WoW vs. TOR: Comparing game launches

[Suldra]

wow - it took an arrow to the knee...

 

Enough said...move along, move along...

 

lmao!!!!

[Maloreon]

The best part of all the whining is that all it really shows is people love this game THAT MUCH and really want to play. They will sit through all of this and then sub for the next 5 years and play like a total addict.

 

Thanks to all of you who came into this thread and supported the only logical conclusion to reach after today's EA launch: this game is launching smoothly, it is very popular, some people are insufferable cry baby trolls.

[Silvarea]

Well the end of the OP was incorrect.. AO beat all games for worst launch ever.. If you were there you'd know it was true..

[Maloreon]

Well the end of the OP was incorrect.. AO beat all games for worst launch ever.. If you were there you'd know it was true..

 

I have heard about that game yeah. I've heard it was VERY bad. So if you say that AO was the worst, then WoW is the second worst. I'm sure people who have played both would debate the issue but I haven't so I can't. All I know is that WoW is WAAAAY worse than SW:TOR because Bioware has actually thought about how to properly release a game this time.... yet people whine about the exact choices they are making to ensure a healthy launch. Unbelievable.

[anthonymma]

Loot lag!

 

I remember those days.

[Markovnikov]

I still remember the endless posts whining, crying, and threatening to quit for MONTHS while Blizzard's servers failed miserably at and after launch of WoW. I recall thousands, nay millions of threads saying that this would "REALLY COST BLIZZARD BIGTIME" since people were so frustrated. I recall reading posts saying Blizzard's image was "SCARRED" permanently, etc. I remember people being SO righteously angry about how badly Blizzard was treating them - but yet they still sat in queue for 1-2 hours every night waiting to play. The QQ on those forums crushed any amount of QQ here...

 

And then WoW went on to break basically every known video game record and become a worldwide phenomenon. That is funny, because WoW's launch actually WAS terrible. It was a disaster, and the game went on to dominate for years.

 

Still, somehow, the crybabies on these forums are actually convincing themselves that today, tomorrow, the rest of EA, or any other slightly negative event in SW:TOR history will have any impact on their number of subscriptions in the coming years.

 

For those of you that are angry and about to type up a really nasty response to this post, you know it is true. You know that this is a fact - that they won't be hurt by this. That you WILL keep playing. Furthermore, you know this launch is actually going well - yet you still whine. But go ahead, keep making posts fussing about how this game will fail - and I will keep pointing you to a game with the worst MMO launch in history that went on to dominate just as this game will in this era.

 

Welcome to the SW:TOR era of MMO's.

 

Umm.. WoW's launch was one of the smoothest of MMORPGs at the time. You clearly never played DAoC or weren't around for it's launch because that was bad. You couldn't log on for the first day at all. Asheron's Call 2 was really bad as well.

 

The main bad thing I remember about WoW's launch was that physical copies sold out in stores, so it took a week or two for some people to get a copy. And don't tell me I wasn't around for it because I was (I admit I haven't played WoW since 2006, though). Granted, it wasn't the smoothest launch, but it was a lot better than the previous MMORPGs.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Markovnikov

[Bluejayoo]

Yeah, there was some minor complaining about long queues, but WOW's launch was really pretty good. I remember how most people congratulated WOW on a smooth launch, as many of the other MMO's that were released around that time had serious problems at the start.

 

There was nothing like the outcry I am seeing today. Anecdotally, I just got a message from my Uncle that I was planning on playing this game with. He cancelled his preorder. He isn't mad, just said with all the crap that has gone on he isn't excited about the game any more. He is going to stick with WOW for a while and see how the game goes in a month or two.

 

Not everyone is a Star Wars or Bioware otaku that is willing to put up with this kind of mess to play a game. In truth, I am, so my preorder is staying in place, but I wouldn't be surprised if this launch did have an effect on the game.

 

Particular in a few months when GW2 comes out.

[Arithra]

Hey mr OP

I heard theres staggered access to kiss SR s bottom.

Right this way sir....

[evolart]

Gamespot Article:

 

"Chances are if you were a PC gamer who was lucky enough to have both a copy of World of Warcraft and Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, you probably planned on spending a good chunk of the weekend playing the massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Unfortunately, chances are you encountered some serious problems while doing so.

 

According to some reports, as many as 20 of the 88 servers running World of Warcraft were down over the weekend. These outages followed a scheduled systemwide, daylong outage on Thursday, during which time developer-publisher Blizzard was supposedly upgrading its server system. However, the changes simply caused even more widespread problems. "The servers were outright broken the evenings of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," grumbled one upset player to GameSpot editors. As a result of the downed servers, many gamers were kicked off the servers or forced to endure waits of more than one hour...if they could log on at all. Finally, on Sunday, all the servers were again brought down for "emergency service."

 

Yesterday, Blizzard apologized at length on the official World of Warcraft forums before implementing a stopgap fix. "As a temporary solution, we have placed lower population restrictions on the affected realms; this results in queues when the population reaches a certain number. This is a short-term solution and, while undesirable, is in place to keep the realms more stable while we work on the main cause of the issues." While they increased server stability, the population caps caused long waits, further angering already furious gamers.

