NCsoft: Aion has plenty of space now

By Robert Purchese Published 6 October, 2009

Solution not as "simple" as new servers.

NCsoft West has explained to Eurogamer that if ridding Aion of queues were as "simple" as offering new servers, the problem would already be solved.

But it's people clamouring to play on the busiest worlds, said the publisher, that is pushing wait-times up.

"If the solution were as simple as rolling out new servers, we would no longer see queues today, given that we've already rolled out six new servers in Europe alone," Ryan James, PR director for NCsoft West, told us. "The reality is that there are servers today that have no queues in Europe.

"The problem is more that there are many people trying to get onto very few servers, whilst the rest still have room."

The initial solution, as NCsoft West said in an open letter yesterday, will be offering a free, one-time server transfer next month to spread the load. Why this wasn't offered at the beginning, and what NCsoft will do should people not bite, is not clear.

However, James added, the queues do prove one thing: that the community want to play on busy servers.

"When rolling out a new MMO, we have to strike a balance between full servers and just adding more servers with little to no population. If you'll remember, there have been past games that have launched with empty servers, even when they were at full capacity," he said.

"Sure, you rarely had to queue, but once you got into the game large areas of the world were devoid of fellow players. It's a hard balance to strike, and we need our servers full to ensure players experience Aion at its best."

Until character transfers are offered, paying customers unwilling to start afresh elsewhere must queue - sometimes for hours at weekends and in the evening.

Their game time has been severely reduced. Why not waive the subscription fee for that period, as many have asked?

"We are looking at a variety of options, and that's why we announced that we will be providing a free, one-time server transfer for a limited time to select servers starting next month," Ryan James told us.

But surely it makes sense to appease the audience now, whilst Aion makes a Western name for itself?

"While we're absolutely open to everyone's feedback, rest assured we're looking into a variety of options and engaged in multiple discussions each day on this topic," he repeated. "We will let you know when we have further updates."

Aion launched here last month, swooping down on the West after painstaking localisation by NCsoft to try and emulate success in the East.

It's popular, but is it good? Our Aion: The Tower of Eternity review tells all.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Rubarack #1 2 years ago

    This is why Champions single server with giant instances was such a good idea.

  • sebsal #2 2 years ago

    It's all very well saying there's space on EU servers now, but why would I want to start all over again. They should have had enough servers available for launch.

    Still get 1-2 hour queues every night which has resulted in me not bothering playing.

    If it doen't improve, I wont sub

  • Benno #3 2 years ago

    No, open world MMOs should never be instanced like that.

  • George-Roper #4 2 years ago

    "While we're absolutely open to everyone's feedback, rest assured we're looking into a variety of options and engaged in multiple discussions each day on this topic," he repeated. "We will let you know when we have further updates."

    Why don't they put their money where their mouth is, then, and refund everyone a month for the inconvenience?

    No, instead what will happen is more public drivel like this at the expense of everyone who bought the game, who are having to queue for hours each and every evening.

    Pathetic. You could perhaps understand it, if they were a startup MMO operator but it's fucking NCSoft....

  • skabba1972 #5 2 years ago

    There is NOT! more space. I like sebsal, am having to wait for 1-2 hours every night still to play. As soon as I see a queue I logoff, its pathetic. I paid £34.99 for a game then subs, and have to wait every night to play lin a huge queue ol.............

  • MaxiSleep #6 2 years ago

    "The problem is more that there are many people trying to get onto very few servers, whilst the rest still have room."


    No the reason is that people already have characters on servers you twat

    And this gives the impressions of loads of empty servers. NOT THE CASE. Half are full half are empty because :-

    NC Soft launched with far to few servers

    NC Soft could not be arsed getting their character transfer right.

    After the open letter to the community it is a real shame to be back to this defensive PR crap

  • TruSmiles #7 2 years ago

    They launched with enough servers, it's just that everyone decided to play on the first one in the list. When the queues were highest on Spatalos, you could still get into Castor etc.

    The only way to solve this would be to offer free transfers.
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/09 @ 12:52

  • anomagnus #8 2 years ago

    MaxiSleep

    It was that, or launch with too many servers, and suffer the humiliation that WAR went through, closing server after server.

