So if we understand the reasoning and are still critical of it, we're not adults?

Unintentional benefits always turn into exploits. It ought to be a Law of MMOlogy.

Cite the source of your statistics please.

Yeah, uh, that's not how criticism works... If we took your advice and just shut up, they would assume their sales numbers are a sign that they are doing everything perfectly. If we are vocal about our concerns and still play, they will know they are doing something (but not everything) wrong. Unless they are just too bull-headed or drunk on Canadian whiskey to pay attention to our criticism.

You missed the point. It's about what a pre-order is actually worth. It's the same amount of money either way, BUT investing money into a game early despite knowing whether or not it's good requires an incentive.

Yes, yes it did. Servers are up, people are playing. Game is live.

You do realize that early access is the ONLY incentive to pre-order, right? This is the year 2010, and digital downloads have the concept of "sold out" obsolete. If they want our money before the game actually comes out, they better give us something worth it. I didn't preorder for an asterisk, I preordered for early access.

It's definitely not a stress test. I can't stress that enough. har har

That's why the scarcity of PVP queuers is important. Without a lot of people in the queue, there are better odds that no one will fill those spots.

So there's no one actively exploiting PVP that's doing it solely for the fast leveling? I find that incredibly hard to believe. Also, if you don't want to PVE at all, don't you lose out on your spaceship, companions, etc? You can't purely PVP...

The end.

The game is live and running. Limited people doesn't make it somehow magically pre-launched.

I want something for playing Shadows of the Empire. Maybe a miniature Dash Rendar pet.

Are the servers up and running or not? "Official" is another way of saying "arbitrary declaration after the matter of fact."

EGA = launch Launch = grand opening

I got to over level 20 in a day and a half or so in beta, and I was really lazy.

It took me about have of the game to get past the denial after seeing the map. There had to be more... there had to be...

The EGA is definitely NOT a stress test, right?

Aren't there people with December preorders claiming to be in already?

If the servers can't handle it, what the hell are they going to do on the 20th? This is what I don't understand. Staggering is just delaying the inevitable.

Originally Posted by kinegos this isn't a troll, and isn't exactly qq although there is some of that involved. I just want to put it down for the record that the way this early access program has been implemented is truly one of the most poorly conceived ideas that i've ever personally encountered in over 25 years of playing video games. I've personally participated in launches of 6 other mmo games, and there is nothing in those experiences that compares to how ridiculous this process is. When you are dealing with a pre-launch even that is only for pre-order customers, after an extensive and massive beta testing period that was a huge success according to nearly all sources involved - it begs the huge question as to what is the limiting factor in the way you have chosen to roll out this game. I personally participated in the beta in a very limited way (not by choice, mind you, i just wasn't lucky enough to get a key) and was only online during the big thanksgiving weekend test. That test was wonderful - there were a huge number of servers, and a huge population of testers. The game performance was amazing. So, ea/bw - what exactly are you afraid of? The only way this should have been done is to have given all pre-orders (perhaps separated only by level of game purchased - i.e. Ce customers get 7 days, se get 5, e.g.) access at exactly the same time. Of course it will overload the servers and queues would ensue and all that - but that's what we all expect. Making your customers wait unknowingly with no idea how long it will be or when to expect an email is just adding insult to injury. A poor alternative would have been to send out emails with a set time and day that your access would be available. I read in the top post how you are monitoring the server performance and are rolling waves based on server performance. Are you seriously saying you have to wonder at this point if your servers can perform up to the task - when you probably still have 90% of the launch day players yet to even be able to play? That is not at all a good message to be sending at the beginning of an mmo franchise. At any rate, i love this game. I love bw. But i truly despise and am sickened by the way you chose to put your customers through so much stress for absolutely no good or justifiable reason. I truly hope you improve, because this is a very very poor way to start out. Send this to seven people or else Bloody Mary will kill you in your sleep.

I don't think they've really ruined anything, although it will suck on PVP servers (but PVP servers are always stupid gank fests, so I have no pity.) But yes, they stress tested in beta already. This is not beta anymore. Either they failed at stress testing or they failed at dealing with the number of preorders. I don't care about fairness or whatever, but I do think this is just sad. What are they going to do on the 20th, when the game is actually full? Do people actually believe it's going to be less crowded then?