Server Downtime - 9/16/10

[Arahothlien]

Lord have mercy! It seems like Sapience has to put on some asbestos armor just to protect against flaming arrows while he tells you the shooting range is down! Let the folks do their jobs without the attacks. This is hardly the place for it.

Get off your butt, walk leisurely to the nearest Starbucks, and order yourself a venti frappucino. Open the latest issue of The Times (or El Paisano ) and read the latest stories while slowly sipping. If you tell your barrista that Zach sent you . . . well, I don't know what'll happen at your starbucks, but it's a nice little discount at mine . Once you are finished, walk slowly back home. Chances are good, problems will be over, or close to over. Chill. Get some fresh air. Give the guys here a chance to fix the problems.

Thank you, Sapience, for the confirmation that it isn't just my connection/rig. Godspeed, good man, Godspeed.

A-freaking-MEN!!!! I agree with you 100%! It's not the end of the world if things don't go exactly as planned.

[Celestialdemons]

While we're working on the server issue, I thought I'd update you all on an earlier issue regarding connectivity. We've confirmed with our vendors that there is a widespread disruption in internet traffic and connectivity along the East coast. This is a seperate issue and completely beyond our control.

The only issues I have at the moment in regards with connectivity are with the Game Servers and the Forums.

No issues at all on other websites/games this morning/afternoon.

[Isk8]

Lord have mercy! It seems like Sapience has to put on some asbestos armor just to protect against flaming arrows while he tells you the shooting range is down! Let the folks do their jobs without the attacks. This is hardly the place for it.

Get off your butt, walk leisurely to the nearest Starbucks, and order yourself a venti frappucino. Open the latest issue of The Times (or El Paisano ) and read the latest stories while slowly sipping. If you tell your barrista that Zach sent you . . . well, I don't know what'll happen at your starbucks, but it's a nice little discount at mine . Once you are finished, walk slowly back home. Chances are good, problems will be over, or close to over. Chill. Get some fresh air. Give the guys here a chance to fix the problems.

Thank you, Sapience, for the confirmation that it isn't just my connection/rig. Godspeed, good man, Godspeed.

Amen. Everyone needs to just chill out a lil on this one. Comparing this game to some other games that have constant downtime, ie. WoW once a week for hours at a time, this game is pretty damn good for server uptime. Computers have issues, if any you had the slightest inkling of computer repair or networking, you would know this. Just give it a break and see what happens.

[Noromir]

OK, I'm forced to post on these forums, because this whole F2P stuff is impacting existing customers, even though we were told it wouldn't effect our gameplay.

My main issue is that things are not tested and we are not being given accurate estimates as to availability of the game, even though we pay subscriptions. The feedback we are getting seems to be either inaccurate, not timely or evading the issues.

I can understand downtime, but it's pretty much every day now. When I last checked the game was working at an acceptable level, so now this 'hotfix' breaks things.

Let's not confuse things too much here re: terminology. This was a patch. Hotfixes will be applied to servers while they are in use, the servers went down, therefore a patch. Stop making communication so hard Turbine, call a spade a spade.

The forums are slow, even when there is a redirect. I struggle to see how a East Coast problem means that I can contact the Turbine forums servers and then be redirected. These problems on the East Coast have persisted for days. I would prefer you to say that the forums are under increased load and you are taking responsibility for fixing things.

I think the last point is key here, take responsibility. Take responsibility for communication, problems, forums, fixes make these issues your own and give us information. Getting information on servers and fixes is too hard for us as customers, a lorebook page which was unavailable. If people are coming to the servers, it's probably to see what's going on with the game, it needs to be front page, and constantly updated.

Now this game is F2P, it's imperative that you have uptime more than ever, to remain profitable and earning. These lapses in judgment, technology, communication are not just hurting the torch carrying mob (as I'm sure this type of feedback is perceived to be written from one of the many) but your ability for us to use you store.

I figured F2P would be bigger, better and an improvement, so far, it's not been this for me and many others.

[Critzo]

I'm also on the east coast, new york, Along with several of my friends who play. There is nothing wrong with the eastern connection. Just fix the failed instance please. Noone wants to pay for a game they never play

[echoed]

In regards to the east coast connectivity problems, I'm on the west coast and since f2p I've actually had very few issues in-game with lag etc that other people have complained about, the forums are another matter, they've been ridiculously unreliable and slow since the revamp.

Not until the patch earlier today did I have horrible rubberbanding and disconnecting issues... I have to think that it has something to do with the patch, and as minas gil is apparently the problem you folks are working on, does that mean my problems are unrelated and not going to get taken care of? As I said I'm nowhere near the east coast and haven't had any problems until the patch TODAY.

And please, no scented candles.

[Legolose104]

Lord have mercy! It seems like Sapience has to put on some asbestos armor just to protect against flaming arrows while he tells you the shooting range is down! Let the folks do their jobs without the attacks. This is hardly the place for it.

