Did you know WoW had 2-4 classes without talents at release. lololol.
Also to quote above. There was wasn't anything to queue for when i started. No PVP was out, No dungeon finder, nothing. But i liked the old style (after PVP came out later)
Also EvE wasn't quite bad launch, just confusing.
As for everyone who has EvE Vs WoW or just WoW in comment.
Cough, WoW fanbois/girls. Stop defending your game/bashing others.
Also people defending WoW servers. Look@WintersGrasp. And tolbarad. Theres now a limit because the server couldn't support 200people in one place, and either have 20second lag, or Crash it.
At first there servers couldn't handle 100people at first either, but they tweaked it a little bit to only lag a small fraction of what it was at first.
Although your article focused on MMORPG's an infamous shout out should go to "World War II Online" by "Cornered Rat Software" as a MMOSIM / FPS. It rivaled Anarchy Online's abysmal gold launch back on June 2001 for WWII Online.
I know that these are all based on the writers gaming career, but i would have to say if i knew better the worst launch in history would have to be FFXI, it was when squareenix was still squaresoft and they had never even made a 2 player game much less an mmorpg in time were there only true competetor was Everquest and the table top DND. They only did beta for a cumulative amount of maybe a day threw a 3 month period before the game launched. When the game did launch it had all the bugs you would expect from an early Alpha testing and so many people on both PC and Ps2 were trying to log in that it was almost impossible. It was like trying to fit 10 thousand people threw a door with glass shards coming from the frame.
I have to go to what I would call the gold standard of MMO game launches in Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO had to have been one of the best if not the best launches I have ever been a part of (and been a part of many). ANY game that fails to live up to that LOTRO's launch can not be called good.
I have to go to what I would call the gold standard of MMO game launches in Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO had to have been one of the best if not the best launches I have ever been a part of (and been a part of many). ANY game that fails to live up to that LOTRO's launch can not be called good.
I agree with this. LotRO and DAoC were the only good MMO launches I can think of. Granted, LotRO got their by gutting most of their game and axing almost all the unique features from alpha and turning into a WoW clone, but that's another issue...
The OPs list is a joke, There were several worse launches of P2P titles that were considerably worse, D+L, APB, POTBS, Darkfall, many others.
By comparison, SWG, which is on the list, increased the subscriber base in the months following launch, so except for "launch day", SWG although very far from perfect, did much better than the other games I mentioned.
Originally posted by pye088j A list like that without Dark and light is pure bullshit
Dark and Light has to take the cake.. Awesome concept, poor execution, all sorts of weirdness with billing and game at launch.. yea.
Yet I still miss floating around on my hang-glider just exploring.. ahh good times.
Vanguard was playable just fine at launch for me, just some latency crossing 'zone borders' in the seamless world if i recall.. Pretty smooth.. But I understand many people had real problems heh.
I have to go to what I would call the gold standard of MMO game launches in Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO had to have been one of the best if not the best launches I have ever been a part of (and been a part of many). ANY game that fails to live up to that LOTRO's launch can not be called good.
I agree with this. LotRO and DAoC were the only good MMO launches I can think of. Granted, LotRO got their by gutting most of their game and axing almost all the unique features from alpha and turning into a WoW clone, but that's another issue...
On that I have to disagree. Turbine took the game over from another (Sierra as I recall) and the "features" were never fleshed out in that game to a point where they were even doable. As to the "WoW clone", I would also have to say that is not true as LOTRO was much more true to the LOTR lore of which WoW is not really a part of except in the legacy that LOTR is to all fantasy role playing games. If anything, WoW is a poor LOTR (the books not the game) clone.
AION today is what it should have been on release. Crafting and gathering are still very poor, but the exp boosts and better drop rate have made it much better (as well as the throttle on gank squads). There are far fewer bots (I have seen a few in Theo, but apparently no one goes there anymore anyway.
A list of worst MMO launches that doesn't mention Vanguard or Dark and Light is about as useful as a chocolate fireplace.
As for WoW having the worst ever launch, it was the market leader within months of release and has never looked back. I'm sure other publishers wouldn't mind a launch as bad as that.
I actually agree with this list, I know people will go wait what on some of them, okay WoW. But to tell the truth wow was horried on launch day. Few mmo's have ever had a good launch day, and I honestly chalk that up to the fact none of them do enough stress testing. Even games well out from launch need to do it from time to time, EQ stormhammer server, day one. That is all I am going to say on bone headed post launch misstakes from a game.
