The Old Republic Ships Without Registration Codes

[samsonguy920]

Considering this is BioWare's first MMO, the server que should be unexpected considering the hype behind the game. There were plenty of times when I had to sit for a spell waiting to get into a server on WoW. The bugs, any game has them come release. If none of them are game crashing bugs, then no big and I imagine they will get rectified since they are being found now.

But the issue over missing registration codes and some missing discs? No excuse there and EA and BioWare best be coming up with prompt return on that and maybe some compensation for those who expected to have early access and then possibly ending up late to the party. Something like maybe comping the first month or two for those who just got royally screwed in their effort to show early support for the game.

 

[Sincendiary]

Distributor/publisher fault probably more than Bioware...who I hope gets some sort of financial retribution for this bungled box issue. I'm sure you really wanted to be mad at EA anyway so go ahead and shift the hatred their way.

My experience has been pretty good so far.

I was too cheap to spring for anything but standard and already had my key emailed to me by the much hated Origin...who is apparently screwing up as much/more than anyone so perhaps I am one of the lucky ones.

Played the beta preview and the early access and was frankly quite startled at how *few* problems I have had.

Queues have been like 15 minutes max, most of the time queue-less. I've encountered maybe 30 minutes of actual noticed lag in about 25 levels of play. I have enjoyed the game quite a bit so far.

I was trained to expect failure by Everquest and have played far more MMOs at release just to see how they worked than I probably should admit...EQ, Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Shadowbane, EQ2, WoW, Warhammer...probably more. The complexity of creating a MMO world seems to force me to see what the heck the buggers did with it. SWTOR has bugs, but is definitely the smoothest release (in game) I have seen so far.

 

[Starke]

SWTOR has bugs, but is definitely the smoothest release (in game) I have seen so far.

The smoothest I remember seeing was Guild Wars. I actually don't remember anything going pair shaped at launch, aside from the difficulty being bjorked.

This is going to be loads of fun next Sunday though. Best. Christmas. Ever. If you're a sadistic bastard who thrives on schadenfreude... like myself.

 

[Beautiful End]

Inb4 It's as if...

It's as if millions of loyal BioWare and Star Wars fans cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

God damnit.

OT: Eh I just hope I can play it tomorrow , is gamestop having this issue?

Still not sure. We got the game last week at our store but we obviously can't sell it yet. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

It's good to know, though. In case customers have this issue.

 

[Epona]

Lol EPIC FAIL! Bioware.....you're better than this.

How is this a surprise to anyone? This is the biggest MMO launch since WoW and they always look like train-wrecks in the first few weeks. Anyone else want some popcorn? I have an extra lawn-chair in the trunk.

That is just in-game bugs. This is leaving people who pre-ordered your game without a way to activate it. It is embarrassing.

You do know that Bioware doesn't package they games right? Any issue with the packaging has nothing to do with them at all.

This is not a promising start for The Old republic. People with early access have been reporting that the game still suffering from a number of bugs, and others are reporting that there are some <a href=http://www.1up.com/news/the-old-republic-long-server-queues>insanely long load server queues to suffer through. Hopefully BioWare is able to resolve this latest issue soon.

Wasn't the whole plan to gradually roll out the launch specifically to avoid the queue issue? Best of intentions, I guess...

Them rolling out the launching didn't stop people from flocking to the most populated servers. For the most part long server waits are their own fault.

I am well aware that Bioware doesn't package the game. I am a massive Bioware fan and they are one of my favorite developers of all time bar none. That being said it is rather unfortunate. Bioware/EA(they are one in the same now after all) will receive the blame for this from the vast majority. It ultimately falls to them and them alone in the eyes of the general public. Not sure how it could not when it is their product and their responsibility to get the game shipped and launched in working order. I played the beta btw and was not impressed at all. It was so very generic. The cutscenes and such were pretty phenomenal though. All and all probably one of Biowares poorest outings as a developer and that makes me sad.

Worse than Dragon Age 2?

 

[ecoho]

How is this a surprise to anyone? This is the biggest MMO launch since WoW and they always look like train-wrecks in the first few weeks. Anyone else want some popcorn? I have an extra lawn-chair in the trunk.

lol this is why im waiting a month then buying it.

 

[Valanthe]

Someone on the assembly line is going to be receiving a stern talking to I figure, but all in all, as long as EA gets the memo around to their customer support staff, I don't see this being a real issue. Yeah it's a pain, but not even close to the worst I've seen, and as far as releases go, this is probably the smoothest I've seen, or second smoothest, I recall Guild Wars' being smooth, but that was so long ago I barely recall it.

