PVP:Yes | Distribution:Retail | Retail Price:$49.99 | Pay Type:Subscription
Desktop Client | System Req:
Aion Interviews: Head Start Issues Interview
Aion Producer Brian Knox answers a few of our questions about the queue issues that surrounded the game's Head Start launch on Sunday in this short Q&A.
By Jon Wood on September 22, 2009
| MMORPG.com: | Players experienced what were described by some of extremely long queue times to take part in Aion's head start on Sunday. Can you speak to this? |
| Brian Knox: | With [Sunday]'s launch, we saw a massive influx into the game when we opened the servers for Head Start. It's important to remember that this initial rush is due to everyone trying to get into the game at the same time - this isn't a scenario that's likely to be repeated regularly since it's really just about that initial rush of players trying to gain access to the game. That being said, we are actively monitoring and tracking the stats to ensure optimal experiences for players. As you well know, it's a delicate balance between keep our servers healthy and maintaining a optimal experience for players. |
| MMORPG.com: | Why were queue times necessary at all. As this event was for pre-order customers only, why wasn't it easy to predict exactly how many servers would be necessary to make sure that players weren't waiting in line? |
| Brian Knox: | There are numbers and stats that help us predict servers. We know what our average percentage of users is per active accounts at a peak time based off our beta events and our other products. We know how many users our servers can handle at capacity, and we know how many users makes for an ideal game play experience in Aion. Most importantly we know that there will never be a time when every single Aion customer wants to log in and play all at once than when we first turn on the servers. All of these go into picking the correct server count and the right time to spin up new servers. We had to keep max server capacity low at first because everyone was crammed at the starting area. Had we opened it up to everyone, no one could have progressed. As the day went on, we opened up the servers more and more. We want to ensure that our servers are healthy during Head Start, but also once a retail code is applied. These next few days we will be calculating data and weighing the ideal time to open more servers. I think that the community will understand that in a game with PvPvE how important a healthy populated server is and that we do not want to go down the low pop server path... |
| MMORPG.com: | What, to the best of your knowledge, was the average wait time for players at its height? |
| Brian Knox: | Our data indicates around 3 hours for the most popular servers. However, there were servers that never had a queue, as well. Our suggestion is as always go to the low pop/recommended servers. |
| MMORPG.com: | Does NCsoft plan to issue any kind of compensation for players who pre-ordered strictly to gain access on the 20th , two days ahead of launch, only to wait in queue? |
| Brian Knox: | While there are no plans for compensating players, we are monitoring this closely and do take their feedback very seriously. We're working hard to make this as great a playing experience as possible with the incredible demand we've seen. |
| MMORPG.com: | Does NCsoft currently have any plans to make sure that this scene isn't repeated on retail launch day? |
| Brian Knox: | We have preparations in place but there is some weathering of the storm that needs to take place. As players start to purchase the product and the initial first day excitement calms down I think you will see better queue times and a better play experience. |
aka we expect ppl to get frustrated, quit, we keep the money. We don't expect a high number of regular players at all after launch cuz we already got paid, a few ppl can stay and log in whenever they want but we have the money so kthxbye :P
Basically what I figured... they were trying to spread people out. I just wish they had posted about this on their website sooner.
No question/comment on the afk-shops though... it'd be nice to know if they plan on doing anything about them or will wait to see if the problems persist.
Never had a queue, oh wait, thats because I intentionally rolled on a low pop server... like an intelligent person would do..
...you know, instead of intentionally rolling on a high pop server then spending the rest of the evening whining about the queue times on forums...
Wow just WoW. It reads like a plan to have a terrible launch to avoid server merges later. If ever there was a reason to not buy on launch that might be it. Wait until new servers are brought up... then sub. At least thats my impression... they have servers in house ready to go but not until servers are capped and balanced by faction pop.
Queues and competition for spawns, yay! See you in a few weeks ;)
Get used to it, there's nothing they can do. There's no practical way to tell the difference between a legit shop and an AFK shop. Even if they scanned the shop all the player would have to do is make sure they have a few legit items to sell.
This is the kind of BS marketing type answer I would have expected. I never expected them to admit that they miscalculated demand, which they clearly did. I expect a rough couple weeks then they will throw a bone out like a few free days or some in game item to calm the masses.
