It seems to be goodbye at a very slow pace!! [Archive] - Unofficial World of Warcraft Forums

falinx

19-11-2008, 10:15 AM

Hey all,

well sad times after release of lich king. I'm on the sylvanas realm and after the russian migration we were waiting up to 90 minutes to login to play. This has been working on my nerves since it started and blizzard have done nothing about it. Then interestingly (requiring a class action lawsuit here I reckon due to blizzard f**king us over) for the week before the release of lich king there was 0 queing, nothing, any time we were logging in day or night there was no que at all. Surprise surprise, after release and upgrading my account, the que times were instantly back to being very very substantial ie peak times it takes 90 minutes to login yet again. The weird part is after playing this game for nearly 3 years, I thought this would be hugely depressing. And since I work and don't have 60-90 minutes to wait to login I simply don't play the game. Nice to chat to the guildies when I get the opportunity and I don't have to wait forever, but I'm getting time to play a lot of other games now instead of grind away :). So I guess what I'm saying is tnx for your greed blizzard, you're helping me kick my warcraft addiction.... oh and PS for those of you that don't have lich king yet, no surprises here, it's the same sh1t over and over and over. It's the gaming equivalent of groundhog day :). Now can anyone help convince my guildies to move over to another game ha ha.

Hope the other members here aren't also suffering the insane wait times.

det

19-11-2008, 11:53 AM

60-90 mins loging? That is sick :(

jschild

19-11-2008, 12:10 PM

Transfer to another server?

They are offering these to many people for free.

I personally haven't seen a single queue.

Eileithyia

19-11-2008, 12:12 PM

I was waiting for 25min last night, my son didnt mind so much as he had and extra long bedtime story.

They have given us the option of a free transfer, to a new realm they created. But im not up for changing my realm. I could move one of my dorment 70's and see if the grass is greener there I suppose.

But 60 - 90 min is silly and needs to be sorted

Marlous

19-11-2008, 12:18 PM

They're offering free transfers from Sylvanas to Jaedenar at the moment, maybe you could consider that.

falinx

19-11-2008, 02:11 PM

Yeah, transferring is a prossibility but it's not going to happen. And here is the logic behind that, I have been on sylvanas for nearly 3 years and have all my friends on it. Why, now, since the russian migration should I be forced to move... the universal rule has always been "last in, first out" and it seems blizzard is not enforcing this. Like I said, it's sad but in a way it's good, blizz at least is helping me move away from the addiction :) If things do get better I'm sure I'll get addicted again (I know, we're all helpless really :) ) but I don't see this happening "phew!!" lol...

jschild

19-11-2008, 02:19 PM

Blizzard cannot magically make their servers support unlimited people.

You have a choice, enspecially if it is free, to move to avoid those queue's.

Blizz's only real option with those queue's is free transfers. Should they kick people off so you can play? They are not loaded with options exactly. You can either take a free transfer or pay for one. So really the ball is back in your court.

So Blizzard should simply "Force" people off of servers?

tigermeat

19-11-2008, 02:59 PM

well, one less person in the que for the rest of us. Shard your puples and send them to me kthxbai

falinx

19-11-2008, 03:12 PM

Blizzard cannot magically make their servers support unlimited people.
What? You're not serious? I didn't get the memo on this, oh wait this is obvious... moving on

You have a choice, enspecially if it is free, to move to avoid those queue's.
Refer to my previous posts

Blizz's only real option with those queue's is free transfers. Should they kick people off so you can play? They are not loaded with options exactly. You can either take a free transfer or pay for one. So really the ball is back in your court.

So Blizzard should simply "Force" people off of servers?
Blizzard should never have let the servers get to this sort of capacity in the first place... It is their problem and they should fix it. People that have been on the realm a month should now been given a number of other realms as alternatives or one should be picked for them automatically... Anywho, I just hope that the same thing happens to your realm jschild and we'll see exactly what view you take when it does :)

raymore

19-11-2008, 03:24 PM

I'm on a low pop server but I would still take the free transfer. The reason being, you are forced to make new friends. You have to prove yourself all over again. That's fun for me. I have transferred once already so I know it's not a big deal. Just like anything in life, you eventually adapt and move on.

