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PTR character copy queue shortening
Many people are reporting now that the PTR character copy queue is quickly shortening. Earlier today it was up around a 24 day wait for characters to be copied over, now I've seen it reported that it's down around 7 days (and shrinking). The reports are mainly for the US PTR, and not the EU.The queue was very high because Blizzard was letting everyone line up to get their characters copied, and not actually doing any of the copying yet. However now that they're copying the actual characters over to the PTR, the queue is diminishing fast.You can get in line to copy your character over via the "PTR Character Copy" link on your account management page. Please note however, that at this time Blizzard is not allowing any more characters to be queued for copying, but that can change at any minute.This is a good indication that the PTR will be up very soon. We're fully staffed here at WoW Insider HQ and will be bringing you the latest as soon as the PTR goes up. Hopefully including some juicy patch notes, screenshots and detailed information on Ulduar, and our first glimpse at how exactly dual specs will work.This post brought to you by the word soon™!
Microsoft unveils Netflix queue management for Windows Mobile devices
Taking a page from i.TV, last night during the Ballmer keynote Microsoft announced a Netflix queue management app for Windows Mobile devices. Pick a Watch Instantly movie and it shows right up in your Xbox 360 (or any other Netflix-enabled device's) viewing queue. PyxisMobile offers similar functionality in its Smartflix program for those who can't wait until later this month when Microsoft & Netflix's homegrown version becomes available.
Queue queue moar noob
It's 10:40 p.m. EST on my server and there is a 30 minute wait to login with a queue of over 300. Oh me oh my, time to get out my BlizzCon goodie bag and head for the QQ n00b tissues.Many users across most of the servers, both in the U.S. and E.U., are reporting long queues again. While the population always seems to uptick around this time of year, one has to raise an eyebrow at this happening a second time in as many months.November was understandable. Wrath was a big deal. But after a week or so the queues died down. Is this just the second insurgent of Wrath's wrath?One can surmise that a large number of people received Wrath as a Christmas gift. The assumption is probably correct. Another popular theory is that with all the vacation time on folk's plate right now, people are using it to log into the game and enjoy a bit of Northrend adventuring.
Breakfast topic: Forgive and forget?
Wrath has been out for about a month now. We were excited about the game, but boy were we angry. We had restarts, extended maintenance, server queues, and whole host of other anomalies. Blizzard's solution was to address as many issues as they could and give us each three days of credit. There are still problems with random disconnects, server lag, and some other bugs. There's still work to be done, but it's getting better.The one thing that I'm still very frustrated with is the evade issue. This seems to happen to me far more frequently than it did pre-Wrath. I hate it when a mob resets just as it would die, particularly when it's an elite. It always reminds me of Jester diving below the hard deck. I have nothing to do but try to kill the mob again or move on to another one that's (hopefully) not evading.Over all though, I'm happy with Wrath of the Lich King. There are some dreadful quests, but some awesome ones as well. A lot of things are reused, but many are new as well. I'm over being mad and back to enjoying the game. But Blizz, if you're reading: please stop the mobs from bugging out and going home.Now readers, it's your turn: Do you forgive Blizzard yet? What will it take to make you happy with WoW?
Breakfast Topic: Realm (in)stability
In general I've been pleasantly surprised at how stable my own realm has been since the launch. Yes, we've had queues, restarts, lag, and yes, we've also had an insanely annoying subgroup of people with absolutely no scruples over stealing quest spawns (to be fair, this isn't Blizzard's fault, unless you count their refusal to allow us to kill members of our own faction. I have been sorely tempted over the last few days). But in general, play has been pretty trouble-free apart from the crowds you'd expect at all the usual quest hubs, and the response to the expansion has been universally positive from everyone to whom I've spoken. Wrath, at least on my own realm, has gone live to a very happy and excited bunch of players.But with a look at WoW Insider's inbox, I'm not sure it's worked out that way for everyone. We've seen a spate of recent complaints about server crashes and giant queues, and this weekend we've gotten a lot of them from people playing on Oceanic servers particularly (one of our readers, James Flannery, wrote in to tell us about an Oceanic server queue that went from 86 to 161 minutes during the half hour that he'd already been waiting). While in general I think it's safe to say that Wrath's launch went much more smoothly than Burning Crusade's did, I'm not sure everyone's benefited despite Blizzard's efforts. Possibly it's a function of Wrath being even more popular than anticipated in certain regions. If you play on multiple servers, which realm(s) seem to be doing best and worst? Have queue times (if they existed) and server lag improved for you?
