AN UPDATE FROM AIRSHIP SYNDICATE AND DIGITAL EXTREMES
Yesterday sucked. There is no other way to say it. It sucked for people who purchased Founder’s Packs and couldn’t play, and it sucked for us to see players unable to get into the game after believing in us and our vision.
Early Access isn’t a crutch. It’s a conversation between a studio and the community that’s helping build the game alongside the studio. We said from the start that we’d be transparent and open with the community and that continues now that we have players entrusting us with their money, and us failing to deliver.
[h3]SERVERS AND LOGIN[/h3]
Although we ran technical tests and betas across multiple regions, we were seeing more players every minute than played in our Beta each day. Although we had a queue system ready, that system failed immediately. We quickly implemented numerous fixes to try and stabilize the login experience and those failed as well. We ended up having to put a cap on the players that were on the server which was less than ideal and resulted in the "Maximum Player Limit Reached” error last night.
[h3]UPDATE FROM DIGITAL EXTREMES[/h3]
At early access launch, severe server/login issues led to many players not being able to connect or play. We know and value your trust and apologize for the shaky beginning: as players ourselves we know the disappointment many are feeling.
We apologize - we know players have high expectations of DE’s infrastructure to deliver in moments like this, and in this instance we, as the publisher, fell short.
We’re committed to ensuring long term stability through the early access period. We are thankful for the enthusiasm and interest of our community and for your continued patience as we close in on a permanent solution.”
We realize that buying something and not being able to actually login and play frankly is a bad look. One solution we heard often was that we should have offered pre-sales to gauge interest. Unfortunately, some 1st party stores do not offer pre-sales of Early Access and we were unable to meet demand.
Currently the game’s login queue is functioning. Sitting in a queue isn’t actually being in-game and playing, but it’s allowing a trickle of players in as we continue to up capacity across all regions and that has been successful. We’ll continue to make optimizations to the queue and servers in the coming days and weeks until all players are in and playing.
[h3]FOUNDER’S PACKS ISSUES[/h3]
We are also aware that a small portion of players did not get their Founder’s Pack items. We are aware of this issue and although it affects a small portion of players, it’s a priority to make sure that our Founders get their items. A lot of the missing items are related to the back end server issues and unfortunately we can’t provide a better update right now until we have more stability. Again, Founder’s Packs are you entrusting us, and we didn’t deliver. Please contact support at https://playwayfinder.zendesk.com/ at this time so we can collect your information as we work towards a solution.
[h3]MONETIZATION[/h3]
We also saw conversation around some of our bundle prices being just shy of items in our store. We agree that it’s not player friendly. We’re revisiting this pricing so that they are 1,000 Runesilver, and will retroactively grant the difference for anyone that has paid for any of these weapons.
[h3]PLAYER COMPENSATION[/h3]
Players lost valuable time waiting to get into the game or taking days off to play. That sucks.
We’re currently working on our plans for compensating those purchased into Early Access whether they got into the game or not.
Yesterday proved that Wayfinder has an audience, but we must take action to meet the demand that audience deserves. First and foremost, that involves us fortifying our underlying platform and technology to deliver our vision for an online world for friends. It’s about winning back our player’s trust through actions and not words, and it’s about getting the game into a playable state for all.
Early Access isn’t a crutch. It’s a conversation between a studio and the community that’s helping build the game alongside the studio. We said from the start that we’d be transparent and open with the community and that continues now that we have players entrusting us with their money, and us failing to deliver.
[h3]SERVERS AND LOGIN[/h3]
Although we ran technical tests and betas across multiple regions, we were seeing more players every minute than played in our Beta each day. Although we had a queue system ready, that system failed immediately. We quickly implemented numerous fixes to try and stabilize the login experience and those failed as well. We ended up having to put a cap on the players that were on the server which was less than ideal and resulted in the "Maximum Player Limit Reached” error last night.
[h3]UPDATE FROM DIGITAL EXTREMES[/h3]
At early access launch, severe server/login issues led to many players not being able to connect or play. We know and value your trust and apologize for the shaky beginning: as players ourselves we know the disappointment many are feeling.
We apologize - we know players have high expectations of DE’s infrastructure to deliver in moments like this, and in this instance we, as the publisher, fell short.
We’re committed to ensuring long term stability through the early access period. We are thankful for the enthusiasm and interest of our community and for your continued patience as we close in on a permanent solution.”
We realize that buying something and not being able to actually login and play frankly is a bad look. One solution we heard often was that we should have offered pre-sales to gauge interest. Unfortunately, some 1st party stores do not offer pre-sales of Early Access and we were unable to meet demand.
Currently the game’s login queue is functioning. Sitting in a queue isn’t actually being in-game and playing, but it’s allowing a trickle of players in as we continue to up capacity across all regions and that has been successful. We’ll continue to make optimizations to the queue and servers in the coming days and weeks until all players are in and playing.
[h3]FOUNDER’S PACKS ISSUES[/h3]
We are also aware that a small portion of players did not get their Founder’s Pack items. We are aware of this issue and although it affects a small portion of players, it’s a priority to make sure that our Founders get their items. A lot of the missing items are related to the back end server issues and unfortunately we can’t provide a better update right now until we have more stability. Again, Founder’s Packs are you entrusting us, and we didn’t deliver. Please contact support at https://playwayfinder.zendesk.com/ at this time so we can collect your information as we work towards a solution.
[h3]MONETIZATION[/h3]
We also saw conversation around some of our bundle prices being just shy of items in our store. We agree that it’s not player friendly. We’re revisiting this pricing so that they are 1,000 Runesilver, and will retroactively grant the difference for anyone that has paid for any of these weapons.
[h3]PLAYER COMPENSATION[/h3]
Players lost valuable time waiting to get into the game or taking days off to play. That sucks.
We’re currently working on our plans for compensating those purchased into Early Access whether they got into the game or not.
Yesterday proved that Wayfinder has an audience, but we must take action to meet the demand that audience deserves. First and foremost, that involves us fortifying our underlying platform and technology to deliver our vision for an online world for friends. It’s about winning back our player’s trust through actions and not words, and it’s about getting the game into a playable state for all.