Sure it's sad to leave your other friends behind, but waiting 90 minutes is even sadder. That's almost all of my playing time in the evening.

tralkar

19-11-2008, 03:34 PM

turn on wow, go take a dump and shower also grab some food. Theres a lot you can do before playing? might be a pain but it helps

jschild

19-11-2008, 03:43 PM

What? You're not serious? I didn't get the memo on this, oh wait this is obvious... moving on

Refer to my previous posts

Blizzard should never have let the servers get to this sort of capacity in the first place... It is their problem and they should fix it. People that have been on the realm a month should now been given a number of other realms as alternatives or one should be picked for them automatically... Anywho, I just hope that the same thing happens to your realm jschild and we'll see exactly what view you take when it does :)

I pick low population servers for a reason. I have transferred before, with TBC. I'm also sorry that Blizzard cannot see the future and know exactly how many people might come back to a server when an expansion is launched.

They don't just keep on taking and taking more people, but if they have a very large influx of returning subscribers, they have to accept them. If you are experiencing 90 min waits, I would highly recommend talking with your guild about moving the entire guild to the new server. The same with your friends. That would make the transition much, much easier. Because you are not the only person with a 90 min wait. If you have it, the rest of the guild does. Talk to them and spread the word and move the guild. That would be the best solution.

falinx

19-11-2008, 04:41 PM

I pick low population servers for a reason. I have transferred before, with TBC. I'm also sorry that Blizzard cannot see the future and know exactly how many people might come back to a server when an expansion is launched.

They don't just keep on taking and taking more people, but if they have a very large influx of returning subscribers, they have to accept them. If you are experiencing 90 min waits, I would highly recommend talking with your guild about moving the entire guild to the new server. The same with your friends. That would make the transition much, much easier. Because you are not the only person with a 90 min wait. If you have it, the rest of the guild does. Talk to them and spread the word and move the guild. That would be the best solution.

..
**sigh**

jschild

19-11-2008, 04:49 PM

I'm sorry if you just want to vent. I'm suggesting a real alternative. If everyone in your guild has 90 min waits, they can either live with that, or try to move to another server. Or your friends who are suffering the same wait, try to get them to move to anotehr server.

Or wait it out and it will return to more normal levels in a couple months.

Besides quitting those are your only real options.

EDIT:
And its amazing that if its just the SoS, why are there 90 min waits? Why is the game selling like hotcakes? Why are so many people posting in these forums how much they are enjoying the game again?

I think its more that you haven't been happy with WoW for a while and just needed a final push to get you to quit the game. Hopefully you can find another one that fits your needs. I wish you well on that.

Etrin

19-11-2008, 05:11 PM

It is pittiful that buzzards first reply to queues was we have decided to maintain the original monthly pricing.
It sounded if they were talking, to fix this mess pay more. HELL less than a few cents of your monthly fee money goes to anything but profit now.
YEP we have a mess... heck I am on a med pop server and I get 1 - 3 minute queues during the early evening.

They could just put up more servers but then that might cost them a buck....NO WAY

Of course I am sure I will get flamed...I have spoken about god.

Twoflower

19-11-2008, 05:45 PM

there are options. If you realy want to play, use them. if you just want to cry, do it on the official forums please.

jschild

19-11-2008, 06:06 PM

How on earth is a 1-3 min queue a real problem?

Also, you do know Blizzard's population has been steady (though slowly increasing) for a long time now. Any massive jump (which is what seems to have happened) will require Blizzard to respond by making new servers that cost millions of dollars and time to invest in. You do not spend what would amount to 10's of millions on the chance that everyone who buys WotLK and returns to WoW will stay. If they do, you build up capacity. If they leave, you are still in good shape. BUt having to shut down servers and fire people that you didn't need in the long run is far more costly, enspecially in this fiscal enviroment.

surodat

19-11-2008, 06:36 PM

Walking into town one day, I met a man cursing at a sign on the side of the road. I stopped to ask what was wrong.

He told me that he had been walking down the road with his friends, having a great time but now he didn't want to go any further.

I asked him why.

"I hate the men that made this road, this is the worst town in the entire Country " said the man.

I asked, "How far have you come?"

"I walked across almost the entire Country,"

"Did you end up here by accident?"

"Well I kept seeing signs that told me this was where the road was going, but for the past three or four miles there were no more signs, so I thought I would be alright. Then, without warning, this sign here tells me that I'm entering this godforsaken town!"

