Maintenance Rage Thread

[Salty Lake]

Apparently they bumped the Early Access up to the 29th.

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/f8dcc029e5781c67638d99b853cfe40c90154d51

 

I noticed this a few hours ago and was confused. How can it be early access after launch? Is launch then delayed?

[Zakov]

Apparently they bumped the Early Access up to the 29th.

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/f8dcc029e5781c67638d99b853cfe40c90154d51

Uuuuuh wut. So release is now after the 29th?

[Waffle Slayer]

Apparently they bumped the Early Access up to the 29th.

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/f8dcc029e5781c67638d99b853cfe40c90154d51

 

So what? They pushed their launch back two days? I get the reasoning since they apparently can't even handle the pre-order and legacy player base but how is that going to do anything to alleviate the issue at hand?

 

Seriously, just reinstate the server queues already or take the servers down and fix the issues. Throttling the amount of players is so damn backwards it is unbelievable.

[Jove]

Apparently they bumped the Early Access up to the 29th.

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/f8dcc029e5781c67638d99b853cfe40c90154d51

 

Cool!

 

But looking at the comments...

[Adolar]

I noticed this a few hours ago and was confused. How can it be early access after launch? Is launch then delayed?

 

I'm guessing it's still released on the 27th but Early Access users get a bonus two days for their free month?

[Naunet]

In hindsight it is easy to make such a call, but during the decision all Square had was the numbers from 1.0 plus their expected growth with 2.0. Since business don't employ Miss Cleo, they really only had two possible options, too few or too many servers, each with their own list of problems. 

 

 

Honestly, I think it's more than just "too few". I am starting to very much suspect that the servers they do have are not up to the usual NA industry standards, because 25 servers really shouldn't be this bad. It's not like this game is going to have WoW levels of subscribers.

[Divisor]

Apparently they bumped the Early Access up to the 29th.

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/f8dcc029e5781c67638d99b853cfe40c90154d51

 

I'm pretty sure what this means is that the Early Access period lasts until a couple days after launch in case some people can't get their hands on their EA bonuses code until a little later, due to retailers shipping their copies late or something.

 

Basically this:

[Waffle Slayer]

 

Cool!

 

But looking at the comments...

 

Can you blame them? People have paid for a game they can't play, basically. This is starting to smell like the Diablo III launch all over again...

[LiadansWhisper]

I know it's trite, but this is the only thing keeping me in a good moon at this point, lol:

 

ZDf04mWLiw4

 

(It's actually surprising good, and upbeat/enjoyable.)

[Demon Fox]

they are going about this all wrong, they need to restrict character creation ONLY and let the people who already have characters on their servers play. if they did that then i don't think the majority of us would have an issue.

But this is just as bad, because then the players already on the server won't be able to get their friends on the server (and make no mistake - all of the NA servers are locked right now).

 

They done cocked this up bad.

It's still a bad way to go about it, i know but it's choosing the lesser of two evils, restrict access to shit loads of your player base, or restrict access to a smaller amount.

[Azthran]

And the updates are rather ambiguous in their wording with the whole "restricting log-ins" bit. One could easily interpret that to mean they're actively putting a cap on just how many people can play at a time, which would be terrible. I highly doubt that's what they're doing but it's honestly starting to feel that way... :frustrated:

 

Honestly that's exactly what they are doing, they are limiting the number of people on the servers (From my understanding it's a very low population cap at the moment.) so we all don't go rushing in and click on things at the same time and ultimately breaking what they had just worked so hard to fix. If happened twice yesterday with the duty finder and instance servers, we broke them, they fixed them, once the servers were back up we broke them again in a matter of minutes just from the amount of people trying to access them at the same time.

 

That's great.  But that doesn't actually fix anything.

 

Which means if they ever raise the cap, it's just going to go down again.  Meaning that the game would have to stay precisely as accessible as it is right now in order for things to work.

