Perspective

I knew I was asking for trouble when I posted this poll on the forums. Give people a chance to give their opinion, and they'll give it. And because people are more likely to say something when they're unhappy (as opposed to happy), I knew this thread would end up being the soapbox for people's frustrations regarding our software.

One thing I'd like to point out is that providing support for software out in the wild is not easy. Our users run Macrocrafter.com software on a vast number of different configurations - operating systems, processors, video hardware, ISPs, .NET Framework versions - all of which make predicting the fixes for an issue a pretty daunting task. Luckily over the year and a half I've been working for this company, I've learned that most of the problems people encounter stem from the same set of issues, and I've learned how to respond to them.

When SOE hands us a new patch, the very first thing I do (like all the rest of you) is wait for the servers to come back up after the patch is complete. I can't do anything until then, but that doesn't tend to matter when nobody else can either. After that, I have to examine all the changes the new update brought to us. More often than not, the changes are small, and I'm able to release a hotfix after an hour or so. This is almost always the case. When it's not the case (like GU#39 for instance), it can take days for the changes to be accounted for and resolved.

None of this, however, accounts for real life. Macrocrafter.com is not my only job. I run a local network shop for small businesses out of my home as well, and sometimes that job takes precedence. That happened this weekend, in fact - one of my clients contracted a virus in all 15 of their workstations, as well as their server, and I was called in to resolve. I was about halfway finished with that job when the game update was released, and I couldn't stop what I was doing - their business (a nearly paperless dental office) relies on their computers being operational in order to function at all.

My other job is taking care of two kids, a two-month old and a 3-year old (one of which is mine, the other is sort of my step-kid), both of which demand a *lot* of attention. They come first, before Macrocrafter.com, and anyone with children will understand why.

 

So I hope this helps to provide some of you with some new perspective on why it can take a few days to fix some of these patch issues. This most recent patch delay was a combination of all these factors - large patch with many changes, my rl job, and my kids.