 

Today, Blizzard announced on the front page of the official World of Warcraft Web site that "due to the extended nature of the server issues, we will be providing a free 48-hour extension of play time." However, this offer did little to assuage the wrath of angry players.

 

Besides the bilious comments that littered the game's forums, the backlash extended into the gaming press as well. An editor for Penny Arcade announced that he was rescinding the 2004 Game of the Year award the popular game site bestowed on World of Warcraft. This occurred despite a previously close relationship between Penny Arcade and Blizzard, which saw several of the site's signature comic strips appear in the game guide.

 

As of Tuesday afternoon, players trying to log on to World of Warcraft were still experiencing significant delays. GameSpot editors who attempted to log on at 4:30pm PST were informed that more than 500 players were waiting in line ahead of them."

[Darkeus]

And there you go....

[Teladis]

Gamespot Article:

 

"Chances are if you were a PC gamer who was lucky enough to have both a copy of World of Warcraft and Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, you probably planned on spending a good chunk of the weekend playing the massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Unfortunately, chances are you encountered some serious problems while doing so.

 

According to some reports, as many as 20 of the 88 servers running World of Warcraft were down over the weekend. These outages followed a scheduled systemwide, daylong outage on Thursday, during which time developer-publisher Blizzard was supposedly upgrading its server system. However, the changes simply caused even more widespread problems. "The servers were outright broken the evenings of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," grumbled one upset player to GameSpot editors. As a result of the downed servers, many gamers were kicked off the servers or forced to endure waits of more than one hour...if they could log on at all. Finally, on Sunday, all the servers were again brought down for "emergency service."

 

Yesterday, Blizzard apologized at length on the official World of Warcraft forums before implementing a stopgap fix. "As a temporary solution, we have placed lower population restrictions on the affected realms; this results in queues when the population reaches a certain number. This is a short-term solution and, while undesirable, is in place to keep the realms more stable while we work on the main cause of the issues." While they increased server stability, the population caps caused long waits, further angering already furious gamers.

 

Today, Blizzard announced on the front page of the official World of Warcraft Web site that "due to the extended nature of the server issues, we will be providing a free 48-hour extension of play time." However, this offer did little to assuage the wrath of angry players.

 

Besides the bilious comments that littered the game's forums, the backlash extended into the gaming press as well. An editor for Penny Arcade announced that he was rescinding the 2004 Game of the Year award the popular game site bestowed on World of Warcraft. This occurred despite a previously close relationship between Penny Arcade and Blizzard, which saw several of the site's signature comic strips appear in the game guide.

 

As of Tuesday afternoon, players trying to log on to World of Warcraft were still experiencing significant delays. GameSpot editors who attempted to log on at 4:30pm PST were informed that more than 500 players were waiting in line ahead of them."

 

 

 

You just won the net.

 

 

I recall day 1 wow. I use to go fishing on the server line to crash servers.

The fishing bobbers or whatever would stay in the water flooding people.

Warriors had a outcry and crashed servers.

The servers lagged and crashed.

 

 

Wow was still the best mmo out.

 

 

All this rage is a good thing. It means people have passion and want to play. If I was bioware I would be happy to see the rage. The worse thing that could happen is to see a dead forum.

[Karnyvor]

Hey guys lets compare a game that launched in 2004 to one launching in 2011.

 

Better yet... lets alter a fact here and there and hope everyone buys it...

[evolart]

"The Worst MMORPG launches" WoW ranked #1

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/4862

 

 

article #2

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Teala/032008/1395_Worst-and-Best-MMORPG-Launches-Part-1

 

article on Darkfall's launch

 

http://www.onlinemassivelymultiplayer.com/mmo-news/darkfall-online-worst-executed-launch-of-an-mmorpg-ever/

 

quit ************

Edited December 14, 2011 by evolart

[Shankybitz]

Played day of release in 2004 on doomhammer. No lag no server crashes only downside was the fact it gained popularity and I had a 3mins queue on day 5. el oh el.

[Fireyes]

I think the worst launch was Final Fantasy XIV it was so bad they did not charge anyone money to play their game. >_>

[Kenuty]

I think the worst launch was Final Fantasy XIV it was so bad they did not charge anyone money to play their game. >_>

 

It's still the worst game in general, so many promises and no delivery

 

No apologies from square or changes would ever make me crawl back to that hellhole.

[OldCuban]

Anarchy Online and Final Fantasy XIV have by far had worse launches than WoW did. Those two games had issues for months if not years.

 

Most of the articles linked so far have too few actual details on why the game launches were so bad. I get the impression they didn't actually play those releases like some of us did. And are just quoting something they heard.

 

WoW's launch gave me no issues. I never crashed, I did have a short wait to get in ( about 15 mins ). SWG's launch went well for me as well. They did release the game a day late, but once it did launch I also had no major issues.

 

I think everyone ( including myself ) are just upset b/c we expected the early game access to apply to everyone equally.

 

Hell, I have some friends that actually took today off of work b/c they were expecting to be able to play. Boy were they caught off guard, lol.