 

Do you really think this is a good way to start off an MMO?  :dodgy:

The way I'm looking at it is they can better see what their servers can actually handle and adjust things accordingly. How things get fixed I'm not sure though, I can guess that they will get better hardware for their servers. It sucks, it really does but I'd rather this happen now than while we were paying our subscription.

 

A minor note on the arguement that we've paid for the game to get early access this isn't exactly true, a few retailers gave out the pre-order codes with only $5 deposits on the game and then 1.0 players that stuck around and played through and subscribed for 3 months during the Legacy promo didn't even have to do that.

 

The bottom line is it doesn't look like they were ready for or even expecting this sort of load on their servers. They could honestly take all the servers down but doing it this way at least gives them some data to crunch and form some sort of plan to fix it.

[Goodeburger]

Snip

That is amazing. I'm making that my avatar right now!

[Jove]

Technical problems such as this can come from a multitude of sources, and the reason mmo launches are always abysmal is that these problems don't arise until the servers are pounded, hard. Beta was an indication of that, but I think this pre access has been a lot more stressful and a s a result, things that didn't break before have broken now, things you couldn't predict.

 

If the launch is pushed back by two extra days, allowing us two extra days of pre access as compensation, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that's because they're working on resolving these issues tonight and tomorrow.

 

Fact is, it might not be a problem of few too servers. From their updates it sounds like they're having issues with the login management server being crushed, which is independent of the world servers, but a gateway onto them. So basically the bottle might not be full, but the neck is crammed.

 

Or it could be something different.

 

You can guarantee that people are working their asses off at SE to fix this, they know this is unacceptable but the fact that it isn't fixed yet means that it's not a simple problem and there isn't a simple solution.

 

Sure it's really frustrating, but unfortunately you can prepare for everything and still be completely screwed by unforeseeable anomalies.

 

But you know what? Game launch server issues ALWAYS get fixed. Even the SimCity ones, and they were a lot worse.

[Waffle Slayer]

A minor note on the arguement that we've paid for the game to get early access this isn't exactly true, a few retailers gave out the pre-order codes with only $5 deposits on the game and then 1.0 players that stuck around and played through and subscribed for 3 months during the Legacy promo didn't even have to do that.

 

 

True, some people are riding the coat tails of the failed previous title or just dropped a Lincoln at Gamestop, but that doesn't mean plenty of people didn't shell out the full cost of the game when pre-ordering, so yes, there are a significantly large number of people who did pay for the game in full. And I imagine the number of people who did (anyone who bought the game online, which is much more likely due to the distribution issues I have heard with physical copies) aren't none too happy about the current situation.

[Demon Fox]

Technical problems such as this can come from a multitude of sources, and the reason mmo launches are always abysmal is that these problems don't arise until the servers are pounded, hard.

What they could have done in open beta is closed every sever but one in each region, removed any population cap from the open servers, flooded all the players in there so they could of tested this kind of crap, but they didn't.

 

They left it and now we have beta test 5.

[LiadansWhisper]

It's still a bad way to go about it, i know but it's choosing the lesser of two evils, restrict access to shit loads of your player base, or restrict access to a smaller amount.

 

Yeah, but if they don't solve the root of the problem (which they haven't done so far), it's not going to get any better.  That's what I'm concerned about.  They say the servers are at their limit.  Their servers seem rather shitty, tbh.

---

A minor note on the arguement that we've paid for the game to get early access this isn't exactly true, a few retailers gave out the pre-order codes with only $5 deposits on the game and then 1.0 players that stuck around and played through and subscribed for 3 months during the Legacy promo didn't even have to do that.

 

I know quite a few people who paid for it through third party retailers who have already charged them the full amount.  I'm getting charged tomorrow and I'm not even sure I want the game at this point.  I'd like to see some communication from the developers as to how they're going to fix this crap and how long it's going to take.

[Azthran]

A minor note on the arguement that we've paid for the game to get early access this isn't exactly true, a few retailers gave out the pre-order codes with only $5 deposits on the game and then 1.0 players that stuck around and played through and subscribed for 3 months during the Legacy promo didn't even have to do that.

