What's going right/wrong with launch...

[Sjofn]

They also can have babies!

[Lucas]

We'll know the final outcome on the 20th, but so far so good. For a development team (based on my experience in observing previous launches and reading the comments made by developers), "smooth launch" means:

- Client firing up correctly, no immediate crash to desktop and similar problems ;
- Log in process successful and immediate;
- reasonable queues/waiting time;
- Almost no lag in starting areas/no excessive competition for mobs (overcrowding) ;
- First steps into the gameworld that leave a good impression (but this is more about the gameplay)

Is TOR achieving all of the above? Again, we'll know for sure only after the "real" floodgates open, but so far yes, it's a success all across the board.

[Cyrrex]

I played 4 hours yesterday and really only experience a couple of "issues"

- In a couple of the caves on Korriban, the fogging effects dragged my FPS down to pretty unacceptable levels.  In general, while I think the game looks pretty decent, I think there is room for some performance improvements.  These textures don't seem super detailed to me.

- On one mission where I had to provide a beatdown on four acolytes, and then speak to one of them afterwards...the one I had to speak to was in a crouched down position, and one of the larger sidekicks (much larger than her) was crouched down in the exact same geometry...so she was kinda hidden and I couldn't target her to complete the coversation.  Took me a few minutes of manipulating the camera before I could finally target her.  Really wierd.  Probably just a freak thing.
- There seems to be some lag when dragging and dropping to equip items and move things to the toolbars.  Annoying, but not game breaking by any stretch.
- The free color crystal offends me with its existence.

Otherwise, pretty damn decent.  Not of the other usual problems.  Sith Warrior story is awesome, and

[Evildrider]

I had a pretty flawless run today.  I got in first wave and luckily my server wasn't plowed full of people.  I made it to 21 and was the first person to Balmorra and Nar Shadda.  It was nice having whole planets to myself.   

[Tannhauser]

What's gone wrong, at least for me, is that i continuously pick what i think is the darkside path and end up getting lightside points.  How the hell is poisoning the stupid hungry monster giving me lightside points? as far as i could tell the other option was trying to help him.

Riiiiight, how is helping the hungry monster not darker than mercy killing it? Did you pay attention to what the guy said would happen if you helped him?


Also if you REALLY can't tell, mouse over the options, it will have a light side/dark side symbol to tell you straight up what that choice is going to do. A lot of the Empire choices come down to "kill them quick" versus "let them linger" or "fuck one person" versus "fuck a LOT of people" for their dark side/light side shit.

Agreed.  If you want to be even lazier, there's an option you can turn on that will flag the LS/DS options without even mousing over.  But still, yeah, had you actually been reading the story, these things would make sense.  This isn't Azeroth anymore.

Ah, thanks for that tip!  Will definitely turn that on.

[Mattemeo]

My one persistent issue with the beta on the stress weekend was the game's inability to shut itself down properly, I had to force-quit via end task in Task Manager every time but once. I don't know how many other people had the same issue so it's entirely possible it was just me/my hardware configuration.

Any problems with quitting in pre-launch so far?

[kildorn]

My one persistent issue with the beta on the stress weekend was the game's inability to shut itself down properly, I had to force-quit via end task in Task Manager every time but once. I don't know how many other people had the same issue so it's entirely possible it was just me/my hardware configuration.

Any problems with quitting in pre-launch so far?

No, but my issues quitting stopped about halfway through that weekend. I had the same issue where quitting from in the world locked up, but logging out/quitting from the character window worked fine.


edit: the only hilarious bug I've had to far is related to crafting and the space game. Halfway through a space mission my companion finished his assignment and.. spawned behind my ship and proceeded to glitch out for the rest of the mission.

[Reg]

- On one mission where I had to provide a beatdown on four acolytes, and then speak to one of them afterwards...the one I had to speak to was in a crouched down position, and one of the larger sidekicks (much larger than her) was crouched down in the exact same geometry...so she was kinda hidden and I couldn't target her to complete the coversation.  Took me a few minutes of manipulating the camera before I could finally target her.  Really wierd.  Probably just a freak thing.

I had the exact same thing happen to me this morning. And during the beta stress test weekend. Sith Warrior right?

