Should the launch have been delayed? What else could be done?

[Maxilor]

Perhaps limit players to X hours of playtime per day. Start at 4 hours then gradually increase, and eventually remove the limit as the initial surge dies down. This would also help to deter AFKers, since going AFK without logging out for a hour means that you've just wasted an hour of your daily limited play time.

Imagine paying a monthly fee for something you can only play in 4 hour increments?

If they even considered doing this, a free month better come with it.

[Gyson]

Perhaps limit players to X hours of playtime per day. Start at 4 hours then gradually increase, and eventually remove the limit as the initial surge dies down. This would also help to deter AFKers, since going AFK without logging out for a hour means that you've just wasted an hour of your daily limited play time.

I think that would place additional stress on groups/friends who are trying to play together. Ideally everyone would AFK at the same time, but real-life rarely cooperates that way.

[Havenchild]

Realistically, there are probably some limited options they are exploring now. However they are prioritizing server stability in-game with simultaneous connections, which to give them credit, is EXTREMELY stable with relative no lag. I'd give this a week roughly before they initiate some more measures to mitigate the login issues.
Having said that, there isn't much beyond what we have now, that they could have done, and anyone saying otherwise is just overly butthurt they can't play. They have a right to their opinion as well but I think given all the real world situations between the exceptional hype Shadowbringers brought in, the WoW Exodus, COVID leading into the Supply Chain related delays & the fact that those semi conducters are in extremely high demand, that's enough situations that anyone with a brain can understand, this situation alone can't be placed on SE.

This is the situation where people need to be more understanding on the IT/DEV side of things. My job for example has been trying to grab some physical servers since January for a cutover project and that has made literal 0 progress. You're lucky to find available servers and even beyond that, if you find places with space, you are extorted some ridiculous pricing in the ten thousands+ range sometimes. I wouldn't blame any company for saying hell no to that number, especially since the price increases the more simultaneous connections are needed.

People don't understand IT, that's what boils down to the moronic, definitely vocal minority, of posts on the forums.

This isn't a problem you can really throw money at. If you think Finance will allow that, you REALLY don't understand corporate business.

[Saefinn]

No. They shouldn't.
The problem we're having is a mix of two things:
- Too many players
- Not enough servers

They have reported that they've had the most congestion of any launch. And we know Shadowbringers brought a lot of new players and that WoW's problems also had a lot of people migrate too. So this is why we have so many compared to previous launches.

They cannot get enough servers because of a pandemic and a global issue affecting electronics manufacturers around the world, which is out of Square Enix's control.
I don't see how a delay would solve the problem other than maybe a portion of those players getting fed up of waiting and quitting.

It's not like Cyberpunk where it was released too early.

I'd rather a few rocky days of Early Access - which will go away - than wait until they can get the servers needed to make this a smoother process.

[Velnora]

There was no need to upgrade. What they had was working for their player numbers. the only thing that changed that was the WoW exodus and large influx of players to FFXIV. Something that happened far too recently to actually get servers in time.

The game was growing well before the WoW exodus.

[Nothv13]

The game was growing well before the WoW exodus.

Slowly in a gradual manner. The WoW exodus caused the player base to nearly double in a very short time.

[Velnora]

Slowly in a gradual manner. The WoW exodus caused the player base to nearly double in a very short time.

And if that is the case, if there was no need to upgrade, why was the common argument for the cash shop, so they could do server upgrades? The check engine light came on, and it was ignored while the mechanic charged you each time.

[Melorie]

Does it even matter now? I don't think that the solutions for these problems could be applied now regardless. It is done. Take notes and prepare for the next expansion. Although, after going through stormblood this launch is still ok in my book.

[DevilSeven]

Imagine paying a monthly fee for something you can only play in 4 hour increments?

Imagine paying a monthly fee for something you can't even log in to.

[Jennah]

a) It would have been like this whatever the release date was
b) The problem will naturally fix itself in a week or three, when fewer people are trying to log in at the same time.

Stinks for now, but ... it is what it is. If you can, try logging on early morning or even the middle of the night.