Better Downtime Announcements
By
AwesomusPrime,
Posted on: 2009-11-17 23:39 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I'm sorry, more timely notices is a valid request, but formatting issues? No offense, but get over yourself. I don't think we need to feel this entitled. Do you really expect a dev to come in and apologise for not linking timeanddate.com?
Send one of them a Private Message with your suggestion, instead of starting a forum thread.
PS- speak for yourself, not some mystical "everyone" that doesn't exist please. I could care less about downtime announcements, and I play through the window on a regular basis.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
As long as I can remember, until last month, maintenance was on Tuesday and Thursday, with Tuesday being a normal day for patches/updates. It stands to reason that, after the past few weeks, that patch/update days are still Tuesdays.
Looking at the post times of the notifications in the Announcements, they've given us at least 12 hours notice of Tuesdays patches. Sure, the date of yesterday's was incorrect, and the times skewed on last weeks. It happens. They're people, not bots.
If they could format them as knock knock jokes, that would rock.
System: Knock knock.
Me: Who's There?
System: Not playing CoH.
Me: Not playing CoH who?
System: You in about twelve hours.
The Elementals - Brother Frost and Sister Flame
Who Is Sister Flame?
Arc 118690 - Sibling Rivalry (Sister Flame) Tweaked 09/15/09
Quote:
lol
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Originally Posted by _wyll_
System: Knock knock. Me: Who's there? System: Not playing coh. Me: Not playing coh who? System: You in about twelve hours. |
@1st. Son
Help Agent Martin in: A Favor for Liberty
AE arc #381565
My 1st. Video: Agent Martin in the new tutorial zone.
I can honestly say that I have never had an issue with the method the devs use to communicate planned outages. Also, being as I am capable of basic addition and subtraction, I don't need any links to a website to tell me what PST is in my local time zone.
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You want me to do math?!|
Originally Posted by Emberly
Also, being as I am capable of basic addition and subtraction, I don't need any links to a website to tell me what PST is in my local time zone.
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(This post would probably have been funnier if I had let Arcanaville do it...
)
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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It's not as simple as that. If all it took was a consistent offset from US time no-one would have a problem. I have no idea when the US DST comes on/off and likewise most people would have no idea when Australian DST comes on/off. Depending on the time of year the offset changes and during the year there are up to 4 different offsets to apply and I have no idea when 2 of them will occur.|
Originally Posted by Emberly
I can honestly say that I have never had an issue with the method the devs use to communicate planned outages. Also, being as I am capable of basic addition and subtraction, I don't need any links to a website to tell me what PST is in my local time zone.
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In fact, one of the examples I gave in the OP where the time was given incorrectly was due to a DST change.
I work at an online gaming company, and acknowledge that consistent, standard notifications for planned outages is Operations 101 material.
Once you have a consistent format and notification schedule, math (or the lack thereof) is up to the user.
--NT
They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville
Quote:
No, because it's not the Devs, it's the Community reps. And I don't give two hoots about an apology, I just want it to be better. I'm also not asking for anything unreasonable, just a small easy-to-implement change in process that would make things simpler for me, and quite probably others in the same boat.|
Originally Posted by AwesomusPrime
I'm sorry, more timely notices is a valid request, but formatting issues? No offense, but get over yourself. I don't think we need to feel this entitled. Do you really expect a dev to come in and apologise for not linking timeanddate.com?
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And I've tried the PM approach, repeatedly, and I'm neither getting a response nor seeing a change in behaviour.
Quote:
System: Knock knock.|
Originally Posted by _Wyll_
If they could format them as knock knock jokes, that would rock.
System: Knock knock. Me: Who's There? System: Not playing CoH. Me: Not playing CoH who? System: You in about twelve hours. |
Me: Who's there?
System: Coh/Cov going down in 1 minute
Me: Coh/Cov going down in 1 minu
You have been forcibly disconnected from the server.
We don' need no stinkin' signatures!
Quote:
Precisely. Likewise, I work for a company with an online gaming presence and it's a seriously big deal if planned downtime doesn't get a few days notification or very clear representation of time. As you say, Operations 101.
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Originally Posted by NuclearToast
I work at an online gaming company, and acknowledge that consistent, standard notifications for planned outages is Operations 101 material.
Once you have a consistent format and notification schedule, math (or the lack thereof) is up to the user. --NT |
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Seconded...
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Originally Posted by MinMin
Can we get better quality with these, please?
