XIV:ARR Halts Sales to Help Fix Server Issues

This particularly goes out to the apologists and people who say "its an mmo launch, what do you expect?"

If we, collectively, stopped making excuses for companies, and instead held them to a higher standard, no one would ever say "its an mmo launch."

Because mmo publishers would know that even on day one, their customers wouldn't put up with this mess. Have your servers and data centers in place, and stress tested for longer than 3 days before any start of early service.

This comes straight out of that entitlement mentality mixed with a good dose of ignorance. Like comma said, it would be ridiculous for them to build spend so much money to set up servers for a one-time ultra load that will unlikely last more than the first 2-3 weeks of the launch of the game. It's like buying 10 gallons of milk at the store just in case you might need them all before the next trip to the store when it's very likely you won't and they will just expire, wasting money.

People make this argument without understanding (or caring) how the business and logistics end works. It's pretty much the same with early or day-one DLC. People don't realize that there is a point that production on the launch game has to be finalized to go into printing discs and that the team may have time between that finalization and the launch to make additional content that couldn't possible be put on the disc. There's also the issue that the numbers tell them that most DLC gets bought close to launch by people who chew through the content and want me. If you wait months, less people care.

I guess a devil's advocate position would be that an MMO could potentially maintain more subs if they did account for huge numbers early on, but I really doubt that's the case in reality. The people who leave and claim downtime in the first month was an issue would've likely left anyway. Even if there is significant downtime in that first outing, there was probably enough up time for them to get a taste as see if they liked it.

They probably didn't and that's why they are leaving, or they are the type of serial MMOist who plays all the MMOs, but only for about 1 or 2 months. These were never long-term subs to be counted as a loss. So the ROI for server overkill just isn't there.

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

This comes straight out of that entitlement mentality mixed with a good dose of ignorance. Like comma said, it would be ridiculous for them to build spend so much money to set up servers for a one-time ultra load that will unlikely last more than the first 2-3 weeks of the launch of the game. It's like buying 10 gallons of milk at the store just in case you might need them all before the next trip to the store when it's very likely you won't and they will just expire, wasting money.

C'mon, do you really believe what you're saying? Really? Sure you want to take into account that after x weeks/months your audience is going to be lower (*), but we're in early access, with even less players than you'll have during the first few weeks of release, and yet the whole na/eu platform is crippled. What is it going to be after the floodgates are open, then? There'll be even more strain on the instance servers, because they are used left and right and center due to all the quests that require spawning a mini instance of the map and the forced dungeon runs for quests, and having people in early will do nothing to alleviate that. What letting people in earlier does, though, is help spread them over zones, the regular outworld ones, which so far behave a lot more like they should compared to anything instanced.

Worse, you're submitting the most enthusiastic players (the pre-ordering ones, who give you money before you release your product) to the crap of copy-pasted maintenance excuses, who, instead of being thrilled and recommending the game, will be disappointed (or worse) and recommend others to wait until the fad's over (or actively tell them to forget it).

Right now, the whole instance infrastructure is under-scaled and unable to cope with the load of just early access, to the point they actively prevent players from even logging in the NA/EU servers. When I log in and I fail to get the server list, even though it's up and others are playing, it's not a weird connection problem, it's SE throttling very aggressively who gets to enter.

What annoys me the most though, is not just that it doesn't bode well for the next two weeks, it's that it feels like SE wasting a perfectly good system, and world, and even mechanics. Instancing key parts of quests is a bloody good idea, but if you can't make your hardware cope with it, dammit, you deserve pissed off fans.

People make this argument without understanding (or caring) how the business and logistics end works. It's pretty much the same with early or day-one DLC. People don't realize that there is a point that production on the launch game has to be finalized to go into printing discs and that the team may have time between that finalization and the launch to make additional content that couldn't possible be put on the disc. There's also the issue that the numbers tell them that most DLC gets bought close to launch by people who chew through the content and want me. If you wait months, less people care.

Amusingly, one of the biggest companies to produce a MMO (guess which) has the guts to flat out can a game and cancel it, or can a game and restart it from scratch, or delay a game/major patch until it's polished, because sometimes, you have to take the time, and sometimes, it just won't work and half-baking it is worse for your reputation than coming out and admitting it was a failure. And while it could be said of that company in the past that "patch day no play", that was 8 years ago, and it was most often fixed by the day after. Surely SE could learn from theirs and others' mistakes?

