WoW Launch Disaster

Whoof! I''m glad some folks remember the true horror stories of the Ultima, SW Galaxies and aother launches. That''s the problem with being a historian; you remember stuff like that.

Took me a while to install, setup, and download the patch- and then it *barely* ran on my ""official"" laptop. Still and all, I signed up for a low pop PST server- Blizzard''s recommendation- and got up to level 3. Completed a few small quests- I''m a Dwarven Hunter, Sterne- and managed to ignore most of the chat. A nice fellow came along an healed me during a fight with a Frostmane Troll- that quest was my Waterloo last night.

I''m happy; I *expected* problems and lag, so I really couldn''t complain (it''s also my first MMORPG, besides the ""Guild Wars"" alpha and beta, so it was fun to me. I didn''t find the ""cartoon-y"" aspects of the backgrounds and characters distracting at all (one of my fears).

So, I''m a happy camper...now about those Frostmane Trolls....

CoH''s launch was incredibly smooth. There was more problems with their first update than during the launch. I''m willing to bet that letting the pre-order players into the game three days early helped out a lot.

I would say that WoW is experiencing an average MMO launch (maybe even slightly above average). Far worse launches have occurred in recent years, between SWG, AO, and a few others. Better ones have also occurred, with CoH taking the honor from me for ""best/smoothest mmo launch"".

I played a good bit yesterday; had some lag issues and such, but really wasn''t anything unexpected with such heavy loads of players all concentrated in the same area. If these problems are persisting in mid-December, I''ll complain, but until then I''m willing to just deal with it.

It still doesn''t excuse games launching without smooth launches, as some (CoH for example) have shown that you can have a smooth MMO launch.

The only MMO game I have ever played was Planetside; on launchday I had no issues with it. Of course after 3 weeks of it I realized it was just a base camping/zerg rush nightmare with little strategy and stopped playing but at least the launch was smooth as silk!

I feel bad for all the WoW-maniacs out there though. Hopefully these glitches will be fixed by the time all the people who receive it from Santa Claus on the 25th.

"Wounder" wrote:

I''ve played MMORPGs since The Realm, beta''d EQ, DAoC, etc... I know what to expect. My complaint is that Blizzard *assured* everyone all the problems were due to their assertation code still being in the beta and everything would be fine come launch. You know what... I guess the real problem here is I believed them.

Of course. I had this concern all along; I tend not to buy corporate BS about how things are not working as part of some ""intentional plan"" to stress the servers. I would have preferred had Blizzard simply been honest (or said nothing) during the problems in the beta, which were exactly the same as the problems tonight.

On the other hand, in Blizzard''s defense, I played from 9:00-11:45 C.S.T. last night without much of a problem. A little loot and quest lag, but generally not too terrible, especially for the launch. I was able to get out of the newbie area in that time period and get to level 6, without feeling like I was desperately rushing to get through.

One irritating thing that is just part of chance is that my first (and so far only) death in the game was a lag death. There''s just really something that sucks about having the first time you die be caused by lag.

"Lock&Load" wrote:

CoH''s launch was incredibly smooth. There was more problems with their first update than during the launch. I''m willing to bet that letting the pre-order players into the game three days early helped out a lot.

This was my experience with CoH as well, and I also felt that the head start for pre-order players was a great idea.

I was surprised Blizzard didn''t attempt something like this, but I don''t recall seeing anything on their boards in regards to whether or not they''d considered it.

Dalaran server was lag-free around 5:00 pm EST, but the loot lag did kick in about 4-5 hours later. I was a little disappointed with Blizzard over this(given the points made above regarding code and assurances...), but we''ll see what the situation is in 1-2 days.

I have never played SWG, but I certainly don''t consider this to be a ""disaster"", although I''ll agree that it wasn''t as smooth as it could/should have been. For myself, it wasn''t that big of a deal, although I can understand why many players(especially those on Blackhand, and other higher-load servers....) would take issue with this.

This is only the third MMO I''ve picked up at launch. So far it''s been the best too.

When I picked up the UO collector''s edition anybody who got the CE got a 3 day headstart which was great for about 3 days. After that I couldn''t log in for 2 weeks.

AC was a horrible mess at launch as well, with mobs warping and horrible lag. That and the fact that sometimes you couldn''t log in for up to two hours after a log out due to the server thinking you were still in the game world.

I haven''t experienced any of the queues yet (knock on wood), but I''ve only played yesterday from about 1:00 PM until 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM until 9:00 PM and today from 6:00 AM until 7:30 AM CST. The only negatives I''ve experienced have been loot lag of around 5 minutes or so this morning.