When I first tried to log in, every server on the east had a queue.
3 hours? Lol I'm in a queue from 8 hours now and it isn't dropping.
I wouldn't mind being compensated somehow. I spent most of Sunday in a queue or disconnected from the servers - all servers.
3 hour queues is a joke. Unfortunately (for me, and no fault of NCSoft's), I have been part of a large guild for a long time. Any server we choose will be a high-population server.
So I have yet to actually play. I dutifully logged in on Friday with my account and my two sons' accounts and created characters on the server where dozens of my friends will be playing. Sunday, the queue time was nearly 5 hours... throughout the day.
Monday, same story. Ridiculously long queue times.
Basically the queue times are so long that even if I log in to play on the server with my friends (granted, I wouldn't really play until after bedtime, so this *could* work), I would miss all opportunity to play with my kids.
So regardless of whatever excuse they use, there are two kids here who saved up their allowance to play with our very large group of friends and are disappointed beyond understanding. The youngest near tears.
Paint it however you want, this is putting a very foul taste in our mouths. I really had high hopes for this game. I truly hope they fix it quickly, because if our pre-order pre-subbed free month runs out and we still haven't gotten a decent taste of the game, they'll never see another dime. I just wish we had purchased retail boxes so we could resell the keys without using them.
Either that or we play the game without any of the friends we've made over the years.
Caveat Emptor
I had to wait sunday, but have not had to wait again yet. I'm not as upset as I see alot of people are about this either, I mean it kind of makes sense to me, for example if the servers usually hold 15k people ( dont know what the number actually is) those 15k people will never all be in the same place, but when everyone is rolling at lvl one and there is only one starting zone, thats why they are putting people in line until some can move on to the city, its pissing some people off and everyone is yelling "failed launch" and I understand your point, but its obvious you guys really like this game or it would not upset you that much to not be able to get to do exactly what you want when you want. I dont know maybe i'm too mellow about situation, but since this is more/less a theme park mmo, I compare it to a theme park, no matter how much money and how great the planning/design of the park, there are still lines on busy days.
It's simple: if you preorder a game online , they have the numbers of players they will join on startup, but if you sell all arround the world , preorderboxes for the preorder startup you lose controll on the casual buyers of that box. So you dont know about the players, which will join on startup for the preorderheadstart. Additionally all this preorderboxbuyers (what a word :) ) maybe want to download the game online, all that rises traffic on the servers , for downloads patching, loggging into the game , and so on.
so, they fumbled the ball :) , erm startup i want say :))
Anyway i like Aion the graphics, the gameplay, all in all its a good Idea and Game, no doubt.
But I expect from a company like NCsoft , which has launched a game like Lineage2 and Guild Wars, and lot other Games, that they can handle the demand of players to use their preorder keys and log into the game and download the client, etc.
Thats why people preorder to have a little advantage or whatever, otherwise there is no reason to preorder the game, if can't log into it.
Ok complained enough :))
I wish the best for the game , cause i canceled on sunday 20.09.2009 my account maybe jump into the game after a year or so...
hope it will not walk the same way down as Tabula Rasa did :)
best regards
Caveat Emptor, indeed. It seems it's a tradition now for most MMOs to have a rocky start, which we've all come acustom to, but this is just pushing it!
I applaud the interviewer for very direct questions,NCSOFT is not giving the truth,but at least someone is calling them out on it.
The truth is they are not going to meet the demand of the player need no matter what,because down the road they would just have to close servers,as the initial storm wears off.So the truth is they are looking at the long term cost and effectiveness,they do not care one bit about the pre orders or the initial wave,they know exactly what to expect,but like i said to cater to the players ,would cost them down the road.
I can't really say i blame NCSOFT,you can't meet the PROPER demand then start closing servers afterward,it looks bad for the game.However,there is something to remember,a good marketing team,would expect the game to grow,therefore as the initial wave wears off,they are still going to be adding more,new players to fill the void,so this is just a lame approach by NCSOFT.
Furthermore,as the interviewer pointed out,they will need a heck of a lot more server space on the ACTUAL launch than they would just for the pre orders.Of course the usual backtracking PR,kept pointing out,they are monitoring it and looking to make the best possible playing experience...lmao,ya right.
