Prime Time Maintenances?

Atwa

thilog wrote: »

Atwa wrote: »

flameweaver wrote: »

Atwa wrote: »

Oh, and please, DEVS can put the announcement onf forum? ,,|,, ,

I'm actually seeing two announcements on the forum, one in German and one in French. I'm (supposedly) using the English version of the forums, so how come I don't see the maintenance announcement in English ?

I don't see nothing xDD

I don't know why you're not seeing the messages. First is in german, then french, then english. And no offense.. but if you can't understand the sentence in either german or french.. it's highly likely that you won't understand the english either. It doesn't take much intelligence to work them out.

And this also points to why the game is maintained during our peak play time. The patch comes out from the USA, it's patched to the US server, it is then reworked to work correctly on the german and french versions, once the localisation is done, it can be patched to the EU server, it makes sense therefore that our server will be patched slightly later.

What's important, is they are maintaining the server and fixing the bugs.
So stop (insert swearwords here) complaining about it.

U know what it's "I don't see nothing", on french, german, or english, nothing of announcement. Just a post, please read first. O,o

FullMetalMonkey

I have to agree. The timings of these server maintenance's are poorly decided.

I work 12 hour long night shifts and only get at most a couple of hours during the day to play, unless i dedicate some time on my one day off. It would be much more reasonable to set the times of the server maintenance at an unsociable hour such as 0400am or a similar time.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

BlowFish

The thing that irritates me most is the lack of notice. The moment Zenimax decide to take the servers down they should have informed their customers. If it is not a reasonable amount of time and its not a real emergency delay it. I sincerely doubt they decided 15 minutes before the event to maintain and patch. Why the hell didn't they let us know?

I went out for lunch, had a nice doze and had just made coffee for a good long stint playing. Next moment "please log out the games coming down in 15 minutes". Had I known even a few hours before I'd have played on and then gone for supper or gone out for early dinner.

This was the main reason I cancelled SWTOR, the complete disregard for thier customers time that verged on contempt. (That and that arrogant prick EU CS lead who simply rubbed salt into the wound rather than make any sort or reconciliatory noises).

Zenimax you simply have to give adequate notice to allow your paying punters to organise their time effectively. I would have arranged my day completely differently had I known about this before hand. I'd still have grumbled at the prime time maintenance but that's better than being proper pissed off that my time has been wasted. To make informed choices one needs adequate information, provide it.

elros26

I agree. Good that someone wrote about the fact, that server maintenance are made at the worst possible time, when people from Europe, come back from work, and they can play Elders Scrolls Online, but they can not because someone started server maintenance.

Twistedmind wrote: »

Harleyquinceyeb17_ESO wrote: »

I'm sorry that I have to post this, since actually I deeply appreciate the game and enjoy it to the extent of having taken vacation for it.

In that case they should extend the maintenance to few days and fix all the needed things...

It's hours, not days... really... Whining because of hours?

Harleyquinceyeb17_ESO wrote: »

Please don't make people quit

They are fixing things... really that makes people quit?

It's not whining, we all paid for the game and we want to play, but because the way the maintenance is provided, we lose precious time that we paid for. I will not be able to play at night becouse early morning i need to go to work, so i have only few hours per day to play, and i can`t becouse server maintenance is on. This sucks.

Elixx

Well in the U, S and A, Euorope is just a alien place, not worth knowing about. Remember that David Hasslehoff took down the Berlin Wall.

Source: Jwalking with J Leno. Im not to sure Zenimax really knows that the majority of EU has the prime time atm. They made the game in 3 languages, English, German and French, becase they are somewhat the mayority with the rest of the baltic surrounding, Spain and somewhat Russia.

iaintoff

to be fair the patch is really needed i bought the game on sat morning and i have 3 chars and not one of them is past level 10 due to either no quest markers, quest markers moving from one location of map to other, quest location markers completely absent along with transport markers for quest, quest follow up, quest markers that take you to an area where there is no visible quest.

this chars were simply abandoned until a fix is found so it grows tiresome with three chars and no progression....

so ya bring out the patch and maybe address map and quest fuctionality so the game runs smootly rather than frustratingly....

other than that i am having fun

Nitratas

Totally agree with the OP. This kind of timing is terrible, especially if this is going to happen 2-3 times a week. Totally UNACCEPTABLE.

raglau

"thilog wrote: »

And this also points to why the game is maintained during our peak play time. The patch comes out from the USA, it's patched to the US server, it is then reworked to work correctly on the german and french versions, once the localisation is done, it can be patched to the EU server, it makes sense therefore that our server will be patched slightly later.

