I have been following this game since its original press release 3 years ago with incredible anticipation. I have watched in awe as they took the great potential from other MMO's (the gameplay of WOW, crafting and dungeons revolutionized through Everquest, the rich world of Star Wars Galaxies to name a few). When they introduced the voice acting concept and committed to following through the entire game with it I had a moment of reflection at the amazing decision the company made.
With that said, I have been watching the EGA launch and I have a question that I seriously want a Bioware representative to answer...
Are you all intentionally trying to upset and alienate your customer base or are you all just completely inept?
This idea was good on paper. The idea of trying to avoid heavy server login issues, crashing, and queue's was a truly sound idea. But with all the millions of dollars and I am assuming hundreds of people involved in this project, not one of you mouth breathers stood up and said "Hey this staggered invitation thing isn't working, the servers are still being pushed to their limits."
At the point that your experiment to alleviate the pressure of initial launch FAILED, and I mean crashed like a chunk of blue ice falling from a plane lavatory, perhaps you should have just gone with the only thing you had left... Giving your customers what they have been harassing you for for THREE DAYS.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and after seeing over three days and three attempts at this that your plan was not working, would it not have been the most basic common sense of a toddler to stop it?!
This company has been responsible for some of the most amazing entertainment creations in gaming history (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Ultima Online, and many more). The immense fan base that you have built over the years looks at you as veterans of the gaming industry. That experience, combined with the years of MMO's before you as a minefield of failures and triumphs created expectations from the customers.
Expectations which you as a company have yet to live up to.
It's time for all of you to sit in your conference rooms tomorrow, take five minutes to realize when you have failed at something, and take action to improve the situation.