Game Services and Helm's Deep Update

[Darlgon]

Why are people using sleep as an excuse? LOTRO is a 24/7 operation, are we supposed to believe the tech staff all works the same shift?

At the bank I used to work at, we had 12 people on staff during the day time and one overnight guy who could have been a janitor. His job was to call someone if the red light lit up. Budget cuts made him go away after I was there 6 months.

Well, except on 12/31/99, we had three of us up at midnite to make sure our basic locations had power and connection.

[rodarin]

Are people really comparing Minecraft with LORD OF THE FRIGGING RINGS? SERIOUSLY? The fact that Lotro servers are on the same servers Minecraft is on should really be troubling to a lot of people (everyone).

One is the greatest IP ever (sorry Star Wars geeks) that is now under the umbrella of a multi billion dollar company. One some guy built in his basement and is browser based.

It would be funny if it werent so sad.

[trcanberra]

Guys please, no name calling (in either direction!). People are upset, we understand that. There was an issue, we did everything we could to get all of our services restored. Not just LOTRO, but all of our services across all of our titles. Now that they're all up and available, we considered some of the things we heard frequently during the downtime.

• You wanted more time to get in your last minute per-orders
• You wanted more time to turn in your Bounder's Tokens.
• You wanted more time to get your characters to 85 with the 100% XP boost.

Now you have the opportunity to do all of that and you'll still get Helm's Deep this week.

What a load of horse feathers. One day would have been enough - why wait two days?

[Avasa]

@Trcanberra ...Please please read previous posts... Or think... One word: Sleep. Even Sapience & Co. need it.

[andracy]

They are the ONLY F2P that within filing an in-game ticket that I get a response quickly, usually within 10 minutes. Blizzard never gets back to me the day of (and they aren't F2P). The other F2P games I play, in-game technical support is non-existent (i.e., black hole) for all practical purposes. I'm stunned by this so kudos to Turbine. The advice isn't always what I'm looking for but, hey, someone gets back to me quickly and tries to help.

offtopic but remember one thing. Despite that i hate flying pandas, they had not long time ago 12.000.000 subscriptions. 15 USD each. You make the maths. Now they are down to 7.000.000. Neither Turbine or Codemasters ever anounced officialy their numbers, and the rumours are starting from 10.000 up to 140.000 players NOT subscriptions. Now for sure WoW GM's will NOT answer you in the same day or in 1 h as the GM will do in Lotro. Also remember, GM's are not god anymore, having so little power and most of the time they will just close the ticket.

[Angadan]

Thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve issues that resulted from a power outage at our data center.

Really wanted to play...[expletive deleted] mother nature.

Give Turbine a break here... You can't control mother nature....

I hope they're getting some nice freebies from their data center company for the screw up.

well bummer.. I can understand a extra day.. but boo hiss... Cant control the weather however.

...something that mother nature helped do. GROW UP!

...for you "conspiracy theorists" out there: Midwest tornadoes: Communities count cost as deadly storms head northeast...

As has been said over and over, the outage wasn't Turbine's fault....

...Nature's not something we can control, and although I don't know how bad the storm hit Turbine...a natural crisis.

Seriously, you're blaming them for the weather now???

It's kind of amazing how many people assume that bad weather caused the power loss at Turbine's data center yesterday afternoon/evening. Turbine didn't say that. Turbine didn't describe the cause of the power loss in any way. Could it have been human error? Sure. By a Turbine employee or contractor? Sure again. Maybe not, though. We have no way of knowing. Neither in a rush to condemn, NOR in a rush to defend, should we rush to judgment. Some are also assuming the data center in question is not directly owned by Turbine. That may also be a bad assumption. Would be interesting to know what caused the power outage, but we'll likely never be told. Would be interesting to know why the data center's backup power source(s) (alternate grid, generator(s), battery farm(s), whatever) did not kick in as they should, but we'll likely never be told that, either. So, for both the blind fanbois, AND the blind ragers, sit back and stop with the assumptions. Power went down at datacenter, backup power didn't kick in, servers crashed hard, Turbine still cleaning up that mess, so Expac is delayed a couple of days. That's what we know on this end, and all we really need to know.

[Ithrien]

All LOTRO Game Worlds and Websites are now available. Thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve issues that resulted from a power outage at our data center. In order to provide the best possible experience for players, we will be delaying the release of Helm’s Deep until Wednesday November 20th.

As a result, we will be extending our Helm’s Deep pre-purchase offers as well as the 100% XP boost and Bounder’s Bounty events until the 20th as well.

Guys please, no name calling (in either direction!). People are upset, we understand that. There was an issue, we did everything we could to get all of our services restored. Not just LOTRO, but all of our services across all of our titles. Now that they're all up and available, we considered some of the things we heard frequently during the downtime.

• You wanted more time to get in your last minute per-orders
• You wanted more time to turn in your Bounder's Tokens.
• You wanted more time to get your characters to 85 with the 100% XP boost.

