I disagree with the 3 day head-start

[Kazgut]

Oh my god my eyes they burn with your unreadable english...anyway I paid for my head start and went out of my way to get it, so end of story I play it before you because I paid more.

[James_EAMythic]

Hey folks,

Just to shed some light on this topic. We only anticipate a fraction of our overall playerbase to take advantage of the head start, so as others have said population in starting areas will not be vacant, simply less crowded than they would otherwise be.

Allowing some players to move through content ahead of time is beneficial in a number of ways, it allows us to gracefully move into live service operation. A lot of gears start grinding internally for this to happen and it's very nice to be able to do this as smoothly as possible by ramping up operations instead of opening the proverbial floodgates all at once.

In addition to better service it also spreads players out creating less overall stress for players and the environment. Anyone who has ever played on a launch day of an MMO knows that competition is fierce as everyone makes their mad dash out the gates. Having "fewer" players there is a good thing in this case

[Medallion]

Originally Posted by James_EAMythic

Anyone who has ever played on a launch day of an MMO knows that competition is fierce as everyone makes their mad dash out the gates. Having "fewer" players there is a good thing in this case

Couldn't agree with this more. Thanks!

[Ergo]

Originally Posted by James_EAMythic

Hey folks,

Just to shed some light on this topic. We only anticipate a fraction of our overall playerbase to take advantage of the head start, so as others have said population in starting areas will not be vacant, simply less crowded than they would otherwise be.

Allowing some players to move through content ahead of time is beneficial in a number of ways, it allows us to gracefully move into live service operation. A lot of gears start grinding internally for this to happen and it's very nice to be able to do this as smoothly as possible by ramping up operations instead of opening the proverbial floodgates all at once.

In addition to better service it also spreads players out creating less overall stress for players and the environment. Anyone who has ever played on a launch day of an MMO knows that competition is fierce as everyone makes their mad dash out the gates. Having "fewer" players there is a good thing in this case

Thanks for the clarification and answer that most of us expected.

[KiyokaMakibi]

3 days... um thanks =l 5 days or even a week would of been suitable

[Ergo]

Originally Posted by KiyokaMakibi

3 days... um thanks =l 5 days or even a week would of been suitable

Well in my opinion for fairness it would be 7 days, as this allows the game to launch on a Friday, giving the headstart people a weekend aswell (not everyone can play games during the week). Sadly 7 days seems too long for fairness, so i guess it could be a friday headstart and then following wednesday launch.

[Ceyl]

Here`s a controversial thought: Instead of racing to 40. How about using the headstart to familiarize yourself with the game and help new players out?

[Opalek]

What is this strange concept of being "ahead" of someone in a hobby ? I couldn´t give a damn if the player next door begins WAR at level 40. Good for him....or rather not.

This is not a race. Or did I miss a meeting ?

[Rothide]

You're right, I missed where he said he had the CE pre-ordered...

Anyone think they could really stand to know that they could be playing but aren't?

I couldn't.

And I definitely agree that it will be nice to do some quests day one with maybe a few hundred people instead of a few thousand.

See you in the first PQ.

[nero0102]

Everyone is going to be the same level after 3-4 months. The headstart program is an insignificant perk (in the grand scheme of the game) for those willing to spend the extra money for extra product.

Guess what. Those players are still going to get ahead of you, headstart or not. So it doesn't matter.

[Rhianni]

Originally Posted by Opalek

What is this strange concept of being "ahead" of someone in a hobby ? I couldn´t give a damn if the player next door begins WAR at level 40. Good for him....or rather not.

This is not a race. Or did I miss a meeting ?

Personally I agree with your statement and will try to enjoy all the levels as long as I can. However this is a pretty heavy RvR centered game and higher levels means easier time beating on lower levels. Even excluding the chicken mechanism, if you can stay ahead of the majority of players in a tier you should be able to win the majority of fights.

[Raizen]

Originally Posted by Opalek

What is this strange concept of being "ahead" of someone in a hobby ? I couldn´t give a damn if the player next door begins WAR at level 40. Good for him....or rather not.

This is not a race. Or did I miss a meeting ?

It's not a race, but you can't deny that these games are built around the element of competition and besting each other. One of the biggest driving factors of WoW was to become better than the average joe, as it is in most other MMO's. Although you can say that you don't care what everyone else's level is, that really only works on social recluses. I don't know of a single person who isn't even slightly irked when someone who was a lower level than them outlevels them.

[Thoroar]

I would probably have the head-start start on a friday, go through the weekend, and then have launch be Tuesday Night at midnight.

Why Tuesday?

Everything comes out on Tuesday.

[Llamazerker]

its #1 to generate buzz over the collectors edition(are we sold out yet?), and #2 to ease stress on servers by taking the ce holders first. sounds like its working pretty good

[Gaktuk]

Originally Posted by James_EAMythic

Hey folks,

Just to shed some light on this topic. We only anticipate a fraction of our overall playerbase to take advantage of the head start, so as others have said population in starting areas will not be vacant, simply less crowded than they would otherwise be.

Allowing some players to move through content ahead of time is beneficial in a number of ways, it allows us to gracefully move into live service operation. A lot of gears start grinding internally for this to happen and it's very nice to be able to do this as smoothly as possible by ramping up operations instead of opening the proverbial floodgates all at once.

In addition to better service it also spreads players out creating less overall stress for players and the environment. Anyone who has ever played on a launch day of an MMO knows that competition is fierce as everyone makes their mad dash out the gates. Having "fewer" players there is a good thing in this case

That is exactly what I thought.