Does SOE even work on Sat?

[Cerithian]

<p>I know for real emergencies like actual servers being down they will but will they work weekends for something like battlegrounds?  I mean it doesn't prevent us from actually playing the game, it's just a feature that is down.  My guess is battlegrounds will probably be down till Monday.  The lack of feedback on these forums actually seems to back that up... but then again I don't see any of the red names post on battlegrounds forums that often anyway so... *shrug*.  Hey guys, the SOE team deserve their weekends as well so we can be patient so they can get some much needed R&R.</p>

[BMouse]

<p>Don't the Hamsters run teh Servers on Weekends? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I heard through the rumour mill that they party up big time when all the SOE Staff go home early on Friday<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Just a rumour mind you <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Atrayu]

<p>Its called overtime, and most people get time and a half for it. Worth coming in for and should be part of the job description. SOE wonders why they have so few subs, /facepalm. Failboat~</p>

[Cerithian]

<p>you know I have been thinking more on it and here is what I came up with.  If your car goes out on Sunday good luck finding a mechanic right?  Maybe our expectations for SOE CS are just a bit unrealistic... I mean they are only human.  If your water tank starts leaking on Saturday or Sunday it's going to be hard to find a plumber.... I think the same goes for SOE techs and we should really cut them a bit of a break, they deserve their downtime too right? </p>

[Haliken]

<p>As it is, SOE staff comes in to get patches done for games when the fewest people tend to be playing. So, on patch days, they're going into work at ~2am instead.</p>

[Atrayu]

<p>I can understand where your coming from Cerithian, I suppose I just dont agree. I paid good money for 2 collector's xpac's and over 60/month for 2 station accounts and Id like to think I was paying for a working a service, not "Awe crap, we gotta take the BG's down, but ya know what, lets fix it on monday".</p><p>Or how about taking a minute and half and posting:</p><p>"Weve encountered another instance of people exploiting the battlegrounds, to ensure this doesnt happen continually we are disabling them until we are able to correct the problem. We dont expect to be able to bring them back online till early next week. We are very sorry for the inconvience and intend to make it up with a double xp weekend March 19-22."</p><p>Wow, that ended up taking less then a minute to come up with. I are a leet maker upper of sentances!</p><p>PS. Im usually not this sarcastic, but I find this pretty annoying that were not even worth an announcement/explanation.   1 line MOTD's aside, because Im not even sure their "working to get them going as soon as possible". I was really looking forward to playing BG's this weekend and Im pretty disappointed.</p>

[Cerithian]

<p>now come on come on... the way to look at any MMO is through subscriptions right?  And when you compare EQ2 to it's closest competitor (will not name names) then it's obvious that EQ2 is kinda like that "special" relative.  Just like that "special" relative we need to let SOE know that we understand and support them, give them all the encouragement they need, and occasionally pat them on the head and tell them what a good job they are doing.  So instead of griping and complaining, the next time you see a red name give them a friendly pat on the head and let them know that eventually we know they will get it right.  Patience is the key here, so let's give them their weekend and see what they can come up with on Monday *nod*.</p><p>We support you SOE we really do</p><p>*pats on head*</p>

[Atrayu]

<p><cite>Haliken wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As it is, SOE staff comes in to get patches done for games when the fewest people tend to be playing. So, on patch days, they're going into work at ~2am instead.</p></blockquote><p>Sure getting up that early sucks, theres no question, but Im sure it was in the job description. Maintaining a game/servers that run 24 hours a day might require coming in at odd and untimely hours. Im sure theres many qualifed people who are currently unemployed who would take the opportunity to have a full time job + time and half/overtime. (I dont know if they actualy get overtime, but most do after 40+/week.)</p><p>And ya cant tell me no one had time to let their customers know whats really going on. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" /> At least I could then just accept the fact their not coming back up until next week instead of secretly hoping they will be up any minute.</p>

[Atrayu]