  • hiddenranbir #9 2 years ago

    Shouldn't all this latest cloud computing malarkey offer players to play on a single world?

  • Roxette #10 2 years ago

    No. There is enough space in Aion. The problem was already caused before the official game launch. Before launch they made the servers know to the public. Communties were able to choose a server. Accidentally they all choose the same server. For instance: the Dutch, Polish, Portugese, Italian, Greek, English, Skandinavians and perhaps some other languages choose Gorgos as their server. Bad choice to do it all on the same. Those servers are now overcrowded (i think 2 servers) and have waiting times to enter. All the other servers are easy to access. I know because I made a char on every server.

    So, its not the fault of NcSoft but the fault of the folks who want to play Aion. Jumping all on the same server is a problem.

  • MasterNameless #11 2 years ago

    We didn't know which servers would be ridiculously popular. I thought it was Spatalos that was overcrowded the most, you think it's Gorgos, and Perento also has 2 hour queues every night. That's 3 out of 4 of the ENG servers, we aren't mind readers, there should have been a better system set up by NCSoft, not allowing people to join the overcrowded servers, and recommending a different one early on. Not this late on when many people on these popluar servers have lvl 20+ characters, they don't want to start over again. We can't read people's minds to know which servers they were joining, but NCSoft could have read the stats and let us know in the character creation stage!

    I am purely focussed on getting to lvl 25 so I can get into the abyss for the last week, am very much looking forward to it, and couldnt bear starting it again - even if I can come back to Spatalos later when it quiets down.

  • George-Roper #12 2 years ago

    So, its not the fault of NcSoft but the fault of the folks who want to play Aion. Jumping all on the same server is a problem.

    Utter drivel.

    Did NCSoft do anything to more evenly distribute populations ahead of time? No, they didn't. Did NCSoft put more specific region servers in place, to better spread the load? No, they didn't.

    You surely can't be blaming the paying customers for overloading servers that they were all given 100% access to, can you? How can those players have known, ahead of time, what the results of their actions (server overloading and forced queuing each night) would have been?

    The more I hear about this, the more it becomes clear that NCSoft were looking after themselves ahead of customers. They were looking after their bottom dollar, which is pretty much them flicking the middle finger at everyone who laid down cash for the game. People who come into Aion in 3-6 months will simply have a much better experience and it will in all likelihood cost less than it does now.

  • MaxiSleep #13 2 years ago

    @ anomagnus

    It was that, or launch with too many servers, and suffer the humiliation that WAR went through, closing server after server.

    Nonsense. The servers were dimensioned with about 2000 people in mind. The ques after launch were more then 2000 on all live servers, and that only represents the number of people who were bothered queuing for 2 hours plus to pay a game they had paid for. There were two (TWO) english servers at launch. English is the natural language for a lot of MMO'rs in Europe so this was a pitifully inadequate launch. If they had launched with 4 english servers then they would have had a much smoother time.

  • Eraser #14 2 years ago

    Odd. Guild Wars never had this problem. Why do these MMO makers insist on binding people to a certain server? Why don't they simply have a load balancer decide on the fly to which server a player will connect (for each connect)? Once a player is connected, you could still allow them to jump from server to server just like that. It worked like this with Guild Wars as well. They could even implement a max limit of players on a server, so if you want to hook up with friends, you simply pick a server that's crowded enough, but not too full for your party to join. Shouldn't be that hard, should it?
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/09 @ 13:46

  • Hypercube #15 2 years ago

    So, its not the fault of NcSoft but the fault of the folks who want to play Aion. Jumping all on the same server is a problem.

    That's getting it quite a bit arse about face.

    NCSoft knew they had a massive number of pre-orders. They knew that every pre-order had the ability to choose a server even before the head start.

    Every server that was there in the head start has queues.

    Only the servers added after launch (and therefore don't have the pre-order customers) have no queue.

    If NCSoft had done their sums right, they would have had the current number of serves at head start.

