Well, perhaps there may be better choices for timing, but the choices available wouldn't be quite as bad if they hadn't merged the servers.
Regardless of that, it seems odd it takes so long for whatever activity they are doing. There are so many solutions for things that cause prolonged downtime, the long duration is surprising to me.
No matter where you live, downtime when you want to play is annoying.
Especially when you pay to play, and your free time is rare and precious.