Classy Choice on Blizzard's part

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » December 2, 2004, 12:18 pm

World of Warcraft Trial-Period Extension - Block on 12/1/04
World of Warcraft's record-setting first week brought hundreds of thousands of players together to adventure in Azeroth. The extremely high concurrency numbers that we've seen since the game's launch have required us to double our total number of servers over a four-day period, which is much faster than we had initially planned. This caused some issues with a few servers, and some players had difficulty logging in to the game during this period.

We are determined to provide our players with the best experience possible. It is for that reason that we are extending the one-month trial-period for players who created accounts before or during the downtime. The length of the trial-period extension will be based on when the player's account was created:

* Accounts created on November 23 will receive a 4-day extension
* Accounts created on November 24 will receive a 3-day extension
* Accounts created on November 25 will receive a 2-day extension
* Accounts created on November 26 will receive a 1-day extension

Our sincere apologies go out to all who experienced service disruptions. As always, we appreciate your patience and support, and we wish you good luck in your adventures in Azeroth!

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » December 2, 2004, 12:26 pm

Very cool.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » December 2, 2004, 12:58 pm

I thought so as well. What is interesting is that IMHO they had less problems that any other MMORPG I have played and had more players. Very cool indeed.

Marb

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » December 2, 2004, 1:02 pm

wow, impressive! You'd never hear anything like that from SOE!

Post by **Sylvus** » December 2, 2004, 1:03 pm

Oh, I bet you might... now.

Fash · Post by **Fash** » December 2, 2004, 1:08 pm

you might... except that EQ2 had a lot less launch problems than WoW.

Sirensa · Post by **Sirensa** » December 2, 2004, 1:16 pm

lol SOE would have lessened the 1-free month due to the over-crowded servers.

SOE wrote:Due to the high volume of players logging in during peak times we find we are unable to continue with the free trial period. We apologize for inconveniences this may cause.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » December 2, 2004, 1:18 pm

Fash wrote:you might... except that EQ2 had a lot less launch problems than WoW.

lol I beg to differ. SOE never hid the fact they don't give a shit about their player base.

edit: lol Sirensa. exactly

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » December 2, 2004, 1:32 pm

Fash wrote:you might... except that EQ2 had a lot less launch problems than WoW.

Well thats unknown at this point EQ2 is still in paid open beta.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » December 2, 2004, 1:44 pm

WoW's problems weren't that bad, even with the crowding I played every time I wanted with no issues.

Marb

Trias · Post by **Trias** » December 2, 2004, 2:28 pm

oh wow amazing you saved 60 cents!

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » December 2, 2004, 2:33 pm

Think it's like a buck 50 but if you look at it from the other end, Bliz is giving up about 375k. Not that it really matters but it shows that they do listen some to their player base.

noel · Post by **noel** » December 2, 2004, 3:03 pm

Fash wrote:you might... except that EQ2 had a lot less launch problems than WoW.

I'm still waiting for the SOE press release saying they've already sold in excess of 250k copies of EQ2.

Oh wait! They haven't... and they won't.

Once EQ2's sales numbers or concurrent user numbers match WoW's, then you can talk.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » December 2, 2004, 3:13 pm

Trias wrote:oh wow amazing you saved 60 cents!

Since you raised the topic, that amounts to $150,000 on their part from the people who started on day 1, and something like another $50,000. It may be a small price to given how much money that they make, but decisions to give up revenue often draw out the tight drawstring executives that veto such decisions. It was a big deal to either my bankroll or theirs, but it was a nice gesture of good faith.

As an aside, I think that SOE has done something like this with past games.

As to the EQ2 release, I would like to see the figures on the number of people playing EQ2 right now as I doubt that they had to worry about the same volume that Blizzard did with WoW.

noel · Post by **noel** » December 2, 2004, 3:17 pm

archeiron wrote:As an aside, I think that SOE has done something like this with past games.

