Goddamn servers

[Murgos]

Funny that they made that picture.

[Samwise]

Rhetorical questions are occasionally exempted from normal rules of punctuation for questions, since they aren't meant to be answered and hence aren't "questions" as such.

Hence the movement by some to create a new character, the rhetorical question mark.

[Pineapple]

For a couple of kids that bring in something like a third of a million a year, they should really learn proper puncuation.

Wasnt that $300k+ for charity?

[schild]

For a couple of kids that bring in something like a third of a million a year, they should really learn proper puncuation.

Wasnt that $300k+ for charity?

From what I've heard, and I trust [my sources] to be reliable, Penny Arcade brings in something like $30k a month through advertising and whatnot.

[schild]

Rhetorical questions are occasionally exempted from normal rules of punctuation for questions, since they aren't meant to be answered and hence aren't "questions" as such.

Hence the movement by some to create a new character, the rhetorical question mark.

That was very much not a rhetorical question.

[murdoc]

Good thing I cut/pasted that or else you could be discussing my bad punctuation instead.


Whew.

[schild]

Good thing I cut/pasted that or else you could be discussing my bad punctuation instead.


Whew.

I actually checked before commenting.

[Samwise]

Rhetorical questions are occasionally exempted from normal rules of punctuation for questions, since they aren't meant to be answered and hence aren't "questions" as such.

Hence the movement by some to create a new character, the rhetorical question mark.

That was very much not a rhetorical question.

"Where's X when you need him" isn't a rhetorical question now?

[schild]

Saying something like "Where's Horatio Alger when you need him." That's rhetorical. Asking where someone is when you need him and knowing exactly where he is and what company he works for - and his blog, well, that's just asinine.

[geldonyetich]

Hmm, 70+ minute login que.   Methinks I'll be passing on playing WoW this evening.

[trias_e]

Yeah, 60 minute queue on Deathwing...

And, no, it's still rhetorical because of the form.  From what you are saying Schild, the correct statement should be "Where's Lum the Mad?".  And I would agree that there would have to be a question mark after that.

However in this context its a rhetorical question made a joke by the asininity of it.

[geldonyetich]

Damn nice timing for the All Station Pass change.   If Blizzard doesn't have their act together by the end of the month when my subscription comes new, the Sony devil has a new cabana boy.   Nearly two weeks should be more than enough for a reasonably competent team to get things running comfortably.

[schild]

Nearly two weeks should be more than enough for a reasonably competent team to get things running comfortably.

More than 72 hours, assuming at worst they need new hardware, is pushing it. You people are far too forgiving and seemingly very depressed. Go buy a gamecube and RE4, now.

[Liquidator]

Tonight is the first time that I have ever seen a queue on Cenarius.  Currently the queue is at 400 with an approximate wait for 26 minutes... I suppose I should be greatful that I don't have to sit through some of the longer queues that other servers have had to endure.  What I don't understand is why the queue is popping up all of a sudden.  There couldn't have been a huge influx of players to Cenarius since last night, so what the hell is going on?  Technical problems?

Well, I suppose there is the ever entertaining Queue Dance to keep me occupied.

[Alkiera]

It's possible they turned down the max populations on the servers to keep performance up.  They did this at one point in the stress-test/open beta period.

If you could get in, it did help some... but if you weren't in the first group in, you watched Queue Dance, only For Real.

Alkiera

[Signe]

I played a bit earlier but I'm much too impatient to wait in a queue.  I was booted from Icecrown 4 times today, anyway. It's not worth the bother.

By the way... a que is a half farthing and not used anymore.  You can probably buy some from a collector, though.

[Soukyan]

Nearly two weeks should be more than enough for a reasonably competent team to get things running comfortably.

More than 72 hours, assuming at worst they need new hardware, is pushing it. You people are far too forgiving and seemingly very depressed. Go buy a gamecube and RE4, now.

I have the GC, but has RE4 finally hit the store shelves?

