmo's heck WoW in the first 2 months had alot of maintaince (including a day or more at a time to the point that they were giving out free days think there was like 6-8 free days in the first 2 months and they only did that when the servers were down for 1+ days)

[Androgena]

lol the old Maint, time Argument

Now that you all know when Maint, is can we get over it ?

I mean really , now you know so whats all the talk about ?As for Long times well I do agree there but I think the times more for them to test each server then the actual patch . If you notice you can logg in and patch almost instantly after the servers go down and that patch almost always is " The one" so I believe they go through and double check the servers and thats where the extended downtime comes in.

I talked to a dev once who told me different servers running the same game sometimes get their own specific bugs do to isolated patches and or w/e . so each server needs to be checked when a patch is applied ( that dev was not for this game lol I don't want to put words into anyones mouth) afcourse that was a small game runing only 4 servers this is a large game running what 20 or 30 ? iono seems it'll take time

Also I am west coaster and the servers go down in my prime time aswell but it's ok I have other things I can do . at least we get forwarned most of the time

[ElectricFlea]

What most reasonable asia-pacific players are asking for is that maintenence be shifted slightly. Anyone with any knowledge of geography knows that our two biggest oceans account for a significant portion of the planet's surface. Surely that provides a bit of wiggle room? I'd wager that migrating whales couldn't care less about SWTOR, primetime or otherwise.

 

We're not asking to be given favour over US or EU players, just for a minimal bit of consideration on this matter.

[JohnStoops]

You haven't noticed ability delay go away completely? You haven't noticed more fluid frames in every area of the game? You haven't noticed more content at this point in its life-cycle, than just about any other MMO ever made?

 

Everyone else has.

doesnt really matter what they are fixing it matters that they schedule maintenance and then do it more than that people schedule their time around maintenance do it at the time that it is supposed to be done period if there are problems take care of it then and not emergency

[Yomitako]

I guess there'a always gonna be people getting butthurt in this game regardless of what they do. First off, for the people that are upset over the unscheduled maintenance. It's quite likely it has to do with an issue regarding Asia/Pac server transfers. A bug that cannot be tested upon in any way, shape or form.

 

To those in the regions affected during peak times. It's going to happen, until they can implement a way to have multiple servers running simultaneously, or regionally so that they can ultimately split up the downtimes aross regions to minimize impact on peak times across the globe. The fact of the matter is, they cannot do this, and will not do this anytime soon. They have a specific team to address these things. They have specific hours and timeframes laid out for them by the company. They cannot, and will not cater to those currently having the most affection by the downtimes, because the company also has to look out for these people. Those people that are trying to work hard in providing as good a game experience as they possibly can, have friends and families too. Most places also have certain bylaws about either being scheduled to work at certain times, or are required by labour laws and statues, to be paid extra for working at certain hours of the day (example: Saskatchewan, retail shift work, after 9pm, your hourly wage is increased by $0.50-$1.00 per hour).

 

The fact of the matter is, this is the way it's going to be, and it's going to be like this for a while yet, until they can find a way to implement a better solution. Please also keep in mind that this solution, is also going to cost money, and probably a lot of it. You have to consider that they have to purchase a location, or building rentals, hiring new staff, training, equipment, bills (Hydro, electric, telephone, internet et al). These things do not come cheaply.

 

Maintenance is an essential and required part of any game, regardless if it's an MMORPG or not. Behind the scenes, behind every single game, there are human beings. Human beings, by their very nature, are prone to mistakes. Nobody is perfect, nor will they ever be. If this was the case, then there would never be bugs or maintenance, period, and the game would be up 24/7, running flawlessly with no chance of any problems ever occurring.

 

Just come to peace with it, and come to peace with the fact that you simply cannot please everyone. When things like this happen, it's going to affect somebody, and that somebody will be upset about it. This is the way the economy and software development works. You are still human, you still have a heartbeat, you still have friends, families, employment, a home, and personal belongings. Don't take things for granted.

