Patch time ETA?

Diamond_10

There used to be a server status forum where a dev would post that the server was coming down and an estimate of the downtime length, what happened to it? And how long do you expect this patch to last?

nerevarine1138

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Hi @Diamond_10! Usually our patches take a minimum of four hours. It may take longer than that, of course. If it does, we'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

rophez_ESO

Any chance we could get the notes to read sooner rather than later? If the patch doesn't take, just make an announcement that those notes are on hold; we'll understand!

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Yep! The notes are going up right now.

Diamond_10

What happened to the server status forum? even the rough estimate was enough to keep us happy, no estimate will just make more threads like this every patch day. we wanna know if its 2 hours 4 hours or 6 hours

Warlordgreebo

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

It will be back when it is back is a BS answer and I hope you know it.

dpholdenrwb17_ESO

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

I would still like to know what happened to the server status forum.

At least with that forum, we were able to come here and see when the server was going down, why, and a follow up message when the server was back online.

Now we have nothing - it's like, they want you to just keep spamming login attempts until it's back online :?

Warlordgreebo

Nah, get up, get out.

Forget about ESO for a while:)

SomeKyleGuy

Nearly 3 hours its impressive.

nerevarine1138

Warlordgreebo wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

It will be back when it is back is a BS answer and I hope you know it.

ETAs are a terrible answer, and I hope you learn that. Giving an ETA just makes players froth at the mouth as soon as the maintenance goes one minute over.

denicolad16_ESO

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Warlordgreebo wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

It will be back when it is back is a BS answer and I hope you know it.

ETAs are a terrible answer, and I hope you learn that. Giving an ETA just makes players froth at the mouth as soon as the maintenance goes one minute over.

It's like when you are really hungry and order a pizza. They say we should be there in about 45 minutes. They don't arrive for over hour. Makes me crazy.

Mountain_Dewed

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...

ShinChuck

Mountain_Dewed wrote: »

There is a lot going into this update. I wouldn't be surprised if it went 6 hours this time.

Which is unfortunate, as companies like Trion proved 2-3 years ago that major content updates, sometimes of greater size than this, could be comfortably finished in 1-3 hours max. I was hoping we were beyond the WoW/FFXI silliness of superlong updates that dominated the middle of the day, but alas.

nerevarine1138

ShinChuck wrote: »

Mountain_Dewed wrote: »

There is a lot going into this update. I wouldn't be surprised if it went 6 hours this time.

Which is unfortunate, as companies like Trion proved 2-3 years ago that major content updates, sometimes of greater size than this, could be comfortably finished in 1-3 hours max. I was hoping we were beyond the WoW/FFXI silliness of superlong updates that dominated the middle of the day, but alas.

And I thought we were beyond complaining about maintenance periods happening during times when most people are at work, but I guess we're both going to have to learn to live in this strange new world...

Sonoshi

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.

ShinChuck

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.

twev

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.

Warlordgreebo

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi @Diamond_10! Usually our patches take a minimum of four hours. It may take longer than that, of course. If it does, we'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

Errm, so why are we not being updated?

And why is there no ETA? This is a standard practice in this business.

Warlordgreebo

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Warlordgreebo wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The developers have never posted an estimate of maintenance length beyond "a few hours," unless maintenance was extended for a specific length of time. The server will come back up when it comes up.

It will be back when it is back is a BS answer and I hope you know it.

ETAs are a terrible answer, and I hope you learn that. Giving an ETA just makes players froth at the mouth as soon as the maintenance goes one minute over.

Nope, not really.

What makes us froth at the mouth is;

1. No ETA given which makes us keep checking back.
2. The feeling that the staff is too ignorant to consider their customers inconvenience due to ETA not being given.

If you just tell us 8 hours, we could then know not to even worry about logging in.

ETA is a standard practice btw, for just about any job. It clarifies expectations.. and as they can always say "well its going to take a little longer."

In my job if I were to leave people with no communication of when to expect something.. there would generally be hell to pay.

angelohupb14_ESO

I agree a ETA would really be nice. I've been surfing forums , working on a new build, etc since 8am. I keep thinking it will be up any minute, but if I know its another 4 hours I may go and try to brave the outside world for a little bit.

nerevarine1138

Warlordgreebo wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi @Diamond_10! Usually our patches take a minimum of four hours. It may take longer than that, of course. If it does, we'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

Errm, so why are we not being updated?

And why is there no ETA? This is a standard practice in this business.

In what business? Most MMO developers know better than to provide an ETA on maintenance days.

SDZald

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Yep! The notes are going up right now.

Oh and please forgive us if we happen to just "forget" to mention any nerfs we tossed in.

nerevarine1138

SDZald wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Yep! The notes are going up right now.

Oh and please forgive us if we happen to just "forget" to mention any nerfs we tossed in.

Yep, that's what developers do. They spend all their time planning how to make you feel like your class was singled out for punishment.

WebBull

I also would like to know what happened to the server status forum. It was actually useful.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

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

MTS

Incoming 8 hour maintenance time... not cool, Not cool at all.

coryevans_3b14_ESO

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.

ebunts14_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.

Which translates to a 12 to 14 hour maint. down time. Yes I have been in too many mmo's that did a major update and they would be no less than 12 hrs and if anything goes wrong, it could be 14 to 16 hrs OR MORE

TheBull

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

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

gg

Iziel

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.

I have a feeling you're giving them too much credit..