  • Synthesis #16 2 years ago

    Many players will always want to play on the so called 'big' servers where all of the self congratulating/glorifying 'superguilds' have declared they will play. You always want your server to be popular and have a very high level of competition, it only adds to the fun and keeps you playing longer, which matters when you are investing so much time into a game.

    If you have to queue to get on it then so be it, capacity is available on other servers and you should really have known the risk. A huge amount of people stated they would be playing on Castor in Europe for example, it was obvious this server will end up packed full of players and queue's might become a problem. Despite this so many players still chose that server.

    You can't have it both ways, either the MMO is hugely popular and your server is full to bursting 24/7 or the population is spread thin and after the inevitable 6-month drop off in population your server doesn't quite feel so full or competitive anymore.

  • Hypercube #17 2 years ago

    If you have to queue to get on it then so be it, capacity is available on other servers and you should really have known the risk.

    Sorry, but that's wrong. Naive, silly and plain wrong.

    I pre-ordered. Me and a couple of guys from EG just picked a server - there weren't many english servers at the start, remember?

    So in my opinion you're talking out of your arse.

  • TruSmiles #18 2 years ago

    NCSoft DID limit registrations to new servers though, especially to balance out races.

  • Hypercube #19 2 years ago

    NCSoft DID limit registrations to new servers though, especially to balance out races.

    Yep. When I created my char on Spatalos, registrations were unrestricted though.

  • romelpotter #20 2 years ago

    I feel like I have paid my hard earned dollars for the honour of being an Aion tester. And have my patience sorely tested to boot. What I was going to say has already been said before so I will simply say this...

    Arse!

    Edit: The game rocks and I am loving it, which is just perverse!!
    Edited by 1 at 06/10/09 @ 15:17

  • mingster #21 2 years ago

    Thats why EVE with its one gameworld for all Server is great. no instancing or rubbish like that.
    All MMO's should be like this.

    Splitting an MMO up into totally separate servers that can't talk to each other is sort of against the whole point.

  • Hypercube #22 2 years ago

    I'd just like to add a lol about the Aion banner ad on this very page.

    "The forgotten never forgive"...

    Yeah, like those pre-order customers? Remember us? He he... sob.

  • paulf #23 2 years ago

    whereas this may be a 'good' problem for the publishers its a pain in the arse for a consumer, but something that mmo's seem to get away with, imagine if a xbox/ps3 game was released and you had to queue to play it? Basically if the servers are unavailable they should extend the trial period until they work properly

  • ZuluHero #24 2 years ago

    In a lot of cases people did research what server they were going to play on. I've seen "Castor" mentioned but in Castor’s case a lot of people didn’t want to play on it originally because prior to launch it was being touted as the unofficial Russian server. And although I have nothing against the Russian community, I have witnessed first-hand how English speaking players can be frozen out and made to feel most unwelcome (even though this is actually an English speaking realm).

    And there are similar things going on in a lot of the other servers as well with other nationalities claiming servers for their own and “invading” (their words not mine).

    Now I can’t blame different communities for wanting to seek out a realm where they can all speak their native tongue (esp. when NCSoft didn’t provide for them in the first place), but you can hardly pass the book to English-speaking players for all picking a server (and over-populating it) where they will mostly be able to communicate in English.
    Edited by 2 at 06/10/09 @ 15:15

  • actionfitz #25 2 years ago

    "While we're absolutely open to everyone's feedback, rest assured we're looking into a variety of options and engaged in multiple discussions each day on this topic," he repeated. "We will let you know when we have further updates."

    I'd love to know whos's feedback they are open to, and where I can see and contribute to the 'multiple discussions each day on this topic'. It certainly isn't on the Official forums. No one from the company is posting there. Perhaps I should join twitter... seems to be the only place the company reps are posting.
    Defensive PR speak that I only hear about since I read Eurogamer - leaving those hovering around the official forums waiting for news in the dark - doesn't appease me. An apology for their lack of foresight, providing so few english speaking servers at launch (huge amounts of UK, Irish, french, german and scandinavian MMO players prefer to play on ENG servers because they all have adequate english and can play together) would be nice.
    Some free game time to make up for how I cant play the game between 5pm and 11pm on weekdays woundn't go amiss either.
    :/

  • anomagnus #26 2 years ago

    maxisleep

    maybe you should calm down a little. Is this your first MMO launch? If not, you should not what to expect when an mmo goes live.

