Weekly server maintenance EU times?

[James_UK]

The downtime usually decreases as the game matures in my experiance.

May be not such an issue soon.

[Ukmaxi]

a) we're in a holiday season

b) extended maintenance may occur any time

c) it's just incomprehensible why bioware is incapable of doing maintenance in the usual timeslot for EU.

 

I'm still working during the 'holiday season' as you put it.

[Maurgran]

People keep throwing the "don't you work 9-5?" line out there, but the truth is 1 in 10 people work in retail alone which isn't a fixed monday to friday 9-5 job, add that with all the people who work nights, evenings, or antisocial jobs like cinema employees and you've got a large chunk of people who DON'T work 9-5 monday to friday but have exactly the same rights to play.

 

They want to run it as a global model

They are aware this inconveniences a large number of people (as they stated in their response)

They dont care.

They will continue to run it as a global model.

 

I'm afraid its as simple as that

[spudbynight]

They dont care.

 

This is the thing that I think is really pissing people off.

 

Anyone who runs a successful business knows that you just can't afford to alienate any of your customer base.

[mitchellj]

Not taking part/affiliating in the US<-->EU bashing stuff, but I'm afraid the maintenance times are a little bit sucky :|

 

Granted I don't know all the ins and outs of their specific teams, but I do work for a large EU/US ISP, and we have to split the maintenance to suit both sides, yes its the same amount of time each country is loosing in "time" but its not the same amount of time in "daylight hours" which is where the majority of the population live.

 

If its done to keep patches in sync with the US/EU system why not just put a lock on a realm that says "Sorry, you cannot connect to this realm until you have patch X.X.X" then that'd only be for 6-12 hours later.

 

Alternatively just pre-install the patches before the maintenance happens, if the API's are written properly backwards compatibility should still be maintained (as to how most public test realms work).

 

If its so that the tech team doesn't have to stay late/ get up at a different hour, then I'm afraid they are in the wrong line of work Maintaining a _global_ service is being the poor guy that has to get up at the nasty o'clock in the mornings to deal with the issues.

 

Right now all this is serving to do is alienate a lot of the customer base which is a shame, SWTOR is a great game and its fantastic that the EU and US people can play together, I just wish it was more global in the support side and not just the community side.

[Greennunu]

I still don't get it. Even with people who are off 9AM-5PM. Even though you say it's a "huge" chunk. It's still a minority. If BW is serving the majority then I don't see a problem at all, I think any ocmpany would rather lose 49% of its customer base than 51% of it's customer base, but at this point we are probably talking less than 1%.

 

/wave

[mitchellj]

I still don't get it. Even with people who are off 9AM-5PM. Even though you say it's a "huge" chunk. It's still a minority. If BW is serving the majority then I don't see a problem at all, I think any ocmpany would rather lose 49% of its customer base than 51% of it's customer base, but at this point we are probably talking less than 1%.

 

/wave

 

I don't think they need to be mutually exclusive though, why do you need to loose 49% or 51%, why not keep them both happy?

[Greennunu]

I don't think they need to be mutually exclusive though, why do you need to loose 49% or 51%, why not keep them both happy?

 

You're correct, it's better to keep both. For whatever reason they can't seperate the maintenance cycles. One patch and people have already started throwing a hissy fit about it. Maybe they will have something planned later on, maybe they don't. But if its a normal schedule then people should just learn to live around it. It's literally 6 hours of a week, if you can't find something else to do for 6 hours, then please, do quit and re-evaluate your life.

[mitchellj]

You're correct, it's better to keep both. For whatever reason they can't seperate the maintenance cycles. One patch and people have already started throwing a hissy fit about it. Maybe they will have something planned later on, maybe they don't. But if its a normal schedule then people should just learn to live around it. It's literally 6 hours of a week, if you can't find something else to do for 6 hours, then please, do quit and re-evaluate your life.

