Please tell us what you intend to fix and what you do during maintenance and extended maintenance

There is a laundry list of things happening with the game right now and I'm very curious to know what you're focusing on and what exactly happens during extended maintenance.
Do you address player performance issues (lag, unresponsive controls, broken blocks)?
Server (connection) issues?
Are you fixing bugs and known errors (like the black screen issue, autofight coming on randomly, etc.)?
Are you making game updates for content?
Are you changing character attributes?

Thanks!

Comments

BossyBuilder

And let's keep this constructive everyone, as I'm very curious and would really like to know.

Deadbyrd9

Maintenece isn’t all about the game and bugs. This time seems more server related due to the extended amount of time

DNA3000

BossyBuilder wrote: »

There is a laundry list of things happening with the game right now and I'm very curious to know what you're focusing on and what exactly happens during extended maintenance.

First of all, server maintenance is not like working on a train, where they take the train out of service and then work on it. All game development happens on development servers, and during maintenance when a new version is ready to go the servers are shut down and the software patched and/or replaced, then the servers are brought back up running the new code. The developers fix things during their development work, but during maintenance the software is swapped for new code. Whatever we get during maintenance is whatever they've been working on and are ready to push since the last maintenance. The developers do not "work" on the live servers directly. As a rule, development teams don't even have any direct access to the operational live systems.

Second, most of the time maintenance takes a similar amount of time, because the work is similar. Upload new software packages and then patch or replace the existing software on the servers, then restart them. But sometimes the changes require more things to happen. For example if the new software requires a completely different database structure (lets say they added more information for the game to track) then the existing databases on the servers need to be converted to the new format. That's not something they can prepackage, they have to convert everything in the live systems after the software is upgraded. That extra step will generally make maintenance take a lot longer.

Additionally, sometimes extended maintenance occurs because there are other infrastructure maintenance work that has to happen that cannot happen while the game is running, and this stuff often takes a lot longer than normal software patching. Perhaps they are rolling out a whole new set of server load balancers that requires major surgery to the hardware infrastructure. Maybe they are virtualizing something, or unvirtualizing something. Maybe they are migrating very large (in terms of data) components to new infrastructure and this can't be done while the system is live due to performance issues, and the large transfer of data takes a lot longer than the normal maintenance window.

In any case, the system operations people actually doing the work during extended maintenance might not be able to answer your question. These things are often scripted and automated, and the people doing the work of applying the upgrades and maintenance work don't always know everything contained within that stuff. The developers might know what the new software does, but the operators loading it don't. Meanwhile the operators might know what additional infrastructure work is happening during extended maintenance but the developers may have no idea (because it is not their job).

There may literally be no single person that could answer your question specifically. That's just the way these things often happen logistically.

JEbert

Carnage buff - god bless us - everyone.

CapWW2

Hela synergy, combo issues, lag?

DoctorJ

My guess is in addition to the weekly hamster replacement, theyre changing the wheel attached to the servers as well. If were lucky, they may have splurged and gone with a double hamster wheel. Two hamsters powering the server instead of one!

Omni

DNA hit the nail on the head this is how software development works.

DNA3000

JEbert wrote: »

Carnage buff - god bless us - everyone.

I don't think they can do that in only eight hours.

Mrbeast6000

Cables degen glitch

SirTodd_83

DoctorJ wins the internet

GroundedWisdom

There's only so much they can do server-side. DNA is quite accurate.

BossyBuilder

Thanks, DNA. Great summary.

Thebgj

I’d like to applaud all the comments on @DNA3000 comment, without quoting it. I don’t get why people quote a super long comment, it does nothing but add more pages and scrolling than needed. A simple @insertnamehere is plenty.

I’ve been wanting to start a thread about this topic but I’m sure it’ll be full of hate or simple misunderstanding

Nexus_UY_Scuti

If you have bothered to read the full anouncement which is stickied on top of this forum, you would know that the extended maintenance is to improve their backend systems.

If you don't know what that means, it's probably not worth the time explaining to u either.

DNA3000

Nexus_UY_Scuti wrote: »

If you have bothered to read the full anouncement which is stickied on top of this forum, you would know that the extended maintenance is to improve their backend systems.

If you don't know what that means, it's probably not worth the time explaining to u either.

"Improve our backend systems" is kind of a catch all phrase for game operators that basically means anything that isn't the normal patching of front end servers. It could be anything from upgrading databases, to migrating data to faster storage, to upgrading hardware (if they are not hosted), to anything else involving the infrastructure that supports the game.

For longish technical reasons I don't think it is likely hardware, and probably not other random infrastructure, so my money is on back end game databases. Maybe some of it is in some way connected to the purchasing systems which could explain why the unit store will be down.

GroundedWisdom

Considering there was an issue with War details, they could be resolving that as well.

Scud77

Regardless of knowledge base of individuals, it is for some nice to have a bit of an explanation, and I expect it’s appreciated that you DNA3000 have taken the time to do so, and for myself personally I thank you...and those like yourself who are willing to take the time to enlighten those like myself

xoRIVALox

Don't worry, it is and always will be.. More efficient ways to MILK THE WHALES

So likely only checking vulnerabilities for the store, and jacking up prices for the Christmas season

Lambda1

Nope. This extended maintenance is fully focused on buffing Hulkbuster.

Snizzbar

I had an issue with my back end system earlier this morning, but it seems to have worked itself out ok.

Philly682

I’ve had various issues with internet connectively today so haven’t been able to log in.... and now I’ve just remembered the extended maintainence.... can you please tell me will I lose my streak on my paid crystal packs.... I need to log in daily before midnight or I’ll loose them right...??!!!

Rap

I agree with every last word of that except, what explains when your champs are shifting around in your roster...major ranking shifts...repeatedly over the course of several hours of game play...only to finally return to thier original placement? If that doesn't indicate back door activity then it must be????? What?

BossyBuilder

Nexus_UY_Scuti wrote: »

If you have bothered to read the full anouncement which is stickied on top of this forum, you would know that the extended maintenance is to improve their backend systems.

If you don't know what that means, it's probably not worth the time explaining to u either.

why do you even bother posting garbage like this? do you feel better now?

DNA3000

GroundedWisdom wrote: »

Considering there was an issue with War details, they could be resolving that as well.

There are probably a lot of different game issues being addressed in the updates, but I think the OP appeared to be asking what kinds of things to be fixed warrant extended maintenance. And in general, no matter what you're fixing in the game or even how many things you're fixing it generally takes the same amount of time, because all the work is done ahead of time and the maintenance window is only used to upload the new software, however many fixes that software contains.

Whether you are fixing one bug or a thousand, it generally takes the same amount of time to apply the fixes, unless that bug requires a complete overhaul of the game infrastructure that cannot be touched except during maintenance downtime.