 

See, every other mmo that has ever offered any kind of early access ALWAYS let EVERYONE in at the same time. They and myself expected the same with SWTOR.

 

So it wasn't, oh well. Life goes on.

 

See ya in game in a few days!

[Aeryel]

All that I can remember from WoW launch was... sitting on your loot, all day long. And wait for queue if you have disconnected...

 

I bet the first day invites did not get into this kind of trouble?

[TheShootist]

 

I think everyone ( including myself ) are just upset b/c we expected the early game access to apply to everyone equally.

 

Hell, I have some friends that actually took today off of work b/c they were expecting to be able to play. Boy were they caught off guard, lol.

 

See, every other mmo that has ever offered any kind of early access ALWAYS let EVERYONE in at the same time. They and myself expected the same with SWTOR.

 

So it wasn't, oh well. Life goes on.

 

See ya in game in a few days!

 

Where was it ever posted that it was gonna be equal access for everyone? It was always going to be a staggered, from when it was first mentioned about early access.

[Seifz]

WoW's launch gave me no issues. I never crashed, I did have a short wait to get in ( about 15 mins ). SWG's launch went well for me as well. They did release the game a day late, but once it did launch I also had no major issues.

 

WoW was broken for months after launch. Hell, even more than 2 years after launch they were giving out free playtime because some servers would just go down for days. I think that WoW was just ahead of its time in terms of hardware requirements. The updated servers are much, much better.

 

I think everyone ( including myself ) are just upset b/c we expected the early game access to apply to everyone equally.

 

Hell, I have some friends that actually took today off of work b/c they were expecting to be able to play. Boy were they caught off guard, lol.

 

Why did you think that? BioWare has been saying since the very start that EGA would be phased and based on the order that you registered your pre-order code. That information is posted everywhere. I'm usually the last guy to defend a big corporation like EA, but they're right this time. It's your own damn fault if you didn't bother to read the pre-order stuff.

[Buhallin]

Naw, I just hope my memory is good lol. I didn't ignore your post or your comments. And Im still on the fence on whether it was good or not.

It was not. You've invented your good memories from whole cloth, or are perhaps under the influence of a posthypnotic suggestion.

 

WoW's launch was beyond horrid. It was bad enough that they gave out a free month of playtime to everyone, and it wasn't just to compensate for a few bad hours. The stories people are relating of horrid lag, servers down literally for days, and unplayable bugs are entirely true.

 

But for some reason, MMO gamers would rather everyone suffer than think that Bioware's approach might mean that some get to enjoy the game while they don't. That's utterly beyond the pale, and leads to such a storm of nerdrage that I can't help but chuckle and shake my head. It's sad, really, but that's what you want - you want the entire launch to suck and be miserable for EVERYONE rather than deal with the fact that you might not get in for a few days, or might just not know exactly when you'll get it, or see someone else have a day's head start to be the first on their server to accumulate 471 hours of naked mailbox dancing time.

 

Really, the only thing scarred by this launch, embarrassed by this launch, and humiliated by this launch is the MMO community, which has shown itself to be precisely every horrible, shallow stereotype implied of it.

[Diablo_the_lord]

I believe the second post sums this thread up. 2004 launch vs 2011 launch.

[armyofd]

Oh, the good ol' days of early wow, when they had a looting bug where you'd get stuck in the looting animation (without looting) for like 2 min. The server que, the fact there was little to no end game content for either pve or pvp.

 

Gamers have a tendency to make a big deal out of things (of both those that warrant it and those that don't) but gamers also have a horrible memory, so once the bugs are fixed no one seems to remember them. I am sure once everyone is in and playing the game, whenever that happens, no one will even talk about EGA and how it was handled.

[SuberBaird]

Different eras. MMOs were still a niche market in 2004. They are now the most popular PC gaming platform.

 

Mainly because MMOs is the only game type that hasn't been perfected on the consoles yet... lol

[Mazinger-Zetto]

Reposting, but whatevs...

 

Most of my rage is largely from the handling of this. It is a bad way to start. A lot of people remember when Blizzard first pushed WoW. The servers were unstable and overpopulated, they had to roll out hardware and you had to convince your friend to leave his 4 8-slot bags of Peacebloom on his level 15 Priest to reroll on a lighter server that was pushed the second day of launch.

 

There were mea culpas, pro-rated time for extended server downtime. There was humility involved. Now as the largest MMO in the world, there's none of that (especially after Activision's excised Blizzard's soul and replaced it with a clockwork heart of solid gold)... This is a pretty large undertaking by Bioware and its not like any of their other games. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, KOTOR... those were like getting ready for the prom. A lot of effort for one magical night. An MMO is like a wedding... A lot of effort for a long term relationship. If they're already sticking it to you on the prenup to you before the "I Do's", it's a bad precedence to set. It shows a pattern of unapologetic behavior and bull that's going to follow this game through its gaffes.

 

Sadly, SWTOR is going to need every advantage it can get and crossing your base before they even get a chance to invest in the game is a very bad prediction of what things will be like in the long haul.