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

[JTWrenn]

There has been a shortage on semi-conductors now since the start of the pandemic nearly 2 years ago. And with yet another, hardier strain tearing through the globe, it isn't ending anytime soon. Do you think they are going to wait 5+ years for semi-conductors to be available just so some people aren't inconvenienced for a few days/weeks? That's just silly.

If you get online at a decent time(not prime time), you can get right in. I've played friday, saturday, and doing so again right now. This is just how every MMO launch ever has worked. There were also warnings given that this was going to happen. I don't know what more you folks think could be done.

Oh I know every launch has gone this way, and I think it stinks. I think they go cheap and push the envelope on what their servers can do and run face first into this....on purpose...to make more money. I just think it is a bad play and you could come up with other ways to do it, from cloud expansions using temporary servers to just having enough hardware to support th big ups, but it all comes down to profits and I personally think that sucks. To be clear, they absolutely could have upped their server count and still make a profit....they just get greedy and push it to meet some growth number for the investment side to look good. Then we get to have our plans screwed up and a bad experience because they did so.

The question I am asking is...should they have delayed and gotten it smooth and taken a hit on profits short term for the long term gain of customer satisfaction. I think given the current condition of logins and the amount of vitriol the answer is yes. This type of thing hurts their reputation.

I also don't think this is normal level screw up. This seems worse than any WoW launch since the early days. I actually think this is more of a software issue than hardware. I don't think their system was built with good expandable code and it has hindered their ability to ramp up servers.

[LianaThorne]

The question I am asking is...should they have delayed and gotten it smooth and taken a hit on profits short term for the long term gain of customer satisfaction. I think given the current condition of logins and the amount of vitriol the answer is yes. This type of thing hurts their reputation.

No. They shouldn't have. People were already foaming at the mouth for them delaying it once and screwing up their PTO, imagine them saying: "Yeah...we know we delayed it once....but now we're doing it again. Also, we have no idea when you'll be able to play Endwalker now. Hope you enjoy no new content for months or years until this gets sorted out!" Like....THAT would kill the game faster than waiting in line for a couple weeks would.

If this situation is literally such an inconvenience to your life, then put the game down and go do something else for a few weeks. There are thousands of people willing to be patient and support Square and that's evident by the queue times that we have. Either get in line like the rest of us or give up your spot to someone who's willing to wait it out.