Housing update is in progress...extremely lengthy

[Agosto]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Sasaki@Splitpaw wrote:

Thank you SOE. this is what i pay for... taking EU servers down on peaktime... do the [Removed for Content] updates at nightitme like other games. FFS

Sorry that you're upset, Sasaki, but when we do major updates like this, that require database manipulation, we need enough people "on deck" to deal with any issues in real-time that it's not realistic to have them all come in at 2am.

I know and under stand that OPSEC for customers is 100% important but common Smokey did you guys really have to bring them down during Peak hours when your LU 60 is only 19 or 20 days out?

[DarkMirrax]

Eileah wrote:

Agosto wrote:

Does SoE even bother asking peopel what they would enjoy in the game 

Apparently they do, this is a GLORIOUS addition for those of us who love decorating.

If you don't like it, don't do it. But don't knock those of us who do, we pay just as much to play as you do and deserve to have fun things.

EQ2 is by far the best game for housing and decorating, there are legions of people who would not be here if not for these aspects of the game. Raiding, grouping or soloing can be done in any game, this is the feature that brings those of us who can't get housing and decorating elsewhere.

Apparently SOE appreciates our continued patronage.

seriously ? ...

why not just /delete house and omgz make a new one ... oh wait we cant cos they took the servers down to get more poxy houses ! /sarscam mode off

[Messia]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Sasaki@Splitpaw wrote:

Thank you SOE. this is what i pay for... taking EU servers down on peaktime... do the [Removed for Content] updates at nightitme like other games. FFS

Sorry that you're upset, Sasaki, but when we do major updates like this, that require database manipulation, we need enough people "on deck" to deal with any issues in real-time that it's not realistic to have them all come in at 2am.

Why? inconvenience a few employees or thousands of customers?  I've worked management for years ... when we make a major change the first thing that is considered is the client/customer and interruption to them ... .do you see major retailers doing their inventory during peak shopping hours? NO they come in at midnight or 1, 2am and they are done by opening time the next day ... not a hard concept

[Katey]

I for one am very excited about being able to have more than one house.  I love the Crafting and the decorating but I also adventure lots!  Thank you SOE for being so good to us.  It's very sad that people feel the need to complain more than be happy for what they are getting.  I've played so many online games over the years and I have to say that SOE takes care of it's players MORE than any other out there.  I've never been in any game where they offer so many events and constantly work to make it better for the people that do play.  

It really makes me sad to see people lashing out over updates and improvements.  I'm using this down time to play on the Test server which is up and working fine.  Trying out new classes and just waiting for when the live servers do come up.  Again.. Thank you SOE for taking care of us as you always do!  

[Barq Bandit]

Yay for multi-housing-ownership!  /cheer

Can't WAIT to put this to use.  Updating now.  So exciting!  

[DarkMirrax]

Marvis@Runnyeye wrote:

Sahbine@Antonia Bayle wrote:

     I am so sick of people always whining like children because every so often they miss a day of gameplay because of an update/hotfix/whatever. If it is that big of a deal, here's a novel idea: Find something to do in RL. Or QUIT PLAYING! Its that simple. If the cons of this games outweigh the pros in your opinion, move on! FFS, leave so the rest of us don't have to see/hear/read it!

You are a huge tool, lol.

+1 To that ..

[SmokeJumper]

Agosto wrote:

I know and under stand that OPSEC for customers is 100% important but common Smokey did you guys really have to bring them down during Peak hours when your LU 60 is only 19 or 20 days out?

That's part of the reason we're doing this now. We need to clear the decks so that GU 60 can go onto Test and we can focus on that for the next few weeks.

[Cvinthil]

I remember downtime like this commonly during the first year of this game.  I appreciate that the EU players are frustrated about downtime during their prime hours but when changes like this are made (yes, they were asked for) to a game with this much intricate coding, sometimes s@#$ happens.

[Tarkathian]

/agree with Csyko At the same time, this wasn't "supposed" to be a long update, 3 hours isn't too awefull. It was more the almost complete lack of a heads up to those that it would affect, last minute hotfix's for things that could wait till later is a bit on the silly side. Give us a day's warning at least, and it wouldn't be a problem, we can make other plans. And then the change from 3 hours to......4 hours to...........8 hours again is just silly especially with no real reason as to why untill an hour or s later, and then to coninue nothing about what your going to do about it....just keeps getting worse.

[morgoroth]

i'm on the east coast, i work at night and during the day is usually the only time i get to play so its not just the international players who are getting the shaft. 

It would be nice if the server status page was updated to reference this thread and the correct downtime estimate.  Thanks for the update, multi-housing is something people have been asking for and it is nice to see you paying attention, but please make sure your information is consistent and accurate. 

