Alpha 2 queues = SCAM?!?!?!?

Xeeg · August 16

OK im going off on a tangent but seriously this just freaks me out.

A year ago there were supposed to be 100k already on board for alpha 2. Now we have expected launch at 9k users?

We ain't going to get the dropoff you normally get, because its weekends only. The CCU to registered users ratio is going to be much higher than typical games for the first 3 months. Easily going to be 50k people on Oct 25th prime time trying to log in. Probably the same on Saturday Oct 26th... Maybe 30k on Sunday... But hell ain't 9k wtf?!

Then next weekend probably same thing because everyone still hyped. Could be 3-4 weekends with 30k+ users throughout 50% of the playable time.

Like maybe by February 2025 they drop down to 9k concurrent, or april or something. And I would think that is minimum users.

They said that they would whip up new realms. But shouldn't they have started with at least 10-15?

They have already said that queues will be a thing for the actual game launch, but in this case we are paying some fair cash to "test" the game, and we may just be stuck in queues the whole time.

Can you imagine the sucker that spends $120 for 7 weeks of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and is stuck in a queue EVERY WEEKEND? LOL

That would be a total scam.

Smaashley · August 16

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Riegorn · August 16

Or you know, maybe they want to stress test the servers and the queue. Create more servers is question of few minutes most likely. It is suppesed to be test, its not comfy playtime over a weekend. 120 dollars in not just for Alpha 2 Wave One, but for entire Apha 2.

Xeeg · August 16

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

Xeeg · August 16

Riegorn wrote: »

Or you know, maybe they want to stress test the servers and the queue. Create more servers is question of few minutes most likely. It is suppesed to be test, its not comfy playtime over a weekend. 120 dollars in not just for Alpha 2 Wave One, but for entire Apha 2.

Oh shit maybe I misunderstood it. So its $120 for all 3 waves?

Riegorn · August 16

Or zou know, mazbe thez want to stress test the server and the que

Xeeg wrote: »

Riegorn wrote: »

Or you know, maybe they want to stress test the servers and the queue. Create more servers is question of few minutes most likely. It is suppesed to be test, its not comfy playtime over a weekend. 120 dollars in not just for Alpha 2 Wave One, but for entire Apha 2.

Oh shit maybe I misunderstood it. So its $120 for all 3 waves?

Yes, they clarify it later in a stream, that if you buy 120 dollars key, you wont have to buy the other keys for phase 2 and phase 3.

DominusRegius · August 16

That’s why they put such a large emphasis on this isn’t a game. It’s a development test. They don’t need a bunch of people who just plan on getting on just to play a game. It’s meant to get the dedicated players who have passion for their project, people that certainly care about this games future, the ability to communicate issues etc more accurately. That way when the people who only care about having fun, can actually have fun

Smaashley · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

Riegorn wrote: »

Or you know, maybe they want to stress test the servers and the queue. Create more servers is question of few minutes most likely. It is suppesed to be test, its not comfy playtime over a weekend. 120 dollars in not just for Alpha 2 Wave One, but for entire Apha 2.

Oh shit maybe I misunderstood it. So its $120 for all 3 waves?

It's 120$ for all three phases. In other words, 120$ for ALL A2 access until launch (Betas not included)

Xeeg · August 16

DominusRegius wrote: »

That’s why they put such a large emphasis on this isn’t a game. It’s a development test. They don’t need a bunch of people who just plan on getting on just to play a game. It’s meant to get the dedicated players who have passion for their project, people that certainly care about this games future, the ability to communicate issues etc more accurately. That way when the people who only care about having fun, can actually have fun

yeah but you can have passion for the project and still not want to waste weekends upon weekends waiting in queues to play and taking naps or doing other things lol just to get in... That just sucks.