That would be great but that's not the sequence of events the developer has posted. EU and then onto US. You are saying US, then rework and patch EU.

It's not the end of the world and it's certainly good to see patching happening, but from a service level perspective, the sequence is most peculiar, it has to be said.

Harleyquincey

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

Thank you very much for the reply. I'm glad to see that this indeed is what was planned for tuesday's maintenance. I personally, as stated, completely agree with how this close to launch some more critical patches are required (and fine). Just please, do keep the times in mind for future regular maintenances. That is what is the concern, to be fair. The concern would be that you will stick to the idea of doing maintenances on Tuesday afternoons (around this time now) and on sunday mornings.

I'm happy you pushed the patch off of Sunday (yesterday) and while today's timeframe is certainly less than ideal, it's a hotpatch one could say.

Just please at least reconsider those times for the more regular maintenances

adlplumbingb16_ESO

Valn wrote: »

Jonnymorrow wrote: »

How exactly do you play a game when some bugs stop your progress? I assume this is your first MMO. Clearly you don't understand the word maintenance. And actually, people aren't paying, it's 30 days free game time.

not really free, as we paid for a game, and had to sub to get that time in

Custos91

Every bug, that will no longer apear is worth every second^^
The Facebook post was fast enough, 45 - 60 min before patch, and I think in the forums, the announcements were at 1600 ?
The game runs pretty stable for a release this great, you found your main issues and fixed them, really fast...
now its time for rolebacks, not placeable camps in pvp, or not useable, for not entering cyrodill buggs, for vanishing bank things...
not critical, but still annoying...

olly

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

Hello.
First of all, I read from your signature that you're community manager.
Then kindly listen to what MOST europeans suggests regarding maintenance times AND forward it trough the correct channels.

Dont try to minimize the "problem" by telling SOME europeans dont like the mainentance times. Do your job and forward the informations given to You by the european community.

Else you should perhaps get you another title regarding care of customer.

Best wishes for the ideas of mainentance-times are held out of european
prime gametimes.

regards

Jambler

Between this, the whole "Pay for your free 30 days"(Yes, i know that was not actually the case, referring to the PR backlash here), and the occasional hinting towards micro-transaction in a sub game (i.e., horse), the guys running the show don't seem to worried by bad press...

tiffy961

Valn wrote: »

And actually, people aren't paying, it's 30 days free game time.

Actually, it's not free - it's INCLUDED. We still paid for it in a small ammount. Yes it was less than we would pay now but still' it wasn't free.

They have to be careful. Many people are still saying "I paid for it, now I want to play it no matter how much it pisses me off"
But that can soon change to:
"I don't care if I paid for it. I'm NOT spending any more money on that."

white00devil

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

lols i think zenimax needs to look at local times because the word some needs to change to almost all. europian server means europe and that other gamers from over the world play on the europian server by choise is fine but here in europe its prime time.

tiffy961

Atwa wrote: »

And this also points to why the game is maintained during our peak play time. The patch comes out from the USA, it's patched to the US server, it is then reworked to work correctly on the german and french versions, once the localisation is done, it can be patched to the EU server, it makes sense therefore that our server will be patched slightly later.

And how do you explain EU servers being down BEFORE the US servers?

raglau

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

Thanks Jessica. Would it be useful to post a sticky across all forum groups saying something like, "we are in a state of change patching various fixes for the bugs you are reporting, and therefore operating outside normal maintenance. Therefore please check this thread: xxxx on a regular basis to see if any upcoming maintenance is likely to affect you".

Then people can go back to a sticky link that Zenimax can keep updated within incoming outages.

People are supportive of patching, but I think they are finding the comms lacking.

Atwa

tiffy961 wrote: »

Atwa wrote: »

And this also points to why the game is maintained during our peak play time. The patch comes out from the USA, it's patched to the US server, it is then reworked to work correctly on the german and french versions, once the localisation is done, it can be patched to the EU server, it makes sense therefore that our server will be patched slightly later.

And how do you explain EU servers being down BEFORE the US servers?

Uh, I don't wrote this! xDD

Mera_Luna

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

Thank you for telling us this. As a suggestion, perhaps if this tidbit of information had been included in the original post regarding the downtime it would have reduced the amount of discontent. Additionally a more precise estimate of downtime would be helpful.