You don't have to when you're arguably the only player in the market.

Rekaar. · Post by **Rekaar.** » December 5, 2004, 8:06 am

blizz didn't give up a penny arch, just delayed it by a few days.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2004, 12:07 am

Lalanae wrote:wow, impressive! You'd never hear anything like that from SOE!

It wasn't SOE back then but 989 Studios added a week or so to the initial people that signed up for the original EQ during the first week.

I don't mind SOE bashing but lets keep this accurate. SOE (989) did the same thing Blizzard is doing now. I know it's vogue to bash the old and praise the new. It was over 5 years ago and it was only the first week so I don't expect most to remember.

Carry on!

Down with SOE! Down with SOE!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2004, 12:12 am

noel wrote:
Fash wrote:you might... except that EQ2 had a lot less launch problems than WoW.
I'm still waiting for the SOE press release saying they've already sold in excess of 250k copies of EQ2.

Oh wait! They haven't... and they won't.

Once EQ2's sales numbers or concurrent user numbers match WoW's, then you can talk.

Once WoW's numbers match EQ and EQ2 combined you can talk. Who cares if an EQ person takes their time to go to EQ2 if SOE is making money on them or even better, selling duo passes.

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » December 6, 2004, 1:53 am

Winnow wrote:
Lalanae wrote:wow, impressive! You'd never hear anything like that from SOE!
It wasn't SOE back then but 989 Studios added a week or so to the initial people that signed up for the original EQ during the first week.

I don't mind SOE bashing but lets keep this accurate. SOE (989) did the same thing Blizzard is doing now. I know it's vogue to bash the old and praise the new. It was over 5 years ago and it was only the first week so I don't expect most to remember.

Carry on!

Down with SOE! Down with SOE!

Actually, if you signed up in the first week with EQ you got an extra free month

So Blizzard is just being cheap

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » December 6, 2004, 4:33 am

SOE has a history of releasing unfinished games and telling their customers to kiss their ass. There is a history there. We all know by your political leanings that you favor ignoring obvious flaws, but you look really silly trying to paint any anti-SOE sentiment as a fad. But, when do you NOT look silly?

and btw, unless you have the luck (and I the misfortune) of someone quoting you, I won't see any response by you. I've had you on ignore for months now, but you obviously haven't figured that out.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » December 6, 2004, 12:10 pm

Why do people respond to people they have on ignore?

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » December 6, 2004, 12:50 pm

More importantly, why don't we just judge Blizzard and WoW on their merits rather than endlessly running cock jousting with SOE vs Blizzard, EQ vs WoW, EQ2 vs WoW, etc?

This isn't the WoW-EQ2 head to head forum, unless I read the title wrong.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2004, 1:15 pm

Lalanae wrote:SOE has a history of releasing unfinished games and telling their customers to kiss their ass. There is a history there. We all know by your political leanings that you favor ignoring obvious flaws, but you look really silly trying to paint any anti-SOE sentiment as a fad. But, when do you NOT look silly?

and btw, unless you have the luck (and I the misfortune) of someone quoting you, I won't see any response by you. I've had you on ignore for months now, but you obviously haven't figured that out.

Lalanae wrote:wow, impressive! You'd never hear anything like that from SOE!

Just setting the record straight...and you can quote me on that! I'm not sure why you twisted the discussion into something other than what everyone was oogling over Blizzard about (the couple free days which is less than EQ gave its original subscribers...which people seemed to think SOE would never do)

You can still be impressed over Blizzard offering the few days though. It's a nice gesture although a bit less than what EQ originally offered its subscribers. I'm glad my "political leanings" were able to point out the facts. : )

PS. SOE is the devil! It's inconceivable that they would extend the initial free month an additional month.