[Jayce]

Saying something like "Where's Horatio Alger when you need him." That's rhetorical. Asking where someone is when you need him and knowing exactly where he is and what company he works for - and his blog, well, that's just asinine.

I know exactly where Horatio Alger is too.  In his grave?

I don't think he has a blog though.

[Ravatar]

/me now has a lvl 1 undead priest on a PVP server

I decided I might as well go horde since I'll go batshit crazy if I have to start a new alliance char. My lvl 46 paladin (never again... omg the boredom), my 32 warrior, and assorted low lvl alts are on hold until the servers they are on stop sucking major ass.

Researched the new server and found it to be stable, fast (ie. pacific), and fairly well balanced. So yeah, maybe a new permanent home for me.

Mid 40's boredom isn't faction specific :)

[schild]

Nearly two weeks should be more than enough for a reasonably competent team to get things running comfortably.

More than 72 hours, assuming at worst they need new hardware, is pushing it. You people are far too forgiving and seemingly very depressed. Go buy a gamecube and RE4, now.

I have the GC, but has RE4 finally hit the store shelves?

You live in a hole.

[Soukyan]

Nearly two weeks should be more than enough for a reasonably competent team to get things running comfortably.

More than 72 hours, assuming at worst they need new hardware, is pushing it. You people are far too forgiving and seemingly very depressed. Go buy a gamecube and RE4, now.

I have the GC, but has RE4 finally hit the store shelves?

You live in a hole.

Well, if you'd stand up, maybe I could get the fuck out of it. I thought you had a preview copy. Somehow I thought the release date was 1/25/04 or something. I guess your colon warped the sound waves.

[schild]

Pfffffffffft. Capcom, they won't return my calls or emails. But screw them, they only release 3 games worth playing a year anyway. I'd be willing to buy a 4th just to let everyone know what a bunch of sequel making jerkoffs they are.

I don't have time to finish this post - I have to play Street Fighter 2. Again.

[AcidCat]

Go buy a gamecube and RE4, now.

Done. Only on chapter 3, but already the game is intensely satisfying.

[Righ]

I played WoW last night with nary a server queue. Fortunately everybody created characters on servers other than Earthen Ring, and those who started ones there have left. I can only conclude that the other servers are fucked because you folks are playing on them. I'll be questing in Zul'Farrak tonight with my new guild. Enjoy the Gamecube.

[Rasix]

A friend of mine was bitching up a storm last night in tells about the state of the lag and what not. I told him he had 2 options, a) grin and bear it b) quit.  He didn't like this answer.  He for some reason thinks that by calling their customer support and bitching at them on the phone or complaining to his friends, he's some how making a difference.  

"BLIZZARD NEEDS TO FIX THIS... Goddamnit, car companies fix my car if it's broken, why can't Blizzard fix this... this is not how you run a company "  

I tried to explain to him that this isn't an easy problem and Blizzard is already taking a PR bath over this.  You can't just sit down one day, write a 6 million dollar check, snap your fingers and TEH LAG, SHE IS GONE. I tried to explain to him, that this will probably be something he's going to be dealing with for a couple of months, so he best either get to accepting it or quit.  He said he'll quit over this, but really, I doubt it.  He also didn't even know what the hell a server queue was.  (That mellowed him out some.)

I don't think people get that these companies only really care about the bottom line.  A few angry wackos don't change shit, losing mass subscriptions does.  Stuff like what Penny Arcade did (mass negative publicity) can only really help.  But you've just got to know they're trying desperately to fix this.  Just in this type of environment, hoping for a hot patch for "crippling lag, server instability", is just unadulterated stupid.

The lag is just odd though, which kinda signals to me it's going to be hard to track down and fix in all instances. He was lagging bad in Felwood while I was having no problem at all in Un'goro crater.  Azshara was really bad for me the other day, but it felt more like machine lag than actual internet latency.

Oggrimar is bad, but honestly, I've been through the EQ bazaar and lived. This is nothing.

