Server queues are one of the unavoidable mechanisms which blight the MMO landscape, especially at launch.
When Star Wars: The Old Republic first went live at the end of last year, queues to log-in to your favourite server were common place during the busy playing periods, some lasting more than an hour, and it’s been the same for every MMO which has come into service since the earliest days of online gaming.
ArenaNet however seem to have come up with a nifty solution to lessen the pain associated with waiting around for a free space on your chosen home, with the help of overflow servers.
Here’s community manager Martin Kerstein with an explanation:
“Let me explain what an overflow server is and what it does. It is a technology we also use as our version of a queuing system. When a map or a world you want to log into is at capacity limit, the game will ask you if you want to play on an overflow server – so you can actually play while you are in a queue,” he revealed on the Guild Wars 2 Guru forums.
“Once space opens on your world, the game will ask you if you want to join your friends on your world. And you keep all the progress you made while you were playing on the overflow server.”
See we told you it was nifty!
As we mentioned server queues are unavoidable when dealing with millions of players trying to get online simultaneously, however if there’s enough overflow servers available there shouldn’t be any reason why you can’t log-in and quest to your heart’s content while you wait to catch up with your buddies.
Guild Wars 2 will take centre stage in the next issue of MMOZine which is out on March 1st, make sure you don’t miss it!
Tags: Guild Wars 2
TERA, Guild Wars 2, Dust 514 and Defiance previews plus a review for Tribes: Ascend and an exclusive interview for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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