What's with the downtime on a Friday evening??

Jaden

Jaden
I do not play MMOs - so out of curiosity: is this how it works generally?

I noticed before that updates are done during the daytime.

Any updates for business software in companies I have worked for have always been done at night-time etc.
Not when users need to use the software.

Shouldn't that apply to games as well - and Friday evening is a prime time for playing isn't it.

Also: I don't want to play PowerPlay today - I can gladly wait.
So why can't they let me decide when to download the update... *Rhetorical question*



Is there really no better way (=user friendly to the customers) to design a game like this, no way that updates could be done without users suffering a downtime?

And if not, shouldn't it be at least done "out-of-hours", say at least early European mornings on a weekday?
 

Azzan

A
They need to update the server version to 1.3 and given the amount of people who will most likely be playing at launch they need all of them to cope, that's why you can't update when you please.

Perfectly acceptable question imo and that is the answer :)
 

Ikari

Ikari
I'm pretty sure this could have been done during normal UK working hours Frontier is a UK based company.

It's bad form to down your game for 6-hours at peak time update or no update. Also If you haven't been on board for an update before don't expect to be playing Elite any time today or even tomorrow as the download speed will be around 0.01mbps regardless of you internet connection.
 

peteuplink

peteuplink
being an ex-World of Warcraft player, they always used to do their maintenance and updates on a Wednesday morning (uk time) which was good as it didn't interfere too much with what the players were doing as there weren't many on at that time.

Perhaps FDev should look at implementing a similar system?
 

Jaden

Jaden
Azzan said:
They need to update the server version to 1.3 and given the amount of people who will most likely be playing at launch they need all of them to cope, that's why you can't update when you please.

Perfectly acceptable question imo and that is the answer :)
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The point is: it seems incredibly bad timing.

The question is: is this normal for MMOs - or are there other ways to do it (better timing would be at least one thing) - could it even be designed in a way that we don't have to suffer downtimes (as much)? I'm also thinking: how does it work for MMOs that generate continuous revenue - surely they'll update in the absolute low-traffic times (vs. the peak Friday evening here) - so again: is there no other way to do this?

Ikari said:
I'm pretty sure this could have been done during normal UK working hours Frontier is a UK based company.

It's bad form to down your game for 6-hours at peak time update or no update. Also If you haven't been on board for an update before don't expect to be playing Elite any time today or even tomorrow as the download speed will be around 0.01mbps regardless of you internet connection.
Click to expand...

Hadn't thought of that... that would make it even worse... also, what if it breaks the game in any way... will they patch on the weekend?

Arksun said:
It's a beautiful warm sunny day outside in the UK today. Why not let your skin experience sunlight for one day, the game will still be here this evening and tomorrow :)
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:) Great point! However I just had a whole day outside with the kids and now was looking forward to retreat to the quiet of outer space!
 
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SUPRARZ

SUPRARZ
Some people will moan about anything at all ...they are trying to get update out before the weekend...beta 8 was yesterday so There has been additional fixes today ....jesus
 

CMDR Kantos Kan

CMDR Kantos Kan
Ikari said:
I'm pretty sure this could have been done during normal UK working hours Frontier is a UK based company.

It's bad form to down your game for 6-hours at peak time update or no update. Also If you haven't been on board for an update before don't expect to be playing Elite any time today or even tomorrow as the download speed will be around 0.01mbps regardless of you internet connection.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've seen that too here, from the east coast US. I have a 75Mbps/75Mbps fiber optic connection so the problem is not on my end. Sometimes, it just drops to 0.00Mbps.
 

Petersen

P
Are they updating the actual game to 1.3? Or just the beta? I'd assume the former, but the latest beta build was out for what, one day? Two? =-\
 

knowles2

K
I suspect they are releasing it now so that they can spend the weekend patching up the live game, plus they may want us to trigger some in game events, Drew is hinting that something is going to happen with the UA 1.3 perhaps in time for E3. This also gives Frontiere 5 days or so of devoting all of their resource to put the pit and polish on the stuff they are showing at E3.
 
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Ikari

Ikari
Kayweg said:
Yeah, let's just delay the whole thing, and not give everyone the entire weekend to try out the most anticipated update since the game's release.

An update nobody expected to hit before next week.

Seriously, are you guys for real ?
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I would have rather PP stayed in Beta another week it is far from ready.
 
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davedf

davedf
I'm in the UK and Friday evening is when I get a chance to play, so this is not the best timing for me as well. Realistically though, I would imagine most of the users would be in the US, so it would be done and dusted by the time they get home from work.
 

X2Eliah

X2Eliah
This is not a "common" update timing (nor duration). I suspect the devs just wanted the Powerplay update to be out asap, so they can finally mark that up as "done" and move onward. It's been a bit delayed as-is, and tbh any developer in their position would be anxious to finish it.

And, hey, if it is ready by mid-friday, no point marinading it over weekend.
 

William J Smith

William J Smith
Arksun said:
It's a beautiful warm sunny day outside in the UK today. Why not let your skin experience sunlight for one day, the game will still be here this evening and tomorrow :)
Click to expand...


The light......... its hurts us, it spies on us... poor bill does'nt like the nasty lights,.. my precious

Bill
 

DanTheMan

DanTheMan
Would VMware imaging not be a major help in the server update process?
Pre-built servers....AND.....Switch! Boom! Done?

At least that's how upgrades & DR were in my last company. Seemed to work very well.
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
Jaden said:
I do not play MMOs - so out of curiosity: is this how it works generally?

I noticed before that updates are done during the daytime.

Any updates for business software in companies I have worked for have always been done at night-time etc.
Not when users need to use the software.

Shouldn't that apply to games as well - and Friday evening is a prime time for playing isn't it.

Also: I don't want to play PowerPlay today - I can gladly wait.
So why can't they let me decide when to download the update... *Rhetorical question*



Is there really no better way (=user friendly to the customers) to design a game like this, no way that updates could be done without users suffering a downtime?

And if not, shouldn't it be at least done "out-of-hours", say at least early European mornings on a weekday?
Click to expand...

Daytime and weekday since if there are problems someone needs to be there to fix it.

Just because you don't want it now and or can wait does not mean everyone else can. If anyone is on the new server then everyone must be since any changes such as the "aggressive AI" update mean that someone may get an easier ride if they do not update.

There is probably better ways to do it but all are expensive (such as running multiple servers and having an instant changeover). Not really viable unless you are Ubisoft/EA/Bethesda or whatever running tons of servers anyway.
 
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