swtor - launch day - how was it?

[Maniac2]

I wasnt at launch, started in Jan, so can anyone tell how was servers population at launch and few days after?
Were all servers full or standard which would give reason for so many of them now?

[voidillusion]

I wasnt at launch, started in Jan, so can anyone tell how was servers population at launch and few days after?
Were all servers full or standard which would give reason for so many of them now?

The servers were all full and with queues.

At first they increased the pop limit (was still too low but that's another issue) then they were "forced" to create more servers wich also got full pretty fast.

[Deleted]

They were full, for the first month or so, then they rapidly declined. To the point where they actually changed what value "triggered" the full message, so the servers wouldn't look as empty.

[Maniac2]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

[Shadylol]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

No, it's BioWare's fault for making a game that people would quit after two weeks

They could open up a million Servers, and each of them be 100% full to capacity when the game is new, but for an MMO that just doesn't matter a couple weeks down the road. An MMO needs staying power, and SWTOR simply doesn't have that

[Odegon]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

yes it actually is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p73PZIDQuA

[voidillusion]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

Yes and no.

Some claim that they set the treshold too low at start creating artificial full servers when the servers could handle more.

I tend to agree with this because despite being nicely populated at start by no means they were Full comparing the other MMOs definition of full.

[Rellitan]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

Correct. Within a few weeks after the initial rush died down, or people realized it wasn't the game for them, whether it was the bugs, finishing class stories, leveling a toon or two, or the lack of the million things to do at endgame people have become accustomed to, the pops started to dwindle.

My guild had early access placement and got stuck on one of the servers that died a slow death - in hindsight, it was probably an expansion server. Since then, I've taken a few-month break from the game, but recently came back and retooled to a heavy pop server. I'm much happier now.

[Alvito]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

Only 500 ppl could be on a server at a time they screwed up badly with that. In a lack of foresight move they made a short term issue, log in queues and server population caps, into a long term problem that has helped ruin the game. Seeing how very shortlly after turning the extra serveers they raised the cap to 2000, they should have just held off and not made the 100 plus servers that they now have.

It often seems like they dont ask the questions of what will or might happen down the road. There often seems to be little to no long term planning going on or anybody asking how this will effect us down the line.

[Tekkommo]

So, its actually isnt BW fault for making too many servers at start like ppl were saying on forums? They were forced to do it with huge influx of ppl...

At launch they put ridiculous caps on the server. They increased them slightly on a daily basis I think, being overly cautious.

I do understand why they did this though, the engine is a piece of crap and lags if there is more than 8 people in 1 area.

[freelapdance]

Honestly they handled it pretty well. The only problems I had was that they stuck all the premade guilds on the same server. So said server had crazy queues. Other one being that there was not much clarification of who was getting in on what wave. But then again end game was just terrible so. Doesn't matter how good a launch is when the content is just meh.

[snowcrash512]

SWTOR servers are NOT WoW servers, they cant hold even a quarter of what a WoW server can handle, so thats what caused such big issues early on.

[moff]

long ques for several weeks because they tried to force people on other severy by creating an artifical limit to the high pop servers. that would have been a good launch if the game had been incredibly successful, too bad its not. those servers are all almost completely empty by now, making the few people on them unsubbing, too because of the lack of server transfer. so all in all those qeues back then were for nothing and more players would be happy today and probably more would still be playing. I guess that makes the launch a fail from todays point of view. but back then they were still optimistic you cant really blame them.

[Ghosty]

Yes and no.

Some claim that they set the treshold too low at start creating artificial full servers when the servers could handle more.

I tend to agree with this because despite being nicely populated at start by no means they were Full comparing the other MMOs definition of full.

Bioware themselves admitted that they were initially keeping server populations low and spreading folks out to other servers. This was their mistake. They opened too many servers, and after the MMO sight seers moved on after their initial month of game time, many of the servers that were added late in the launch are ghost towns. They really need to allow people on those servers to move, so as to condense the population on to fewer servers with high populations. I read that there are over 200 servers, they could probably cut that number in half and many of the issues people have with the game would disappear (unable to find groups, long pvp queues, etc.).

They game is not for everyone, but they can easily keep a customer base of a million plus if they condense the population and continue to add content and features.

[Doylez]

I remember sitting in a 3 hour queue and when I finally got on the server there was barely anyone on it. There were just a couple of guys leveling in the starter zone which is very weird for a MMO that just launched.
And that "is this really a Multiplayer game?" feeling never really changed after that, I've rarely seen more than 5 players on my screen while leveling to maxlevel (outside of fleet ofc).

[Parrin]

Launch day was pretty awesome. Full disclosure, I was on the first day of early release. Plenty of requests to join a group on the starter planets. Plenty of people (10-20) waiting outside of Black Talon and Esseles. TONS of guild invites. And all kinds of offers to help. You just had to send one request for info, and you usually had 2 or 3 replies within a minute. The only starter planet that I could find myself alone was Ord Mantel, but it never lasted long.

The only issue was with the server shards. I logged on with a friend, and had to spend about 20 minutes figuring out what to do in the map screen to put us on the same shard. Thankfully, there were plenty of folks who had already gone through this, and I was able to get directions in chat.

[Dakia]

I was in early access so launch day went pretty smooth for me. I also didn't target one of the heavy servers since I had found a guild to play with on another fansite. Overall, server stability and the launch was pretty smooth. The downside was that their server caps where to low and people flocked to the heavy servers thinking it was the same as WoW and there were a ton of people there. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case until the raised the population caps later on.

They were full, for the first month or so, then they rapidly declined. To the point where they actually changed what value "triggered" the full message, so the servers wouldn't look as empty.

This change actually had the opposite effect. When the increased the caps, medium servers became low and full became medium.

I remember sitting in a 3 hour queue and when I finally got on the server there was barely anyone on it. There were just a couple of guys leveling in the starter zone which is very weird for a MMO that just launched.
And that "is this really a Multiplayer game?" feeling never really changed after that, I've rarely seen more than 5 players on my screen while leveling to maxlevel (outside of fleet ofc).

What you likely dealt with there, given that you weren't in early access, was faction imbalance coupled with early access people being farther ahead and power leveling.

[RoninaThorstone]

I wasnt at launch, started in Jan, so can anyone tell how was servers population at launch and few days after?
Were all servers full or standard which would give reason for so many of them now?

smoothest launch Ive ever been a part of.

[Raeli]

I was in early access so launch day went pretty smooth for me. I also didn't target one of the heavy servers since I had found a guild to play with on another fansite. Overall, server stability and the launch was pretty smooth. The downside was that their server caps where to low and people flocked to the heavy servers thinking it was the same as WoW and there were a ton of people there. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case until the raised the population caps later on.

This change actually had the opposite effect. When the increased the caps, medium servers became low and full became medium.


What you likely dealt with there, given that you weren't in early access, was faction imbalance coupled with early access people being farther ahead and power leveling.

I got in on the first or second (can't remember now) day of Early Access, and also only ever were on a planet with maybe 5 other players. Our server never reached full, but it was one of the launch servers. They did launch with way too many servers, but they are learning hopefully it seems. I just hope that it doesn't turn out to be too late.

[WarpedAcorn]

smoothest launch Ive ever been a part of.

This. The launch was almost flawless. Some people experienced queues to log in that ranged from a few minutes to an hour, but the server stability was the best I've ever seen for a new MMO.