 

 

True, some people are riding the coat tails of the failed previous title or just dropped a Lincoln at Gamestop, but that doesn't mean plenty of people didn't shell out the full cost of the game when pre-ordering, so yes, there are a significantly large number of people who did pay for the game in full. And I imagine the number of people who did (anyone who bought the game online, which is much more likely due to the distribution issues I have heard with physical copies) aren't none too happy about the current situation.

Oh I completely agree, I'm one of those people who got a copy online and in turn had to pay full price. I'm just saying that some people didn't and even then the early access was just a bonus given to us for supporting the game before launch so in that sense no one actually paid anything for early access.

 

Honestly I happy I haven't seen any of the comment in this thread that a friend linked from the SE forums and lodestone, it seems some legacy people have some entitlement issues and want SE to boot all non legacy players from the servers so they can play. >.<

[Waffle Slayer]

 

 

Honestly I happy I haven't seen any of the comment in this thread that a friend linked from the SE forums and lodestone, it seems some legacy people have some entitlement issues and want SE to boot all non legacy players from the servers so they can play. >.<

 

Going to apologize for this in advance but that is just fucking retarded. I played in 1.0 and I'm not deluded enough to think or believe that I somehow deserve to play when others can't. That is one of the most asinine elitist loads of tripe I have ever heard and basically amounts to "We played the game before you so we should get to play instead of you".

Yes, we all agree that 1.0 was a let down, even the developers do (hence them, you know, making a new game), but that doesn't in any possible way entitle them to exclusivity.

[Navarre]

Technical problems such as this can come from a multitude of sources, and the reason mmo launches are always abysmal is that these problems don't arise until the servers are pounded, hard. Beta was an indication of that, but I think this pre access has been a lot more stressful and a s a result, things that didn't break before have broken now, things you couldn't predict.

 

If the launch is pushed back by two extra days, allowing us two extra days of pre access as compensation, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that's because they're working on resolving these issues tonight and tomorrow.

 

Fact is, it might not be a problem of few too servers. From their updates it sounds like they're having issues with the login management server being crushed, which is independent of the world servers, but a gateway onto them. So basically the bottle might not be full, but the neck is crammed.

 

Or it could be something different.

 

You can guarantee that people are working their asses off at SE to fix this, they know this is unacceptable but the fact that it isn't fixed yet means that it's not a simple problem and there isn't a simple solution.

 

Sure it's really frustrating, but unfortunately you can prepare for everything and still be completely screwed by unforeseeable anomalies.

 

But you know what? Game launch server issues ALWAYS get fixed. Even the SimCity ones, and they were a lot worse.

Yeah. Murphy's Law reigns over mmo launches. While I wish that I was playing, I've been through too many launches and major patches (OMG the first night of the ICC patch was nuts) to really expect smooth sailing. I've always wondered if graduate student mathematicians thought about using mmo launches as a way to study chaos theory in action. Might make a fascinating (though impossible to read for me at least) dissertation.

 

Anyway, Jehanne is level 10 and sitting in a tavern right now sipping some wine. She'll be fine, and I look forward to seeing her again.

[Jove]

Can you blame them? People have paid for a game they can't play, basically. This is starting to smell like the Diablo III launch all over again...

 

Yes and no.

 

The frustration is understandable.

 

However the RAGE (e.g. "GIVE ME A REFUND FUCK YOU SE") not so much. I've paid for plenty of games that have had this issue, Diablo 3 and SimCity being an example, yet as frustrated as I've got trying to log in, it's never actually made me angry.

 

Maybe I just have a lot of patience, but at the end of the day it's digital entertainment and if it's not working, it's not working. It's not like the companies behind these games are on purpose screwing us, they're being screwed just as bad from these ordeals. So you know, hope it gets fixed soon, stop trying to login in endless frustration until stuff is fixed and distract yourself.

