How does one know when downtime is.....

[Mellkor]

Is it possible to easily find out information on downtime when it is extended when you don't have access to the DDO website during the downtime? Is there an alternate site or something like that where this kind of info is available during downtimes?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-JR

[Elspethalta]

Twitter

[Cairo]

Is it possible to easily find out information on downtime when it is extended when you don't have access to the DDO website during the downtime? Is there an alternate site or something like that where this kind of info is available during downtimes?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-JR

Unless you follow them on Twitter, and they take 5 seconds to update the downtime...

then no, there's no other way to know.

And it's stupid.


Horrible, stupid, ******** decision to take the game and the forums down at the same time.

Blizzard did that when WoW was first up, IIRC, and they caught so much flak for it that they make the effort to not do that anymore.. least, they did last time i played.

[Tarrant]

When we bring the forums down, the launcher will usually be available and have updates to the game. If DDO.com comes down then the launcher will not be available, but we will do everything we can to not bring DDO.com down at the same time as the forums and game. If for some reason we do have to do that, follow us on twitter.

Edited to correct my statement.

[Mockduck]

I would follow DDOReports on Twitter, Ustice rules when it comes to up-to-the-minute staying on top of this stuff.

[Kalanth]

We update the game's launcher with downtime announcements and extensions, so in the rare circumstances when we pull the forums and websites down at the same time as the game, you can see updates on the launcher.

Just to let you know that today, during the length of the downtime I went to check to launcher for an update and it was down as well.

[Cairo]

Just to let you know that today, during the length of the downtime I went to check to launcher for an update and it was down as well.

same here, all morning. Not a single word.

[Tarrant]

Just to let you know that today, during the length of the downtime I went to check to launcher for an update and it was down as well.


same here, all morning. Not a single word.

Looks like I had that a little wrong, and sorry for the misinformation.

Now, correctly this time: When we bring the forums down, the launcher will usually be available. If DDO.com comes down then the launcher will not be available, but we will do everything we can to not bring DDO.com down at the same time as the forums and game. If for some reason we do have to do that, follow us on twitter. :)

[Borror0]

I would follow DDOReports on Twitter, Ustice rules when it comes to up-to-the-minute staying on top of this stuff.
Maybe, but don't bother adding him to your IM. It's not helpful at all.

Borror0 dit (08:20) :
*Is the forums downtime scheduled?
Ustice dit (08:25) :
*I think that it is maintenance.

[Cairo]

Looks like I had that a little wrong, and sorry for the misinformation.

Now, correctly this time: When we bring the forums down, the launcher will usually be available. If DDO.com comes down then the launcher will not be available, but we will do everything we can to not bring DDO.com down at the same time as the forums and game. If for some reason we do have to do that, follow us on twitter. :)


That's all well and good, T, but Turbine's twitter page had two updates: Yes, the LOTRO forums are down for scheduled maintenance. We'll have them up as soon as possible. Hang in there! ;) at 11:15ish, and All of our websites are down right now for bi-weekly maintenance (usually every other Monday). Uptime ETA 1PM Eastern. at 12:51pm.

2 updates, one which gave no actual update on downtime, and the other, which gave a blatant LIE on downtime, as 40 minutes later (30 minutes after the update claimed servers would be up), the announcement came out that extended it till 2:30pm.



Following on twitter is useless if you guys arent going to 1) be honest and 2) actually update it with information when needed.

[Tarrant]

Following on twitter is useless if you guys arent going to 1) be honest and 2) actually update it with information when needed.

That's fair. Correctly updating Twitter during downtimes is now a priority of mine, thanks for the criticism.

[Cairo]

That's fair. Correctly updating Twitter during downtimes is now a priority of mine, thanks for the criticism.

Dont get me wrong, I like Turbine as people, I dislike Turbine's business practices, but I think you personally do a good job here. All I'm saying is, the thought DID enter my head that "What if they just never bring them back up?", and with no word for hours and hours, that thought gained ground, and now, every time the servers go down, and stay down past their normal time, I'll wonder.

