Why is a weekly restart taking three hours

[Arnenna]

They never used to take three hours, what's changed?

[Cordovan]

Probably won't. Better to state long and be early than state early and be late.

[maartena]

Probably won't. Better to state long and be early than state early and be late.

This right here.

If SSG is an hour early, no one will praise SSG for getting their work done early.

But.....if they are even half an hour late, the hordes will become restless and organize a ruthless forum raid, PST, 1/12.

[auximenes]

Under-promise, over-deliver.

[DoRonRon]

Under-promise, over-deliver.

Some could argue it makes a change from Over-promise, under-deliver.

However it's spun, there's going to be a reason. Little point in telling people they can go for a leisurely lunch (EU) if they could be back to visit the store in an hour. Staffing levels or procedural changes would be more likely than a "what the hell why not". So many spinning plates...

[DavidmeetHal]

This right here.

If SSG is an hour early, no one will praise SSG for getting their work done early.

But.....if they are even half an hour late, the hordes will become restless and organize a ruthless forum raid, PST, 1/12.

Angry villagers with torches and pitchforks.

[LuckyShot]

Three hours because it gives the appearance of great time & effort.

[Arnenna]

This right here.

If SSG is an hour early, no one will praise SSG for getting their work done early.

But.....if they are even half an hour late, the hordes will become restless and organize a ruthless forum raid, PST, 1/12.

Being late doesn't bother me, nor does being early. I'd rather have a more accurate estimate, so I can plan my day. Wednesdays are day off days. Lots to do when not in work, including some play time, so a lot to fit in.

[Arnenna]

Three hours because it gives the appearance of great time & effort.

You owe me a new keyboard Tea everywhere.

[JERH]

If you look back at earlier non-patch notices it shows a start time and an “expected” duration like one hour or an hour and a half. I would assume that the prevalence of threads complaining about being “late” to come back online after the expected time caused them to give a wider range to cut down the noise from the peanut gallery. Such comments as “it’s been an hour and you’re not up” would lead me as project manager to only promise a wider window and usually get it done earlier. You can never please everybody so expectations need to be set for the trigger happy customers.

[Arnenna]

If you look back at earlier non-patch notices it shows a start time and an “expected” duration like one hour or an hour and a half. I would assume that the prevalence of threads complaining about being “late” to come back online after the expected time caused them to give a wider range to cut down the noise from the peanut gallery. Such comments as “it’s been an hour and you’re not up” would lead me as project manager to only promise a wider window and usually get it done earlier. You can never please everybody so expectations need to be set for the trigger happy customers.

To be honest, I don't very often see people getting upset about uptime being late. They get annoyed when estimated uptime is late, with no announcement or explanation. There is quite a big difference between the two.

I've been here through downtimes that come an hour early and 5 days late, so seen it all, and none of it really bothered me.

I just like to plan my time, and jumping from "about an hour," to three hours just makes that impossible.

[Raninia]

Restarts are also the times we're usually doing maintenance and other work on non-game things, like the network infrastructure. We get estimates on how long those take, but we want to give them extra time in case things get screwy.

[DoRonRon]

Restarts are also the times we're usually doing maintenance and other work on non-game things, like the network infrastructure. We get estimates on how long those take, but we want to give them extra time in case things get screwy.

Thanks. There are still a few of us who are actually interested in what it takes you guys to run things. I want to know you are making decisions based on circumstances prevailing, critical feedback from the game play and not so welcoming of opinions that make little or no sense, in-house or customers.

So much spoon fed mush is unpalatable after year 15. It was maybe too early to see a second consecutive 3 hour window as a pattern?

Talking of patterns and infrastructure; there's been fair number of OPs from those just confused by various game systems of late, any of which may resort to /reports to CS. With staff re-iterating the need for us to go through the report process rather than the forums because they aren't being monitored so keenly doesn't it still not warrant a dedicated Bugs Forum like other Daybreak games to distil out the unnecessary and drill down to the essence of a bug to help out a much beleaguered team?

[Halphast]

Being late doesn't bother me, nor does being early. I'd rather have a more accurate estimate, so I can plan my day. Wednesdays are day off days. Lots to do when not in work, including some play time, so a lot to fit in.

It would be more convenient if they could accurately predict exactly how long it will take, but that's not possible. And yes, there have been nasty threads posted when they went over their estimate, but no one ever praises them for being early. I'm used to seeing "9am-12pm" and then they're done by 10 or 11. It's nice, and probably the best option among imperfect options.

[DoRonRon]

We are all too busy in game to post such, obviously.

[Arnenna]

It would be more convenient if they could accurately predict exactly how long it will take, but that's not possible. And yes, there have been nasty threads posted when they went over their estimate, but no one ever praises them for being early. I'm used to seeing "9am-12pm" and then they're done by 10 or 11. It's nice, and probably the best option among imperfect options.

I've seen threads saying thanks for being early, and participated in them. Not the point though.

I don't expect pinpoint accuracy on timings, but a jump from about an hour to three hours just seemed like a lot and with no notes to suggest anything other than a restart, looked out of place.

I've seen threads complaining about going over, but they are usually because its gone over without an update or notification.

[SavinDwarf]

The downtime probably has almost nothing to do with the game. It is the window that allows the hardware/network nerds to upgrade things, apply patches - such as windows patches, patches to routers and switches etc. This means that SSG doesn't really have control over how long it will take and probably the server farm vendor doesn't even tell them all the stuff that is being done.

[DoRonRon]

The downtime probably has almost nothing to do with the game. It is the window that allows the hardware/network nerds to upgrade things, apply patches - such as windows patches, patches to routers and switches etc. This means that SSG doesn't really have control over how long it will take and probably the server farm vendor doesn't even tell them all the stuff that is being done.

Which is termed Maintenance when it happens.

Given the content release of a mini-Expansion perhaps a mini-Maintenance would suit better than a Restart notice. I didn't hang about waiting to see how long it did take though. Le Mans practice and qualifying to watch.

Holding hands up to a comms issue or typo is more forgivable than a suggestion that a definitive process has gotten 3 times longer all of a sudden.

[maartena]

Restarts are also the times we're usually doing maintenance and other work on non-game things, like the network infrastructure. We get estimates on how long those take, but we want to give them extra time in case things get screwy.

[DoRonRon]

I don't remember that episode where Scotty say "Aye Cap'n, just need to switch it off and on again". The odd dumping of a warp-core though.