There does not seem to be a consistent format or any particular set time in advance for the announcements to occur. Obviously, emergencies are one thing, but surely planned installs can get a consistent announcement time. The problem of not having a consistent format is obvious when you look at some of the annoucements over the last month. The times that are announced are not always given with links to timeanddate.com (last night's one), or given with wrong links (the 10th November one), or even a completely different time format (the 30th October one, CST instead of PST). Obviously, the customer group who pays attention to these is not large, but I think we'd appreciate a slightly more professional approach. |
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Feeling a bit antagonistic today are we? In this case the "everyone" is the entire Oceanic community which is being affected, albeit in a small way, by this issue. |
Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
Send one of them a Private Message with your suggestion, instead of starting a forum thread.
PS- speak for yourself, not some mystical "everyone" that doesn't exist please. I could care less about downtime announcements, and I play through the window on a regular basis. |
Dissagree with posts by all means. But check your facts before you make personal attacks on people.
Quote:
It's not antagonism, it's pointing out bad argumentation. It doesn't lend any credence to your case to assume you speak for other people, even when you know other people agree with you. It's also irrelevant to making the point.|
Originally Posted by ricktu
Feeling a bit antagonistic today are we? In this case the "everyone" is the entire Oceanic community which is being affected, albeit in a small way, by this issue.
Dissagree with posts by all means. But check your facts before you make personal attacks on people. |
I could care less who you think everyone is or who the OP thinks everyone is. When dealing with matters of the playerbase, I can guarantee you that no matter what you propose/state/argue, there will be someone who doesn't feel the same way. The only way to avoid that is to speak for yourself.
Trying to rally support or a mass of players who agree with you in this case makes zero difference about whether the Community team is able or willing to address the issue. Either they will, or they won't. However I know for a fact that making a clear statement of what's bothering you without getting bogged down in unprovable rhetoric will get you a lot closer to a resolution than either
A) inflating the magnitude of the problem
B) inflating the number of people who are bothered by the issue
I posted what I did, because when it comes to forum issues, a direct PM to the Moderators is flat out the simplest and most effective way to get things done. Posting about it is just talking to a bunch of people who can't do anything to resolve the issue.
If you think I was attacking someone personally, I'll say that you're being oversensitive (oversensitive on someone else's behalf no less), and leave it at that.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Yes, in all fairness, I didn't feel that Lemur Lad was attacking me personally at all. And he wasn't in possession of all the information anyway ie., I've already sent PMs to the community team on this issue.
But as far as talking for everyone goes, I did put this in my OP: "Obviously, the customer group who pays attention to these is not large, but I think we'd appreciate a slightly more professional approach." The "we" being the people who pay attention to these announcements.
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Sorry LL but I don't agree with you. You say he shouldn't have posted this on the forum when there are countless posts on this forum doing the exact same thing. Pointing out issues that affect themselves and others. Posting them like this (and of course via pm) is a way for the devs, and the community at large, to see how much an issue is affecting the player base. You may not aggree with this being an issue but should that mean no one else has the right to complain about it if it affects them?|
Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
It's not antagonism, it's pointing out bad argumentation. It doesn't lend any credence to your case to assume you speak for other people, even when you know other people agree with you. It's also irrelevant to making the point.
I could care less who you think everyone is or who the OP thinks everyone is. When dealing with matters of the playerbase, I can guarantee you that no matter what you propose/state/argue, there will be someone who doesn't feel the same way. The only way to avoid that is to speak for yourself. Trying to rally support or a mass of players who agree with you in this case makes zero difference about whether the Community team is able or willing to address the issue. Either they will, or they won't. However I know for a fact that making a clear statement of what's bothering you without getting bogged down in unprovable rhetoric will get you a lot closer to a resolution than either A) inflating the magnitude of the problem B) inflating the number of people who are bothered by the issue I posted what I did, because when it comes to forum issues, a direct PM to the Moderators is flat out the simplest and most effective way to get things done. Posting about it is just talking to a bunch of people who can't do anything to resolve the issue. If you think I was attacking someone personally, I'll say that you're being oversensitive (oversensitive on someone else's behalf no less), and leave it at that. |
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Originally Posted by Lemur Lad
Trying to rally support or a mass of players who agree with you in this case makes zero difference about whether the Community team is able or willing to address the issue.
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As to your post being antagonistic your are berating someone for bringing up something that you didn't believe in. You could have just said "no I dont agree with you" but instead you attack him on two fronts. One being that he bring it up on the forums in the first place then again for suggesting he was speaking for others. Sorry but to me that is antagonistic.
"Obviously, the customer group who pays attention to these is not large, but I think we'd appreciate a slightly more professional approach."
