Why is Maintenance so long?

[Gilraen]

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

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.

[BlakLanner]

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

[Gyson]

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.

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.

[shanian]

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.

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.

[AnaviAnael]

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.

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

[UnstablePersonality]

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)

[Paladinleeds]

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.

[YeaniNah]

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

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

[Paladinleeds]

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

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.

[raymon]

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

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