I guess a devil's advocate position would be that an MMO could potentially maintain more subs if they did account for huge numbers early on, but I really doubt that's the case in reality. The people who leave and claim downtime in the first month was an issue would've likely left anyway. Even if there is significant downtime in that first outing, there was probably enough up time for them to get a taste as see if they liked it.

(*) It feels to me like a weird business model where you expect high first day sales but not to loyalize your user base and instead rely on lack of caring and/or frustration to cull it to levels you can manage (levels which seem to be at "lower than the number of early accesses we have now"). Surely a high-audience of loyal players is better than a medium audience of loyal players, but it feels like they don't even care or don't even try. (Point in case being the number of servers : 25 for NA/EU, 25 for JP(/AUS) when the sales as of Aug 10 are 560k for NA+EU and 180k for the rest of the world. EU alone has more units sold than JP, but has to play on servers located in NA/JP)

They probably didn't and that's why they are leaving, or they are the type of serial MMOist who plays all the MMOs, but only for about 1 or 2 months. These were never long-term subs to be counted as a loss. So the ROI for server overkill just isn't there.

Just because some failure situation is common place doesn't make it okay, be it us accepting that "oh it's usual release issues" when you'd return that laptop within the day if it behaved like the servers do or them (MMO makers at large) not trying to find new ideas that will make serial MMOers want to stay.

Originally Posted by comma

Why would they build their server structure based on the first couple days of launch? Silly.

Because servers are leasable, which lets them return them to whoever they leased them from if it turns out they didn't need as many servers after all. As long as they build server software that is scalable, and lets them increase or decrease the amount of hardware in use depending on what they need in the future, which is a very smart thing to have in mind.

The problem is that SE can't afford to have these kind of problems. ARR is already a second chance as it is, if the coming weeks after launch are going to be like this with them still having to iron out major problems with their servers, players are not gonna be happy. If they already have this many problems with the servers now, what will it be on tuesday when the non-preorder players stream in? I'm genuinely fearing for a potential disaster here. Sure, shout "you're just impatient! This is normal for MMO launches!" all you want, but angry players are angry players, and angry players will spread the word. It'll give ARR a bad reputation, which it can't afford.

SE already made a big gamble remaking this game as it is, if the second launch fails too because of angry players due to server problems, then I'm pretty sure it's game over for XIV for good. I don't even want to imagine what kind of situation SE will find themselves in if that happens. =/

I'm of the mind that it's an utter shambles, not only have I paid for the time I'm supposed to be playing (by the fact I've shelled out for a pre-order when I have a copy of the beta 4 software which would allow me to have just paid the subs instead come Tuesday) but S-E themselves cannot communicate anything! The issues might not be as bad if we knew what the hell was going on within a few minutes (or gods forgive, in advance) but not single squeak to give us an idea of what's going on. Then you've got the rate limiting, fine but let us know via the loadstone or something which worlds are being limited due to issues so we know to come back later instead of getting nonsense error messages and having to try and figure it out ourselves.

Finally the producers have said the following as of a short while a go (nearly 2 days after this all started):

[EU] Character Creation Limitation (Aug. 25)

[EU] Character Creation Limitation (Aug. 25)

Hello, this is FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Producer and Director, Yoshida.

The maximum expected population limit is nearing for each World, and unless the current World simultaneous connection amount decreases, we are unable to open release the limitation.

In case we do release the limitation, there is a high chance that the corresponding World will crash or cause issues, and we are thinking that it will be difficult for us to release it for a while. We please ask you to consider playing in a World that has a low limitation.

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause and ask to continue with your cooperation.

This just makes me worry as they SOLD OUT the collectors editions on Amazon, so the math wasn't hard to do to figure out they might get in this situation, and then come live it's going to get about 100x worse. As someone's said previously dropping in temp servers (hell Amazon cloud it?) isn't expensive compared to reputation at this point.

Also why did no-one limit the amount of characters that could be created on any one world if they knew there might be capacity limits instead of allowing them to be over subscribed?

Seriously, shambles!

Originally Posted by Ouch!

Anyone expecting any online game to work perfectly from the get-go has clearly never paid attention to any launch (go back and take a look at how atrocious World of Warcraft's launch was).

I pay attention to a lot of MMO launches, and I expected this to go fine. For the most part, MMO launches are fine. You can't compare this one to MMO's that released a decade ago. One would want to believe after a decade of this thriving genre that they wouldn't have similar problems that a 9-10 year old MMO had when it was first released.

