Impatience is not a virtue in a recently launched MMO. In fact, hindrance is not a strong enough word to explain just how disappointed a player will be if they dive into a recently launched MMO with hopes of 100% stability, a lack of bugs and glitches, and a some residual issues that even the open beta or head start periods could not iron out before launch. Early World of Warcraft players will remember Blizzard being on hand with defibrilators day and night to revive the many servers from their often hourly heart attacks. Warhammer Online saw server queues, and more recently Aion saw total lockouts from certain servers, as well as the load of AFK shop owners bringing some parts of the server to their knees.
What makes Fallen Earth’s launch particularly disappointing is that the live server launch was delayed, several times. Both instances of delays were meant to improve optimization and make launch day smooth and fluid for new players rolling in. What followed launch day on September 22nd was an onslaught of players rushing to get into the game, bringing the title’s single server to its knees on several occasions. Starting with the day of the launch, lag became increasingly unbearable until, over the past twenty four hours, the game was virtually unplayable, the server receiving several restarts over the course of today.
“Our main focus is to make sure that Fallen Earth is easily accessible to as many fans as possible. We are working on initiatives that are near fruition and we simply need more time.”
Despite the delays, there were multiple game-breaking bugs that popped up over the course of the title’s first five days. Several players found themselves unable to complete the tutorial due to the progress halting at varied points. Other players reported losing their mounts due to the animal/atv falling underneath the map. Several previously fixed bugs re-emerged in the past 24 hours, including items being lost in transit to other players.
Players who ordered Fallen Earth from Gamestop will find that the title has been delayed, and boxes will not be shipped out until September 29th. I attempted to contact Gamestop for more information on the delay, but was given no information other than that the title will ship on the 29th. The factor of Gamestop’s delay was also not helped by issues on Steam’s front, where Valve currently is offering players a workaround to get around the “Game is not available” bug on the Steam version of Fallen Earth with Vista 64-bit users.
I have also received reports from the MMO Fallout Away Team that, shortly before the server completely crashed today, Game Masters were becoming so irate at the players complaining that the threat of an incoming banhammer was thrown around on several occasions.
As I mentioned earlier, at some point in the day, the server that hosts Fallen Earth and the game’s forums went into shock, and had a critical crash, leaving the game offline for much of the rest of the day.
Fallen Earth LLC is a relatively small independent company, and indie MMOs are regularly stricken with launch issues. Although the game launched almost a week ago, there are still a number of players looking in through the frosted glass window. I’d be interested in seeing how many people preordered through Gamestop, and subsequently canceled their order.
I’ve said this before with Aion: Servers crashing due to load is, in a longer run, a good thing. Server stability can be fixed in a good week or two. It is better to have to expand to accommodate for more players, than to pull a Warhammer Online and shut down 100 servers after launch because you opened too many and everyone is spread thinner than the filling in a mini Ritz Bitz sandwich.
MMO Fallout 