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Arena Net failed with the launch of GW2
DataDay
Member UncommonPosts: 1,538
I hate to say it, but Arena Net has utterly failed with this launch. Still love the game, but it is clear the game should not have launched until both the services were ready as well as the game content balanced.
Right now we have horrible horrible service and attitudes by Anet. Some of their reactions on Reddit towards legitimate issues or people who have been hacked borderlines on d-baggery. I mean no business should talk to its customer base the way some of their reps have.
One person lost $20 of gems that they purchased with real money because the broken system gliched out and didnt register any purchases until later... charged him for buying 3 of the same outfit instead of just one. Anet's response to this was nothing short of "too bad sucker".
At the moment... Thousands of people cannot even long in because the launcher is telling them to verify their email by clicking on the email link. Two problems with this: 1) fake versions of this email exist with the purpose of stealing account information, 2) the official version isnt actually being sent out. This means you cannot log into the game at all, and most the emails you will find, if you actually get any, are probably fake.
When a large chunk of the game's population cant even log into the damn game, you cannot count that as a successful launch.
Half of their webservices are down as well...if you want to recover your password, good luck. Thats down as well. Forums? Nope. Account information? Sometimes works, sometimes doesnt. Official account based services are not solidified to work properly.
Aside from key features of the game not working half the time (Trade Post), the content seems to be out of "whack" as well. Some personal story line quests seem extremely easy, where as others are rediculously difficult...and by that I mean 1 shot kills by an enemy you can normally beat in a regular pve environment. When you go to a zone below your level, your lvl is downscaled to match the regions...only sometimes it is too much and sometimes it is too little. Meaning, some enemies will die with one hit... where others in the same category hit as hard as a champion and feel like they have just as much HP.
Another example, In one storyline instance, one basic enemy kills off my entire NPC party in a matter of seconds then one or two hits later I am down as well. Their HP pool is extreme as well. So while I am down scaled over 10 levels to meet the lvl of the instance, the enemies hit harder than something around the level I am normally at. It feels like the whole system in that respect is broken.
Guild Wars 2 is still a great game, there is lots of fun to be had...but this cannot be considered a successful launch anymore. Please get your **** together Anet.
Comments
I agree, it hasn't been smooth, buuuut...like I said before;
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/5260347#5260347
Grabbing a bag of popcorn and waiting for you to be attacked by the masses.(well gw2 die hards)...
How dare you express your opinion on true issues of a game?
i dont disbelieve you but a source would be helpful
EQ2 fan sites
Sure thing, this is just one example I am pulling from a pool of general community frustrations with the way Anet has been handling things.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/z62jj/beware_guild_wars_2_abusive_user_agreement/
I feel theres a bit of a gap between Failed and not perfect.
so far its minor things for me, trade is down... so what? cant send mail... dont care, cant log in.... yeah anoying but it hasnt lasted long for me.
Average launch is my opinion.
GUILD WARS 2 IS THE BEST!
No lol just kidding. Well it is my favorite online game of all time so far and that's not even just honeymoon period anymore lol.
BUT even though I guess I could be considered one of those rabid "fanboys" I have to agree with you OP. Trading post is what angers me the most. But account issues NEED to be fixed first. i haven't had any problems with my account, but I can be empathetic to people that might run into problems of the like.
As far as half the playerbase can't log in?...Well I don't see or hear about that in game. I'm sure there would be people griping that their friends can't log in, Like people normally do in the area chat if something small is wrong. But, nah I'm not seeing it. Me and the lady friend can log in and play just fine.
It's funny with GW2, It has enjoyed such a smooth yet such a bumpy road. Buuuut I have faith in Anet and they haven't given me any reason not to just yet, Also this is their first game of such scale and they are doing it pretty well. They are obviously working incredibly hard. Cause sometimes I get announcements of patches (new builds) every night almost. Seems like some of them are just working around the clock which has to be infuriating, Yet must be done.
Here's to the future of GW2 and to your problems becoming resolved OP. *cheers*
Monster Hunter since '04!
Currently playing: MHW & MHGU
There have been problems, but you have to remember GW2 is ultimately run by NCsoft...NCsoft keep their games on tight budgets and deadlines, heck the just closed down City of Heros!
Not even close. Never been banned and no, they have shown questionable attitudes regarding some issues and while you may feel its debatable, it hasnt been 100% resect.
There is legitimate frustration, and over reactionary frustration. This is legitimate frustration. Over a week past the launch (including early access) and the services are still down, account management is fickle at best and many like myself cannot log in on a weekend because of their email verification system that has chosen not to work.
As for the link, see above. Its just one example of an over all group frustration over some of the issues popping up with GW2's launch.
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
This canned hyperbole is getting old. "Stuff Happens" can only cover so much. At some point the company needs to own up to the responsibility of getting this game working. This isn't early 2000s anymore. They weren't caught off guard with this. They know how many were going to play. This isn't like it's been going on for a day and a half now., for some people, they have been waiting over a week to get major stuff straightened out and it hasn't been.
While I love the game, A-Net was vastly ill-prepared
You're kind of shooting yourself in the foot here. You are right on with your sarcasm, this certainly isn't the first time this has happened, and that's the point. MMO devs have had rougly 13 years and countless examples to figure out this whole launch thing. That's the problem.