[HaemishM]

Wait, it's coming on two months after release, and you guys are getting queues of 400 still? Are you shitting me? That was close enough to unacceptable the first week, it's really silly now. If they are lowering max pops just to relieve the lag, that's... I just stutter at the audacity. That's almost as bad as EQ2's 3-day server holiday. The fact that Blizzard hasn't come out and said X number of days free for everyone is inexcusable.

It's a good game, and it's really a shame that technical issues that should have been ironed out are still causing them problems. Ironically, massive loss of subscriptions would probably fix the lag problems. :)

Seriously, does any fucking body know how to run one of these server farms competently? Oh right, NCSoft's COH team. Sorry to fellate them again, but you know, damn.

[Rasix]

Seriously, does any fucking body know how to run one of these server farms competently? Oh right, NCSoft's COH team. Sorry to fellate them again, but you know, damn.

They've got a smaller player base and a game system that is interently designed to deal with this type of issue.  They instance everything. They also don't have items, bank storage, and visible armor/weapons.

Apples and tuna fish.

[HaemishM]

I like tuna fish.

I'm not comparing their server architecture. I'm saying that whatever they use, they make it work. Fuck, Mythic made their shit work with populations that were much bigger than they expected, and they didn't have nearly the money that both SOE and Blizzard had. It doesn't matter that WOW or EQ2 or SWG may have more intricate databases. That means shit to consumers. If you design it, make it work. Excuses don't make happy consumers. I don't care HOW they do it, but they should do it.

Both SOE and Blizzard should have more than enough money made from past successes to make it work, and yet they seem ill-equipped to handle it.

[Calantus]

What got me the most was the 16 hour maintenance. When I first heard it I thought "cool, hopefully this will help the lag". But it didn't. I don't expect them to be able to snap their fingers and have it all work. And I have no problem with them taking down servers for 16 goddamn hours if it is going to fix the problem. But it didn't. From the looks of it they would have been better off just leaving the servers as they were and spend time working on a fix that actually fixes things.

And now we are at the 4 hour regular maintenance. I've played maybe 5-6 hours since Thursday, and that just sucks.

From what I'm hearing we're in a long ride too. I get the impression their servers aren't setup in such a way as to make them expandable in anything even approaching an easy manner.

[Sky]

Fortunately everybody created characters on servers other than Earthen Ring, and those who started ones there have left.

Yup, I'm just counting my blessings, Earthen Ring hasn't been a problem. I was able to use the AH and mail just fine through primetime all weekend.

[Rasix]

Excuses don't make happy consumers. I don't care HOW they do it, but they should do it.

Well, to say exactly what I said to my friend that I had this conversation with, "well, no shit".   Saying other companies overcame their problems doesn't mean a goddamn thing.  And like I told my friend (and already said here), throwing heaps of money is only going to take them so far.  

They've got to figure out a way to fix it.  They've got to test and apply the fix. They've got to tweak what doesn't work.  And they've got to do this without pissing their customers off any more than they currently are (this is impossible to do).  

This will take time.  Yes, it sucks, but it's reality.  You have to live in reality.

[Jayce]

This will take time.  Yes, it sucks, but it's reality.  You have to live in reality.

And lest we forget, Shadowbane was a LOT worse.  Took forever to get in the first few weeks (if you did ever actually get in), and crashes were so common that "sb.exe" entered the lexicon meaning a crash to desktop.

[jpark]

My irrelevant idle musing on this problem:

During the login Que screen, a link is a available that brings the user to a vendor site for the pen and paper version of WoW :P

[WayAbvPar]

Thanks the the powers that be who chose Earthen Ring for the Bat Country server (even if all you fuckers left and it is just Signe and I!)- I have had a couple of lag issues (very brief), and been dumped a couple of times, but I have never seen a queue.

[Righ]

Last night, while Earthen ring was at "high" population without a queue, Icecrown was at "medium" with a queue of over 300. Some servers hit queues of over 1000. No, I've no idea what the fuck they are doing either. Possibly they are trying to convince players from damaged servers to go to the low population ones by reducing the population limits. At this point in the game, that tactic may backfire.