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Early Access 'Waves' - Updating Here


StephenReid

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well this is awesome...put my early access code in on 8/17 no email today...but have seen multiple posts from people who ordered a month ago, and their playing

 

 

Those people are trolls. They are lying to you in order to make you upset. They enjoy other people's unhappiness.

 

They are vile and should be shunned.

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I'd just like to say that I think the developers are doing a great job on this game. They are being as transparent as they possibly can, with those who have preordered, regarding how they are handling the waves.

 

From the news, updates, press releases, and developer notes I've seen, there's a lot of care and love that has gone into this game. Unlike other MMOs, the developers here are committed to a quality product that is sensitive to the player base- rather than a self important, dollar based, pandering to elitists.

 

I still remember waiting in line with my parents to see Return of the Jedi when it was first released. There was something awe inspiring about actually having to wait in line for a movie.

 

We're a society of instant gratification. I'll patiently wait my turn, enjoy the time with my family and other interests, and in the end thank the developers for all their hard work.

 

Kudos. :t_cool:

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Hey everyone.

 

We absolutely understand you want to get in and play the game early. It's one of the reasons we expanded our Early Game Access from a maximum of five days to a maximum of seven days. However, there are a couple of important points to realize about today's opening salvo of invites, and the procedure in general for Early Game Access and launch.

 

First, Early Game Access and launch is not supposed to be a stress test. In our previous Beta Testing Weekends we got up to very large concurrent number of players and brought invites into the game at a very high rate. That was done to stress test every aspect of our systems and servers, and essentially to see if they broke. In some cases, they did, but that helped us improve for launch.

 

For us, launch isn't just about stuffing our servers with as many people as possible. As anyone who's been through a large MMO launch can tell you, that experience can be painful. Our aim with this launch was to ramp things up gradually, to spread our player population out amongst a variety of servers, to maintain all server types, and to keep queuing to a minimum (although we expect that to happen as we head towards December 20th). So far, all that has been successful for us on Day One.

 

The second thing to realize is scale. We invited more people to play Star Wars: The Old Republic today than many other MMO launches manage in their entire head-start process. As I mentioned earlier today, when we opened pre-orders we had a huge spike in numbers - far more than most MMOs capture at launch. That was the initial rush. After that, our pre-orders settled down.

 

What this means is that tomorrow, you'll effectively start to see the pre-order timeline expand. You'll see people who have pre-ordered later than July getting invites. The day after that, more people will be invited. We're actually planning to invite more tomorrow than today, and invite the same number again on Thursday - at which point we'll be into the original 'five days of Early Game Access'.

 

Last thing. Why aren't we continuing to send waves over time? Two main reasons - one, because we need to see that the servers are maintaining stability over time; adding a lot of players in a short period (in other words, stress testing) can cause stability issues.

 

Two, our plan is to continue to add servers - but carefully, and in response to demand. We need to monitor that demand and role out servers accordingly. A long-term recipe for MMO failure is to add a lot of servers early on, and then when population decreases, have to close those servers and merge them together.

 

Our aim is for Star Wars: The Old Republic to be around for a long time to come. Today's just the first step in that - an early step, too - and we'll be running smoothly, with a stable population, before too long.

 

LOL Bioware just failed in logic

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You know that ****** Reid could have saved everyone grief and just said at 7am that nobody outside July was getting in. But as usual his posts are a day late and dollar short.

 

This they are just jerking people around, and its all completel BS. Seriously, if they said XXX-XXX would get in tuesday, and it didnt happen, sure maybe 5%-10% wouldn't understand, and would be horribly upset. Sure seems like the way they did it 90% are the ones upset, pro math BW. If these idiots don't make immediete ammends ill cancel my box before the 20th and go back to wow.

 

NOT because I feel entitled or anything else the trolls keep saying to people. For one simple reason, if THIS is the level of service they bring to the industry, this game isn't going to last anyway, plain and simple.

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thanks for the update ... Unfortunately it is a little late for me. This has already left a bad taste in my mouth. This should have all been vetted out before you offer ega. This is a paying service so i have no sympathy for your lack of understanding. Also, knowing how bad ea runs its servers (if you have fifa 11 on any gaming console, or any other ea game, you know what i mean) i really have no confidence this will be a positive gaming experience for me. After waiting close to three years for the release of this game i can only say shame on you.

^^^this

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THIS SAYS IT ALL!! COPY AND PASTE SO THEY GET THE MESSAGE!

 

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.

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This is something I hope they actually read!!

 

I am sure it will be read. Unfortunately, no action will be taken other than to continue the process they have already started. A week after launch, most people will no longer be butthurt (not insulting anyone as I am butthurt too), and business will continue.

 

I did not take time off work as I had planned, but I can see why others did. Vacation time is meant for just that, getting away. There is nothing wrong with people having chosen to get away in a virtual environment that they waited (up to, lol) years for. So people insulting those that did so should grow up a little. A simple chart that said "preorder month = x date at the earliest" for EA would have alliviated much of this concern. They could have been extra conservative even. If I knew the earliest I was scheduled to get in was Thursday and I got home Wednesday and was in I would be like "effin A!! Bonus!!!"

 

Instead, we have droves of fans unsure if they will get to play early. We have people who canceled plans and used vacation time. We have people that rushed out for that new PC. We have thousands upon thousands of people that will eventually be ready to make a decision on whether to stick with this game, or move on to something else. And at least some of them will think "ugg, remember the launch insanity, does this company really have their **** together?"

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