The problem with any MMO at launch is whether you like it or not, you just paid for the right to participate in the final beta.

I tried to logon to Blackhand yesterday and saw there was a queue. I decided that I''d try an east coast server, cause, well, that''s where I am =) Worked beautifully, no lag what-so-ever. Played from 9p-2a EST.

I fully expected lag the first day, and was pleasantly surprised when I got none! I think one of the problems is that they set up East/West/Central servers and noone is paying attention to that. If they limit the servers people could play on (I know this opens up a can of worms which I''m not willing to debate, just stating a point), then the lag would have been far worse.

Don''t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out?

perhaps your right...

Yeah this is somewhat average sounding for a launch which basically stinks for a paying customer.

Until companies can have smooth launches things like this are just going to turn away the main stream gamer who finds it unreasonable to wait in a que for an hour to play a game. The is especially true for players with limited play time.

I just love the it is beta code that is causing all the lag as that is said in almost every beta and in every launch the lag has still been there.

There have been worse launches and there have been better launches but the fact remains that until companies get this right people are just going to be turned off.

I am sure it will all be ironed out one way or an other but I wonder if this will tarnish Blizzard''s image at all with the gaming public.

"TheGameguru" wrote:
Don''t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out?

perhaps your right...

Come on kids, there''s room for everyone.

Since I wanted to get some game time in last night, I bailed on the waiting que for Blackhand and went with one of the low-use servers in the Pacific time list: Shadowsong.

I''m still in the n00b area, but got in with no problems and quested like nobody''s business with my Tauren warrior. The area wasn''t crowded at all and I didn''t notice any lag. It was great.

I think everything will shake out in the next week or so but I really hope we don''t need to switch servers. I wonder if a mountain server would be best for population.

GG we *do* appreciate you- I always find your posts worth reading; and from a different perspective.

Besides the fact that we need more representation from Eastern PA.

"TheGameguru" wrote:
Don''t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out?

perhaps your right...

Don''t contravene your own JFK quote . . .

Most annoying is Blizzard''s insistence that the problems are all related to the jam packed newbie areas, even though I''m not in a newbie area. Plus, the argument that the servers can handle the load, just not under the current circumstances is specious at best.

Just glad this is not how EQ2 launch went otherwise never would have heard the end of it.

I know this is not a good answer but launch week or 2 in MMORPG have traditionally not been the best and should be avoided if you do not want to deal with the lag and over crowding issues.

If you can I would suggest give it a day or 2 and maybe things will settle down a bit. Not great thing when you are paying money but if a game is getting you frustrated set it aside as it is doing just the opposite of what a game should do.

"cewargamer" wrote:

GG we *do* appreciate you- I always find your posts worth reading; and from a different perspective.

Besides the fact that we need more representation from Eastern PA.

Seconded; GG''s commentaries are some of the most interesting reading here on the Games and Platforms forum. Don''t leave!

"maladen" wrote:

Until companies can have smooth launches things like this are just going to turn away the main stream gamer who finds it unreasonable to wait in a que for an hour to play a game.

Who is having to wait an hour in queue? I was number 300 something last night when I logged onto Blackhand and it took me about 10 minutes. Granted it''s not ideal but it''s not the friggin end of the world either.

To sum up:

Having Problems: Slap in the face, paid money, for shame Blizzard, they promised it wouldn''t be like those other games.

Not Having Problems: Relax dude, que isn''t so bad, smooth after eight hours, I''m sure it will be fine. Bliizard me love you long time.

I know it''s frustrating when things aren''t perfect and you just want to have fun but I think maintaining a little perspective is important here. WoW is an incredibly popular game and they ran a long and thorough beta to try to avoid issues at launch. Obviously it didn''t work out but you''re just going to have to go on faith that Blizzard is doing their best to sort it out.

I also know it''s frustrating to see a game you really like that works just fine for you get slagged by by people having problems. They just want to have fun like you are, don''t worry about it.

Threads like this are good to let off some steam but it''s not worth burning bridges or pissing each other off over an issue where none of us have any control.

Thanks, Certis; I hope the right words at the right moment.

I think the biggest mistake Blizzard made is breaking the servers down by region. If they had just listed them all together and put some vague latency meter I bet most of the overcrowding wouldn''t have happened.

"Strekos" wrote:
"maladen" wrote:

Until companies can have smooth launches things like this are just going to turn away the main stream gamer who finds it unreasonable to wait in a que for an hour to play a game.