 

It is a very fair point, I agree it's only 6 hours a week, but I think the crux of the issue is the difference not just the hours lost. With it being so early in a game things can start to become the 'norm' where as if the users voice their opinion then hopefully it will be looked at and addressed in the future.

[Elear]

I still don't get it. Even with people who are off 9AM-5PM. Even though you say it's a "huge" chunk. It's still a minority. If BW is serving the majority then I don't see a problem at all, I think any ocmpany would rather lose 49% of its customer base than 51% of it's customer base, but at this point we are probably talking less than 1%.

 

/wave

 

You don't see any problem with that attitude?

 

Oh look, people are complaining about maintenance times in EU, but they are only 1%, we can ignore them.

 

Oh look, some people have problem with that quest, but only 1 out of 1000, we can ignore that.

 

Oh look, there is some bug making game unplayable, but it exists only on one model of grapic card, we can ignore it.

 

Oh look, we made this spec of this class entirely useless. But there are other specs, and only few people will stick to this one anyway, we can ignore this.

 

Oh look, this crafting profession became useless, but then only few people still stick to it, we can ignore that.

 

 

(...)

 

Oh look, 25% of our subscribers just canceled. But that was only one person, we can ignore that.

[Urdnaxela]

(...)

 

Oh look, 25% of our subscribers just canceled. But that was only one person, we can ignore that.

 

lutsó'lulz

[Greennunu]

It is a very fair point, I agree it's only 6 hours a week, but I think the crux of the issue is the difference not just the hours lost. With it being so early in a game things can start to become the 'norm' where as if the users voice their opinion then hopefully it will be looked at and addressed in the future.

 

Ok, I agree that the earlier the problem is identified the quicker it could get adressed and resolved. However looking back at the thread, I think by the time the issue gets worked on most of the people complaining will quit the game already (or so they claim), because regardless of their real age it seems people here are like little kids who throws a tantrum if they can't get what they want right away.

 

I'm sure BW did their research on "peak" hours and some people will get left out regardless of what time they chose, some people would still whine if its early morning EU time. But as I said it's still a vast minority of people compared to other times that could be used.

[Greennunu]

You don't see any problem with that attitude?

 

Oh look, people are complaining about maintenance times in EU, but they are only 1%, we can ignore them.

 

Oh look, some people have problem with that quest, but only 1 out of 1000, we can ignore that.

 

Oh look, there is some bug making game unplayable, but it exists only on one model of grapic card, we can ignore it.

 

Oh look, we made this spec of this class entirely useless. But there are other specs, and only few people will stick to this one anyway, we can ignore this.

 

Oh look, this crafting profession became useless, but then only few people still stick to it, we can ignore that.

 

 

(...)

 

Oh look, 25% of our subscribers just canceled. But that was only one person, we can ignore that.

 

No, you can twist the logic however you want but it's not going to be how it's played in your head. Almost everything you listed can be worked on and fixed, but when it comes to downtime, when portion of the population will be effected regardless, then yes, they should pick the time that would effect the least amount of people. They are not chosing to not fix bugs or keep classes imbalanced.

 

Your logic is flawed.

[TheHauntingBard]

I still don't get it. Even with people who are off 9AM-5PM. Even though you say it's a "huge" chunk. It's still a minority. If BW is serving the majority then I don't see a problem at all, I think any ocmpany would rather lose 49% of its customer base than 51% of it's customer base, but at this point we are probably talking less than 1%.

 

/wave

 

Yes I know you don't get it, that's the sad part.

The majority of Europe uses GMT +1 and GMT +2 as time zone.

 

Which means servers are down up to 17:00 and 18:00 to make it crystal clear 5 PM and 6PM.

How ever it isn't uncommon that there is an extended maintenance which results like last time in the servers being down up to 20:00 and 21:00 aka 8PM and 9 PM.

 

Now we look across the pond and see how Bioware timed their maintenance as convenient as possible for Americans.

We also take a look at Blizzard that gives us convenient maintenance times.

 

Natural response is to ask Bioware to have our maintenance also during the night/early morning.