DominusRegius · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

DominusRegius wrote: »

That’s why they put such a large emphasis on this isn’t a game. It’s a development test. They don’t need a bunch of people who just plan on getting on just to play a game. It’s meant to get the dedicated players who have passion for their project, people that certainly care about this games future, the ability to communicate issues etc more accurately. That way when the people who only care about having fun, can actually have fun

yeah but you can have passion for the project and still not want to waste weekends upon weekends waiting in queues to play and taking naps or doing other things lol just to get in... That just sucks.

More than fine. I think that just means getting alpha two isn’t in your best interests. Doesn’t need to be for everyone. I’m not talking about you in general. I personally would assume the standard for someone willing to wait that long will be much higher than someone who isn’t willing to wait through queues, something that has plagued even normal releases.

Sathrago · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You are paying for access at that point. not to just use that part of the alpha. You have access to all future alpha phases from where you purchased your key.

Xeeg · August 16

DominusRegius wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

DominusRegius wrote: »

That’s why they put such a large emphasis on this isn’t a game. It’s a development test. They don’t need a bunch of people who just plan on getting on just to play a game. It’s meant to get the dedicated players who have passion for their project, people that certainly care about this games future, the ability to communicate issues etc more accurately. That way when the people who only care about having fun, can actually have fun

yeah but you can have passion for the project and still not want to waste weekends upon weekends waiting in queues to play and taking naps or doing other things lol just to get in... That just sucks.

More than fine. I think that just means getting alpha two isn’t in your best interests. Doesn’t need to be for everyone. I’m not talking about you in general. I personally would assume the standard for someone willing to wait that long will be much higher than someone who isn’t willing to wait through queues, something that has plagued even normal releases.

Yeah but much of the logic of "realm wipes" and stuff isn't the same for alpha 2. I'm sure ALL of the testers would rather have some realm wipes and mergers than wait in queues for the alpha 2. We are expecting these to get wiped already, we just want to be a part of it.

Xeeg · August 16

Sathrago wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You are paying for access at that point. not to just use that part of the alpha. You have access to all future alpha phases from where you purchased your key.

Yeah, but guaranteed everyone playing this alpha 2 doesnt care at all about realm mergers or wipes. We just want to play. Queues make no sense and are purely a negative experience.

WHIT3ROS3 · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

Riegorn wrote: »

Or you know, maybe they want to stress test the servers and the queue. Create more servers is question of few minutes most likely. It is suppesed to be test, its not comfy playtime over a weekend. 120 dollars in not just for Alpha 2 Wave One, but for entire Apha 2.

Oh shit maybe I misunderstood it. So its $120 for all 3 waves?

Yes. You misunderstood/didn't listen/didn't watch.

DominusRegius · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

Sathrago wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You are paying for access at that point. not to just use that part of the alpha. You have access to all future alpha phases from where you purchased your key.

Yeah, but guaranteed everyone playing this alpha 2 doesnt care at all about realm mergers or wipes. We just want to play. Queues make no sense and are purely a negative experience.

Do you think they’re limiting it just because they want to???? Have you never played a brand new mmo????? Again if you don’t want to wait then being a tester isn’t in your best interest. Chances are LOTS of people are going to end up waiting. Even those that have gotten in and crashed because AGAIN ITS A TEST NOT A GAME. I’m sorry but I’d much rather people with interest in actual dedicated testing get on and fight for the queue then a bunch of people people who bought alpha 2 access for 20 bucks solely because they thought they were going to get an actual game.

Again you’re paying to test an MMORPG not play one. If your only goal is “Yeah, but guaranteed everyone playing this alpha 2 doesnt care at all about realm mergers or wipes. We just want to play. Queues make no sense and are purely a negative experience.” Then this IS NOT FOR YOU AND YOU SHOULD NOT SPEND 120 bucks. You probably shouldn’t even spend the 100.
Notice the key word “playing”?

This test it to make sure the game is actually ready to let people with those intentions in.

Aszkalon · August 16

Didn't Sir Steven say there will be Three Servers,

for both West Europe - and North America ?
When i remember correctly - it was aimed that a single Server can "house" 9000 Players at the Release of the Game.

