Launching a MMOG is undoubtedly a huge undertaking, from developing a stable platform that will run on most PC configurations to handling the initial load of subscribers on opening day. That said, it's not unheard of to hear reports of instability and other minor problems. But it becomes downright unfortunate when loyal patrons -- those who shelled out money for the software and the first month's subscription fee -- can't even participate.
Star Wars: The Old Republic had problems even before it officially opened its doors for business on Tuesday. Both the developer and publisher EA purposely staggered the game's introduction to beta participants to keep server overload down to a minimum. But the program was littered with reports of wait times of more than two hours anyway. Many servers are currently reaching maximum capacity now that the game has officially gone live, forcing BioWare to plead with gamers and convince them to log onto the lower population servers.
"As many of you know, we're experiencing high load and corresponding queues on some servers," reports senior online community manager Stephen Reid. "This is to be expected during launch, as a high number of people want to play the game, and for long stretches at a time. We're monitoring all of our servers around the clock, and we're raising server population caps where required. However, to ensure our long-term goals of server stability and healthy populations, we do not want to raise population caps too rapidly."
But long server queues isn't the only problem SW:TOR is currently facing. Many customers are having problems getting into the game thanks to a glitch with the registration codes. According to Destructoid, physical copies shipped without codes included, and digital versions aren't working, spitting out error messages instead of granting access to the virtual Star Wars universe.
EA's digital distribution platform Origin is also having issues. Customers who pre-ordered the PC game either haven't received their code, been told that their code is already active, or there's no record that the game was even purchased in their Origin billing info. BioWare has reportedly been silent on the situation which is causing a growing level of frustration for affected consumers.
"Some people are getting canned responses that blame the end user for trying to input their pre-order key instead of their product registration key, despite the fact that it's not the problem," Destructoid reports. "Others are confused as to whether this is an issue with SW:TOR itself, or with Origin, as nobody official will explain what's going on."
As of this writing, EA and BioWare have not commented on the registration code issue, so stay tuned.