Several official pages with different downtime estimates shows shoddy planning and equally bad implementation.  Patches like this could honestly be done at night and not have as much of an impact on such a large amount of your playerbase.

I do love the game, i only recently started playing though i was a beta tester and have come to really enjoy the stories and community, but this misinformation and under-estimation of downtime combined with the horrible PR Sony is getting from the PSN incident is really starting to reflect badly.

[tfetterman]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Agosto wrote:

I know and under stand that OPSEC for customers is 100% important but common Smokey did you guys really have to bring them down during Peak hours when your LU 60 is only 19 or 20 days out?

That's part of the reason we're doing this now. We need to clear the decks so that GU 60 can go onto Test and we can focus on that for the next few weeks.

OK, great...so back to fixing Troubadors...chop chop

[Messia]

Thorgald wrote:

Messia@Nagafen wrote:

Flamewing@Butcherblock wrote:

Messia@Nagafen wrote:

Seems to me maybe you should be hiring more people not laying them off.  I dont think any of the "big" updates this game has ever seen have followed the time tables given to us.

I know this sounds like an SOE bash but it actually isn't.

To answer the thing I quoted, they probably can't. They've lost so many hundreds of thousands of subs over the years that they most likely can't afford to hire people atm. It's most likely what contributed to them firing over 200 people and closing multiple offices recently.

I'll give them credit that they're trying to make due with the people that they currently have and a MASSIVELY reduced fiscal budget.

I think its safe to say this game is still bringing in at least 1.5 million a month in subscriptions .. thats 100k accounts .. 

And here's another one that thinks its 100% profit and no expenses.

Obviously you are a [Edited for language] [Removed for Content], I said after 7 years equipment is pretty much paid for ... there is nothing to depreciate after 7 years, they do not advertise they have very little expense ... do you really think that it takes a massive amount of cash to maintain a working game? Obviously you must think so, an entire game server can be run out of a large walk in closet.  Advertising a game = more paying customers = more revenue so idiots like you will spend less time [edited for language in quoted text] and more time playing the game.

[Etlantis]

Bottom line today is that this is a very large update and requires extended time.  I will not expect to play till after 6 or 7 pm EDT today.  See you all in the game when it is completed.

"The servers that are currently running are Antonia Bayle, Barren Sky, Harla Dar, Guk, Everfrost, and Unrest." meaning currently running the update.  Does not mean they are up and running for play. 

Maybe some might need to take a moment to read it more than once if necessary.  Mid afternoon PDT is 3 pm or later and that is 6 pm EDT and 11 pm in England etc etc etc.  I think I have understood the time update this time

[Frain]

No update that is less then a GU is worth putting down a server during prime time. Could atleast make sure splitpaw got up as quick as possible and then focus on the other servers.

[Muusic]

tfetterman wrote:

OK, great...so back to fixing Troubadors...chop chop

+1

[Thorgald]

Agosto wrote:

SmokeJumper wrote:

Sasaki@Splitpaw wrote:

Thank you SOE. this is what i pay for... taking EU servers down on peaktime... do the [Removed for Content] updates at nightitme like other games. FFS

Sorry that you're upset, Sasaki, but when we do major updates like this, that require database manipulation, we need enough people "on deck" to deal with any issues in real-time that it's not realistic to have them all come in at 2am.

I know and under stand that OPSEC for customers is 100% important but common Smokey did you guys really have to bring them down during Peak hours when your LU 60 is only 19 or 20 days out?

Or is it?

Playing devils advocate here, but this might suggest that LU 60 is delayed... :p

[tfetterman]

You guys know that Crushbone isn't on the down server list?

[Agosto]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Agosto wrote:

I know and under stand that OPSEC for customers is 100% important but common Smokey did you guys really have to bring them down during Peak hours when your LU 60 is only 19 or 20 days out?

That's part of the reason we're doing this now. We need to clear the decks so that GU 60 can go onto Test and we can focus on that for the next few weeks.

Smoke,

thanks for the replay. How is that Boss man down the hall doing is he playing WoW and drinking his Red bull, or is he actually trying to get this stuff updated and fixed?? No need to reply we know the later is in affect. Red bull FTW......

[Cvinthil]

Prime time for who?  This game is run all over the world.  Just like Alan Jackson said "It's 5 o'clock somewhere"... heh

[SmokeJumper]

Messia@Nagafen wrote:

Obviously you are a [edited for language in quoted text] [Removed for Content], I said after 7 years equipment is pretty much paid for ... there is nothing to depreciate after 7 years, they do not advertise they have very little expense ... do you really think that it takes a massive amount of cash to maintain a working game? Obviously you must think so, an entire game server can be run out of a large walk in closet.  Advertising a game = more paying customers = more revenue so idiots like you will spend less time [edited for language in quoted text] and more time playing the game.

