Why is Maintenance so long?

Am I reading this correctly?

It's a major patch, it's not just bug fixes etc. it's only 24 hours, you'll be fine.

Yup, if you have been playing since any patch after ARR released then you should know that this happens with every major patch.

We'll probably see a "Early completion time" post too, so don't lose hope.

If you look at the notes there are ALOT of stuff being added.

And if you have trouble thinking what to do while maint, I suggest you go outside.

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Originally Posted by Naliee

If you look at the notes there are ALOT of stuff being added.

And if you have trouble thinking what to do while maint, I suggest you go outside.

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But...the light burns. =P

Sunglasses son, sunglasses.

Unlike some other companies I could name, SE seems to like using longer down-times in order to ensure everything goes according to plan the first time. Then, if they finish beforehand, they get to say "Hey look! We're done early! Isn't that awesome!?" The alternative is, of course, shorter downtimes followed by incredibly buggy additions that piss people off for a week, followed by a series of downtime/uptime/downtime periods while they try to fix each problem as they find it.

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

and how many of those had emergency maintenances afterward through the week to fix small glitches? =D. its better that they take 24h and make sure they dont "forget" anything and set everything right, than to have it done quickly and end up beeing force logged out through the week at random times, because theres something they need to fix.
also have to take into account the game complexity itself and the fact that they have a huge amount of diferent servers to work on.

Yep! All major patches are usually 24 hr maintenance's. I think when HW released it was a 48-72 hr maintenance.

Ah yes. The obligatory "why is maint so long" before a major patch. I was actually waiting for this but we got two threads this time. Keep up the good work.

can't forget the upgrade to infrastructure. that also takes awhile longer than normal maintenance.

"In order to accompany Patch 3.1 as well as infrastructure maintenance"

so this is still reasonable. though with the ToS and EULA. we do not need to know when the maintenance would be. they are not required to tell us. just that the servers could be shut down without word if they really wanted to.

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Originally Posted by Alex_Lenderson

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

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This isn't "other game" though, this is Final Fantasy we're talking about.

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Originally Posted by Alex_Lenderson

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

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Kirk: How much refit time before we can take her out again?
Scotty: Eight weeks, sir. But ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.
Kirk: Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?
Scotty: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?

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Originally Posted by Naliee

And if you have trouble thinking what to do while maint, I suggest you go outside.

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Every maint someone asks this very thing on the forums. There's always "that guy" who tells them to go outside. Isn't it fair to say that the guy who only glimpsed at the patch notes, having no idea that the "usual" down-time is 24 hours, already goes outside?

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Originally Posted by Alex_Lenderson

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

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Well SE doesn't operate like those "other major content from other games". They go at their own pace. Stop whining. It just shows immaturity and impatience. Its a day. Bitching isn't going to make the timeframe any shorter. Go play something else, hit the gym, take your significant other out, etc. Its not the end of the world.

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Originally Posted by Alex_Lenderson

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

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A maintenance isn't just an update. They have to make sure what they added works fine on servers and didn't conflict with other important main tasks in the game, bugging them.

Well, they are changing and adding several elements of the game. I would hope they allow themselves enough time to get everything right, rather than just shoving it all in there at once and hope for the best. =T

What to do during maint? I just bought grand theft auto 5 so....

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Scotty: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?

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Hah, there was an episode of Next Generation where Scotty pretty much admitted to flubbing his numbers on time estimates. On subject... why does it matter how long it takes? Why does any time frame matter? This isn't like a doctor telling you to come in for dialysis then telling you to wait in the lobby for a day while they set up the machine... this is a game! Your life is not hanging in the balance. In fact, I wish the industry in general would stop riding schedules like 'a well tuned violin'. Maybe then we'd have more games that aren't glitchy messes on launch. Take all the time you need Square, we'll be here waiting.

I only wish it was the day after so I could have a good excuse to play Fallout 4 while not playing XIV.

