Crackshot

Simple solution... Employ a team of 5 to GM the server. Seems much more sensible and reasonable than screwing the droprate, economy and people's drive to play the game that they are currently choosing.

An error was made and the servers had to be brought down to correct it. That about sums it up. When compared to the "magnitude" of the real world - be it the earthquakes in Turkey / Syria, or the war in Ukraine, I think you're being a little over-dramatic about a game server having problems after an update and needing to be taken offline.