An idea how to patching nicely ...

[pr0ger]

There is a few thing who are constantly annoying when it's "patch time" :
- rollback issue
- is-online server checking
- mass log-in

So :
Can you, officially, say if there will be a rollback with the patch, and which backup will be used ?
(example : patch at 8PM uk time, rollback expected starting from 3pm uk time)

In the starting window, can you make a "queue system" even if the server is offline, the queue system will prompt if the server is up or down (front server or shard stuff also), and update it automatically ?

In a near future, when tons of people would login, if they do all at the same time, it could be hard for the servers, so a small queue system would be nice (maybe it's already the case ?)

[jlehmann]

I agree. It would be nice to know if the servers are down and when they're back up again. I have no idea if the patching has been completed already.

[linkzero]

Generally speaking rollback is only required in case something has gone wrong (media failure, massive user errors, database error etc).

A rollback is not part of the patching (unless the patching itself goes wrong), and not something that will be done everytime they patch
this game.

[drcole22]

rollback is probably only an issue when an exploit is found and correct. which is fair enough. I'm happy knowing that no-one has an unfair advantage and that those that find one are dealt with.

[selyf]

In many other games, there is a tech support forum category where a sys admin posts when a server was brought down (date and time in GMT), when it was brought up again (date and time GMT), and notes any dramatic features, such as if a rollback occurred.

Now I realize that SOR sys admins are probably going crazy with servers that go down on their own all the time, but getting a little procedure going is an important tool for getting a handle on a situation that seems out of control.

[ozric]

... with servers that go down on their own all the time,

When has this happened ?

[Nirvy]

In many other games, there is a tech support forum category where a sys admin posts when a server was brought down (date and time in GMT), when it was brought up again (date and time GMT), and notes any dramatic features, such as if a rollback occurred.

Now I realize that SOR sys admins are probably going crazy with servers that go down on their own all the time, but getting a little procedure going is an important tool for getting a handle on a situation that seems out of control.

Huh when have they gone down on their own?

In the 3 weeks i have been playing i think i have seen the servers down 3 or 4 times, and most were patches

[pr0ger]

Servers don't get down on their own. But it seems that sometimes, when servers are patched, there is "bad surprise" and servers can't be restarted on time.



Yeah another idea of patching procedure :
- doing it on regular schedule. This is surprising when you get a "motd : server shut down now. please exit". Let's say : "every patch will be applied at 5PM, if any." so players will plan to have a break at 5PM. If there is no patches, that's fine.
This is also interesting when we make in-game event. We'll never make an event at 5PM because of "server downtime risk" .

What about urgent patch (like gameplay issue / exploit) ? Make announcement in-game and in this forum that next patch will involve a rollback, and repeat it every 30 min in-game until 5PM. People will "have fun" during this time

What about very urgent patch (memory leak, DoS risk) oh well...