I think the announcement that there are billing problems at the very initial stage is more serious than the issue of server crashes.  On launch day one would expect server crashes.   Crashes are something that patches can fix.

But if Aventurine has not made appropriate plans to handle billing in a timely and accurate manner, then that's a serious problem.   Billing is the fundamental interaction of the consumer with a company.   It's also an indication of the level of customer service one can expect.    Patches aren't going to fix that, a company has to makes sure they have an infrastructure that can deal with the simple matter of doing business. 

The billing system should have been worked out months ago.   It should have been tested and then tested again.  If Aventurine didn't think they needed to do this then one has to wonder what other areas of customer service are also lacking.   Billing is where the company actually gets their money, the other elements of  customers service are going to be treated with even less importance. 

There more to running a MMORPG than coming up l33t, harcorez game mechanics.    We'll have to see if Aventurine understands this. 

I call BS on this launch...why the heck would these guys wait till launch day to process orders??? considering its your money they want. i highly doubt they are going to wait that long to process....didnt the preorders start last week?

the way these guys have been dying for your money tells me that they would have processed every last cent. also why are they processing it...didnt they outsource to another highly resepcted company to take care of billing? i also like how he states getting extra free days...there is nothing free about paying through the nose for a download only client..

i really do hope for the best for this game but i really do hate liers and scammers...its like these indy dev companies go to the same school on how to remove money from the pockets of die hards and then laugh their way to the bank as the servers get shut down for good...and get away with it.

how many accounts does tasos have on this site anyways..i can spot a few.. how many can you guys spot?

Originally posted by Mhorham

...and now they have all this billing disaster to sort out. I bet they have not had a good nights sleep in weeks.

Let me say upfront that I don't have a dog in this fight, I've been quietly watching the silliness on both sides from the sidelines for a long time. 

But the quote above reminded me of when a certain fly-by-night group took over the day to day operations and billing of Horizons: Empire of Istaria a few years back.  What a nightmare that turned into.

Anyway, people that have not had sufficient sleep recently are not exactly the folks I would want messing around with my financial info...

I'm just saying.

the billing ran from their webserver to a large web based facilitator for secure payment in the US.

Thousands of people hammering to get through with multiple tabs open caused timeouts and that effected the data at the billing center (Global Collect) Every order has been processed individually to ensure proper  processing. That is a massive mess to sort out. I have done stuff like that on a small scale with business where transactions got messed up because of improper POS input. It is not fun.

people forget this a full pvp game. Maybe 1 in 10 mmo players have every tried something like this and liked it before wow. Since wow it probably only 1 in 50 that will be up for this. Its pretty surprising so many people are onto this game that the forums and offical site are shut down because of the crazy load.

Originally posted by Mhorham

Originally posted by dalevi1

Originally posted by Lydon

/waits for trolls to have a field day over a 1 day delay.

 

I have seen post, after post, after post by DF fans over the poast 48 hours trying to bait a flame thread. It seems most of your (plural) posts aim to do nothing but create the environment that you are somehow being vitually oppressed. It's laughable. I should also mention, that if you think the delay has only been 1 day....

It's hopeless.

 

btw I really enjoyed playing the game for the past month during beta. It is an amazingly fun game for those looking for something more in a game. That edge you wont find in the assortment of limited pvp games. Darkfall is the only game that offers player driven conflict with meaning right now, and that is why thousands upon thousand of people are running multiple tabs in a desperate attempt at getting the limited first release.

It is not going to be a game for everyone. Especially the item reward people who just play to stock up a bank with virtual items. It is like a persistent game of Deus-x or UT. Add player cites and a medieval setting and you have DF. Its pretty cool  

I am glad you enjoyed the game. It certainly has had it's problems going live, and I don't mean minor. The claims of "vaporware" and the like were well placed, but have largely died down over the past month, I mean this with empathy, it *was* "vaporware" in the strict sense of the neo-word. I would have never posted anything about Darkfall had the fan base not spammed both game specific forums and mmorpg.com with both false claims and unsubstantiated rumor. Not to even mention the false ratings blitz. It was over the top, unwelcome, and unfortunately allowed. The backlash should have been expected, and has now died down quite a bit, but the "troll" post after post in the last 48 hours has achieved nothing other than making normal readers of this site just hate the game more. In my opinion, strictly my opinion, nothing has been proven or won in this constant endeavor. AV continues to screw up, and even when they do, we still have to deal with front page spam. So, for the love of Allah, Jesus, Avilokiteshvara, Siddartha, Sheva, and Hubbard (not you specifically), go register, play, report good things (like your above post) and stop the damn spam.

Edit: Captial "I" and misppelling.

Originally posted by Dinidain

Originally posted by Mhorham

...and now they have all this billing disaster to sort out. I bet they have not had a good nights sleep in weeks.