Longterm, decisions to arbitrarily suddenly reschedule downtimes can have a very negative impact on player satisfaction. I find the game enjoyable and would like to continue to play longterm, however issues like this would cause me to evaluate the decision to play ESO over other MMOs if they continue to occur longterm.

Thete

Duccea wrote: »

It was, there is a post in the server status section of the forums. Was only 20 minutes or so before the start of the actual maintenance start though, which I personally consider to be on too short a notice.

I wouldn't have seen it if they gave two days notice. I spend time on these forums but why would I camp the scabby server status page when there's nothing wrong with the game? I'd expect messages of this sort to be displayed on the launcher when I log in.

nlw140589b16_ESO

Duccea wrote: »

nlw140589b16_ESO wrote: »

The little concern towards the people who are unable to progress through the game due to the menagerie of bugged quests, in this thread astounds me.
Hopefully this maintenance will fix a lot of these problems.
Personally I have been stuck on the quest to get into Veteran content for 2 days now. Waiting another 2 days for a scheduled maintenance would have been unacceptable.

I think you got the OP wrong here. At least I, and I think also a lot of others posting in this thread, do see the neccessity for a fast patch to fix the issues with uncompletable quests and such.
While the downtime right now is inconvenient enough, not being able to complete quests and progress is indeed the bigger issue here and needs to be adressed asap, on that I agree.

But I am also worried about the announced regular maintenance schedule, which should not be about fixing game-breaking issues but are still scheduled to be pretty much at primetimes. I don't see a reason why those maintenances shouldn't be done at a time which is less busy for EU servers.

Maintenance times for EU are most likely due to EU server being in US atm. When they eventually move the server to EU i'd expect the maintenance times to change.

edhuinb16_ESO

Just subscribed an hour ago and wanted to play the game aaaand a wild patch appears.

b101uk

I am very happy the server is down, as it gives me a chance to eat without losing any intrinsic playtime relative to others!

Ojustaboo

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

So some of us are having quests etc that are bugged, and yes they are a pain in the rear. But while waiting for them to be fixed, we did other things, other quests, PvP etc.

You have a patch that you planned (I presume) to do at a sensible time tomorrow to not inconvenience the majority of the EU players.

But someone had the bright decision,

"I know, lets release the patch now, that will make them all happy as the bugs will be fixed earlier"

So we went from being able to play at prime time with some bugged quests, to not being able to play at all, a very very very good decision I don't think. People are obviously going to go ballistic when they find out the day after they were forced to sub, they cant log in.

Do you think most people are going to get home from work, not have a clue how long it will be down for, and sit waiting for it to come up, most will do something else and lose out on an evenings game play.

What concerns me most about this is that it's so obvious yet you cant see it.

Atwa

If the people have to wait a "several hours" for a maint, and want spoke about the problems of costume service, I don't know what problem have the ppl about this. They take commission? xDD

Twistedmind

elros26 wrote: »

It's not whining, we all paid for the game and we want to play, but because the way the maintenance is provided, we lose precious time that we paid for. I will not be able to play at night becouse early morning i need to go to work, so i have only few hours per day to play, and i can`t becouse server maintenance is on. This sucks.

Picture for you - @elros26‌

Leony1981

This is the 3rd patch push i've encountered since the 5 days early game time and getting rather sick of them doing it at prime time... Just got home from work, fired up ESO, got a chance to play 5 mins and BAM offline! Someone is clearly not thinking ahead with their planning...

Besides it's just as logical as 1+1=2

Do this in the morning when most people are at work or at school and always keep the time zones in mind.. So EU first and then NA.

It's not like they are new to this, they had a beta period for what was it? 3 months or so? Could have tested the appropriate time for maintenance and fixed all the bugs (which are still way too many!!).

lakaisl

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks,

We posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating:

The patch we're pushing out right now was planned for tomorrow, but it was ready today and will fix some of the issues people have been running into while playing. We understand that the time is not ideal for some, but we felt it was critical to get the fixes out now before it gets much later in Europe.

You can't punish the majority of the players for the bugs the few have. Most of us are having no major problems.

I suggest you stick to protocol and don't act on a "feeling". Especially since you admit the time of the maintance is not ideal.

deanamersb16_ESO

It must be a very important patch for them to implement it in this manner(i think the best server downtime for maintenance if you live in europe and work for most people is Monday morning 0300 gmt until 0900 gmt