 

I mean we're frustrated because Final Fantasy XIV is awesome and we want to play it, not because we paid for a game that's completely awful , which would be so much worse. Things will be fixed, getting stressed over it until then is both pointless and unhealthy. It's not like our shouting at SE will make them work faster, you just need to spam them with bug reports and they'll get the idea but I'm pretty sure they're aware of the issues.

[erosskye]

OZF0cvJhQgA

[Hilariom]

I remember in GW2 if the server is full, you still be able to play in a waiting server(I do not know what it was called)

 

For a least a minute or less my number in line was 132 before I got 1017 again

[Riken Avadur]

Just replying as I keep seeing a few statements around through my casual browsing, that I think require some clarification.

 

1. Release is not being pushed back. The extra two day "grace period" is a common MMO practice, where pre-order customers are given some extra time for their physical copies of the game to arrive with their game codes, so that their service isn't interrupted. Your 30 Days will start Tuesday, as of writing.

 

2. Servers are being throttled, Actively (I.E. on purpose). SE is currently keeping the population low, with very controlled increases. Now your first reaction may be to be furious as to why they would possibly do this, but most likely this is because they are still developing a fix for the issues, in this case optimizing server clusters. They won't take down the servers until they truly need to, and so they'd rather keep the servers up and alive for now, rather then let them crash, and once the patch is ready to be deployed, they'll start the process of shutting things down and getting to work. 

 

3. They are actually working on stuff. Now this is just my personal observation, and not so much concerning this forum but in general; just because this problem keeps coming up, and just because Square may be a bit bad at communicating their progress, Does not mean they are sitting around twiddling their thumbs. I understand your anger and your frustration, but let me assure you from a developer's point of view they are not having margaritas on the beach. Release is an extremely stressful period for an MMO team, doubly so for such an overly hyped (and in-my-opinion extremely fun) game. Despite all of this downtime and bull, this is still pretty much par for the course as far as launches. Please be patient, and don't take your anger out on them. There are a lot of technical details to work out with stuff like this, and as was probably mentioned before, things usually don't break until they're hammered by the massive pre-launch/launch crowds. 

 

Just my two-cents. Cheers mates.

 

-Riken

 

PS. I purposefully did not talk about the server caps or the horrendous login service, so do not claim I'm ignoring these issues. Fact is it's not a problem to solve overnight, and they definitely could've handled it better.

[LandStander]

I know this sort of thing happens, and I know that due to the massive load on Square's servers and the enlarged population on the NA/EU servers that things mess up.

 

But at this point I'm just about ready to give up on trying to play today. It's been 3 hours with "server is full" and nothing giving me any indication as to when I'll be able to actually play.

 

And the updates are rather ambiguous in their wording with the whole "restricting log-ins" bit. One could easily interpret that to mean they're actively putting a cap on just how many people can play at a time, which would be terrible. I highly doubt that's what they're doing but it's honestly starting to feel that way... :frustrated:

 

I had one of my friends pre-order the game and with work and the nearly constant emergency maintenance sessions he's been able to play for maybe an hour since Early Access started, and I know there are others in the same situation as him.

 

I would guess that their restrictions are to see how stable their fixes are before opening it up to the full brunt of things. 

 

After all, we seen a few quick emergency patches go into affect already, and they all eventually broke down again, so they are probably going a bit slower this time around (this is all conjecture on my part though).

 

The crappy thing is that even with these server restrictions they are still having instancing issues and people getting kicked out of the game when they zone. They haven't fixed anything and seem to have only further upset the community. I am understanding, but a bit upset myself. I just think that with millions of dollars at your disposal that you'll be able to do something like upgrade servers. Arena Net had similar troubles when GW2 launched last year and they upgraded them extremely quickly and they are not a behemoth company like Square Enix is.

[Dravus]

At least this thread has managed to remain relatively tame compared to the sort of comments being posted on other FFXIV related sites. I shouldn't be surprised, but it's a shame how much entitlement and rot exists elsewhere within the community. I do wonder how some of the more horrid posters manage to function in the real world without bursting a blood vessel each time their routine is interrupted by issues that can't really be avoided.