@Emberwolf posted a new topic, subject "Shorter patch times possible?". It read:

   Hello, very excited about the patch but it looks like you are keeping the servers down? We just did a super long 8 hour extended extra patch day where you have already had the servers down all night and all morning. Your twitter says you planned for the patch to take 8 hours? Is there any way we can reconsider doing that? Dropping the servers for that long is I guess something we have to do because the money managers and corporate officers are pushing the artists to release content before it is finished, but can we do a different update schedule? Smaller chunks of time?
    
    Eve Online used to patch everyday for about 10 to 30 minutes a day. Is there anyway Lost Ark can be patched in a similar way? This 8 hours is basically a whole day of game time for most of us, actually two 4 hour sessions. Not complaining if there is no other way, than so be it, the update is super important I think, but maybe there is a better way to implement it rather than just burning down the servers all day? Thanks for listening to a no-one, Love your game, great job.

@kierunjade replied

    The patch has not completed. It hasn't been 8 hours yet, we are currently around 7 hours and 20 min, and that's if they came down on time

So @Ilunity replied

    In fact, these maintenance times are very long, only in this time with the server off I discovered that there is a war between some countries and that my brother left home a few weeks ago.

Then @Pinkbunnyman said

    Emberwolf:
    
    > Is there any way we can reconsider doing that?
    
    Patches take time, they have to check all region's stability internally, check the patches all applied check that all the networking works etc, they say about 8 hours because that's what they estimate it'll take, might take 4 and they'll be back up, or they might have to extend it or anywhere in between.
    
    Emberwolf:
    
    > Eve Online used to patch everyday
    
    Eve had daily maintenance not patches, Eve basically restarted the servers every day, they didn't patch them; a patch requires (depending on what it is) a full database integrity check, which takes a LONG time on a large database etc, a restart just takes 10-30min for the servers to boot back up.

@Vidokas replied

    Yeah, i had some time to speak with my wife also, never knew she was such a nice lady.

After which, @Emberwolf added

    I understand that, My question is a technical one, where I am asking if we could do big updates in smaller windows of time, or maybe spaced out over a few sessions of a couple of hours rather than the eight hours. I am asking a non ironic real question about if it is possible to update in a different way.
    
    EDIT: Pinkbunny took care of my question, So these are completely different things, the Eve morning restart and a patch are different animals. Thanks for explaining =)

@Ibok replied

    Isn't Eve online like almost 20 yrs old lol? They are releasing new content, fixes and I'm sure other bot & gold seller changes that aren't published for good reason. Also once they implement the patches I'm sure they go through checks to ensure servers are good - ie regression testing. They let us know before hand how long it's supposed to be, suggesting to them to be like a 20 yr old game - (do they even have new content?) is kinda silly imo.
    
    Knock on wood - Lost Ark has done well so far with patches being on-time and them not being game broken - cough New World.

To which @Pinkbunnyman replied

    Ibok:
    
    > Lost Ark has done well so far with patches being on-time and them not being game broken - cough New World
    
    I think that AGS has grown in this regard, they're taking the “We're gunna take it down for as long as it needs to do it properly” approach, rather than “We gotta get this out ASAP”

@Cynnau replied

    It also took Blizzard years before they were able to get major patches out in a shorter amount of time. I remember when it was 12 hours in some cases, and now it is 4 hours or less (Rare occasions it can be 8). Maybe in a few years (Or so), the downtime will not be as long once they can streamline things.

@RandomlyClicking replied

    There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to downtime and patch cadence. Amazon and Smilegate will want to keep downtime to a minimum, but in this patch, there is a significant update being released, as well as some changes to their backend systems.
    
    Sometimes downtime can't be avoided and may result in longer periods of time the game is unavailable. Depending on the resources at Smilegate, a single event of downtime may be more manageable than 5 - 30 minute sessions across a week. Patches still need to be written, tested, deployed, white gloved, and every process in between. It may simply be more realistic for Smilegate to do all these processes across an entire week rather than repeat them every single day.

After which, @bloduwedd added

    I just note i got dog and is still alive

After which, @kptLostA added

    The bots have crawled their way onto the server racks because someone left a half-eaten donut out. Give SG/AGS a break while they clean it up!

@Emberwolf replied

    AGS and Smilegate are listening to us, and doing a great job, AGS learned from New World and all, this was never a complaint thread, I am in full cheerleader mode, especially for Smilegate, this is my favorite MMO since the 2004 WoW launch, This game is 10/10 for me. I was just interested in how and why updates worked they way they did, and I got some great info.
    
    Now the servers are up so this is where I leave you to do what I really want to do in life, ya know, the important things, like play Lost Ark all day

After which, @usedpantybuyer added

    We complaining about everything now? Go outside and get some fresh air while the game is down. Jesus


{'source': 'discourse', 'url': 'https://forums.playlostark.com/t/shorter-patch-times-possible/290154', 'title': 'Shorter patch times possible?', 'views': 362, 'has_accepted_answer': False, 'word_count': 1043, 'like_count': 7, 'reply_count': 5, 'participant_count': 11, 'posts': 14, 'tags': '', 'author': '@Emberwolf', 'participants': '@Emberwolf, @kierunjade, @Ilunity, @Pinkbunnyman, @Vidokas, @Ibok, @Cynnau, @RandomlyClicking, @bloduwedd, @kptLostA, @usedpantybuyer', 'image_url': [None], 'created_at': '2022-03-24T14:16:15.334Z', 'last_posted_at': '2022-03-24T15:21:08.510Z'}