That trial-period extension expired (WoW)

Apparently it ended on the 27th.

World of Warcraft's record-setting first week brought hundreds of thousands of players together to adventure in Azeroth. The extremely high concurrency numbers that we've seen since the game's launch have required us to double our total number of servers over a four-day period, which is much faster than we had initially planned. This caused some issues with a few servers, and some players had difficulty logging in to the game during this period.
We are determined to provide our players with the best experience possible. It is for that reason that we are extending the one-month trial-period for players who created accounts before or during the downtime. The length of the trial-period extension will be based on when the player's account was created:

Accounts created on November 23 will receive a 4-day extension

Accounts created on November 24 will receive a 3-day extension

Accounts created on November 25 will receive a 2-day extension

Accounts created on November 26 will receive a 1-day extension
Our sincere apologies go out to all who experienced service disruptions. As always, we appreciate your patience and support, and we wish you good luck in your adventures in Azeroth!

It was a nice gesture, but not that nice.

In related news:

Blizzard is obviously thrilled by the World of Warcraft success as sales numbers show WoW has broken day-one sales records in North America. World of Warcraft sold over 240,000 copies at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.

Within the first day, over 200,000 players created World of Warcraft accounts, and over 100,000 were playing the game simultaneously, quickly filling all original 40+ World of Warcraft servers. This created some frustration with a lot of people wanting to play but instead experiencing long wait times or annoying lag, so Blizzard quickly scrambled together an additional 40 servers to meet the demand.

Add to that this:

In fact, according to Blizzard, demand is so great for the game that it ""is currently evaluating its ability to ship additional games to retailers, given the unexpectedly high demand on the servers."" But rest assured; when Blizzard does get enough servers to ""accommodate the growing number of players connecting to the game"" they will send out as many copies of the game as they can.

Oh my!

I predict 650k subs by the end of January. Hail to the new king.

Hopefully, all that money = lots of new content and quality expansions in the year to come.

Ya, I''m glad they did something.. but really, it just seems like a token gesture. I figured they''d atleast give everyone a couple extra weeks. I mean, come on.. it''s not like they''d be losing that much. If the numbers they gave out are accurate they''re looking at bringing in $3mil/month give or take a million. Would a couple extra weeks really hurt them?

[edit]
Okay, after re-thinking this.. yes, a couple extra weeks would translate to 1.5mil revenue lost. But in the grand scheme of things.. say for the year. 36mil revenue vs 34.5mil revenue ain''t that much. And yes, I know it won''t be a solid 3mil every month.. people will quit, other''s will join. Some peopel signed up for 3-month and 6-month plans so they pay slightly less. But of course that means their first months revenue will be inflated because of the 3- and 6-monthers. Anyway.. I just thought they''d stick themselves out there a little farther.. considering they''ve gone the extra mile when it comes to everything else. And we are still waiting in queues during peak times.

"Vega" wrote:

Ya, I''m glad they did something.. but really, it just seems like a token gesture. I figured they''d atleast give everyone a couple extra weeks. I mean, come on.. it''s not like they''d be losing that much. If the numbers they gave out are accurate they''re looking at bringing in $3mil/month give or take a million. Would a couple extra weeks really hurt them?

[edit]
Okay, after re-thinking this.. yes, a couple extra weeks would translate to 1.5mil revenue lost. But in the grand scheme of things.. say for the year. 36mil revenue vs 34.5mil revenue ain''t that much. And yes, I know it won''t be a solid 3mil every month.. people will quit, other''s will join. Some peopel signed up for 3-month and 6-month plans so they pay slightly less. But of course that means their first months revenue will be inflated because of the 3- and 6-monthers. Anyway.. I just thought they''d stick themselves out there a little farther.. considering they''ve gone the extra mile when it comes to everything else. And we are still waiting in queues during peak times.

