Patch time ETA?

ShinChuck

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

I would expect any update of this magnitude to take at least 8 hours, minimum. Plan your day around that. This is not a patch, it's a major update. Thinking it will take only 4 hours is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Snide comments about "whining" and "entitlements" from other posters (not you!) aside...

The problem people have is that other companies do this, and do it better, and faster. As stated, Rift has done bigger updates in far less time. Even their expansion only took about two hours (See their patch notes! It was massive! Double the zones, housing, new PvP zones, and more!).

All the people declaring other people "entitled" or "whining" because they're fine with their McDonald's taking 20 minutes longer to get them their food, and they're fine with the extra wait? I don't know what to say. I'm glad this works for you, but others can and will hold companies to the standard, whether you want to or not.

That being said... you're right in some respects. Expecting four hours from Zenimax, considering their track record so far, IS setting yourself up for disappointment. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, and in that regard, nobody should be surprised it's taking several hours for a relatively minor content update when other companies can deliver multiple times that in two or three.

People should still feel justified in noting the discrepancy, but being surprised or disappointed? Well, that's on us, by this point.

Dinkinflicka

Wont be 8 hrs till 3 pm cst............

tilolyen_ESO

All the people declaring other people "entitled" or "whining" because they're fine with their McDonald's taking 20 minutes longer to get them their food, and they're fine with the extra wait? I don't know what to say. I'm glad this works for you, but others can and will hold companies to the standard, whether you want to or not.

It's a pretty simple concept, if you don't like the product they are offering, take your business elsewhere. Every company is different and to say "holding companies to the standard" is just foolish. What standard are you referring to? Perhaps the standard that if the servers are not up in X amount of time like other games, they are doing something wrong? You are comparing apples to oranges.

Most people have standards, such as myself and if one day Zenimax does not live up to my standards I move on. However I am not gonna come to a forum and cry when a company I am supporting is trying to improve a product, and regardless what they do......people complain. So, unless you are part of this industry or have been (like I was) you speak only from speculation and really have no clue WTF you are talking about, especially comparing this games patch process to RIFT lol.

stewartkub17_ESO

Updating now , just started

nerevarine1138

stewartkub17_ESO wrote: »

Updating now , just started

Quick! Everyone start whining about something different!

stewartkub17_ESO

Not too bad this go around, 6 hours for this content and patch. Well within my expectations.

black-gryphonb14_ESO

Haven't played a lot of MMOs, but one thing they ALL had in common is that the patching process started (was available) almost immediately after the servers went down for maintenance.

For those that say/claim they can download a 5+ gb patch in 10 minutes - hurray for you. For those of us that can't (lucky to get 200mb/hr at home), not being able to patch until the servers go up (going to assume this is the downside to 'megaservers') - this is a significant imposition and making planning problematic. 30 minutes from home I can use the library's connection which yields about 2-3 GB / hr - but now that I'm here at the library I see I can't even START the patching process - and there is NO estimate on when the patching process can start.

This in my opinion is bad design and not good for the overall health of the game.

And contrary to others, of those games I've played - every one of them has offered ETAs on server start-up times; and when it's been extended, updates that are better than the vague, no-answer 'in a few more hours, or more' answer we've been given so far.

RedShirtRob

Patch is downloading for me, now - maybe a good sign?

ShinChuck

tilolyen_ESO wrote: »

All the people declaring other people "entitled" or "whining" because they're fine with their McDonald's taking 20 minutes longer to get them their food, and they're fine with the extra wait? I don't know what to say. I'm glad this works for you, but others can and will hold companies to the standard, whether you want to or not.

It's a pretty simple concept, if you don't like the product they are offering, take your business elsewhere. Every company is different and to say "holding companies to the standard" is just foolish. What standard are you referring to? Perhaps the standard that if the servers are not up in X amount of time like other games, they are doing something wrong? You are comparing apples to oranges.

Most people have standards, such as myself and if one day Zenimax does not live up to my standards I move on. However I am not gonna come to a forum and cry when a company I am supporting is trying to improve a product, and regardless what they do......people complain. So, unless you are part of this industry or have been (like I was) you speak only from speculation and really have no clue WTF you are talking about, especially comparing this games patch process to RIFT lol.

I'm a reviewer; I've done E3. I've chatted with execs and devs of various games. I've done bits and pieces of programming here and there; as has my wife, who does so for a living. One of my best friends programs for Namco; another has done all sorts of online games, from Disney to Zynga. All of these people will back me up, in addition to my own cred.

So with that out of the way, can we dispense with the silly gearscore comparisons? It's always and only silly when this comes up. "But... but I'm in the industry, so I know everything!"