Now you have the opportunity to do all of that and you'll still get Helm's Deep this week.

-All services allegedly restored.
-All services allegedly up and available.
-Delaying HD, as a result of delaying HD the Bounder Tokens + pre-orders are being extended.

Delayed HD which is already available because...?

[jmariner]

From all reports from players in Boston it was a mild day there Sunday. The bad weather was at least 800 miles away. For me to believe this had anything to do with nature and nothing to do with HD not being ready strains credibility to the breaking point... I mean, did bad weather knock out the backup generators also? and to believe that this "rogue" event is pushing release back two days is laughable.

[trcanberra]

@Trcanberra ...Please please read previous posts... Or think... One word: Sleep. Even Sapience & Co. need it.

Indeed - and one good night of it should be enough for anyone.

[Gagmuk]

What a load of horse feathers. One day would have been enough - why wait two days?

their are still a few problems happening on a few servers so they need time to finish tracking those down and fixing them. then they will probably want to allow some time to make sure everything is back to normal.

1 day (today) to finish finding and repairing the data centers.
2nd day (tomorrow/Tuesday) to monitor the data center and make sure it is all fixed.

From all reports from players in Boston it was a mild day there Sunday. The bad weather was at least 800 miles away. For me to believe this had anything to do with nature and nothing to do with HD not being ready strains credibility to the breaking point... I mean, did bad weather knock out the backup generators also? and to believe that this "rogue" event is pushing release back two days is laughable.

As I stated in another thread earlier,

you dont need storms to have or produce a power outage. Just about anything can cause 1. Here are a few examples of what can cause a power outage.

#1 I worked at a steel metal plant that manufactured the racks that go into the Frigidaire refrigerator freezers. That plant had its own power sub station due to all the welders and power draw. Beautiful day, no bad storms at all. i was working just inside in the dept closest to the the power station. Heard this buzzing noise then what sounded like a short circuit. power blinked and then BANG the largest power transformer blew up and we lost power for 2 days. had to wait for the power station to get repaired. no other facilities in the industrial park were effected.

#2 Was working a job at a injection molding facility another nice night. then the power goes out. maint couldn't figure out why. 2:30 am consumers guys found the problem. A squirrel had shorted the power to the building and caused it to blow out. We all went out with our flashlights to take a look at it and sure enough a squirrel attached to the power line and burnt to a crisp. no other businesses or houses were effected.

#3 worked at a CNC shop and was waiting for 2nd shift to start. the rectifier board or control panel suddenly melted. had 3 days off waiting for parts to restore power. no storms this day either and only effected the 1 plant.

plus sometimes when a power company adjusts the amount of electricity going down the lines will cause problems. If a piece of equipment cant handle the cycle changes, increased amps this will cause older out dated building power lines and power control panels to blow out. New equipment can sometimes fail as well if corners were cut with manufacturing materials and assembly lines were not inspected properly.

just wanted to say that their doesn't need to be a storm to have power issues.

[Xruptor]

Really, Turbine?

I really can't trust you guys. Don't strange if so many players stop playing. EVERY expansion you guys let something like that happen. I bought HD Premium Pack, pay my VIP every 3 months, but it's starting to get no sense. Can't play. HD delayed. 1 day without the whole game and now 3 characters bugged.

Will be 1 day that you guys will provide the game without these interruptions? I love the game, I love your support. But it's time to reconsider somethings around.

Its posts like these that really make me wonder on the progression of the human race. Then again the internet along with anonymity does stir up different personalities in people.

Regardless, how can you possibly take severe weather conditions (there were tornadoes in the area) taking down a data center as Turbine's fault? I'm entirely sure they don't have some sort of weather controlling device (if they did that would be awesome!), nor do I believe they intentionally did this to postpone the expansion. The idea of even remotely blaming them for anything that happened with the data center is absolutely astounding. This has not happened on EVERY expansion. Also, to be fair every MMO has suffered some delay or issue in some shape or form in regards to new content. I'm pretty sure you can survive 2 days without playing the expansion. It would be best in the future to take a moment to breath and put your thoughts together before posting something.

I have to agree with a few posters in this thread, the immaturity in some of these posts is just plain absurd.

[Ithrien]

their are still a few problems happening on a few servers so they need time to finish tracking those down and fixing them. then they will probably want to allow some time to make sure everything is back to normal.

1 day (today) to finish finding and repairing the data centers.
2nd day (tomorrow/Tuesday) to monitor the datacenter and make sure it is all fixed.

Problems?

I see a blue name in this thread saying all Turbine services are restored, up, and available.

Link to a blue name stating otherwise pls? (afterward of course)

[Lohi]

I must admit I am in awe at the immature post being posted on here today.

I was actually predicting a lot more of that to happen, so guess I was wrong. The majority of players aren't ever on the forums so I do still suspect there are a lot of confused people in game wondering where HD is.