[Merusk]

I wonder if the glitch in one of the NPCs for the Jedi Knight cutscenes is still there, then.   One of the council members would walk in and be SUPER TINY.  It was hilarious because there'd be this empty chair with a voice.   I actually preferred to think she's some space-pixie race and was too proud to have a tiny chair made for her to sit on the table.

[Wolf]

one of the other toons I played also had a tiny character - maybe it was the annoying one that shouts at you on the soldier storyline? Yeah, I think that was it.

[Mrbloodworth]

Saying ahead of time when people would get in would have obligated them. Holding back and sending out waves on your own time frame means you can better manage the flow.

[Tyrnan]

Yeah I had that happen with both him and Satele in the last two beta weekends. I'm guessing the character model is getting accidentally flagged with the 'handheld holocommunicator size' flag.

Fake edit: found a screenshot of Satele

[VainEldritch]

Spent all day playing yesterday and had zero problems - smooth as silk. I was expecting it really because beta looked better than most MMOPRG launch-day clients a few builds before the stress tests.

I'd classify the "early access launch" phase a huge success and I have no reason to think this will not continue to the "real launch" on 20th December.

On a less happy note, the official SWTOR forums broke my heart...  

I was aghast, agog and amaze at the vitriol....    

Are they blind? I guess I'm just getting older and have no time for that crap any more - even last year I laughed at things like that, but today it made me sad...

Fortunately, BW/LA appear to have real winner on their hands here (and such has been a long time coming our way) so I don't expect to spend much time on the forums outside the Dev Tracker and the crafting forums.

[DraconianOne]

On a less happy note, the official SWTOR forums broke my heart...  

I was aghast, agog and amaze at the vitriol....    

The forums are like the dark-side cave on Dagobah. If you venture in, chances are you won't like what you see and your weapons won't do you any good.

[Draegan]

Good Launch all around.

My evil evil, Shoot First and Cut off Your Head Second Bounty Hunter is starting to get glowy Darkside eyes!   

Actually matches her auburn hair!   

[Outlawedprod]

You have to understand why some people on those forums are mad about not getting early access.  They want the rush of everyone in the same area at once.  The utter chaos and madness is what feeds them.  If they don't have a big audience how can they enjoy being an e-thug in chat or killstealing someone's quest spawn?

On the positive side we get to enjoy their QQ on the forums.

[kildorn]

You have to understand why some people on those forums are mad about not getting early access.  They want the rush of everyone in the same area at once.  The utter chaos and madness is what feeds them.  If they don't have a big audience how can they enjoy being an e-thug in chat or killstealing someone's quest spawn?

On the positive side we get to enjoy their QQ on the forums.

It doesn't really exist, since they instance the zones at N population.

I don't think these are the ethugs, these are the people who just really really want to enjoy the game, and are flipping the fuck out at the uncertainty of this system. Which I kind of agree is silly (just tell people order date/probable join date, christ.), but it's not rage-worthy.

[tmp]

Which I kind of agree is silly (just tell people order date/probable join date, christ.), but it's not rage-worthy.

Forum people don't understand "probable". If you show them any sort of a number in your post, as far as they're concerned you've committed to it, cross your heart and RAGE upon your ass if you're as little as a second late.

[Sobelius]

My boss reminded me today of something (related to work, but seems to apply to forum behavior, too). Sometimes people just like to have a lot of control over their lives, and anything that makes them feel out of control -- like not knowing exactly when they will get in -- gets them upset. Add in the usual MMO hype machine, mix with the game-addicted/beta-withdrawal state of some of these players' brains, and spice with the desire to escape from rampant holiday "cheer", and you have a recipe for MMO forum meltdowns.

[Cadaverine]

I think it's as simple as "Some people will find anything to bitch about".  The same group raging about not being in on day one would be on the forums raging just as hard about queues, or lag, or lack of mobs, or whatever, had BW just opened the floodgates, and let everyone in at once.

[01101010]

And like anyone with ADD... just wait a few seconds and they'll be off on another topic.

[ajax34i]

If they'd given everyone access on day -7, those who pre-ordered on the first day of pre-orders would have bitched that their efforts weren't rewarded by earlier access than everyone else.

