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Scheduled Maintenance (January 20, 2012)

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited January 2012 in Galactic News Network [PC]
We will be bringing down the shard for a restart on Friday, January 20th from 8:00AM to 9:00AM PST (1600 to 1700 UTC). We will provide an update when this is complete.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    YAY!!! Daily Maimtenance!!!

    Will we get Dilithium for completing the Maintance Daily mission now?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Somebody's taking the micky now! :confused: STO seems to need more maintenance than a 50 year old car
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    It appears cryptic can't even keep its basic server architecture together. clearly somebody wasn't doing their job and actually planning and testing for issues that would end up showing up when free to play hit

    good example of why I have zero faith cryptic anymore. you don't see these kinds of problems from professional mmo developers. why? because they work this stuff out beforehand

    2 emergency maintenances in less than 2 days is unacceptable
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    It definately needs it i either get bad lag every 10 seconds or get disconnected every minute now... its been gradually getting worse I'd recommend taking it down right now and fixing it to avoid the much needed maintenance.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Rhodes85 wrote: »
    It appears cryptic can't even keep its basic server architecture together. clearly somebody wasn't doing their job and actually planning and testing for issues that would end up showing up when free to play hit

    Know how I know you've never worked in network engineering or data center engineering?

    The next time engineers perfectly predict what traffic loads will be and what issues will arise -- without any hard data about the number of users that will come on board -- will be the first time engineers perfectly predict what traffic loads will be and what issues will arise.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Lesson learned long ago in EQ1 - patch (and maintenance) happens.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Know how I know you've never worked in network engineering or data center engineering?

    really? thats funny, last time I checked I have a degree in it.
    The next time engineers perfectly predict what traffic loads will be and what issues will arise -- without any hard data about the number of users that will come on board -- will be the first time engineers perfectly predict what traffic loads will be and what issues will arise.

    oh really now? REALLY?

    it may come as some surprise to you then that internal testing is supposed to be done beforehand. particularly capacity testing, latency testing and testing to see if the hardware you're using in itself is up to the task of handling the general load you are expecting it to have. have you not heard of logical estimates? when you've got a system setup like cryptic has it shouldn't be that hard to get a general idea of its capacity or its limitations. there were considerable problems with lag, timeouts and all that unpleasant stuff long before now - going back to beta. so you can't tell me they had no idea what they were getting into.

    the current situation is very strong evidence that cryptic was not ready, in terms of its infrastructure and hardware to open the floodgates. they were having enough problems with it before. it would have been far better to delay the transition and set themselves up properly to handle it. as it stands, this is just another indication of poor judgement on cryptics part. they dropped the ball
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Could be worse, Champions Online is going through an emergency maintenance right now.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Rhodes85 wrote: »
    really? thats funny, last time I checked I have a degree in it.
    That doesn't invalidate my remark. Have you actually worked in the field? Degrees mean nothing without real world experience.
    oh really now? REALLY?

    it may come as some surprise to you then that internal testing is supposed to be done beforehand. particularly capacity testing, latency testing and testing to see if the hardware you're using in itself is up to the task of handling the general load you are expecting it to have. have you not heard of logical estimates? when you've got a system setup like cryptic has it shouldn't be that hard to get a general idea of its capacity or its limitations. there were considerable problems with lag, timeouts and all that unpleasant stuff long before now - going back to beta. so you can't tell me they had no idea what they were getting into.
    First of all, you can do all the traffic simulations, etc. you like; it's no substitute for actual traffic/usage.

    Second, there is NO way to accurately predict the number of F2P subs. There just isn't. Best any engineer can do is SWAG it.

    Third, the assertion that STO has had "considerable" problems with lag, timeouts, etc. since beta is based on...what? Your experience? Google "anecdotal evidence." Based on a number of forum posts? Again, Google "anecdotal evidence."