We're better than that, right? Let's focus on the issues, not whose WoW gearscore is bigger.

The standard I refer to is regarding quality, speed, communication, and so forth. Zenimax is not comparing with the best. That's simple fact. It doesn't matter if we're comparing McDonald's to Wendy's, the point is, A is faster than B, by a large margin.

By your logic, vanilla FFXIV deserves a score of 100%, because we can't compare it to any previous MMO standards. Why did they spend three years fixing a game that deserved 100%, I wonder?

That clarified, next up: the best way to get better products?

Discuss, complain, express. If a product is close to your liking, the best thing to do is not leave, but assess. Zenimax wants us to, any MMO company worth their salt wants us to. It's the best way to improve and evolve both individual games and the industry.

You saying "I'm fine how it is!" doesn't make a better product or help ESO. People pointing out failures, issues, or where other companies do better does.

stewartkub17_ESO

black-gryphonb14_ESO

I could not disagree more. They have been very upfront this time around with an estimate of 4 hours then an update that stated they would go at least 2 more hours ( or more ) ... they were right on track this time. The update given was spot on.

Nuksuu

black-gryphonb14_ESO wrote: »

Haven't played a lot of MMOs, but one thing they ALL had in common is that the patching process started (was available) almost immediately after the servers went down for maintenance.

For those that say/claim they can download a 5+ gb patch in 10 minutes - hurray for you. For those of us that can't (lucky to get 200mb/hr at home), not being able to patch until the servers go up (going to assume this is the downside to 'megaservers') - this is a significant imposition and making planning problematic. 30 minutes from home I can use the library's connection which yields about 2-3 GB / hr - but now that I'm here at the library I see I can't even START the patching process - and there is NO estimate on when the patching process can start.

This in my opinion is bad design and not good for the overall health of the game.

And contrary to others, of those games I've played - every one of them has offered ETAs on server start-up times; and when it's been extended, updates that are better than the vague, no-answer 'in a few more hours, or more' answer we've been given so far.

If you're at the library...maybe read a book while it's downloading? I like the ones with pictures.

Ciinen1988

twev wrote: »

Mountain_Dewed wrote: »

There is a lot going into this update. I wouldn't be surprised if it went 6 hours this time. I'm just so happy that I won't have to relog after death(didn't happen much anyway :P) that I have to change my drawers...

Well, it's not like they're writing the patch in real time while installing it.
It's already written.
They should have installed it on a back-up server by now.
There's little reason they can't rotate servers in less than 6 hours.

If nothing else, installing it on a back-up server would give them a +/- time frame of install, if they can't rotate the back-up server into place.

It's not like the technology doesn't exist to swap database drives and then bring the new drives up with a server reboot....

And it's not like the Devs/System OPs are learning computer sci from a 'For Dummies' book and haven't read ahead, yet, either.

You do of course realize that you have already downloaded a large portion of the patch, right? The reason patch day maintenance takes so long is because crap happens when you throw a bunch of different individually programmed items together and stuff has to be fixed, coding isn't exactly easy to fix.

xentek_ESO

ShinChuck wrote: »

As stated, Trion and others could do this with *content patches* of this size and be done in 1-3. Some MMOs do take quite a while, but I was hoping Zenimax might be able to join the top-tier in terms of service/quality.

If you're fine with a lower quality of service, who am I to judge? That's your time and money at work. But certainly, few would complain if they *did* match that level of speed.

What in the release of this game possibly led you to believe that the developers were keeping up with modern expectations of the MMO genre?

Say anything you like about Blizzard and Trion, but from a technology standpoint as well as net code and optimization, they're pretty great. Holding ZOS to that expectation based on the vast number of bugs and unfinished content in the game seems silly to me.

That's not meant as an insult to their developers, but they pushed the game out half baked and we're going to spend the next six months in post-release beta because of it, and that's provided they can hold enough subs to keep enough devs to sustain the game.

I'm far more concerned with them doing things right and taking their time to do so rather than getting back online a few hours sooner. Not that I'm suggesting that a few more hours will mean a bug-free major content patch, we'll likely be slogging through broken everything, which is poorly timed as Wildstar launches in a week.

xentek_ESO

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

At this time, we're currently looking at a few more hours of downtime for the North American megaserver, at least.

Thank you for keeping us updated, Jessica. Please don't take frustration at not getting to play personally. We do appreciate knowing the reality of a situation.

Insignia91

Go outside and play while your game patches and they are doing maintenance. Seriously why all the whining about the wait time. shouldn't most of you be in school anyways? Is there going to be bitching and moaning every patch? Be grateful they even give you new content.