Originally posted by Scagweed22
is it the graphics? the repetativenesses? i mean what is the point? you could be so much more productive in real life
Real life brings repetition and pointlessness too. The only thing real life offers is Great graphics. Its kinda expensive too and way to dependent on the cash shop. Totally pay to win as well. No thank you. Ill stick to my games.
Well of course there is frustration among them. This is a huge launch.
You know EXACTLY how the online gaming community acts these days.
At least they aren't as unproffesional as Blizzard is these days. Especially with Jay Wilson saying "F*** that guy" to the old D2 director.
People are people. Try to be a little sympathetic to programmers, techs, and Anet employees. Because I assure you they are working VERY VERY VERY hard on hammering out the kinks.
You guys also act like this is the same system setup as every mmo since 2000. CMON!
Monster Hunter since '04!
Currently playing: MHW & MHGU
ArenaNet refused to have an open beta. Their "stress tests" were conducted at awkward hours, open only to pre-purchasers, and announced very shortly before they happened. This ensured that a tiny percentage of launch players would actually participate in them. As such, services like the Trading Post were completely untested by a high number of players and failed at launch.
There was also little to no account security. Their verification system was disabled for launch because (as we see now) it doesn't work very well. This resulted in countless accounts being compromised at launch. Players who lost their accounts were not contacted but only told that they were permanently banned the next time they tried to log in. If they contacted support (which they were not instructed to do) they'd recover their account when their message was processed.
This unfortunately would take days because of ban-happy moderators. Any and every offense from a questionable name (even if it's borderline sexual or merely has the word "poop" somewhere in it) to profanity in chat (even without any offensive context) to botting received a 3-day ban. Botting? Okay. Exploits? Okay. Naming violation? Not okay. There is no reason to deny a person his headstart because his name was "Lappdance" or "Pimp Juice" or "Batman". People who used names they'd been using for years were receiving 3-day bans. Change their names if you must, but a 3-ban for the first offense on a borderline name? The confusion resulted in their support system getting jammed, and people with very serious problems couldn't get through.
Finally, a lack of official communication has made everything very sloppy. Instead if using their official site, they've been using Reddit as a support forum. Updates were posted to Reddit and Facebook instead of the game launcher. People who were banned received no emails. They were instructed (on Reddit) to post their character name in the thread to find out why they were banned. This is nothing short of unacceptable for a multitude of reasons.
"When it's ready." I'd say that yes, GW2 was ready. Unfortunately, ArenaNet was completely unprepared.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
Yes, they are. I'm sure they are pulling double shifts and genarally busing their @$$es off.
However, ANET has also made a VERY VERY VERY large amount of money off these same people who are getting frustrated.
What's weird is %75 of his post is about stuff that isn't even happening to him..
It's about stuff that's "happening to huge chunks of the population" that he's hearing about lol.
How "true" can that be? A half million people? Or maybe 10,000 or so?
He's quite literally expressing other peoples opinion about the game. Great job.
If the information he is presenting is true and accurate, then he has every right to form an opinion of what he has researched. As long as he's not twisting things around to manupulate people's feelings inaccurately. I see no issues with this.
i dont like the EULA for this example
hopefully it can be challenged because theres been higher lag due to launch
EQ2 fan sites
I don't get these threads.
*Buys guildwars 2
*makes a weak password or gets keylogged
*blames anet for own fail. (why u no protect me from myself Anet)
*posts on forums like they are speshul.
utterly absurd.
This isn't a failed launch. About, what?, 10 people on reddit are having a bad experience and everyone is jumping on their thread, either defending or attacking. There's WELL over a million playing this game. A few vocal people having problems means nothing, especially not launch failure.
The TP issue is bad.. when mail is down it's bad. But at least the majority are playing successfully. I'll point out that there are more people playing right now compared to how many were playing in any other MMO launch 'ever' to my knowledge. SWTOR launch was a nightmare with queues, hardly anyone could play. TSW had nowhere near as many people playing it.. only reason it was so smooth. WoW launch was a mess and hardly anyone could play and servers were down for days sometimes. GW2 is supporting more players at launch than any other MMO that I can think off, 'at launch'.
The players who do have problems definately shouldn't be ignored, but ANet are actually coping better than anyone else has with this many people ay launch.
The simple fact is that the game is more popular than Anet has anticipated. That's why there are problems.
As far as that guy who lost $20, while I feel for him, the simple fact is that you never click "Order" more than once. Everyone who has done any sort of purchase online should know this. The person admittedly clicked it 3 times. And while I don't agree with ArenaNet's no refund policy, the person is partially to blame.
Besides, if he pesters customer service long enough, they'll refund him the money.
As far as the launch itself, for me personally, it has been one of the smoothest so far. The only bummer is the trade post not always working and the long WvW queues. Otherwise, the game runs great and is a blast to play.
This is a valid point.
The bigger the population, the more frequently rare occurrances happen. So, in this launch, those who have a bad experience are going to seem greater in numbers.
I see so it's OK for every other major MMO to have launch problems up until now. Now it's not OK. The reason why they all have problems is because it's impossible to duplicate a launch. You can have all the stress tests in the world but nothing will be the real thing. To expect things to be perfect is impractical and very naive.
Also to the OP. You claim to have played every MMO launch for the past 10 years? So did you forget about the launch of FFXIV? That, by far, was the worse launch in the last ten years. Lets not forget about Aions first week of 5 hours ques. I suppose being able to play in overflow is way worse than staring at a que counter. What was Anet thinking anyway?