If this was the actual launch,then i guess you could cut them slack,but this was only pre orders,so that server space should have been there 100% guaranteed,especially since they claim they are rewarding the people that pre ordered.Even still i am sure the people that did not pre order are going to EXPECT to play,when they log in,this is not SILKROAD online,or a F2P game we are talking about here,with Que ues.Albeit WOW used que ues as well,kind of lame to expect players to WAIT to play lol.A months subscription is not for time slots ,it is for a month of playtime.
What will further this into a worse scenario,is the majority are working class people,they will ALL be trying to login at the same time after work,so this won't clear up anytime soon.What will set this right,is for the players to get after them with complaints and for sites like MMORPG to call them out on it,just like the mass displeasure for GG got it removed.If you carry a fanbois attitude with you at all times,then expect to get slapped in the face by the developer,otherwise get after their sorry ass,for being so lame.
MMO design 101, Lesson 1: You need to create enough day 1 starting zones to accommodate your entire server population. Instance starting areas if you need to, but make sure that there will be enough real estate, quests, and mobs in n00b areas for the entire expected server population. Anything less is instant fail on launch day.
Hehe, I find it surprising that any one is surprised this happened. Lineage 2, Seighardt server. I was number 10 on all servers in the levelling competition and was gaining ground rapidly. Server takes a dump for a week and I end up in the 1000's. I am sure all our lineage 2 ob/launch veterans remember the login game :D
lol making VG's launch look good, this is sad and I'm not even playing this game.
Even though I understand what NCSoft was saying in this interview, I have admit that they really disappointed me on this one. I had always thought of NCSoft as being one of the better gaming companies out there, based on their handling of Guild Wars... but the release of Aion has made me rethink my position. One of the benefits to pre-ordering was to get online a few days early to get a jump on those who did not pre-order... a kind of additional reward for pre-ordering besides getting into the Beta. However, in the 'very fine print' there must have been the qualification of 'if you are able to logon, that is'.
After reading the response by one NCSoft Community Service Rep to the queues and disconnects involving the Servers, I was totally disappointed again. They said that the early release was a total success (of which I immediately thought 'for whom?'). They went on to say that all this was totally expected; and that in time, all these problems will somehow just go away. So we as pre-order customers are to ignore the fact that some of us will not be given the two days of pre-release time as advertized, and that NCSoft just shruges this off as 'oh well... ignore the man behind the curtain and please enjoy the Emporer's new clothes!!!'.
When I logged on Sunday Night, ALL the Servers were marked as 'High' and trying to connect to a Server was more than likely to cause a time-out disconnect. From a customer experience perspective, I do not consider this a success. I was not about ready to wait 3 hours to login to any game. That is a flatout waste of my time... of which I value. I just feel sorry for those that took time off from work and such to level, and ended up wasting most of their time just waiting to get in.
Again, I am just totally disappointed in how the release of Aion has been implemented and have lost faith in NCSoft as a customer oriented company as they had shown with GW... sorry. I just hope GW2 is better managed and implemented. At least for me, this was just a total 'dis' to a loyal Aion customer base by NCSoft. What was advertized was not delivered... period.
but it WAS a success, it will be until those fed up contact thier cc companies and claw back the pre-order payment on the grounds of false advertising regarding the head start. They KNOW how many preorders they sold. Did they expect most of the preorder players to not want the head start in a heavily pvp based game??? Nah, nobody wants the edge over Skippy McCrackpipe who subs a week after launch so he can pick flowers in peace right?? This was planned for and ignored. Only way they'll care is if more people get their money back.
Currently EU ENG servers are running queues as high as 10 hours. How can you get into the game with 10 hour queu?
The reason for the long queues seems to be game function called "Private Shop". You can setup your own "shop" anywhere and sell your stuff. This would be fine except it also prevents AFK auto-logout.
So now we have half of the server's online population selling crap for 1000000000000 Kinah and staying online for ever.
Suberb!
THIS! A thousand times this!
The ONLY way for us to vote is with our money. You can only tell companies what will and will not fly with money. If it is not evident to everyone by now, let me say one thing.