    I virtually never have lag or connectivity issues. There have been a few isolated incidents, but nothing like you describe. Of course, that's anecdotal evidence too.
    the current situation is very strong evidence that cryptic was not ready, in terms of its infrastructure and hardware to open the floodgates. they were having enough problems with it before. it would have been far better to delay the transition and set themselves up properly to handle it. as it stands, this is just another indication of poor judgement on cryptics part. they dropped the ball
    If you want to believe that, you can, but all you really have is a couple of emergency maintenance episodes and the fact that they've been doing daily early morning updates. You could be right, or you could be way off base. You don't actually know WHAT the issues have been.

    But I suppose that doesn't fit your narrative.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    The good thing about the maintenance is that I finish work right when it ends :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    They forgot to change the warp coil plasma inductors, while the triphasing device is getting a full reboot. Probably they remembered to repair the transphasic modulators in the subspace macrofield generator.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Rhodes85 wrote: »
    really? thats funny, last time I checked I have a degree in it.
    it may come as some surprise to you then that internal testing is supposed to be done beforehand. particularly capacity testing, latency testing and testing to see if the hardware you're using in itself is up to the task of handling the general load you are expecting it to have. have you not heard of logical estimates? when you've got a system setup like cryptic has it shouldn't be that hard to get a general idea of its capacity or its limitations. there were considerable problems with lag, timeouts and all that unpleasant stuff long before now - going back to beta. so you can't tell me they had no idea what they were getting into.

    There's also the matter that whoever is deciding budget allocations likely said "We will pay only for so much hardware upgrades and no more", so the capacity may not have expanded as much as the demand load has.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    FredCasden wrote:
    The good thing about the maintenance is that I finish work right when it ends :D

    See I thought that yesterday... then the snapped in a bonus one after I had startedan elite STF. Moaning, well a little bt, but if I had any sense I would have bailed on that mission rather than facing the inevitable defeat of the server going down whilst that rotten b***h Dontara was hiding on 20% health!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Rhodes85 wrote: »
    really? thats funny, last time I checked I have a degree in it.

    As do I as well as 25 or so years of hands on IT experience (from back in the RG58 cable and token ring days) - and from your comments you could have fooled me.

    oh really now? REALLY?

    it may come as some surprise to you then that internal testing is supposed to be done beforehand. particularly capacity testing, latency testing and testing to see if the hardware you're using in itself is up to the task of handling the general load you are expecting it to have. have you not heard of logical estimates? when you've got a system setup like cryptic has it shouldn't be that hard to get a general idea of its capacity or its limitations. there were considerable problems with lag, timeouts and all that unpleasant stuff long before now - going back to beta. so you can't tell me they had no idea what they were getting into.

    the current situation is very strong evidence that cryptic was not ready, in terms of its infrastructure and hardware to open the floodgates. they were having enough problems with it before. it would have been far better to delay the transition and set themselves up properly to handle it. as it stands, this is just another indication of poor judgement on cryptics part. they dropped the ball

    If you've ever worked in te REAL woorld with regard to Enterprise networks, internal teting can get you some usable data; but if once you open it to the real world if you get more traffic (which is good in the long run) then expected, you expand and tweak as you go, and that's probably what's occuring here.

    They've had a couple of small unexpected server dumps since F2P went fully public, but overall, the servers have been stable for the vast majority of users (myself included - aka to lag issues or disconnection issues. It's not a flawless launch, but overall given (by the number of active ESD SFA and other instances, they've seen a 10 fold increase in usage at peak times, they have done fairly well.

    Again, if you know your expected load (IE you're working in a closed corporate enviroment and know the amount of users/devvices to expect) - internal load testing is easier. When you're dealing with just allowing the world at large to come banging on your metwork, it's harder to predict what your server load will be.

    Cryptic certainly has done better than SOE did recently with their F2P launch of DCUO.