I have to go to what I would call the gold standard of MMO game launches in Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO had to have been one of the best if not the best launches I have ever been a part of (and been a part of many). ANY game that fails to live up to that LOTRO's launch can not be called good.
I agree with this. LotRO and DAoC were the only good MMO launches I can think of. Granted, LotRO got their by gutting most of their game and axing almost all the unique features from alpha and turning into a WoW clone, but that's another issue...
On that I have to disagree. Turbine took the game over from another (Sierra as I recall) and the "features" were never fleshed out in that game to a point where they were even doable. As to the "WoW clone", I would also have to say that is not true as LOTRO was much more true to the LOTR lore of which WoW is not really a part of except in the legacy that LOTR is to all fantasy role playing games. If anything, WoW is a poor LOTR (the books not the game) clone.
You're wrong on that. Turbine got the writes to develop a Middle Earth MMO after Sierra lost it...in 1999. Then Turbine developed their own MMO called Middle Earth Online, marketed it as a sandbox game for years and years, showed it off, demoed it, made promises to innovative features, then they changed the name of the game in alpha (I was there) and gutted the interesting features.
Having different lore doesn't make it NOT a WoW clone.
And for the last time, Darkfall's limited launch was not a "failure". It in fact, saved the game. So I'd call that a MUCH better launch than most MMOs, cause I could actually log in and play without lag in launch week.
i think wow got is place there, i could not play for more then few minute before server crash i was not able to play for 1 week because server was not stable, always disconnecting and returning me to the login screen, same for all my body outthere who was with me at launch.
when server was fix and stable. there was the loot problem. its took like 3-5 min to loot a mob and i remember walking in looting form lol i was stuck crouch lol.
and the loot problem was not fix asap, its was just less worst, but its was there,
but after launch game wen very well,
oh btw its not because ur server did not have any of those problem above that the wow launch was not horrible. u were maybe lucky. but alot people out there was not able to play like u did
~The only opinion that matters is your own.Everything else is just advice,~
And for the last time, Darkfall's limited launch was not a "failure". It in fact, saved the game. So I'd call that a MUCH better launch than most MMOs, cause I could actually log in and play without lag in launch week.
I don't know if I believe any of that, or if that is a bit of revisionist history.
What I do remember is that there were a lot of people that wanted to buy the game, and couldn't even weeks or months after the initial go.
I suppose it all depends on what constitutes a failed lauch, but if there were 10Ks of people that wanted in, and could not even buy the game, that has to be considered up there. Also, as I recall, there were massive exploits and gamebreaking bugs in the beginning, the threads on those are probably still in the back of the DF forum. Plus, half the stuff promised to be in the game, according to the developers own website, was not even there.
Anyway, it was certainly a worse launch than a couple of the other games mentioned.
Every single one of these MMO's is still with us. The launch could not have gone that badly then. This list like so many others is based more on picking title names you know than ones that actualy fit the list. Why is AoC here and not AO? AoC has the bigger name for most players so it makes the list. The MMO’s ‘fame’ being more important than whether or not it was the worst launch ever. Another point in case is WoW, logging on difficulties were acute but that was about it for most players, hardly worthy of being on this list.
Every single one of these MMO's is still with us. The launch could not have gone that badly then. This list like so many others is based more on picking title names you know than ones that actualy fit the list. Why is AoC here and not AO? AoC has the bigger name for most players so it makes the list. The MMO’s ‘fame’ being more important than whether or not it was the worst launch ever. Another point in case is WoW, logging on difficulties were acute but that was about it for most players, hardly worthy of being on this list.
Launch had definitely a big impact on game's popularity however just like in case of WoW you can have even horrible launch but if the game content itself is fun and you show players that even slowly but still you are working on the title then this is what happens:) Anyway on the other hand there are also titles that had good launch and are already dead or atleast things didn't go like developers wanted them to go so for instance they had to change their business model (which is in fact also not a good sign regarding playerbase).
Another point in case is WoW, logging on difficulties were acute but that was about it for most players, hardly worthy of being on this list.
Sorry for post after post. WoW isn't on the list for logging on difficulties. Just to name some problems that WoW had:
- bugs (obvious in mmo but situation where you can't even loot is simply hilarious)
- laggy
- poor stability (even after tbc it happened that servers were down for atleast a day for emergency maintanance)
- poor customer support (even unstucking character could take days then)
Not to name their mistakes they have done with tbc launch... So yes, those are big mistakes rather especially that they lasted for months (some problems of classic were present even months after tbc and still not resolved)
Not a very well thought out list... many games had so bad a lauch that it was crippled for life.
