Exactly. Bugs are one thing (there's some in 1.2, and they are to be expected). A game-breaking update (1.2a), however, is a whole different matter. That is what most players are upset and angry about. -Bel

I agree that BioWare is responding well to these issues. That is a very good sign. I do hope that they take this as a wakeup call, however, and try to avoid similar mishaps in future. -Bel

EA stocks reflect EA as a company, which is not only way larger than BioWare, but incorporates far more assets than SWTOR alone. Its stocks are therefore not an accurate reflection on how investors see BioWare or SWTOR. If you want a better idea of how SWTOR is perceived in the industry, analysts are the way to go, and yet even they are not always reliable and sometimes have conflicting views. The early success of SWTOR, however, has boosted the long-term viability of SWTOR in the eyes of many analysts. -Bel

It's disappointing that this is US only. I'm in Ireland. Surely BioWare Ireland could send me something -Bel

I completely disagree. Why would BioWare want to create a situation where server queues are a problem? Servers should be kept as is to allow for growth, which is happening and expected to continue. This is far too early to consider server mergers. -Bel

There's a big difference between compensation and a gift. The 30 days of game time was a gift and not everyone got it (anyone with a lower level character, for example). Even for those who did receive it, however, a gift of 30 days that becomes 29 days or possibly less becomes more and more meaningless over time. It would be like giving someone a box of chocolates and then taking some of them out before they get a chance to eat them. Players affected by Wednesday's patch blunder were compensated with 3 days of game time. I think it's only fair and a sign of good faith that BioWare compensate players for lost game time as a result of this latest mishap. It might only amount to a few dollars to most people, but it's largely the principle that matters. Personally, however, I'd rather BioWare tested spur of the moment patches more thoroughly. 1.2 has bugs. 1.2a breaks the game. There's a big difference. -Bel

Bugs are one thing. I expect them and can work with or around them. For example, if a skill is bugged or a Flashpoint has to be closed temporarily due to bugs, it might be annoying, but I can still play the plenty of other content. Problems that result in the whole game being inaccessible (Wednesday's patch blunder and today's patch disaster), well beyond what is expected and accepted as part of maintenance windows (which we agree to in our EULA), are a whole different story. Some people say "it's only one day," but remember that some players could not get into the game since Wednesday when the first error was made. Some of those who had to redownload the entire game got on late yesterday or would have not gotten into the game until today or possibly even later. So they might have lost 2 days already, making today a third, and we are not even certain that the maintenance today might not take longer. Let's also remember that players affected by Wednesday's problem were told they would not have to redownload the game if they waited for the patch, only to find out this was not true. What if the only solution to today's blunder is to redownload the entire game? That would be disastrous and could mean that some players have had to download the entire game twice this week alone. Obviously I hope this is not the case, but it is certainly a possibility. And to those who say "get a life" to paying customers who are unhappy with this situation, I encourage you to see the full picture and empathise with fellow players. Most players expect to be able to play the game the day after a major patch. Some players who have been playing less will come back for the new content. Some will even arrange their work or other life commitments to allow them some additional game time. The unexpected maintenance is bad enough, but having the whole game inaccessible for 1 or more days after the update is really unacceptable. Some people might go the cinema for their entertainment on a Friday night. I fail to see why that is considered more of a "life" than other people choosing to play a game. Indeed, playing an MMO could even be considered more of an interactive experience with fellow humans than going to a cinema, where a hundred people stare at a screen in silence. It is easy for us to judge the life choices of other people, but at the end of the day we are all paying customers and deserve a product and service worthy of that payment. I believe the product is worthy (1.2 has some great stuff), but the service is, at the moment, not. -Bel

Man, this is a joke. On Wednesday some players accidentally download the patch and are forced to redownload the entire game. Miscommunication exacerbates the problem, but BioWare offers three days of free game time to those affected to compensate. The day after a major update the servers are taken down for a patch that seems to make very little changes to the game, other than breaking a lot of things that were previously working. Now the game cannot be played today by most people. Even the estimated uptime might not be kept, but if it is, anyone in Europe, for example, will likely not get any play time today (since it is expected to come up at midnight at the earliest). If this had happened before the patch it wouldn't have been as big an issue, but many players have returned or planned to play more since there is new content. That makes the disappointment felt by these players even greater than it would have been normally. My recommendation: test your patches before implementing them. This patch the day after a major update was obviously not tested or not tested enough. Were the fixes included in it really that essential to rush through? Man, BioWare, I really like you as a game studio. You do a lot of things right. But all these recent blunders are so amateurish that I am steadily losing some of my former respect for you. I was loving the additions in 1.5, but now I can't play at all, after already losing 1.2 days due to the April 11th patch bug. -Bel

