Aion’s Exectuive Producer at NCsoft West today released a statement. The bulk of this letter addresses the continuing urgency of the server queues experienced on some (but not all) Aion North American and European servers.
The important bits:
… We have to calculate our reasonable concurrency numbers in a week and in a month and beyond. The last thing we want to do to our players is spread them out so that the “massively” in “massively multiplayer” gets lost.
… we have already and will continue to increase server capacity to ensure that we have server space for every user. The reality of the situation is that some servers quickly become very popular servers, with lines queued up to enter, but other servers have plenty of space to accommodate players. Obviously, adding servers won’t help in this case. If you’re waiting to enter a full server, 100 extra servers won’t help.
… We’ve further responded to the overwhelming demand by adding additional server worlds in all languages, and still we are working around the clock to address the incredible demand.
… It is imperative to your long term enjoyment of Aion that we carefully manage the health of the servers.
Recently, NCsoft added in a new French server, a new West Coast North American server, a new East Coast North American server, and new German and British servers.
Additionally, they are evaluating a one-time-only free transfer from select servers to select servers.
When thinking about this, it is good one should take heed from past lessons; remember the launch of Warhammer Online? Demand exploded; then dropped dramatically. Age of Conan had much the same experience. And yes, even years back, EverQuest II had the same dilemma.
Perhaps there is merit to the notion of playing it safe, rather than overcompensating, eh?
In any case, it seems that NCsoft is really watching their server health closely, when it comes to population balance. And let’s be real: who really does prefer an empty server over a full one, anyhow?
I’ll gladly wait in a server queue if it means that when I join, the game feels alive — rather than a barren wasteland.
Does that mean I want to wait 4 hours? No.
Am I willing to wait 25 – 45 minutes? Yes.
I happen to be on a server where I have never seen a queue longer than 46 minutes. (Israphel, East)
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