[Mrbloodworth]

hide your kids, hide your wife | Today , 07:09 PM
cause bioware is ****** everybody out there

 

[Triforcer]

My computer is utterly stumping me.  I didn't have time in November to play beta, but I cannot download the client.  Every time I click on the launcher, it just hangs for eternity (nothing pops up) until I go into my taskbar and shut it down.

I've tried playing in network-enabled safe mode, deleting patch directory, deleting all appdata temporary files relating to SWTOR, running as administrator, opening all dev-recommended ports on my wireless router, shutting down windows firewall and antivirus software- nothing.  Can never get anything to pop up when I click on the launcher.  Having a Japanese OS that I mostly can't read doesn't help.

Not worried yet since I haven't gotten in (didn't preorder until very early December) but this is worrying me....

[Furiously]

How long are you giving the launcher? Have you rebooted? It can take like a minute to come up for some strange reason.

[Modern Angel]

I had that issue come up last night when I was doing my initial install. The launcher just hung at the initial updating screen and would not stop. I ran the actual root program (not the desktop shortcut) as administrator and it immediately fixed up.

[Lt.Dan]

So, no Australian release date yet  but Austria is all go.  Anyone heard a confirmed release for the land downunder?

[Lucas]

If you take a look at the server status page now, you'll notice they're adding a shitload a lot of new servers (while keeping them offline at the moment) both to the NA and EU area. Just sayin'.

[caladein]

Makes sense, they said that the early start servers weren't going to be all of servers they would launch with.

[pants]

So, no Australian release date yet  but Austria is all go.  Anyone heard a confirmed release for the land downunder?

Nope.  Teh rumor mill is saying Feb, but internet rumors and whatnot.

A lot of us have just gone to Amazon.  With postage its $75, which isn't too bad.

[Triforcer]

I had that issue come up last night when I was doing my initial install. The launcher just hung at the initial updating screen and would not stop. I ran the actual root program (not the desktop shortcut) as administrator and it immediately fixed up.

What do you mean by "running the root program?"  Clicking on the launcher icon in the actual folder, as opposed to desktop icon?  I think I"ve tried that, but I'll try again. 

And I can't even get an "updating" screen.  If I click on the launcher, nothing (no error, no message, no launcher) ever pops up.  The program will hang on the task bar for hours and not do anything.

[luckton]

- Client firing up correctly, no immediate crash to desktop and similar problems ;
- Log in process successful and immediate;
- reasonable queues/waiting time;
- Almost no lag in starting areas/no excessive competition for mobs (overcrowding) ;
- First steps into the gameworld that leave a good impression (but this is more about the gameplay)

Is TOR achieving all of the above?

It did for me today.  This was a triumph.  I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!

[Montague]

My computer is utterly stumping me.  I didn't have time in November to play beta, but I cannot download the client.  Every time I click on the launcher, it just hangs for eternity (nothing pops up) until I go into my taskbar and shut it down.

I've tried playing in network-enabled safe mode, deleting patch directory, deleting all appdata temporary files relating to SWTOR, running as administrator, opening all dev-recommended ports on my wireless router, shutting down windows firewall and antivirus software- nothing.  Can never get anything to pop up when I click on the launcher.  Having a Japanese OS that I mostly can't read doesn't help.

Not worried yet since I haven't gotten in (didn't preorder until very early December) but this is worrying me....

Are you still in Japan? I thought I read that China, Japan and Korea are all IP blocked from SWTOR, but not 100% sure.

[Modern Angel]

What do you mean by "running the root program?" 

Yep, in the actual folder. Right click, run as administrator, it worked. I had been sitting for like 20min too

[luckton]

One minor hiccup I've found: They forgot to disable the debugger 

If you open your Task Manager, you may see two copies of SWTOR.exe running.  One's the game, the other (the one using less memory) is the debugger. The work-around right now is to set the debugger to a lower process priority (right click it, Set Priority, Low).  If you have a multi-core system, set it to only use 1 CPU core (right click it, Set Affinity, uncheck everything but one CPU core).  I noticed an ok boost when doing this.  A little less studdering and whatnot.