Lobby Connection Error

[Freki42]

I'm not sure what experience you're having Freki42 but the experience/complaint I am having is not about high queue times. I can't even get to the queue in the first place. I did, once, at 7000ish people and got booted back out to the desktop at 6000ish. I cannot consume the product I am paying for.

My part of this contract is to provide payment for services. SE's part is to provide that service. I am currently providing the payment but they are not providing the service. That doesn't necessarily constitute fraud because their is no evidence that SE is being deceptive or dishonest in their end of this contract. However, that does not mean action shouldn't be taken. When Blizzard got raided in South Korea over Diablo 3, the finding was that Blizzard, as the game developer, should have been able to predict the technological needs of the game at launch and taken measures to address those needs but failed to do so. So the breakage in that contract I just outlined was on their end, not the customer's. And the Korean version of the FTC agreed and forced Blizzard to issue refunds or lose their license to operate in South Korea. Basically, it was negligence. And this situation is very similar.

If you going to suggest that covid, chip shortages, etc are to blame for these issues then that begs the question: why did SE choose to do this at this time? If they knew that these things or any other things could cause these problems but did it anyway, that would be negligence.

I don't think SE would intentionally be negligent. But it's still negligence and they ought to compensate their customers for their failure to plan and execute the services that those customers pay for. Fraud? No. Gross Negligence? Probably not. But still, come on. They ought to offer something for this.

you bring up some good thoughts but let me address your comment on chip shortages, and why they chose NOW to do this. 1) they have a business model they follow for all of their games and expansions for this game, 2) that model has it set a certain number of days/months between expansions and other things of import, 3) you might not realize that this launch has been delayed TWICE. and most people are only thinking of the announcement that it would be delayed about 2 weeks. well there was a further delay in 2020 for patch 5.3! that pushed 6.0 back AS well... this is almost 6 moths over due! and finally 4) if they kept delaying it the more it'd sound like they are trying to cover things up when they aren't. they even had to think about this back when 1.0 was the main issue and they where loosing people so yea they had to put this out now. the game play is stable depending on your internet conneciton to their server. I'm seeing people in there playing content so it is there.

as to me, i am hitting 5K+ queues, getting disconnected every so often. but I did not purchase end walker nor pay my 15 dollars a month expecting i can be on at any time *I* want to, that is for me extra benefit same with the early access. I'm not worried because i won't be able to play through till the end first or anything. I enjoy a much more casual play style. sure I'm frustrated but I can put understanding to what is going on. i've been playing mmo's since 2001 Everquest just before the luclin expansion. and i've seen games drop for days on end and got nothing for it other than the servers were being worked on... and that has happened through to the 2021's though they tend to fix things much faster. heck look at the microsoft and sony ddos from 2019 christmas because of the new consoles... or was that 2018? but anyways people blamed microsoft and sony even when they didn't cause it and were working hard to fix it and they did.

as to compensate people for something here? nah if it solves this evening i doubt it but maybe they will...we can only wait and see... it's possible they might make something available to everyone as a thank you for bearing with them, but posts like this doesn't indicate understanding and patience it is people DEMANDING that they fix something 10 minutes before they posted and why should that be rewarded? I hope you get in soon and get to do anything you want to! but if not please bear with them and everyone else.

[raunyyyc]

you bring up some good thoughts but let me address your comment on chip shortages, and why they chose NOW to do this. 1) they have a business model they follow for all of their games and expansions for this game, 2) that model has it set a certain number of days/months between expansions and other things of import, 3) you might not realize that this launch has been delayed TWICE. and most people are only thinking of the announcement that it would be delayed about 2 weeks. well there was a further delay in 2020 for patch 5.3! that pushed 6.0 back AS well... this is almost 6 moths over due! and finally 4) if they kept delaying it the more it'd sound like they are trying to cover things up when they aren't. they even had to think about this back when 1.0 was the main issue and they where loosing people so yea they had to put this out now. the game play is stable depending on your internet conneciton to their server. I'm seeing people in there playing content so it is there.

as to me, i am hitting 5K+ queues, getting disconnected every so often. but I did not purchase end walker nor pay my 15 dollars a month expecting i can be on at any time *I* want to, that is for me extra benefit same with the early access. I'm not worried because i won't be able to play through till the end first or anything. I enjoy a much more casual play style. sure I'm frustrated but I can put understanding to what is going on. i've been playing mmo's since 2001 Everquest just before the luclin expansion. and i've seen games drop for days on end and got nothing for it other than the servers were being worked on... and that has happened through to the 2021's though they tend to fix things much faster. heck look at the microsoft and sony ddos from 2019 christmas because of the new consoles... or was that 2018? but anyways people blamed microsoft and sony even when they didn't cause it and were working hard to fix it and they did.

as to compensate people for something here? nah if it solves this evening i doubt it but maybe they will...we can only wait and see... it's possible they might make something available to everyone as a thank you for bearing with them, but posts like this doesn't indicate understanding and patience it is people DEMANDING that they fix something 10 minutes before they posted and why should that be rewarded? I hope you get in soon and get to do anything you want to! but if not please bear with them and everyone else.

Well, I can't speak for others but I am not demanding anything. I am suggesting that people file complaints with the FTC because it's effective and warranted. I am also suggesting something from SE as compensation. I think that's only fair.