Means if the Servers "could" do that at the Start of Alpha Two - > which they likey can not - > we would have 27.000 People for West Europe who can test the "Game",

and 27.000 People for North America.

This brings up to a juicy 54.000 People for the whole Servers of the Start of Alpha Two. So jeah not even half the Testers when it is correct that i heard around the End of 2023,

that already around +123.000 People or so bought Access for Alpha Two and the Beta - to serve as Testers.

But fred' not, my Friends who will also try to log in for +10 Hours only to then get a Disconnect and everything will be in vain, (LOL)

apparently it is also said that they will plan to add additional Servers sooner or later. But i wonder how many People they will really want to test the Game all the time.

And what do i hear now ? They want People to test it "only" on Weekends ? This makes Sense as this gives dedicated Testers more time : but at the same time it makes me crack a snicker - because People waited for an Eternity for Alpha Two, only to be stuck on long Ques on Weekends and all the time in between the Weekends it means they are waiting for the Weekend again.

.

Love it that Sir Steven said it is not an Early Access, but truly a Job. However it also sounds like they want to keep programming the Game Five Days a Week -> and have People test it only Two Days a Week.

I can not possibly buy enough Popcorn to wait for the Shitstorms if that is true.

Xeeg · August 16

DominusRegius wrote: »

This test it to make sure the game is actually ready to let people with those intentions in.

So how do people test when they are waiting in queues? Your whole argument attacked a straw man and produced my exact point.

DominusRegius · August 16

Aszkalon wrote: »

Didn't Sir Steven say there will be Three Servers,

for both West Europe - and North America ?
When i remember correctly - it was aimed that a single Server can "house" 9000 Players at the Release of the Game.

Means if the Servers "could" do that at the Start of Alpha Two - > which they likey can not - > we would have 27.000 People for West Europe who can test the "Game",

and 27.000 People for North America.

This brings up to a juicy 54.000 People for the whole Servers of the Start of Alpha Two. So jeah not even half the Testers when it is correct that i heard around the End of 2023,

that already around +123.000 People or so bought Access for Alpha Two and the Beta - to serve as Testers.

But fred' not, my Friends who will also try to log in for +10 Hours only to then get a Disconnect and everything will be in vain, (LOL)

apparently it is also said that they will plan to add additional Servers sooner or later. But i wonder how many People they will really want to test the Game all the time.

And what do i hear now ? They want People to test it "only" on Weekends ? This makes Sense as this gives dedicated Testers more time : but at the same time it makes me crack a snicker - because People waited for an Eternity for Alpha Two, only to be stuck on long Ques on Weekends and all the time in between the Weekends it means they are waiting for the Weekend again. . .

Love it that Sir Steven said it is not an Early Access, but truly a Job. However it also sounds like they want to keep programming the Game Five Days a Week -> and have People test it only Two Days a Week.

I can not possibly buy enough Popcorn to wait for the Shitstorms if that is true.

If you watched todays stream on twitch you would learn that they plan on consistently increasing CCU the longer the tests go on and things are working out well. They’ve told people for years not to buy the packs with expectations to play the game or anything. If you’re buying a pack you’re buying it with intentions of TESTING when the chance comes and that means dealing with all the cons of play tests. Especially in one of the most COMPLEX genres of the gaming industry.

If people are upset about anything then that’s because they made impulsive decisions.

DominusRegius · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

DominusRegius wrote: »

This test it to make sure the game is actually ready to let people with those intentions in.

So how do people test when they are waiting in queues? Your whole argument attacked a straw man and produced my exact point.

How are they going to test if they have unlimited slots and the servers are down because they’re being overloaded. Stop being entitled and ignoring that anyone willing to be upset for the reasons you give are only upset because they seen a 5 second clip. And for some reason decided to spend 250$ to get an alpha key. Completely ignoring the years of being told not to buy a pack with the intentions of playing a game. But instead to buy one with the full intentions of being a TESTER, yes I know you want to keep ignoring that but yes it’s to test, of a game that IS NOT complete. That means dealing with ALL the cons of testing something, something that if you did not see today’s stream was made clear is NOT a game, but the alpha to a game.

