Early Access members deserve 2 feee days due to server issues

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Originally Posted by AzraelX

I usually don't ask for refunds or handouts, but SB was majorly advertised, they got new servers, and it's a disaster. I think it would wise and prudent as a good show of faith to offer 2 free days for Early access players at least ( all players would be even better) - I think that would be more beneficial than the lame - " I'm sorry, we are working on it" pr moves

Sorry I meant two FREE days

Y'a i did play, but I'm not saying this for myself because I have never let my sub lapse and probably never will. I'm saying this for the game/ company as a whole- look at the subbreddit we never had this many new comers before. It would be a great disservice to lose them due to server issues and not willing to meet them half way by offering something to keep customers. It's all about customer service these days. Remember anyone's money spends anywhere.

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While I agree with your frustration, I disagree with your solution.

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Originally Posted by Camiie

I can't see cutting SE, Konami, Capcom, Nintendo, EA, MS, Sony, etc any slack when they screw the proverbial pooch.

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Off-topic: I am actually stricter towards MS than I am towards other companies. Their treatment of Windows Phone absolutely infuriated me and to this day I still haven't forgiven them for it. They make one mistake in my eyes (especially with WP), and I get really angry.

On-topic: No, I don't believe we deserve compensation. What I believe we need are fixes, and failing that, proper & regular communication of the roadblocks affecting us and the progress on finding a fix. I can accept the faults, I really can, but the communication has been less than stellar. As someone who has delved into programming, fixes are not always easy to deploy (especially not on a grand scale like this), I get that, but at least keep us in the loop properly about it. Perhaps explain that the source of the issue is taking longer than expected to track down, etc. Just keep us in the darn loop!

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

This whole issue is simply a symptom of how healthy the game is ironically, it's too successful for it's own good. The servers (and the content) was designed for a smaller amount of players accessing it, it was always going to be overloaded at the start. Although even I'm amazed at just how congested it turned out, at least I'm not delusional in acting like I'm the only player in the game or demanding to be compensated for something that is covered in the Terms of Service that every player agrees to when they sign up (in that they owe you nothing for server downtimes and problems caused by congestion and bugs).

Remember, the problems are not a bug but simply the online gaming version of a rush-hour traffic jam. And like all traffic jams, they're only temporary but cannot really be fixed other than have patience and it will eventually thin out.

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So, wouldn't some fixes be for example to add a grace period for a reconnect (at least if you're in light/full/alliance duty, not necessarily a solo duty as it's just you affected, because the light/full/alliance duties mean that your party is down a tank, healer, or DPS, and should it happen to me, it'd be a tank they lost), to implement a queue system for solo duties, etc. There are fixes SE can apply to help mitigate the issues (of course you can't solve the rush-hour problem completely, but you can mitigate it with the game's equivalent of a traffic light system), and give progress on updates on those fixes. I'm not saying everything can be fixed, I expect congestion, but there are definitely some things that can be done. Then there's that beauty of a primal bug that apparently locks you out of your character so you can't even log back in. That also needs fixing (I haven't hit it, yet, but reports are coming in.)

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Originally Posted by luciferbelmont

If you guys weren't expecting problems, you're delusional. Highly delusional.

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Exactly, as I mentioned in a certain thread (this one specifically) just prior to the pre-early launch maintenance last week, I knew that there was going to be lag, congestion and everyone overloading the main scenario npcs all in an effort to beat each other to the end, so I planned to hold off on the main scenario for a week or so at least (and I pretty much accomplished everything I listed in that post by the way, as my goals I set were realistic).

This whole issue is simply a symptom of how healthy the game is ironically, it's too successful for it's own good. The servers (and the content) was designed for a smaller amount of players accessing it, it was always going to be overloaded at the start. Although even I'm amazed at just how congested it turned out, at least I'm not delusional in acting like I'm the only player in the game or demanding to be compensated for something that is covered in the Terms of Service that every player agrees to when they sign up (in that they owe you nothing for server downtimes and problems caused by congestion and bugs).