The World (of Warcraft) is full, please come back later
Queues are the highest most of us have ever seen tonight. On my home server of Eldre'Thalas I was behind over 850 people at one point, and have had over an hour wait be estimated for me more often than not. I maxed out at 115 minutes.The estimated wait time will fluctuate back and forth depending on the frequency in which players log off or leave the queue in frustration.Perhaps the biggest thing we need to worry about this expansion is not server down time, but the phenomenal amount of players wanting to get in the game.If Blizzard has any announcement about this, or solutions (other than transferring realms) we'll keep you updated here. Other than that... good luck getting in.
Free high pop to low pop server transfers incoming
Thundgot over on the EU forums says there's a pretty drastic solution incoming to the busy servers incoming: Blizzard is going to offer free server transfers from high pop servers to low pop, so if you've really been driven nuts by all the queues and lag lately, this might be just what you need. On the other hand, don't jump into anything too quickly -- traffic problems are pretty common, especially when big patches (and, you know, expansions) come down, and odds are that once the expansion actually releases, things will die back down after a little while.Of course, if you just don't want to wait, and don't have any particular ties to the server you happen to be on, then by all means, keep an eye out for the transfers. We're not quite sure which servers will be affected yet, but We Hate PUGs saw Quel'thelas on the list already along with a long list of high pop realms, so while we'll probably see more servers added to the low pop side, the high pop side there now is probably a fairly good indicator of the realms Blizzard sees as trouble. If you're on one of those realms and ready to transfer, sit tight and wait for the announcement today, help is on the way.
Do queues make you more hardcore?
After a recent blog post by Tobold entitled "Do Queues Make Destruction More Hardcore", we thought we'd take this concept a step further and ask the question of any queue on any server in any game. Throwing the whole notion out the window that Warhammer Online's Destruction players are more hardcore, we'd rather focus on the issue of queues, dedication and how it all relates to hardcore vs. casual in general.In Tobold's argument, when a player faces a queue, they have three options: Give up and play something else, switch to a lower-population server or wait it out. This applies to the servers themselves and any RvR situation where you need to wait for 'balance'. His prognosis is that since Destruction has seemingly more players, they face a queue more often. This leads to an evolution of players who can't cope with these queues (i.e. casual players without the time to sit and wait for 2 hours to play a game) to re-roll an Order character, or perhaps switch servers entirely. However, this begs the question: Are players on high-pop servers simply more hardcore because they have that time and dedication to wait it out? Or are the hardcore players the ones who can't waste their time sitting in-wait, because they want to spend more time actually playing the game?
The Daily Grind: What's the perfect download client?
Recently, it seems game developers have been experimenting with different ways to deliver the initial game download to players. Age of Conan is now on Steam, Lord of the Rings Online has looked to torrents, Warhammer Online is making FilePlanet richer while others are sticking with the age-old company-specific download clients. These are all still being tested, especially as MMOs are moving into the double-digit gigabyte file sizes, but do you think these are the best solutions? Sitting in a download queue for a day or more just to begin the 10 gigabyte file download is a bit ridiculous, but companies like FilePlanet are banking on our impatience. So is working through a third-party download site who requires a separate subscription really the best choice for us? If not, who do you think is doing it right? Or better yet, how can it be done right?
