Quote:We would like to thank all our customers for their continued support of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Since the beginning of official service on August 27, 2013, the number of users attempting to access the game has significantly exceeded our initial estimates. While we are pleased to see support for the game reach far beyond our expectations, the servers were not prepared to handle this influx of players. As a result, our servers have been pushed beyond maximum capacity. In order to allow access to as many users as possible, we have implemented login and character creation restrictions. We understand, however, that these restrictions have greatly inconvenienced our players.

To resolve this issue, we will be performing maintenance from September 3, 2013, at 5:00 p.m. to September 4, 2013, at 3:00 a.m (PDT), for the purpose of increasing the number of available Worlds, reducing stress on the Duty Finder servers, and increasing the number of concurrent logins allowed for each server.

Because login and character creation restrictions have hindered our ability to provide quality service, all FINAL FANTASY XIV service accounts will receive an additional seven days of free play time. Furthermore, users who have yet to enter their registration codes will receive an additional seven-day trial should they register before 11:59 p.m. (PDT) on September 9, 2013. Moving forward, we will continue monitoring the servers to ensure that quality service and support are provided in a timely manner.

The additional seven days will be reflected on service accounts after maintenance has concluded on September 4, 2013, which can be confirmed by accessing the FINAL FANTASY XIV: Mog Station.(http://sqex.to/Msp)

We thank you again for your patience and understanding as we continue to address these issues, and look forward to your continued support of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.

(09-03-2013, 10:47 AM)Asyria Wrote: What kind of maintenance hours is that? o_O
Oh well.. at least hey ARE increasing server capacity and not just the amount of servers. That will certainly help us.

(09-03-2013, 12:29 PM)Lost River Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 10:47 AM)Asyria Wrote: What kind of maintenance hours is that? o_O
Oh well.. at least hey ARE increasing server capacity and not just the amount of servers. That will certainly help us.

It's because they're doing it remotely from Japan. That time is 10:00 AM JP - 8:00 PM JP.

(09-03-2013, 01:13 PM)Asyria Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 12:29 PM)Lost River Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 10:47 AM)Asyria Wrote: What kind of maintenance hours is that? o_O
Oh well.. at least hey ARE increasing server capacity and not just the amount of servers. That will certainly help us.

It's because they're doing it remotely from Japan. That time is 10:00 AM JP - 8:00 PM JP.

True, but my question still stands.
10 AM is a late hour to start and 8PM is late to finish. Most companies start as early as possible so they can expect to be done when people come back from work/school or at least after dinner.

(09-03-2013, 01:18 PM)Lost River Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 01:13 PM)Asyria Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 12:29 PM)Lost River Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 10:47 AM)Asyria Wrote: What kind of maintenance hours is that? o_O
Oh well.. at least hey ARE increasing server capacity and not just the amount of servers. That will certainly help us.

It's because they're doing it remotely from Japan. That time is 10:00 AM JP - 8:00 PM JP.

True, but my question still stands.
10 AM is a late hour to start and 8PM is late to finish. Most companies start as early as possible so they can expect to be done when people come back from work/school or at least after dinner.

This... is Square Enix we're talking about though. :3

(09-03-2013, 03:17 PM)Lost River Wrote: Mmn, it's more complicated than that, they're doing the upgrade digitally remotely, the physical changing of a server is being done in the US. It's a combination of both. Hence the long hours.

For example, Funcom has multi-national servers that their server nodes are all over the world including the US. Bouncing the server capacity across the seas to allow someone to exist on the same server as the other without sacrificing isn't something different. They're just linking across the world.

(09-03-2013, 03:24 PM)lady2beetle Wrote:

(09-03-2013, 03:17 PM)Lost River Wrote: Mmn, it's more complicated than that, they're doing the upgrade digitally remotely, the physical changing of a server is being done in the US. It's a combination of both. Hence the long hours.

For example, Funcom has multi-national servers that their server nodes are all over the world including the US. Bouncing the server capacity across the seas to allow someone to exist on the same server as the other without sacrificing isn't something different. They're just linking across the world.

That makes sense. I've always wondered if the US data center is on the west coast because they really like to post updates in PDT time.

However, it seems to me that this answers the question about 'why then'. You would theoretically want to do it at night, for the US and UK. To me, starting at 5 PDT is early, not late, because it starts right at prime time. However, if they are also having to handle the update from Japan, you wouldn't want it any later. So, this is probably their best attempt at a compromise for both groups of employees.

(09-03-2013, 10:47 AM)Asyria Wrote: What kind of maintenance hours is that? o_O
Oh well.. at least hey ARE increasing server capacity and not just the amount of servers. That will certainly help us.

(09-03-2013, 08:37 PM)Lost River Wrote: They should do it during the midnight hour where every person is a coffin. I wonder who will get the reference.