I never tried SWG but not being able to play for the first day isn't so bad.
Aion have massive server ques because of people setting up afk shops to avoid them, once they fixed that there was no other issues regarding launch. It was actually a very good launch.
AoC was also a good launch, I had no problems playing the game, it just wasn't a very good game design wise, also the pvp was meaningless.
AO never tried this game, no comment.
I wasn't there for WoW's launch. The game had massive server ques and bug's that took longer to fix because of massive server ques. I bet Blizzard considered it a fantastic launch considering the explosive popularity.
FFXIV was hands down the worst launch of all time and can be commented as such as the game has been out for several months, and the developer/publisher themselves have stated how bad the game is (restructuring, bluntly stating it in emails, F2P till fixed, etc). FFXI was also a tad rough around the edges, but nothing abysmal.
Personally, I think SWG should be higher on the list...as the I distinctly remember having to stare at the ground just to make it to quest hubs in town, beaches full of mining facilities (and lag), etc...similar to some games higher on it.
Granted, LotRO got their by gutting most of their game and axing almost all the unique features from alpha and turning into a WoW clone, but that's another issue...
A common trait among MMO gamers is to mistake developer wishlists and alpha-level planning (in this case, Sierra's plans for MEO) for concrete feature lists. Avid console gamers are the polar opposite. Devs can spew all the bullcrap they want and post all the 'feature lists' that they are planning, but console fans have an "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality - until it is in a gameplay trailer or a released demo, they won't even consider it as a feature.
Dev: We are considering housing for our December release. We've been tossing around ideas of destructible environments and terraforming to make construction a truly engaging experience.
Console fan: This means you'll be demoing the housing stuff at PAX, right?
MMO fan: *runs to favorite forum to create post* Subject: Housing and Terraforming coming in December!
But, back on topic... LOTRO's launch was exceptionally handled. They managed the queues, monitored performance, didn't cave to the doom/gloom posts about how they are failing because they haven't opened new servers and were able to maintain a stable healthy server population in their game.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Originally posted by Yauchy Personally, I think SWG should be higher on the list...as the I distinctly remember having to stare at the ground just to make it to quest hubs in town, beaches full of mining facilities (and lag), etc...similar to some games higher on it.
Oh man, after the first day it was problem after problem, people already found a way to glitch the Imperial faction and had dozens of AT-ST's and I was getting stuck in many locations and had to submit tickets to help me out since unstick never worked, and horrible lag even in empty areas (like near Mara Jade outside of Emperor's Retreat)- I remember my exact PC system at the time and it was an AMD Duron 900 512MB ram and GeForce Ti4400 256MB Creative SBLive, good system at the time being, Moenia and Doaba were the worst in lag.
Besides all that, the Anchorhead-Bestine pvp and group interaction made it a VERY fun game regardless of the problems, too bad SOE went and axed all that.
Anyone defending WoW definitely did not play on one of the original 'terrible 20' servers. Shortly after launch they instituted new servers, along with new technology for those servers, then attempted to 'upgrade' the original servers, which was a disaster. Anyone playing on one of those servers had constant rollbacks, server crashes, inability to loot, etc. For several months those servers were basically unplayable.
As for worst launch ever, I would have to say 'Horizons' though. I have played several games at launch, but never one that didn't even have 2/3 of the features advertised on the box. Add in the fact that their billing department were 'accidentally' double and triple billing their customers subscription fees (later to find out it was to pad the numbers so they could sell the game) and continuing to bill customers after they quit the game make this the worst launch IMO.
Comments
Did you know WoW had 2-4 classes without talents at release. lololol.
Also to quote above. There was wasn't anything to queue for when i started. No PVP was out, No dungeon finder, nothing. But i liked the old style (after PVP came out later)
Also EvE wasn't quite bad launch, just confusing.
As for everyone who has EvE Vs WoW or just WoW in comment.
Cough, WoW fanbois/girls. Stop defending your game/bashing others.
zz. Nvm. server queues. I can't edit my post, so posting this to say. Mybad.
Also people defending WoW servers. Look@WintersGrasp. And tolbarad. Theres now a limit because the server couldn't support 200people in one place, and either have 20second lag, or Crash it.
At first there servers couldn't handle 100people at first either, but they tweaked it a little bit to only lag a small fraction of what it was at first.
I'll take WoW's "bad" launch over almost every other MMO's "good" launch any time. Who the hell thought WoW had the worst launch of all time???
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Hi There,
Although your article focused on MMORPG's an infamous shout out should go to "World War II Online" by "Cornered Rat Software" as a MMOSIM / FPS. It rivaled Anarchy Online's abysmal gold launch back on June 2001 for WWII Online.
