‘Guild Wars 2′ Still Plagued With Issues; Direct Sales On Hold

Gaming journalists have a tendency to point out the obvious issues that come with every new MMORPG release. The fact that players expect everything to work flawlessly from day one does not change the fact that a game of this magnitude simply can not be launched without any flaws. I am playing GW 2 for four days and believe me, compared to what other online games have "offered" in the past before their launch, GW 2 is a breeze. Diablo III was a complete mess at launch and continued to be weeks after. At least GW 2 is playable. I haven't got major issues with connectivity although issues occur when tons of people try to log in after a patch. The Overflow feature is actually pretty ingenious and because of it I've never been in a queue, wasting my time in the in-game menu.

As for WoW and Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard has launched the pre-MoP patch on the same day on which GW 2 went live. Why? Because they know the game has potential. Regardless of the fact that WoW is still one, if not the most successful P2P MMORPGs on the market, WoW is not what it used to be. I have an active WoW subscription but after playing GW 2 for a few days I might not be able to go back to the old questing formula where you collect three monkey butts and deliver them to the question mark.

GW 2 has potential, lots of potential and although it's easy to compare any release with WoW, that doesn't really help. WoW is an 8-year-old behemoth that will die eventually because of it's core limitations. GW 2 brings new things to the table and wishes to change the MMORPG genre, which, in all fairness has become a bit stale.

no, gaming journalists are obligated to point out the good and the bad of the release. I have also done articles complementing GW2 on the things that are working. I am not only a gaming writer but a gamer since the 1970's when played text adventures like colossal cave on dec pdp 10 mainframes. Since you are also a gamer, you are certainly aware of the short patience of many gamers. If the problems continue with GW2, it will cause people to bail on the game, or go back to wow on sept 25. i hope they fix gw2. it has a great deal to offer.

no, gaming journalists are obligated to point out the good and the bad of the release. I have also done articles complementing GW2 on the things that are working. I am not only a gaming writer but a gamer since the 1970's when played text adventures like colossal cave on dec pdp 10 mainframes. Since you are also a gamer, you are certainly aware of the short patience of many gamers. If the problems continue with GW2, it will cause people to bail on the game, or go back to wow on sept 25. i hope they fix gw2. it has a great deal to offer.

If you had played from last Friday, you would have seen some rather unpleasant problems, especially with connectivity. The issues they are still having with the auction house, account security, and the lack of forums should not have occurred. NCsoft is on of the world's largest gaming companies and they should have allocated more resources to handle the load. It is surprising they were so overwhelmed by the volume of players.

I understand what you're saying, and if I came across as if I was not agreeing with most of what you've said in the article I'm sorry, that was not my intention. I agree that every company needs to support their product and fix problems as soon as possible.

What I wanted to point out is that yes, gamers are quickly losing their patience but they shouldn't. At least, in this case not yet, especially if we are to compare GW2's launch with other recently launched online games.

As far as the issues before the actual launch of the game go, I can't really take those problems in account when it comes to pointing out how well the game performed "at launch". That was an early access and although I agree that those who have pre-ordered (including myself) would have preferred for the game to work flawlessly, you can't really judge NCsoft too hard for the fact that the game had connection issues before it actually went live. As far as I'm concerned, once the game went live I very rarely had any issues concerning connectivity.

As for whether or not gamers will eventually quit GW 2 if there will be major problems with the game, I agree. However, I don't think the forums and the Auction House will still be unavailable by the time MoP hits the market, and if GW 2 players are giving up on the game, that doesn't mean MoP is the salvation. There are many non-WoW players who are giving GW 2 a whirl. The majority of WoW players will always go back to playing WoW, that doesn't mean the rest of the MMO market is going to collapse.

But if we're to talk about security issues, that's no reason to quit a game like GW 2 in order to get back to other games. In all fairness, Battlenet has been hacked not long ago, and it has been around for quite some time now. Diablo 3 had major security issues after launch and an insane amount of players got their accounts hacked. Why? As Blizzard said before, it's something that happens with every fresh launch. There are things that follow a fresh release that simply can't be prevented. With pretty much every big launch the servers are overwhelmed, and that should really come as a surprise anymore.