 

 

Also EA did this with Warhammer and it bit back hard, in fact they lose a lot of EU costumers because of poor service.

I am not sure what the exact numbers are but I do know in WOW there are far more EU costumers than US (logical since our wealth is a bit more spread out and the EU out numbers the US 3 to 1.

 

Here there are more US onces but what you expect when EA has provided horrible service to the EU before.

Of course people think twice before buying an EA product in Europe they have a horrible rep.

 

Personally I would love a refund but ah well no dice.

Edited December 31, 2011 by TheHauntingBard

[Goreson]

So how is having maintenance during the night exactly the same thing as having maintenance during daytime and up to 10 PM?

 

I guess you wouldn't mind to have the maintenance start at, let's say, 0200 GMT and end at 1000 GMT would you? Nobody would get special treatment, but i''m pretty sure that US players would bring torches and pitchforks onto this forums.

 

As sure as i am that European players would actually support their "protest" instead of telling them to "suck it up". That is one significant difference between the two civilizations. Europeans are not yet Americans and i pray to any and all deities they will never become Americans. I LOVE Europe as it is!

 

Happy New Year!

 

See, this is where I love people and how blind 'they' (is it BW, is it EA, is it an American company? No, it's a bird farting in mid-flight! In short: somebody, I just don't really care who, maybe it is you?) are!

 

Yes, we (the Europeans) would love it... and yes, you (the Americans) hate it.

 

Now, here is a simple question: Isn't the SWTOR universe split into 2 parts according to BW: North America and Europe?

 

At least that's what I see when I'm on the server selection screen.

 

So... how about doing maintenance on the EU server starting at 2 AM GMT, which makes it 3 AM for CET, and the servers (EU) should be up again before noon CET and GMT.

 

For the US, well, same story: East and West coast server, shut the EST ones down at 2 AM EST and you lot get them back around 10 AM EST which should be fine.

 

Rinse - repeat for the Pacific: 2 AM PST down, up 10 AM PST.

 

Is that so hard?

 

And guess what: obviously, as we don't know what that maintenance is actually all about, well, let's just consider that maybe cascading thru the servers region by region will actually cut the individual down time by 50% (a complete guess!), wow, so instead of having all server down for 8 hrs, now we have all the US servers down for 1 hr (5-6 AM EST, 2-3 AM PST) while on either side 50% of the US servers are up as well as all of the EU server!

 

And while the EU server are down, servers for both sides of the US are up.

 

Doesn't that sound like an idea?

 

Unless of course BW has outsourced their server maintenance to some other company and they are paid by the hour onsite? Hm...

[mitchellj]

I agree the thread has went way out of control it always ruins the ability to get a valid point across, mentally I just replace those posts with the words "SO'S YOUR FACE" and pretend they don't exist

 

As to the studies, I believe there was probably studies done and you'll never please 100% of people. But lots of other games do it at different times, and I don't believe the population of the entire SWTOR game is that vastly different from other MMO counterparts.

 

Ahh well, I've said my piece

[Urdnaxela]

No, you can twist the logic however you want but it's not going to be how it's played in your head. Almost everything you listed can be worked on and fixed, but when it comes to downtime, when portion of the population will be effected regardless, then yes, they should pick the time that would effect the least amount of people. They are not chosing to not fix bugs or keep classes imbalanced.

 

Your logic is flawed.

 

Even so, you're thick.

 

who says that both NA and EU servers have to have the same maintenance time?

 

ATM they are maintaining two versions of swtor. the LIVE version and the PTR version. so it only comes to show that it would not be hard to maintain another version, splitting NA and EU servers from a maintenance point of view.

 

you could use the same client to log into any server, be it NA or EU, just as you can now access a LIVE server or a PTR server, although the servers had different version of the game (and hence different clients actually).

 

the only problem would probably be the doubling in size of the client. but hey, it's a solution. rather much better than saying "suck it up".