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Originally Posted by shanian

and how many of those had emergency maintenances afterward through the week to fix small glitches? =D. its better that they take 24h and make sure they dont "forget" anything and set everything right, than to have it done quickly and end up beeing force logged out through the week at random times, because theres something they need to fix.
also have to take into account the game complexity itself and the fact that they have a huge amount of diferent servers to work on.

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That's all well and good, but we always have a string of emergency maintenance days following a patch anyway, regardless of how long the servers were taken down. In other words, the extended downtime sure doesn't seem to help much in terms of alleviating extra downtime.

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Originally Posted by Gyson

That's all well and good, but we always have a string of emergency maintenance days following a patch anyway, regardless of how long the servers were taken down. In other words, the extended downtime sure doesn't seem to help much in terms of alleviating extra downtime.

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actually it does help, because those emergency maintenances do not happen every single time, you may have one or two, but not always. if they rushed without caring to make sure everythign was working well, i'm sure we would have a lot more emergency mt's happening. personally i prefer that they take the time they need, As Gilraen said, nobody's life is on the balance, doesnt matter if it is 6, 12 or 24h, players can complain all they want, but that wont really change the time they take for it. we should just look forward for the features the team is adding and see their positive side instead.

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Originally Posted by Hyouretsuzan

Ah yes. The obligatory "why is maint so long" before a major patch. I was actually waiting for this but we got two threads this time. Keep up the good work.

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Now we just need the obligatory, "why is maint during my prime time?" thread and we're set!

I swear though...you all knew the patch was coming...you knew it was big...and you should of had the common sense to know it was gonna be a long downtime (GG to those who do have common sense)

Ya know, when I see stuff like this, I just hope to see Square Enix turn around and say "We're putting a 168 hour emergency maintenance on your account to make sure it works fine! Sorry for any inconvenience!"

But in all seriousness, I've done programme development (to a basic level). It takes time to ensure all the code works fine. When I've rushed code, I've had stupid sloppy mistakes out the wazoo that means I spend double or triple the time trying to fix the darn code. I don't care if "other companies" turn around major patches in 1.5 nanoseconds, because I'd rather SE take the time to get the code right first time, which they almost always do I've found.

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Originally Posted by AnaviAnael

Now we just need the obligatory, "why is maint during my prime time?" thread and we're set!

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And don't forget the " I want to be refund for the day i lost playing" thread lol

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Originally Posted by YeaniNah

And don't forget the " I want to be refund for the day i lost playing" thread lol

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In all fairness, I got a 3 day refund for the EU datacentre move (since I've had characters on the EU datacentre for a year and a half now), which I considered a nice bonus. I had American characters I could make so I didn't lose out on 3 days gametime, so I wouldn't have been out of pocket. Just not on my main is all. Definitely a goodwill gesture from SE.

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

We'll probably see a "Early completion time" post too, so don't lose hope.

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yeah that happens a lot. the 24 hour thing is just in case of unforeseen difficulties.

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

In all fairness, I got a 3 day refund for the EU datacentre move (since I've had characters on the EU datacentre for a year and a half now), which I considered a nice bonus. I had American characters I could make so I didn't lose out on 3 days game time, so I wouldn't have been out of pocket. Just not on my main is all. Definitely a goodwill gesture from SE.

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a 3 days i would understand that but 1 days offline refound come on. lets see if they pay the 15$ .that like 0.50$ the day. If you really act like that for 0.50$. i know there a lot of people who go crazy over tiny amount cos was crazy in Canada when they took off the 0,01$ ...people was yelling at cashier for their 0,01$ and that they will call cops (that is not a joke) i used to be cashier Helper. Some asked to be refund and went to another store.

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Originally Posted by Alex_Lenderson

I don't get why it takes that long to update. I've seen major content patches for other games that only had 10 hours of Downtime.

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I agree and feel the same way. As far as I can remember this is the only online game I have played that takes down the game for a whole day when they patch.

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Originally Posted by shanian

and how many of those had emergency maintenances afterward through the week to fix small glitches? =D. its better that they take 24h and make sure they dont "forget" anything and set everything right, than to have it done quickly and end up beeing force logged out through the week at random times, because theres something they need to fix.
also have to take into account the game complexity itself and the fact that they have a huge amount of diferent servers to work on.