Here's the wikipedia link on the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Online
Look Under the "Initial Release" category.
----------------------
The Older Gamers
I know that these are all based on the writers gaming career, but i would have to say if i knew better the worst launch in history would have to be FFXI, it was when squareenix was still squaresoft and they had never even made a 2 player game much less an mmorpg in time were there only true competetor was Everquest and the table top DND. They only did beta for a cumulative amount of maybe a day threw a 3 month period before the game launched. When the game did launch it had all the bugs you would expect from an early Alpha testing and so many people on both PC and Ps2 were trying to log in that it was almost impossible. It was like trying to fit 10 thousand people threw a door with glass shards coming from the frame.
I have to go to what I would call the gold standard of MMO game launches in Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO had to have been one of the best if not the best launches I have ever been a part of (and been a part of many). ANY game that fails to live up to that LOTRO's launch can not be called good.
Let's party like it is 1863!
I agree with this. LotRO and DAoC were the only good MMO launches I can think of. Granted, LotRO got their by gutting most of their game and axing almost all the unique features from alpha and turning into a WoW clone, but that's another issue...
The OPs list is a joke, There were several worse launches of P2P titles that were considerably worse, D+L, APB, POTBS, Darkfall, many others.
By comparison, SWG, which is on the list, increased the subscriber base in the months following launch, so except for "launch day", SWG although very far from perfect, did much better than the other games I mentioned.
And there is more to a launch than "launch day".
As any experienced MMO player knows.
Dark and Light has to take the cake.. Awesome concept, poor execution, all sorts of weirdness with billing and game at launch.. yea.
Yet I still miss floating around on my hang-glider just exploring.. ahh good times.
Vanguard was playable just fine at launch for me, just some latency crossing 'zone borders' in the seamless world if i recall.. Pretty smooth.. But I understand many people had real problems heh.
On that I have to disagree. Turbine took the game over from another (Sierra as I recall) and the "features" were never fleshed out in that game to a point where they were even doable. As to the "WoW clone", I would also have to say that is not true as LOTRO was much more true to the LOTR lore of which WoW is not really a part of except in the legacy that LOTR is to all fantasy role playing games. If anything, WoW is a poor LOTR (the books not the game) clone.
Let's party like it is 1863!
AION today is what it should have been on release. Crafting and gathering are still very poor, but the exp boosts and better drop rate have made it much better (as well as the throttle on gank squads). There are far fewer bots (I have seen a few in Theo, but apparently no one goes there anymore anyway.
A list of worst MMO launches that doesn't mention Vanguard or Dark and Light is about as useful as a chocolate fireplace.
As for WoW having the worst ever launch, it was the market leader within months of release and has never looked back. I'm sure other publishers wouldn't mind a launch as bad as that.
I actually agree with this list, I know people will go wait what on some of them, okay WoW. But to tell the truth wow was horried on launch day. Few mmo's have ever had a good launch day, and I honestly chalk that up to the fact none of them do enough stress testing. Even games well out from launch need to do it from time to time, EQ stormhammer server, day one. That is all I am going to say on bone headed post launch misstakes from a game.
You're wrong on that. Turbine got the writes to develop a Middle Earth MMO after Sierra lost it...in 1999. Then Turbine developed their own MMO called Middle Earth Online, marketed it as a sandbox game for years and years, showed it off, demoed it, made promises to innovative features, then they changed the name of the game in alpha (I was there) and gutted the interesting features.
Having different lore doesn't make it NOT a WoW clone.
And for the last time, Darkfall's limited launch was not a "failure". It in fact, saved the game. So I'd call that a MUCH better launch than most MMOs, cause I could actually log in and play without lag in launch week.
to much wow lover herelol
i think wow got is place there, i could not play for more then few minute before server crash i was not able to play for 1 week because server was not stable, always disconnecting and returning me to the login screen, same for all my body outthere who was with me at launch.
when server was fix and stable. there was the loot problem. its took like 3-5 min to loot a mob and i remember walking in looting form lol i was stuck crouch lol.
and the loot problem was not fix asap, its was just less worst, but its was there,
but after launch game wen very well,
oh btw its not because ur server did not have any of those problem above that the wow launch was not horrible. u were maybe lucky. but alot people out there was not able to play like u did
~The only opinion that matters is your own.Everything else is just advice,~
I don't know if I believe any of that, or if that is a bit of revisionist history.
