Queues were the right way to goFollow

I posted this on the main wow forum, but it's scrolling so fast, I doubt it will help. Figured since I wrote it, I would post it here:

I'll be the one to post the unpopular topic. Because of our site, I've played every MMORPG since EQ and have seen launches of every sort. Those who have read my articles know I am also not an apologist for the game companies. Yes queues are annoying, but Blizard is doing this the only way it can be done.

Every game has faced this same problem and every possible solution has been tried to solve it. The fact is that in the first week or two of the game the population is skewed into only a limited number of zones. These games are not designed with the idea that an entire server population will be playing in just a few zones.

It's unrealistic to expect them to have enough servers to handle this crunch. In a couple weeks, the current populations will have spread out and the caps will be able to be raised. It's not the fact that there are so few servers that's the problem. It's the fact that there are so few zones being played per server. This will ease off in time.

But that doesn't stop the initial launch crunch. Some companies have just let everyone log in at once and suffered massive lag and server crashes. Others have limited the number of games available in retail at launch to spread out the sales. Others have done queues much like this.

Which do you prefer? You could suffer massive lag and constant crashes when logged in because the zone you are playing in can't handle the traffic. Or you could have not been able to play at all because there were only enough games sold to handle half the demand. Or you can wait 15 to 20 minutes to get in and then play normally.

Personally, I like the solution they came up with. In a couple weeks everything will even out and we will all be happily playing away.

Well you do have to admit that they created fewer Central Time servers then they should have. It is a really popular time zone, and because of that almost every last server (that I tried at least) had a wait line.

I think what stumped them is that far more people are opting for pvp than have ever done so in an MMORPG before. I bet they were not expecting those servers to be that popular.

Ya I was kind of amazed to see every PvP server accross 2-3 time zones at High Population and with a 700-1100+ Queue line.


I was never a PvP person myself, but it seems like it would be kinda fun to have a good strong guild and be on a PvP server. Just that 700+ queue line scares me, today I didn't have much time to play because of the patch and being on dial-up.

I am amazed at how Blizzard was able to pull off such clean running servers though. I lagged maybe 1 time during my couple hours of play and that is when I was changing up resolutions and after the first step it was gone.

See that however is actually wrong. East has the most servers even though Pacific easily beats it in population. That and Central time counts Texas in which is the 2nd most populated state in the USA.

I'm not mad or anything, I just think it an odd mix up when I look at the server count per time zone. Central is simply the most popular for a big key (and really odd) reason.

For most people getting off work when they log on to a Central server it will be still good and bright outside, and by the time they log off it will have been night for a couple hours. That gives them both ends of the day time spectrum.

I do appreciate the Queue however as the Great Lag monster is far worse. I can't wait till school starts up (no offense) because I log on before most school's get out, and long before most people get off work.

Gotta love us night jos.

Just a question about server population, figured it was better answered here rather than a new thread ^^. How populated are the RP servers? And I've heard that central has not a single one, if so then I shall be playing on an Eastern RP server. So I'll narrow down my question to, "How populated are the RP servers in the eastern time zone?". I thank you for your input ahead of time! :D

Yea to bad I'm in central 980 people infront of me ; ;

No offense meant by this, but that population map is 14 years old.




That and I think I remember some of the big name guilds were all trying to get on the same server together. Like they were in the CB and OB.

they didnt crash. they were taken down, done somehting to, and reset. Also they added new servers while they were at it.

I switched to spinecrusher or whatever its called do to the fact it is brande new.

BTW. i havent experienced the queue once. As soon as i saw the populations of the servers i was playing... i switched to the new ones. I have no issues recreating this early for a better future gaming experience.

lol. you're right. hmm 1990... it's 2004 (almost 2005) now. O_O