Personally, I’m an avid World of Warcraft [ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ ] player, and I absolutely love the game without a doubt; but one element of the game that I can definitely do without are the queues to sign in when the servers are full during peak gaming hours (it’s been on and off lately) and on the weekends sometimes. It’s a bit annoying to pay Blizzard (the company hosting, managing, and that owns World of Warcraft) to wait in line to play a game I’m playing for, but I’m not so angry about it that I can’t tab out while I’m in queue and do something else-if you look around the net, you’ll find people much much less patient about those queues than I am.
Regardless, it’s indicative that there’s a problem, and since World of Warcraft has over 6 million subscribers (and that’s growing), any server problems that Blizzard involving the game are definitely going to only become more and more problematic in the future as the subscriber base keeps growing. CNet has taken on the story, and gets in deep to what the problems are, why Blizzard may be having these kinds of problems, how much of it is legit and how much of it is just whining by unhappy or impatient players, and more! Here’s an excerpt from the story:
With 6 million subscribers, each of whom pays $15 a month, Blizzard Entertainment’s online game “World of Warcraft” has become a billion-dollar enterprise.
Now comes the hard part: Making sure WoW is always up and running. Some players are angered by ongoing server problems that have led the game to crash without warning while they were playing. Complaints have also surfaced about long lag times and frustrating waits to even play.
Despite Blizzard’s contention that it’s been keeping WoW customers informed of system problems at all times, some players contend that the company has been slow to react to complaints and reluctant to offer support when problems arise.
I wouldn’t say that Blizzard has been slow to react to problems, and I think they keep us in the loop, but then again, I’m definitely one of those people whose “just deal with it” tolerance levels is way up there, and I can’t speak for everyone’s experience with the game. Some people I’ve heard were so fed up with login problems, wait times, lag, and other factors that they up and cancelled their accounts, no looking back. I think that’s a little extreme, but then again, I have a level 60 hunter that needs better gear, so I’ll be in game for a while longer, I think.