Staggering, worst or best tactic for a MMO this day and age?

[Allegata]

T

It's basically a battle between what you want and what they want on that particular front.

 

And here their customers are battling them while paying them money every month? True not yet, but this won't be the last time a decision is made either.....What if they used this wretched model for every Xpack release as well? I can see it now....The Xpack doesn't really launch until x date, but if you pre-order it we may allow you UP TO 5 days early access to it...but we won't tell you when you're getting access until the minute you do.

 

Stupidity.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Allegata

[Ezekiel]

Totally ruins the magic of participating in an mmo launch. Fail of the decade.

[TaishoD]

Personally, I think the staggering thing is a great idea ( and yes, I am one of you poor slobs who haven't gotten into the game yet ). I find it great that Bioware is taking it to the next level to ensure that they don't just stuff people willy nilly into their servers and ensure that those who have logged in have the experience that they want to present. I'd rather have PREMIUM game time than to just be able to say that I was able to play something terribly laggy at launch.

 

One of the problems really is that people had a lot of preconceptions of what early access should be like and TOTALLY ignored what EA / Bioware had been saying from the very start on how they would implement it. If they hadn't, they would have known from the very beginning that not everyone would be able to access on the first day, and we would have had a LOT less frothing at the mouth in this and other forums.

 

Seriously.

 

Hmm ... but since the title is asking if its the best tactic for this day and age ( which is apparently filled with people who either don't know how to read or have entitlement issues ), then maybe not.

Edited December 14, 2011 by TaishoD

[Atrox]

No excuse for ending these 'pond ripples' BW calls 'waves' at 2pm. Rockjaw's "this is not a stress test" excuse was also lame--you wish your EGA went as well as your stress test; that ship has sailed. w2fail.

 

Sure, lag sucks, crashes suck, crowded questing sucks... but none of that sucks more than not being able to even press the bloody play button. What's worse, they compound the issue by insubstantial communication about the entire process. Waiting around all day (pre-ordered in July) for BW to grace us with another leisurely 'pond ripple' announcement with no forewarning, and not even a ballpark idea about who would be getting in today is not good customer service. This is the kind of treatment I expect from the DMV--hell at least they have an LED sign that tells you what number they're serving.

 

And of course there's a huge exploit that's making matters even worse; fudging up the economy and creating a huge disparity between players.

 

And to top if all off half my guild is now miles ahead of the rest of my guild; so we won't even be able to enjoy the leveling process together; especially since leveling is apparently so faceroll now--level 30+ in one day in a 50-cap game, seriously? Thanks for that BW; we really appreciate it.

 

Yeah, they told us there would be a staggered EGA process. I guess they just forgot to mention how absurd it was going to be. I don't believe I'm entitled to anything except for some common courtesy and customer service since I am a paying customer. They could have easily estimated how many players they would be planning to grant access to based on server specs, previous stress tests, and pre-order statistics. Fact is they just didn't care; and calling it a day at 2pm is further evidence to this fact.

 

Stop dicking around and get your **** together. You don't get to blame this on beta anymore.

[iDepth]

Totally ruins the magic of participating in an mmo launch. Fail of the decade.

 

'magic of the launch' ?

You don't speak for me. The game is the magic.

Without staggering, there is no 'game' at all.

[Allegata]

Personally, I think the staggering thing is a great idea ( and yes, I am one of you poor slobs who haven't gotten into the game yet ). I find it great that Bioware is taking it to the next level to ensure that they don't just stuff people willy nilly into their servers and ensure that those who have logged in have the experience that they want to present. I'd rather have PREMIUM game time than to just be able to say that I was able to play something terribly laggy at launch.

 

One of the problems really is that people had a lot of preconceptions of what early access should be like and TOTALLY ignored what EA / Bioware had been saying from the very start on how they would implement it. If they hadn't, they would have known from the very beginning that not everyone would be able to access on the first day, and we would have had a LOT less frothing at the mouth in this and other forums.

 

Seriously.

 

You are, by in large, ignoring the discussion. Staggering COULD work, maybe. Whipping people in to a frenzy by staggering over a 7 day period with on the fly emails is a guaranteed recipe for angry people. I for one would rather a laggy launch than an indefinite timeframe on when I'll be able to play. (Described aptly above as a "Multiday Mystery Queue")

[Diablo_the_lord]

Your responses tell me you are very new to MMO's and probably play more FPS's. Thanks for your input though however misguided it may be.

