There's a valid reason why people are upset...

[Rodthamarth]

Come on now people its day 1 of EGA let bioware do their thing and just be patient. I seriously doubt it is the end of world. I am just sitting back and waiting and tbh no I do not expect to play until this weekend at best.

[Denzul]

It was the first day. They already said they'd add more folks tomorrow. You have no idea why they allowed the # they did. As IT and someone that works with network infrastructure, you just have no idea the complications and possible issues that can crop up. After almost every MMO lags and crashes on launch, I think a staggered launch is fine. I was hoping to play today, even had the day off. But no dice.. but I'd rather have a solid, stable, balanced (population-wise) experience once I do get in.

 

Smh. I don't think its possible for me to agree more

[cipero]

Because Bioware needs to monitor how active they are.

 

I like how you believe that BioWare didn't consider what you proposed

 

Like BioWare is full of a bunch of bumbling idiots, and they're just waiting for you to guide them

 

Yes, that's it. Bioware has been in the video game business for 20 years but appearantly, forum posters know how to do it better

 

Well, yea you are right they have been in the buisness for 20 years, but they haven't been in the MMO genre at all. One important thing about MMO's is they don't sleep.

[Oldbewan]

Generally speaking I'm not in favor of all the complaining that's been going on today. I haven't posted a word in response because I know that when there are this many people upset about something in the forums, you just can't say what's on your mind without irritating someone and I'm not looking to add to anyone's frustration. Including my own. However, after twelve hours of listening to the great many opinions shared, I think I'm due to place a comment.

 

I knew in advance that the EGA program involved admittance over several days and had no problem with pre-ordering on this basis. While I still have no problem with waiting my turn based on my pre-order redemption, I have to agree with the OP on the point about server load.

 

I was part of the weekend "stress test" betas in November and was really quite impressed by the overall performance of the game under heavy load conditions. It is clear to me that this game, it's network hardware and servers are all ready. At least as ready as can be judged on the client end.

 

I respectfully suggest that Bioware should consider speeding up their program to allow everyone access sooner. Nothing good will come from so many people in these forums flaming Bioware and each other.

 

Not a troll, not fan-boy - just a concerned customer.

 

...and yes, eager to play as well.

[DevinUp]

Yeah I'd be perfectly content to only get in during like midnight to 8 am tonight while the server pop is low... and then be locked out again until my turn... but yeah, having the servers empty like this is lame when there are so many people who want to play.

[wilsonstone]

here's something stephen reid posted once again that may shed light on the early access issue:

 

stephenreid's avatar

stephenreid

joined: Oct 2010

 

today , 04:44 pm

 

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 roll 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.

Stephen reid | senior online community manager

follow us on twitter @swtor | like us on facebook

[contact us] [rules of conduct] [f.a.q.] [dev tracker]

sticky this!

[Thaalia]

You all should stop crying. They opened the servers 2 days earlier than promised and will have everyone in for the full 5 days hopefully. Wow! Looks like you got a BONUS because instead of "up to 5" your getting up to 7 days early access. They are using these two extra days to make sure the servers are stable as they come up, and we should be happy they are using two extra days to do this instead of using two of the promised days to work it out.

 

I think some people logic is this: you probably opened the servers two days early cause you had a boat load of people, understandable. But then you invite a small percentage into the game. even IF they stopped acces to make way for the 'after work' crowd, they could still see if the servers are fine and release another wave

[paryn]

Actually I'm more annoyed that the client patch from beta to retail was like 30 megs, and the bugs that I experienced in beta are still here. It's just disappointing.

[Esaru]

Because Bioware needs to monitor how active they are.

 

I like how you believe that BioWare didn't consider what you proposed

 

Like BioWare is full of a bunch of bumbling idiots, and they're just waiting for you to guide them

 

Yes, that's it. Bioware has been in the video game business for 20 years but appearantly, forum posters know how to do it better

 

Of course they did. The problem I have is they didn't give any reason as to why (transparency goes a long way), which is what I explained is partially the cause of all the upset people. Not only does it look like they're not allowing that many people in, but there's no backing or reasoning that we know of behind this decision.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Esaru

[Krolof]

The worst thing is the lack of info or clear common sense. Bioware and EA could have allowed everyone to set up the subscription so you would be ready for your access.

Than when you completed process you would be give number and date for your access.