Remember, the problems are not a bug but simply the online gaming version of a rush-hour traffic jam. And like all traffic jams, they're only temporary but cannot really be fixed other than have patience and it will eventually thin out.

I wonder why would anybody white knight against threads like this.

If the thread fails you lose nothing. If it succeeds you GAIN a day or 2 on your sub. What are you doing? lol

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Originally Posted by Recruiter

If the thread fails you lose nothing. If it succeeds you GAIN a day or 2 on your sub. What are you doing? lol

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I could really care less about get 2 free days, I pay 6 months at a time so 2 days is like a drop and the bucket and would hardly matter to me anyways.

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Originally Posted by Recruiter

I wonder why would anybody white knight against threads like this.

If the thread fails you lose nothing. If it succeeds you GAIN a day or 2 on your sub. What are you doing? lol

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Not everyone wants to make a big deal about it? 2 days free!?! OMG! I can buy a double cheeseburger! /s

People that disagree with you aren't 'white knighting', they just think (know) you're wrong.

I'm not getting what I paid for. I agree with the OP

No, we don't deserve free days. Stop crying over this, get over yourselves.

I highly doubt it's the days that people care about. It's about getting something more than an "Oh we're so sorry about this" while shedding fake tears message - SE should PAY for fucking up the game so massively. EVERY SINGLE THING IS BROKEN IN ALL AREAS - not just the expansion (except Fates, and swimming in Costa). The sad part is it was all predictable and preventable. The problem is they aren't actually doing anything, and you can bet every expansion from now til the end of this game will have the exact same issues because they are greedy and don't actually care about anything but getting your money - since so many are happy to just deal with it and keep paying. So smile, pay, and let them laugh their way to the bank because you are that dumb to defend it.

Regardless if it's days, some in game item that costs nothing, an XP bonus, etc - they absolutely should do something to make it right, just like any other business would do if they made a huge mistake.

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Originally Posted by Spawnie

No we dont deserve any kind of compensation at all.. mayb people should stop being impatient n whining 24/7... plenty of other stuff to do other than burning through msq in a day or 2

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That, but the msq isn't the only thing that people are having trouble with.

First world entitlement at it's best. There's only so much you can test in a closed environment. Server/instance stress I believe is one thing that can't be done fully on their end. Not unless they have a million plus testers in their employ. So...as Yoshi P said, "You all need to calm down" and be a little more mature about the matter. You knew what you were getting into when you put in your codes for early access: congestion and other potential unforeseen issues

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Originally Posted by DJMau

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Right... because people who didn't buy early access aren't affected. And of course they NEVER launched a game, or an expansion with these same issues that would enable them to predict how the servers would respond. Care to try again?

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Originally Posted by Ely

Right... because people who didn't buy early access aren't affected. And of course they NEVER launched a game, or an expansion with these same issues that would enable them to predict how the servers would respond. Care to try again?

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Nobody "bought" early access. The release game is the same price as the preorder. Also, no launch in the history of server technology has been able to anticipate server strain perfectly, stop acting like prior experience has anything to do with it (otherwise WoW: WoD wouldn't have been as bad as it was). These are brand new servers that we are working with, and an unnaturally high server load, all we can do is wait it out and give the devs the time that they need to fix it rather than crying for compensation and attacking them.

Chances are we will get compensation, but we aren't entitled to it if they don't.

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Originally Posted by Spawnie

No we dont deserve any kind of compensation at all.. mayb people should stop being impatient n whining 24/7... plenty of other stuff to do other than burning through msq in a day or 2

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The thing is, there isn't, and I don't know why this is so hard for people white knighting to understand.

EVERYTHING. IS. BROKEN.