Get off your butt, walk leisurely to the nearest Starbucks, and order yourself a venti frappucino. Open the latest issue of The Times (or El Paisano ) and read the latest stories while slowly sipping. If you tell your barrista that Zach sent you . . . well, I don't know what'll happen at your starbucks, but it's a nice little discount at mine . Once you are finished, walk slowly back home. Chances are good, problems will be over, or close to over. Chill. Get some fresh air. Give the guys here a chance to fix the problems.

Thank you, Sapience, for the confirmation that it isn't just my connection/rig. Godspeed, good man, Godspeed.

Agree 100% Geez people relax this happened MoM and SoM came out this is nothing new just be patient and everything will be up in no time

[mjk47]

If you say so. Strangely enough, the LOTRO community site seems to be the only one I visit that is having issues.

Not true. My company's system hosting service is reporting connectivity issues with their ISP. Seems like there is a disturbance in the force.

[bigblackwaggylab]

I have to agree with this, no other sites are having connectivity problems (for both the sites I visit and the sites I run), but the LOTRO game and forums are constantly up and down.

As far as an emergency shutdown due to Minas Gil is concerned I hope your head of QA/testing is getting an earful.

I'm in Jersey, and I have had a bunch of issues with the internet in the last few weeks to the point where I've asked the hub (who works for the DoD) if there's been internet attacks as well as watching the news. It's been bad. Random webpages going down, no connects on others randomly. Granted, that's all anecdotal, and before someone asks, it's not my cable company. So, after several years with LotRO, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

As for the instance, none of us know how things are built and there may not be just an 'off' switch now, thanks to dynamic layering and whatnot. None of us have seen the code (presumably). I don't know, mind, but if it was an easy fix, I'm pretty sure it'd be done by now, given their history of coming up EARLIER than announced. (It's happened.. on more than one occasion.)

[Celestialdemons]

Let's not confuse things too much here re: terminology. This was a patch. Hotfixes will be applied to servers while they are in use, the servers went down, therefore a patch. Stop making communication so hard Turbine, call a spade a spade.

Quoted for Truth. Hotfix is a fix applied while the servers are still running (hence the use of "hot"). Servers down equals patch. That's all there is to it.

[wolfgarde]

^ "Barely any new content"???

Riiiiight...Enedwaith is just 10 square foot of nothing right? sheesh



All this whining both on the forums and in the game is just childish. I've been in IT for over 20 years so I can appreciate what they are going through. Users are always hard to please.

I for one appreciate the new play region, the new classic instances, the 4000+ points given me in the store so now I have a snow-dusted outfit I always wanted instead of paying 5g+ per PIECE in teh AH when they show up.

I appreciate the continued Epic line.

I appreciate all the effort put into this.


Thanks you Sapience, Patience and crew.

I'm a lifer and staying a lifer......this is the best game and I'm glad to be apart of it.

[site400]

Washington DC here as well...no internet connectivity issues whatsoever (except with http://lotro.com)...guess it must be Verizon's fault! And I can't see a company shutting an entire game down because .001% doesn't work, especially when said company is spending money to air ads to bring people to their game during the opening week of a major change to said game.

And I don't want money or a a scented candle, I just want an honest response as to what the issue is and what you're doing to fix it.

P.S. Hopefully this post goes through on the first try

[vampirenerd]

I just wanted to throw in my two cents. (Since I can't really do what I would like to be doing, playing the game...)

Anyway, I just started playing about 6 months ago, and I have to say that I have had no issues prior to this with accessing the game. I hope that the new players will bear with Turbine. The game is worthwhile and I am sure that the issues will be worked out. All new releases have issues.

I just wanted to let new players know that it is not really a constant thing, as it seems to be right now. Patience..is truly a virtue... ( Rank 11+ or -1)

[fatboydoa]

I agree with you. I just started playing Beginning of august i started on the 10 day trial liked it so i paid for 3 months I'm beginning to doubt my choice to come play this game. For a game that has been out for 5 years they sure have a lot of downtime and problems.



The question that bugs me is are the forums down or what 1/2 the time i get the site is down for maintenance i just keep getting reload and they come up but when it takes 15 mins to post something that is ridiculous.

The game only came out 3 years ago. They have a lot of problems right now because they did a major overhaul to the game. Just calm down. You joined at a bad time.

[d0h]

[Asroknight]

The game only came out 3 years ago. They have a lot of problems right now because they did a major overhaul to the game. Just calm down. You joined at a bad time.

I was told by somebody in game that it was released 5 years ago, i never did check, Yes it did come out in 2007 (just looked it up) So i will suck it up and say i made a mistake. But whether its 3 years or 5 years the amount of downtime/problems is way to much IMO. There should be some sort of reward or reimbursement for all if this.


Like you can make a t-shirt that says i survived F2P in LOTRO. only available to paying subscribers.

[LagunaD]

^ "Barely any new content"???

Riiiiight...Enedwaith is just 10 square foot of nothing right? sheesh

Enedwaith is a bunch of non-repeatable solo quests with onerous rep-grinds for useless cosmetic rewards.