But it all depends on the end game. I''m already lvl 20 and there are already 40''s and probly 50''s soon. How many people will stick around if the the end game isn''t there? They''ll need to be rolling out instance and raid dungeons along with the battlegrounds at a pretty good pace once most of the initial aco{sexist slur}s start getting up there. I''m guessing most of us in GWJ will be in the high 30''s or low 40''s, as a conservative guess, by xmas.

I''m guessing most of us in GWJ will be in the high 30''s or low 40''s, as a conservative guess, by xmas.

I''d take that bet, I don''t think anywhere near ""most"" will be that high. I can almost guarantee it.

"Eezy_Bordone" wrote:
"Vega" wrote:

Ya, I''m glad they did something.. but really, it just seems like a token gesture. I figured they''d atleast give everyone a couple extra weeks. I mean, come on.. it''s not like they''d be losing that much. If the numbers they gave out are accurate they''re looking at bringing in $3mil/month give or take a million. Would a couple extra weeks really hurt them?

[edit]
Okay, after re-thinking this.. yes, a couple extra weeks would translate to 1.5mil revenue lost. But in the grand scheme of things.. say for the year. 36mil revenue vs 34.5mil revenue ain''t that much. And yes, I know it won''t be a solid 3mil every month.. people will quit, other''s will join. Some peopel signed up for 3-month and 6-month plans so they pay slightly less. But of course that means their first months revenue will be inflated because of the 3- and 6-monthers. Anyway.. I just thought they''d stick themselves out there a little farther.. considering they''ve gone the extra mile when it comes to everything else. And we are still waiting in queues during peak times.

But it all depends on the end game. I''m already lvl 20 and there are already 40''s and probly 50''s soon. How many people will stick around if the the end game isn''t there? They''ll need to be rolling out instance and raid dungeons along with the battlegrounds at a pretty good pace once most of the initial aco{sexist slur}s start getting up there. I''m guessing most of us in GWJ will be in the high 30''s or low 40''s, as a conservative guess, by xmas.

I keep thinking about this a lot. It seems mmorpgs have evolved a good amount since EQ1 was released as far as quick leveling. Both EQ2 and WoW will have a lot of max level players by the end of December. Since I am playing WoW, I really hope Blizzard can churn out extra goodies for us. At least we have PvP to keep things interesting. I wish Blizzard would have month long events like AC1.

Regardless, I know I will get my money''s worth because I have a strong feeling I will play a character from both factions to 60.

I think those of us that are close, at or above 20 will be in the 30s by then, but there are many more people that many more people that haven''t broken 10 yet. Probably 4-1.

"Flux" wrote:

At least we have PvP to keep things interesting.

PvP in its current state is almost completely uninteresting to me. There''s no little way to tell what effect you have on a battle (ala Realm Points in DAoC), no rewards (corpse loot?, PvP xp points?), and no way to really control territory (people just respawn at the closest cemetary). I''m really looking forward to interesting PvP in this game but right now it''s not there.

YOu got me there then.

PvP in its current state is almost completely uninteresting to me. There''s no little way to tell what effect you have on a battle (ala Realm Points in DAoC), no rewards (corpse loot?, PvP xp points?), and no way to really control territory (people just respawn at the closest cemetary). I''m really looking forward to interesting PvP in this game but right now it''s not there.

Because all the neat features of PvP have not been implemented yet.

I think it will be in by January and we will be ready since we will have seen a majority of the PvE by then.

The big PVP thread on Blizzards Forums.

Um there is PvP type xp. Supposedly you will be able to buy special gear from PvP vendors with PvP points.

"fangblackbone" wrote:

Um there is PvP type xp. Supposedly you will be able to buy special gear from PvP vendors with PvP points.

Supposedly you would also get penalized for killing players much lower level than you, but that''s out. Supposedly doesn''t count for much in MMOG''s I''m not really worried about the eventual state of PvP, I''m just saying it''s weak right now, not surprisingly since it''s incomplete.

As awful as the low points got in UO, some of the most exciting times were PKing/Anti-PK''ing wars, before all the PK nerfs. You felt real fear just wandering out the wilderness. It''s too bad PvP always becomes a griefer''s paradise.