Are you saying it is logical that as a promotional element they advertised a two days head start as a reason to pre-order (mind you, pre-orders are subject to cancellation) and then set about on a planned and working as planned methodology that resulted in 5 to 7 hour queues for the record 400k pre orders they attracted? Hrm, doesn't seem logical at all to me to attract a record number of customers only to slap them in the face with such waits that few would not be pissed by them. Moreover, is it logical to also advertise early character creation (again sold as part of the pre order) with the express purpose of letting people pick their servers (for random preference, to be with pals/guilds, or to be close regionally to the server) and characters before even the headstart begins only to then pursue a methodology that negates that early character creation by having people abandon their chose server and early created characters just to find a queue that was a few hours shorter? That doesn't sound very logical at all either.
And besides all that, as I said the queues and supposed throttling for balance they where doing is irrelevant past a couple weeks as people will leave, people will come, people will switch servers after the rush to get back to their friends so it is pointless anyways beyond the understandable desire not to go live with 70 servers when 20 might be enough.
Logic dictates that they got caught with their pants down, even if they where trying to be cautious with server numbers to ensure well populated servers, and then as things stacked up in a pretty unusual way (5 to 7 hours is not even close to normal) they came out with the spin about it all being for balance. It is not logical to infuriate a large portion of the customers you manage to attract to your product, even if just for a few days. It is extremely difficult to attract customers and once you get them you want their first impression to be positive - a 7 hour queue and the inability to join a server you pals are on is not a positive experience and it is not the least bit logical to accept any explanation that says this was 'working as intended'.
I had to wait for 5 hours to get in on the first head start day and then 2 hours the next day. If the game is so great then it can afford to have a few more servers.
Merging servers later when people have time invested is better than putting a bad taste into the mouth of your initial player base. It may look bad, but by that point people will have left the game for other reasons - hence the merge.
I'm gonna go ahead and call BS. As I stated in my previous post. The Queue may have said 3+ hours but i was on in about an hour. So the only way you had "to wait for 5 hours" is because you exited the queue and came back 5 hours later. Period. I disconnected 3 times Sunday and only had to wait in queue ONCE (for 10 min). After that I didn't have any wait for the rest of Sunday or Monday. So either you had the misfortune of picking the single most popular server (and didn't bother to try another), or you're grossly exaggerating for effect.
While I'm sure there was of course some variance in queue wait times, I doubt that you had a 5 hour wait Sunday and a 2 hour wait Monday. I'd use stronger language if I could.
Suffice it to say I believe you're statement is incorrect and a gross exaggeration.
Only been playing a few days, but I have yet to wait anywhere near the estimated time. And I am willing to put up with this for a little while in order to have a full well-balanced server to play on for my most likely long stay in AION.
Comments
Are you saying it is logical that as a promotional element they advertised a two days head start as a reason to pre-order (mind you, pre-orders are subject to cancellation) and then set about on a planned and working as planned methodology that resulted in 5 to 7 hour queues for the record 400k pre orders they attracted? Hrm, doesn't seem logical at all to me to attract a record number of customers only to slap them in the face with such waits that few would not be pissed by them. Moreover, is it logical to also advertise early character creation (again sold as part of the pre order) with the express purpose of letting people pick their servers (for random preference, to be with pals/guilds, or to be close regionally to the server) and characters before even the headstart begins only to then pursue a methodology that negates that early character creation by having people abandon their chose server and early created characters just to find a queue that was a few hours shorter? That doesn't sound very logical at all either.
And besides all that, as I said the queues and supposed throttling for balance they where doing is irrelevant past a couple weeks as people will leave, people will come, people will switch servers after the rush to get back to their friends so it is pointless anyways beyond the understandable desire not to go live with 70 servers when 20 might be enough.
Logic dictates that they got caught with their pants down, even if they where trying to be cautious with server numbers to ensure well populated servers, and then as things stacked up in a pretty unusual way (5 to 7 hours is not even close to normal) they came out with the spin about it all being for balance. It is not logical to infuriate a large portion of the customers you manage to attract to your product, even if just for a few days. It is extremely difficult to attract customers and once you get them you want their first impression to be positive - a 7 hour queue and the inability to join a server you pals are on is not a positive experience and it is not the least bit logical to accept any explanation that says this was 'working as intended'.
--------------------------------
Achiever 60.00%, Socializer 53.00%, Killer 47.00%, Explorer 40.00%
Intel Core i7 Quad, Intel X58 SLi, 6G Corsair XMS DDR3, Intel X-25 SSD, 3 WD Velociraptor SATA SuperTrak SAS EX8650 Array, OCZ 1250W PS, GTX 295, xFi, 32" 1080p LCD
I'm gonna go ahead and call BS. As I stated in my previous post. The Queue may have said 3+ hours but i was on in about an hour. So the only way you had "to wait for 5 hours" is because you exited the queue and came back 5 hours later. Period. I disconnected 3 times Sunday and only had to wait in queue ONCE (for 10 min). After that I didn't have any wait for the rest of Sunday or Monday. So either you had the misfortune of picking the single most popular server (and didn't bother to try another), or you're grossly exaggerating for effect.
While I'm sure there was of course some variance in queue wait times, I doubt that you had a 5 hour wait Sunday and a 2 hour wait Monday. I'd use stronger language if I could.
Suffice it to say I believe you're statement is incorrect and a gross exaggeration.
Only been playing a few days, but I have yet to wait anywhere near the estimated time. And I am willing to put up with this for a little while in order to have a full well-balanced server to play on for my most likely long stay in AION.