Early Access 'Waves' - Updating Here

[Deslan]

I have tried to explain the early game access system here:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=7474

[Abydon]

Perhaps businesses need to quit exploiting legal loopholes and bird dogging slimy half-declared car sales pitches and start acting like honest men who will live by a simple standard of straight forward ethics. It isn't that "UP TO 5 DAYS" has a meaning that dances on a slippery slope of meaninglessness for legal reasons, but that it is the corporate style of statement making them liable for nothing (no standards, no quality, no efficiency, no customer service, no product support, no honor, and no truth).

 

When you create expectation MEET IT. When you make a deal, shake on it and MEAN IT.

 

 

Wasn't a loophole! Learn about stuff before you open your mouth. You obviously need to read a book instead of forums...might I suggest Tort and Contractual Law for starters? Get over yourselves!

[GodsAreMonsters]

I have tried to call Customer service twice. First, their security is lame. If you mess up something, well, you have to call Customer Service to unlock your account. Oh, and not just for THIS game. Wait for well over an hour to talk to someone that does not understand English well, spend another 20 minutes to unlock an acct. It was terrible. Today, I tried,and it said the number wasn't available. This does NOT bode well.

 

Not sure you have the right thread homeboy

[Xeratheon]

Lol @ you kids (and adults? Hope not) who think you should get in early because you paid an extra $90 for a box of novelties.

[ColinKapow]

I just had to post in this topic, its crazy y'all

[Killbob]

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.

 

Thx I will be a good boy and wait till you invite me.

[foxbrig]

i got no problem waiting like the next guy i blame ebgames for not have the pre order codes on time so i can get them in but why the hell cant they still be sending out invites if its working with little problems then keep adding people to servers i mean come on last wave was 1:30 cst put out a couple more lots of day left why make people wait another day. and dont tell me other mmos do it this way i been on alot of launches seen the bad and good im all for waves of people getting added but dont stop them if there are no problems.

[ForeverAlone]

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.

 

agree'd whole heatedly

[Seganski]

this is ridiculous

[Zeugon]

STOP SPAMMING OR I'LL REPORT YOU GUYS MYSELF!!!!!

 

I can't even get a single post before the next page is ready. I want to get in too but dang. Chill out!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm Not spammgin i am making a genuine rebuttal to your argument quoted above...

[Arentak]

I don't mind it. I wonder if they'll add new servers to the list, seeing as many are High or Full already, after 1 day of pre-launch early access.

[ArostheJedi]

yep, i don't even have to read the over 500 pages of crap here. i signed up and purchased when you were first able to do so. for me and my wife. that's 2 accounts, and we still haven't received our go in? BS, we should be in this first wave.

complete idiocy on the part of the developers.

[khadaryan]

Main page says:

 

We've begun trolling the EAG

thank everyone for waiting, maybe u get a cookie in the next time.

[Tesseractual]

I'm suing Bioware for a replacement F5 button.... this thread has effectively broken mine.

[Maoiliosa]

Its the end of the world as we know it.

[Dumaah]

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.

 

 

 

Why wait till now to post this, instead of having an email about it when it mattered... Please provide clear instructions on how to cancel pre orders as many people like me in who registered in September may as well have the money for christmas since it will seemingly come first.

[Asquinol]

Wow... this thread is going to shrink by about 30 pages when the mods remove all that spam.

 

Stop posting that one post over and over. you are ruining this epic thread!

 

 

lawl

[Zones]

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 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.

 

A little communication would go a long way!

[DarthMarrik]

STOP SPAMMING OR I'LL REPORT YOU GUYS MYSELF!!!!!

 

I can't even get a single post before the next page is ready. I want to get in too but dang. Chill out!!!!!!!!!!

 

No one is going to care, so stop whining.

[toramo]

Report Post

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.

 

Furthermore I would like to add that this has EA written all over it.

tekforce of EVE, Corp: M0o - Retired

Polo Basilisk of SWG on Bria - Retired

 

LuckyBandit's Avatar

LuckyBandit

Joined: Jul 2010

 

Today , 09:40 PM

 

Report Post

[elelr]

Thank you for ordering from Origin Store on July 22, 2011. The following email is a summary of your order. Please use this as your proof of purchase. If you paid by credit card, please look for EA * Origin.com on your credit card billing statement.

YOUR ORDER AND BILLING INFORMATION

 

Order Number: 98*****400

Order Date: July 22, 2011

 

 

Why am i not in? My friends and I all bought at the same time.. and 1/2 of us are in and the other 1/2 are waiting. 6 people pre ordered.. and none of us can play because we can't play together... this makes no sense. If you ACTUALLY went in order...

If you ever manage to receive this response, the invites are not being sent out on day of pre-order, but day you entered the pre-order code.

 

You can find that under my account > Code Redemption.

[Ranid]

Apparently, the workday at Bioware ends at 2pm.

 

That is when everyone at Bioware got to back into the game and play some more. They have been playing since yesterday.

[Hellerman]

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.

 

bioware post on 644, this **** goes by to fast!

[dutch_gamer]

I hope you read this. This is everything. You have 105 servers active right now. The biggest wow servers have 20k-30k players on them. Are you going to tell me that you don't have servers as good as wow? Your 105 servers can handle over 2 million players.

 

As much as I dislike this staggering system it's irrelevant to the fact that you let almost no one in, how many players got activated? 100k? You had over 700k in your beta with no issues. I'm finding this completely asanine.

 

What recent mmo has had major launch issues? None. Rift was fine. What are you so afraid of? What are you trying to accomplish by making your customers angry?

 

But the biggest question of all is how does stopping at 2pm make even an ounce of logical thought?

 

Communicate something to us. All it takes is a little bit of talk to end a lot of anger.

 

A lot of people fail to understand why Bioware is staggering Early Access. Staggering is not about somehow not being able to handle a certain amount of players, it is about not opening up too many servers just because all other servers are full. Even Rift's launch was not flawless and they fell into the same trap a lot of people on here seem to want Bioware to fall into as well, opening up too many servers which will lead to server mergers.

 

Someone else in this thread gave a good answer as to why Bioware would stop with the waves, mainly because at prime time more people will actually get in. There is probably still a considerable amount of players who didn't take a day off and who still got invited to start Early Access and it is likely Bioware wants to make sure they can actually still log in to the same servers they have made available currently instead of adding deadweight servers to the mix way too early on.

 

There are a good amount of servers which are full right now, but that doesn't have to mean they are actually full as in full towards whatever eventual limit a server will have. Bioware, and I think rightly so, wants to not make the same exact mistake Mythic made with their head start.

[Mykalson]

Or Skyward Sword, or the Humble Indie Bundle 4 games, or anything else. Staggered access is good for everyone. I'm not in today either, but if doing it this way means that I don't have to wait in a queue for 2 hours to get into my server, then I'm willing to wait.