As for "bearing with them", let's see what that would like the other way around. If you ever do decide to pay the subscription, or if you're paying it now, I'll make you an offer: the day before your subscription expires I want you to do a live chat with SE and tell them that you are having technical difficulties with the new credit card you just launched and that you're doing everything you can to resolve the issue and will keep them updated regularly but you may not be able to make your payment on the day your subscription expires and that you would like your renewal charge pushed out a couple of days while you resolve the issue. Make sure you thank them for their service and remind them of how valuable they are to you and that you appreciate their patience and see what they say. If you can pull that off and get your renewal date postponed by a couple of days and get that transcript in writing, I will buy you a 60 day code. No BS.

[RavenSoulshadow]

I waited over an hour in a 4k queue only to be kicked when it got down to a 100. Took me awhile but finally got back into a 4k queue...

We waited an extra 2 weeks for this!?!?!

[Kalgeth]

Some of these comments appear to be very familiar to those that pop-up in WoW forums when these types of scenarios present themselves. The good old "I am the customer, I need free things for compensation or I am going to sue/report". I'm upset that I cannot play but, its not to throw a tantrum.

These comments are somewhat toxic, just my two cents. Plus, its early access and not the official release.

[raunyyyc]

Some of these comments appear to be very familiar to those that pop-up in WoW forums when these types of scenarios present themselves. The good old "I am the customer, I need free things for compensation or I am going to sue/report". I'm upset that I cannot play but, its not to throw a tantrum.

These comments are somewhat toxic, just my two cents. Plus, its early access and not the official release.

Toxic? What's "toxic" about suggesting that a company should compensate it's customers for failing to keep up their end of a paid contract? Explain that to me.

Also, as for this "Plus, its early access and not the official release," that's like saying it's OK that your phone doesn't work because it's Monday. It makes zero sense. I was paying for service yesterday and I'm paying for service today but today I don't have service and yesterday I did. That has nothing, whatsoever, to do with early access vs official release. If I wanted to play 1-50 right now, no Endwalker content whatsoever, I can't do it.

[Kalgeth]

Toxic? What's "toxic" about suggesting that a company should compensate it's customers for failing to keep up their end of a paid contract? Explain that to me.

Also, as for this "Plus, its early access and not the official release," that's like saying it's OK that your phone doesn't work because it's Monday. It makes zero sense. I was paying for service yesterday and I'm paying for service today but today I don't have service and yesterday I did. That has nothing, whatsoever, to do with early access vs official release.

Since you took my post personally, I am guessing you identify as one of the aforementioned category of consumer. I will explain my point of view, which is all it will ever be nor will I claim it to be fact. We can sit here and type scenarios and examples that support our opinion. Early access is early access for a reason, if not why keep the official date for the 7th? Think logically about it, this period is to gauged how things are running, almost like an open beta, with the expectation to resolve any major impacting issues before the release date. This also plays into legal and service agreements. My opinion is that people demanding compensation for things that are not in the control of a company is laughable. Do you blame your cell phone company for allowing the spam calls we experience regarding your cars warranty? No. That same logic can be applied to this scenario, the number of people who want to play is not a controlled factor, can they prepare for it, of course. Will it still negatively affect consumers, yes. Do I have a solution, no does SE, perhaps they are working on it. However, demanding to notify the FTC and any other entity of this type is crazy.

[raunyyyc]

Since you took my post personally, I am guessing you identify as one of the aforementioned category of consumer. I will explain my point of view, which is all it will ever be nor will I claim it to be fact. We can sit here and type scenarios and examples that support our opinion. Early access is early access for a reason, if not why keep the official date for the 7th? Think logically about it, this period is to gauged how things are running, almost like an open beta, with the expectation to resolve any major impacting issues before the release date. This also plays into legal and service agreements. My opinion is that people demanding compensation for things that are not in the control of a company is laughable. Do you blame your cell phone company for allowing the spam calls we experience regarding your cars warranty? No. That same logic can be applied to this scenario, the number of people who want to play is not a controlled factor, can they prepare for it, of course. Will it still negatively affect consumers, yes. Do I have a solution, no does SE, perhaps they are working on it. However, demanding to notify the FTC and any other entity of this type is crazy.

Sure, these things happen. Of course they do but that doesn't mean companies should get a pass when they can't provide services or they mess up. Do you think they would give YOU a pass for a few days if you couldn't pay your subscription on time? If you called them up and said, "Hey, so my budget is off this month because of things beyond my control and it's early days where I'm going to test it out and look for issues, almost like an open beta, before I finalize it. Is it cool if I miss my payment by a few days while i work out the bugs?" You think that would fly? If you don't reel corporations in they'll try to get away with all sorts of shady practices. And that's why we have bodies like the FTC. They exist for a reason. It's to keep companies in line and protect consumer rights. If you don't see the value in that then I have some oil I'd like to sell you.

I used to work in telecom. And back then, we used to bill people a month in advance for local service. If they disconnected before their billing period ended, say 3 days before, we would credit them back those 3 days on their last bill because they didn't have service. Which, logically, makes sense. If this goes on for say 3 days, what's wrong with giving people back 3 days? What's so laughable about that? It seems to me to be the sensible thing to do.

I see where you're going with the spam caller comment but it's not an apples to apples comparison. SE can't predict the number of people that want to play at any given time, true. But they do know their capacity relative to their customer count and this is not their first time doing an expansion. Besides, as the provider of a service, the onus is on SE to make that service available to their subscriber base. Not on the subscriber base to to limit itself to what SE can accommodate.

[Jestigeress]

Look its the first day and I am equally upset and frustrated. Until it passes into days and weeks I don't think there is much we can do. Now after days and I am not able to play or even weeks I would be asking for extension to my subscription equal to the days I wasn't able to play. Same if I lost internet I would expect to get a credit for the amount of time I wasn't getting the service I paid for.