I scratched my head. "But, " I said, "you must have known that when you repeatedly see a sign of something to come, even if it goes away for a while, that doesn't mean that the original sign was wrong. Why didn't you and your friends decide to go to a different city, one that you liked better?"

The man on the side of road punched me in the face and I decided to avoid people from then on.

/bows

clevins

19-11-2008, 06:47 PM

This happened with TBC to. People all logged in for a while. Soon the people who like to level but don't like endgame will stop logging on much, etc. It will go away in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile QUIT WHINING. You little babies who complain about blizzard being greedy? Please give your paycheck back. Because unless you work for a non-profit or the government that money comes from greed, er, profits. Stop the crap about lawsuits etc, it's a GAME. And if you've really been playing it for 3 years, you'll remember this from TBC launch and a whole lot more server instability. I've seen 2 server restarts since launch. I used to see that many per hour in TBC for the first couple of weeks.

And yes, I deal with queues on my server. It's call planning - I login, go start dinner.

jschild

19-11-2008, 06:56 PM

Hehe....

I remember doing that many years ago just to get logged onto AOL dial up. Would redial 30min just so I could check email and surf.

elsegundo

19-11-2008, 07:01 PM

Etrin

19-11-2008, 07:11 PM

1-3 min queue a real problem

I did not say it was a problem I said it because how in the heck can a medium population server have queues?

I understand now how a high population server can have 90 minute queues.
Millions for a new server...don't get me started.

Even if it was, they are sure as heck not doing any where near the $15 a month they are charging people.
Check your facts they even admitted that they are not spending hardly anything from the monthly fees. ( check the article where they stated their first plans were NO monthly fees, they admit it ...its not made up or some super secret info )

jschild

19-11-2008, 07:19 PM

Etrin, please stop.

They said they thought about it, but they could not pull off what they wanted to do with a free model. Why? Because there is absolutely no such thing as a free model.

"Free Models" get their money from micro-transactions. Others, like Guild Wars made their money by frequent expansions that generated their revenue.

My facts are straight. I would much prefer to pay $15 a month than deal with people simply paying real cash for gold, gear, and other perks that require nothing but money to get. That is NOT the same as saying they don't need the $15 a month to pay for development, expansions, servers, employees, and infrastructure which you seem to be implying.

A medium population server that has 90-100% of its population logging in at the same time will run into a queue. A high population server doing the same results in 90 min waits.

Again this is a temporary issue that will go away in less than a month except for possibly very high population servers and those people need to seriously consider moving to another server, enspecially if it is offered for free.

TPMdm

19-11-2008, 08:46 PM

.....
Blizzard should never have let the servers get to this sort of capacity in the first place... It is their problem and they should fix it. People that have been on the realm a month should now been given a number of other realms as alternatives or one should be picked for them automatically... Anywho, I just hope that the same thing happens to your realm jschild and we'll see exactly what view you take when it does :)

Dismissing jschild's question by restating your premise doesn't progress the discussion. He asked if you would have blizzard start randomly kicking people off the server (or even the ones who joined "last"). The fact remains that once a server has a population that is "too high" there isn't much blizzard can realistically do. Offering free transfers is probably the best option they have. If you don't want to take advantage of it then pray that enough other people do so that your experience may be improved. Interesting. Instead of being proactive and taking blizzard up on their offer you get all passive/agressive and come *****ing on a forum......

(edit)
One more point. The only thing that actually distinguishes one server from another is the population. The Arthas I eventually kill will be the exact same as the one you eventually kill will be the exact same as the one twntyfithnovember (or whatever SK/nihilim call themselves) eventually kill. The ONLY difference will be the people who you do it with (in the specific encounter and server population in general). Seems to me you don't like the population on your server enough.

Cattleya

19-11-2008, 09:06 PM

Not too long before the expansion, I transferred from a medium pop server to a high one. Even before the xpac, it a 5-10 minute queue was not unheard of.

With the expansion, queues of 1-2 hours at peak are not unusual, and you can wait 30 minutes even later in the evening.

Do I have any intention of taking a free transfer? Hell no. A high pop server with a healthy horde population has so many advantages to it and a lot more opportunities for end game. Yes, there are disadvantages. Queues, more competition for mobs, and stuff being overfarmed are some of those.

As for queues, I used to come home and spend an hour or so hanging out with family, eating dinner, and generally just relaxing. Now, I get home, log into WoW, and then do that other stuff while waiting in the queue.

