The only game to patch during prime time

[Shibi]

Respectfully OP, for the last 10 years playing American MMOS I have put up with maintenance in MY prime time.

This is NOT an American game, therefore the maintenance will not be structured around you. It will be structured to suit the Japanese.

Contrary to what most 'muricans think, the rest of the world really doesn't care if you need to stop playing at 6pm and be with your family, go outside and enjoy the last few days of summer, wash the dishes, clean the room, or whatever.

[VertexGeneral]

It is possible to run maintenance at different times for Japan and NA and EU. The NA/EU is in one data center and the Japan servers are in another, so it is very easy for them to schedule 2 different times.

Furthermore, if they partition their servers so EU and NA are not sharing resources, they can also create 2 separate patch times for them.

It is very easy for them to avoid screwing over one playerbase or another. Big game companies just don't care. They don't want to spend the time planning 3 different deploy times and really couldn't care less whether you are online or not during that time of the week. If the game subscription was paid for hourly, it would be a different story. They would be looking at ways to patch without taking down the servers at all.

It isn't though. It is paid for monthly.

[Devilair]

It should be, you're a customer, you paid for this shit. You can complain if their services are not as your expectation.

And this is very unprofessional for a game company this big. Just saying.

I don't have any problem but it's also funny that people who don't agree make it like a big deal for them too, even though in the end it's their own benefit if SQEX listen to this complaining.
If you don't really care when they're going to do a maintenance then you don't have any reason to disagree with the OP, do you?

So you will listen to USA and make EU and JP and AUS all raged. *slowclap* You cannot make everybody happy, the game uses one client only so it's only normal that the update it's worldwide. This time it's in usa primetime. Oh gosh, god save us all.
Edit: and as Shibi said, the world usually deals with it but you americans. Life goes on if you can't play your sodding game for ONE day. And knowing that that time not playing will be spent improvintg the game should be more than enough for making you say "oh well i'll deal with it".

[Felis]

8pm - 6am Eastern time? ?!

?!?!?!

!??!?!?

It's not SE problem that you live in the wrong timezone.
The time is perfect for european players (in the middle of the night).

It is possible to run maintenance at different times for Japan and NA and EU. The NA/EU is in one data center and the Japan servers are in another, so it is very easy for them to schedule 2 different times.

How would you do it if both data centers share the same launcher and a patch is coming with the maintenance?

[Shyluv]

People complained about this in XI too. And I'm pretty sure it never changed. So if you are counting on it to change, you might wanna just go back to WoW. Or LoL.

[Boyahd]

Please, people who don't really know what they're saying should stop.

There always has a way to avoid each region prime time. They even have NA/EU/JP servers. Tell me why can't they separately do a maintenance?
What ever the reason is, customer has a right to complain about this. Because this is their job to handle, not us.

I had worked in business like this before, I know what the standard is. If you don't know then you're the one who should "just stop".

I'm sorry, but I'm chiming in to ask you do you even know how server patching and migration of changes work? Have you ever worked in a data center? If you had any background knowledge of this, you would quickly realize how incredibly retarded and costly what you just suggested is. If you ever thought about running a business in server maintenance and update, please don't, because you obviously don't know how to manage money and time.

[NuggetJack3d]

[Kaedan94]

ITT: 'muricans 1st world problems, whining about finally getting the short end of the stick once in awhile. Something that Europeans and Asians/Oceanics have been feeling for years. Makes me ashamed to be one.

Japan game = Japanese maintenance. However, this has only been for long maintenance. Usually they do perform the smaller ones during off peak NA times.

[Shannelle]

...they can also create 2 separate patch times for them.

Even if companies don't care or they split EU/NA servers, it is not ideal to run multiple maintenance schedule. This is a matter of practicality from a technical side, and not necessarily about concerns on finances/time spent. I believe it is easy for them to arrange since it is a matter of delegation (like EU/NA team, handle maintenance at your preferred time. Japan team, same thing.) One time big time maintenance for all timezone ensures compatibility across all regions. Internal feedback or possible issues that arises during a maintenance can be aligned and directly handled for all regions. Just because there is a problem with NA/EU doesn't mean similar problems can't happen in Japan setup.

On a personal note, the mere fact maintenance is overseen by Japanese team (though I am only assuming this), I find it assuring because they're known for being meticulous.

[Boyahd]

snip

I want you to look at Nexon as a good reason why many companies with data centers in different locations DO NOT do this. Not only is it reckless and costly (you know every minute wasted not deploying the update in one go costs money for the company right?), but it also promotes miscommunication and the probable chance of misdirection. Please remember that these are human beings numbering in the dozens who are checking, deploying, checking, and monitoring these patches. The more you try to spread it out, the more of a chance you have of it going horribly awry. This is why Nexon's Vindictus teams had a corporate nightmare with their disjointed updates. It's common sense in that line of business to have it all done in parallel. Saves money and there's less room for error.