 

This is a funny fanboy. "YOU'RE SAYING BAD THINGS ABOUT MY FAVORITE COMPANY AND HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT HOW BAD THIS LAUNCH IS, SO YOU MUST BE AN FPS LOVER/COD LOVER!"

 

You're a genius, mr fanboy

[Smurfsauce]

And here their customers are battling them while paying them money every month? True not yet, but this won't be the last time a decision is made either.....What if they used this wretched model for every Xpack release as well? I can see it now....The Xpack doesn't really launch until x date, but if you pre-order it we may allow you UP TO 5 days early access to it...but we won't tell you when you're getting access until the minute you do.

 

Stupidity.

 

Never said it wasn't stupid. I actually grabbed it just a moment ago; that much I really do think is stupid.

 

If it were how I wanted, people would be allowed access according to the month they pre-ordered. In this example, if you ordered the very first month pre-orders were allowed, you'd be in on day one. The following month? Day two, and so forth.

 

But yeah, holding information they could very easily have planned to give out just doesn't sit right with me.

[iDepth]

Never said it wasn't stupid. I actually grabbed it just a moment ago; that much I really do think is stupid.

 

If it were how I wanted, people would be allowed access according to the month they pre-ordered. In this example, if you ordered the very first month pre-orders were allowed, you'd be in on day one. The following month? Day two, and so forth.

 

But yeah, holding information they could very easily have planned to give out just doesn't sit right with me.

 

Deal with it. I think you'll manage.

[DESSNIIPER]

Fail

 

Considering that the servers are running light it is a total failure. Bioware stated that depending on server issues they would invite more players to log on as the days progressed. The stopped issuing invite after 6 waves. It was somewhere around lunch time that the last wave was issued. The next set of invites wont take place until 18 hours later, 8:00 am CST.

 

Here is what the servers look like right now

http://www.swtor.com/server-status

[Master_Berryl]

If it were how I wanted, people would be allowed access according to the month they pre-ordered.

Yeah... second day would be light, then peoples would complain it could have been more. Third day, same. Fourth, peoples would complains because there's way too many players entering all at once.

This system, even if simple, can't work. Why, because amount of preorders varied during monthes. Quite heavily, it seems. Would be even more unfair than actual system.

 

Remember there's still no "launch". Yeah, it smells like one, looks like one, but it's not one. Launch date is in a week. Peoples playing in game reports no crash or major issue. More peoples will play tomorrow, even more the day after and so on.

 

Yes, there's a lack of communication. But let's face it : complaints are less about the so-called "failed launch" (which 1/ didn't happened yet and 2/ seems to works fine) than about frustration of having the candy almost at reach but denied to get it until snack time. Plus, we all know the MMO players : anything is good enough to whine and cry angrily, so... *shrugs*

 

People being level 50 when you start ? In a week, it'll be the case when you create a char. People "stealing" your favourite name ? In a few days, each of your new chars will have to face this disaster. You don't play with your friends because of the level gap ? Do you really think your next char will magically be the same level as your friend's ? If you're so into the dual leveling, he'll wait for you, even if he plays on another char meanwhile.

 

This is almost nothing like any "good" reason to be so upset and rampage the whole world. It's annoying, I admit it, as I'll too face these minor issues. But I'll survive. I'll avoid level 50 players, I'll find another name and I'll level up my chars. Nothing unsolvable, even if not a perfect solution. Remember that when you take a name first, another player, somewhere, will rage because you stole it to him. You thief.

 

Take a deep breath, it's all only little problems you change into mountains of useless rage. There is no emotion, only peace And before pretending to know better how to launch a game than the guys paid for it, or that the "launch" was a complete, total, irremediable failure that will mark videogames' history, at least leave a few days to Bioware to follow their plans : who knows, it might works.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Master_Berryl

[Ezekiel]

'magic of the launch' ?

You don't speak for me. The game is the magic.

Without staggering, there is no 'game' at all.