Although to be honest, the queue is already going down quite a bit, and I've been able to get on at peak time in less than 30 minutes (and others are reporting the same.)

If your schedule is such that you can't plan around the queue, then your options are to wait it out or transfer. If neither of those options appeal to you, then perhaps it really is time to stop playing.

Sometimes we do stuff that is supposed to be recreational beyond the point where we are having fun. In many cases we don't even realize that we aren't having fun, and it takes something like this to show us. Bottom line, if you are having fun playing WoW, find a way to make it work. If you aren't, it's time to move on.

Remember though, most of us are here because we are still having fun with the game, so we probably aren't the most sympathetic crowd for someone who isn't. We'd much rather try to figure out how to solve your "not-fun" problem than see you quit altogether.

Annub

19-11-2008, 09:26 PM

I was discussing this in guild chat saturday night. On our server (shadowsong europe) I have seen a 20 minute queue once and so have some of the guildies.

We were wondering if blizzard had essentially throttled the number of people allowed on the server so it did not crash. Funnily enough the last few days the server has ran much smoother since this change.

Mazhulsage

19-11-2008, 09:27 PM

From page 1: "the universal rule has always been "last in, first out" and it seems blizzard is not enforcing this."

Actually, having worked in the food industry nearly all my life, the universal rule is first in, first out. The oldest thing put on the shelf should be the first thing to go (as long as it isn't gross by then). Just had to throw that in there, lol...

clevins

19-11-2008, 09:37 PM

MixiMan

20-11-2008, 12:05 AM

And remember. Blizzard is going to balance servers around typical loads, not exceptional ones. If they sized servers to handle the highest loads, those servers would be overkill at most times. For 'overkill' read 'a waste of millions of dollars.'

Could they force transfer people? Sure. Now what if you were one of the people force-transferred. Ripped away from your guild and friends, not allowed to play with them anymore. And they should do that because for 2-4 weeks whiny people will complain about the queue? Really?

I don´t know if it was intentional but i love the SNL reference...Really??

It all comes down to choice at this point i would think. "don't like your position?", "don't like what you get for your money?"

There really is just one answer: If you really don't like what you are doing, either stop doing it, or come up with some way of improving your current situation.

I skipped some steps in my reasoning to keep it short. I even left out the offensive conclusion....

prion

20-11-2008, 02:33 AM

my server has similar queue times, I am surprised that so few other are having the same problem.

I get it started and then go do the dishes or whatever.

what I like is when I do get on it is completely playable, just like normal.

elsegundo

20-11-2008, 02:46 AM

we are discussing FIFO, LIFO and other forms of accounting madness? what?

mesonm

20-11-2008, 06:07 AM

Transfer to another server?

They are offering these to many people for free.

I personally haven't seen a single queue.

Laughing Skull has recently had queues or over 800, lasting almost an hour to get in.

Shellar

20-11-2008, 11:31 AM

The problem is that there are too many players on the realm in question.

The solution is to transfer some of the players to another realm.

It is up to each individual player to determine whether they want to be a part of the solution or a part of the problem.

elsegundo

20-11-2008, 06:38 PM

clevins

20-11-2008, 06:51 PM

i would see more people transfering if they got a 30-day or 45-day return policy. in 45 days, if you dont like your new server, you should be able to return to your old one for free.

some will return. but by then, queues shouldnt be too bad.

I can only see 2 kinds of players transferring even with that in place - players with few ties to their current server (new players, players who aren't in a guild or aren't tied to it by history or personal relationships) and whole guilds. And, mostly, these will be less experienced players as anyone who was around for TBC launch will remember that this happened then, people freaked out, swore at Blizzard and... in a couple of weeks it went away.

elsegundo

21-11-2008, 02:41 AM

what is the population cap for a server anyway?

Pharoahe

21-11-2008, 02:52 AM

IMO this is just a whine fest. My realm had 1 hour lines too, but its already cleared up. I think its ridiculous to suggest they upgrade their servers for a problem they get for 1 week every 2 years.
Youve been playing WoW for 3 years OP, and your bored. We get that, its fair enough. But stop whining. This is like a couple going through a slow divorce, you really cant expect your friends to side with either side, if they're friends with both. So really we dont want to hear the whining.

and Etrin please stop trolling. your "buzzard" joke was awful the first 10 times you said it...

waflob

21-11-2008, 08:23 AM

I think its ridiculous to suggest they upgrade their servers for a problem they get for 1 week every 2 years.

