Discussion: Extended Live Server Maintenance - Thursday, September 22, 2011
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-09-21 10:36 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Removed
Eh. I'm just finishing up Gears of War 3 while I wait.
So sad...
"I saw my advantage and took it. That's what heroes do." - Homer Simpson.
Isn't this like 9 server upgrades in a row? That means that either they are in there installing advanced AI or the original upgrade was running the servers on a calculator wristwatch circa 1982.
Can't we just call them repairs or something?
"Today we are bringing JoJo the idiot circus boy back in for server repairs. This time we will beat him if he tries to use a blender as a harddrive again."
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Okay. Let's deal with facts.|
Originally Posted by IncredibleMouse
Do not need to. A user agreement has nothing to do with user base satisfaction with the service they have bought, and the level of the service they are experiencing - Bub. The service is piss poor, bub. Terms or not.
Ad hominem attacks like that are not very adult, bub, and they are irrelevent to the facts. |
The fact is, that Paragon is trying to bolster the infrastructure of the game so that it can handle higher loads.
The fact is, you're paying for access to the service during all times NOT designated as maintenance windows or accidental downtime during crashes.
The fact is, despite noises to the contrary, you're NOT entitled to any compensation for downtime of ANY sort.
The fact is, this large maintenance window is going to happen sooner or later. It's more sensible that it happen now (as soon as possible), rather than taking it down later during the F2P push and alienating MORE users (and gaining a reputation amongst new players for inordinate amounts of downtime).
The fact is, if you're unsatisfied with the service YOU CAN STOP PAYING FOR IT. Whining and griping about something that has to happen achieves nothing.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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Shut up. They really LIKED that watch.
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Originally Posted by rsclark
Isn't this like 9 server upgrades in a row? That means that either they are in there installing advanced AI or the original upgrade was running the servers on a calculator wristwatch circa 1982.
Can't we just call them repairs or something? "Today we are bringing JoJo the idiot circus boy back in for server repairs. This time we will beat him if he tries to use a blender as a harddrive again." |
Apparently I'm to stupid right now to make an awesome link with a picture and stuff but neverthelss sign the petition! [u]http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes[u]
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Third?|
Originally Posted by JayboH
...because third shift doesn't exist in your world, eh?
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Shift?
I'll have to check with my majordomo. That might be something our wage slaves do.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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Originally Posted by excimer
Its not really the downtime that bugs me, it's the lack of proper planning and communication.
Multiple lengthy downtimes and failed efforts to remedy long term problems suggest that no-one is looking far enough ahead to create contingencies for the problems that they should see coming. Someone at a mangement level has decided that it is better for the company to keep these details back until the last moment. Oh, and by the way - this thread is a prefectly natural place for people to vent their feelings. If this annoys you and causes you to make snide or insulting remarks then perhaps you should go elsewhere? |
Says it all.
Sure, we understand downtimes.. they happen and are needed. BUT, unless they woke up this morning at 1 AM and said "oh, I think moving the servers will help so ill go ahead and do it NOW" then they knew about this in advance. How about a little communication and advanced notice. I guarentee you, the majority of these posts would not be here if they would have just given us some advanced notice. Is it so hard to post "In 1 week, Sept 22, we will be taking the servers to a new location which will result in a 12 hour down time" ?!?!?
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Fact is it is irresponsible to not announce something of this magnitude via email days prior to implementing it.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Okay. Let's deal with facts.
The fact is, that Paragon is trying to bolster the infrastructure of the game so that it can handle higher loads. The fact is, you're paying for access to the service during all times NOT designated as maintenance windows or accidental downtime during crashes. The fact is, despite noises to the contrary, you're NOT entitled to any compensation for downtime of ANY sort. The fact is, this large maintenance window is going to happen sooner or later. It's more sensible that it happen now (as soon as possible), rather than taking it down later during the F2P push and alienating MORE users (and gaining a reputation amongst new players for inordinate amounts of downtime). The fact is, if you're unsatisfied with the service YOU CAN STOP PAYING FOR IT. Whining and griping about something that has to happen achieves nothing. |
Apparently I'm to stupid right now to make an awesome link with a picture and stuff but neverthelss sign the petition! [u]http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes[u]
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Translation: GIMME GIMME GIMME!