My point is, your article is fair and points out the problems. However, the issues surrounding GW 2 are not uncommon and other, perhaps bigger releases have done a worse job then NCsoft. We shouldn't already hop on the "MMO migration" wagon tow days after the game went live, especially when the game works pretty well overall. Sure, everyone would want to play a fully-functional game as soon as possible and I'm pretty confident we'll get there in due time. If not, then we'll get to talk about how the game failed. For now, It's nowhere near failing.

But I get it, your job is to report the happenings, not to educate the "spoiled gamer".

cough cough Rift. It might of had queue's, but I do not remember this amount of issues.

Anecdotally speaking, the game has been completely without connectivity issues for me since the actual launch on Tues. The trading post being down is a minor inconvenience, but given I haven't developed a sense of worth regarding the currency or items yet it hasn't impacted my gameplay experience. For that matter it's been up for me the last few times I've tried it – I'm just not ready to start using it yet at level 30.

While pointing out the bad, the use of the term "plagued with issues" is pretty deceptive. I have been playing since the first night of head start and have had more fun than anything I've played since RvR in DAoC. In fact, I would have paid $100 if GW2 only had WvW. The only night I had any issues logging in was the first night of head start. So instead of staying up until 2am, I went to bed, went to work, came home and played a really fun and interesting game the next night and every night since.

Some underlying features of the game are having issues, but there isn't a single piece of the game that is broken that prevents anyone from progressing or playing the game. WvW is great, PvP is great, dungeons are challenging, dynamic events are working and fun, heart quests are working as intended, crafting is working, the collectibles tab on the bank is one of the greatest features ever for people that like to farm mats and craft. Oh, and did I mention the platforming puzzles? They are also working as intended.

So back to my point, "plagued with issues" is more like hindered by minor annoyances that in no way stop anyone from playing the game. If anyone leaves GW2 for WoW due to this plague of issues you are referring to they probably just don't like the game and it has nothing to do with a week without a trading post…which I was actually able to use last night and is pretty awesome.

(Sorry for my obvious typos in the posts above, I was in a hurry)
And one more thing. The fact that ArenaNet has put a hold on sales isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not negating the fact that they've put online sales on hold because there are issues with the servers, but the fact that they had the courtesy of disabling online sales is something to point out as a "pro" and not a "con".

I know I've brought D3 and Blizzard into discussion numerous times already, but when Diablo 3 was a mess and the servers were entirely broken, Blizzard continued to sell the game as if nothing happened. Players were fooled into buying a broken game, just to join the frustration of waiting 2 days for the servers to go up, then go back offline (European servers mostly).

Not only that, but refunds were not given once the serial number was used and players were stuck with a game that didn't worked properly. There were lots of players who would've rather preferred to get a refund and buy a different game with that money, then come back to D3 if and when it got fixed, but that was not an option. I would've preferred to put the $60 in a bank and gain interest (metaphorically speaking) , rather than keeping it in Blizzard's pockets until they sort out their own problems.

In other words, kudos to ANet for stopping online sales, but too bad for them they had to do so. Losing big money just to maintain your dignity and show respect to gamers is quite a feat.

Hasn't even been out a week yet.

Wolff, forgive me for saying this, but your article is literally "full of shit".

I've been playing Guild Wars 2 throughout the beta, and since Day 1 of "Headstart" for pre-purchasers. Yes, there are INGAME issues such as the ones you listed (Parties, Overflow servers, Trading Post), but for the most part the game is working rather well, and ArenaNet have been diligent on trying to fix the problems as fast as they can.

Your article says, "but a week later, the game is still plagued with a host of issues.". I have a newsflash for you: The game hasn't even been out for a full week yet. Game was launched on Tuesday (28th). By my count, that's not even 4 days yet. 1 week if you include the head-start period. No game, no MMO is ever launched 100% perfect. Most game makers atleast make the effort to fix things. You can't expect them to get any and all issues solved over night.