I was doing speed runs of PotD earlier with a fixed group and we all disconnected when trying to load in. So we all sat through the queue (mind you this is on Balmung) and gave it another go. Did a few more runs and I was disconnected in the middle of that run. I get back on after another 2500+ queue and decide to try Frontline - instant 90k error. I sit through ANOTHER queue, this time 2800, and as soon as it was logging in another 90k error and booted back to the queue.

So I took a nap, woke up at almost 1a.m. but there's still a 2500 person queue. I'm almost back in and now I'm just hoping I can even access my character without another 90k error.

There needs to be some kind of compensation. I don't know if it needs to be free time, an exp bonus, or what, but there needs to be something. Why are you so invested in defending S-E on this?

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Originally Posted by DJMau

First world entitlement at it's best. There's only so much you can test in a closed environment. Server/instance stress I believe is one thing that can't be done fully on their end. Not unless they have a million plus testers in their employ. So...as Yoshi P said, "You all need to calm down" and be a little more mature about the matter. You knew what you were getting into when you put in your codes for early access: congestion and other potential unforeseen issues

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You mean we should be as mature as their whole FF14-team who somehow was unable to foresee that bottlenecking the MSQ behind solo scenarios and thus overloading their instance server would result in the current disaster?

Not to speak of the immense login-queues during prime time, the fear of being disconnected and having to wait ages in the queue etc.

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Originally Posted by DJMau

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Ok, so explain how I get through "Best Served with Cold Steel" without continue standing there for another several hours attempting to get the duty part of the quest underway.

This bottleneck is causing issues that is currently affecting my ability to advance RDM - and for that matter, my ability to launch any single player duty. I cannot reliably play instances because of 90k errors.

FFXIV is a completely and total mess, and at this point, if SE does not give the playerbase free time for this fiasco all it demonstrates is that SE doesn't care.

Yes, a free day (or two) doesn't matter that much, but it's an expected way an MMO dev apologizes when something goes horribly, horribly wrong. To not give us free time is SE losing face over this entire debacle.

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

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Interesting that your point of view only focuses on other games and their problems at launch - why not expand it to every piece of software you can purchase and look if you'd react as "forgiving".
Let's say you own a company that just purchased a new piece of software that is vital to your day-to-day business, but that software doesn't function properly and thus you 1. your people can't work properly and 2. you are losing money because of it.
I bet in that scenario you won't be making excuses for the company with things like "new servers" and "give the devs some time" - more likely you're either going berserk or you're close to letting your lawyers off the leash if there isn't some major miracle happening.

In essence you make an arbitrary case because "it's just a game".

Its not even early access, everyone is affected. You have a good chance of being kicked out when doing old content.

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Originally Posted by SunSand

Its not even early access, everyone is affected. You have a good chance of being kicked out when doing old content.

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The only 'old content' affected is because of the same reason that is causing issues in the main SB scenario - specifically Palace of the Dead which everyone and their chocobo is spamming to level SAM and RDM quickly. Again, the whole cause of the issue is there are just too many players trying to access the same thing at the same time. It's congestion, pure and simple. That's what it boils down to. And congestion cannot be fixed once it happens other than restricting how many can access certain content. They can't wave a magic wand and 8 million players can all connect with no issues. That's just common sense (which sadly seems increasingly less common these days :().

it's not just Palace of the Dead. It's every single instance. Even the story roulette, which is just two 2.0 dungeons.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

The only 'old content' affected is because of the same reason that is causing issues in the main SB scenario - specifically Palace of the Dead which everyone and their chocobo is spamming to level SAM and RDM quickly. Again, the whole cause of the issue is there are just too many players trying to access the same thing at the same time. It's congestion, pure and simple. That's what it boils down to. And congestion cannot be fixed once it happens other than restricting how many can access certain content. They can't wave a magic wand and 8 million players can all connect with no issues. That's just common sense (which sadly seems increasingly less common these days :().

