Yeah this is a simple version of what I was going to say. Add on to that that there would basically be a time when the first region upgraded couldn't play with anyone else in the world outside their region.

And then, even further: what happens when maintenance takes longer than expected? Instead of the whole process for upgrading all servers taking a few hours it could take 24-48 hours depending on the unexpected extra time. Not only is that not ideal for international matchmaking but it also makes the server team's job much more arduous.

And this is why I posed such questions :D

And then, even further: what happens when maintenance takes longer than expected? Instead of the whole process for upgrading all servers taking a few hours it could take 24-48 hours depending on the unexpected extra time. Not only is that not ideal for international matchmaking but it also makes the server team's job much more arduous.

Bro 2: Sounds good, I just put my kids to bed so I can play for a few hours. It must be early morning for you. I just got into Destiny.

Bro 1: Yeah man, I've got a few errands to run today, but Saturday morning is gaming time. Hey, I see you online, but I can't join you.

Bro 2: Yeah, same here. That's weird. Fix ur code Bungle!

Not a full rebuttal, but a situation I imagine occurring. Especially when the user-expectation has been that friends can always play with friends. Global server down-time may not be ideal, but it is immediately understandable by the user.

Every MMO-esque game I've ever had meaningful contact with, barring self-hosted server ones, had mandatory downtime occasionally. Destiny is no exception. Very likely most of the code changes are not in the clients, but on the server side. It's not worth their time to add much much more time on their end to administer a much more complex system, rather than have a small amount of downtime each week. I'm sure everyone can agree it's not ideal.

So many games do this that there is no way that this is a simple fix. To suggest it's just laziness is missing the mark.

I by no means think they are lazy, I myself am a Software Engineer and I know about complexity in software. I was just wondering the thought process of choosing an across the board upgrade of servers as oppose to by region.

In my mind the two ways to do this would be:

1. Do it across the board at US convenience
Downside: but inconvenience certain regions because of when it happens

2. Do it by region at regions convenience
Downside: Different version/regions couldn't match together until all regions were updated (should never be more than 24 hours)

So many games do this that there is no way that this is a simple fix. To suggest it's just laziness is missing the mark.

Couldn't they just shift the time based on the server? I mean, they don't apply it to every server at once do they? I understand the consequences... for 12-24 hours every week, the version would be different on the servers so you wouldn't be able to play with those people...

I guess it's just not worth the effort.

Yeah I imagine that'd be a bigger headache since you can play with people on different servers in different regions. With something more simple (like a file server) that's not a big deal because it doesn't really matter what version the server you're connecting to is, but with a game that could get really complicated. I'm sure it's possible, but man I wouldn't want to be in charge of programming the code to let the servers and clients handle that well.

Sounds like they'd just have to add a version check. (says the oversimplifying dogcow)

Couldn't they just shift the time based on the server? I mean, they don't apply it to every server at once do they? I understand the consequences... for 12-24 hours every week, the version would be different on the servers so you wouldn't be able to play with those people...

I guess it's just not worth the effort.

Yeah I imagine that'd be a bigger headache since you can play with people on different servers in different regions. With something more simple (like a file server) that's not a big deal because it doesn't really matter what version the server you're connecting to is, but with a game that could get really complicated. I'm sure it's possible, but man I wouldn't want to be in charge of programming the code to let the servers and clients handle that well.

Yeah, but how is a version number any different than say a console type?
If Player1.version != Player2.Version OR Player1.ConsoleType != Player2.ConsoleType
Then don't match them together

It's just one more logic statement. I'm also entrenched in code right now so this is how my brain is working.

Couldn't they just shift the time based on the server? I mean, they don't apply it to every server at once do they? I understand the consequences... for 12-24 hours every week, the version would be different on the servers so you wouldn't be able to play with those people...

I guess it's just not worth the effort.

Yeah I imagine that'd be a bigger headache since you can play with people on different servers in different regions. With something more simple (like a file server) that's not a big deal because it doesn't really matter what version the server you're connecting to is, but with a game that could get really complicated. I'm sure it's possible, but man I wouldn't want to be in charge of programming the code to let the servers and clients handle that well.

IIRC, EvE Online, for example, has a daily scheduled downtime, but it's usually less than an hour.

Correct. It's usually only a few minutes. I think they just restart things most of the time. It's also in the middle of the night, at least for people near my time zone.

That's the real struggle right there, they are always going to impact someone. We actually have it pretty good in the US since the updates are usually when the average person is either at work or in school. In most of Europe it's right around when they get out of school or work.

Couldn't they just shift the time based on the server? I mean, they don't apply it to every server at once do they? I understand the consequences... for 12-24 hours every week, the version would be different on the servers so you wouldn't be able to play with those people...

I guess it's just not worth the effort.

IIRC, EvE Online, for example, has a daily scheduled downtime, but it's usually less than an hour.

Correct. It's usually only a few minutes. I think they just restart things most of the time. It's also in the middle of the night, at least for people near my time zone.

That's the real struggle right there, they are always going to impact someone. We actually have it pretty good in the US since the updates are usually when the average person is either at work or in school. In most of Europe it's right around when they get out of school or work.

Have they missed a week yet? Also, I'm not terribly annoyed by it, just slightly vexed by the length of them, given the frequency.

Just checked, they have not. They are not always 7 days between them (sometimes more, sometimes less) but one has happened during each week since launch.

IIRC, EvE Online, for example, has a daily scheduled downtime, but it's usually less than an hour.

Correct. It's usually only a few minutes. I think they just restart things most of the time. It's also in the middle of the night, at least for people near my time zone.

Did D1 take this long to apply its patches? I honestly don't remember how long the downtimes lasted.

Have they missed a week yet? Also, I'm not terribly annoyed by it, just slightly vexed by the length of them, given the frequency.

IIRC, EvE Online, for example, has a daily scheduled downtime, but it's usually less than an hour.

You realize that's that several hours a week, right?

IIRC, EvE Online, for example, has a daily scheduled downtime, but it's usually less than an hour.