Photos from AppleStore Beijing
Apple opened its first Chinese store last Friday, just in time for the opening of the Olympic Games on August 8th. Unlike their counterparts in London, the queuers didn't appear to need chairs for comfort, but umbrellas were useful for keeping the heat at bay. According to our tipster in Beijing, the store sells all Apple products except iPhones, which have not yet been officially launched there yet.Chris Evers also took some pictures of the opening, which you can see on a MobileMe gallery here.UPDATE: That MobileMe photo gallery appears to be unavailable right now. We'll leave the link in place in the hope that it comes back up soon. Thanks to the commenters who alerted us to the breakage.Thanks to Zach Honig for the tip and the main photo.
Behold, the iQueue
What do you do when you've got a pre-queue queue downstairs, then an actual queue proper upstairs? There's a lot of tired people involved, and twice as many tired legs. The answer, of course, is the iQueue. Dozens of plastic chairs brought in solely for the comfort of your customers' backsides.This pic was snapped in the London Regents Street Apple Store on Thursday afternoon as a great many people wait for their chance to buy an iPhone. Photographer Chris Mac Morrison was less than impressed."I'll wait until waiting time is less than 10 mins before i hand over any cash," he told us. Good plan.Thanks to Mac for the pic.
The mystery of Netflix's queue system gets tackled, throttling all but confirmed
C'mon, everyone that actually pays attention has Netflix figured out by now. During the trial period (or shall we say, honeymoon phase), Netflix is eager and willing to rush you any new releases you have on your list, while being even more ready to "receive" your disc back just as soon as it hits the firm's local distribution hub. After you've shelled out for a few months, you'll notice that those discs are magically taking a day or two longer to be received by the company, and those new releases you're craving are suddenly taking days (or weeks) to arrive. So, is throttling a reality? The folks at Sound & Vision Mag delved deep to find out, and while the company claims that "96%" of customers receive their movies next-day, there is an algorithm that works against you if you're a notorious new release grabber. Additionally, it was affirmed that "the more you work your membership, the less likely you are to get the new stuff." As everyone with Blockbuster can attest, the story isn't really any different over there -- we 'spose that's just how life goes when you're the 4%.
Zarhym speaks on Battleground queues and uneven team numbers
It seems to be a complaint that comes up quite often lately: Many people on both sides of the aisle are finding that when they queue up these days and get into a battleground, one side or the other starts at a distinct disadvantage, numbers-wise. Whether it be a 15-7 Arathi Basin, or a 10 to 3 Warsong Gulch, I'm sure most avid Battleground PvPers can tell you that it is extremely hard to recover when you start at a great imbalance in numbers like that. Zarhym chimed in to offer his own view on the situation on a recent forum thread, and to tell us that Blizzard may still be open to a bit more tweaking to try to solve the problem.
iPhone line forms at Apple's flagship for absolutely no reason
So word on the street (literally) is that a large number of people are queuing in line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City (see above) -- keep in mind the Cube is open 24 hours a day. Our intrepid girl-on-the-scene reports that the group is more than 60-deep, though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for, while some believe they're actually camping out for a 3G iPhone. Meanwhile, Apple reps tell us they're crowd-controlling iPhone buyers because otherwise they would be "screaming" at employees and clogging up the store. See what happens when you get short on stock? More pics after the break.Update: For those of you convinced this is an Improv Everywhere stunt, here's a post from Charlie Todd -- the group's founder -- denying involvement.[Thanks, Laura and Abiade]
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.
Arena Tournament: Tales from day one
Last night, the WoW Insider arena team stepped into battle for the first time on the arena tournament realms, and it was immediately apparent that things were going to be quite different from our experiences on the tournament test realms. For starters, there were way fewer people. I also noticed that, contrary to my expectations that everyone shelling out an extra $20 to play here would be a hardcore arena-goer, there were many people on just to have fun. General chat was full of people who didn't know where to go, how to allocate their talent points, and even people who hadn't formed teams yet!Still, despite the fact the vendor areas had a drastically reduced population, the queues were amazingly short, as Adam points out. Often, I was reading that my team had joined the queue at the same time I was clicking to enter the battle.