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True but SE could remove some of the congestion, MSQ solo instance fights. Everything else has a queue time which help limit the over use of the DF, everything but solo instances. They could have even started working on an algorithm to place solo instances in a queue similar to all of DF content and fix this whole mess.

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Originally Posted by daedalusAI

In essence you make an arbitrary case because "it's just a game".

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No, I would extend that to any piece of software. I have had things go wrong with other pieces of software, and all you can do is wait. The dev team has released three statements regarding congestion, all of which acknowledge problems and assure us that they are working to fix them.

I work in software, I can picture what the office at SE looks like right now, and while it is frustrating, we have to acknowledge that teething problems do happen, and in this case are quite severe, and what I have seen from the community is a rather immature and toxic attitude. Is compensation for the inconvenience a factor that the devs will need to consider? Most likely, but in the meantime, the community needs to get a grip.

I wouldn't mind compensation in the form of fixing the msq instances.

Everyone who's whining about the MSQ roadblock must be new to MMOs. These problematic launches are expected for those us MMO vets.

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Originally Posted by Sassychan

Everyone who's whining about the MSQ roadblock must be new to MMOs. These problematic launches are expected for those us MMO vets.

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If they are expected the problems need to be dealt with before they're problems.

I'm tired of the bar being so low that it's now "expected" for a game to be broken when it's released to the public.

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Originally Posted by Aerowaffle

If they are expected the problems need to be dealt with before they're problems.

I'm tired of the bar being so low that it's now "expected" for a game to be broken when it's released to the public.

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There's ALWAYS gonna be problems, whether it's expected or not. Shit happens.

I just don't understand why exactly you'd defend this. I get that calling for yoshi's head is a bit much, but asking for time to be compensated for a clearly broken product is perfectly reasonable when faced with something that hasn't worked for over 2 days.

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Originally Posted by Sassychan

There's ALWAYS gonna be problems, whether it's expected or not. Shit happens.

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And when the issue could have been solved by having a queue for the solo duties... why should we tolerate that lack of foresight when there's queues for EVERY OTHER TYPE OF INSTANCE IN THE GAME?

at least u guys still can do FATE
Tonberry server got 5k queue

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5. INTERRUPTION TO THE SERVICE
From time to time, in order to provide our customers with the optimal gaming experience, it is necessary for Square Enix to conduct routine maintenance on the computers and/or servers that support the Game. During these times, access to the Game or support services may be interrupted. Access may also be temporarily suspended in whole or in part, without notice, due to emergency repairs, fire, flood, explosion, war, strike, embargo, governmental action or failure to act, the act of any civil or military authority, act of God, or by any other causes beyond Square Enix's control, or any other reasons for which Square Enix, in its sole discretion, deems that temporary suspension is necessary. You acknowledge that disruptions of service may occur and waive any causes of action against Square Enix in any way arising from or related to any such disruptions of service.

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Not white knighting at all, but wanting to point out with how this is worded, it basically allows them to not owe compensation.

Also, even if they were to put everything down for maintenance, everyone would still complain.

We technically aren't owed anything for early access, as it states it's a pre-order bonus. So, towards any SB content that you're unable to progress through currently... Not owed any money or anything as this is not time you paid extra for. It's a bonus, anyone buying after the 20th is going to be paying the same amount you did.

Having been through all the pre-order early access launches, trust me, you're not going to get anything for this. You can ask, but chances are, it's not going to happen.

A few reactions have been toxic, but many are pretty well reasoned and rational. We were offered early access. While TECHNICALLY that's happening, effectively it's really not. As others have stated better than I can, they could have prepared for this. One can stress test artificially without real users. They knew how many had registered their keys for early access. They know how many current subscribers they have. Throw that amount of data plus considerable overhead at the servers and see what happens. If they didn't do this then they are negligent. If they did, saw there was going to be a problem, and went forward anyway well that should be beyond the pale.


