WildStar: Name Reservation Woes

Name reservations don't go as smoothly as planned, but Carbine offers compensation for those affected.

If you've been eagerly following WildStar in preparation for its June 3rd launch, then you're most likely aware that name reservations for the game have been live since this past Tuesday. However, if you were one of the thousands of players who rushed the gates when the services went live, then you were probably greeted with a series of headaches when trying to reserve your name.

Needless to say, thousands of players simultaneously attempting to open the same door from different sides didn't go so well for Carbine, and many players had a less than ideal time reserving their name while the name reservation page crashed and burned multiple times throughout the process.

However, in the midst of the chaos Executive Producer of Carbine Studios, Jeremy Gaffney, offered his apologies to fans and broke down some of the issues behind what was happening.

"Yep, this is on us. Working with our team in Austin to get a fix up...

"The issue is not with page load or some of the other issues mentioned below (images/jquery/etc.), it's specifically with SSO (single sign on, part of the authentication process).

Some connections to SSO are going through, and some are hanging. The ones that are hanging eventually are crashing SSO, which is leaving those who made it through having registered successfully, and some not.

However, SSO often goes down before you get to see the Acknowledgement message ("yes, your name was reserved").

Many (most) folks seeing that someone else reserved their names quite likely successfully reserved it in a previous attempt - loads are high but not specifically so high that you should see your name taken unless someone was specifically competing with ya for it. Unless you're wanting to be "Gandalf" or "Drzzt" or some such perhaps.

SSO has been under load in the past many times without this issue; so we're searching for what the issue is.

There's a bit of a catch-22 here since obviously you want your name reserved so folks are attempting the reservation many times, and so we're trying to fix it in real time. If we manage that soon it's best to leave it up, if not it's best to bring that down, so it's a bit nontrivial to know the best course. Our top minds are working on it, in 3 different offices.

Other updates from other Carbinites as we know more. We'll do what's fairest to sort it all out, and apologies for those of you seeing the issue."

The situation got pretty dicey for a while, leaving some players who weren't able to reserve their name more than a bit disgruntled. As of right now though, the name reservation page is up and running properly, and Carbine has since released an official apology along with additional steps they plan on taking in order to reconcile the situation with players.

"Ok, so Name Reservations were a frustrating experience for everyone.  However, we are happy to announce that the Name Reservation page has steadied out and is working correctly.  The web site should show your registered names at this time.  We will continue to improve the user experience as it still needs work.

 "In an effort to make this right, here is the current plan of action:

 1.  Craig Turner aka Cougar, our Director of Operations is working on a write-up to shed as much light as possible as to what the issues were.  Once his detailed breakdown is complete, we will be posting it here to be as transparent as possible.

2.  EVERYONE that has Pre-ordered will receive 5 Bonus Boom-Boxes.  If you are unfamiliar with how awesome Boom-Boxes are, please watch our video here.

3.  The web issues not only affected those registering names, but also those trying to purchase Pre-orders.  Because of that, EVERYONE that Pre-orders by Friday 5/16 at 4:59pm PDT [23:59 UTC] will also receive the 5 Bonus Boom-Boxes.  You can begin unlocking Boom-Boxes at Head Start on May 31st.  If you’d like to Pre-order, please visit our site here.

"This is our way of acknowledging that the events of Tuesday sucked and that we are genuinely sorry this happened.  In the interim, please enjoy your Bonus Boom-Boxes and the 3 days left of Open Beta!

Stay Frosty"

If you've already pre-ordered the game, but haven't yet reserved your character and/or guild name, you can do so by following this link. Upon hitting 'save' you should see a timer counting down which indicates your name has been saved correctly. If, for some reason, you tried to reserve a name earlier but aren't sure whether or not it went through the system, sign into the website and then click on this link to get an extra layer of name confirmation. If you're character name and/or guild appear without the word "false", then you should be good to go!

For more Wildstar news, information and updates, keep it locked to ZAM

I'll see you on Nexus!

Corey "Cyglaive" Jenkins

Follow Corey on Twitter @Cyglaive

Comments

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name reservations
# May 15 2014 at 8:02 PM Rating: Decent
To make it fair you should make everyone pick a name again.
name reservations
# May 16 2014 at 6:01 AM Rating: Good
I do not see that being fair.
What would be more fair is not letting 1 name be locked to ALL the servers.
Pick a server, pick a name, see if it will be saved. If not, move down through the server list.

The few names I wanted to use have been locked, and the only way I'll know if I get to use them on whatever server I decide to start on will be on June 14th. That is when all "saved" names are unlocked.
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