<p>I wish I was as sympathetic as you Cerithian <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" />, these forums would be a lot more pleasent!</p>

[Cerithian]

<p>not so much sympathetic as realistic.... SOE doesn't have the funding of their closest competitor so obviously it's going to take them longer to fix problems.  We just can't expect them to perform to other games standards since they have less then 1/2 of the subscriptions.  Just understand they have a budget and give them the time they need to fix the problems they are having WITHIN that budget.  We just need to be a bit more understanding.</p><p>*pats SOE on the head*</p>

[Skywarrior]

<p><cite>Atrayu@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Im sure theres many qualifed people who are currently unemployed who would take the opportunity to have a full time job + time and half/overtime. (I dont know if they actualy get overtime, but most do after 40+/week.)</p></blockquote><p>Not that it has much relevance to your particular complaint but since you brought it up ...Most developers (programmers, program managers, producers, etc) are paid by salary, not by the hour, and are "Exempt" employees.  No overtime, usually not much comp time either. </p>

[Atrayu]

<p>That would explain why theyd be put off till monday, or why someone wouldnt be willing to "go the extra mile to get the job done." Incentives ftw.</p>

[Kain-UK]

<p>They'll prolly leave it till Monday as mostly it's just CS in on the weekends.</p><p>But seriously... it's -just- Battlegrounds. It's -one- part of a very large game. If you feel that you need compensated for x amount of subs and y amount of expansions bought because of ONE feature in the game not being available... that's pretty sad I'm afraid.</p><p>Go instance group or raid or something.</p>

[Cerithian]

<p><span style="color: #ffffff;">It is now 5:30pm CST Saturday and I did a little research.  No red name has made a post in the forums at all today.  I think that confirms that they have the day off.  SOE enjoy your weekend we love you, hope you come up with a solution to your product on Monday.</span></p><p>*pats on head*</p>

[Atrayu]

<p><cite>Kain-UK wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They'll prolly leave it till Monday as mostly it's just CS in on the weekends.</p><p>But seriously... it's -just- Battlegrounds. It's -one- part of a very large game. If you feel that you need compensated for x amount of subs and y amount of expansions bought because of ONE feature in the game not being available... that's pretty sad I'm afraid.</p><p>Go instance group or raid or something.</p></blockquote><p>Some people like grouping, some people like raiding, some people like soloing, some like to craft... some like to PvP.</p><p>Ive been soloing, grouping, and raiding ad nauseam for what, years now? The battlegrounds have revitalized my serious interest in EQ2 and I built myself up all week to sit down and really, actually, enjoy myself for a night and I was pretty disappointed yesterday. Sue me for being upset and vocalizing the way I feel about it.</p><p>Guess what? An actual message from someone who knows somthing at SOE would have prevented my outbursts on these forums.</p><p><strong>Thats pretty sad Im afraid.</strong></p>

[Crolack]

<p><cite>Atrayu@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kain-UK wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They'll prolly leave it till Monday as mostly it's just CS in on the weekends.</p><p>But seriously... it's -just- Battlegrounds. It's -one- part of a very large game. If you feel that you need compensated for x amount of subs and y amount of expansions bought because of ONE feature in the game not being available... that's pretty sad I'm afraid.</p><p>Go instance group or raid or something.</p></blockquote><p>Some people like grouping, some people like raiding, some people like soloing, some like to craft... some like to PvP.</p><p>Ive been soloing, grouping, and raiding ad nauseam for what, years now? The battlegrounds have revitalized my serious interest in EQ2 and I built myself up all week to sit down and really, actually, enjoy myself for a night and I was pretty disappointed yesterday. Sue me for being upset and vocalizing the way I feel about it.</p><p>Guess what? An actual message from someone who knows somthing at SOE would have prevented my outbursts on these forums.</p><p><strong>Thats pretty sad Im afraid.</strong></p></blockquote><p>Nagafen?</p>

[slothmister]