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Originally Posted by Vinceq1980
really devs? your forums are looking more wowesque b/c of these botched "fixes" . ur bandaid solution is clearly not working as bugs and issues are either left unchecked or new ones are created. this is what u get for rushing this issue out
 at least be nice enough to reward your players with extra paragon points this month b/c this wont be the last maintenance this month |
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Another evening well and truly wiped out in Oceania land - with one day's warning!
[Of course, I only learnt that there was notice of this downtime at all after I tried to connect.]
Pretty much used to being shafted on 'maintenance' times generally, but this last month has been abominable. If this one is really to move some servers around physically, why not tell us a little bit in advance? It's hard to believe a move like that is a spur of the moment decision.
Better yet, schedule all these maintenance operations in NA times, and there would be then some impetus to minimize them.
When I heard that CoH was going free-to-play, I was indifferent: I had planned on subscribing anyhow. With these sorts of availabilities in the evenings though, I'm certainly reconsidering paying a monthly fee.
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Sorry, but all NA is not getting game time. I work afternoons and evenings EDT; so mornings are my play time. I'm sure that there are others like me in NA and EU; just because it's prime time for some doesn't make it prime time for all.|
Originally Posted by Nos482
That´s what i meant. Stop focusing on giving all the game time to NA... move the maintenance around, so all players get a fair share of it.
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I can understand why you are frustrated; I've been cut out of play time twice this week as well. However, if you look at the time frames today (1:30 am PDT to 1:30 pm PDT), they aren't doing this during "normal" business hours.
All the morning and some of the afternoon players in NA are out of luck; the same can be said of afternoon and evening players in the EU. Let's not make this an EU vs. NA thing; players from around the world are being affected.
I find your lack of signature disturbing.
Dang. Gotta play something else for awhile now. Consarn Long-eared Rabbits!
Well if my boss knew I had planned on calling out today, he would thank you for making sure that I had nothing better to do and thus head into the real world day job.
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I work in customer service, and I can safely say it does work when the customer feels that they are slighted.|
Originally Posted by Twoflower
"I demand free money" is not going to work.
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100 paragon points sounds fair to me.
I'm not sure which is worse in this thread, but the 'OMG what right have you to complain' suck-ups are edging slightly further up my nose than the 'I PAY FOR THIS?!!!!1!' cry babies.
The geniuses with the maths especially irritate me, theses gems always pop up in threads like this: 'you have a bazillion hours in a week and it's down for a tiny percent of it' along with the 'LOL they owe you $0.000002'.
The fact is, if you can only play for a couple of hours a day as many of us can and they consistantly put the downtime in that time, then you are losing pretty much ALL of what you are paying for on those days.
So yeah, some people do have a right to be annoyed by this; they have every right to complain about this and every right to expect Paragon to soothe their ruffled feathers, but the people who play for 12 hours a day moaning about the occasional off-time? I have no sympathy for them.
I fully accept this work needs to be done and needs to be done in a time-frame that suits Paragon, and by extension the NA player base; but coming on top of recent protracted maintenence that affects the same section of the player base again anad again, the 'STFU' attitude of some of the posters in this thread is just moronic.
I'll start by saying I am in America, but this down time, and many others cut into my play time. I work over nights, and usually get home around 6 to 7 AM central, which means when the regular maintenance goes up at 8am central, I don't get much time for play after taking a shower, and eating. By the time -this- downtime is over, I'll have gone to sleep, and when I wake up I get to go right to work. So I am effectively loosing an entire days worth of play. I have been hit just as much as the EU players in the last two months with the downtimes.
Now... if you really want to quibble over compensation for these down times, then you need to get real. This is a GAME. Sure it sucks not being able to play it whenever you want, but you pay that monthly sub knowing that it's not going to be up 24/7. This game is paid for in months. When you suffer a month of downtime then ask for compensation. And for those asking for free paragon points, you're getting 400 every month, regardless of if you play during that month or not.
