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Now comes the hard part: Making sure WoW is always up and running. Some players are angered by ongoing server problems that have led the game to crash without warning while they were playing. Complaints have also surfaced about long lag times and frustrating waits to even play.
Despite Blizzard's contention that it's been keeping WoW customers informed of system problems at all times, some players contend that the company has been slow to react to complaints and reluctant to offer support when problems arise.
According to players, the problems have been especially acute since Blizzard implemented its last major patch to WoW, in late March. At that time, the company acknowledged it had some temporary server problems but said they'd resolve themselves within hours. But some players say that ever since then, they're routinely encountered "urgent maintenance" that can result in being booted from the game at any time.
"Being a system administrator myself, I have some understanding of what goes on in a corporate data center," said Evgeny Krevets, a sometimes-frustrated WoW player. "I don't know Blizzard's system setup. What I do know is that if I kept performing 'urgent maintenance' and taking the service down without warning for eight-hour periods, I would be out of a job."
Blizzard blames some of the problems--such as the disconnection, for several hours on Friday, of players linked to several servers--on AT&T, its network provider. (AT&T did not respond to a request for comment.)
It also argues that online games like WoW that have to manage hundreds of thousands, or millions, of accounts, are simply prone to network issues.
"Due to the complex nature of massively multiplayer games like 'World of Warcraft,' technical issues such as the ones some of our players have experienced recently may occur on occasion," Blizzard spokeswoman Lisa Jensen, said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "Our commitment to our players is to provide effective solutions as quickly and carefully as possible whenever any such situation occurs."
WoW is what is known as a "sharded" online game. That means the game's many players are divided up among a large number of servers, or "shards," because no individual server could handle the full player base. This is common in the online games space.
As a result, players can usually choose which server they wish to play on, and each server can take on its own characteristics due to the specific guilds that play on them. In some games, like "EverQuest II," different servers can even have different operating rules.
Certainly, WoW is hardly the first online service to be hit by network and server problems. Over the years, services like eBay, Amazon.com and E*Trade have all dealt with various forms of outages.
And even some WoW players who are frustrated by the inconsistency of their game acknowledge that providing constant uptime is tricky, especially considering how fast the service has grown.
"I don't know how much I fault (Blizzard), since many of my own companies have had scaling problems," said Joi Ito, a venture capitalist who has put money into well-known online outfits such as Technorati, and who runs a WoW guild--or team--filled with other tech executives and well-known bloggers. "However, the uptime is really not (at an acceptable) level for a real commercial service, so I hope they get better."
Ito said the server problems have been particularly frustrating for him and his guild members because of the particular flavor of virtual "quests" they often run in WoW.
"Difficulty logging in (and) servers going down--it's become a normal part of our lives," Ito said. "It really does suck for us because we're running higher-level (quests) where it takes us a few hours to get to the (goal) and sometimes the server suddenly goes down right near the end before we finish. And they are unannounced (and) you just see people on the server--guild list--start dropping off."
Another member of Ito's guild said he too had been having problems with the WoW servers, though of a different nature.
"I have waited to get online the last couple times I have played," said Eric Haller, a San Francisco blogger and investor. "We moved (servers) because the old server was doing that, and now the brand new server is having the same issues."
Haller said he attributes the wait times--often about 10 to 15 minutes--to WoW's growth being so fast. He joked about how long he has to wait.
"When you live on Internet time, 10 minutes can seem like an eternity of delayed gratification," Haller said, "so it can be pretty frustrating."
Not all WoW players have experienced the server problems, and even some who have complained note that the issue may be slowly resolving itself.
"I decided to switch to another server over a week ago," Krevets said. "The amount of issues and problems I experienced were just too much for me. The new server that I've been playing on has not experienced any log-in problems or queues, so I've been quite happy so far."
In any case, with no shortage of massively multiplayer online games, such as "EverQuest," "City of Heroes," "Ultima Online" and others, on the market, some might wonder why angry WoW players don't just walk away.
But some say WoW has reached its 6 million subscriber threshold--no other American massively multiplayer online game has even broken a million--because its game play is easier to grasp for mainstream players. And because there are few other practical options for many such players, they feel Blizzard should take the performance problems more seriously.
"The thing is, there is no other real alternative" to WoW, Ito said. "So they sort of have a natural monopoly, and that's why people are so mad, I think. They can't vote with their feet. They just have to wait. And 'Blizz' has to realize that they have millions of hours of people's time hostage and should feel that responsibility."
See more CNET content tagged:
Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft, online game, Amazon.com Inc., server
The missions are veery basic so far but read they grow in intensity over 90 levels of charecreer building. The world really feels real so far.
It's more of the total experince of being able to reach out and touch or 'live in' all of that science fiction art I've seen in previous 2D or some 3D more lighthearted adventure games. The artwork is just amazing.
They destroy crafting
They destroy entertaining
They destroy creature handler
A vast majority of quest are broken
SWG Post NGE is worse then an ALPAH stage game
about 75% of the way through the hologrind when they decided
to change that. I then managed to get my Jedi, only to have my
profession nerf'd because SOE dealt with a bunch of bounty
hunters who complained that they couldn't gank us anymore.