<p>The problem is NOT that BG's are down, it is, once again, LACK OF COMMUNICATION.</p><p>Keep the forums updated as to what the problem is and why they are down and give us an ETA on them being up again, simple.</p>

[Atrayu]

<p><cite>Crolack wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Atrayu@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kain-UK wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They'll prolly leave it till Monday as mostly it's just CS in on the weekends.</p><p>But seriously... it's -just- Battlegrounds. It's -one- part of a very large game. If you feel that you need compensated for x amount of subs and y amount of expansions bought because of ONE feature in the game not being available... that's pretty sad I'm afraid.</p><p>Go instance group or raid or something.</p></blockquote><p>Some people like grouping, some people like raiding, some people like soloing, some like to craft... some like to PvP.</p><p>Ive been soloing, grouping, and raiding ad nauseam for what, years now? The battlegrounds have revitalized my serious interest in EQ2 and I built myself up all week to sit down and really, actually, enjoy myself for a night and I was pretty disappointed yesterday. Sue me for being upset and vocalizing the way I feel about it.</p><p>Guess what? An actual message from someone who knows somthing at SOE would have prevented my outbursts on these forums.</p><p><strong>Thats pretty sad Im afraid.</strong></p></blockquote><p>Nagafen?</p></blockquote><p>If your suggesting I try playing on nagafen... the prospect of grinding another 89 levels and not playing with all my friends doesnt really entice me... although perhaps its worth considering for when Bg's are down.</p><p>/ponder...</p>

[Darkonx]

<p>I posted about this on the other thread. The red names post fairly often on weekdays, but I can't remember ever seeing them post on weekends. This makes me think they just don't work weekends. Would truly appreciate a confirm/deny on this suspicion.</p>

[Cerithian]

Pt. 2 ..... Does SOE even work on Sun?

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<p><cite>Cerithian wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>you know I have been thinking more on it and here is what I came up with.  If your car goes out on Sunday good luck finding a mechanic right?  Maybe our expectations for SOE CS are just a bit unrealistic... I mean they are only human.  If your water tank starts leaking on Saturday or Sunday it's going to be hard to find a plumber.... I think the same goes for SOE techs and we should really cut them a bit of a break, they deserve their downtime too right? </p></blockquote><p>Yes, but the difference with an MMO is the majority of players play outside of work hours, i.e. weekends. When the vast majority of customers are using your product outside of working hours it makes sense for your support to do the same. I think we all know SoE have been gradually pulling back the budget on EQ2, and the fact this expansion took 18 months and the end product is lower quality than TSO (and even that wasn't great) is evidence enough, but poor communication over issues is one thing that's needlessly cost them subscriptions time and time again.</p><p>The problem with SoE is they focus on the details, when the problems that kill their subscription base isn't whether some level 20 quest with a treasured reward is broken, it's service downtime and lack of communication after launches and long-standing, well publicised problems that go unfixed for 12+ months, e.g. summoner vs sorc, SKs being broken for 3 years and OP'ed for 2, the general uselessness of Brawlers since game launch. I don't want to turn this into a class balance thread but there are genuine issues there that any EQ2 player could explain (and often have) in detail, to get no reply.</p><p>They need to stop taking the lazy route of fixing content nobody cares about to justify their role, and make sure their existing subscribers are happy before trying to attract new ones. Exact same mistake was behind the SWG disaster.</p>

[Sambone]

<p>Surely it would be unreasonable to expect them working every sat and sun.  I don't think anyone really expects that.  I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect them working weekends in the weeks following an expansion release and also adding an entirely new element (BG) to the game to get bugs etc. worked out.  I'm sure there would be a way to budget in that time. </p><p>And as others and myself have stated in several different threads there's a major lack of communication here.  I'd put money on customers would probably actually be more satisfied by being updated more often.  No matter how hard they may or may not be working on the issue(s), more frequent updates would help calm people's nerves.  Seems pretty simple if u ask me.</p>