 

Why can't people like you just state your opinion instead of attacking other peoples opinions ? I don't freaking care if you think it's magical to sit around and wait while your guildies and friends you planned to play with for 4 years are grinding away from you.

[Allegata]

Remember there's still no "launch". Yeah, it smells like one, looks like one, but it's not one. Launch date is in a week.

 

You might want to mention that to Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk who said in their system alert today:

 

"This is a big day for us; we are launching Star Wars: The Old Republic."

[MichaelMcKen]

Apparently, servers never crash in this day and age, so why not have EVERYONE get into EGA?

 

 

 

Because if everyone was in early game access then it would just be called LAUNCH.

[Allegata]

Because if everyone was in early game access then it would just be called LAUNCH.

 

Which is what the developers called it.

[XnibiruX]

5 hour Q every time you log in for a month or 2-5 day Q once.

 

 

HMMMMMM.

 

 

That doesn't make any sense. The waves only help out EGA, and small upgrades to servers by stress testing. After the 20th, everything changes and goes back to the normal wait in a Q.

[FodderofCannon]

You might want to mention that to Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk who said in their system alert today:

 

"This is a big day for us; we are launching Star Wars: The Old Republic."

 

^^^

 

[Fentz]

5 hour Q or a 2-5 day Q?

 

/end thread

 

haha summed it up pretty good

[Alandross]

I would say this staggered release could've worked quite well, under one minor but important change:

 

Plot out who gets invited when *before* the early game access starts and e-mail that out ahead of time. For example if I had gotten e-mailed that I'd get access on the 17th at XX time for example. That's what I was expecting, it's very hard to take advantage of early access when it's a 7 day span and you don't know where you will fall.

[HangmanBones]

Because if everyone was in early game access then it would just be called LAUNCH.

 

it is launched, the bioware founders have a statement calling it the game launch, the server is live, the 20th is a fake date to hide behind if bioware have a giant screw up like the pvp xp exploit between the 13th and the 20th.

[Nijraw]

5 hour Q or a 2-5 day Q?

 

/end thread

I'll have to agree with you here all the way, I would of much rather of had a 5+ hour Q then have to wait not knowing for days when I get in, at least with Q times I know for a fact I'm getting in at X time.

[MichaelMcKen]

it's still day 7 of happy free gaming time that we are not entitled to, and is a nice gift on bw's part.

 

^^^^ this ^^^^^

[Master_Berryl]

You might want to mention that to Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk who said in their system alert today:

 

"This is a big day for us; we are launching Star Wars: The Old Republic."

 

Strange, anywhere else, I read EGA... even in the ads, it says the game's launch is the 20th... if you can't even trust the majority, the whole world is crumbling apart

 

Sorry, I'm getting too cynical. It's how I see things, I don't pretend to hold the Truth. Just to use my brains to make the difference between official and unofficial. Of course it's a launch... unofficially, alert from Ray and Greg or not.

[wonderhawk]

Seriously, great concept, but poorly executed. Stopping at 2pm today was the fail. They should have continued monitoring and continued with the waves throughout the day and night til around 10pm-ish. I will also add, as I have been saying for weeks now, complete lack of communication on their part leaving everyone in the dark about many key items is also a big fail, bigger imo. But I will add to that end that it does seem to be improving.

[TaishoD]

You are, by in large, ignoring the discussion. Staggering COULD work, maybe. Whipping people in to a frenzy by staggering over a 7 day period with on the fly emails is a guaranteed recipe for angry people. I for one would rather a laggy launch than an indefinite timeframe on when I'll be able to play. (Described aptly above as a "Multiday Mystery Queue")

 

My apologies if there was a halfway decent discussion buried somewhere in the thread. I must have been just overwhelmed by all the whining.

 

Some points then:

- all whipping into a frenzy that I've seen so far have been largely self-inflicted, or done intentionally by other players. We cannot and should not hold Bioware responsible for our impulses / self-control ( or lack of it ). That's responsibility every person should take for themselves.

- people should take a step back, take a deep breath, and relax. There's no need to bang fists at the wall, raging to get access.

 

If people can just go calmly about things, the staggering approach goes great. Gives people time to do important things that they'd need to do before going into a massive time sink. But if people just give in ( to the dark side ) and just let their passions run rampant, whatever approach Bioware might take would fail.