Some folks have brought up the cable going out, asking for credit argument. Do you ask for extra compensation from your cable company because not only did they charge you for your cable that you couldn't use during that time, but you also couldn't play your online games, get access to your social medias, or update your resume on CareerBuilder which made you miss out on an interview for a new job? Might as well, since the cable going out cost you all that time too. Let me know how well that goes over.
To all the "EU players are getting treated like second class citizens" posts, I'm not comment on -all- of those points, since they don't all affect me. Just the downtimes, because they do affect me.
You're upset, and you want to be heard, you have that right. But demanding free stuff(Or laughably threatening a law suit) only makes you look like opportunists. Rather than simply providing feedback, you provide hyperbole. Posts that while might be read by those who make the decisions on when downtime will be, think that you're just aggro and want free stuff. Not a consumer of their product who's dissatisfied.
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Ehh.. I actually have to agree on this. A move like this is not easy. Many many things can and often will go wrong. I just hope they can manage the projected schedule. But I dont have much hope they will |
Originally Posted by FloatingFatMan
So, a 12 hour downtime window, but they're actually physically relocating the servers?
Right, soo... See you all in about 48 hours then (and that's being optimistic). |
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Just to put things in a little perspective:
I work as a network engineer for a large cable company. Often, when new products roll out, I see the following pattern:
1. Internal testing of the product
2. Roll-out to a small area of a region
3. Increase roll-out to a larger area of the same region
4. Fully release product to entire region/country
I'm seeing this pattern here:
1. Closed beta
2. Open beta
3. VIP Headstart
4. F2P launches
To me, this means that this is a pretty standard roll-out procedure when dealing with large amounts of subscribers/customers. Yes, each step has problems that didn't crop up with the previous step, but that's part of the procedure. Part of my job entails examining individual problems to see if it really is an individual problem, or if it's a problem with the product itself.
I'm seeing these same things happening now. Freedom, to me, is still not fully launched. We are still finding the problems for them to correct. Downtime to fix these issues is, for me, expected. Do I like not being able to play when I want to? No. Life goes on.
I find your lack of signature disturbing.
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Then stop subscribing.|
Originally Posted by dior_union
This really isn't good enough anymore.
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| You have 9 pages of comments regarding this downtime so I don't see the point in typing more of the same thing. |
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| But I would like to add just a couple of things - whatever the grounds for more server downtime are, it would actually be nice if one of the updates/patches that take so much of your subscribing customers' "play-time" away actually really resolved the issues they address. |
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| It is pointless saying "thank you for your patience" when quite honestly, our patience is running very thin now. |
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| Double XP weekends/opening the chalet/giving away free codes etc doesnt negate the fact that all most players want is to be able to play the game error free and without continual downtime. |
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| It would be nice if your Customer Service personnel took heed of what is being written, and actually came up with a compensation package which is directed at EVERYONE involved and not just a few "lucky" individuals, and in my opinion, that would be to grant ALL paying customers a partial refund or extended free playtime. |
What is this we're experiencing today?
A PLANNED DOWNTIME? I THINK SO!
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| What you are currently doing not only aggravates your current customers, but also gives new players a very poor impression of your company. |
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| I do hope you can get a grip on the problem once and for all before the inevitable happens and people start drifting away to other more reliable games, because that would be the demise of a game that I and many other veteran players enjoy playing. |
A little perspective goes a long way.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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I agree 100%.
| It would be nice if your Customer Service personnel took heed of what is being written, and actually came up with a compensation package which is directed at EVERYONE involved and not just a few "lucky" individuals, and in my opinion, that would be to grant ALL paying customers a partial refund or extended free playtime. |
Umm, so far, in the last two weeks, ALL players have lost about 4 DAYS worth of gametime from the day-long and half-day maintenance and patching. Thats not even including the NORMAL patching/maintenance each week, of up to 24hrs total.
