This launch is a mess.

[alsiniz]

ok so before it was to drop the expansion dropped, you would pay 40 for the standard version, 60 for the collecters. now if you bought before release you get to get an earring, a minion and early access 3-4 days of such. now you did not pay for anything and got the earring and minion before they took money. now AFTER release you go to buy the standard version it is STILL 40 bucks, does it come with the earring or the minion (the early access is done). so since you do not get anything extra for the standard or collectors edition no matter WHEN you buy it at the same price then you are not paying for the extra goodies. This is why everyone is wrong about they are supposed to be guaranteed ACCESS every single minute of the time pre-release access is here because they never paid anything for it! things happen.... does anyone complain that the game goes down for maintenance every couple of weeks and you loose access to the game during that time? no they don't. then when they drop NEW CONTENT like more story and such say patch 6.1, etc... well do you complain the game goes down for a longer than normal time? nope hey you're getting free content! you're not paying for it at that point.... i mean come on be realistic. This shows that when someone buys the expac they are not guaranteed access before it because the expac cost is the same before and after. same with the subscription as things take the game down at times and people are understanding about that. so now tell me what is it that you purchased that specifically gave you the extra access, earring or minion there?

I mean if your argument is that people just have to suck it up and that pre-ordering the expansion and paying a monthly sub shouldn't guarantee a reasonable login or even a a reliable queue that doesn't constantly send you to the back then it's a very weak argument... People subscribe to the game and (rightfully) expect to play the game with that subscription; whether it's the new expansion or not. I don't know how you've managed to convince yourself that early access is free but if your understanding of paying for an expansion and paying for a monthly subscription somehow translates to "free" early-access then I honestly have no idea how to even address that.

Taking the servers down for deploying a patch is one thing and is necessary. The game requiring a several hour commitment that doesn't even function as intended and can constantly reset your progress in the queue is an entirely different beast. The latter demonstrates that SQuenix is selling a service they can't even provide in the first place.