It’s Not All Roses In Azeroth

Had some free time tonight to play a little WoW. I log in and up comes the “Retrieving Characters” box and then … nothing. 15 minutes later, nothing. Hit the forums (something I loathe to do in any MMOG) and find out they are having some problems with some of the servers, they are not sure what is going on, so they are rebooting some of them. They project that they will be back online in 45 minutes or so. An hour later, still down.

Fine, I figure I’ll log into some of the pacific servers which always have low population. Change region and pick a different server and click ok. “Connecting…” and then nothing. Try another server. Nothing. Great.

I had been relatively unaffected by the occasional server issues they have been having, but it seems like it has been getting worse, not better. I just hope it doesn’t get too much worse before it starts getting better. At least they are extending the “free” month for the problems we are having.

Gaming Goodness

I spent more time playing World of Warcraft in the past 3 days then I have ever played an MMOG in 3 days. I have been having a blast. Other than 2 times getting into a queue (maximum wait 10 minutes) I have been able to log straight in and this is on one of the most popular servers according to the sign in page.

I am playing an Undead Mage now, putting my Rogue on the back burner. I decided that after all the time playing a Rogue in beta (both in Alliance and Horde), I needed a little change of pace. So I created an Undead Mage and I have never played a Mage before in any MMOG. As soon as I reached level 6 (about 2 hours) I made the run to the Orc/Troll lands to do those quests. I had not done any Orc/Troll area quests so this is like playing the game for the first time and I am having a blast. Got to level 9 last night, almost 10.

That is one of the best things about this game, there are 4 different newbie areas to experience and they are all different. You could play 4 different characters in this game and never do the same quest, well at least the first 20 levels or so. After that it narrows down into Alliance and Horde so you will see some quests eventually. But still, 2 characters without EVER seeing the same quest twice. Lots of replay value.

Needless to say, Blizzard is blowing them all away. EQ is dead, long live the new champion: World of Warcraft!

One more thing. World of Warcraft is up to 88 servers now. Yeah, 88. Unreal.

World of Warcraft – Day One

With the release of World of Warcraft in North America, Australia, and New Zealand yesterday, we have already seen an incredible level of demand for the game. We launched with 41 servers in the U.S. yesterday, and we are bringing up an additional 34 servers today to accommodate the influx of players.

In just one day, World of Warcraft sold through an estimated 250,000 copies to players. Over 200,000 accounts have already been created, and peak concurrency across all active game servers has been above 100,000.

The account-creation and concurrent-user populations are both record numbers for a MMORPG on its first day of launch, making World of Warcraft the fastest-growing online game in history.

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I did not have as much time to play as I was expecting as my wife came down with a sinus infection. I did get to level 8 with my rogue so it’s a start anyway.

The Perfect Game

A bloke I met in Midmotheringhay
Was half an orc and half…can’t say
A cask he tapped and our flagons filled
And singing proud his mead we swilled!

A lad met I last Mostmotheringrath
Was half an orc and orc by half
A cask he stove and our flagons topped
And singing loud his mead we quaffed!

Progress Quest

My character is currently a level 54 Half Halfling Mage Illusioner. With his +37 Dancing Serrated Halberd and +40 Custom Banded Tower Shield, he is a killing machine.

World of Warcraft Beta Test is Now Over

The World of Warcraft open beta test has now come to a close. During the beta test, over 500,000 players adventured through the lands of Azeroth and helped World of Warcraft on its way to becoming one of the largest massively multiplayer online games in the U.S.! The beta test community has been a tremendous source of information and feedback for the development teams, and we wish to thank our beta testers for participating in the beta test process. When the final version of World of Warcraft hits stores on November 23rd, you’ll see the culmination of your hard work. The entire World of Warcraft team is now focusing on a smooth launch, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts about the game. Thank you again for your continued support with this project; we look forward to seeing you on in Azeroth.

End of beta was good fun, fighting all the named mobs and dieing a lot. What a treat. Can’t wait for retail. Nice work Blizzard.

WoW Open Beta Ending Soon

In preparation for the upcoming retail launch of World of Warcraft, we will be taking the North American open beta servers offline on Thursday, November 18. While this will mark the end of the open beta test, there will still be some work left for us to do. To provide the best experience possible at launch, we will be making numerous final optimizations to our hardware based on the data we’ve acquired during the open beta test.

During our closed and open beta test phases, thousands of improvements were made to World of Warcraft. Those changes were made through game-client patches and updates to the game’s server and database infrastructure.

As we moved closer to retail, we continued to make changes and optimize all of the code that makes up World of Warcraft until we reached the point where we felt we could create a gold master — the version of the game that’s currently being pressed onto the discs which will be available for purchase at retail.

Likewise, these processes must also take place on the server side to ensure that no out-of-date code, which could corrupt the retail version of the game, still exists. Before the retail version of the code can be installed, the current hardware must be wiped clean. This also includes the information on current accounts and characters that are being played on our test servers. So that all World of Warcraft players will be able to make a fresh start on our community site at launch, the same procedure will be taking place for the North American beta forums when the open beta test ends.

We realize that you’ve grown attached to your characters, and we’re sorry that the end of the open beta test will require you to part ways with them. However, with the retail launch of World of Warcraft on November 23 comes the opportunity to begin a new adventure in Azeroth on fresh, untouched servers. Along with that, you’ll have the knowledge that you played an instrumental role in the creation of a game of epic proportions that players will enjoy for many years to come.

We greatly appreciate all the time you’ve spent with us testing World of Warcraft, and we look forward to seeing you in-game!

Finally, a beta test that ends with me feeling like the game is ready for prime time.

Cryptic Responds To Marvel

I wrote earlier about the lawsuit Marvel is bringing against Cryptic Studios. Cryptic has issued their response:

As reported by The Associated Press, Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Marvel Characters, Inc. have sued NCsoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios. The complaint is meritless. Cryptic Studios is confident that the District Court will reject all of Marvel’s claims and fully vindicate Cryptic Studios in all respects.

Do I Know You?

A computer game addict got a taste of the real world when he was reported to police Thursday for allegedly playing an online game nonstop for 438 hours and 38 minutes at an Internet cafe without paying for it. The 22-year-old man, identified only as Mr. Jin, began playing Lineage 2, a new online role-playing game, on Nov. 29 at an Internet cafe near his home in Seoul, and remained there for 18 days. While he was at the Internet cafe, he ate instant noodles that were sold there 24 hours a day or ordered Chinese noodles from an outside restaurant when he was hungry, and only slept for a short time when he was tired, while the game was still running, police said. The Internet cafe’s owner filed a complaint with police when Mr. Jin allegedly refused to pay for playing the game and for the food he ate there. He owed 452,500 won ($380). Police said Mr. Jin never set foot outside the Internet cafe and went to the bathroom as little as possible, never washing himself. “He smelled so bad it was difficult to investigate him,” said a police officer. “I wanted to play Internet games so much. I wish I could just play games without having to think of anything else,” Mr. Jin told police.