 

Let me say upfront that I don't have a dog in this fight, I've been quietly watching the silliness on both sides from the sidelines for a long time. 

But the quote above reminded me of when a certain fly-by-night group took over the day to day operations and billing of Horizons: Empire of Istaria a few years back.  What a nightmare that turned into.

Anyway, people that have not had sufficient sleep recently are not exactly the folks I would want messing around with my financial info...

I'm just saying.

poor old Horizons. I was on to that back before it was sold to Atari. I also beta tested it, but i was not going to touch it with a 10 foot pole after being in that beta for a month.

I can tell you guys that DF is solid and complete. But it is not the same kind of game.

The last guy to try and hack into Aventurines system got busted within hours. He was in Belgium I think. Anyway they are not so indi as people make them out. Everyone has worked around the industry in some capacity or other prior to this. Its the small company that is new. I will never get the game I'm looking for from EA. I'm just not a big enough audience for them. Indi games is where its at. Just like the tunes these days.

Originally posted by Mhorham

the billing ran from their webserver to a large web based facilitator for secure payment in the US.

Thousands of people hammering to get through with multiple tabs open caused timeouts and that effected the data at the billing center (Global Collect) Every order has been processed individually to ensure proper  processing. That is a massive mess to sort out. I have done stuff like that on a small scale with business where transactions got messed up because of improper POS input. It is not fun.

people forget this a full pvp game. Maybe 1 in 10 mmo players have every tried something like this and liked it before wow. Since wow it probably only 1 in 50 that will be up for this. Its pretty surprising so many people are onto this game that the forums and offical site are shut down because of the crazy load.

Excuse me, have you been playing the same beta I have?  The only thing I have seen is a half finished game that tries to achieve what UO did 10 years ago.  They don't even come close.  So many things flat out don't work, so much promised that never made it into the game and the crafting system, what were they thinking?
 

This is all anti-climatical.  All this hype for a very mediocre game that I might add will be an exploiters paradise.  There are several bot programs out on the web for this game already and I have already seen several speed hackers zooming around.  Just where is Aventurine going to get the staff to control them?

If you really want frustration and aggravation, please be my guest and try this game, if that is what you are looking for it will reward you. 

Originally posted by Mhorham

Originally posted by Dinidain

Originally posted by Mhorham

...and now they have all this billing disaster to sort out. I bet they have not had a good nights sleep in weeks.

 

Let me say upfront that I don't have a dog in this fight, I've been quietly watching the silliness on both sides from the sidelines for a long time. 

But the quote above reminded me of when a certain fly-by-night group took over the day to day operations and billing of Horizons: Empire of Istaria a few years back.  What a nightmare that turned into.

Anyway, people that have not had sufficient sleep recently are not exactly the folks I would want messing around with my financial info...

I'm just saying.

 

poor old Horizons. I was on to that back before it was sold to Atari. I also beta tested it, but i was not going to touch it with a 10 foot pole after being in that beta for a month.

I can tell you guys that DF is solid and complete. But it is not the same kind of game.

The last guy to try and hack into Aventurines system got busted within hours. He was in Belgium I think. Anyway they are not so indi as people make them out. Everyone has worked around the industry in some capacity or other prior to this. Its the small company that is new. I will never get the game I'm looking for from EA. I'm just not a big enough audience for them. Indi games is where its at. Just like the tunes these days.

A "dangerous" pandora's box you're opening with that bit in blue.

With those two statements, you're basically undermining one of the rabid fans' "go-to" defenses for DF, playing the "leave AV alone!" card over the past month or so. They've responded to every criticism of the game and/or AV/Tasos with the same arguments.

They've argued about how AV are "just an indie company", how "it's unfair to hold them to a higher standard", and how "they deserve a break" because they have no prior experience. Go back through the threads over the past few weeks and you'll see plenty of examples.

Spin-doctoring or back-pedaling notwithstanding, if what you're saying is true, and they do individually have experience in the industry, then all those arguments have been moot, and AV should be held to a higher standard than that of "a mere indie company".

Of course, many of us skeptics thought so in the first place and have been called "trolls" and "haters" for doing so.

The smarter folks are completely unaffected by this mishap because we haven't bought the game yet.  :)

I'm giving Darkfall about six months.  At that point I'll check out the reviews and see what people have to say about the game.  If it's positive six months in, I'll buy it.  If not... plenty of other fish in the sea.

I only wish I'd taken this approach with games in the last year like AoC or WAR.  But unlike government, I've learned!  :D

I am not a DF lover or hater but come on... every mmo in the past five years that has launched like this has a 100% failure rate. I feel for all the DF  fans out there, your game will soon be added to the failed mmo list. It sad but very true for the people that backed this title.

