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Demand for Lineage II’s NA Open Beta Causes Problems for Gamers
NCsoft’s response to overwhelmed, congested game may determine game’s future in MMP market
“If you build it, they will come …”
That voice, whispering through the cornfields in Iowa was the foundation of a popular movie. True, the phrase has been usurped to cliché status, covering a myriad of topics.
NCsoft has likely heard it, but still could not have anticipated the flood of gamers flocking to play in the open beta of its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicles. When NCsoft opened the doors for the open North American beta, players came, and came, and came, flooding the servers and making logging in a nightmare.
Let’s consider a few lessons. From all accounts, when the game went to open beta in Taiwan, it began with only a few servers and the development crew kept adding servers to meet the demand. It was easily in double digits by the time of launch. From another source, the same held true for the Japan open beta.
Then along comes the North American beta, which was launched with only three servers.
This seems a trifle low considering that a lot of European players would likely jump into the NA beta because English is easier to look at on screen than trying to read Korean, or Chinese, or Japanese. Also considering that the download server for the beta client was jammed to capacity and that anyone trying to download the client could count on it taking several hours up to a day at the speed available.
Also take into account that one Web site, devoted to all things Lineage II – l2orphus.com – was down for a week or so because it exceed bandwidth, which likely means that it was being hammered for information about the game.
All the signs seemed to be there, and yet people logging into the game can count on long time trials in the attempt to log-in. Someone, in game last night, said they just set a new time record for logging in. It took them 1 hour and 18 minutes to finally get into the game.
To its credit, NCsoft tried to add new servers this weekend – in fact, it added two new servers, but the problems are still there. That person that devoted more than an hour to trying to get into the game was doing so with five servers in place.
The login has a nice little server status screen where players pick the server they wish to play on. All five are registering as congested. That means wait.
Players are complaining and even worse, there is an undercurrent of anger focusing on nationalities starting to air. People are complaining that the NA open beta should be restricted to people in North America only, that people with overseas IP addresses should be banned. Well, that is missing the point of MMPs entirely. The Internet and games that allow for play on this scale is supposed to bring the world closer together, not start a parade of national segregation. We are supposed to be a global community, not territorial jerks who wish to deny others of what we are freely given – and yes, this is open beta, meaning it is free; you are not paying to play.
It is not uncommon to get into the game and see a variety of languages floating about. That is what makes the game intriguing and enjoyable. You actually get to meet others from throughout the world. This is an incredible opportunity to share ideals or just to unify through common quests, through respect gleaned in the challenge of battle, or through laughter.
People are also starting to pull little tricks to either get in, or stay connected and not lose their place. They are using macros to ping the servers constantly, or they are getting into the game and going AFK (away from keyboard) in safe areas so that they don’t log out. This creates more problems for the login servers and occupies space that active players seek.
Compounding the problem is that NCsoft has a contest going on for highest-level character and clan.
One night, shortly after the new servers launched, someone floated the idea, on one of the original three servers that players should migrate to the new one. Another countered that it would mean losing 5 days of hard work, to start anew – which is something a lot of players do not wish to do.
“Why don’t they allow character transfer then?” another asked.
NCsoft made an in-game announcement that there would not be any character transfers – meaning you could not take an established character to another server. The reason may lie in several things: either these servers operate totally independent of each other, or they share databases. Either of those would create a nightmare to transfer characters around. And that would also involve new code allowing for one-time transfers which would have to be monitored, would likely tie up the servers and create more of a headache.
But clearly something has to be done, and any way you slice it, NCsoft is in a pickle and rushing to meet the demand. Adding more servers is one idea, but it will not solve the current problem.
Say you have a small group of players, who are the forerunners of an allegiance. They have established a base for their allegiance or clan on a server, which is now filled. The idea was to send in the advance troops who could help supply the others when they got in, and discover the various quests and give guidance as well as protection in a world that is all PvP (player versus player). Oops, that server is full and likely won’t attract lower numbers because no one truly wishes to start all over again. So that means adding more players to a packed server.
Lineage II hit at a perfect time. There were not many new MMPs titles to contend with and players who migrate from one to another, looking for THE game, have spent time in the last new one (Horizons) and may be looking for a new challenge. The problem, though, is that unless something is done, and done quickly, NCsoft is in danger of alienating a lot of game players.
Lineage II is the type of game that is best suited for the hardcore player. It involves a big time investment to level characters, and has many levels of play. The quests are tough, the dungeons are tougher, and there is the whole clan structure and castle siege to work toward as well. But there are a lot of other titles looming on the horizon – titles carrying big names and with the potential to really pull from other communities. Games like World of Warcraft, Ultima X Odyssey, EverQuest 2, Middle-earth Online, and the like will tug hard at the fantasy/medieval player base. Lineage II needs to hook those players, pull them in and allow them to invest the time, and garner the rewards of their efforts in order to convince them to stay when other titles begin to launch.
How well NCsoft and its development team respond to this current situation may foreshadow how they will collectively respond to the challenges that lay ahead in actually keeping the game a viable title in a what-will-soon-be a flooded market.
It is obvious that expectations for the response to this game have been greatly exceeded. The ball is in NCsoft’s court. The question that needs to be answered quickly is how will that company play it. The future of Lineage II could well be determined in that response.
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