So, WHEN will we all be getting our 4 days of gametime added to our accounts?
(even if you refuse to acknowledge the halfday maintenanc, there was TWO full days, last week where noone could log on for 18+ hrs each day!!)
So please, give us the VIP members, the players who appreciate and will always love COH - our gametime. Im not looking for a handout. I just want the time i lost, since i could not play during the days you had maintenance.
Lastly. can you PLEASE try patching/maintenance around 2am-8am or something, when most people ARENT playing lol.
Regardles, COH is amazing and I pray daily that NCsoft will FINALLY give your studio a REAL BUDGET, so that you can hire some new people and have the time to create original models and code, rather than be stuck with using the already-made stuff and put things together like lego blocks and the mission architect.
COH deserves to be around for AT LEAST another 10 years, and hopefully the game can grow and expand, without losing the RPG part of mmorpg.
THanks! S!
I haven't done the napkin math but has it really been 4 days worth of play time? If this is true, a big if, then some compensation is reasonable.
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Stop trolling. |
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Then stop subscribing.
But you're not going to let that stop you. You mean like the fact that this hardware upgrade is supposed to solve the new load-spike issues they're seeing with i21? An issue that's ONLY a week old. An issue that didn't come up in i21 when they were planning the initial hardware upgrade. Even though i21 Beta was open for weeks and weeks prior to going live. Even though they built hardware meant to handle the loads that the original D.O.P.E. event on Freedom, a month or so ago, generated (with over 4000 people on the server simultaneously). If your patience truly was that thin, you'd be unsubbed already. You're just "Internet Angry". This is sort of the flat bottle of caffeine free diet coke of anger. If you were REALLY upset, you wouldn't be in here on the boards talking about your feelings on the subject. Good thing the downtime isn't continual. Why exactly should they? There's no need for them to compensate people for planned downtimes. What is this we're experiencing today? A PLANNED DOWNTIME? I THINK SO! Most of the new players haven't started yet. That comes next week. What they're doing is getting this in ahead of time to try and STOP that sort of thing from happening. As for aggravation. Don't you think they're a LITTLE peeved too? They just installed a bunch of new hardware that was supposed to handle much higher loads without issue. But the traffic patterns they've seen, plus the monstrous new patch with all its new systems has generated loads in excess of anything they've encountered before. Pretty much mandating MORE hardware upgrades before an expected influx of new players brings the system to its knees. Dude. Try looking around at other games during new version releases. You'll also see multiple long downtimes, some last minute bug firefights, etc. And you'll see them in greater numbers and magnitude than ANYTHING you've seen here. A little perspective goes a long way. |
We have valid gripes and THIS is where we can post them.. Im sure for you, this is no big deal. Youll go play Gears 3, yell down stairs to mom when you want lunch and then play tonight only to rinse and repeat tomorrow. But the rest of us who work have limited playing time and have a right to be angry.
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Wow, my irony scanner just went off the scale here.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
A little perspective goes a long way.
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50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
I don't want a refund, upgrades needed to happen and they give us advanced warning everytime.
What I am unhappy with however is how it it seriously cutting into EU playtime. I understand with it being an NA based game and a greater number of NA players to cater too, however when the EU and NA side of the game merged it was promised we would not be treated like second class citizens. I would like you to bare that in mind as I ask 3 questions.
1.) If the EU were not being treated like second class citizens, why does every Dev based event happen at such bad times for the EU? The vast majority of the stuff on Exalted has been happening at 1am BST.
2.) If the EU were not being treated like second class citizens, why when there was a forum merge did the NA get priority?
3.) If the EU were not being treated like second class citizens, why has every single planned downtime within the last 2 weeks happened at times that least effect NA, with a disregard of the impact on the EU?
If you guys just came out and said "Yeah, its an NA based game, so everything will be favoured towards them" then its fine. But you haven't, you have promised to treat us all as equals and have failed to keep that promise.
It's now Issue 21 and I am back!
My new Global is @Zyhar
Currently enjoying the Exalted Server!