[Ardenwald]

All LOTRO Game Worlds and Websites are now available. Thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve issues that resulted from a power outage at our data center. In order to provide the best possible experience for players, we will be delaying the release of Helm’s Deep until Wednesday November 20th.

As a result, we will be extending our Helm’s Deep pre-purchase offers as well as the 100% XP boost and Bounder’s Bounty events until the 20th as well.

Thankyou for the update Rick, can't be helped and I would rather wait until it is right!

As for the idiots somehow blaming you folks for the 60 tornado super-storm that wiped out power across half of the Americas... Really?! lol.

[Glumposneak]

Do most of you that are moaning not realize that the Turbine team need to sleep at some point?
They can't survive purely on the (small) amount of gratitude we give them and (hopefully) overtime pay.
Give the teccies a break, let them rest and regroup, and we'll still be able to play Wednesday... Yes, some people have booked time off work, and such, but it's not the end of the world, unfortunate as it is.

Yep, that's why it makes total sense to postpone by a couple of days, they will be exhausted, and they need to be able to think straight. I wouldn't have blamed Turbine if they had postponed it by a week to allow them to fully recover.

[Angadan]

I was actually predicting a lot more of that to happen, so guess I was wrong. The majority of players aren't ever on the forums so I do still suspect there are a lot of confused people in game wondering where HD is.

Heh, maybe wrong again. GLFF does wonders as a megaphone, allowing the minority who DO read forums/twitter/facebook to keep the majority who DON'T (but read GLFF) informed. And then some of them use LFF/OOC/etc to let the folks without GLFF know the deal, in turn.

[Beaniemooch]

Apparently some folks are wearing their tin foil hats a bit too tight.

I'm not a fan of Turbine but conspiracy theories like "they faked it to work on HD more" or "they lied to us" is ridiculous. Whether it's today or tomorrow or the next day or next week it'll still get here as soon as they can provide it. In the meantime I can snicker at the reasons but reality is stuff happens and they deal with it as they think best at the time. Unless you're new you don't really expect an expansion to be playable on projected release day - that's history. Unless you're delusional you don't really come up with conspiracy theories based on, well, your own over-active imaginations.

Try taking off the tin foil hats for awhile and just logging off the web. It'll still be here when you get back.

[Glumposneak]

Why are people using sleep as an excuse? LOTRO is a 24/7 operation, are we supposed to believe the tech staff all works the same shift?

I wouoldn't at all be surprised that if on Sunday night some of the more senior ones weren't dragged in, and they will more than likely be heavily involved in the actual upgrade.

[Angadan]

As for the idiots somehow blaming you folks for the 60 tornado super-storm that wiped out power across half of the Americas... Really?! lol.

...how can you possibly take severe weather conditions (there were tornadoes in the area) taking down a data center as Turbine's fault?

And there go 2 more, assuming things that may not be true.

[Gagmuk]

Problems?

I see a blue name in this thread saying all Turbine services are restored, up, and available.

Link to a blue name stating otherwise pls? (afterward of course)

Doesnt have to be a blue name. Players on those specific servers are reporting issues. Non access to characters and disconnected. just because a blue name has not made it official does not mean problems still dont exist and being reported.

update: im 1 of the players reporting a problem. Server Meneldor. Searching for Authentication server, Connection successful, Then it locks up for 5 minutes like its going to disconnect.

[Arched]

what I know to be true atm is I can't play the game

[Xruptor]

And there go 2 more, assuming things that may not be true.

I happen to live in the area where the Data Centers are. Yes we had severe weather warnings. Yes we had flooding and hail as well as several tornadoes touch down. There were several areas that were affected with power outages.

[Scruffynerf]

Thanks for a) keeping us updated, and b) fixing everything in virtually the middle of the night. Hopefully that was the gremlin that affects the go-live day for you and nothing else untoward happens.

[rodarin]

I was actually predicting a lot more of that to happen, so guess I was wrong. The majority of players aren't ever on the forums so I do still suspect there are a lot of confused people in game wondering where HD is.

BECAUSE there isnt more of it is also a telltale sign. This expansion is a dud. If this was highly anticipated there would be 3 pages of rants in the forums right now. Instead there are about 5 topics discussing it. When RoR went haywire last year the forums exploded, this year with this its complete crickets.

Not to mention this topic has only 6 pages of responses, most of those by the same 4 or 5 people.

Its rolling around the time people would have expected the servers to come back up with HD on them, if the amount of people complaining doesnt pick up that tells me the people just arent there to complain. Not sure which is worse, well I am sure but some people just dont get it.

[Glumposneak]

What a load of horse feathers. One day would have been enough - why wait two days?

Stay up unexpectedly while having to think under stress over night Sunday, then try to catch up a bit of your sleep on Monday, you will be in no fit state Tuesday. Wednesday at the earliest makes sense to give them time to properly recover.

They also need the servers to be up and running stable for a while so that anything unexpected that happens at upgrade, they know for sure the upgrade caused it and not the power outage.