I don't mind some of these things costing credits, but the amount of credits is a little on the excessive side. I am desperately saving up for the rocket boost skill, but other costs, like raid wipes, will be an obstacle to that. I think there needs to be more emphasis on the legacy ranks. Right now they matter a lot less than I was expecting. Only things like the GTN on your ship are really gated by a significant legacy rank. Of course, new additions will free this up. When 1.3 launches I expect we'll have to pay for the per-character buffs, like the space combat XP boost. I assume the cost will be low, as it would be ridiculous to pay several 100k on a low-level character for a buff that only affects them. -Bel

Agreed as well. Great game, great update, and some great gifts to boot. I love the feeling when you sign in after a major update and don't know where to start. There's so much good stuff in this update that I sent half the day in game, compared to maybe an hour or two over previous days. Keep up the good work, BioWare -Bel

If you don't play it's no loss to BioWare. BioWare only really loses out if you were planning to play already, so it misses out on a month of subscription fees. Obviously it can afford this at this stage. -Bel

I agree wholeheartedly with this approach. This will be a welcome feature and people won't feel like their money is money taken away from them, because it's not. -Bel

Good job, BioWare. This goes a long way to making up for the issue and shows that you value your customers. Keep up the good work. -Bel

I covered that in my above post. You are right that this does not compensate any player with a level 49 or under character. -Bel

In fairness to those who believe there should be additional compensation, the 30 days of game time applies to any account with a level 50 character, so it does not compensate anyone with a lower level character affected. Also, the wording of the offer suggests it is a gift rather than compensation. I'm content with it, as it was unexpected, but I can understand why some others might not be. -Bel

I think the pet and 30 days of game time is good. An apology from someone higher up would seal the deal as far as I'm concerned, but I'm content with what is being offered. Obviously this gift goes to everyone, whether or not they were affected by the problem, but it would probably be a nightmare trying to figure out who was affected to apply individual compensation. That could even detract from developer time spent on features. Thus, a universal gift is perfectly acceptable in a situation like this. 30 days of free game time will certainly make up for any lost gameplay over these couple of days. -Bel

I think the idea of compensation is not to get a day or two of free gameplay, or a refund of a few dollars, which is largely inconsequential, but to show that BioWare is truly sorry for the double-blunder. It's easy to apologise, but a lot harder to rectify something. Sometimes it's a matter of principle and most companies provide some form of compensation as a token of sorrow. We also need to bear in mind that customer complaints are often what pushes a company into action. BioWare was forced to change the ending of Mass Effect 3 only after considerable bad press over the issue, for example. Sometimes companies believe they can ignore an issue or not put sufficient resources into it if it's "minor" and there's not much uproar over it. Of course, knee-jerk reactions, threats, and abusive behaviour do little to get the customer's point across, so I would encourage affected players to voice their anger and frustration in a clear and constructive way. -Bel

I don't think people believe they were deliberately deceived. They are angry, however, because there was clearly a breakdown of communications inside BioWare, which led to incorrect advice being given to players experiencing a problem, thus exacerbating the problem. In all due fairness, this is part of what they signed up for when taking a community manager position. It's unpleasant and often times undeserved, but that's part of the role. Ungrateful? Players who cannot play and might have to pay fees to their ISP for the large re-download are ungrateful? BioWare aren't doing us a favour, they're providing a product and service we're paying for. If this was a free gift then I can understand your comments, but you are only adding fuel to the fire with these kinds of statements. The comparison to people not reading a wet sign is a little on the low side, to be honest, as this isn't a case of "self-injury." No player affected by this problem inflicted it upon themselves, so the analogy is not only incorrect, it is insulting. Both the initial problem and the poor communication afterwards are the fault of BioWare's, not the players. I don't think you understand their jobs very well. They're paid to provide the service they do. They're not doing it as a favour. They didn't necessarily post updates because they want to help - they did so because they are paid to. This does not, of course, mean that they don't also want to help, and don't love their jobs, etc., but you make it out like they're volunteering for this. As for the final comment about people's "holier than thou attitude," you should probably look at your own post again. There's a big difference being fine-tuning something and making a big mistake like this. There's lots of bugs that need to be addressed and updates and changes that need to be made, but I am equally happy to wait for those. This mistake and the poor communication that followed it, however, are not acceptable, and just because you were not affected by it does not mean that BioWare should ignore it or get a pat on the back. This is a great game and BioWare has done many things really well, for which it gets commended for regularly (by customers, media, and so forth). Real failings should never be commended, and no customer's genuine grievances should be ignored or down-played like you are suggesting here. -Bel