Everyone one would have info, no quess work and it would have been a simple program instead of all these emails. Bioware and EA already has in there records all the info based on our preorders. They really failed in this to provide clear information that would take all the quess work out of it and give the information we want...when are we going to get our invite and game access. Just my 2 cents....

[Xalisa]

accept you arent their client, a customer yes, but you dont have reserved time from them, nor a service tailored to your liking.. get over yourselves.

 

you pay fees and costs like everyone else. they serve all of you, but dont answer to any single one of you alone.

 

you by buying the game early were informed of its release date. they dont have to give you jack before then. but they are granting you access earlier than the release date in a time frame of their choosing.

 

even if they told you the precise day/time you will gain access somebody will find issue with it, nobody will be happy until they get to play. many will prolly still be unhappy even after that

 

Any mmo company is essentially a service company, by extension they are expected to perform a certain level of customer service, failing to do so is morally inappropriate, especially when they easily have the resources to keep their player-base more informed, which is what the op was intended to be about.

 

What is appalling to me is that every mmo company seems to adopt the strategy of "ignore until they are sufficiently tired of yelling." In any other industry, a competitor would have stepped in and scooped up the leftovers, but you cant do that with games, and its sad the extent they take advantage of that fact.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Xalisa

[Bootypoppin]

MMMMM My name is Bootypop and I like to party!

 

Ill get to play it eventually *shrug*

[Crimsane]

The OP doesn't even recognize the facts.

 

More spoiled entitlement from gamers who need to get a life.

 

Which facts?

 

Also, pretty sure he has one, since he mentioned not being mad since he has exams and other things to keep him busy, and not being angry or upset.

 

So, your post equals... more not reading threads from internet white knights?

[Hextor]

I'm not crying. But let me guess - you're playing?

 

No I'm sitting in amazement at these forums and watching TV. Amazed at the rage coming from people when this was all laid out ahead of time as to how its going to be. It's a real glimpse into what is wrong with the world and people in general when you see how ugly people get over nothing. The worst threads get closed ultra fast and a lot of those people need a serious reality check as to what is important in life.

[Umbravita]

you're a good man Wilsonstone, thanx for posting that

[Redredred]

Any mmo company is essentially a service company, by extension they are expected to perform a certain level of customer service, failing to do so is morally inappropriate, especially when they easily have the resources to keep their player-base more informed, which is what the op was intended to be about.

 

What is appalling to me is that every mmo company seems to adopt the "ignore until they are sufficiently tired of yelling." In any other industry, a competitor would have stepped in and scooped up the leftovers, but you cant do that with games, and its sad the extent they take advantage of that fact.

 

How are they ignoreing us. They have posted several time. What you meant to say is "they are not giving me everything I want (even though its completely impossible to do so) so now im going to through a fit". And yes...that is exactly what you are saying.

[TyrantLeader]

How dare you make perfect sense OP!

 

+1 cant agree more

[Your_dominus]

The OP doesn't even recognize the facts.

 

More spoiled entitlement from gamers who need to get a life.

 

Whaaa? The OP made perfect sense. Too bad you glazed over and call it a QQ troll post instead of reading it.

[Esaru]

No I'm sitting in amazement at these forums and watching TV. Amazed at the rage coming from people when this was all laid out ahead of time as to how its going to be. It's a real glimpse into what is wrong with the world and people in general when you see how ugly people get over nothing. The worst threads get closed ultra fast and a lot of those people need a serious reality check as to what is important in life.

 

there's not much rage or ugliness in this thread, in fact it's been pretty civilized. Are we not allowed to express our concerns and have a discussion?

[Hextor]

Of course they did. The problem I have is they didn't give any reason as to why, which is what I explained is partially the cause of all the upset people.

 

They can't talk about stuff like that, or numbers let in each day or how many total are in the wait in line. That information is valuable trade secrets that other companies would pay money to learn about. Might sound strange to you but having your newest competitors exact launch numbers and capabilities is extremely useful.

[GloomWarder]

This is quoted from SReid

 

The latest update from StephenReid:

 

Hey all - while we have no definitive update on this yet (that'll come tomorrow, I hope, after our investigation concludes) I did want to point out one important thing.

 

There have been some suggestions of characters running around on servers in the 30-40 range today. We have the metrics here, and the highest level character as of 30 minutes ago is considerably lower level than that.

 

Again, we take this seriously, and we're looking to see if this is an exploit that we need to rectify - but don't let rumor and speculation run too rampant.

 

 

I stole it from the pvp forums but yea here it is

[Stirbend]

The OP's statement was nothing of the sort.

