Guurzak Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Please move SWTOR.com to a different server farm/datacenter from the game servers. Having both the game service and the community forums down at the same time, every time, is poor technical design and poor customer service. Pro tip: If the server with the news post about the downtime goes down during the downtime, you're doing IT wrong. An engaged community is going to want to flood the forums if they can't play. If you take down the forums at the same time, your community is forced to disengage and find something else (i.e. another game?) to occupy their time. Ask your MBA types how they feel about forcing customers into the competitors' arms. If it is also necessary to sometimes take down the forums for maintenance, do it while people are happily playing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeshaSpentas Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 pro tip: If the server with the news post about the downtime goes down during the downtime, you're doing it wrong.! full ack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrie Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I think you'll find the website is hosted on different servers to the game. However it makes perfectly practical IT sense to do all of your maintenance at the same time. Not only do you get at least 24 hours notice that this will occur but the information is still available on the launcher as to when the servers will come back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZefiruShrike Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I actually sort of agree with the OP, mainly because of the client. Or rather, the client says "For more information click here" or "Click here to see patch notes" or "Server Status", and when you click any of them, they're all dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelloch Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I think you'll find the website is hosted on different servers to the game. However it makes perfectly practical IT sense to do all of your maintenance at the same time. Not only do you get at least 24 hours notice that this will occur but the information is still available on the launcher as to when the servers will come back up. Except the launcher points to the web site for more info Ike server status etc. I was really surprised to see the forums down at the same time since I wanted to use that time to read up on things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSykes Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I think you'll find the website is hosted on different servers to the game. However it makes perfectly practical IT sense to do all of your maintenance at the same time. Not only do you get at least 24 hours notice that this will occur but the information is still available on the launcher as to when the servers will come back up. It's kind of counter intuitive. The vast majority of players don't read the website or forums outside of putting in game time. When the servers go down for maintenance, and it says "Click Here for Server Status" and you click it and the website is down for maintenance as well... people start to get mad. You can't do both at the same time and expect people to not get upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeshaSpentas Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 However it makes perfectly practical IT sense to do all of your maintenance at the same time. Nope, it does not. First of all, the website is definately maintained by a different it-crew, specialized in website-stuff. And secondly it is simply unwise to shut down the main communication link between at the same time the game servers are down. Twitter is no alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dduttonnc Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Please move SWTOR.com to a different server farm/datacenter from the game servers. Having both the game service and the community forums down at the same time, every time, is poor technical design and poor customer service. Pro tip: If the server with the news post about the downtime goes down during the downtime, you're doing IT wrong. An engaged community is going to want to flood the forums if they can't play. If you take down the forums at the same time, your community is forced to disengage and find something else (i.e. another game?) to occupy their time. Ask your MBA types how they feel about forcing customers into the competitors' arms. If it is also necessary to sometimes take down the forums for maintenance, do it while people are happily playing! FYI. they take the website down on PURPOSE... that way people aren't QQing and crying all over the forums during downtime. I'd do the same thing if I ran an MMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voidlet Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 If the website was up whilst the game servers were down for 6 hours then it will be full of angry players spamming angry posts. Having the website down stops people from complaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RThanues Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) There is a difference between infrastructure and servers. Just because the game servers and the website are not sitting on the same data bank, that does mean they are on a different infrastructure. In fact, they probably are on the same one as they have to communicate between themselves with a very low latency. This especially can cause problems when you split your maintenance (had a lot of grief from doing this in the air force), especially for a young and rather inexperience team as bioware. I'm sure they have a good reason for this. Such decisions are not made out of hand and are usually carried through after some consideration (or lack of choice). Edited December 27, 2011 by RThanues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddod Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 just as an aside, how many forums have you guys seen taken down for maintenance on such a consistent basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I can't believe this thread was created.. I see Bioware put the website up a little early.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalare Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I think you'll find the website is hosted on different servers to the game. However it makes perfectly practical IT sense to do all of your maintenance at the same time. Not only do you get at least 24 hours notice that this will occur but the information is still available on the launcher as to when the servers will come back up. Imagine your ISP upgrading and rebooting all their routers at the same time, does that make perfect IT sense? Indeed, it doesn't. That's why you take these things separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeshaSpentas Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 In fact, they probably are on the same one as they have to communicate between themselves with a very low latency. I really doubt the need for webserves hosting fora to communicate with gameservers at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnolith Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Game down for maintenance --> check the main forums for details Game Forums down for maintenance --> check twitter for details Twitter post: Servers down for maintenance, check the main forums for details Game Forums down for maintenance --> check twitter for details .... etc Having a website down or throttled in 2011 is inexcusable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hecksgirl Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 The only problem I have with the website going down too is all the things they direct you to. Server status page, down. Forums in case you have questions, down. The Twitter page is not updated very often and definitely not with anything relevant. Silly game, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RThanues Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I really doubt the need for webserves hosting fora to communicate with gameservers at all. Mostly for security, logins, and statistics. There is always more than meets the eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeshaSpentas Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) Mostly for security, logins, and statistics. There is always more than meets the eye. The gameservers won't share login data with anyone, since they are handled by loginservers, not gameservers. The forum itself does not present any statistical data, unless it is about the forum itself or is postet by anyone who has access to that kind of information. There is absolutely now security reason for a gameserver to communicate with a server, which sole purpose is to host a forum. If you really believe that, and really worked for the air force as an it guy, i now see why the U.S. are having trouble keeping their classified documents a secret. Edited December 27, 2011 by AmeshaSpentas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Die_Scream Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Damn skippy. What a poor showing, having forums go down with the game. It's mind boggling that no one thought of this. Where have these guys been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airslash Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 yes, because a server chunking out php pages is such a heavy load on servers these days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeshaSpentas Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 yes, because a server chunking out php pages is such a heavy load on servers these days... You might not want to underestimate the cpu cycles half a million trolls cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuolema Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 The entire infrastructure is linked together. Your code redeeming, you password, account info, subscription plan, server links, security key, Security phrases. They are all one system. What you ask can not be done unless you want an extended few days without the game as they implement a new system and have 1.5 million people re-register, and re-do there subscription and everything. Request denied, never gona happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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