Having done it once in Beta, there is zero reason to do it again.

[Esselnor]

Ridiculous. Not Turbine, but the users on this forum.

I understand you're frustrated, but sh- happens. The servers aren't down THAT much and when they are it's understandable considering this F2P thing just launched. One thing I've noticed, is that users here will flip from being all praising to right down hateful when there's a downtime. Sad.

Find something else to do in the meantime or at the very least, act a little more mature and respectful regarding the situation.

[foxpur]

Maybe i'm a ****** or something, but isn't it 1:20pm EST ? Yes it is... Is the maintenance was up until 10am EST ? Yes it was... Are the world avaiable at this moment? Dont know, i'm getting :

The following web error occurred while trying to access "(auth server web svc address)"

Value connot be null
Parameter name: stream

But yet, the news on the login says all server are up. Could say "All server are up but not login server" ?

I am suffering it too, you are not alone

[Karioki]

We've confirmed with our vendors that there is a widespread disruption in internet traffic and connectivity along the East coast. This is a seperate issue and completely beyond our control.

That may be but I am in Portlan Oregon and have only had problems logging into LOTRO the last few days and the problems are massive at times.

[Malaghan]

There definitely are problems on the east coast. I have been getting random disconnects in WoW as well as this game and even when just browsing the net for the last few days. I'm in upstate New York and my modem loses connection and then comes back after a minute or two. This however, has nothing to do with all of the LOTRO servers being down for most of today. I wasn't having any problems with the game itself before the "hotfix". I'm sure they'll get it fixed but it's annoying to not be able to get in at all so far today.

Whoa, I just checked the server checker site where it has been listing all the servers as being down and it now lists them all as closed. Maybe Turbine just went out of business and shut everything off lol.

[Avaadore]

I should use this down time to work on my philosophy papers, but instead I'll play drakensang. cheerio

[dnadz74]

Its laughable listening to all of you kids complain. Compared with other games I've played, LOTRO has almost *no* downtime...even after a major expansion. Any Everquest players out there remember when the Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious, Planes of Power and other expansions were released? Do you remember being able to log in and stay online for more than 10 minutes for several weeks after the patches? Do you remember getting up-to-the-minute status updates on the problems and ETA for server uptime? Me neither...because it didn't happen. In my not-so-humble opinion, other MMORPG companies have magically craptastic QA standards in comparison to Turbine.

As others have said...relax. Go play outside with your action figures and nerf guns before summer is completely over. You know nothing of the server architecture, game code or any other technical functions of the LOTRO worlds. MMO games are undoubtedly complex beyond your comprehension, so your "just turn off Minas Gil" solution is likely no solution at all.

Anyway...enough with the downtime flames. Its not that bad, relatively speaking...and you *can* live without the servers for a little while. Turbine gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me in the ~2 years or so that I've been playing this game.

[lestat86]

For all you turbine apologists out there. Are you kidding me? You're a paying customer (mostly), you're NOT getting what you're paying for. You're not getting good service. You're NOT getting what you were promised when you ponied up your money. And frankly you haven't been for weeks. Turbine has been screwing the pooch for several weeks now b4 the launch and since f2p launch many things about the game have been brutally horrid. Lag spikes, rubberbanding, skills not WAI, bugs to instances they supposedly tested and tested and tested. I've been here through ever major launch and this is by far the worst. I never had lag and wait times to get in like this with any other launch, even at ridiculously odd times of the day. And that's just here in America. From what I've read there's been tremendous delays of the launch overseas. Why? Because Turbine can't get their **** right.

As paying customers we have every right to be unhappy and gripe and complain about the poor service and bad product. And we have every right to expect answers to what's happening and not lies about phantom internet issues.

The game was working just fine b4 they dropped the worlds and there's no reason, like others have said, not to just turn off that one area and leave the rest up and running.

And btw, this company isn't Cryptic so stop being so DAMN CRYPTIC about what's going on. Just admit you fubared things, tell us what's going on, apologize and let us know about how long the system will be down so we can go do other things.

Get your **** together Turbine!! WE'RE PAYING YOU TO GIVE US A GOOD GAME!

[Asroknight]

Ridiculous. Not Turbine, but the users on this forum.

I understand you're frustrated, but sh- happens. The servers aren't down THAT much and when they are it's understandable considering this F2P thing just launched. One thing I've noticed, is that users here will flip from being all praising to right down hateful when there's a downtime. Sad.

Find something else to do in the meantime or at the very least, act a little more mature and respectful regarding the situation.

I dont understand why you people keep telling me to do something else.

It's my money i choose to pay for this game. I do not choose what days they patch. i do not choose what times they patch. i do not choose what days i get off from work. But i do choose when i want to play and that time is now.

It does not matter what MMO you play people always have opinions about everybody else. opinions are like arm pits, Everybody has 2.

Can you please stop telling me that i should be doing other things. I do not want to go to Starbucks, nor do i want to go outside and get some sun, and no i don't want to go to mars. I want to play a Game that i pay for.


Thanks for listening