[CaptainAsa]

I don't mind the maintenance it just that I pay to play. so refund every hour of down time as a cash back for your time.

its that simple. for 30 days divided by the hours of lost play time. we should get a refund. So if it it adds up to one week we should get a week free.

[DarthAeternus]

Don't mind there's so much maintenance... DO mind the time! Being an European player every maintenance takes exactly the whole middle of the day. Why do only the US get all done while they sleep? Get yourself a place rented out in Europe so u can manage that in proper times - getting tired of being f*cked over for another playday out of my subsciption. Second time in one week.

[Himeji_Endless]

I don't mind the maintenance it just that I pay to play. so refund every hour of down time as a cash back for your time.

its that simple. for 30 days divided by the hours of lost play time. we should get a refund. So if it it adds up to one week we should get a week free.

 

That sounds fair!

[Tigalo]

Ah yes. More QQ and impatience from people who have clearly never subscribed to an MMO,

 

Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa, Fallen Earth, Age of Conan, RIFT and more.

 

 

Of all thos, the only game that was more adept at brining down the servers every time I had planned to play was AO.

[maxilo]

I love how people say why so much maintaince this game has had less maintaince since launch then other major mmo's heck WoW in the first 2 months had alot of maintaince (including a day or more at a time to the point that they were giving out free days think there was like 6-8 free days in the first 2 months and they only did that when the servers were down for 1+ days)

 

When was wow released ? You can't use that as an example it's far too long ago (nobody knew what they were doing back then)

 

i have been around for all the major releases of mmo's and i have to say this has been very very poor.

 

They release a patch and two days later downtime again seems to be the norm.

[lenCORP]

Server Outage going for 4 hours starting at:

LA: Wednesday 6AM

NY: Wednesday 9AM

London: Wednesday 2PM

Berlin/Paris: Wednesday 3PM

Aus: Thursday 11pm

 

The above times still effect us Aussies and the Euro Guys the most but at least it is still not right through prime time and you would get far less crying on here about it.

 

I think that would work better some everyone yeh?

[DartSuncho]

This is an American game, for Americans. They sleep well through the downtime while we are wasting nerves. My response is clear and sound: I cancel my subscription. Now all the data from Torstatus makes sense. Happy single playing to all!

[Nuzt]

lol the old Maint, time Argument

Now that you all know when Maint, is can we get over it ?

I mean really , now you know so whats all the talk about ?As for Long times well I do agree there but I think the times more for them to test each server then the actual patch . If you notice you can logg in and patch almost instantly after the servers go down and that patch almost always is " The one" so I believe they go through and double check the servers and thats where the extended downtime comes in.

I talked to a dev once who told me different servers running the same game sometimes get their own specific bugs do to isolated patches and or w/e . so each server needs to be checked when a patch is applied ( that dev was not for this game lol I don't want to put words into anyones mouth) afcourse that was a small game runing only 4 servers this is a large game running what 20 or 30 ? iono seems it'll take time

Also I am west coaster and the servers go down in my prime time aswell but it's ok I have other things I can do . at least we get forwarned most of the time

 

No because scheduled maintenance is just that ... SCHEDULED. This is a we were to ignorant to listen to tester so now we have to piss some of you off for a few hours due to our inability to acknowledge anything outside our magical realm of we know best.

[Darth_Kael]

Actually no I don't BECAUSE THE SERVERS ARE ALWAYS DOWN during PEAK TIMES IN PST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

So im west coast PST as well an i dnt see 12am being peak times i see peak times being about 6pm-10pm because when u have a life out side gaming thats usually about the time between work an sleep. now some people do have different hours yes but majority of people tend to keep the hours mentioned above so ya not really peak times.

