EA Controlling Old Republic Player Population for Launch

[Bat Vader]

I pre-ordered the collector's edition about a month ago or so. I just hope I am able to get it on launch day.

 

[DTWolfwood]

so they don't want the MASSIVE surge of money coming from the week one sales? instead would rather risk shortages and bad reviews killing the game sales in subsequent weeks?

Talk about being fiscally irrational.

O wells on the upside I'm not going to be one of them players clogging up the server space

Heres hoping first impressions [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=9403] can be wrong from a year ago... Sure as hell know i don't want to play a WoW with Jedi's instead of orks & elves

 

[The Lugz]

oh, come. the. flip. on.

if that isn't a blatant hard sales pitch i don't know what is
'get it before the universe out levels you'
this game property has been mishandled since the word go.. this is going to be a disaster.
i'm glad i decided to skip it when they announced the stores for premium accounts

they seem to be doing everything possible to separate the fan-base into clear money / effort lines so they know exactly what to market you

i'd have been extra p'd off if they cancelled the order because they reached a limit.
good joke bioware, you've trolled many a gamer now i bow to your skills at aggravating star-wars fanboys
'bow'

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

In this day and age EA can totally afford extra server space but my limiting the number of copies out there it just denies some of those that want to play on launch day or maybe even a couple of days after.

 

[Saviordd1]

Seriously? This is a horrible idea, you need to make a crap load of money to pay back the amount it took the develop this game right? Well telling people "Hey, you can't buy it till later" Is not a great strategy for that.

 

[The Lugz]

oh, come. the. flip. on.

if that isn't a blatant hard sales pitch i don't know what is
'get it before the universe out levels you'
this game property has been mishandled since the word go.. this is going to be a disaster.
i'm glad i decided to skip it when they announced the stores for premium accounts

they seem to be doing everything possible to separate the fan-base into clear money / effort lines so they know exactly what to market you

i'd have been extra p'd off if they cancelled the order because they reached a limit.
good joke bioware, you've trolled many a gamer now i bow to your skills at aggravating star-wars fanboys
'bow'

Stores for premium accounts? what the fuck are you talking about? There is no "premium" account.

deluxe versions of the game get an in-game store they cost £130. i call that 'pretty fucking premium' to use your colourful metaphors, frankly
presumably they sell skins for items and other char customisation.
nobody really knows for sure


#edit#
the actual description is thus;

"Exclusive In-game Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items."

 

[Operations]

The cynic in me wants to say this is a marketing ploy - "Best get your copy now or you might not be able to play come launch day".

Ah you been quoted about 100 times already (thats some going with less than 50 posts in the thread), but ill do it again anyway.
My mind also went in this direction especially after reading the source article.

The representative said that EA has an exact number set for how many copies will be sold before the publisher turns off digital sales, but they aren't going to share that number.

Which means they can make up any number they want and say they never hit it.
That said it could be true, they are already limiting the launch territories.
Also im not sure they have their EU infrastructure finalised, dont know where the servers will be and no EU testing yet.

 

[Gather]

...Which is why the game won't be released to people living in Australia. You guys are worried about the release date for the game. Australians anticipating this game are wondering what the release date for the release date on the "lag" we must suffer... And whether we get our own "collectors edition".

(Or, you could just order off Amazon)

 

[Smooth Operator]

The problem isn't really money, it's that they typically have no clue what the initial server load is going to be.

No the problem is money, they keep track on howmany copies are sold so they can work out the worst case scenario, but that sort of server surplus is a big extra cost for what will only be launch week hype.

So they just take the cheap route and say not everyone can play, which also pokes people into pre-ordering.
Saving money while making more money, it's an all round win for EA.

 

[BabyRaptor]

That's going to make quite a few people very displeased.

 

[Saltyk]

Doesn't bother me. I already have a copy preordered. I'll only be upset if I don't get my copy.

No matter what they do they'll lose....

Limit the number of launch players = FAIL!
Potentially allowing more people in then the servers can handle = FAIL!
Buying so many servers that they will be handle the traffic and then merging them 2 months later = FAIL!

Seriously people, stop being so melodramatic. All they're doing is making very sure there's as smooth a launch as possible and preventing a hype-driven after-launch failure, like for example WAR and AoC had.

They're confident enough to count on people still buying their game after the initial launch hype has died down, how is that anything but a good thing? There's too much hype and crazy already in MMO-land. Nothing wrong with taking it a bit slower and going for the long-term, isn't that what MMOs are all about?

This pretty much covers it for me. The last point about merging servers really isn't even something to complain about, except for the small amount of downtime to merge.

Then again, whining about something like that isn't surprising when I've seen people complain about getting free games.

Yeah, but you know it's true what he says. Haters are gonna hate, even if their hate makes no sense.

And won't someone save us from the free games?

deluxe versions of the game get an in-game store they cost £130. i call that 'pretty fucking premium' to use your colourful metaphors, frankly
presumably they sell skins for items and other char customisation.
nobody really knows for sure


#edit#
the actual description is thus;

"Exclusive In-game Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items."

It's a for the collector's edition, it's not the only thing it includes, and none of the items it sells are game-breaking, nor do they give other players an advantage over others. It's not a "premium account" it's a small area for people who bought the CE. The store doesn't cost 130 euros that's the price of the CE, and you get a ton of other stuff with it as well.

Like being able to play the game a few days earlier than everyone else and an authentication key, galaxy map, statue of Darth Malgus, and a few other little bonuses both in game and with your copy. It's not like you're getting nothing for your money. It's just a question of whether or not you think it is worth it.