All the companies care about is money. They have no concern for your gameplay or your feelings. The people that invest in the companies only care about money. They have no concern for the players or even the game itself. They only want a return on an investment. None of the money here understands gaming on even a basic level. Most successful businessmen have never picked up a controller in their lives. I know we are talking about PC games, but allow the conceit. The ONLY way to show them what you want is by using your money to force them to make a quality product that has staying power. Even if you like Aion for some reason, it has no staying power, nothing new.
This is the thing people need to understand about all things. Microsoft is the same way. They will continue to produce shit and laugh at you until you stop paying money for it. And no I am not saying buy Apple. That is worse, because they are arrogant douchebags that think they are hot shit because if the iPod, which is a bucket of shit in and of itself compared to other MP3 players.
Ah...sorry. I got up on a box. In any case...vote with your money, that is only thing that will ever make a statement to large companies. Ever.
I'm pretty sure they could have reduced the queues. But really, when people log on the first day and gigantic queues, they get the feeling of participating in something immensly important, and can talk about it to the "newbs" that join the game later on. If everything would have run smoothly, like you just log on and see an average server population and can quest peacefully for yourself, you'd get the feeling that nothing special would happen.
Umm, sunday was the heavy first influx day and it should be going down? And a 3 hours waiting time on average?
I'm not sure what stats they're looking at, but none of the EU servers are included in it, that's for certain.
All English EU servers have queues right now - and have had so, every evening. Currently the lowest queue is around 3 hours. When looking at [ENG]Perento (the server me and some friends decided to play on) I just joined the queue and got a 9 hour 10 minutes waiting time. That means I get to play at 3AM... tomorrow.
Thus far I've not been able to play the game, at all.
Every night it's the same deal, except worse. On Sunday a 4 hour queue, yesterday 5-6 hours, today 9+ hours. It's not getting better, it's only getting worse.
And to think it's not even prime time yet....
Not even the end of the workday. I think it is just the shiny newness. If you really like the game, wait a few weeks. I am sure some people will get bored and go back to whatever they were playing before. I think there are more...how to say...less than truly interested...people trying Aion because it is so gorgeous. I think it will not last more than a month.
This, from a company that understands the MMO market and clearly knows the hype based around the game. I MEAN THE FIGURE OF SALES ALONE ON PRE-ORDER SHOULD HAVE RANG SOME BELLS............................ whoever is the project leader for this release needs his yearly bonus doubled.
This kind of act from a company of this level of this knowledge and worldwide success... is planned. They sold alot of copies, they dont give a monkeys about those - thats just slush fund for the golf tournament later. Like someone said before, got the cash... if people stay they stay, if not and they dont want to wait 5-9 hours to play our game... nuts to them we got £44.99
Im in the same boat as most - want to play on a server of my nationalitity and also it just makes the game more fun when you can understand questions/chat... Want to play with friends and clans you have known online for a while... Even persuaded tons of real life friends to come "save some cash in the winter, play this to kill a few hours".... They are certainly killing hours when NON of them have been able to login,...
People who have kids, work or responsibilities outside of sitting at a screen for 5 hours waiting for numbers to tick down has ANY TIME FOR THIS KIND OF BS. I personally had to come home from work on my lunch break to start the que... which was 5 hours... What kind of game is this, where your punished for paying your hard earned money but making you wait... and wait some more.... then wait again.
NCSOFT has the money already, upgrade the servers populations... get rid of the stupid GER AND FR servers and make them EURO..... make some of the ENG servers EURO.... keep 2 ENG for everyone that wants a more internationaly understandable chat. ADD IN A FUNCTION FOR IN A MONTHS TIME FOR PEOPLE TO MOVE SERVERS>>>. SO ALL THE PEOPLE CAN GET THIS SO CALLED "HEAD START" UNDERWAY THEN THEY CAN TRANSFER LATER ON TO JOIN THEIR FRIENDS...
NCsoft right now are going out of their way to piss off their customers... So much more could be done, so much more could have been planned i mean christ the game has been out a year in another country... So much to do... with all that money already in your bank aswell... will you do it?
