server queues – MMO Fallout

I don’t know about you, but I hate queue lines, except in those rare moments when I find myself queuing in line for the gas station to open in the morning to buy a slushie. But enough of my small town stories. The point of my story is: I hate queue lines in video games, and if I’m going to be expected to sit around in my chair and leisurely consume carbonated beverages and watch television while I wait for a queue line to diminish, well by golly I better be compensated for it.

TERA has the right idea. I noticed while logging into the closed beta test tonight that the server was under around an 800+ person queue line, with a notice that if my time in line extended over ten minutes, I would be compensated with bonus XP. Ten minutes later, the notice changed to what you see above, and I was granted 13 minutes of bonus XP upon logging in.

See? Make it worth the wait.

I have an itching feeling that the super servers for DC Universe were envisioned, developed, and either implemented or too far along to cancel when Sony received the green light to take the game free to play, because as Crimecraft has shown us: Merging servers to accommodate the subscriber population will cause all hell to break loose when the traffic suddenly rises 1000% (according to John Smedley) and the servers buckle like a cheap TV dinner tray. Luckily, Sony has been working around the clock to beef up the megaserver performance to accomodate more simultaneous players, and while European players have been having a bit more luck with open server slots, North American players are being subjected to constant server queues.

Not to mention, subscribers weren’t exactly happy that they were being forced to wait in the same line as their new found allies and opponents. Sorry, free players, but login priority for paying players is hardly newsworthy. On the plus side, if you want priority login, all it takes is a one time payment of five bucks. In an update rolled out, Sony added server queue priority for premium and legendary players, with legendary receiving the fastest queue time.

DC Universe’s Halloween event (spooktacular) has been extended until November 14th due to server issues.