What I do remember is that there were a lot of people that wanted to buy the game, and couldn't even weeks or months after the initial go.
I suppose it all depends on what constitutes a failed lauch, but if there were 10Ks of people that wanted in, and could not even buy the game, that has to be considered up there. Also, as I recall, there were massive exploits and gamebreaking bugs in the beginning, the threads on those are probably still in the back of the DF forum. Plus, half the stuff promised to be in the game, according to the developers own website, was not even there.
Anyway, it was certainly a worse launch than a couple of the other games mentioned.
Every single one of these MMO's is still with us. The launch could not have gone that badly then. This list like so many others is based more on picking title names you know than ones that actualy fit the list. Why is AoC here and not AO? AoC has the bigger name for most players so it makes the list. The MMO’s ‘fame’ being more important than whether or not it was the worst launch ever. Another point in case is WoW, logging on difficulties were acute but that was about it for most players, hardly worthy of being on this list.
Launch had definitely a big impact on game's popularity however just like in case of WoW you can have even horrible launch but if the game content itself is fun and you show players that even slowly but still you are working on the title then this is what happens:) Anyway on the other hand there are also titles that had good launch and are already dead or atleast things didn't go like developers wanted them to go so for instance they had to change their business model (which is in fact also not a good sign regarding playerbase).
Sorry for post after post. WoW isn't on the list for logging on difficulties. Just to name some problems that WoW had:
- bugs (obvious in mmo but situation where you can't even loot is simply hilarious)
- laggy
- poor stability (even after tbc it happened that servers were down for atleast a day for emergency maintanance)
- poor customer support (even unstucking character could take days then)
Not to name their mistakes they have done with tbc launch... So yes, those are big mistakes rather especially that they lasted for months (some problems of classic were present even months after tbc and still not resolved)
Not a very well thought out list... many games had so bad a lauch that it was crippled for life.
I never tried SWG but not being able to play for the first day isn't so bad.
Aion have massive server ques because of people setting up afk shops to avoid them, once they fixed that there was no other issues regarding launch. It was actually a very good launch.
AoC was also a good launch, I had no problems playing the game, it just wasn't a very good game design wise, also the pvp was meaningless.
AO never tried this game, no comment.
I wasn't there for WoW's launch. The game had massive server ques and bug's that took longer to fix because of massive server ques. I bet Blizzard considered it a fantastic launch considering the explosive popularity.
The list was decent, but not perfect.
FFXIV was hands down the worst launch of all time and can be commented as such as the game has been out for several months, and the developer/publisher themselves have stated how bad the game is (restructuring, bluntly stating it in emails, F2P till fixed, etc). FFXI was also a tad rough around the edges, but nothing abysmal.
Personally, I think SWG should be higher on the list...as the I distinctly remember having to stare at the ground just to make it to quest hubs in town, beaches full of mining facilities (and lag), etc...similar to some games higher on it.
A common trait among MMO gamers is to mistake developer wishlists and alpha-level planning (in this case, Sierra's plans for MEO) for concrete feature lists. Avid console gamers are the polar opposite. Devs can spew all the bullcrap they want and post all the 'feature lists' that they are planning, but console fans have an "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality - until it is in a gameplay trailer or a released demo, they won't even consider it as a feature.
Dev: We are considering housing for our December release. We've been tossing around ideas of destructible environments and terraforming to make construction a truly engaging experience.
Console fan: This means you'll be demoing the housing stuff at PAX, right?
MMO fan: *runs to favorite forum to create post* Subject: Housing and Terraforming coming in December!
But, back on topic... LOTRO's launch was exceptionally handled. They managed the queues, monitored performance, didn't cave to the doom/gloom posts about how they are failing because they haven't opened new servers and were able to maintain a stable healthy server population in their game.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Besides all that, the Anchorhead-Bestine pvp and group interaction made it a VERY fun game regardless of the problems, too bad SOE went and axed all that.
Anyone defending WoW definitely did not play on one of the original 'terrible 20' servers. Shortly after launch they instituted new servers, along with new technology for those servers, then attempted to 'upgrade' the original servers, which was a disaster. Anyone playing on one of those servers had constant rollbacks, server crashes, inability to loot, etc. For several months those servers were basically unplayable.
As for worst launch ever, I would have to say 'Horizons' though. I have played several games at launch, but never one that didn't even have 2/3 of the features advertised on the box. Add in the fact that their billing department were 'accidentally' double and triple billing their customers subscription fees (later to find out it was to pad the numbers so they could sell the game) and continuing to bill customers after they quit the game make this the worst launch IMO.