*added* I dont think its fair to kick/punish the AFK shops, i am not one of them and wont be added to my elec bill just so i can play something ive paid for anyway. These people have a right to be on the server, in afk form or whatever.. they have paid also - it is a shame that it hogs up server space, but thats that. Cant really fix this issue as it shouldn't be there in the first place... Its pretty clear what needs to happen - more servers #1 that are more diverse in language areas. Increased server populations for the English based servers, since these seem to be the most wanted places to get your grind on.
and now add the non-headstart players trying to log in. You ever get the feeling this was a prerelease sales ploy to see how much cash they can nab to fund GW2?
you have been killed by [NCSoft.]
[NCSoft] says: PWND. NOOBLET!! THX FOR THE LEWTS.
(NCSoft begins teabagging you and NCWest begins camping your kisk)
AION devs did the right thing.
I haven't had to wait in a que yet, but I'd rather wait in a que than log into a server than turns desolate after 2-3 months (like WAR). Let them do their number crunching and implement servers only when those numbers show that it's necessary.
afk shop mode since headstart launch?
Here's an idea:
The length of time spent waiting in queues gets doubled then added to your billing date as free time.
So spend 8 hours in queue, get 16 more hours of free time.
:)
Won't happen, but it'd make some people happy.
I know my "headstart" wasn't much of a headstart.
GW2 will be awesome, and, notsaying anything in favor of/against NCSoft, but do remember that GW/GW2 is owned by ArenaNet, even if NCSoft is supporting them.
I do have to agree, that technical issues aside, from a customers perspective, they were garaunteed 2 day game time before launch... so, i think its something NCsoft should make up for. All in all, I really do like AION and I know all the hardwork they are putting into the game, specially the community dudes. I'll be in AION for some time, at least until GW2 comes out. :P
afk shop mode since headstart launch?
Nope. I log out after I finish playing. I log in around 12pm EST and back out around 10pm EST. When I eat or leave the keyboard for more than a half hour, I turn the game off. I own a home and have to pay the energy bill, so I'd rather risk waiting in a que than paying more in electric. Not to mention the stress staying logged in does to my computer. So no, I don't milk the shop system and wouldn't care if they removed it.
Some people like to play with their friends and so make characters on the same server, imagine that?!? And I didn't see a queue until I logged out the first time after playing a while. It's when I came back that there was indication that the server my friends and I picked was very popular with a 4+ hour queue.
Whoever they interviewed might have been quoting the lowest wait time for queues because I had 4+ hours on the server I was on. And all servers at that time said high. And how can they use data from other games they run when none of those games have seen this kind of numbers for pre-order. Looks like someone screwed the pooch to me.
I will say though that other than queue times I've had no other issues with the game, I love it! I just don't like having to wait an hour every time I want to log in at prime time to play.
Here's the deal folks. Does it suck not being able to get on your guilds server? Yes. However, there are servers that you can log in on and play right now with no queue.
You may have to change servers, and you may have to change SIDES. Asmo is over poped everywhere, elyos under poped. I play elyos on Triniel and I havent had to wait more than 20 minutes yet.
However, hate it or love it, no one can argue that THESE stats look awesome for server balance.
time to make a website with some server names, throw in some stats, charge $10 per month (hey it's a deal) and put out a exe file that says all servers are busy, with a 5 hour countdown clock that discon's after 3 hours. apparently ppl will pay to watch the counter click down.
When I first logged on Sunday Night and saw the 3+ hour queue for the Server my Characters/Legion was registered on... my reply was 'Well that sucks'.
Monday Night, when I logged on and saw the 3+ hour queue, my reaction was... 'now this is really starting to Suck'.
I wonder what it will be like tonight?
Bottomline... NCSoft did not live up to their advertizement of two days of leveling prior to release for pre-orders... period. I saw no warnings about queues or anything that would prevent me from logging on to the Server my pre-selection characters were registered on. This is wrong for the Aion Player base; and based on this interview, NCSoft does not seem to care. That is just not right. If customers cannot use the product as advertized, then the launch is a failure... I do not care how much the Servers are up and running. It either works or does not work... and right now, based on all the complaints I see here and elsewhere, it is not working. NCSoft, make this right!
Bottomline is that it is shameful against paying customers which the prebuying ppl are.
When i started to login today at 5pm my time in europe it was 8 hrs queue i mean come on that just sucks.
If this continues until 25 and after ill never give NC my monthly payment thats the only power we as consumers have.