At current, the game is fully playable, events and personal storyline is enjoyable. Dungeons are difficult (as it should be). Minor (not major) problems such as the Trading Post, is understandable under heavy load. The Mailing system is fully functional as of the past 24 hours. My only request, is for ArenaNet to add a "Cash On Delivery" function to the Mail system. I don't -need- the trading post to promote sales of my goods, as long as I can send a mail to the buyer.

Lastly, the Forums are -not- a Major issue as you so claim. With all the rage of whiny little kids being banned for exploiting game systems, you really want them to open up the Forums to such hostility during launch week?

This an article about the release of Vanilla WoW, because it sounds like the same issues only GW2 runs smoother from a connecting stand point.

I have to agree, Rift is kind of the exception here, it had a nigh seamless launch aside from queues for a few days (of which the subsequently released a lot of servers, only to struggle to fill them), but Rift has nowhere near the same kind of numbers as GW2 when it came to attempting to login the game over the course of it's year and a half run, let alone within one weekend or even at one time. Not to mention it's practically just a more mature version of WoW, but that's a different argument entirely.

However, plagued with issues I think is just a title spin to grab views. I might not be a massively experienced MMO player, seeing only 10 years worth on the genre, but in GW2's current state, it plays a hell of a lot better than most other MMORPG's which are well into their years. Yes; it's having problems with the Trading Post (don't forget, it's a global trading post, and even Blizzard had to hold back on releasing it on the final product in D3, and even then it doesn't have the same dynamisms), a few login issues (not nearly as bad as a number of other games or the horrible queue system), and a pushed/stressed Support team (which even in it's delays is better than almost any other company), but plagued? No, just the problems that happen to most games within the opening weeks.

All that going on and they only had to temporarily withhold first party online sales, and they show signs of managing to fix these problems whilst people play rather than days worth of maintenance?

In the big picture of newly released mmos the problems its been having hasn't been all that bad in comparison with all the others, id give them a 8/10.

No drama here, besides its not like I'm going to have to pay a month fee while they fix stuff, now that would really anger me, I'm quite happy to go play something else while they fix it if the game ever temporarily becomes unplayable.

Its a big storm in a tea cup as far as I'm concerned.

Listen to them, don't buy this game. I want it all to myself! Any other game would have had massive shutdowns, servers down for hours on end with no answers. ArenaNet has been kind enough to keep it up as much as humanly possible without interrupting gameplay, while keeping players updated. The players are a little mad some things don't work, but in all actuality, at least we get to play and they've proven their lack of greed and their emphasis on player enjoyment by disabling online sales. They're costing themselves money to keep and make players happy. I can't think of a single other company that would do anything similar.

The game has issues at launch. Pretty much all games do. You CANNOT cover every possibility, every contingency during testing, due to the near infinite combinations of hardware and software on today's PC's. You cannot prediect what the monstrous number of hackers and thieves on the web will do in response to a new game. You just plain CAN NOT. Arenanet is doing what it can, and it is adressing issues as fast as they can. Even Rift, which had the least flawed launch I have seen in 15 years of MMO play, had its share of issues to handle (and Trion handled them VERY well). Give it some time, kids. This is arguably the most anticipated launch in a decaded, and issues are to be expected. So far they've had less issues and all in all handled things a lot better than EQ, DAoC, WoW, WAR or pretty much any other major launch.

even with the flaws and mess ups this game is by far the best I have played this year from the mmo market I have been a fan of arenanet since guild wars 1 and I find that with all of this stuff going wrong its 10 times the game WoW was every going to be.
its soo popular they are addin new world and shutting down many features and locking down account recovery to stop hackers that no doudt see this game as the predator and world of warcraft has been turned into a pathetic door mouse in this game's shadow.

im very happy with the money I spent on this game and the quality of service is to be expected with a hyped up game that's been in development for nearly 5 years.
remember this is the age of technology and alot of changes have to be made to the game to keep it state-of-the-art.
and I look forward to the game opening 100% because that's what the mmo market needs, a fresh flagship title to brag about.

big game big problems nobodies perfect and the stakes are high here!

'Plagued with issues'… what a retard.

hah. not as bad as it sounds, and I can be impatient often. full server, overflow and all that jazz is really not that terrible–even if you hit an overflow you are only there for a bit. nothing to fuss over.