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I can count the number of "emergency maintenences" on One hand from 7 years of playing World of Warcraft. I still prefer 8 hours to 24.

its a big patch

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Originally Posted by YeaniNah

a 3 days i would understand that but 1 days offline refound come on. lets see if they pay the 15$ .that like 0.50$ the day. If you really act like that for 0.50$. i know there a lot of people who go crazy over tiny amount cos was crazy in Canada when they took off the 0,01$ ...people was yelling at cashier for their 0,01$ and that they will call cops (that is not a joke) i used to be cashier Helper. Some asked to be refund and went to another store.

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Yeah, as I said, a goodwill gesture. They didn't even have to refund the 3 days (I don't even think by law they'd have to refund 6 months downtime). Wasn't expecting it though. Didn't ask for it either.

There will be emergency bug fixes by the following day ... Prepare yourself ppl.

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Originally Posted by Xanikk999

I agree and feel the same way. As far as I can remember this is the only online game I have played that takes down the game for a whole day when they patch.

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In order to accompany Patch 3.1 as well as infrastructure maintenance, we will be performing maintenance on all Worlds at the time below. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XIV will be unavailable.

"infrastructure maintenance" is what causes this to occur and it might actually tie into patch content, the void ark is a new type of instance so they might be needing to rework the servers to account for that new system.

In a way it is a semi awkward system since I think they said 9 groups can enter so a max of 72 players can be in one instance, however each group has different timers which is another aspect that has not been seen in any other instance. So they need to be certain whena group enters it doesn't somehow give them the time of the group that went in first, aka Group A went in 30 mins ago, Group B goes in 30 mins later but they are given same amount of time as Group A, but see that logic makes sense with how all Duties have been since then since everyone in x instance has had the same universal timer left. With Exploration though each group has to have it's own unique time left which I imagine is something they have to make sure the server can handle/fix accordingly so that there aren't any emergency maint that cause the issue I stated above.

With that said, to an extent the patch is the cause of the long maintenance since the infrastructure most likely connects to unique way Exploration instances will be handled compared to any instance that has come out since release.

They only take the servers down for more than the usual 5-8 hours when it's a major patch. It's not usual for them to take this time so the fact they feel it necessary is a sign of just how major a patch this is. They aren't just adding a couple dungeons and a new gear set. They are adding practically two 24 player raids, two new dungeons, a multitude of both new and retooled monsters to fill those with, three full gear sets, new animation sets for players and minions, new hairstyles... list goes on. Again, let them take all the time they want, the world isn't coming to an end.

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

We'll probably see a "Early completion time" post too, so don't lose hope.

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I wouldn't count on it. They don't end maintenance's before the weekly reset anymore due to people logging on and rushing the content to get it in before the reset. It could end like 30 minutes early but I wouldn't expect more than an hour since weekly reset is an hour before maintenance ends.

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Originally Posted by shanian

and how many of those had emergency maintenances afterward through the week to fix small glitches? =D. its better that they take 24h and make sure they dont "forget" anything and set everything right, than to have it done quickly and end up beeing force logged out through the week at random times, because theres something they need to fix.
also have to take into account the game complexity itself and the fact that they have a huge amount of diferent servers to work on.

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Not going to comment on maintenance length, but let's not pretend SE doesn't have to do plenty of emergency maintenances after patches. They often do. I remember times where they'd have multiple emergency maintenances in a week for weeks straight. If they're working on hardware and infrastructure, great, take your time. But SE isn't really much better and is sometimes even worse than many other companies have been with MMOs needing emergency maintenances after patches.

Many companies have testlive servers for this exact reason. It allows for short downtimes and better bug detection, and therefore less need for emergency maintenance. But alas, for whatever reason, SE does not. If they did, they could cut down on maintenance downtime and reduce the need for emergency maintenances like other games I've played have smartly done.