Really annoyed at this, i had big hopes for this game since doin the betas with the stability in those and also the performance of the client even the god damn game guard thing i would have accepted.
But not this queue times and shops for not loggin out.
Like i said if it continues ill find another game or actually wait for star wars and hope they learn what not to do.
J
i know its controvers and i myselve prefere an open seamingless world over instances
but i think the guildwars/ champions concept with 1 server (well technically many more) seems better and a lot more flexible.
even if you have 100 channels you still can log in directly and you wont have to worry that ud end up on a different server then your friends. i myselve are in a guild that wanted to go together and alreaddy people suffer 9h queues to log in.
Yes, thank you.
This is getting old. Arenanet has different people writing/designing the games. They are owned by NCSoft largely because they could not afford to strike out on their own. NCSoft knows a good thing when they have it. They just have no understand of why people love Arenanet so much. If they understood that, the games they make themselves would not be such crap. NCSoft markets and publishes the games. They give Anet a very free reign, as has been indicated by many interviews, and this is a good thing. With a free reign, the people at NCSoft can use their knowledge of what gamers actually want to make a decent game.
time to make a website with some server names, throw in some stats, charge $10 per month (hey it's a deal) and put out a exe file that says all servers are busy, with a 5 hour countdown clock that discon's after 3 hours. apparently ppl will pay to watch the counter click down.
Apparently, since they are too stubborn to switch sides or servers
3 hours i dont think so today im on a 8 hour queue.
fuking pathetic that a MASSIVELY multiplayer game has queues full stop!
I want to definitely second this. While the queues do suck, the last thing I want to see a few months down the line are server mergers and servers where the population dwindles.
I want to definitely second this. While the queues do suck, the last thing I want to see a few months down the line are server mergers and servers where the population dwindles.
yeah, much better for everyone to get fed up with bullshit and quit during the first month leaving servers at a third capacity at most.
yeah, much better for everyone to get fed up with bullshit and quit during the first month leaving servers at a third capacity at most.
Actually it is better. If people leave, then they leave. But merging servers affects those who remain, the people who are actually interested in sticking with a game. Subscribers past the first month > nerdrage quitting players.
Utter nonsense. When AION does the math and cries over the lost revenue, they will have set a record for lowest % ever for an MMO translating pre-orders to subscribers.
For the past two days my queue times have been 5mins tops. First day was 1.5hrs though. Server EU-Telemachus.
Mine had a 2hour wait time, but I didn't care that much.. I gave me a chance to go out for a nice ride, eat, and drink then settle in for some serious game time..
Queue times are at 5 hours now (On triniel) , go go NCSoft.
They keep saying removing the player stores wont fix the problem, yes I agree the queues will still be there, but they sure will move a lot faster.
Disable the stores NCsoft or put a time on them.
6:30 pm est 3:50 min que times such BS
This is the right answer.
The people making the decisions only care about profits. Withhold your money from them, or you encourage more of the same.
WTF is wrong with people? The game has a system that encourages people to stay logged in while AFK and that didn't ring huge alarm bells?
Grow a few brain cells, people.
On triniel 3h 23m and not budging for the past 30 or so minutes .........lame chit
On another note I agree CE / Preorders were a set number of copies if they cannot account for sales intime for launch like they screwed up ingame items deployment for em 2 days or so thats pretty fail. I myself bought CE to get a headstart like they marketed, but end up wasting my time and money for few weeks + You know once the 25th rolls around it will be the same story "oh were monitering it so be calm make sure to keep the subscription up so we can keep accurate numbers guys! " I am betting atleast 2 weeks of que's for the most part during that time 10 new servers to open up still will need alot of ironing.
Yes they should credit all the people who preordered CE or basic preorder and not some lame time or silly useless item 50-60 dollars is alot to spend these days for most people to spare they should honor that .
Good interview, you were to the point and AION/NCsoft avoided any defo answer SHAME on you!!!!
right...enjoy being the only person playing on your server 6 months down the line when that low pop server has canceled subscribers and they won't merge your server
I remember when I was a wee lad, I had to wait through the game queue, barefoot, uphil both ways, and it was snowing outside...In the summer!
In game items were not to be available until the 22nd, they started to release them a day early - what's the problem?