Yes, I know it's common practice these days to put out unfinished or untested or knowingly broken content in the video game industry. That doesn't make it right. That doesn't mean we should just shrug our shoulders, bend over, and take whatever we're sold. We certainly shouldn't go out of our way to defend the 900 lb. gorillas of the gaming industry. We should hold them to the highest of standards, and not accept anything less than their best. Right now, this is not their best.

I think some sort of compensation, though not an entitlement, would be a nice gesture and not really cost them anything. What I really care about though is them making sure this doesn't happen again.

First off, nothing compares to the troubles we experienced when ff14 first released all those years ago. If you didn't experience that, then you don't know what trouble is.

Make no mistake, one of the benefits and maybe even contributing factor to pre-order was early access to play a fully developed game, not beta test a game that may not have been completed. Those two days or wherever of compensation are really not about compensation but the acknowledgement in a tangible way that things failed to work as intended, we're sorry, here is a little something for your trouble, and then we move on; as we will do once all of this is back to normal anyway.

Maybe SE needs a test server that they can use to flesh out these sort of things and do a way with enticing people to buy a product with things like early access without it being completed.

I wasn't sure I agreed with what OP was saying at 1st....but tonight I tried to log in to find a 5k+ queue waiting for me.

And I'll be working a shift that means I'll generally not be getting home to try and queue until the same time for the rest of the month, which means I'm very likely to face no access to the game.

So yea, free time is starting to look less like "It'd be nice..." and more like "yea, I'd better get some, coz I can't even log in!" >.<;

Personally, I'm not as bothered by the queues as I am the inability to access instances and the login issues that result from trying. Besides bolstering their instance capacity they need to have a better solution in place for when the instance server chokes. It should just boot you back into your World, not kick you from the game entirely and leave your character in limbo. That I could deal with, but being locked out of the game entirely for some indeterminate amount of time is simply bad design.

I'm sad if there are some players who stop a subscription due to their distrust to Square Enix.
I hope development team decide to give all players a compensation other than apologies.

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Originally Posted by AzraelX

I usually don't ask for refunds or handouts, but SB was majorly advertised, they got new servers, and it's a disaster. I think it would wise and prudent as a good show of faith to offer 2 free days for Early access players at least ( all players would be even better) - I think that would be more beneficial than the lame - " I'm sorry, we are working on it" pr moves

Sorry I meant two FREE days

Y'a i did play, but I'm not saying this for myself because I have never let my sub lapse and probably never will. I'm saying this for the game/ company as a whole- look at the subbreddit we never had this many new comers before. It would be a great disservice to lose them due to server issues and not willing to meet them half way by offering something to keep customers. It's all about customer service these days. Remember anyone's money spends anywhere.

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Too early to decide that , this issues will continue a couple weeks more.

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Originally Posted by Koldhara

First off, nothing compares to the troubles we experienced when ff14 first released all those years ago. If you didn't experience that, then you don't know what trouble is.

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I bought the collectors edition for THAT FF14. I preordered it and was excited at launch and yeah garbage. The crappy thing is I dont have access to that account anymore, so I had to make a new one. I do really like this game. Its pulled me away from WoW since that is a snooze fest now.

For those who don't get it. NOTHING is going to get "fixed" because according to SE nothing is broken, it's just overcrowding. They aren't going to give out free time. They aren't going to fix anything. They will do the same thing they did when arr launched and just wait until it goes away. If this is really making you nuts, just don't sign in for a week or two.

after all the 90ks I'm getting and the waiting time I have to give to even get into the server, I think we're ALL owed free time. Not just the early accesses.

We deserve nothing. Loads of people have taken time off work for this, came back to the game for this. As a result, the servers are flooded. People are using tricks to avoid the afk kick and prevent themselves from having to queue to log back in, thus adding to the queue for people not yet online. They will wait until it evens out, just like launch and Heavensward. Just like during unexpected maintenance, they owe us nothing. You want to bitch about queues? Bitch to the selfish people staying logged in when away from game for keeping you out.