Originally posted by aurick

The smarter folks are completely unaffected by this mishap because we haven't bought the game yet.  :)

I'm giving Darkfall about six months.  At that point I'll check out the reviews and see what people have to say about the game.  If it's positive six months in, I'll buy it.  If not... plenty of other fish in the sea.

I only wish I'd taken this approach with games in the last year like AoC or WAR.  But unlike government, I've learned!  :D

QFT

Originally posted by Mhorham

they are simply having to go through all the orders by manually and confirm them because of the billing lag form getting hammered by people wanting this game so badly.

They cant very well open the game servers until the billing is sorted out can they.  It is taking them all day to verify each preorder and send a conformation email. Then transfer the approved accounts to the login server.

 

On top of that the server team has been working on the latest build. The game is going to be patched frequently this first month.

 

These guys have been working around the clock in shifts to get this far and now they have all this billing disaster to sort out. I bet they have not had a good nights sleep in weeks.

At least Tasos wrote something. By rights he didn't have too write anything.

there was a point where i wanted to play this game, but when i noticed that its beeen in dev. for lik 10 years, and the graphics were a total let down i declared.....

EPIK FAIL... once again

Originally posted by CrimsonDecay

Originally posted by Lydon

Originally posted by WOWthatsucks 

only one day?......everytime you do a new delay it erases the past ones.....ahagagaga

Which has what relevance to do with the fact that it is being delayed by 1 day?

 

haha i was just thinking that actually

the relevance is that it isnt just one day... clearly this isnt the first delay.....1+,,,,,

and my post was in response to Lydons post of /waits for trolls to have a field day over a 1 day delay.
Wich isnt. 

Originally posted by Mhorham

Originally posted by dalevi1

Originally posted by Lydon

/waits for trolls to have a field day over a 1 day delay.

 

I have seen post, after post, after post by DF fans over the poast 48 hours trying to bait a flame thread. It seems most of your (plural) posts aim to do nothing but create the environment that you are somehow being vitually oppressed. It's laughable. I should also mention, that if you think the delay has only been 1 day....

It's hopeless.

 

btw I really enjoyed playing the game for the past month during beta. It is an amazingly fun game for those looking for something more in a game. That edge you wont find in the assortment of limited pvp games. Darkfall is the only game that offers player driven conflict with meaning right now, and that is why thousands upon thousand of people are running multiple tabs in a desperate attempt at getting the limited first release.

It is not going to be a game for everyone. Especially the item reward people who just play to stock up a bank with virtual items. It is like a persistent game of Deus-x or UT. Add player cites and a medieval setting and you have DF. Its pretty cool  

propaganda... thousands upon thousand.. Oh reeeaaaalllyyy

Originally posted by -Jaguar-

Darkfall reminds of two games: Dark and Light, and Mourning.

Both were indy games. I think both had similar pre-order mishaps just like this. They were both continually delayed. Both were scams (promised a lot, just to get a bunch of pre-order money). Both had a lot of fans hyping them up. Both had many problems and drama surrounding there development. Both are now dead. They were crappy games.

Irth Online was another one similar. I'm sure there are others. People just don't learn.

I beta tested DnL and Irth, and no... DF is not anything like those games. DF really is a great game, however, the company as a whole scares me.

I knew the launch would be bad, but I was hoping I'd be wrong. I seriously hope they get their shit together soon, make some cash, and buy some decent servers.

This game deserves to succeed as it is the best MMO I've played since UO.

I didn't know darkfall was a game...

Originally posted by Mhorham

the billing ran from their webserver to a large web based facilitator for secure payment in the US.

Thousands of people hammering to get through with multiple tabs open caused timeouts and that effected the data at the billing center (Global Collect) Every order has been processed individually to ensure proper  processing. That is a massive mess to sort out. I have done stuff like that on a small scale with business where transactions got messed up because of improper POS input. It is not fun.

people forget this a full pvp game. Maybe 1 in 10 mmo players have every tried something like this and liked it before wow. Since wow it probably only 1 in 50 that will be up for this. Its pretty surprising so many people are onto this game that the forums and offical site are shut down because of the crazy load.

I love how you ended with wow and how much people like this game , and all the people on the forums.. lol most of the people on this forum cant stand av or dfo and mostly the fanbois...But what we  are into is knowing about its epics failures.. 5 days to do this work when did they start 11.05pm lastnight? 

Originally posted by harmonica

 

I beta tested DnL and Irth, and no... DF is not anything like those games. DF really is a great game, however, the company as a whole scares me.

I knew the launch would be bad, but I was hoping I'd be wrong. I seriously hope they get their shit together soon, make some cash, and buy some decent servers.

This game deserves to succeed as it is the best MMO I've played since UO.

/vote