Regarding server queues

[Keylab]

They cannot activate a game mechanism like character transfer that they havent coded and testet yet.

 

There is currently no way to transfer a character from one server to another because they thought it would not be neccesary to have such a thing.

 

I fear that there has been directed so many time and ressources into the development of this game, that the entire network and organisational part has baldy been left out.

[Kameyo]

Bumping this for free server transfers.

I can only see the situation getting worse and as we have so many unhappy customers it seems like the only reasonable option to me.

[ComaPL]

Most interesting thing in this is that you are 1000 in queue so you got 1000 people before you and this 1000 people is log in about 2 hours, so everyone got about 4 minutes to log into the game when got his turn, so it looks like serwer give access one by one to every person in queue... and this is sick for me...

[sithlordjake]

In case a lot of you guys haven't seen it - http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=570994#edit570994

 

It's a joke. 'We do not expect these queues to alleviate for the foreseeable future.' Not good enough.

 

All that effort to have a smooth launch and then they go and screw things up with shoddy server management. I have four characters on an EGA server, and I'm supposed to just toddle off and create toons on new servers if I don't want to queue?

 

No thanks. Instead, what I think I will do is cancel the subscription I set up and go play something else. EA/BW are forgetting they aren't the only show in town.

 

And I'll also be advising my friends who are still on the fence about SWTOR to avoid it. Queues or not, the customer service and community management is pathetic.

[Nighthawked]

A few people brought up some arguments about not having hours of time and jobs and such. I am the same way. I do not have that much time, it took me 6 months to get to level 70 on WoW.

 

Hmm well lets see, people are saying they are spending night after night sitting in the queue and not getting the chance to play.....OR you can create a side character and actually play instead of staring at the screen. You are saying you DO have the time to sit in queue, but you DO NOT have the 2 seconds to log on to a secondary character? If you can only play 2 hours, and you have an hour queue, chances are you will not be able to play your main character. So you choose what to do, but again it is your choice.

[Yatabaza]

...I realize that people bought the game, and should be able to play it. But there needs to be common sense here people. Launch + Star Wars concept + holiday breaks + more people online now than there was years ago + holiday break + holiday break = abnormally high number of people having time off and are trying to play.

Two sentences from me as well: I pay. I demand. ONE HOUR in queue is simply UNACCEPTABLE!

Period.

[silverpen]

The problem isnt that there isnt enough servers in most cases. It is ridiculously frustrating to see those servers launched on Dec 20th to cope with the influx are in most cases still LIGHT populations while those who were already marked FULL now have retarded queues...

Seriously BW, people who are checking this game out coming from other MMOS WILL get fed up and not come back and this game -regardless of how amazing it actually is to play - will go the way of LOTRO, Rift etc etc.

People are willing to make excuses. People are willing to move servers if they can take their characters with them. People are willing to be patient as long as they see that something is being done.

But people are NOT willing to pay money to watch queue times, and to watch them rise, and to sit and wait for something to be done, for proper acknowledgement of our frustrations to come and ACTION to be taken. The result will be simple and devastating for the future of the game. Their subscriptions simply will not happen. They will go back to Panda-land and mourn what could have been an amazing MMO.

[nite_shade]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=570994#edit570994

 

Praise the FORCE!!

[sithlordjake]

A few people brought up some arguments about not having hours of time and jobs and such. I am the same way. I do not have that much time, it took me 6 months to get to level 70 on WoW.

 

Hmm well lets see, people are saying they are spending night after night sitting in the queue and not getting the chance to play.....OR you can create a side character and actually play instead of staring at the screen. You are saying you DO have the time to sit in queue, but you DO NOT have the 2 seconds to log on to a secondary character? If you can only play 2 hours, and you have an hour queue, chances are you will not be able to play your main character. So you choose what to do, but again it is your choice.

 

Nighthawked, we get it, you're an apologist. This thread isn't for you. It's for people who are unhappy at BWs management of this situation.

[Wildcat]

Nighthawked, we get it, you're an apologist. This thread isn't for you. It's for people who are unhappy at BWs management of this situation.

 

Exactly.

 

Look, I like Bioware. I've bought every one of their games. They make great games. But I am not so blind as to not be able to even conceive of them making a mistake or being in the wrong. Dragon Age 2, for example, was a TERRIBLE GAME with a BAD story. Their first such failure.

 

Same thing with these server issues. They put too many players on too few servers, then complicated it by not closing the gates at a manageable level. They were too slow in adding new servers. They started early access with too few servers that resulted in us NOT being spread out but being too densely packed.

 

Now is not the time to make excuses it's time to acknowledge the problem and solve it.

[Scelerant]

Step 1: Lock new character creation on the full, very heavy and heavy servers unless the person is tied to a guild that launched onto that server during the guild deployment.

 

Step 2: Increase the population limit on the full, very heavy and heavy servers so that the full servers go to "very heavy"

 

Step 3: Add double XP to the "Light" servers for a 3 day period.