I think making up excuses such as "Well it happened with this game and this game!" is also a pretty poor attempt at white knighting. Look at all the other MMO's in recent years (I'm talking the majority of them, by the way) that have had very minor issues at launch. So minor that you could probably just consider them smooth launches.

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

This comes straight out of that entitlement mentality mixed with a good dose of ignorance.

I'm sorry, in the real world do you just bend over and let people have their way with you when you're paying for a product or service? Early Access is something one gains from already paying for the game or spending money to pre-order it (keep in mind Legacy players are a small population compared to newer players).

So in essence, a lot of people who paid for Early Access (with no hint of it being another beta phase) just wasted their money. They were promised to be able to play the game earlier than the release date. So how are they, ignorant or not, going to keep trusting this company?

I don't know that much about server architecture and the plethora of problems that can come from it, but only having a three-day open beta to test and fix these major issues (as in, people not actually being able to play the game for long periods of time) and then just launching straight into what is essentially the release of the game that people paid money for, does not really seem like a good way to attract more customers.

MMO players as a whole are probably the most finicky video game customers you could ask for. If you look around, people look at ARR and still make comments like "The original was so bad why would anyone play this?", and these current issues are not helping.

So it doesn't matter what the problems are, what kind of procedures Square Enix need to go through in order to fix them, or how ignorant people are, angry customers are angry customers and the company can not afford to piss off any more people. Especially when critical errors (I'm not talking about queuing) preventing people from playing a game they're paying for should not​ be happening in this day and age.

Edit: And like Baloki said, the communication is absolutely appalling!

Guys, you've got it all wrong. The login screen is actually a boss. You can only progress through the game if you can find a way to beat it.

In reality, the game is really difficult. No one can complain that the Final Fantasy games are too easy now.

It appears they've pushed back the release, if the Lodestone is to be believed.

Early Access Period
August 24, 2013 (Saturday), 2:00 a.m. to August 29, 2013 (Thursday), 11:59 p.m. (PDT)

Since I believe launch was supposed to be on August 27, "Early Access" until August 29 can only mean they pushed back the release. This is really, really not a good sign.

It would be somewhat hilarious if ARR is a flop because everybody was excited and crashed the servers. But honestly, I don't think it's been too shaky of a start. I had trouble getting into an instance but I just went and did something else and it was working again before the maintenance.

I get that people are upset though. This is SE's second chance and it might feel like they're squandering it. But are MMOs even possible to launch completely perfectly? Yoshi-P and crew have performed a goddamn miracle to remake this game within the time frame they have, so I'm happy with what I've got right now.

I can see complaining at launch or a few days after, but we're still in pre-launch. As long as SE does something to make sure people aren't paying monthly for a game that isn't working, I don't see the big deal. Launch dates are pushed back all the time. Know what should have had its launch date pushed back a lot? The original FFXIV.

Originally Posted by Mirage

Originally Posted by comma

Why would they build their server structure based on the first couple days of launch? Silly.

Because servers are leasable, which lets them return them to whoever they leased them from if it turns out they didn't need as many servers after all. As long as they build server software that is scalable, and lets them increase or decrease the amount of hardware in use depending on what they need in the future, which is a very smart thing to have in mind.

Server structure ≠ number of servers.

Originally Posted by Elpizo

It appears they've pushed back the release, if the Lodestone is to be believed.

Early Access Period
August 24, 2013 (Saturday), 2:00 a.m. to August 29, 2013 (Thursday), 11:59 p.m. (PDT)

Since I believe launch was supposed to be on August 27, "Early Access" until August 29 can only mean they pushed back the release. This is really, really not a good sign.

Nope. That is about people who might get their game late due to making problems. More of a breathing room for Early Accessers whose actual game doesn't arrive right away so they have time to put in the code for the actual game.

As for the issue at hand, it does not bode well especially since this is mostly a problem with the NA/EU servers. I wonder what the level of communication between Montreal and Tokyo is and if that is hampering communication with the fanbase in general?

Originally Posted by Del Murder

I can see complaining at launch or a few days after, but we're still in pre-launch. As long as SE does something to make sure people aren't paying monthly for a game that isn't working, I don't see the big deal.

But people are paying for it, unless they're a Legacy member (of which most are not). Early Access is a bonus for people pre-ordering the game. In product development and marketing, you do not shaft your early adopters especially by making false promises.

For myself, I'm just annoyed with the lack of communication. Also, why does there need to be two separate official Twitter accounts for Final Fantasy XIV? Makes no sense.

I thought first month of subscription was free.

Is it really that hard to understand?