    If it is, suck it up, and get used to it

  • MaxiSleep #27 2 years ago

    maxisleep

    "maybe you should calm down a little. Is this your first MMO launch? If not, you should not what to expect when an mmo goes live.

    If it is, suck it up, and get used to it "

    I was around on launch day (some beta) for AOC, LOTR, TR, VAOH, CO and Hellgate and I have never seen q's like I have for Aion for the initial servers. WoW was a bit after launch but "Captain Placeholder" was still around in place of ships, and my realm (runetotum) did get pretty congested.

    With that experience I really dont see why I should "suck it up". The fact of the matter is the initial server numbers were far too low. If they had 2 more per language at launch (like they have now done only DAYS after launch) then q's would be manageable, pop distribution would be much more even, and I would not have characters stranded on unplayable servers.


    Why should I not be annoyed?

  • Scimarad #28 2 years ago

    Stuff 'em!

    It's a beautiful game world but it quickly becomes apparent that it's mostly 'go and kill/collect x number of whatevers'. I'd love to play a decent one player RPG based in this world but the unimaginative quests, lack of development options and horrendous queues (made worse by being told it's my fault) mean I won't be staying beyond the free period.

  • skabba1972 #29 2 years ago

    @Scimarad I will not be playing beyond the free period either. Funny thing is it aint free it cost me £34.99 and I am pissed I cant play a game I paid for. Funnier thing is I am not going to play only because I cant play and dont have the patience to wait 2-3 hours to, get in a server get rid of queues and I will play.

  • Ezzekhiel #30 2 years ago

    That's why EvE Online wins ! One server to bind them all ...

  • Kami #31 2 years ago

    I know most of my old WoW buddies have joined me in Champions Online now, as they said the past couple of days chat channels are unusable as RMT spams every half-second, it's crashing clients and the fact they're exploiting an AFK bug means genuine players are locked out of it. They got so sick of it they've joined me in another game.

    Which is a pity, because most of these people paid a good chunk for the collectors edition and/or normal box, but NCSoft have only themselves to blame. They must have known that RMT would start so early on, the fact that it's now the RMT that are making it impossible for people to play - prices, spam and botting - means it's abundantly clear NCSoft has learned nothing, nada and zip fuck all in their time making MMOs.

    Servers are the least of the worries, if they tackled the RMT there'd be a LOT more space on all servers. But dragging their heels will kill Aion before it's already begun. And part of me finds the irony of potentially the closest think I've seen to a WoW-beater being killed in its first month by the RMT utterly delicious.

  • Hypercube #32 2 years ago

    I've noticed an exponential growth in the amount of RMT spam - after a few minutes online I've blocked all the new ones, so I don't get bothered by it.

    But I'm really having fun crafting, and if the RMT market is screwing the prices then there's another reason to leave the game.

    It's a real pity, I've been enjoying it a lot, but it's not exactly the only fish in the sea. And with the new FF MMO coming eventually - well, I haven't built that strong an emotional bond with Aion yet. I could cut the strings...

  • ZuluHero #33 2 years ago

    Well unfortunately popular games attract gold sellers. Sadly It’s a fact of modern mmo gaming. But Those that are willing to bear with it are finding Aion to be a great game. It’s obvious that not everyone is having trouble, or at the very least not being as vocal about it as some. There are loads of people who have reached 40, 30s and high 20s, the game zones are packed. And although it’s sad that people have paid good money and feel like they can’t play and leave, I selfishly have to think that at the end of the day, that’s one less person I have to fight with to get into it.

    In regards to the spamming, yes, it’s annoying and yes it gets in the way, but NCSoft have said that the next push will be to limit sellers (I can’t say remove, as we all know that is a pipedream). In the meantime the chat tab options is a powerful tool. With very little effort you can set up a chat tab that only allows /local /say /shout /PMs /Party /Legion and you will find that this lessens Gold Seller spams tenfold.

    All I really have left to say, hang in there. It will get better, it’s just a question of how patient you are and if your resolve can hold.