 

Step 4: Once the servers are roughly even, reset them to normal while keeping the pop limits.

 

Step 5: Collect subscription money, do pass go.

[nite_shade]

It's a joke. 'We do not expect these queues to alleviate for the foreseeable future.' Not good enough.

 

All that effort to have a smooth launch and then they go and screw things up with shoddy server management. I have four characters on an EGA server, and I'm supposed to just toddle off and create toons on new servers if I don't want to queue?

 

No thanks. Instead, what I think I will do is cancel the subscription I set up and go play something else. EA/BW are forgetting they aren't the only show in town.

 

And I'll also be advising my friends who are still on the fence about SWTOR to avoid it. Queues or not, the customer service and community management is pathetic.

 

It's a bit harsh to be fair, annoying yes, but a bit harsh... BW have done a fab job, they really have. I would recommend this game to anyone. The Qs are an issue (especially for us people who work all day), but having full servers stand testement to the success of this awesome game in an even awesome setting.

 

I'll use WoW as a comparision If you kids had played this at launch? It was just the same, massive Qs and so on, even the lack of chat bubbles YES!

 

But to rant to your mates that the game is bad is unfair, it's the queues that are bad, NOT the game.. we must be patient...

 

GRRRR!! But please hurry up and resolve the QUEUES!! Bahh! That's anouther 50 point to the dark side..... oh! I'm sith..... that's ok then

[TheBinarySurfer]

Us British are famous for our ability to queue without complaining. Well this has started to test my English patience that's for sure.

Most of us understand there will be launch day issues and for some time beyond. Problem is things seem to be getting worse and not better and there is little communication. I cant see things getting any better due to the Christmas Holidays as the main server technicians will be eating their turkey leaving basic operators to run the service.

 

Regular communication will go along way to keeping your paying and playing users happy. We are big enough and bright enough to understand. Then you just have to work out a fair compensation policy for all those of us impacted by these queues.

 

This, and what the chap earlier on said about it being fixed for them if they haven't got a clear solution sorted in weeks. Not saying i'll leave, just saying there are very good odds a lot of busy people who dont have time to queue for hours on end will (I mean i'm only moderately busy and on a weeknight I can only sneak in about 2h play usually; if I spend that all in a queue there's not any reason for me to continue to give them money beyond Jan 20th).

 

 

They need to fix the problem and fast; from a community / player trust angle i'd say that; they have until Friday before moderate damage is done from, new year until serious damage is done, and Jan 20th before they will be in the position of folding servers. Modern life is just too hectic for most; they don't have time for hours of endless queue in a system that kicks them back to the end of the line if inactive, they get a DC or a CTD etc. In fact, thinking about it, realistically if this queue situation persists over Christmas day-boxing day without any improvement I think that's the delineator for me as to whether I continue playing, as if I can barely get online on a holiday, I have 0 chance on a working day.

Edited December 21, 2011 by TheBinarySurfer

[Nighthawked]

Nighthawked, we get it, you're an apologist. This thread isn't for you. It's for people who are unhappy at BWs management of this situation.

 

I am not an apologist. I am a realist. You expected NO queues from a game that was hyped up this much? What about the other MMOs that had queues at launch (which has been every single MMO I believe), you can forgive them but oh no this game has no excuse for queues? WoW had queues at launch, and after expansion releases, but their queues did not break their success. You would rather have the servers be so crowded that it will crash and NOBODY (on that server) will be able to play until it is fixed?

[sithlordjake]

It's a bit harsh to be fair, annoying yes, but a bit harsh... BW have done a fab job, they really have. I would recommend this game to anyone. The Qs are an issue (especially for us people who work all day), but having full servers stand testement to the success of this awesome game in an even awesome setting.

 

I'll use WoW as a comparision If you kids had played this at launch? It was just the same, massive Qs and so on, even the lack of chat bubbles YES!

 

But to rant to your mates that the game is bad is unfair, it's the queues that are bad, NOT the game.. we must be patient...

 

GRRRR!! But please hurry up and resolve the QUEUES!! Bahh! That's anouther 50 point to the dark side..... oh! I'm sith..... that's ok then

 

The game isn't good, it's amazing.

 

But Stephen Reid has said the queues are here to stay 'for the foreseeable future'. And that they don't want to lock heavy/full servers. He's basically saying they don't want to make a tough decision and actually manage the situation, despite the fact a ton of already paying customers would benefit.

 

Not. Good. Enough.

 

I can't honestly recommend the game based on my experiences. Customer service, community management and good server management are essential in a successful MMO. Bioware are giving the impression that they are standing in the middle of the server room scratching their heads.

[TheBinarySurfer]

Seems their solution to the problem is to massively bump the server limits periodically; while it's great that i'm online due to it, that doesn't seem like a feasible long-term solution as it will create performance issues eventually.

[Khurasan]

Just checked the EU servers Only 5 are full rest are Very heavy... something happend as opposed to almost 15 full servers.

