Stop Preordering Games (This one included)

[SkyeWindbinder]

I knew what to expect on launch day. I knew what to expect during early access. A significant chunk of preorder players are in the game right now, so are many legacy players. Its going to put strain on the system. Does it help that the team responsible for making sure they are maintained is running out of japan, No. But they are trying and having to deal with all the people who preorded that are complaining probably isn't helping them fix the bloody problem...they know there is an issue they are trying to fix it. You could have easily waited 2-3 weeks more before buying the game...and if you say you wouldn't have time to play in 2-3 weeks, why in bloody blazes are you buying a subscription MMO.

[GefilteFish]

Preorders are fine if executed correctly. They allow the company to get an estimate of the number of players they need to accommodate. The problem comes when people wait to preorder until the week before release. Then the numbers are off and stability issues ensue.

Three ways to adjust:
-Limit number of preorders available. Worst option, would make release just as bad.
-Cut off date for preorders. Might not give an accurate picture of interest. But gives incentive to preorder soon enough to make plans for server traffic.
-Tiered early access. Other games have done this. It adds an incentive to preorder as soon as possible, making number of orders more accurate. If people want to wait to try the open beta before committing money, they have the option, but don't get as much pre-release time.

If they didn't do preorder, we'd have the same issues on official release day or when people finally decide to play the game a month down the road. (See WoW during WotLK)

[Zarzak]

Preorders are fine if executed correctly. They allow the company to get an estimate of the number of players they need to accommodate. The problem comes when people wait to preorder until the week before release. Then the numbers are off and stability issues ensue.

Three ways to adjust:
-Limit number of preorders available. Worst option, would make release just as bad.
-Cut off date for preorders. Might not give an accurate picture of interest. But gives incentive to preorder soon enough to make plans for server traffic.
-Tiered early access. Other games have done this. It adds an incentive to preorder as soon as possible, making number of orders more accurate. If people want to wait to try the open beta before committing money, they have the option, but don't get as much pre-release time.

Agreed. TBH I think a large part of their issue is they didn't actually even try to account for interest.

"were gonna have 25 JP servers and 25 EVERYONE else servers have a good day"

It would have been very easy for them to look at the # of preorders as of say a month ago and adjust (IE more US/EU servers) on day 1 to mitigate the overload issues. Now they lock servers and people who have friends who they have (after showing them the game) convinced to join are going to have issues getting on the same server.

IMO they need to QUICKLY open up another 5-10 servers and give people the option to xfer over before those people get in good with guilds and such. Would let the people who don't really care about their server yet jump to a lower pop and let the ones remain have less of a overload.

[Halisstra]

The OP is obviously 12 so I'll explain something he/she does not understand. Pre-orders are important for a business. If a Gamestop thinks a game is popular and orders 50 copies but people only buy 8 they lose money. However if they only receive 7 pre-orders then they know to only order 7-10 copies of the game because people in their area or not interested. Also, Square Enix (or whatever publisher) can look at pre-order numbers and get a idea of how popular their game actually is so that they know if they need to do more promotion or print additional copies. These and many other reasons are why companies offer pre-order bonuses. Now, you can argue giving Gamestop 10 dollars to hold a game that you can easily buy day one anywhere is stupid. However pre-ordering from Amazon where you pay nothing up front and just have a game you know you want show up at your door seems pretty sound too me.

[JaellaArwana]

The OP is obviously 12 so I'll explain something he/she does not understand.

Insulting me by referring to me as a 12 y/old makes you seem like the immature one here. I understand that preorders are important from a business perspective, however people preorder games to get shiny bobbles or due to brand loyalty only to be severely disappointed when the game isn't what they thought it was going to be. Diablo 3 and Aliens:CM are 2 perfect examples of this. Heck the new X-Com game that just came out apparently is way below what people expected it to be. I'm sorry I want my fellow gamers to have good experiences playing video games, I guess that makes me a bad person. I'm not going to protect businesses when they can fully do that themselves by having good practices in regards to how they treat their customers, their staff and the quality of their products. If a company fails it is not because some potential suckers did not preorder a bad game.