I’m sorry but your whole argument ignores the reality of the issue. You want to play a game and you think because you paid 250 dollars to play a game or 100-120. You’re simply entitled to it. Like what? It’s your own fault for ignoring the years of being told not to buy a pack.

Btw if you watched today’s stream you’d learn that they plan on consistently increasing numbers throughout the test. Congratulation for being upset about something that has been an issue on every game of the genre since its creation.

Stalwart · August 16

Xeeg wrote: »

OK im going off on a tangent but seriously this just freaks me out...

It's 3k+ concurrent on 6 total servers. That is 18k+ concurrent. Server sizes will be larger. They said they will spin up more servers if needed. I think they will have to spin up more servers but I also expect long queues. All in all, I'm guessing it will be a typical MMO launch day. By weekend 2 or 3 it will settle in.

AyeveeGaming11 · August 16

DominusRegius wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

Sathrago wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You are paying for access at that point. not to just use that part of the alpha. You have access to all future alpha phases from where you purchased your key.

Yeah, but guaranteed everyone playing this alpha 2 doesnt care at all about realm mergers or wipes. We just want to play. Queues make no sense and are purely a negative experience.

Do you think they’re limiting it just because they want to???? Have you never played a brand new mmo????? Again if you don’t want to wait then being a tester isn’t in your best interest. Chances are LOTS of people are going to end up waiting. Even those that have gotten in and crashed because AGAIN ITS A TEST NOT A GAME. I’m sorry but I’d much rather people with interest in actual dedicated testing get on and fight for the queue then a bunch of people people who bought alpha 2 access for 20 bucks solely because they thought they were going to get an actual game.

Again you’re paying to test an MMORPG not play one. If your only goal is “Yeah, but guaranteed everyone playing this alpha 2 doesnt care at all about realm mergers or wipes. We just want to play. Queues make no sense and are purely a negative experience.” Then this IS NOT FOR YOU AND YOU SHOULD NOT SPEND 120 bucks. You probably shouldn’t even spend the 100.
Notice the key word “playing”?

This test it to make sure the game is actually ready to let people with those intentions in.

I agree with everything you said here. I would also like to add that the people joining A2 just for "playing" are actually slowing the game development down. They most likely are not bug reporting or actively looking to break the game. We need game breakers and testers, and as many as we can in order to speed up development. Not saying that you can't have some fun, but workers are needed.

Khronus · August 17

I'm not sure you understand at all what was said during the AMA. My suggestion would be to go back and watch it but this time don't freak out when you hear something you don't like. Listen all the way through. It will be OK and if you decide to buy into the alpha 2 to help test (not to PLAY a game but to TEST with other TESTERS), you will be able to get in.

Side note.....do you really think they want to sell these passes just for people to sit around and not help them test? Like...really?

arkileo · August 17

Steven did pretty clearly say they'd spin up new servers if needed.

That said, I think there might be some calculus in this decision. Phase 1 only has limited content (Riverlands plus some Tropics/Desert). 3k players is 1/3 of the intended final concurrent population. The land area present at the start of A2 is not 1/3 of the total end land area. So the population is going to be too large for the starting area.

You might think that the obvious solution is to just add more servers, but if they do that then we end up with the reverse situation over time. As A2 progresses, more content will be added, but the server population is only expected to decrease, so we end up with less players than intended for the area. So long term it might be better to limit the number of servers in order to maintain the appropriate number of players for the area that will eventually be developed. Then again, people might just leave because they can't get in.

Not sure what the winning answer is here, but I'm sure IS put a lot of thought into it.

Xeeg · August 17

arkileo wrote: »

Steven did pretty clearly say they'd spin up new servers if needed.