Who is having to wait an hour in queue? I was number 300 something last night when I logged onto Blackhand and it took me about 10 minutes. Granted it''s not ideal but it''s not the friggin end of the world either.

From the original post

Tried to login and i waited over 30min in the que only to be reset so i logged for a while in frustration. Came back on a bit later waited in que for over 40 min and finally got in to find the newbie areas to be just insane. Not that i didn''t expect them to be overcrowded but it took me a good 4 hours just to get out of the newbie area at Northshire Abbey which normally took me an hour or less.

Not to mention the loot lag. So i finally get out of noob area only to find Goldshire to be even worse. I attempted the quests around goldshire but after spending over 2 hours at lev 5 just trying to do one quest i said you know what this isn''t worth it and logged. I tried to go back onto the low pop server i had tried earlier only to be met with que position 385 est wait 86 min. So i logged off and now i''m posting here.

So over 30 Min only to be reset in the que, over 40 min and then his estimated 86 min wait before he logged.

I take the over 40 as basically an hour and while he did not wait the 86 minutes the game told him it would take not unreasonable to say no way I am waiting 86 minutes to play this game and log off. Not to mention waiting 30 minutes only to be reset in the que.

"maladen" wrote:
"Strekos" wrote:

Who is having to wait an hour in queue? I was number 300 something last night when I logged onto Blackhand and it took me about 10 minutes. Granted it''s not ideal but it''s not the friggin end of the world either.

From the original post

Tried to login and i waited over 30min in the que only to be reset so i logged for a while in frustration. Came back on a bit later waited in que for over 40 min and finally got in to find the newbie areas to be just insane.

Sorry, clearly my reading skills are already suffering from time spent in game.

"Certis" wrote:

I know it''s frustrating when things aren''t perfect and you just want to have fun but I think maintaining a little perspective is important here. WoW is an incredibly popular game and they ran a long and thorough beta to try to avoid issues at launch. Obviously it didn''t work out but you''re just going to have to go on faith that Blizzard is doing their best to sort it out.

I also know it''s frustrating to see a game you really like that works just fine for you get slagged by by people having problems. They just want to have fun like you are, don''t worry about it.

Threads like this are good to let off some steam but it''s not worth burning bridges or pissing each other off over an issue where none of us have any control.

Thanks for the rational input Certis. The people who are upset have a right to be upset. They paid for an enjoyable experience and they''re not getting it. The fact that others ARE having an enjoyable experience doesn''t invalidate the misery of others. The fact that certain other games had even worse launches doesn''t excuse the state of this one. The flipside, of course, is that one person''s miserable experience doesn''t invalidate someone else''s good one.

Those of you that are having a good time, why not try to encourage those that aren''t? Give them sympathy rather than arguing with them. Tell them why it''s worth putting up with all the crap for this game. This is supposed to be a friendly, helpful community here.

"Certis" wrote:

To sum up:

Having Problems: Slap in the face, paid money, for shame Blizzard, they promised it wouldn''t be like those other games.

Not Having Problems: Relax dude, que isn''t so bad, smooth after eight hours, I''m sure it will be fine. Bliizard me love you long time.

Fanboi whiner.

"LeapingGnome" wrote:

Weren''t CoH as well as EQ2s'' launches pretty glitch free?

Notice in my posts I did not say WoW was a disaster, just that being in a queue of 400 to login is very much not optimal. I am still having a lot of fun with the game, have my mage up to level 9 if I remember right. This is my first MMOG so I wasn''t sure what to expect but so far I am happy, just frustrated in some areas.

Well, every game features a queue so you need to get use to it.

Semi-on topic
I was surprised that the launch of WOW did not seem to have any noticable effect (from my perspective) on EQ2 population.
That was a big surprise to me - then again people might be holding off getting the game (like me)
-Xino

""Threads like this are good to let off some steam...""

Hey you should have used that line for the Half-Life 2 launch day.

I think mmorpgs might eventually charge you less to play them at off-peak hours. Just like the phone company, I imagine there''s alot of unused capacity at off-peak hours.

"Xino2" wrote:

Semi-on topic
I was surprised that the launch of WOW did not seem to have any noticable effect (from my perspective) on EQ2 population.
That was a big surprise to me - then again people might be holding off getting the game (like me)
-Xino

I didn''t think they would because WoW fans aren''t just going to buy EQ2 to play for a month in most cases.

Not to put too much good news on the whole down note (because I know most people like to talk about the bad), but for the last 1.5 hours I have been playing my undead warlock with hardly a hint of loot lag and everything is great. Just thought I would say something nice.

Working on level 10 now!