    But hey, they can't win in either case as I'm sure had they not had load issues, you'd claim it's because they didn't get a lot of new players, etc; and going F2P was a big mistake.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    krtr wrote:
    They forgot to change the warp coil plasma inductors, while the triphasing device is getting a full reboot. Probably they remembered to repair the transphasic modulators in the subspace macrofield generator.
    That's crazy! You can't do that without first recalibrating the Theta-Matrix Compositor using rebooted Heisenberg Compensators.
    Otherwise this would create a failure in the Space Matrix Restoration Coil which would in turn shortcircuit the Main Stage Flux Chiller, blowing up Cryptic Headquarters in its entirety.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    stop spending all the money u making thu cash shop on developing other cash shop items and fix servers stop with the stop gap repairs will help.if u gonna do maintence every do do it in middle of nite not in muiddle of day.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    oh how i love those forum posts with kids fighting each other.. looks like someone has nothing else to do.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    sidfu wrote: »
    stop spending all the money u making thu cash shop on developing other cash shop items and fix servers stop with the stop gap repairs will help.if u gonna do maintence every do do it in middle of nite not in muiddle of day.
    It is night/early morning where the servers are located.
    Cryptic's statistics have shown this time of day to be the time with the least amount of players online.

    So if you want maintenance to be done at a different time, get lots and lots of your European friends to play STO.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    spidey1980 wrote: »
    So if you want maintenance to be done at a different time, get lots and lots of your European friends to play STO.

    That's really not a fair thing to say, and you know it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    But it's the truth. The only way to get Cryptic to shift maintenance times is to get more people to play during 1100 to 1700 UTC.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Their normal Maintenance times are fine for most of Europe, children are at school and adults are at work so i don't see the problem. If they shifted it to something like 8pm GMT then I would not be happy.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    The thing is, servers are usually still down for another two hours when I come home after work. Unfortunately, that's exactly the time where I'd want to play in order to relax and clear my head a little.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Again?! I guess my sarcastic comment about the 486 DX33 servers is actually true then... Cryptic it may be time to use the Cstore income and buy some new servers that don't need an hour long reboot everyday you know.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    We will be bringing down the shard for a restart on Friday, January 20th from 8:00AM to 9:00AM PST (1600 to 1700 UTC). We will provide an update when this is complete.

    have they fixed the eternal time warp bug now so 1600 - 1700 utc means 1700-1800 CET?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    yeah daily downtime, thats how you run a mmo!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Daily maintenance is not new for an mmo. I believe Eve takes 30 minutes every day at the same time. While we may have been use to 3 hours every Thursday or once a week. I believe they are still need to improve the process a bit. If you think about it they did manage to make it only an hour window today. Hopefully they figured out enough from the emergency maintenance to avoid those issues again.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Rob_mc_1 wrote: »
    Daily maintenance is not new for an mmo. I believe Eve takes 30 minutes every day at the same time. While we may have been use to 3 hours every Thursday or once a week. I believe they are still need to improve the process a bit. If you think about it they did manage to make it only an hour window today. Hopefully they figured out enough from the emergency maintenance to avoid those issues again.

    eve does a restart everyday, but eve is a different monster allltogether and no relevance to sto
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    ...and to all the new captains that started playing STO since F2P launch: yes, this is what we paid for the last 2 years. maybe you should reconsider and spend a monthly fee for a real game. this is what i will do
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Eh.. **** happens, I suppose.

    Although what I find slightly baffling is that I had no stability problems whatsoever after the initial F2P patches at the start of the week. It's only 2 performance patches later that I've seen any issues. :confused:

    Well, with any luck this'll sort it out.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    You guys are awfully harsh for STO being down for *one* hour this day during the week of F2P. Yes, it's been undergoing maintenance almost every day, but would you rather have an unannounced and unexpected server crash that takes several hours to get back on? No thanks, I remember Series 3 from February 2011 all too well.

    STO is dealing with the largest numbers of players it has ever had thanks to F2P launch and I've been happy with how stable things have been. It was orders of magnitude rougher during the game's launch two years ago and it seems the F2P preparation and server upgrades have not been in vain.
This discussion has been closed.