Reading this just gave me a weird thought. Check the requirements for the original WoW and compare them to WotLK. Seems like Blizz have no problems expecting us to upgrade our equipment ...

Also, hardware is cheap these days - it's the software and personnel that is expensive. If Blizz add a few extra processors and ram to a system, it doesn't cost any more in personnel to keep the upgraded machine running. Last time I looked ram cost about 15 Euros per gig. Hardly going to break their bank, is it?

Like i said - just a weird thought ...

DelBoy

jschild

21-11-2008, 02:09 PM

Ummm.....They don't set up crappy little personal servers.

I'm quite sure their servers are heavy duty mainframes using the best commercial equipment they can buy. To make a new server they wont "add a few extra processors and ram to a system" and they will have to hire more personel to run that new server.

I think you don't understand the difference between the servers that people use in their homes and a true commercial server.

http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2007/12/computer-server.jpg

surodat

21-11-2008, 05:39 PM

Read This (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/technology/business-computing/18super.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

And then ask blizzard to add a little more ram to their servers.

Pharoahe

21-11-2008, 05:42 PM

Reading this just gave me a weird thought. Check the requirements for the original WoW and compare them to WotLK. Seems like Blizz have no problems expecting us to upgrade our equipment ...

Also, hardware is cheap these days - it's the software and personnel that is expensive. If Blizz add a few extra processors and ram to a system, it doesn't cost any more in personnel to keep the upgraded machine running. Last time I looked ram cost about 15 Euros per gig. Hardly going to break their bank, is it?

Like i said - just a weird thought ...

DelBoy

LMAO
do you seriously thing Blizz are using 300 Euro Dells? :grin::grin::grin:

Mazhulsage

21-11-2008, 07:20 PM

They said that the "top of the line" machines were 100 million dollars.

Not to mention, Blizzard makes... I dunno... 165 million dollars a month just purely from WoW. Blizzard has stated (and it's been on this website) that since WoW was released they've spent a grand total of like, 20 million dollars or something. Grand total, that's commercials, online ads, paying employees, etc etc etc. IMO, they can afford a few more super computers.

surodat

21-11-2008, 07:24 PM

jschild

21-11-2008, 07:30 PM

http://en.gamers.com/news/view_2117.html

The memory does play tricks. Blizzard has spent 200 million simply on upkeep. That does not include development costs which would be likewise huge. Also, a large portion of that money goes to support Blizzard as a whole, including other development costs.

Then we have marketing which probably by now has amounted to a couple hundred million.

And new servers represent a significant inventment that generally needs to have need proven before investment.

Mazhulsage

22-11-2008, 03:27 AM

=P Fine, let's say they've used a grand total of 1 billion dollars now... That's still about 5 billion unaccounted for. Even if you say they've spent 3 billion, which is HIGHLY exaggerated, that's still 3 billion missing, and sure they spend stuff on new stuff but I was including that in the 3 billion so... Honestly, come on.

prion

22-11-2008, 04:00 AM

they've been funneling it to Area 51

waflob

22-11-2008, 03:47 PM

Seems like a few people wanted to deliberately miss the point ...

LMAO
do you seriously thing Blizz are using 300 Euro Dells? :grin::grin::grin:

I think you don't understand the difference between the servers that people use in their homes and a true commercial server.

Read This (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/technology/business-computing/18super.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

And then ask blizzard to add a little more ram to their servers.

Gosh - I thought Blizz ran their systems on recycled 286 pcs ...

Seriously, the point I was trying to make was that Blizzard has increased the system requirements for us. This makes me wonder why the same doesn't apply to them.

Also (and I can't justify this at the moment), I was under the impression (read it somewhere?) that they actually use blade farms, which doesn't use exotic hardware.

Finally, it is a common commercial practice to increase server capacity to deal with short term load requirements. Often this is done with extra servers running in parallel, with load balancers. Once the peak has dipped, the extra server(s) can be removed, or left to improve redundancy.

Alternatively, I've just critisized Blizz and should therefore be ignored, as I obviously have no idea about anything ...

DelBoy

jschild

22-11-2008, 03:55 PM

Seems like a few people wanted to deliberately miss the point ...