Azphel tonight, wait time 2.5hrs again. Today is retail release. How many people are going to want to play Aion when they can't even get onto the servers!? Most of the server wait times tonight on NA servers is around 2+hrs! The interview didn't help ally my fears for continual long wait times on ANY NA server! Etiher more servers are going to have to come online or the servers are going to have to be able to handle more customers.
I have only one thing to say about Aion, - Lani Blazer - WOW whee!
I had my first que last night, for those who've been following what I've been writing. It was 1 hour long. I didn't sit around for it, because it was close to bed time. I still stand by what I said, I'd prefer a que time than closing servers months down the line. Closing servers messes with character names, guild names, and mixes communities that may be different.
I think it's rather impatient for people to get upset over a wise decision, but I do understand the impatience. The 3 hours prior to headstart, I could hardly contain my excitement. I'd of been heart broken if I had a long que to face. However, everyone must see reason eventually. It's unreasonable to expect them to make everyone suffer or the players who will become the core players suffer by making rash decisions now. Creating a bunch of server is a rash decision that they'll pay for, unless their sub number only grow, which is possible. Letting everyone in on the current servers is rash, because then you have 100 people competing for the same spawns, plus the area will have high latency for even the best computers and internet connection; I've been there.
I can see how letting the population in a little at a time can piss off some of you that are competitive and want to be server first, or those of you who wanted to level up with friends. Just try and be reasonable and look at this from a long-term view, and not just the short-term. In the short-term, granting your wish would make you happy, until you start complaining about getting your kills stolen, or there not being enough spawns, or the game being laggy, or 3 months from now your server merging with another and your name being taken.
AION should compensate for the lost game time, I can't argue against that.
I want to definitely second this. While the queues do suck, the last thing I want to see a few months down the line are server mergers and servers where the population dwindles.
I agree as well. Then again, I've never seen my queue time over 54 minutes. Also, none of my times lasted as long as estimated when I joined in. That time I waited maybe 30 actual minutes. Not a big deal and certainly not a deal breaker for me.
As far as rolling on a server without a wait time, all the servers have queues when I log in. Doesn't matter which server I pick.
It makes perfect sense that they can't open the servers at maximum capacity. Not only do they need to encourage balance across all servers, there's also the matter of player density. At launch, EVERYONE is packed into two starter zones. Remember Ironforge when WoW first launched? There's only so much that any server and engine can manage. So at launch, the server cap needs to be the lowest it will ever be. As people move out of the starting zone, they can raise the cap without overtaxing the starter zone density.
I believe that NCSoft played it right here. For one thing, we are seeing the queues fade. Yesterday was launch day, and I still only had a 25 minute queue -- similar to what I experienced on my server when WoW first launched. That's much better than the 2 hours that people were seeing on the same server during head start.
What good would opening up more servers now do? Would you leave your current server to jump to whatever new one opened? If not, why do you think anyone else would? We've already got friends and legions that we're running with, to say nothing of the time invested in our characters so far. Would another server stop someone's friend from rolling on a high population server so they could play together? Really, the only people who would be affected by new servers opening are those who are just rolling up new characters today. But there are already lower population servers with no queues, so it's not like new players don't have someplace to go.
We've seen other games launch and then add new servers too quickly. Most notably, AoC and WAR. Now look at them. One of the reasons many people quit those games was the complaint that the games' key areas were ghost towns. What fun is a PvP-focused game if there's nobody to fight? NCSoft clearly recognizes that there will be attrition after the first month. There always is. It's better for the game's long term to suffer through some queues at the start than to lose people later thanks to empty servers.
Did you really read the article???
I will explain in simple terms so you understand.
1. They had numbers for people that were playing Betas and Headstart.
2. They did not have numbers for how many people will be playing at launch and thereafter.
3. Not everyone playing the Betas and Headstart are gonna buy the game to play after launch.
So lets put this together.
Your Way:
Open as many servers as needed to accomodate all the people in que for the Headstart.
Now its 2 days after the actual launch and Headstart is over. 1/3 of the people decided not to purchase the game and play after Headstart. (Not actual numbers, just trying to show a point)
So now instead of having 12 good servers that are evenly busy, we have 24 servers, some with waiting ques and some with a small population.