That said, I think there might be some calculus in this decision. Phase 1 only has limited content (Riverlands plus some Tropics/Desert). 3k players is 1/3 of the intended final concurrent population. The land area present at the start of A2 is not 1/3 of the total end land area. So the population is going to be too large for the starting area.

You might think that the obvious solution is to just add more servers, but if they do that then we end up with the reverse situation over time. As A2 progresses, more content will be added, but the server population is only expected to decrease, so we end up with less players than intended for the area. So long term it might be better to limit the number of servers in order to maintain the appropriate number of players for the area that will eventually be developed. Then again, people might just leave because they can't get in.

Not sure what the winning answer is here, but I'm sure IS put a lot of thought into it.

Yeah but honestly if they had 0 queue / high merge risk servers i would play on those. If they got to spin some more up and then merge players that opt in that would be easy enough.

Piedplat · August 17

If I purchased the package with alpha 1, beta 1 and 2, in which wave I will be 1, 2 or 3?

rollox · August 17

No matter what they get testing of the login and authentication servers. Plus they get tests of how many players can be in a zone. How well the server meshing tech handles having 3000 players in the starting area.

Then also they get tests on how far they can ramp up the users. If by some miracle everything fires up and runs without a hitch at 3000. They can then say ok, let's open up the que and load in another 500 - 1000 and see what happens.

Even logging in and waiting in a queue is helping the test.

They get to test how quickly and efficiently they can spin up a new realm. How quickly the network and communication services can begin logging players to a new realm created on the fly. And then on the other side of that they get tests on how to and what impacts are when servers merge.

I am not sure what to expect with merges early in alpha. I would expect more of a server landscape and realm number reset when there is a wipe. To start this all over and iterate on those tests again.

Unknown · August 17

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Noaani · August 17

Xeeg wrote: »

DominusRegius wrote: »

That’s why they put such a large emphasis on this isn’t a game. It’s a development test. They don’t need a bunch of people who just plan on getting on just to play a game. It’s meant to get the dedicated players who have passion for their project, people that certainly care about this games future, the ability to communicate issues etc more accurately. That way when the people who only care about having fun, can actually have fun

yeah but you can have passion for the project and still not want to waste weekends upon weekends waiting in queues to play and taking naps or doing other things lol just to get in... That just sucks.

With it being weekend only, I'm not even going to download it.

I'll look at testing when it's either persistent, or at least weeks long.

BackgroundDust · August 17

steve said 3k "per realm" - i'm assuming server and 100k people are likely to want to play or something, also people buying these keys are able to play only on 3rd week (unless they got alpha 2 package or something earlier) if I'm not mistaken. have you ever seen an mmo with 1 server? They will have a few maybe just not on a day 1. also, from october to november there are only 3 months and wipes are likely to happen and mergers are likely to happen too to manage players per server. I think they know what they are doing.
and again with that key you get access to all 3 phases which will be easily over 6 months.

BlackBrony · August 17

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You're paying to TEST, I repeat, TEST the game. NOT play the game. I repeat, NOT play the game.
Being in a queue is also TESTING the game.

Xeeg · August 17

BlackBrony wrote: »

Xeeg wrote: »

Smaashley wrote: »

Actually it's 10$ more than Phase 2 access, so it's not a 120$ scam. I understand your concern, there will probably be huge queues. Then why don't you just buy the Phase 2 or Phase 3 keys ? They literally give you the option.

Still, if you pay $120 for 7 weekends of Alpha 1 Wave 1 and you literally cannot even play because the game is purposefully throttled, that is some messed up shit imo.

You're paying to TEST, I repeat, TEST the game. NOT play the game. I repeat, NOT play the game.
Being in a queue is also TESTING the game.

Lol if you pay to "test" the game and you are only stuck in queue that's still lame bro. You are not going to convince me that we should be happy to queue test the game for multiple prime time weekends.

Alpha 2 queues = SCAM?!?!?!?

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