-Silly man

Post by **Xouqoa** » December 6, 2004, 1:48 pm

Ransure wrote:Actually, if you signed up in the first week with EQ you got an extra free month So Blizzard is just being cheap

This may have been covered already, but it was two free weeks added on to the free 30-day trial. I remember it well. I couldn't even stay connected the first three days of EQ and then their ISP backbone took a crap because it couldn't handle all of the traffic. CERF.net or something, I don't remember the ISP.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2004, 2:04 pm

Xouqoa wrote:
Ransure wrote:Actually, if you signed up in the first week with EQ you got an extra free month So Blizzard is just being cheap
This may have been covered already, but it was two free weeks added on to the free 30-day trial. I remember it well. I couldn't even stay connected the first three days of EQ and then their ISP backbone took a crap because it couldn't handle all of the traffic. CERF.net or something, I don't remember the ISP.

We've got to keep in mind that the technology and MMORPG experience of all companies was limited back then. Most people didnt even have DSL or Cable. UO sucked even worse before EQ. I remember it being like I won the lottery when I connected to UO the first few weeks-month.

EQ/989 were pioneers and its sucks to see late comers bad mouth the initial efforts of 989 Studios as I was in the beta and know they busted their ass to make the game that all of you enjoyed despite your bitching for multiple years and them learning as they went. I'm not bashing WoW because I know the initial overflow of new people on a game release causes problems. I have an issue with people seeming to think that SOE didn't give a shit about anyone when that's totally untrue.

People like Lalanae give me diarrhea though as my stomach turns seeing the obvious blind eye to how things progress and how things were in the past. The juvenile attitude of blanket bashing a company is typical these days. Dude, it sucks!

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » December 6, 2004, 2:11 pm

Winnow I don't think anyone is saying that 989 didn't try their best with a brand new technology. I also think everyone would agree that technology has progressed in the past 5 years. What we are saying is that Blizzard did a really cool thing even though their problems weren't as serious as they could have been.

Remember that while technology has progressed this was still Blizzards first MMORPG so it's still "new" to them. They also turned up 40 realms in like 4 days, pretty damn impressive from an IT prospective IMHO.

It's not an EQ2 vs WoW, it's a Sony vs Blizzard. Why? Because we have all been put out, even you I'm sure, with SOE at one time or another. My personal experience with Blizzard and their games have always been top notch, and this one is no exception.

I'm sure EQ2 is a blast, just like WoW. Personally I'm glad that both have come out so that everyone can find something they are happy with.

Cheers!
Marb

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » December 6, 2004, 2:29 pm

Everything Winnow doesn't like == Evil

Post by **Xouqoa** » December 6, 2004, 2:39 pm

I don't remember UO being bad at all, and I was playing the first day it came out. But shit that was like, 10 years ago now almost. =) I only had 28.8k dial up! Ahh, my trusty USR 28.8 external modem. That thing took so much abuse and never once gave me ANY problems.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2004, 3:10 pm

Marbus wrote:Winnow I don't think anyone is saying that 989 didn't try their best with a brand new technology. I also think everyone would agree that technology has progressed in the past 5 years. What we are saying is that Blizzard did a really cool thing even though their problems weren't as serious as they could have been...

...It's not an EQ2 vs WoW, it's a Sony vs Blizzard. Why? Because we have all been put out, even you I'm sure, with SOE at one time or another. My personal experience with Blizzard and their games have always been top notch, and this one is no exception.

From reading the initial posts on this board, it wasn't a SOE vs Blizzard thing until I saw a string of posts claiming SOE would never do something like this etc, etc.

Blizzard trying to release a MMORPG 5 years ago would have been a joke. I'm happy EQ was out back then as it blew anything else away that was available for years and years.

