24 hour patch in this day and age?

[dvoraen]

it probably takes 1 hour to patch and verify each server. Theres only a handful of "teams" that are doing the patching.

I got the impression they'll be adding more hardware to support the higher database load (read: the new housing additions). Definitely not a 1 hour per server affair, but several hours per data center.

[kyuven]

This is a much larger patch than any that have been introduced before, what with introducing a new class. Add to that they're introducing a new weekly currency, so the ideal situation for them is to start at the beginning of the "Game Week" so everyone gets a fresh start.
With the amount of stuff they're giving us I'll gladly take a 24 hour break if it means I get cool stuff to play with.

[Tupsi]

This is a much larger patch than any that have been introduced before.

This is to be determined, actually. Adding a new class doesn't make it a large patch for example, the data is already in the game. Now if it comes with hundreds of quests, tons of end-game content and tons of low and mid level content? Then it's a patch larger than anything introduced thus far. Otherwise, sadly this patch is quite small until we see what's in the patch notes. Remember, the literal main draw to this patch is the new class (which is only a handful of quests), Shiva and Final Coil.

[Tiggy]

This is to be determined, actually. Adding a new class doesn't make it a large patch for example, the data is already in the game. Now if it comes with hundreds of quests, tons of end-game content and tons of low and mid level content? Then it's a patch larger than anything introduced thus far. Otherwise, sadly this patch is quite small until we see what's in the patch notes. Remember, the literal main draw to this patch is the new class (which is only a handful of quests), Shiva and Final Coil.

Three new dungeons.
New tome gear.
Unlocked coil2. (get ready to see tons of people running this)

I agree it's probably not the largest, but there's more to it than you're giving it credit for as well.

[Tupsi]

Three new dungeons.
New tome gear.
Unlocked coil2. (get ready to see tons of people running this)

I agree it's probably not the largest, but there's more to it than you're giving it credit for as well.

Since it's still the same format as every other update, it doesn't feel any bigger till we see what they didn't announce is being added simply because with the dungeons being cut off from the world (heck shiva's protocrystal is in an instance) it doesn't really feel like much changed ;p but it depends on how long 2.4 is and if they sneak in any other content we didn't hear about. 2.1 still feels like it'd be the "biggest" since it introduced LoTA and tons of job changes, including completely changing the way WAR played.

[Tiggy]

Since it's still the same format as every other update, it doesn't feel any bigger till we see what they didn't announce is being added simply because with the dungeons being cut off from the world (heck shiva's protocrystal is in an instance) it doesn't really feel like much changed ;p but it depends on how long 2.4 is and if they sneak in any other content we didn't hear about. 2.1 still feels like it'd be the "biggest" since it introduced LoTA and tons of job changes, including completely changing the way WAR played.

I largely agree with what you say here. It feels pretty standard for a .1 patch. That certainly makes it a big patch but I'm wondering how many smaller things will be in it that we don't know about yet because those will determine how it feels compared to other .1 patches.

Personally I don't think LoTA made 2.1 a huge patch. Since 2.3 had ST so every 2 patches will have that in common. What really made 2.1 huge was the introduction of housing. It was a one off addition that added a ton of new content. Also, I don't see WAR tweaks as new content. It was 100% existing content that just had a few ability tweaks. It changed the game in a good way but hardly a content drop.

[ReplicaX]

Not only will Patch 2.4 implement the addition of the new Rogue class and the new Ninja job, but also a large increase to the number of plots of housing land. Accordingly, data-handling capacity will need to be increased, and for this reason, we will be conducting database optimization with this maintenance in order to aid in load reduction and increase data processing speed.

Database optimization will require time. In addition, because these are vital servers that house our players’ precious data, extra care and precaution must be taken. As a result, this will be a prolonged maintenance lasting 24 hours.

It's outside the realm of a normal patch, because of all the server side work required. They detail it pretty well with the lodestone announcement.