data maintance downtime

It would be nice if announced downtime for April 13th starting at 8pm Eastern daylight time would actually start on April 13th and not on April 12th.

During event this means a loss in event resources of several 100 stripy eggs due to inactive explorers (which could be avoided if the posted date was the actual time of the downtime)
Plus loss of useful premium time if downtime was announced more than 24h in advance.

I appreciate the careful planning (downtime on a weekend & holiday), timely announcement (<24h in advance), and correct announcement (DATE)

How do you know the 13th maint started on the 12th? We could be experiencing maint for the 12th now and get hit tomorrow with the 13th, as announced.

Sunday? Monday? They're very similar... :rolleyes:

It's a simple mistake most anybody could make...

Why have this in during an event ? so sad ...

The correct way to do this would be to say April 12-13. Otherwise, people just get confused. I was all set to plan around tomorrow's downtime by not adventuring and sending out my explorers appropriately. Even then, doing this during an event... why? I was not all set to plan around today's because it's a day early. It is unusual for them to give so much notice, which would be helpful, so maybe I should have assumed and checked the German site. Also just used premium, scouting post, observatory, and sent out my explorers on medium searches that are already coming back now.

agreed, had not sent my explorers back out yet as, i did not believe it started.... now? ...

Is the game back online already?

So wrong!
Dear Settlers,

On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.

Please plan your game activities accordingly.

Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 20:00 EDT - approx. 06:00 EDT
Game: All gameworlds offline
Adventures & Premium: Times will be extended
Happy Settling!
BB_Saqui
so many lost resources because you told us to plan ahead, then cripple the game a day early! Ouch

It is the 13th in Europe - too bad we are in North America.

Unless something is severely broken, I would not do any maintenance during an event, ever. Why not just wait a week and do it during the removal phase? Not to mention it was supposed to be on 13 April vice the 12th.

Eastern Daylight Time
EDT timing
EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) is one of the well-known names of UTC-4 time zone which is 4h. behind of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). The time offset from UTC can be written as -04:00. It's used as a DST (summer daylight saving time).

Yeah it's a shame that they have both the date and the time listed as for the 13th in the EASTERN time zone (EDT) it means someone either fired it up early or they announced the date for the maintenance wrong which is a shame for us players who planned to use the down time by having explorers out.

I missed sending out my explorers for a longer time frame for this maintenance because of the miscalculated start time, sigh...

"12.04.2020Data Maintenance
Dear Settlers,



On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.

Please plan your game activities accordingly.

Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 20:00 EDT - approx. 06:00 EDT
Game: All gameworlds offline
Adventures & Premium: Times will be extended
Happy Settling!
BB_Saqui"

Looks like BB hired Gomer Pyle into their IT department...

"Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!"

Actually, I no longer am. By anything BB does.......

What the heck??? today is NOT the 13th????

Data Maintenance
Dear Settlers,



On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.

Please plan your game activities accordingly.

Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 20:00 EDT - approx. 06:00 EDT
Game: All gameworlds offline
Adventures & Premium: Times will be extended
Happy Settling!
BB_Saqui

Hmmm.... now that's kinda spooky!!!

Great job in planning accordingly folks. But shiznit happens and quit being grumpy! We will get a email with some good stuff then continue our egg hunt. I'm not a hoarder or number cruncher and I just like playing the game in all its glory. Good luck to all on the rest of the event and hopefully they throw in a Cloaked General for G.P..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doom072571

Great job in planning accordingly folks. But shiznit happens and quit being grumpy! We will get a email with some good stuff then continue our egg hunt. I'm not a hoarder or number cruncher and I just like playing the game in all its glory. Good luck to all on the rest of the event and hopefully they throw in a Cloaked General for G.P..

---

Now we're doomed

And that my friends is how it goes down in a D.M.!!!!!https://gph.is/1hfJR0u

Very confusing to use US time zone, and EU day/date. At first I thought, "Oh, someone forgot to put the C in CEDT," but then got confused as time math is not my strong suit. Having a big maintenance on a weekend, on the day of a holiday, and during an event really impedes the game play, and then to have it arrive more than 24 hours early felt more like rotten eggs, than Easter Eggs. Most of my guild was signed offline having family dinners, and I can only imagine their dismay, frustration, and confusion as they try (and no doubt are right now) to sign back in.

Always glad to see Premium Time and Adventures extended after a maintenance, and am curious as to whether the PFB buffs will also be extended as so many people swap these during a big event.

Thanks for all the things, BBs, that you do right, and appreciate your listening to us when things go awry, as they did this time, and there will no doubt be a lot of listening to do.

ShuttlePilot
Guild Leader, The Creators

As I mentioned in another thread, it was said by other players in the in-game chat that other servers had their maintenance scheduled for April 13th 02:00 CEST. That would be April 12th at 20:00 EDT (which is when it actually started). It is my guess that whoever wrote the notice for our homepage adjusted the times to our time zones, but failed to adjust for the day change and just copy-pasted the 13th..

Taken from https://www.thesettlersonline.com/en/homepage:

Dear Settlers,



On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.

Please plan your game activities accordingly.

Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 02:00 CEST - approx. 12:00 CEST
Game: All gameworlds offline
Adventures & Premium: Times will be extended

https://media.giphy.com/media/5xtDar...drVK/giphy.gif

Nice well thought out reply Shuttlepilot!! Ditto on what he/she wrote!!

they could have posted both times, germany and north america. so we would know for sure when it's going down.

usa time too -- that would be helpful for those that live in 'merica!

If TSO is going to have a Maintenance, PLEASE fix the FREEZING

Sorry. I tried to read your message but my screen froze

is apparently up already. logging in now

They did not extend the time on my very expensive PFB. They also did not fix the Fairy Dust buff.

Worthless.

12.04.2020Data Maintenance [done]
Dear Settlers,
On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.
Please plan your game activities accordingly.
Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 20:00 EDT - approx. 06:00 23:41 EDT <<<8 PM MONDAY, NOT SUNDAY 4-12-10 when it happened
Game: All gameworlds offline
Adventures & Premium: Times will be extended
Happy Settling!
BB_Saqui

Many players did not see the brief message by a mod in global about the wrong date in the announcement.
Many lost eggs due to explorers going idle, and lost resources due to buffs running out.
BB, please make it right for announcing the wrong date.

Adding to the confusion a Monday evening into Tuesday timeframe for a downtime is standard, not a holiday Sunday downtime.

I did look on the facebook page regarding downtimes and there was not a posting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zman65

usa time too -- that would be helpful for those that live in 'merica!

---

they did post it with NY time, but with the wrong date, so it looked like it was tonight.

I think it might have worked out better for me since I was able to get back on after 3.5 hours. Most people had probably given up or gone to sleep by midnight, though.

Hello,

Apart from the wrong date (I tought it was today and not yesterday like most of us), what did surprise me was that the event was not extended accordingly. I was ok with a few lost eggs, but that was before I saw the event was not prolonged by a day. Is this just the counter that is not correct? Do we have a confirmation that the event will be extended?

I agree. We deserve proper compensation for the mess this caused. Many people lost out on a substantial amount of event resources (eggs) and other items needed. Please do the right thing and compensate for the issues.

Quote:

---

On Monday, 13th of April, an IT infrastructure task will require the game servers to be taken offline.

Please plan your game activities accordingly.

Date: 13.04.2020
Timeframe: approx. 20:00 EDT - approx. 06:00 EDT

---

First off, several people are saying it was the wrong "date". However, if you read the actual text, it says "MONDAY" the 13th. Not "SUNDAY" the 13th. Nor does it just say 12-04-20 which could of been a legitimate typo of 13-04-20.
But considering "clearly" stated it was Monday, the maintanence should have happened on Monday.

Secondly, it clearly state 20:00 EDT. 20:00 = 8PM. EDT = Eastern Daylight Time, which is in the USA, NOT Germany or any other European country. So people saying "Oh, well they posted it based on their time" is a bunch of rotten bologna. The date/time was posted based on the US Eastern Time Zone. The shutdown took place 24 hours ahead of scheduled time.

Thirdly, a MOD supposedly posted in Global chat that the time was wrong. This is the wrong way to post such messages. For one thing, not everyone hangs out in Global. Another, if someone just happens to be in Global, looks away at another window, tab, or even is actually paying attention to their adventure, they miss the message in Global if 2 or 3 other people replied shortly afterwards. And lastly, it is well known that MOD's have the ability to use Popup Messages to announce things. I have seen it multiple times with silly stuff like "You're being watched" or something goofy like that. USE IT FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS!!!!!! No one can miss the popup message!

If there's a messed up time, and it's not noticed until a very short time (like several hours) before the shutdown was scheduled, post pone the shutdown till the next day. Not that hard! Or, if it is completely unavoidable (in the case that hardware was being replaced, for instance) immediately upon coming back online post a global mail stating the error. Admitting to the error/mistake means a WHOLE LOT to players. Own up to it. Don't try to sweep it under the rug and hope it goes away. Kinda hard to sweep an elephant under a rug. Everyone is gonna notice anyways!

I lost eggs. My avg is 2300 a day but because of the wrong info i did NOT get to send explores so for that day during the prime time and i did not get to send them with the maintenance in mind. Sunday the total was only 620. 2300-620=1680 eggs lost.

I knew i would have less eggs because of the maintenance but the maintenance happened not when I was expecting it according to the announcement. I have been with this game 7 years and this has not happened so I must conclude that it is this extraordinary time with the virus and so I want to extend grace to those working to keep this game going at this time.

It would be best just to tell us sorry and send out some eggs to everyone or some other equal gift to relive the stress this caused. We do know it is a hard time please stay healthy a game no matter how great is not worth your life. Thanks again for your attention to this issue LRP.

Hey folks,

Apologies for the delay in response! There was an error in the day mentioned on our emergancy news post - I was distracted when converting the timezones that I forgot to change the day.

We're going to post a response very soon in regards to this downtime, as well as something that should ease the trouble caused by it.

Again, I'm sorry if any of you were caught out by it.

Stay home, stay safe!

BB, thank you for the apology and explanation. That fixed the issue for me.

Smythreal

Here's the promised explanation.