That makes no sense to do it this way!
The problem is you cant add servers without keeping them. People create characters on them. Too many servers is worse for the game than a que in Headstart.
It seems it is on a first come first serve basis and that is completely wrong. Granted the first month of gameplay is no charge but people did pay for the box so they expect to be able to play. I can see NCsoft losing many subs in the NA/EU if they fail to do something about the wait times.
The earlier you get on, the less you have to wait. No waiting times in the afternoons. Which is probably why there are so many AFK shops. People getting in while they can and then returning when they have the time to play.
Did you really read the article???
I will explain in simple terms so you understand.
1. They had numbers for people that were playing Betas and Headstart.
2. They did not have numbers for how many people will be playing at launch and thereafter.
3. Not everyone playing the Betas and Headstart are gonna buy the game to play after launch.
So lets put this together.
Your Way:
Open as many servers as needed to accomodate all the people in que for the Headstart.
Now its 2 days after the actual launch and Headstart is over. 1/3 of the people decided not to purchase the game and play after Headstart. (Not actual numbers, just trying to show a point)
So now instead of having 12 good servers that are evenly busy, we have 24 servers, some with waiting ques and some with a small population.
That makes no sense to do it this way!
The problem is you cant add servers without keeping them. People create characters on them. Too many servers is worse for the game than a que in Headstart.
You should post that reply under the title "How not to run a MMO". Every MMO that comes out these days better have a plan for server consolidation. It is a fact of life. Having large queues is an immediate way to inform players you don't care about them which will pretty much kill your chances of getting them to subscribe. NCSoft is doing this in fine form. I just feel sorry for all those players who bought the box and can't play.
To the poster that said play earlier, what a clueless post, most of us who play work, games are for evenings. Get a job and start earning your keep.
"To the poster that said play earlier, what a clueless post, most of us who play work, games are for evenings. Get a job and start earning your keep."
What a clueless attitude. Glad you have your life all settled so you can look down on others. Most people want to work, but that's not the same as there's a job for them. Or that they're capable of working. Or any other million reasons for not having a job. I still claim you need a bridge, Ozmodan.
You should post that reply under the title "How not to run a MMO". Every MMO that comes out these days better have a plan for server consolidation. It is a fact of life. Having large queues is an immediate way to inform players you don't care about them which will pretty much kill your chances of getting them to subscribe. NCSoft is doing this in fine form. I just feel sorry for all those players who bought the box and can't play.
To the poster that said play earlier, what a clueless post, most of us who play work, games are for evenings. Get a job and start earning your keep.
As a PAYING player (I did not only use the preorder that let's people that are not planning to buy the game play the headstart These people will be gone in a couple days) I would rather see a little congestion for the first couple weeks than have them make to many servers only to have to merge them and screw up character names and legion names 3 months down the road.
You act as though they are doing nothing and that this is going to be an on going problem. Well it wont be.
People like you that only think of NOW have no concept of what your NOW actions will do to you in the future.
Go play WoW.
NCSoft keep up the great work!!!
I'm satisfied with their responses. It's absolutely ignorant to pick a server you are going to play before they are up and expect to play on that server with no queue's. There are servers with no queue's, why not play on them? These queue's won't last forever and NCSoft is actually being responsible about this. The customer is not always right, if they give in it will hurt them down the road, and us players down the road when the Abyss is deserted because all the gamehoppers left.
Im sorry you but are very wrong.
There are NO servers with low pops in Europe at all anymore. Even the FRA and GER servers would not permit us to join the queue last night (sunday). Repeated spam-clicking on my server Gorgos would get me into the queue after nearly 5 min of clicking only to be greated with a 2hr+ queue that I would get DC'd from after 5 min.
Your argument seems to be that catering to those of us who want to play but cant will only hurt the experiance of players like you who have no problems logging into a game at lunch time. What a hugely obnoxious and selfish standpoint. We paid the same as you and expect the same quality of service.
You dropped the term 'Game hopper' in your comment too... nice. So you do believe a company should sell the game to everyone it can but only provide service to its self appointed elite customers like yourself?
You believe NCSOFT doesnt want WOW like success and intenionally designed a game to fit a small number of privedged gamers? and you applaud this?
I think you need to get out more.