Normally, I stay away from financial discussions because we can't reveal actual numbers. But I have to poke a few holes in this one anyway.

• We're buying new server hardware now. It ain't cheap. http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=499539
• We have a full dev team still on this project, even after six years of being live. That's a lot of salaries, overhead, benefits, etc. It adds up FAST.
• Believe it or not, even electricity and bandwidth adds up substantially.
• Community, customer service, etc. all adds cost to the project also.

Yes, we're making some money. If we weren't, then the game would probably dry up and blow away because we couldn't afford to keep it running. But if you think it's cheap to run one of these, even after six years of being live, well...it just isn't true. Sorry.

[Edited by Amnerys to remove language in the quoted text]

[leliloe]

7am + 3h downtime = should be mid afternoon.

And they still wonder how SoE got hacked...

[Porfirius]

Barren Sky down.

Is it possible not to forget about the Russian server? Installing the update in primetime(. I understand we are in a special position, the absence of the normal support, lags server, there are no opportunities available to the rest of the world, but you can at least update will not be represented in primetime, we start updating 18:00 End of first 21:00, then extended to 23:00. Only in the Barren Sky for more than 20 guilds raid in primetime.

[Agosto]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Messia@Nagafen wrote:

Obviously you are a [Edited for language in quoted text] [Removed for Content], I said after 7 years equipment is pretty much paid for ... there is nothing to depreciate after 7 years, they do not advertise they have very little expense ... do you really think that it takes a massive amount of cash to maintain a working game? Obviously you must think so, an entire game server can be run out of a large walk in closet.  Advertising a game = more paying customers = more revenue so idiots like you will spend less time pulling your pud to [Removed for Content] and more time playing the game.

Normally, I stay away from financial discussions because we can't reveal actual numbers. But I have to poke a few holes in this one anyway.

• We're buying new server hardware now. It ain't cheap. http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=499539
• We have a full dev team still on this project, even after six years of being live. That's a lot of salaries, overhead, benefits, etc. It adds up FAST.
• Believe it or not, even electricity and bandwidth adds up substantially.
• Community, customer service, etc. all adds cost to the project also.

Yes, we're making some money. If we weren't, then the game would probably dry up and blow away because we couldn't afford to keep it running. But if you think it's cheap to run one of these, even after six years of being live, well...it just isn't true. Sorry.

I am awaiting my Guild leaders Relpy

[Edited by Amnerys to remove language in the quoted text]

[badplumr]

Thanks for the updates to housing and other fixes!

*heres a novel idea for the rest - when it says the update is supposed to be 1 hour pretend its going to be 8 hours and go do something else - then you won't be so disappointed when its not on time*

I don't know much of the software end of things, but I build computers... not all of the parts ship from the same warehouse, state, country, city... not all on the same delivery truck to my office... I can build a custom rig within 2 weeks (most often, if nothing is backordered) What I do know is I'd like to see someone write the formulas on paper for what one of these updates entails and see if they can get it done in 72 hours even... don't gripe just go walk your dog, make something to eat, read a book, jog around the neighborhood, go fishing, ride your bike... omg i smell a troll

[SmokeJumper]

tfetterman wrote:

You guys know that Crushbone isn't on the down server list?

Oversight. Crushbone is one of the servers that will come up in the first batch in an hour or two from now.

[Cvinthil]

Ill be one to say THANK YOU!!! I know this game takes up tremendous server resources and after six years its a bit dated.  Even though there are detractors, the ones who enjoy the game and have for a long time, appreciate this advancement.

[tiit62]

any idea when servers will be up??

[SmokeJumper]

Porfirius wrote:

Barren Sky down.

Is it possible not to forget about the Russian server? Installing the update in primetime(. I understand we are in a special position, the absence of the normal support, lags server, there are no opportunities available to the rest of the world, but you can at least update will not be represented in primetime, we start updating 18:00 End of first 21:00, then extended to 23:00. Only in the Barren Sky for more than 20 guilds raid in primetime.

Sorry, but no, we couldn't do that this time. We try to minimize downtime but in the cases where we have to merge or transfer data for an update, it takes considerable time and we need to watch it carefully in case there are issues.

This will be behind us soon and we shouldn't have anything like this again for the forseeable future.

[Softmodmyxbox.com]

I would rather see all current server status (up, down, update in progress, # of hours left to update) on the launchpad rather than coming to these forums and sifting through 8 pages of changing status updates for answers.  Since the launchpad makes it appear that the game is up and running when it isn't.  Thank-you.

[DarkMirrax]

SmokeJumper wrote:

tfetterman wrote:

You guys know that Crushbone isn't on the down server list?

Oversight. Crushbone is one of the servers that will come up in the first batch in an hour or two from now.

does that mean splitpaw is also due up in an "hour" or "two" ?