What to do about perpetual losers?
Many Alliance players have this impression that the Horde is constantly united, more cooperative, and generally understands how to play better than the Alliance does. Whether this is true or not is not something I myself can speak for, though I have heard my Horde friends say they have just as many clueless PvP people as the Alliance does. So perhaps both factions can relate to Mendax's complaint that so many people seem to go into the battlegrounds with no idea how to win, and somehow fail to learn how, even in spite of playing a great deal and getting a lot of good gear. Their tendency is just to go in and lose over and over again, repeating the same old proven-to-fail methods for various reasons: possibly because they don't know anything better, possibly because they don't care anymore, and possibly because they've already identified themselves, their faction, or everyone else in their faction as born losers.In any case, Mendax thinks that Blizzard should make the battlegrounds themselves reward you for better play, so that the game mechanics themselves encourage you to play in such a way that you're more likely to actually win. First of all, they could provide more honor for kills near contested objectives (such as flags or towers), and secondly, they could deny all bonus honor if you lose. His first idea quite interesting -- I like the possibility that the reward system of the battlegrounds could somehow teach you to play better in itself, if that's really possible. However, while I can understand his reasoning in removing all bonus honor gain for losing teams, I think this would just make the "losers" stop queueing up altogether. We might be happy to get rid of whiners, complainers and all them, but in the end would the increase the waiting time in between battles be worth it? And in any case, would the "losers" really go away, or would they just look for ways to get around the system?
Season 3 causes queues
Thundgot, one of Blizzard's European CMs, is reporting that due to the one-two punch of patch 2.3 and Arena Season 3, more people than usual are logging on, resulting in queues on many realms that don't usually have them. So season two is over, and season queue begins (sorry, couldn't resist). I don't know if the North American realms are also supposed to be having queues; none of my regular ones have been, but I tend to play at off-peak times, so perhaps I wouldn't have seen them anyway. Who's been seeing queues, where are you, and how bad have they been?Blizzard says they're holding off on doing anything about the queues, be it free transfers or new realms, but they promise that they're "closely monitoring" things, and if this proves to be more than a transient thing, measures will be taken, as usual. I remember back in the pre-BC days, when most realms had queues most of the time...that was no fun. But it seems that Blizz have learned from that, since I haven't ever faced anything that bad since BC launched.
2.1 and Beyond: New arena: Ruins of Lordaeron
"Games for Windows" magazine has released their third article about the things to come post patch 2.1. Above the Undercity will be a new PVP arena, called "the Ruins of Lordaeron." This will be a new 2, 3, and 5-man arena available sometime after the next content patch. Blizzard has taken what they learned from the previous two arenas and tried some new things in the new map. Attempting to cut down on the geometry features and line-of-sight breaking objects was a goal in this arena. While there are still a few hiding spots, they tend to be in the middle of the map. Another option that Blizzard is thinking about implementing is the ability to choose which arena map you play on. The downside, however, is that by doing so you are limiting the number of people in the queues by splitting them up into smaller specific queues. While I've never been a big PVP buff, I'm sure that those of our readers that are will be excited to have another new arena map to play! You can read the article here.
TubeSock 2.0 - Flash video downloader gains conversion queue, bookmarklet update, much more
All sorts of tools have appeared for making it easy to download and save Flash files from the likes of YouTube, Google Video and more. From Greasemonkey scripts to browser plugins, these tools all have their strengths and drawbacks, but for the serious Flash movie downloader, there is TubeSock. This powerful tool has received a serious version 2.0 upgrade since I last mentioned it, gaining a boatload of features such as a download/conversion queue, progress bar, a smarter bookmarklet, as well as support for DailyMotion and PorkoIt sites, batch files, FLVs (already-downloaded Flash files) and the Apple TV.These aren't the only things on the new hotness list, however, so check out the changelog for the full rundown or snag a demo of this most excellent Flash downloading utility. The demo is limited to converting only the first 30 seconds of a file, while a license costs a mere $15.
