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.

[EverQuest]

Literally tons of stuff couldn't have been done. They could have gone with aws for example don't come in here with this nothing could have been done. Options existed they just didn't utilize any of the outside the box solutions.

[ZetsubouX]

Literally tons of stuff couldn't have been done. They could have gone with aws for example don't come in here with this nothing could have been done. Options existed they just didn't utilize any of the outside the box solutions.

"They could've done tons of stuff!" (I assume this is what you were trying to type.)
"Options existed!"
"Outside of the box solutions!"

You sound like Trump.
Lets hear it, then. What are your grand solutions?
Tons of stuff. "AWS". "Options existed", like what, exactly?

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

Literally tons of stuff couldn't have been done. They could have gone with aws for example don't come in here with this nothing could have been done. Options existed they just didn't utilize any of the outside the box solutions.

Name them.

And please don't be vague.

Do you even know how a server infrastructure looks like or how many semi-conductors and chips are needed for just 1? No. No you don't.

They utilize AWS I'm not sure why you think they dislike AWS.

Political callout are not needed here.

So you admit upon your disgusting political affiliation.

If it wasn't true then you wouldn't have been so triggered and reacted so violently against him.

Get better views, yours are childish and disgusting.

And aws? You clearly have no idea what you're talking about yet want to pretend you're the smartest one in the room. Grow up.

[Stormfur]

I think server parts shortage + mass influx of new players (from WoW, streamers and such) has tied their hands. Maybe they could've not packed the servers to the breaking point, but at the same time, who's gonna say no to money?? They did mention they've optimized it as much as they can but I feel like it will be another year or so before the parts shortage becomes less of a problem, but if YoshiP had told people "the expansion has been delayed for a year", players would've rioted.

[Puremallace]

More data center investment but blame COVID and chips I guess but it is clear this MMO has very serious issues right now with server infrastructure and it was shockingly predictable by everyone.

In my personal opinion until this is solved FF14 is done growing as an MMO. This is just humiliating.

[Rizon]

The problem is due to the lack of server capacity and outdated technology. So delaying the game is not the answer. New and improved servers is as well as sufficient numbers. I do not know what it is like in Japan and the EU but I would imagine they are comparable. Due to the pandemic there is no immediate hope for improvement in this area. So until such time as the newness wears off and the player levels stabilize we will continue to have these problems and it will only get worse after Tuesday after the official release. Only Yoshi-P and his team can give us an idea as to when this will happen so a little info would be appreciated.

[Gyson]

Seems like the game is completely unplayable for a large portion of the player base. At this point would it have been better to delay and get more servers in place?

Also, maybe tighten up the AFK timer during launch periods would be a good idea, even having a floating AFK time that goes down to 10 minutes during heavy times would be a fix.

Gotta do something. This is a mess.

I don't think delaying the release further would have helped, unless you're talking about delaying for the better part of a year while the world sorts out the supply issues from the pandemic. I know games are an escape for many, but the truth is they're simply not immune to real life issues.

I also think a 10 minute AFK timer is far too short. Things come up, and someone shouldn't be penalized with 30-60+ min queue just because they had to step away from the screen for 10 minutes.

Really, I think just improving the design and coding of the queue system would have helped a fair bit, primarily by building in more protections for players who get dumped from the queue by server errors that occur during their wait. If they could just reclaim their spot in the line by logging back in within a few minutes, that would help a lot.

I would even take that a step further and extend it to players who are already playing and get dumped by a server error. Just keep their spot in the game world reserved for a few minutes and let them get back in immediately during that grace period.

That would resolve most of the reasonable complaints. The queue times are what they are.

[Mythos12]

When a large portion of "PAYING" customers can not access the game because of so many people then yes if you AFK after 10 minutes then you should be booted and allow someone else that has been waiting all day to enter but keeps getting the stupid 2002 error message