Then came the Combat Upgrade. I'm still waiting on what exactly
it "upgraded" because all it did was break everything. I had a
toon deleted because I logged out inside my house. Of course,
there was nothing SOE could do, because they said you shouldn't
log out inside houses (although, I thought that's what they were
there for... way to train your CSR's SOE!).
After all the adjustments that we made for the CU, and after
everything was finally getting back to normal.. they go and
alienate their fanbase by changing the entire game. My whole
guild on WoW are SWG refugees. I've kept in touch with some of
my friends from SWG, and out of the 48 in our guild that I had
contact info for, 45 have switched to WoW. 1 went to DDO, and
the other 2 just got so fed up with the way they were treated,
they won't play MMORPGs again.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but by your post, I'd assume that
you had only been playing since the NGE. You don't know what
an amazing game they ruined. Its not just what they did to the
game either. Its their customer service team, its their devs, its
their player liasons, its their whole attitude. I was banned from
the forums on SWG for asking when they were going to fix the
creature handler profession, and I made the comment that I paid
for a 3 month subscription, only to have them break my
profession. No cussing, no outright attitude.. and they banned
me.
SOE just wants your money.. they don't care about their players.
Don't let them fool you into thinking they do either.
The missions are veery basic so far but read they grow in intensity over 90 levels of charecreer building. The world really feels real so far.
It's more of the total experince of being able to reach out and touch or 'live in' all of that science fiction art I've seen in previous 2D or some 3D more lighthearted adventure games. The artwork is just amazing.
They destroy crafting
They destroy entertaining
They destroy creature handler
A vast majority of quest are broken
SWG Post NGE is worse then an ALPAH stage game
about 75% of the way through the hologrind when they decided
to change that. I then managed to get my Jedi, only to have my
profession nerf'd because SOE dealt with a bunch of bounty
hunters who complained that they couldn't gank us anymore.
Then came the Combat Upgrade. I'm still waiting on what exactly
it "upgraded" because all it did was break everything. I had a
toon deleted because I logged out inside my house. Of course,
there was nothing SOE could do, because they said you shouldn't
log out inside houses (although, I thought that's what they were
there for... way to train your CSR's SOE!).
After all the adjustments that we made for the CU, and after
everything was finally getting back to normal.. they go and
alienate their fanbase by changing the entire game. My whole
guild on WoW are SWG refugees. I've kept in touch with some of
my friends from SWG, and out of the 48 in our guild that I had
contact info for, 45 have switched to WoW. 1 went to DDO, and
the other 2 just got so fed up with the way they were treated,
they won't play MMORPGs again.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but by your post, I'd assume that
you had only been playing since the NGE. You don't know what
an amazing game they ruined. Its not just what they did to the
game either. Its their customer service team, its their devs, its
their player liasons, its their whole attitude. I was banned from
the forums on SWG for asking when they were going to fix the
creature handler profession, and I made the comment that I paid
for a 3 month subscription, only to have them break my
profession. No cussing, no outright attitude.. and they banned
me.
SOE just wants your money.. they don't care about their players.
Don't let them fool you into thinking they do either.
You can fight or just build cites and mine for resources all in fully renederd 1st person 3d.
Warcraft seems more just about fighting as I'm not sure about the dungeon traps or if there are any other.
You can fight or just build cites and mine for resources all in fully renederd 1st person 3d.
Warcraft seems more just about fighting as I'm not sure about the dungeon traps or if there are any other.
Wars: Galaxies. I like the game much more, The professions are much better... plus, you can get a light saber!
your jedi now.. you can just click and choose it.
Wars: Galaxies. I like the game much more, The professions are much better... plus, you can get a light saber!
your jedi now.. you can just click and choose it.
These issues are a constant threat to gameplay. You never know when a server might crash or when an "emergency maintenance" session will take place. So you could very well spend an hour or two working your way through an instance only to get booted near the primary goal.
All in all I am adicted to the game so I am forced to suffer through whatever issues arise. I am not required to like them. If I could find a online game as complex or that I liked as much ; I would immediately cancel my WoW subscription and move to the new game.
These issues are a constant threat to gameplay. You never know when a server might crash or when an "emergency maintenance" session will take place. So you could very well spend an hour or two working your way through an instance only to get booted near the primary goal.
All in all I am adicted to the game so I am forced to suffer through whatever issues arise. I am not required to like them. If I could find a online game as complex or that I liked as much ; I would immediately cancel my WoW subscription and move to the new game.
I Sometimes in the login queue for 15 seconds or so, big deal.
The game has never crashed, it works, and CS is responsive.
WOW is everthing SWG wish it could be.
I Sometimes in the login queue for 15 seconds or so, big deal.
The game has never crashed, it works, and CS is responsive.
WOW is everthing SWG wish it could be.
I have been booted off 4 times and had login issues
about 5 times.
