Turn on the patch server already

[Tilgung]

Do they ever say 24 hours but go live sooner than that? Have they done this before?

Only for emergency maintenance. They wont go short so they can keep people from attempting to get around lockouts by bum rushing content.

As for the length, you'll have to deal with it. Updates this large only happen every 3-4 months. 3.11 and all patches until 3.2 will be significantly shorter.