Xou, UO had initial problems! I may be thinking mostly of the beta for the game but I remember the first week or two being hell to get into a server and then of course the dup exploits crashing the servers constantly : )

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » December 8, 2004, 12:33 pm

Lalanae wrote:SOE has a history of releasing unfinished games and telling their customers to kiss their ass. There is a history there. We all know by your political leanings that you favor ignoring obvious flaws, but you look really silly trying to paint any anti-SOE sentiment as a fad. But, when do you NOT look silly?

and btw, unless you have the luck (and I the misfortune) of someone quoting you, I won't see any response by you. I've had you on ignore for months now, but you obviously haven't figured that out.

WoW is your first Blizzard product isn't it? Diablo 2 was a horrid piece of shit online. Almost every Blizzard product has come out extemely late and then gotten a patch a year or more after release to fix problems. Everthing from Blizzard so far has come out with bugs in them that they don't even acknowledge. At least SOE has the balls to admit problems and let you know they are working on the solution...which generally comes in a week or so....not a year or so.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » December 8, 2004, 12:46 pm

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:
Lalanae wrote:SOE has a history of releasing unfinished games and telling their customers to kiss their ass. There is a history there. We all know by your political leanings that you favor ignoring obvious flaws, but you look really silly trying to paint any anti-SOE sentiment as a fad. But, when do you NOT look silly?

and btw, unless you have the luck (and I the misfortune) of someone quoting you, I won't see any response by you. I've had you on ignore for months now, but you obviously haven't figured that out.

WoW is your first Blizzard product isn't it? Diablo 2 was a horrid piece of shit online. Almost every Blizzard product has come out extemely late and then gotten a patch a year or more after release to fix problems. Everthing from Blizzard so far has come out with bugs in them that they don't even acknowledge. At least SOE has the balls to admit problems and let you know they are working on the solution...which generally comes in a week or so....not a year or so.

Diablo 2 was a free service offered by Blizzard that included numerous updates and revisions after the box sales were in. The Warcraft and Starcraft series have been extremely successful worldwide. This success has given Blizzard a reputation for delivering high quality games that are fun and addictive.

I find World of Warcraft to be a fantastically fun game with substantially more polish and thought put into it than EverQuest did under Verant. This is natural as Blizzard has the benefit of experience (albeit from other companies) that didn't exist for Verant at that time. I have followed the development of WoW and EQ2 for some time, but I just can't find the personal enthusiasm for EQ2 even though it appears to be a good game.

Frankly, I don't care whether or not you like Blizzard or WoW, but stop pissing in our pool. This is the WoW forum, not the SOE Vs Blizzard showdown forum. There is no need to constantly bash one game or the other, as there are many people that seem to be enjoying both games.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » December 8, 2004, 12:47 pm

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:
Lalanae wrote:SOE has a history of releasing unfinished games and telling their customers to kiss their ass. There is a history there. We all know by your political leanings that you favor ignoring obvious flaws, but you look really silly trying to paint any anti-SOE sentiment as a fad. But, when do you NOT look silly?

and btw, unless you have the luck (and I the misfortune) of someone quoting you, I won't see any response by you. I've had you on ignore for months now, but you obviously haven't figured that out.

WoW is your first Blizzard product isn't it? Diablo 2 was a horrid piece of shit online. Almost every Blizzard product has come out extemely late and then gotten a patch a year or more after release to fix problems. Everthing from Blizzard so far has come out with bugs in them that they don't even acknowledge. At least SOE has the balls to admit problems and let you know they are working on the solution...which generally comes in a week or so....not a year or so.

Comparing Diablo 2 to EQ isn't exactly fair. The online support for Diablo was stellar for being absolutely free. WoW is the first pay-to-play for Blizzard and it should be pretty fucking obvious, even to you, that it will be handled entirely differently.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » December 8, 2004, 12:48 pm

As a footnote, I am not suggesting that Blizzard's release went perfectly, nor that I believe that the game is perfect. I am not suggesting that WoW will not have problems, nor am I suggesting that they will always fix things quickly and correctly.

I am suggesting that there are intelligent people working on WoW, and that they love the game dearly. It shows when you play it, and I hope it shows as the game grows over the years ahead.