MMO Launches

[Yes]

Except that...early access is free....

You didnt pay extra to get it, you paid the same amount for the rest of the game that will be there after EA.

I think you need to look up the word "free" in a dictionary.


If you're unable to acquire the being free of charge, it's not free. You can't acquire Early Access free of charge (in legal ways), so it's not free.


At best you could consider it a tied good, which is an illegal practice in most places.

[Dijana]

I had a big long response, but I just changed my mind. I'll put it this way, if you were a 1.0 player, who didn't HAVE to repurchase the game, but did so only for early access, congratulations, you spent $30-50 for 3 days of play time when you could have waited and got 2 weeks free without having to buy a thing. If you're willing to throw that kind of money around for 3 days, rebuying the game couldnt have been much of a burden.

Edit: "Free" was in regard to subscription fees, you're not paying for that.

[redisdrunk]

This isn't World of Warcraft.
It's not 2004.
This isn't Squares first MMO.
This isn't Square's first time running this MMO.

Proclaiming you were there when <GameName> launched with bugs in no way excuses the consistent, dramatic issues occurring with the game people are actually trying to play right now.

You're doing yourself, and the game, a disservice by vehemently excusing and apologizing for a company that is letting it's customers (you can be a fan, you can be a detractor; but if you paid for the game, you're a customer) swing in the wind without clear feedback or a coherent line of communication to the.

FFXIV re-launched, in part, because of the abysmal impression it's initial launch left with the gaming press, and gamers in general. It was a second chance at a first impression. Even if you can personally tolerate the issues, it's still incredibly problematic that this is going to be the first experience with XIV for many, or for console gamers, an MMO in general.

[Hix]

I had a big long response, but I just changed my mind. I'll put it this way, if you were a 1.0 player, who didn't HAVE to repurchase the game, but did so only for early access, congratulations, you spent $30-50 for 3 days of play time when you could have waited and got 2 weeks free without having to buy a thing. If you're willing to throw that kind of money around for 3 days, rebuying the game couldnt have been much of a burden.

Edit: "Free" was in regard to subscription fees, you're not paying for that.

So I bought a service but didn't get what I paid for but it's ok because it wasn't much of a burden? If I mug you on the street is it ok because I couldn't take all the money you have in the bank too?

[Dejann]

Now, I'm genuinely not posting to rant here - but correct me if I'm wrong in saying that this industry (gaming) is the most forgiving one when it comes to launches or new product.

Imagine a new restaurant, if you had a reservation during opening weekend and when you got there they said they wouldn't accommodate you, chances are you wouldn't return, correct? We can apply this logic to pretty much every service industry out there.

Again, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not ranting, I'm far past the age of being upset over... Well pretty much anything, since life is too short. But in any event - with the current market/trends, you'd think to only launch a new product when it was 100% fail-proof. Especially if it's your second time 'round.

[Aviva]

As much as you all want to complain he is a little right heres one example after just a short amount of searching.
http://forums.riftgame.com/general-d...index2253.html

i think you all will see a commonality.

[BlueMage]

It's interesting so many are so willing to defend this type of laziness on behalf of developer. Especially when this is Square Enix's last chance in the MMO space and first week reviews/word of mouth have a lot to do with making or breaking a game in the long run.

These are the same people who encouraged 1.0 to be the mess it was, and if it was up to them we'd still be playing Tanaka's 1.0 cause everything is always fine and SE can do no wrong no matter what happens, just keep drinking the Koolaid and saying "It's a good thing this happened!" to everything.

These people encourage SE to strive for laziness and below-standard products/services. These are the people who said "The game is fine, if you don't like it leave." to everyone in 1.0, both pre-launch and post-launch. These sycophants who think of themselves as heroic "white knights" are bad for the game.

[ispano]

Oh here comes the typical, "I'm accustomed to crap service, so everyone else should be too." argument again. Just because some mmorpg in the past had a crummy launch does not mean it's okay when a future one has one. Companies should study other companies past mistakes and successes, and then build off of those things. They should be held to a higher standard. It makes me absolutely sick when people try to attack others because they are not accustomed to a lifestyle of disappointments. People paid hard earned money for this game and they shouldn't have to settle because some company made someone else do it in the past.

Except that's not what most people are saying. It's fine to be upset or annoyed at all the issues, very few people aren't. Saying that the companies need to have it perfect at launch, otherwise it's bad service, is ludicrous. In the western world, the sheer amount of people trying to play at the same time on the release of a new MMO is FAR FAR above what would normally happen. Even if NO one left, after a while they would mostly be playing around their normal times. Not all the time and constantly.

People say the JP servers have had little to no problems, yet people fail to mention that they don't have huge droves of people everywhere. They aren't hammering the servers like westerners do. So SE should make many many many more servers, split the playerbase up more, only to have to merge them down the road, wasting that money completely? Not to mention having ghost towns and having to merge bothers a whole 'nother group of customers.

These are the reasons people say to be patient. Making special accommodations JUST for launch, is as I said, ludicrous. It's not intentional, no way, but the sheer amount of players trying to all play at the same time, all the time, are most certainly part of the issue.

[Alhanelem]

WOTLK - no issues other then minor lag and some monsters wouldn't re-spawn now and then

An expansion to an already existing game with a plateau'd population doesn't count as an "MMO launch." WoW's launch was very rough with long login queues and other issues when it started. Counting one of WoW's expansions among MMO launchis is just ludicrous.

[ChinoMoreno]

Rocky launches aside, this could have been alleviated a bit had phase 4 not been for 3 days. Hardly a test.