This is not the tone of someone trying to rally support for a cause. I think it might be you be a might over sensitive here. Are you trying to tell me it's wrong to mention that others beside yourself are being affected by an issue.
What happened to the normal Monday/Friday maintenance window? Servers are down this morning (Thursday) and there is no notice posted of downtime. Did I miss a change along the way somewhere?
And before someone says it, yes I know that everyday is technically reserved for server maintenance, not just the 'normal' days.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...59#post2337359
Once per week 'regular' downtime on a Thursday on a trial basis, in part to avoid stealing Friday night gaming from out Oceanic players
bonus answer
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=199493
Today will issue the loyalty program badges
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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I'm not berating anyone. Don't put words or tone in where there isn't any. I was simply explaining the most efficient way to get the message heard by the people who can do something about it. As someone very familiar with these forums, I was giving advice on how to best achieve the changes they want, without injecting needless drama into the mix.|
Originally Posted by ricktu
As to your post being antagonistic your are berating someone for bringing up something that you didn't believe in. You could have just said "no I dont agree with you" but instead you attack him on two fronts. One being that he bring it up on the forums in the first place then again for suggesting he was speaking for others. Sorry but to me that is antagonistic.
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Even though I disagree with the need, I respect their right to bring the matter up to the people who can do something about it. I was simply pointing out that bringing it up to the players at large, accomplishes little or nothing.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Quote:
Thursday is the 'normal' maintenance day now. This has been done to accommodate the non US players who especially at the Fridays found a 2 hour maintenance window at their prime time inconvenient to say it mildly.
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Originally Posted by Panzerwaffen
What happened to the normal Monday/Friday maintenance window? Servers are down this morning (Thursday) and there is no notice posted of downtime. Did I miss a change along the way somewhere?
And before someone says it, yes I know that everyday is technically reserved for server maintenance, not just the 'normal' days. |
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And that was a clarification of times, with three days notice. The announcment for once a week scheduled maintenance was there at least a week prior to that. Still, as I posted above, Tuesday's have always been patch/update days as long as I can remember. Downtime for a hotfix is probably a "last minute" decision and if you get 1 hour notice, feel lucky. In that case, I'd rather lose two hours of playtime than attempt to play for those two hours in an unstable game environment.
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Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...59#post2337359
Once per week 'regular' downtime on a Thursday on a trial basis, in part to avoid stealing Friday night gaming from out Oceanic players bonus answer http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=199493 Today will issue the loyalty program badges |
On rare occasions the patch downtime warning appears on the updater screen, which I find a much better way of letting me know it's coming than having to check the forum announcement pages.
And I agree with Min-Min that a consistent approach to specifying time would be really great. I have enough trouble remembering when my time-zone goes to daylight saving, far less the US ones.
In case you missed Cat's link:
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That was posted on 10/19/09. A month ago. How much more notice do you need?
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Originally Posted by Ghost Falcon
There will be "one" Global Server Maintenance for all servers located in North America and Europe.
The Global Maintenance (projected 2 hour) window will occur "one" day a week (every Thursday, beginning October 22, 2009), and those times break down to be: Thursdays North American time zones Pacific: 4:00 AM - 6:00 AM (beginning October 22, 2009) Mountain: 5:00 AM - 7:00 AM (beginning October 22, 2009) Central: 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (beginning October 22, 2009) Eastern: 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM (beginning October 22, 2009) --- European time Zones GMT : 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM (beginning October 22, 2009) Europe/London 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM (beginning 22-Oct-2009) Europe/Paris / Berlin 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (beginning on 22-Oct-2009) --- Oceanic Time Zones Australia/Sydney 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM (beginning on 22-Oct-2009) New Zealand/Auckland 12:00 AM - 2:00 AM (at midnight of Oct 22...12:01 AM = Oct 23rd). (My apologies for leaving any specific time zone or country out.) Note: I used a web-based Time converter to determine all equivalent times..., so if there are any errors, I blame the Internet. |
Can we get better quality with these, please?
There does not seem to be a consistent format or any particular set time in advance for the announcements to occur. Obviously, emergencies are one thing, but surely planned installs can get a consistent announcement time.
The problem of not having a consistent format is obvious when you look at some of the annoucements over the last month. The times that are announced are not always given with links to timeanddate.com (last night's one), or given with wrong links (the 10th November one), or even a completely different time format (the 30th October one, CST instead of PST).
Obviously, the customer group who pays attention to these is not large, but I think we'd appreciate a slightly more professional approach.