Grim Views

Everyone knows that first impressions are the most lasting... One of the biggest faults of any MMORPG expansions is the dreaded "launch day". Server are down for hours on end and then usually twice that in a mostly down state. Its sort of an inevitability, but its something gamers have come to more or less understand... however... it doesnt mean that the MMO company doesnt cop some bad ink and some attitude towards it about the launch.

So here we are... 2 weeks before Cata and we have "The Shattering"... basically the expansion sans the new areas, races and profession... and today we have at least 12 hours of downtime... this is in addition to the extended downtimes we have seen periodically over the last month since launch date announcement... not even counting the 24 hour maintenance times they had to pull to get things ready.

Basically Blizzard has taken the expansion and slow released it so come launch day they flip a switch and poof everything works. They will have their press release ready to submit touting their own about how its the most smooth launch of an expansion in the history of MMORPGs and how their downtime was nothing. They will push the digital download solution (which saves them 18% per copy in packaging/distribution btw) saying that with the new awesomely smooth launch way theyve come up with you can start at 12:01 without missing a beat...

Im not fooled you corporate bastards. You havent made it smooth, youve simply spread it out and used the natural human process of only remembering the latest thing... while you may fool some to buying into your shady launch you havent gotten me... I know what youre up to... oh I know.

Yet you play anyway. The difference to them?

I'm okay with it. Better they unfuck themselves before the launch then during it.

I, for one, welcome our new Blizzard Overlords.

Greebo wrote:I, for one, welcome our new Blizzard Overlords.

ROFLOL

Immermnemion Dawnbringer wrote:Yet you play anyway. The difference to them?

They wouldnt even care if I didnt play. While mommies and daddies like to tell people that even thought they are only 1 person they can make a difference... its a lie to hide the insignificance of the individual.

I'm okay with it. Better they unfuck themselves before the launch then during it.

I agree. Id rather waste the downtime now when I dont really care about the game. I just have a problem with lies by omission... which is basically what this is. They are casually getting all the downtime outa the way so they can pretend like it didnt happen... Its a matter of principle with me more than anything. Im not up in arms about it... just not being fooled by the man!

Xondor wrote:

Immermnemion Dawnbringer wrote:Yet you play anyway. The difference to them?

They wouldnt even care if I didnt play. While mommies and daddies like to tell people that even thought they are only 1 person they can make a difference... its a lie to hide the insignificance of the individual.

My point is there are a lot of people in the "Bitch bitch bitch, play" category. If they all turned into "Bitch bitch bitch, quit" people, you'd see a giant revenue loss.


Why do you think they were so quick to reverse their little privacy flap (regarding the REAL first and last names on all forum posts in the future)? Enough people cancelled subscriptions to make them listen.




Money forces their hand, and until the threat of them losing it is real, the complaints are expected to be brushed aside.

This is pretty similar to how they've done the previous expansions, too. A patch day with terrible extended maintenance, then no maintenance on launch day.

Immermnemion Dawnbringer wrote:Money forces their hand, and until the threat of them losing it is real, the complaints are expected to be brushed aside.

Yeah but whos gunna quit over this? This is more of a tongue in cheek smartass thead than an actual bitch... Some people may bitch for real about it... Im just about starting conspiracy theories.

Xondor wrote: Yeah but whos gunna quit over this? This is more of a tongue in cheek smartass thead than an actual bitch... Some people may bitch for real about it... Im just about starting conspiracy theories.

Given the recent thread about your place of employment, I couldn't be sure. There's quite a difference between a smartass and a bitch, and I usually fall into the latter category due the more serious and ponderous nature of my acute remarks.


I am for putting money where your mouth is - and if you don't have money, you can make some by putting something else where your mouth is.



Remember, WoW continues to be the most played video game for a reason.

And the reward for "taking things too seriously" goes to Immer! Congratulations.

Anyway, yeah, it's a clever way for them to tout a "smooth" launch by doing most of the necessary prep work beforehand. And ultimately, it's a sound deployment strategy, since it lets them do the majority of their maintenance and downtime without effecting the surge of people who will be trying to log in on launch day. It's a little unfortunate for those of us who would like to be playing in the Post-Shattering world right now, as opposed to sitting around discussing it on these forums, but hey, they've got to do maintenance at some point, they might as well be doing it now.

As an IT guy I approve of staged roll-outs.

I also approve of multi-million dollar hardware budgets so perhaps if I share my monthly subscription with them they will share some of that with me.

I call the whole thing a great idea - I had the exact same impression you did, Xondor - this is a PR move, but it's also smart in other ways - it keeps the customers happy. "Flipping a switch" is the same analogy I came up with, and it will keep the loyal subscribers happy while also looking great to the outside gaming world.

More companies should be this devious! ... smart, that is.

So far it seems smart, until release day when they 'flip the switch' for the worgen and goblin starting zones and we get other day where the servers are down for so many hours fixing. But we will see

Hopefully the Worgen and Goblin zones will be separated like Silvermoon and won't affect the rest of the continent.