[Scelerant]

I am not an apologist. I am a realist. You expected NO queues from a game that was hyped up this much? What about the other MMOs that had queues at launch (which has been every single MMO I believe), you can forgive them but oh no this game has no excuse for queues? WoW had queues at launch, and after expansion releases, but their queues did not break their success. You would rather have the servers be so crowded that it will crash and NOBODY (on that server) will be able to play until it is fixed?

 

The thing is, with them having the exact number of preorder codes redeemed, the exact number of game codes redeemed in addition to being able to lock new character creation on full servers, the ability to hide full servers from people who do not have ties to the server, to up server population caps and many other things, I was expecting queues of 15 - 30 minutes but not 2 - 4 hours.

 

Add to it that the extreme queue times are leading to people staying online while afk via various methods thus compounding the problem with the queue. Of course, throughout the development and customer interaction Bioware has taken the Machiavellian approach to their customers, subtly manipulating them into doing what they want them to do.

 

It could be that there have been no more than 50 new accounts on the full servers, but that they reduced the population cap on said full servers right before launch to avoid a large amount of characters being created on them.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Scelerant

[sithlordjake]

I am not an apologist. I am a realist. You expected NO queues from a game that was hyped up this much? What about the other MMOs that had queues at launch (which has been every single MMO I believe), you can forgive them but oh no this game has no excuse for queues? WoW had queues at launch, and after expansion releases, but their queues did not break their success. You would rather have the servers be so crowded that it will crash and NOBODY (on that server) will be able to play until it is fixed?

 

It's not that I didn't think there would be queues, it's that I had this silly notion that Bioware might actually have the tools in place to manage it, instead of looking blankly at the community and not saying anything other than 'Deal with it'.

 

You remember, right? How they banged on about ensuring a good launch experience? It's not really in evidence now, is it?

[supernickx]

Seems their solution to the problem is to massively bump the server limits periodically; while it's great that i'm online due to it, that doesn't seem like a feasible long-term solution as it will create performance issues eventually.

 

Depends on their capacity. Right now the servers seem capped at a lowly 2000 or so player limit when the clusters are definitely capable of handling much, much more.

 

This is in their effort to effectively herd players onto servers to ensure 30 servers don't have 4000 while 70 have the hard cap of 10,000.

[silverpen]

I am not an apologist. I am a realist. You expected NO queues from a game that was hyped up this much? What about the other MMOs that had queues at launch (which has been every single MMO I believe), you can forgive them but oh no this game has no excuse for queues? WoW had queues at launch, and after expansion releases, but their queues did not break their success. You would rather have the servers be so crowded that it will crash and NOBODY (on that server) will be able to play until it is fixed?

 

I do not ever remember having to queue on WOW for more than 15 minutes on a full server after any expansion.

Our gripe isnt that there are queues but that the queues are now unreasonable and in some cases could have been easily avoidable by the simple action of locking servers which were full with 20 mins or more queues in evening at end of pre-release to anyone who had not entered a pre-released code prior to launch at least for a couple of weeks after launch to make sure those who joined game joined light servers so as not to impact our experience to such a ridiculous degree. And yes I do mean to anyone who hadnt put in a pre-release key for at least that period. Because if you were assigned to a guild and didnt bother to fork out a fiver for a prerelease you didnt bother that much about playing with it. The servers could then have been opened up to those who were assigned a guild and didnt buy prerelease before any new buyers were allowed to join.

[Duusen]

I just went from 800 queue to 0 in around 10 minuttes .. It jumped from 700 to login screen ..

 

Have you guys heard our prayers?

[Delolith]

Just checked the EU servers Only 5 are full rest are Very heavy... something happend as opposed to almost 15 full servers.

 

Yes they either hard reseted to boot the afkers or increased max limit. Queue went from 1300 people at 9am to 450 people at 1am. Not something you would expect.

[Scelerant]

Yes they either hard reseted to boot the afkers or increased max limit. Queue went from 1300 people at 9am to 450 people at 1am. Not something you would expect.

 

That would be the clever thing to do, every night at like 5am just do a quick server restart.

[Nighthawked]

I do not ever remember having to queue on WOW for more than 15 minutes on a full server after any expansion.

Our gripe isnt that there are queues but that the queues are now unreasonable and in some cases could have been easily avoidable by the simple action of locking servers which were full with 20 mins or more queues in evening at end of pre-release to anyone who had not entered a pre-released code prior to launch at least for a couple of weeks after launch to make sure those who joined game joined light servers so as not to impact our experience to such a ridiculous degree. And yes I do mean to anyone who hadnt put in a pre-release key for at least that period. Because if you were assigned to a guild and didnt bother to fork out a fiver for a prerelease you didnt bother that much about playing with it. The servers could then have been opened up to those who were assigned a guild and didnt buy prerelease before any new buyers were allowed to join.

 

And if it was locked, wouldn't you have more complainers because that is where their friends or guild members are? I believe they said they did not want to lock the servers due to "your choice" and allowing the client to choose whatever they want.