And I know im not alone.

[Tanka]

I have both Turbine and DDOReports followed on Twitter.

I saw no updates to the maintenance window on either.

[GoldyGopher]

That's fair. Correctly updating Twitter during downtimes is now a priority of mine, thanks for the criticism.

How about Facebook as well?

[Memnir]

The best way to know if there will be a delay in any downtime is to expect it. Whenever Turbine (or any game company, to be fair) posts a time frame for downtime, I always add an additional 50% of what they say the downtime will be on the end of it. If they say it'll be four hours, I expect six - and so on. So far, I've been pretty accurate with that method of forecasting.

[Ustice]

I haven't been updating on Maintenance, just because it seemed like everyone would be aware of it, and it felt like I would be polluting people's streams. I can do that if people want.

That being said, I don't have a special line to status updates (other than the announcement feed that you see when you log into the game), so if there are no updates, I can't report them.

[Mockduck]

I haven't been updating on Maintenance, just because it seemed like everyone would be aware of it, and it felt like I would be polluting people's streams. I can do that if people want.

That being said, I don't have a special line to status updates (other than the announcement feed that you see when you log into the game), so if there are no updates, I can't report them.

I understand. I recall thinking "Glad Ustice's doing it, cuz there's no way I'm willing to do it on DDOcast.com!" :) It's too much hassle, to be honest. I guess what I should have said was that you tend to keep your Twitter feed pretty darn current with downtimes and the like, much more so than me or Turbine.

[Ustice]

The other thing is that I would expect Turbine to handle that on their feed. (I'd suggest adding a DDO-specific Twitter feed for this sort of thing.) I generally avoid retweeting too much, since if you are following both feeds it just duplicates info.

If people want that, then I can do it, but I haven't in the past.

[Tanka]

Most of Turbine's tweets seem to be LOTRO-related, with a couple DDO tweets now and then, and the very very seldom AC2 tweet.

Having a DDO account would be nice, but probably not as useful as having an overarching Turbine account like they do now.

[Ustice]

As someone who is subscribed to a LOT of feeds, I completely disagree with you, Tanka. Feeds that provide info that I am not interested in a generally pruned. As you mentioned, DDO info from @Turbine is RARE, and there have been several occasions where I was tempted to remove it for that reason.

The thing that makes it most difficult doing what I do, is filtering information. Even though I have crafted my feed to be filtered, there are a lot of false positives, and I know just how time-consuming that can be. I REALLY don't envy whomever at Turbine has to monitor DDO mentions on Twitter.

If anyone has suggestions on how I can improve my info feed, send me a message on Twitter via @ddoreports.

[DragonKiller]

How about those of us who think that Twitter is almost the dumbest thing ever thought up? :mad:

Also is it a good idea to depend on another company, who can be targeted for DDOS attacks - Twitter DDoS Attack Politically Motivated, Says Report (http://www.pcworld.com/article/169809/twitter_ddos_attack_politically_motivated_says_rep ort.html) at almost any time?

Just saying that updating your "Site is down for Maintenance" page with information on it might be a better idea.

[Ustice]

You make a good point there. That page should have info. EVERYTHING redirects there. Having a Twitter update is nice too (same with Facebook). Having a public link to the log-in news feed would be nice too.

[Fenrisulven6]

[shrug] I knew there was scheduled downtime. When I tried to access the game after the scheduled downtime it was still down. So I assumed the techs were still working on it and would have us up and playing as soon as they could.

No biggie. Got some work done to diplo wifey aggro.

[Naash]

That's fair. Correctly updating Twitter during downtimes is now a priority of mine, thanks for the criticism.

Is there anything preventing you from putting up a blurb on Turbine.com?

[Velexia]

I never thought that it was so serious... I mean, they take the site down early in the morning. Get some stuff done around the house, go grocery shopping, sleep! read a book =)

It'll be back, it's not that serious ^_^