Gosh - I thought Blizz ran their systems on recycled 286 pcs ...

Seriously, the point I was trying to make was that Blizzard has increased the system requirements for us. This makes me wonder why the same doesn't apply to them.

Also (and I can't justify this at the moment), I was under the impression (read it somewhere?) that they actually use blade farms, which doesn't use exotic hardware.

Finally, it is a common commercial practice to increase server capacity to deal with short term load requirements. Often this is done with extra servers running in parallel, with load balancers. Once the peak has dipped, the extra server(s) can be removed, or left to improve redundancy.

Alternatively, I've just critisized Blizz and should therefore be ignored, as I obviously have no idea about anything ...

DelBoy

No you just implied they should buy super cheap off the shelf desktop memory and a few normal processors and everything would be fine.

Upgrading and maintaining servers are not done in knee jerk reactions. I would not be surprised if Blizz gets more servers up and running, but it takes time to do that and to do it right.

Investing in new hardware for new servers is a costly expense, one that blizzard most likely is not running blindly into. They will probably wait a month to see what is going on before making any decisions.

And as many people have stated, queue's are getting shorter and shorter on many peoples servers. That also lets Blizzard know where to focus their resources on. So I won't be surprised to see no new US servers, but some in Europe/Russia/China.

clevins

22-11-2008, 08:14 PM

Waflob,

If you want to make a point, make it. Your first post made me think you had no clue about server issues, your second is actually making the same point but much better. Criticism is fine, but what wears is ignorant criticism or whining. In other words, we don't deliberatly miss the point, we take you at your word. It's up to you or any other poster to make the point you want to make. What's the to misinterpret when you say:

Also, hardware is cheap these days - it's the software and personnel that is expensive. If Blizz add a few extra processors and ram to a system, it doesn't cost any more in personnel to keep the upgraded machine running. Last time I looked ram cost about 15 Euros per gig. Hardly going to break their bank, is it?

Also, did you see that they sold 2.8 MILLION copies in 24 hours? They probably sold at least 1-2 million more over the weekend.

I actually don't think their servers were overloaded though. ON Alleria we've seen a steep dropoff in queues, from hundreds to nothing or a few. It's possible a few guilds transferred, but I have to wonder if what was happening was that they constrained the number of people who could log in so that the game ran well. I was very surprised at the low latency, the lack of lag and the stability. Yeah, the server went down a couple of times, but it was WAY better than the TBC launch when Outland went up and down every hour or so. The fact that it went from a large queue to virtually none overnight feels more like the increased the cap on the number of characters allowed on the server.

Mazhulsage

22-11-2008, 10:58 PM

Exactly my point, 4 million or so sold in about 2 weeks most likely, and at 40-50 dollars each game... Yeah, they totally can't afford new super computers, roight?

jschild

22-11-2008, 11:27 PM

You do know that it takes time to buy new equipment (that they most likely don't need), hire the people to set it up (or pay more overtime during which they are already probably having everyone work overtime), and get it all running, while overseeing the launch of the fastest selling pc game of all time which is an expansion to the largest MMO of all time.

The point we have repeatedly made... is why purchase extra server capicity when there is zero proof that any is needed at all except for maybe 1 week or 2?

TPMdm

23-11-2008, 01:09 AM

I don't understand the dual fixation of "Blizzard should upgrade their servers" and "blizzards p0wns all bank accounts!"

They are basically separate issues. However much Blizzard makes (i.e. profit) on WoW is entirely independent of how much they decided to reinvest in WoW. I don't care if Blizzard makes 10 Trillion Dollars a second if it doesn't make sense to upgrade servers they shouldn't do it. By similar reasoning why should "all that money" Blizzard makes on WoW be reinvested solely in WoW? Besides Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, the future expansions of WoW, there is also Blizzard's unannounced project and their "other" MMO. I want to see all of these products become best in class and if my subs go to that I'm happy.

Mazhulsage

23-11-2008, 07:49 AM

Yes, they may have other things being made, but honestly, you can just about NEVER spend 2 billion dollars a year no matter what.

TPMdm

23-11-2008, 09:32 AM

Yes, they may have other things being made, but honestly, you can just about NEVER spend 2 billion dollars a year no matter what.

