The waiting game that is…what is up with these freakin queues? My computer locked up and now I’m back in queue for the next 90 minutes. We are well past the “Oh its the Christmas” rush. Shouldn’t be “well the expansion pack has brought back all kinds of players” because the newness has worn off for many already. Blizzard has mentioned that a great deal of lag is due to Winter Grasp but I’m not talking bout lag, I’m talking about queue time. I have to queue a good hour before raid invites to make sure I’m there on time. I know Blizzard can’t wave a magic wand and have it all disappear next Tuesday but there is some area for improvement…
GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO! Why must I stare at a snowy screen with a pissed dragon howling at me every 90 seconds? Can’t we add in some mini game like Bejeweled here? That game is set up to launch when you are on a long flightpath…lets have something launch when I’m in a long queue. I know I can Alt-Tab and read the web or post on my blog (which is why this is up now) but why would you want to. Isn’t it your job to engage the gamer? What if I get caught up in a dashing game of Yahoo checkers and forget about playing all together?
TOO BAD! I can’t forget about wow because of the screaming dragon in the background. And kudos to you Blizz for adding in the ability to turn off the sound from the login screen. That was awesome…but now can we get to allowing that feature while I’m staring at this queue window? I can’t do anything without dropping from queue.
So I guess Blizzard has me as part of their captive audience but chooses to not do much about it. I can’t even cruise the “latest news” from this screen. They should at least add the in-game knowledge base here…most people don’t even know that exists in game. I guess I’ll get my fill of the undead by playing L4D for the next ….78 mins. If you want to join hit me up on Steam.
What would you change about the queue screen?
krizzlybear January 14, 2009 at 1:31 am
Put a Bejeweled interface in the same window as a qeue message. Problem solved.
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 3:18 am
Thats what I'm getting at…they need to do something to that page to interact and engage with the player. They could easily drop in MC the game (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/04/03/making-molte…and entertain with that…it actually wasn't that bad.
Mlarta January 14, 2009 at 3:55 am
I saw 500ish queues on Shattered Hand and I thought we had a populated server. I'm in a shock about the number I see now. I've been on this server since release and we're at our 4th or 5th free transfer. The thing is that the PVP servers are unevenly populated. Some are over and some are ghosts server.
That dragon is annoying… x.X
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 7:12 am
Maybe its time for them to adjust their "Server status" pages to show estimated wait time as well as population (low, med, high).
Varilhigh January 14, 2009 at 4:17 am
How much feaking bigger can this game get? The initial rush of Wrath should be over, but a lot of people (thankfully not me) are staring at long queues again. Heck, Blizzard has even opened up new servers and it's still a problem. Maybe the glut of new MMO's coming out will help, wait, those won't be out this year. I'm not optimistic about getting people to leave the game. You just know that patch 3.1 is going to be a heavy content patch that will bring people back, and then after that we have Arthis. What person even remotely interested in WOW won't want to come back and get together a group of 10 people to take down Arthis? You just know that they will have mastered this multiple hard modes for dungeons with that patch, and then it will be time for Blizzcon again. Arghh, we have to figure out a way for people to stop playing this game.
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 5:38 am
I really hope things don't turn out like they did for Blizzcon this year. With Blizzard underestimating the popularity of their game and not having enough resources to support such masses of fans.
Aoirselvar January 14, 2009 at 4:29 am
Wow, 900 queue??? I must be in a less populated server, come join us in Deathwing US.
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 5:37 am
I actually have a few mid-forties there on Alliance…haven't been back since my friends quit a few years ago.
Caronome January 14, 2009 at 5:38 am
My suggestion is to open up a browser and use the time to research other games, in particular the game you think you are most likely to leave WoW for. E.g., I use my queue time reading about EVE. Since persistent queues are a result of Blizzard not spending the money on buying new shards/servers/realms, it has an element of poetic justice to it.
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 7:10 am
Well I don't think I'll be leaving wow anytime soon but I do open up a browser or play some other game for about an hour while I wait…I shouldn't have to though, they should have something of entertainment value while I wait.
It's like standing in line at an amusement park for over an hour where nobody is talking and all you hear is a loud noise every min or so (dragon) that is reminding you of the fun you "could" be having now meanwhile you hear the same music track 18 times played in the background.
Rhii January 14, 2009 at 7:54 am
The screaming dragon really is annoying, I turn off my speakers half the time. Normally if I'm frustrated with the queue I give up. Not that Blizz has any reason to fix that, I pay the same subscription whether I log in or not. They're probably happier with me not logging in at all when they're already overpopulated!
Kel'Thuzad does have a particularly annoying queue problem lately though, when I was waiting to log in and play with you guys last week it took me almost 20 minutes and it was not peak hours. Aerie Peak's queue is bad, but not that bad.
Esdras January 14, 2009 at 11:17 am
Im on a Medium populated server and have never had to que in 2 and a half years of playing.
Its great.
isheepthings January 14, 2009 at 3:16 am
Kel'thuzad was one of the "at launch" PvP servers so we've always had a semi high population… If I wasn't so attached to my guild I'd move to a less populated server. I think I can remember at least 3 free transfer offers from our server to something less populated through the years…I'm sure there has been more.
gnomeaggedon January 16, 2009 at 9:22 am
I think you should just be able to supply your mobile/cell number & Blizzard pages you when it gets down to the last 50 in the queue. That way you can nick off and do some real life stuff. Hard enough to justify "wasting" time playing games, let alone justifying staring at a login screen.
Grimkor January 16, 2009 at 9:29 am
I honestly reckon they should put Bejeweled as a playable game while in the queue. People will never complain about the queue again!
Grimkor January 16, 2009 at 9:30 am
Okay I just read the comment above, apparently someone got to this idea before me.
isheepthings January 16, 2009 at 2:03 pm
And before him I suggested it in the story
But what about Peggle!
angry mage February 3, 2009 at 6:04 pm
MT d/c then queued in Naxx. 20 min wait to resume, buh-bye buffs.. perhaps i should just go aggro some trash and die so i can play bejeweled =P
I discovered your blog while waiting for him to reconnect. good stuff to pass the time.
Tristan February 28, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Add Bejeweled or Minesweeper to the que screen.