Lag 6 times.
Overall game play is fun fast and I forget about everything else.
The only major problem I see is the Shooting bugs.
Bullets leave teh body then the arms raise up then down quickly. FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tried Guild wars but threw out the game cd 3 days later. GW interface really did not go down well with me. So yeah Guid wars was a waste of money. I haven't tried EQ yet....... I will soon.
and SWG. Tried Rubies of Eventied (free at the time) and a few
other free ones. Then went to WoW. Played that since release till
this last patch. Was getting bored and tired of the lag, 2 server
moves and 5 lvl 60s later I am now playing EQ2. So far EQ2 has
no server issues, servers have been up every time I have tried to
log in. WoW wasnt to bad before the .10 patch but after about 2
days of not being able to play since the server were not up.. im
threw. Your milage may varry with WoW depending on server
also.. but who knows maybe they will fix it...
I have been booted off 4 times and had login issues
about 5 times.
Lag 6 times.
Overall game play is fun fast and I forget about everything else.
The only major problem I see is the Shooting bugs.
Bullets leave teh body then the arms raise up then down quickly. FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tried Guild wars but threw out the game cd 3 days later. GW interface really did not go down well with me. So yeah Guid wars was a waste of money. I haven't tried EQ yet....... I will soon.
and SWG. Tried Rubies of Eventied (free at the time) and a few
other free ones. Then went to WoW. Played that since release till
this last patch. Was getting bored and tired of the lag, 2 server
moves and 5 lvl 60s later I am now playing EQ2. So far EQ2 has
no server issues, servers have been up every time I have tried to
log in. WoW wasnt to bad before the .10 patch but after about 2
days of not being able to play since the server were not up.. im
threw. Your milage may varry with WoW depending on server
also.. but who knows maybe they will fix it...
Their outages are too frequent for people who pay $15 a month. They really need to get with the program.
Its been better this week so far... we shall see after the Tue maintainance if thye break more stuff.
Their outages are too frequent for people who pay $15 a month. They really need to get with the program.
Its been better this week so far... we shall see after the Tue maintainance if thye break more stuff.
As mentioned in the article I constantly hear remarks from other IT people that if our servers had this much of a problem we would be fired. The customer service does have a lot to be desired. I have seen people lose items due to server crashes, I had a leatherworking quest to make the same boots that I was wearing and when I turned in the quest it grabbed the enhanced boots I was wearing instead of the sets in my bags. I reported it the answer was tough luck we will not help which was the same response to items lost during the crashes.
Yet we still pay Blizzard for the abuse because it is addictive and should come with a warning label. :)
As mentioned in the article I constantly hear remarks from other IT people that if our servers had this much of a problem we would be fired. The customer service does have a lot to be desired. I have seen people lose items due to server crashes, I had a leatherworking quest to make the same boots that I was wearing and when I turned in the quest it grabbed the enhanced boots I was wearing instead of the sets in my bags. I reported it the answer was tough luck we will not help which was the same response to items lost during the crashes.
Yet we still pay Blizzard for the abuse because it is addictive and should come with a warning label. :)
issues. Anyone who was shocked by the lag and problems
exhibited in World of Warcraft must not have played Diablo II on
Battle.net.
Diablo II is an older game, but to this day modern games like
Quake 4 run far much faster and with less crashes than v1.11
Diablo II does. The fan-run BnetD servers (that were shut down
by Blizzard) were a response to the rampant lag on Battle.net
that is still there to this day.
Blizzard also has legendarily bad customer service, even back in
the Starcraft/Diablo II days.
Everyone seems so shocked that there are major problems with
World of Warcraft's network performance, bugfixes and
customer service, but if you look at Blizzard's track record it's
not surprising.
Lots of people find Blizzard games fun, and that's fine, but it is
folly to not acknowledge that flaws that Blizzard has had for
years.
issues. Anyone who was shocked by the lag and problems
exhibited in World of Warcraft must not have played Diablo II on
Battle.net.
Diablo II is an older game, but to this day modern games like
Quake 4 run far much faster and with less crashes than v1.11
Diablo II does. The fan-run BnetD servers (that were shut down
by Blizzard) were a response to the rampant lag on Battle.net
that is still there to this day.
Blizzard also has legendarily bad customer service, even back in
the Starcraft/Diablo II days.
Everyone seems so shocked that there are major problems with
World of Warcraft's network performance, bugfixes and
customer service, but if you look at Blizzard's track record it's
not surprising.
Lots of people find Blizzard games fun, and that's fine, but it is
folly to not acknowledge that flaws that Blizzard has had for
years.
- 10 minute wait? not in our house
- by farthing01 April 24, 2006 12:51 PM PDT
- My son plays on Illidan, and he often has to endure a wait of 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the time and day he tries to log in. My waits on other servers aren't as bad, but my troubles generally occur during the authorization process or exhibit themselves as lag spikes. I pay only by game card and often go a month or two in between cards. With better service, Blizzard would certainly be making more money off me.
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