 

To many of you sabotaging and defending the developer in posts. You just twisted it into that because you've been white knighting and holding up the over zealous fanboi shield for far too long.

 

This was a horribly executed first day on Bioware's part and they should be recoiling massively tomorrow, because we don't need any more Bethesda's or Blizzard's. You are here for your customer for you are nothing without them!

 

Even a base schedule for the invites would have been nice, I know many that took a day off work today to play thinking that because they preordered day 3 they would get in. Do they get in tomorrow? Or the next? Many people work retail and many people do not have this time of the year off to play all day, everyday. A day requested off for a "suggested" (because it wasn't bloody stated otherwise on who would get invited!!!) LAUNCH is like gold for many.

 

Have some common sense to realize with who the fault lies, and contribute to and assist, rather than put down a now rampaging community.

 

The EXTREME lack of communication right now, smoke and mirror and under-promise tactics are not how you communicate to a community that is near litteraly enraged with your company.

 

Stephen Reid said he did a database "pull" earlier on the invite list - well - COMMUNICATE it to the community so people will know when they can expect to play, rather than keep it a guessing game. At this stage in the launch process - you deliver. Hype period ended at 7am EST this morning.

 

It has nothing to do with white knighting around. It's just that some of us peeps out here have some technical know how, and despite what is said, people continue to rage and be mad while simultaneously making themselves look dumb about how a process like this should be carried out.

 

The above post not only plays into that but has a attitude of thinking they should communicate all of their info to us. As if that affects anything whatsoever, or that we need to know. Get off your entitlement horse. People made plans with no knowledge of the details and now you're mad. And it quite frankly is that simple. You need to chill. And also learn to plan better. And no, it isn't BW or EA failure to let you in on plans, it was yours for assuming in the first place.

[Hextor]

there's not much rage or ugliness in this thread, in fact it's been pretty civilized. Are we not allowed to express our concerns and have a discussion?

 

Correct this is not a rage thread, its a cry thread. I didn't chastise the discussion, just the crying for no reason. Sorry but its just not valid.

[Vraesh]

It's not because of staggered access. We all knew it was going to be like this. We just didn't know how. And now that we're seeing how it's playing out, it's not surprising people are angry.

 

Bioware finished their fifth wave of invites at 2pm today. Not only is this obscenely early, but none of the servers are even close to being near any sort of 'stress test' point. 95% of them are light and standard.

 

THIS is why people are mad. Again, not because it's staggered access - um hello, we knew that already. It's because Bioware simply did not do enough to bring in as many people as they could. Instead they've pussyfooted around and are playing it WAY too safe in my opinion. The servers right now are practically DEAD because there's not enough people there. This potentially bodes that the whole head-start process is going to be extremely slow-going, with the possibility of not even having everyone in by release. I'm honestly not surprised this doesn't rub people the right way. There's no reason it should

 

Actually, that does NOT make sense.

Entire guilds were placed on day one servers. Members of said guilds are spread throughout the early start. Opening up brand new servers on demand won't stem the bottleneck of people trying to logon to their guild's server. It will only facilitate people with absolutely no guild affiliation.

The way they're doing it makes perfect sense when you take into account the guild placement process.

[Jigss]

Again. Even if you and another player started on the same day (at the same time), if he played twice as much as you and was a much higher level and had better gear his advantage would have nothing to do with "who started first" because you started playing at the same time. Thats the point. Its different from player to player, not everyone who got into early access today is super hardcore "I need to power level to 50 right meow" type of player.

 

You need to read my post before you quote it. You missed my point again and just remade your point. Let me see if another example could help you understand what i mean. If someone got rich i would not be jealous or mad at them. After all they made it work and that is fine. If they were given an unfair advantage to reach that point then we would not be on a level playing field. I would be at a disadvantage that i couldn't influence by my own means.

 

 

So if we both start on the same day and i surpass you everything is fair as we started out the same and i simply out played you. That is your own fault and if you want to keep is casual that is fine. However if i was forced out of the game for a period of time while you logged in everyday. You would have a unnatural advantage over me. That is not acceptable.

 

 

I have day 1 early access, I am a casual player, people who get early access on day 4 or 5 will mostly likely pass me. Simply because someone has early access doesn't really mean anything.

 

That is not my problem if you want to take it casual we are not discussing you but the community at large. People don't want unfair advantages unless they happen on a equal playing field IE (we both started the same time) at which point nothing would be unfair.