Do you know how easily a corporation can spend 2 billion dollars a year? Even if they didn't spend every penny who says they have have to spend ANY of it (haven't we learned in recent month that saving is more important than spending)? You also missed the main point that if they were to spend it there is no compelling reason for them to invest 1 penny to fix what is a short term temporary problem. As has been said before if this temporary surge in players becomes more permanent then they will invest their money in upgrading servers. If they don't and they decide to write Chris Metzen a check for 2 Billion dollars it is there money and they are free to do with it what they want.

clevins

23-11-2008, 09:43 AM

Maz... don't take this wrong but.. you work in a deli, right? So, um... what do you know about running a large corporation? $2b just isn't that much money.

Here's the basics of their finances:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=ATVI

Yes, they made about $2b last year. And had $75m in profits after all was said and done. Hell, they incurred about $100m in restructuring charges as a result of the merger.

TLDR? What seems like a ton of cash it a person isn't that much to a large corporation.

Mazhulsage

23-11-2008, 09:49 PM

So what if I work in a Deli? My dad owned a business, and started from the ground up and was making a good amount of money, he was also a corporation. Gj at knowing nothing about me and making an assumption =P.

waflob

24-11-2008, 10:20 AM

This will be my last post in this thread (yippee, I hear). It seems that we will have to agree to disagree. I know that it takes time to set stuff up, involves costs etc etc etc.

However, it also takes time to manufacture and market the expansion dvds. They found the time and resources to do that, so they knew how many units would be shipping, knew how many units were on pre-order. If they didn't anticipate the numbers of people using the service, even though they knew all of the above, then that doesn't exactly speak highly of their collective intelligence. (image in my mind is some dumb executive saying "Yes, I know we shipped and sold over 2 million copies, but I never expected anyone to actually USE them !!"

Also, we have regular weekly mainainence. That is the time to add capacity to the existing servers. And no, it doesn't take more staff to operate a server because there is more ram, or extra processors in it. You only need to add them, and I'm sure they have those staff in place already. It does take more electricity, but I've never heard that as a reason. (edit: forgot to add - could also incur extra licence costs)

I agree 100% that just because project X makes money, doesn't mean that project X will see any of that money. It all goes into a big pot called Blizzard, to be used as they see fit.

Just because the rollout of TBC was a total disaster (exaggerated, I know), and this rollout was not that sort of disaster, doesn't make this rollout right.

Bottom line for me is that they knew the figures well in advance, but didn't do enough to make it work perfectly. I have, over the years, developed a certain expectation of what the quality of Blizzard products should be. I actually care enough to want it to be flawless. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be playing.

Signing out of this thread

DelBoy

Twoflower

24-11-2008, 01:37 PM

why purchase extra server capicity when there is zero proof that any is needed at all except for maybe 1 week or 2?

this is the answer to the entire thread. case closed.

ptarn

24-11-2008, 03:24 PM

But, as someone said before... Why SHOULD Blizzard spend the money they earn with WoW sales and monthly fees on ANYTYHING? Heck, if they want to burn it, or eat it or use it as toilet paper, so what? It's not ours anymore, it's THEIRS and if they want to fold origami birds from it and throw them from high buildings, that's their decision to make. If they don't implement new servers, that's their decision. If they decide to up the price for the fees, that's their choice. If they want to give all of their WoW developers a 100.000 dollar bonus for helping with developing the game, that's their choice. If they want to buy big chain saws and hack every last server to bits, that's THEIR CHOICE.

Need I go on?

I choose to pay a monthly fee to play the game, that's MY CHOICE. I could also stop playing. Again, MY CHOICE. No one tells me what to do with my money, do they? Why should we assume to 'tell' Blizzard what we would expect them to do with THEIR MONEY?

I rest my case. ;-)

elsegundo

24-11-2008, 06:22 PM

blizz isnt going to add more ram. deal with it and either dont play, or take a server transfer. geezus people.

Pharoahe

25-11-2008, 02:24 AM

People act like Blizz don't have to answer to Activision & Shareholders.

"So why did you spend $300 mill on new super computers"
"cos people were whining they couldnt log in for an hour"

This whole argument is invalidated by the fact that my realm has gone from 30 mins waits, to ZERO waits in the space of a week. I think there is some truth in the fact that Blizz was purposely letting less people in at once so that the launch could go smoothly. It did.
Waiting sucks. But not as much as not waiting but not actually being able to play due to server problems.