[Grovan]

No, you can twist the logic however you want but it's not going to be how it's played in your head. Almost everything you listed can be worked on and fixed, but when it comes to downtime, when portion of the population will be effected regardless, then yes, they should pick the time that would effect the least amount of people. They are not chosing to not fix bugs or keep classes imbalanced.

 

Your logic is flawed.

 

Yes son, and yours is narrow minded. It is entirely, completely, absolutely 100% possible to have the maintenance at night for both continents. THAT would effect the least amount of people.

[Greennunu]

And who will pay for the extra hours they put in for that to happen?

 

Either case, then the minor group of people who play in early hours would poke their heads in the forums and complain.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Greennunu

[TheHauntingBard]

Yes son, and yours is narrow minded. It is entirely, completely, absolutely 100% possible to have the maintenance at night for both continents. THAT would effect the least amount of people.

 

I don't think he understand it, it's just common sense but yes as you said it's possible.

Also let's not fool our selves Bioware isn't Blizzard and SWTOR is not having as many subs by a long shot.

 

I doubt people care enough about the fact the Americans get a 8 hour head start on a raid boss neither will Europeans rush out of their beds to play at 4:00 in the morning.

 

And who will pay for the extra hours they put in for that to happen?

 

We're paying around 3 euro more for a sub and what was it 10-15 euro more for a game?

Can tell you that not even half of it are taxes so yes we pay more and a part can be spend on that.

 

Blizzard never had an issue with that some how but yes that's a successful company, why copy their good costumer service.

Edited December 31, 2011 by TheHauntingBard

[Elear]

No, you can twist the logic however you want but it's not going to be how it's played in your head. Almost everything you listed can be worked on and fixed, but when it comes to downtime, when portion of the population will be effected regardless, then yes, they should pick the time that would effect the least amount of people. They are not chosing to not fix bugs or keep classes imbalanced.

 

Your logic is flawed.

 

That's no logic. Also, no moon.

 

They can split maintenance, hell, they'll have to once they release for australa, downtaime issue also can be "fixed".

Amount of effort needed is similar as my "examples", and your post stated that for some reason, they can ignore minority.

I've only shown where ignoring minority leads.

[Affics]

This time is awful for every player from asia.

[TheHauntingBard]

Last time I checked they didn't support Asia.

[spudbynight]

This time is awful for every player from asia.

 

Game has only launched in EU and America.

 

Oceania is ComingSoon!

[Goreson]

I still don't get it. Even with people who are off 9AM-5PM. Even though you say it's a "huge" chunk. It's still a minority. If BW is serving the majority then I don't see a problem at all, I think any ocmpany would rather lose 49% of its customer base than 51% of it's customer base, but at this point we are probably talking less than 1%.

 

/wave

 

Right, what is this 'minority' you are talking of?

 

Have you ever considered who is playing SWTOR?

 

Is it 80 year old Bill living in his shed out in the woods? Or the cool corporate mid-20 working 9 - 5? Maybe it is the down on his luck Joe who has been without a job for ages (but still looking!) who is okay paying the fee? Or maybe it is the loser in the chippie working nightshift? Hey, let's say it's that chick in Retail who works until 8PM (starting at 11:30AM)? What about the college bum who can't be arsed to leave his room after a boozed up night? And before he was that he was a school kid who is done with school by 2 PM most days...

 

SWTOR doesn't require a credit card so it is perfect to play for kids (despite a pegi 16 rating) and yes, a fair share of central European kids will be itching to play by 3PM (CET)... which they can't as the servers are still down...

 

Talk about losing customers...

 

On the other side, in the USA, hardcore gamers will be cut off at midnight PST, also not too smart as peak time should easily be factored until 1 AM wherever the player is.

 

Frankly, I think it's a case of BW being too careful going with a 'let's better make sure that all our systems are working fine and once that is done, let's check it again!' mindset as 8 hrs of maintenance is rather ridiculous long if done on a weekly base just to check all systems.

 

Think of all the big companies out there using servers... how many of these pretty much shut down completely for 8 hrs one day of the week because ALL the servers are taken down for maintenance?