I think some form of compensation is a good way to show that BioWare takes this problem seriously and wants to keep its players. There are multiple ways this can be done. Those affected may have lost several days of gameplay due to the mishap (yesterday and today, for example, though some of low internet speeds will lose more). A few days of gameplay added to affected users' accounts would address this issue. Other forms of compensation could include in-game items. An in-game gift of a special mouse droid called "PuppyDog Eyes," for example, is one way BioWare can show it is sorry. An in-game title of "the Patient" could also be added for affected players, and would be appropriate on several levels. A free credit-box sent to affect players in game with a few thousand credits is another idea. Anything created to address this issue could be employed in future for any other problems. An apology from someone higher up in BioWare would also go a long way to appeasing some players. Community manager are paid to apologise to players when necessary, but producers rarely apologise unless it's a serious matter. Show that BioWare recognises this is a serious matter. -Bel

This is an absolute joke. I'm usually quite accepting of a few hiccups, delays, and so forth, but there are several big issues with this: 1. It should not have happened in the first place, and it certainly should never happen again. 2. The communication about it was, we have found, wrong, and players who could have downloaded the game again yesterday but choose to cancel are now forced to do so today. 3. Not everyone has high-speed internet. Some have download caps. Some pay additional fees for large downloads (and 11GB is a large download). 4. Players have lost game time due to this. I wanted to play yesterday, but I decided I'd wait until today so I didn't have to download the game again (it got a few GB in before I cancelled). Now players will lose playtime today as they are forced to wait until their game downloads again. 5. Those who were looking forward to playing the new update today may not get a chance to. The servers are up and I'm still downloading the game. For those of us who planned raids, that will also affect those and generally makes for a very unpleasant update day. 6. It does not matter if "a small percentage" of players are affected. Surely each and every one of your customers are valuable, and if this affected just one person it should be properly rectified. -Bel

All four ideas are great. The space combat stuff is really nice. I found I love space combat, despite not expecting to like it at all. However, totally new gameplay is something I'd like to see, so I voted for vehicle combat. That could be something really amazing. Podracing is another fun thing I'd love to see. I can't imagine us not having that at some stage. So, while some cynics say "none of the above," I say "all of the above" -Bel

Check out my review of SWTOR: http://vr-zone.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-pc-mmorpg-review/14343.html -Bel

1. No 2. No The only other MMOs I played are Silkroad Online (for about two months), Dungeons & Dragons Online (for a few days), and Lord of the Rings Online (for the last 3 or so years). What mainly attracted me to this was the fact that it was a BioWare game, coupled with Star Wars. The mix has, in my opinion, paid off. -Bel

It has some missing features, but a UI revamp has been promised for the first update, which should be in the first quarter of 2012, if I'm any good at estimating release dates. I think there are two labels that have drawn people to this game: Star Wars BioWare There are a large number of fans for both, but neither alone would keep players if the game was not thoroughly enjoyable and engaging. I'm absolutely loving it, and while it has missing features it also has lots of features other MMOs don't have. Give it time, and give BioWare feedback, for those other issues to be addressed. -Bel

I disagree. Not releasing new content will kill the game. An expansion doesn't necessarily have to make old content obsolete. You can do the low level flashpoints at level 50 in hard mode, for example, so why can't they just scale level 50 flashpoints and ops to level 60 if that's the new level cap (LOTRO has begun doing this and it has proven to be quite successful). -Bel