GW 2 -Forums and Facebook and Twitter - Oh my!

Thubub

Ok so here we are with the...

"it's too early you haven't fully experienced the game so how can you review it" Review

 

Actually I am not going to review it, I want to talk about something else.  Let's talk about the launch.  We launched this puppy at 3 hours prior to the official pre-launch time and everything started smoothly, for the first few hours.  Then trouble first reared its head.  We found out just how ready this game was.  We found out about servers crashing, the dreaded "overflow areas", guild gliches (in a game named Guild wars), bugs, emergency patches, and OMG the stupid mail/trading post/gems/guild bank doesn't work.  That's when I learned how much things have changed.  When the world went dark I didn't go to the official GW2 forums (they were/are down).  I didn't go to MMORPG forums (well I did, but I always come here anyway)  I went to..... wait for it.... TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

 

What a fascinating modern age we live in.

 

So, the site forums are down due to server issues, but we as customers and MMO groupies now have a new place to get real time info.  We can get the inside scoop from the guy with a scraggly beard locked in a grey walled room with rows of servers at his disposal.  He can have his right hand in the belly of the beast and tweet us in his left hand to assure us "everything is fine."  Keep playing and ignore the need to binge spend at the Auction House for just a while longer.  (I envision the GW2 crew running around yelling "Dammit Jim!  I'm a surgeon not a miracle worker!" or in their best scottish accent ""I cannae change the laws of physics! I've got to have thirty minutes!" )   This is the first launch where I used twitter to get information.  Hell, its the first time I used twitter period.   We also have a new way to judge an MMO, facebook likes.   Want to see the numbers?

WoW - over 4 million likes

SW:TOR - over 2 million likes

GW2 - over 600k likes

LoTRO - over 200k likes

TSW - over 150k likes

OR if we want to look at the hipster crowd lets check out the twitter followers;

WoW - over 200k followers

SW:TOR - over 180k followers

GW2 - over 160k followers

LoTRO - over 33k followers

TSW - over  19k followers

What does any of this mean? Well for one thing it means if you are starting an MMO, you better be ready to talk to you customers.  It means that now more than ever you will have customers that want to be treated like launch partners.  Mail and Auction House are down?  Get ready for the deluge of tweets, facebook comments, and forum posts (shutting down your own forums or moderating it like a nazi is no longer going to work.)  You have a new boss now.  The faceless masses aren't faceless anymore. 

So back to the launch.  Well, it wasn't a complete disaster, but it wasn't really smooth either.  I have been through 9 major MMO launches and this one rates for me a

B -

Oh, and can we stop saying that it doesn't count as a launch because it is the pre-launch?  Pre-launch is just a gimmick to get the cash for the box before release to help offset startup expenses and give investers a gauge as to how succussful the game will be.  There was no pre-launch.  We launched it.  Come Tuesday there won't be a huge swell as the actual players show up to play on launch day. 

As for the game, my early impressions are it's an A.  But, I will have to wait about a month before I know for sure.  As for all the issues, it depends on how fast they fix them and how well they solve them.  Even with the issues I am having a lot of fun.  But will I be having fun a month or two from now?  I hope so, I really hope so.

 

 

 

 

TheDarkrayne

As for judging MMOs by facebook likes.. I don't think its very accurate. I'm willing to bet a LOT (by which i mean the majority) will not publicly advertise the fact they like and play MMOs on public social groups. It ain't cool and it ain't neccessary. I certainly don't and know a number of people who don't. I don't hide that I like them, but I don't advertise it either.