Server Idea

[Dedamage]

Blizzard should make Duplicate Servers. One week use Server 1 for each realm and the next week use Server 2. In the meantime, while Server 1 is down do the maintenance or patch content. I assume there are some servers out there, that are so dead, it would not hurt for them to offer transfers off or merge servers and use the server that is emptied for the number 2 Server. This would really maximize my game play. All it would take is a 15 minute restart and some minor coding. This would also allow them to be more preemptive towards fixes and patches instead of just shutting it all down and keeping me from playing the game I pay to play.

[frequency]

So let me get this straight...
You want blizzard to double it's server farm due to 8 - 12 hours of patch time every couple of weeks?

[-Superman-]

At $30K per server, and close to 2K servers currently running to support all BattleNet operations, they would increase our monthly sub to help pay for the extra Datacenter space, power, hardware, maintenance, and other costs involved. Essentially doubling their expenses and their footprint. And they would pass that cost on to us.

No thanks. I would rather deal with maintenance.

[Dedamage]

Absolutely.

[Otimus]

It's much cheaper to just inconvenience players for a few hours. The amount of people they'd make happy by doing this is just way too small. Though, I don't play any other modern MMOs, I often wonder how their maintenance compares to WoW's. Does anyone know?

[frequency]

All it would take is a 15 minute restart and some minor coding.

First off there is no such thing as "minor coding" in a project the size and scope of WoW.
Second How do you know what gets done during weekly maintenance that would even allow this to be feasible?

[Spikebebop]

Not cost-effective. Working as intended.

[Hyve]

I'm honestly glad you don't run a company, and even more so that you don't work for Blizzard. What a ridiculous idea!

[-Superman-]

All it would take is a 15 minute restart and some minor coding.

It takes almost 30 minutes to stop all operations on a server, an undefined amount of time to resolve any coding issues or apply patching, and another 15 minutes to power back up into the platform, and then another 20-50 minutes to bring all applications back online and verify them. Having worked in a DataCenter before, it is much more than just turning a PC tower off and on.

[Deleted]

I don't play WoW 24/7, you should try too.

[Dedamage]

For the mere $113,000,000 dollars (roughly) that Blizzard (Activision) made last year. The cost of 2,000 new servers would take them 1/2 a year to refund their losses. I assume at a 10 million Player Base, they would be interested in pleasing even the smallest of the players out there.

[Deleted]

you realise that maintance means clearing up cache, chceking database for consistency, removing duplicated entries etc... also when you have data on one server copying it onto another will also take time... and moving database from one pc to another wont take 15 minutes...

[Hyve]

It takes almost 30 minutes to stop all operations on a server, an undefined amount of time to resolve any coding issues or apply patching, and another 15 minutes to power back up into the platform, and then another 20-50 minutes to bring all applications back online and verify them. Having worked in a DataCenter before, it is much more than just turning a PC tower off and on.

It does make me laugh when people have no idea about how servers work, and assume it is like turning off a computer.

[Dedamage]

Oh, I don't play 24/7. I would like to play at my convenience is all.

[Wildtree]

Some people's understanding of the technology behind the game is rather amazingly non-existent.
Blizzard does not need to shut down the entire network anymore for the majority of maintenance days. Many maintenance task today are done on the fly, while no one even notices it. But then, there are the situations when the network must be brought down completely. Mirroring all servers would make zero difference.

I guess people are never happy with what happens around the game. We've been used to maintenance days of much greater length. We had periods where the realms been brought down again and again.. Now we're facing down time just occasionally anymore. And that's usually the case when the game is near a new major patch.

Use the time to do something productive instead.

[Eruionmel]

Oh, I have an idea! You should get two computers with exactly the same hardware and copy their data every day to keep them the same! That way, when you restart your computer every day, you can have the other one on and running already and you won't have to stop using it for the five minutes it takes to restart!

See how stupid that sounded?

You just asked for the same thing, on a colossally larger scale.

[-Superman-]

Use the time to do something productive instead.

Agreed. Hopefully people will gain a greater understanding of how server farms actually function and can find alternate hobbies for 1/2 half of one day, every month.

[WurstKaeseSzenario]

It's much cheaper to just inconvenience players for a few hours. The amount of people they'd make happy by doing this is just way too small. Though, I don't play any other modern MMOs, I often wonder how their maintenance compares to WoW's. Does anyone know?

I sometimes play STO or SWToR. Maintenance is pretty similar to WoW there.

[Llunai]

By the same logic, they should build a second Dairy Queen right next to the first one, at every location around the world. This way, when the first DQ is closed, the second one can be opened. That way, there will always be a Dairy Queen to eat at - just in case we have the craving at 4am on a Monday night/Tuesday morning.

[Wildtree]

Agreed. Hopefully people will gain a greater understanding of how server farms actually function and can find alternate hobbies for 1/2 half of one day, every month.

...... and when you look at the actual times. Like today 1 am - 1 pm..
The vast majority of the people are sleeping for the most part of that time, and after that they are in school or at work. When they come home the realms are long back up again.