ThePonzzz

Patch is available. It's big. Start it and go do something productive!

BigM

Hey dev's just take your time and get it right on the first server up. Also drinks on the cry babies once they do come up.

Thulsola

Do you know what really, really helps a team who is working to implement a time-sensitive, mission critical software roll-out? A bunch of user's looking over their shoulders constantly saying "Is it done yet? Is it done yet? You suck, why isn't it done yet?"

ShinChuck

xentek_ESO wrote: »

What in the release of this game possibly led you to believe that the developers were keeping up with modern expectations of the MMO genre?

Say anything you like about Blizzard and Trion, but from a technology standpoint as well as net code and optimization, they're pretty great. Holding ZOS to that expectation based on the vast number of bugs and unfinished content in the game seems silly to me.

That's not meant as an insult to their developers, but they pushed the game out half baked and we're going to spend the next six months in post-release beta because of it, and that's provided they can hold enough subs to keep enough devs to sustain the game.

I'm far more concerned with them doing things right and taking their time to do so rather than getting back online a few hours sooner. Not that I'm suggesting that a few more hours will mean a bug-free major content patch, we'll likely be slogging through broken everything, which is poorly timed as Wildstar launches in a week.

Honestly, I can't really disagree with ya. They were unprepared and launched prematurely, and there are a lot of more pressing issues than patching times, absolutely.

I'm not holding them to the expectations, but expressing that at this point they should be beyond where they are. I'm not surprised or disappointed by this point that things like this will take so long, but the only way to make these things change is to keep pointing out its an issue.

Insignia91 wrote: »

Be grateful they even give you new content.

Side note: we pay for new content. Your statement makes as much sense as telling them to be grateful they're being paid for their game. Business is a two way street.

ZOS_GinaBruno

Quick update: we plan on opening the NA megaserver in the next few minutes!

stewartkub17_ESO

Download speed is my max bandwidth. Looks like the download speed issues they had experienced in previous offerings have been fixed. I have also noticed my latency over the past 47 hours is finally gone.

UrQuan

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Quick update: we plan on opening the NA megaserver in the next few minutes!

Thanks for the update @ZOS_GinaBruno. I guess that means the server will be up significantly before I'm done patching.

stewartkub17_ESO

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Yes, I second that! ... A great BIG Thanks!

ZOS_GinaBruno

And it's now officially up.

twev

Thulsola wrote: »

Do you know what really, really helps a team who is working to implement a time-sensitive, mission critical software roll-out? A bunch of user's looking over their shoulders constantly saying "Is it done yet? Is it done yet? You suck, why isn't it done yet?"

If the team doing the work is being influenced by the negative vibes on the forum, maybe they shouldn't have been reading the forum....

A lot of the conversation on the forum was aimed at the people who answer the questions, not the ones pushing the buttons.

tinythinker

Wow.

All of this impatience and accompanying accusations of incompetence toward strangers over the wait for an update to a video game. Does that perspective seem skewed to anyone else? Is it the "internet factor" causing a lack of self-awareness or is the game just sooo good people are dying to get back on?

I sincerely and politely suggest deep breaths and a nice long trip out into the fresh air outside, near some trees or flowers if possible, as a calming therapy for anyone really and truly upset to the point of anger or severe annoyance by the game being inaccessible. Or if you are stuck inside for some reason, perhaps a stress release video of pleasant music and beautiful sights or a nice scented candle. Relax. The game will be ready soon enough.

Edit: Just saw that the server is up. If you were waiting anxiously, rejoice! If not, then, you know, meh.

TheBull

Servers up!

stewartkub17_ESO

tinythinker

could not agree more! well said!
jen

Aria

ShinChuck wrote: »

Sonoshi wrote: »

Wait, aren't they patching in Craglorn right now? *checks Patch Notes* Yes, yes they are. When they FIX stuff, it's down for 2-4 hours, but sometimes as much as 6 to 8. Right now they are adding in entirely new content.

Be. Patient.

As stated, Trion and others could do this with *content patches* of this size and be done in 1-3. Some MMOs do take quite a while, but I was hoping Zenimax might be able to join the top-tier in terms of service/quality.

If you're fine with a lower quality of service, who am I to judge? That's your time and money at work. But certainly, few would complain if they *did* match that level of speed.

Based on most of your posts on this subject sounds like you just like to complain, and while you may call it "fine with lower quality of service" I call it having some patience!

They are doing some major patching along with introducing new content...think we can give them a break on taking a few extra hours over what you find acceptable?

Awe

112% patch downloading, and at least 1GB more left, cool patch!