queue-time
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Free faction changes to begin on Barthilas
One of players' least favorite aspects of play in World of Warcraft is undoubtedly queue times. While people generally seem to understand why they exist, no one really enjoys hanging out in a queue while waiting to hop into a dungeon, raid, or battleground. While there are multiple factors that contribute to queue times, according to Blizzard it's faction interest in PvP queues that tends to be the biggest influence--not just for servers but for entire regions. Thus, in the interest of hopefully shortening queue times, Blizzard is offering free faction changes from Horde to Alliance for the Barthilas server. This small initial offering is just a beginning, meant to test the waters. They intend to expand the offer to other servers for testing as well. Presumably, if the opening of faction transfers successfully manages to reduce queue times, the program will continue to be grow. The free faction transfers for Barthilas will open on Tuesday, May 27th, and continue for about a week. Whole guild transfers are eligible under this program, though guild leaders initiating the Guild Master Faction Change will be charged the initial fee and refunded within 72 hours. It will be interesting to see the potential effect this has on queue times for that server and battlegroup.
How long are you willing to wait for a group to form?
In the leveling homestretch, I tend to follow a pattern. My main goal is to boost my ilevel as soon as I hit 90 to get in on Raid Finder. Although, once I get there, I end up feeling bitter because waiting in a Raid Finder queue isn't fun. Even if you're not into Raid Finder, WoW presents players with plenty of opportunity to wait around at some point -- battleground and dungeon queues, or even sticking around for a PUG to come together. As a tank on my main, I groan when thinking of entering Raid Finder, mainly because of the wait. There are only two tank roles, after all. With the new loot specialization coming to 5.3, players looking to win tank gear have hope of a less painful wait in a DPS role, at least. Even if you're used to the long wait, everyone has a limit. I remember waiting as a tank in a Raid Finder queue for an hour and forty minutes. I'm not usually willing to wait that long. I'm relatively comfortable with waiting about thirty to forty minutes before moving on. When it comes to PUGs, I'm quite patient, usually waiting longer than I probably should. In a PUG, I tend to have a personal connection to at least one of the other players in the group, so I'm not quick to leave. How long are you willing to wait, whether it be for a dungeon, Raid Finder, battleground, or a PUG? While in queue, how do you pass the time? I usually find myself completing dailies or battling pets. But at what point do you throw up your hands and leave?
The Daily Grind: What do you do when you're in a queue?
It's not hard to find an MMO player who's gotten to experience the singular joy of the server queue. Maybe you were trying to log in to DC Universe Online right after it switched business models; maybe you've been taking part in this weekend's beta testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic; or maybe you were around for the launch of World of Warcraft. There's no debate to be had over whether or not server queues are good -- not even the developers consider them something good, just occasionally something necessary. No, today's question is about how you handle it. Do you wait it out and watch the time tick down? Read a book while you wait? Whip out a handheld game system? Play some Solitaire? Fix a snack? When the worst-case scenario happens and you're stuck in a server queue, what do you do to help pass the time between the start of the queue and the time when you get in? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
When queue times lie
Yeah, I know what Blizzard said. They improved the wait times. They even ran a survey asking how it's all going. Well, for the most part it's been pretty good. There are some occasions, however, when queue times lie. It's happened to us post Patch 2.4, where the queue times say that we'll have a match in less than a minute... then one minute passes and nothing comes up. Then another minute goes by. And another. Before we know it, the minutes have all rolled over into one huge bundle of minutes and we still haven't gotten a match.Why does this happen? We're not entirely sure. I figure it's probably because there are no teams close to our bracket, but when that happens we usually get an estimated wait time of 'Unavailable'. That's when I know our night is going to be bad and filled with dueling outside of Orgrimmar in between queues. Because of the new matching system, which Drysc said they continually improve, teams are better matched than before. For some, this means longer wait times, although it also looks like they've allowed more concurrent matches for lower brackets. For 2v2, in particular, the most populated bracket, the wait times used to be excruciatingly long. This has changed drastically, which is a good thing. Matches are almost always instantaneous. Almost.Sometimes, the estimated queue times are still way off. The problem with lying queue times is that it doesn't allow you to do anything in between. It's almost like waiting for the school bus while wanting to hit the loo. You don't want to go because you're thinking the bus will be arriving shortly. You wait and you wait until you finally decide you have time to do No.2, and when you're finally settled on that seat, the school bus honks its horn with your pants down. That's kind of how erroneous estimates are. It doesn't leave you free to do much. So, while I appreciate Blizzard's efforts at making our Arena queues better, I'm still WTB accurate estimates.
Making the most of long arena queue times
Fighting in the arena is hands down my favorite thing to do in WoW these days. I do get very bored while I'm waiting for queues to pop. Since I usually do 2v2 and 3v3 battles I'm usually looking at wait times between five and ten minutes. Drysc stated that this occurs due to a limited number of instances that can be hosted at any given time, the problem will not likely be solved in the near future. Instead of complaining about it, I try to find something productive to do with inevitable delay. There are several in-game activities that to do with these unexciting minutes. I love to window shop the next piece of battleground or arena gear that I'm working for. It is also an excellent time to work on crafting and auctioning items. Skinners who queue up in Blade's Edge, find themselves in a perfect position for killing Bladespre Raptors for Knothide Leather.
No incoming fix for long arena queues
With the popularity of the new arena season, queue times across the servers are getting pretty long. This is especially noticeable in the 2v2 bracket, which is the most popular team size. When a player posted his complaints about the long queues today, Drysc chimed in to give indication that there will be no quick fix incoming. Instead, the devs are going to wait to get the big picture on the influx of PvPers instead of making rash decisions.I don't know what your experiences have been like lately, but the queues on my main server seem to be getting longer and longer rather than diminishing. The new season has only been out for about a week now, so perhaps it's too early to expect interest to be fading, but I hope there is some sort of solution soon. I've contemplated moving up to the 3v3 bracket, but I've heard via word of mouth that those queues are getting pretty lengthy as well. Perhaps it's time to give 5v5 a chance once again, if I can corral some of my guildmates to chose a specific time to do our matches and stick with it.What has your experience with the arena queues been like since the new season began?