People are paying money to pre-order the game because they were offering an Early Access bonus. Because people are not getting a chance to play during Early Access, their money is going to waste. These people are either paying for the full game, or have put down a deposit that they can't get back.

And they did get early access.

Originally Posted by Rostum

Is it really that hard to understand?

People are paying money to pre-order the game because they were offering an Early Access bonus. Because people are not getting a chance to play during Early Access, their money is going to waste. These people are either paying for the full game, or have put down a deposit that they can't get back.

They aren't paying more for the game to have it pre-ordered than if they bought it on launch day. No money is being wasted. Early access is a bonus, not even a required service.

Once the game goes live and you start ticking down that 30 days of free game time, then you can argue that money is being wasted, but during early access that doesn't fly.

Sure, people pre-ordered hoping or expecting early access, but they literally have lost nothing from pre-ordering versus buying on launch day.

Unless pre-ordering cost more than regular ordering then those people aren't wasting any of their money. It's still bad on SE's part that they promised something to their customers and haven't yet delivered.

The whole situation is frustrating I agree.

Originally Posted by Baloki

I'm of the mind that it's an utter shambles, not only have I paid for the time I'm supposed to be playing (by the fact I've shelled out for a pre-order when I have a copy of the beta 4 software which would allow me to have just paid the subs instead come Tuesday) but S-E themselves cannot communicate anything! The issues might not be as bad if we knew what the hell was going on within a few minutes (or gods forgive, in advance) but not single squeak to give us an idea of what's going on. Then you've got the rate limiting, fine but let us know via the loadstone or something which worlds are being limited due to issues so we know to come back later instead of getting nonsense error messages and having to try and figure it out ourselves.

The communication hasn't actually been that bad and is getting a lot better really. It seems most of them time they have to wait to translate a PR statement from Japanese though.

The rate limiting and issues have all been communicated quite regularly on the Lodestone and they've posted in-game chat announcements once widespread issues have started cropping up. On day one they made the mistake of not actually putting follow-ups in chat about when maintenance was starting but they've sorted that out too.

FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone | Procedures during Periods of High Congestion (Aug. 21)

FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone | Login Limitation After Emergency Maintenance (Aug. 25): Follow-up 4

FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone | Regarding the Instance-Related Issues (Aug. 24): Follow-up 3

Heck just:

FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone | Maintenance

In general.

Originally Posted by Rostum

I pay attention to a lot of MMO launches, and I expected this to go fine. For the most part, MMO launches are fine. You can't compare this one to MMO's that released a decade ago. One would want to believe after a decade of this thriving genre that they wouldn't have similar problems that a 9-10 year old MMO had when it was first released.

I really don't know what MMO launches you've experienced but as someone who generally checks out new MMOs as and when they come out I can probably name... two... smooth launches from within the past 5 years.

SWTOR had serious queue and congestion issues at launch. GW2 in Europe was plagued with server instability for the first week or so. Neverwinter had congestion issues and instance server problems followed by the Astral Diamond market exploit which pretty much crippled the game economy and forced them to do a complete rollback of server data. TERA you were lucky if you could even login within the first week without being disconnected after 5 minutes and having to wait in a queue again. Defiance had a lot of lag and loss of data problems. Firefall which is still in "open beta" is being plagued with lag, game mechanics just stopping working completely etc.

Aye, just want to repeat what has been said earlier: You have paid nothing for early access. It is a free bonus for buying something else. You can argue the case however you like to, but it was a free bonus. The cost of the bonus is exactly £0.00 on top of the money you spent on the pre-ordering of the game. If you were a Legacy player, then you had it already and arguing that you spent money on a pre-order because of the early access is stupid because you already had early access. You could then argue "but I paid to be a Legacy member" - you paid to play the game, and you got Legacy member status for free as a bonus. Bonus, bonus, bonus.

I love that the game is doing so freaking well that it has waaaaaaaay exceeded demand.

The only things I do agree on are that they could really use an additional server or two and that the communication could be better. I want to know what they're actually intending on doing, personally, but I don't think they'll ever give us that kind of information. I want to know how far apart the supply and demand is, and what they intend on doing about it. So far they haven't detailed any intentions at all. They've said they're trying to fix it, but what about the long term ramifications of having so many people want to play the game?

The one upside of all of this is once the server populations stabilise and everything is running smoothly again, it looks pretty likely that they are going to have those remaining members stick it out with FFXIV and that FFXIV will be turning a nice profit as they hover around capacity.