As a member of the Swiftsure server, which your guild program sent me and my mates, Bioware has failed miserably at providing adequate server availability. I'm stuck in the middle of a 900 man queue (when I got in) which happened when I closed the game down to clear up a UI bug.

There is one word I can use to describe the queue situation on Swiftsure... INTOLERABLE.

Grace period will not help queues, it will make them longer. It's fine if you've already logged in, but for those that haven't, it could double the current queue times.

The idea of the "grace period" isn't MEANT to help the queue times, it's a completely seperate issue.

If I've waited for 2 1/12 hours to get into the game and the game client crashes, I didn't do it to get YOU into the game. I already "paid my admission" by both buying the game and actually going through the queue. A "client crash" doesn't mean I'm done playing.

We deserve to get back into the game as long as we log back in ASAP.

Obviously too many people do not understand economics.

 

Early access was an incentive to entice people to pre-order the game, increasing EA/Bioware's cash flow and, in theory, allowing for more development funds. Whether it was full price or only $5 it is a significant amount of capital.

 

2 million times $5 is @10 million. Five months of interest on $10 million is, for a very rough and conservative estimate is $200k so early access fees are significant.

 

Bioware/EA got paid for early access because we the consumer carried the cost of capital for at least part of the game fee for 5 months plus was a guaranteed revenue and one they could claim as an account receivable on the books. This is all positive on their bottom line.

 

Now, I have been given early access as per the 'up to 5 days' claim. At this point however my early access has been technically revoked because of server side population issues either real or as an attempt to control populations to ensure availability of quest mobs at appropriate levels.

 

This is an issue that needs to be managed effectively prior to access to day of release and Christmas gift purchases coming on line.

But how many people actually forked out money early? I ordered as soon as pre-order started but have only just had Amazon charge my CC.

Please fix this or offer free guild transfers.

This may be the only solution they have. By forcing guilds onto pre-chosen servers they screwed guilds. Now if they let entire guilds transfer, maybe they will. Better option than just free transfer overall.

So it seems like they posted this just so that they could close the other threads about this on the forums to improve their image without actually doing anything for us.

who saw that coming?

/sarcasm.

The idea of the "grace period" isn't MEANT to help the queue times, it's a completely seperate issue.

 

If I've waited for 2 1/12 hours to get into the game and the game client crashes, I didn't do it to get YOU into the game. I already "paid my admission" by both buying the game and actually going through the queue. A "client crash" doesn't mean I'm done playing.

 

We deserve to get back into the game as long as we log back in ASAP.

I believe there should be a 10min grace period if you don't "log out"

aka the game crashes, power dies, what ever it keeps you logged in for 10mins after you log out ( remove the character from the server w/e just say "hai he still has priority" and hold the spot. )

It wouldn't be that bad for queue times might increase them by a few minutes but a lot of people would rather wait an extra 5 or 10mins to log in but know if the game crashes because they are still pounding out bugs they can get back in. It really REALLY sucks when you just get in and your game crashes right on launch and your sitting back at your desktop going "yay" time to wait again.

my $0.02.. well $180 cnd at least as soon as my game arrives

So it seems like they posted this just so that they could close the other threads about this on the forums to improve their image without actually doing anything for us.

 

who saw that coming?

 

/sarcasm.

Hardly believe that's why they did it. If they wanted it to look better they would just close every thread instantly. They sticked this thread with a orange posting on the first post to say "WE KNOW".. not like they are trying to hide it.

I never had to wait in a que for a WoW server! I know they had done some balancing before I started in 2008...but their subscriber base grew like crazy during that time and still never had an issue...this ain't rocket-science and since customer satisfaction is about being able to play...BW you really need to do something about this NOW.

WoW did have queues in the beginning, but they quickly fixed the problems (by opening up so many servers you got lost in the server list). And their queues were rarely more than 10 minutes.

It's hardly a statement, they don't actually SAY anything. Just repeating the obvious.

completely agree was talking to a buddy in vent about how little they actually said in 2 paragraphs

The following is a brief statement from Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer, Live Services:

 

"We know there have been questions about the queues on the servers, so we wanted to take a moment to give you some insight.

 

In order to ensure that the service would be smooth and stable, we staged how we brought people into the Early Game Access program, adding people in waves. As you know, there are a lot of folks who want to play the game right now and we want to make sure they have lots of people to play with. Balancing this with figuring out when to bring new servers online to help alleviate the size of the queues is part art and part science. On one hand, you do not want people to wait too long – on the other hand, you want to make sure that people have a dynamic, engaging community to play with for long after launch. Either way, we have one clear objective – to make sure folks have fun.

 

While we can’t promise that there won’t ever be queues, we can promise you that we are taking this matter seriously and constantly reviewing them to make sure that they are manageable and reasonable."

Your entire statement here is badly flawed. You billed your entire "play early" campaign on the promise that spending our hard earned dollars (marks, dinero whatever), on your product would gaurantee us the ability to "play the game early".

I don't recall anything in your advertisement that even hinted at having to wait in line to get into the playground.

If this situation remains when you begin to ask for a monthly subscription, then you can bet your bippy skippy, that there will be folks that won't buy into it.

WoW did have queues in the beginning, but they quickly fixed the problems (by opening up so many servers you got lost in the server list). And their queues were rarely more than 10 minutes.

I agree.. may i direct you to

http://www.leagueofpirates.com/sirvival/queuedance.html

They better fix this **** fast or they are going to start losing people.

Agree 100% if i only have 3hrs to sit down and play, and I have to wait 2 to get online...

They can kiss my *** if they think i'm gonna renew my subscription.

i used to play swtor early access... then i took a disconnect and a queue to the knee

at least i got skyrim to keep my busy for the next 3 hours in queue

are you flippin kidding the ques ...at present are 5 times industry standard...your game will die before it begins with this crap.

i like this game...alot,but guess what if this dont change fast......ill becallin visa to cancel this **** faster then you can say goodbye

i used to play swtor early access... then i took a queue to the knee

/end thread

At least thank you for issuing a comment and not totally ignoring the issue.

Please fix this soon though it's a great game and it looks amazing already. I can imagine after some significant time to develop how much better it can even be.

Make the consumer happy and the company will be happy, it's a win win situation.

Obviously Bioware does not understand how an MMO works. I pay to play this game, even a 5 minuite Q is unacceptable.

Right now it is pre release, so we have paied for nothing, but as soon as the 20th hit and i drop my 200$ i had better be able to log on RIGHT away.

I understnad it's not an 'easy' fix, but if you were not prepared for this, then this game is doomed. Moving is not an option as SO many others have stated, you put me and my 50+ guildmates on SwiftSure which has the longest wait right now @ 2hours. This is unacceptable.

If you would like to start transferring large guilds for free, i know our guild would love that, as we just want to be able to play together. You put too many large guilds on the same server. you put 3 huge oceanic guilds on Swiftsure and now you're SUPRISE that 60% of the pop there is oceanic. really? I get it, it's your first time. but do some reaserch, look at the success before you, and get your act together, if i'm going to pay you, im going to pay to PLAY your game, not stare at a 2-6hr Q.

Agree 100% if i only have 3hrs to sit down and play, and I have to wait 2 to get online...

They can kiss my *** if they think i'm gonna renew my subscription.

...if you notice...the counters are different colors and not shaded correctly...good job /clap