 

[BaronIveagh]

Worse than Dragon Age 2?

That would require the opening cut scene be a xenobiology lesson about Midichlorians.

And much of the 'generic-ness' was the fault of Lucasarts. You know, the guys who 'Thou Shalt NOT have lesbian sex in Star Wars'. 'Thou Shalt NOT deviate from the Prequals.' 'Thou SHALT run EVERYTHING by us before you put it in the game, including artwork that we're GOING to run through about ten focus groups before we let it anywhere near Star Wars...'




KNEEL BEFORE ZOD...errrr...GEORGE!

 

[Starke]

Worse than Dragon Age 2?

That would require the opening cut scene be a xenobiology lesson about Midichlorians.

If it was as good as DA2, you'd be able to respond to the xenobiology lesson with sarcastic quips, mock everyone in easy reach, and make fun of the rampant idiocy of the cliche laden plots.

So, yes, it actually is worse than DA2.

 

[ciasteczkowyp]

You could also add that there's more grind than storytelling in this mmo. Lineage 2 all over again.

 

[Eiv]

Even though this game has "a lot of bugs". its still more playable than most MMO's with years of up-time. There is a reason most wow servers are dead at the moment

 

[Kahani]

How is this a surprise to anyone? This is the biggest MMO launch since WoW and they always look like train-wrecks in the first few weeks.

Rift and WAR both managed to release with virtually no problems. There's no reason it shouldn't be possible to release a game properly, it's just that far too many people are perfectly happy to accept unfinished and broken games released late with parts missing, so most companies just don't bother making the effort. Why waste resources doing things properly if everyone's going to buy it anyway?

I was referring to the brain trust that is EA. Leave it to them to fuck up their biggest--and most important--game launch ever.

I thought the release of Battlefield 3 went quite well.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

How is this a surprise to anyone? This is the biggest MMO launch since WoW and they always look like train-wrecks in the first few weeks.

Rift and WAR both managed to release with virtually no problems. There's no reason it shouldn't be possible to release a game properly, it's just that far too many people are perfectly happy to accept unfinished and broken games released late with parts missing, so most companies just don't bother making the effort. Why waste resources doing things properly if everyone's going to buy it anyway?

I was referring to the brain trust that is EA. Leave it to them to fuck up their biggest--and most important--game launch ever.

I thought the release of Battlefield 3 went quite well.

Battlefield 3 didn't have near the investment that they put into The Old Republic. This is their biggest release ever that could tear a hole in their wallet or make them even richer.

 

[Ciler]

This happened with my copy of WoW back in 2004. It's such a huge disappointment when you can't even play the one game you wanted for Xmas.

 

[Justank]

Got my copy in the mail with key yesterday, my girlfriend got the digital download version, she got her key via e-mail on the 17th and we are happy little nerds in a wonderful Star Wars world. We've had no problems at all with this launch, haven't experienced queues, all bugs have been extremely minor graphical issues that could very well be our own hardware.

I feel for the people who are having problems though, hopefully the two day grace period will tide you over until you get this sorted out don't give up on a wonderful game because of this, in a month you'll be having a ton of fun if you stick it out.

 

[Alandoril]

OK I'm all for cutting people some slack, but seriously shipping copies of a PC game without codes and in some cases even missing discs...nah, that's just abysmal and frankly inexcusable.

 

[DSK-]

I'm sure the release date was one of the reasons as to why the game is being ushered off in such a haphazard way. Unlucky those people who have/will recieve copies without codes

 

[synobal]

How is this a surprise to anyone? This is the biggest MMO launch since WoW and they always look like train-wrecks in the first few weeks. Anyone else want some popcorn? I have an extra lawn-chair in the trunk.

Rift had a really smooth launch and the game was absurdly polished and well made. In fact it is about the best launch I've seen.

 

[madmatt]

Will do this do lasting damage to their games' reputation? That is the question

 

[kwydjebo]

In game bugs at launch aren't too surprising although, honestly I played this in beta a few weeks ago and got in this weekend on the head start, and aside from teh Midget Jedi Council members (which only happens in a cut scene) have seen no bugs at all (Not including Beta, that had very few bugs).
In fact I'd go so far as to say, that during Beta i was very impressed at how few bugs there were (Compared to Star Trek online or the City of Hero games that were all buggy in Beta...which is what Beta is for...)
And yes some of the servers have very long cues...fortunately as an alt-a-holic I'm working on having various play locations.

As for the registration code, yeah that is a pretty crappy thing to happen and I hope somebody is held accountable for that snafu.
I ordered digital download so my registration number was in email.