[ChakraFive]

??? My sense of entitlement? Perhaps you read my post wrong but I wasn't writing it in anger. I was just saying it as a suggestion that they put back the maintenance by a couple hours so that us PST time players can have a decent amount of time to play. I work swing shift, and I have tues-thurs off. With family I can only play at about 9pm pst on my nights off at the earliest which only leaves a couple hours to play.

 

I bolded, but let me repost

 

change it to at least 2am like normal games.

 

That sir sure reads like a command.

 

I'm actually with you on your latest post....but the previous one reads like and order to meet your demands, it doesn't read like a suggestion,... to me at least.

 

If you really do mean it as a suggestion, it may help to read before posting. Simply adding "perhaps" to the front as a suggestion would change the tone I would think.

 

take it or leave it....just saying how it came across the wire

Edited April 19, 2012 by ChakraFive

[Azurax]

I guess there'a always gonna be people getting butthurt in this game regardless of what they do. First off, for the people that are upset over the unscheduled maintenance. It's quite likely it has to do with an issue regarding Asia/Pac server transfers. A bug that cannot be tested upon in any way, shape or form.

 

To those in the regions affected during peak times. It's going to happen, until they can implement a way to have multiple servers running simultaneously, or regionally so that they can ultimately split up the downtimes aross regions to minimize impact on peak times across the globe. The fact of the matter is, they cannot do this, and will not do this anytime soon. They have a specific team to address these things. They have specific hours and timeframes laid out for them by the company. They cannot, and will not cater to those currently having the most affection by the downtimes, because the company also has to look out for these people. Those people that are trying to work hard in providing as good a game experience as they possibly can, have friends and families too. Most places also have certain bylaws about either being scheduled to work at certain times, or are required by labour laws and statues, to be paid extra for working at certain hours of the day (example: Saskatchewan, retail shift work, after 9pm, your hourly wage is increased by $0.50-$1.00 per hour).

 

The fact of the matter is, this is the way it's going to be, and it's going to be like this for a while yet, until they can find a way to implement a better solution. Please also keep in mind that this solution, is also going to cost money, and probably a lot of it. You have to consider that they have to purchase a location, or building rentals, hiring new staff, training, equipment, bills (Hydro, electric, telephone, internet et al). These things do not come cheaply.

 

Maintenance is an essential and required part of any game, regardless if it's an MMORPG or not. Behind the scenes, behind every single game, there are human beings. Human beings, by their very nature, are prone to mistakes. Nobody is perfect, nor will they ever be. If this was the case, then there would never be bugs or maintenance, period, and the game would be up 24/7, running flawlessly with no chance of any problems ever occurring.

 

Just come to peace with it, and come to peace with the fact that you simply cannot please everyone. When things like this happen, it's going to affect somebody, and that somebody will be upset about it. This is the way the economy and software development works. You are still human, you still have a heartbeat, you still have friends, families, employment, a home, and personal belongings. Don't take things for granted.

 

I can't say I 100% agree with this post. But I'd like to say I appreciate that you wrote something that not only can be understood, but comes across as an intelligent and valuable opinion rather than attempting to bludgeon your way through an argument, which has become so common place on the internet. If everyone could offer at least this much I think we could come up with better results as a community rather than "QQing" and "trolling".

[JohnStoops]

You pay a whopping $15 a month....you get all you deserve for that small price.

 

There are 672 hours in the average month and the servers are up for around 630 hours in the average month. So they are up around 94% of the time. You are getting what you pay for easily for a tiny $15/month.

 

Quit whining.

well the thing is that i can pay $60 to play a game for an infinite number of hours but i choose to play swtor for $60 and then i pay a $15 monthly few for maintenance so that i can continue to play new and updated content.....but i am falsely advertised a certain amount of play time and rejected that amount of time.....do the server shutdowns when they are scheduled unless they are crashing constantly.

[CaptainAsa]

We pay to play. If no play we need to get payed. But Europa has a point is their a quality down time worth more than any time? so Does Europe get quality pay for down time in the middle of the day?