Extended maintenance, please explain blizzard

It's extended because it's lasting a bit longer than normal?

I know everyone always wants to know the hows and the whys of maintenance. We do what we can to minimize downtime, but there are just some cases in which we need to take a bit more time to make sure that the databases are functioning properly and that all of our hardware is working properly.

At this point, you're going to have to trust that what we're doing is for the benefit of making sure everyone is able to get in good playtime when the realms are back up and available.

I'd just like to ask that if people wish to discuss this, they use one thread for it rather than posting many threads on the same topic, and that they please abide by the code of conduct.

For those that may have missed the announcement in the Breaking News (when you attempt to login to the game) or the sticky at the top of the forum the maintenance message reads-

Q u o t e:
January 28th, 2008 1:57pm PST

We will be performing extended maintenance for all realms on Tuesday, January 29th. The downtime will begin at 3:00am PST and end at approximately 11:00am PST.

Thank you,

Blizzard Entertainment

For those curious about the different time zones and what time it is where, here is a handy link to current times all over the world.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Q u o t e:
Is going past 11 that much farther than normal?

Being in Arizona, I usually expect the realms to be up around noon on tuesdays.

That is what I'm continuing to see today? What's the difference?

Did the realms go down early instead? I was busy sleeping, apologies if I fail to see the rage this maintenance causes.

We started a bit earlier than normal but we anticipate having the realms back up at our normal time of 11:00am PST.

We go by PST since that is the timezone we work in. If we start giving EST, then people will want to see CST added, and then they will want Mountain added on etc. This way, the time posting is simple and clear.

Q u o t e:


Honestly.

It's amazing that people seem to think the servers are managed and maintained by the power of unicorns and love. They NEVER require maintenance!

Whoa. Who told you about the unicorns? :( We're going to have to reconsider everything now.

Q u o t e:


WHY DO YOU GUYS EVEN RESPOND TO THESE POSTS?

You're dignifying them with an answer when the answer is clear and already well-known.

Stop answering and eventually people will stop asking/demanding.

Because despite the best hopes that people will eventually stop asking, they haven't after all these years. ;)

It also doesn't hurt to explain a little for those that are new and don't understand how things work as well.

Q u o t e:
I think I missed it somewhere, but wasn't Blizzard going to shift to an "every other week" maintenence schedule, with the in-between weeks being rolling restarts? I remember that starting, but did it just not work out?

What we said was that we would start performing rolling restarts when we felt we were able. There was no guarantee of rolling restarts as being the norm.

Q u o t e:


but neth, the only time you do the rolling restarts on a tuesday is when its a public holiday in the USA/cali. if you as in blizzard can allow the servers to survive for 2 weeks with nothing but server restarts, why cant you then just actualy stick to that schedule of every 2nd week patch dependant being a rolling restart. because as it has been since 2.3 was released its really been extended maintenance except for christmas and new years

We've done it other times as well and will continue to do what we can to use rolling starts when it's feasible.