# V2 Live Ops Documentation And Playbook

This playbook covers `TODOS.phase-72.72.12.2.15`: live ops documentation and a
single operator playbook for season pass operations, live events, hotfixing,
DLC, patch notes, player compensation, content calendar review, and analytics
review.

## Authority

This document is the operator-facing index for the V2 live ops program. The
detailed source runbooks remain:

- `V2/docs/live-service/season-pass-progression.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/season-pass-reward-definitions.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/season-pass-xp-sources.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/season-pass-challenge-system.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/live-event-scheduling.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/live-event-content-delivery.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/limited-time-game-mode.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/hotfix-delivery.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/hotfix-testing-pipeline.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/dlc-content-delivery.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/patch-notes.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/player-compensation.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/content-calendar-management.md`
- `V2/docs/live-service/live-ops-analytics.md`

The validated contract is
`V2/ue/Content/V2/LiveOps/LiveOpsDocumentationPlaybook_V2_Contract.json`, and
the release gate is `V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-live-ops-documentation-playbook.py`.

## Operator Scope

Operators use this playbook when they need to coordinate:

- season pass progression, reward definitions, XP sources, and challenge
  rotations through `@v2/season-pass-service`
- scheduled events through `@v2/live-event-scheduling-service`
- on-demand event asset delivery through
  `@v2/live-event-content-delivery-service`
- scheduled limited-time modes through `@v2/limited-time-game-mode-service`
- data-only hotfixes through `@v2/hotfix-delivery-service`
- pre-deployment regression gates through `@v2/hotfix-testing-pipeline-service`
- DLC and expansion delivery through `@v2/dlc-content-delivery-service`
- in-game and public patch notes through `@v2/patch-notes-service`
- make-good grants through `@v2/player-compensation-service`
- aggregate live ops analytics through `@v2/live-ops-analytics-service`
- calendar governance through `apps/v2/web/live-service/content-calendar`

No client patch is required for the documented workflows when the client already
supports the corresponding live-service surface. Production changes are
server-authoritative and must leave audit evidence with an owner, reviewer,
change reason, rollout window, rollback owner, and incident ID when applicable.

## Calendar Lifecycle

### season-planning

Start each season in the content calendar at least six months ahead. Link the
season ID, target window, expected reward track, challenge cadence, live events,
patch notes milestones, and analytics checkpoints before the season is approved.

### reward-track-approval

Approve free and premium reward definitions before the season opens. Every
reward-track change must identify reward kind, tier, catalog reference,
entitlement reference, player-visible copy owner, and rollback behavior.

### challenge-rotation

Review daily and weekly challenge rotations before they go active. Confirm the
random pool, cadence, reward XP, currency rewards, duplicate prevention, and
auto-rotation window.

### event-scheduling

Schedule live events with explicit start and end times, enabled game modes,
event rewards, and conflict checks against other events, seasons, patches, and
DLC releases.

### content-delivery

Before event launch, confirm event asset delivery plans for maps, cosmetics, NPC
dialogue, download size, asset hashes, entitlement references, and retry
behavior. Event content delivery must remain on-demand and without a full patch.

### limited-time-mode-activation

Activate limited-time modes only through approved schedule windows. The active
queue state must name the owning event, start and end timestamps, exclusive-mode
rules, and rollback owner.

## Release And Hotfix Playbook

### hotfix-intake

Open a hotfix intake record before authoring a data-only hotfix. The record must
include kind, affected manifests, risk classification, intended mitigation,
rollback plan, and whether the change fixes balance, exploit, or data-error
behavior.

### hotfix-regression-gate

Run the hotfix testing pipeline before deployment. Required regression results
must be present, passed, and attached as evidence before the deployment gate can
approve the hotfix.

### dlc-entitlement-release

DLC and expansion releases must validate pack type, asset list, entitlement
requirements, locked missing-entitlement response, download plan, and content
unlocking behavior before publication.

### patch-notes-publication

Patch notes must be structured by balance, bug fixes, and new content. In-game
payloads should match the public notes, include localized keys, and be scheduled
before the corresponding patch or hotfix goes live.

## Player Impact Review

### player-compensation

Use player compensation when a bug or outage creates measurable player impact.
Each campaign must include incident ID, affected-player evidence, approval
records, item grants, currency grants, idempotency keys, and a post-grant ledger
audit.

### analytics-review

Review live ops analytics after event launch, season midpoint, season close, and
every hotfix deployment. The review must cover event participation rates, season
pass completion rates, and hotfix effectiveness before deciding whether to
extend content, rebalance XP, issue compensation, or roll back a hotfix.

The analytics-review evidence line must explicitly include
`season pass completion rates` so post-season reporting is searchable across
incidents.

## Incident Controls

### rollback-and-kill-switch

Every production live ops change must name a rollback owner and a rollback path.
Hotfixes roll back through the hotfix manifest, events and limited-time modes
roll back through schedule disablement, DLC rolls back through entitlement
blocking, and player-facing communications roll back through patch notes or MOTD
updates.

### post-incident-review

After any emergency hotfix, compensation campaign, outage, or forced schedule
change, attach the incident ID, operator, reviewer, affected service, deployment
timestamp, telemetry before/after, player communications, compensation decision,
and follow-up work to the post-incident review.

## Audit Evidence

Every live ops production change must preserve:

- content calendar item or incident ID
- source runbook used
- operator and reviewer
- affected package or web surface
- production timestamp and planned end timestamp
- validation report or regression result
- rollout scope and rollback owner
- player communication plan
- analytics-review checkpoint
- post-incident-review link when applicable

## Verification

Run the relevant service gates for the affected surface, then run the
cross-playbook gate:

```bash
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-season-pass-progression.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-season-pass-reward-definitions.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-season-pass-xp-sources.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-season-pass-challenge-system.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-live-event-scheduling.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-live-event-content-delivery.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-limited-time-game-mode.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-hotfix-delivery.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-hotfix-testing-pipeline.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-dlc-content-delivery.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-patch-notes.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-player-compensation.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-content-calendar-management.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-live-ops-analytics.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-live-ops-documentation-playbook.py
python3 V2/ue/Tools/check-v2-ci-workflow.py
python3 V2/tools/validate-v2-docs.py
```

Required gates:

- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-doc`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-source-links`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-season-event-calendar`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-hotfix-release`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-dlc-patch-notes`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-compensation-analytics`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-incident-controls`
- `live-ops-documentation-playbook-ci-wired`