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Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Burning Crusade distribution
On January 16 the Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft will come out and literally millions of people will want to get hold of a copy, and preferably start playing on the same day. But if I look at the current information on how the expansion is to be distributed, I doubt that things will go well. Lets have a look at distribution and explore how it could be improved.
The only option we know about to get hold of the Burning Crusade is to buy a box with a CD in a shop. These boxes will be available starting from January 16, not before, and the Burning Crusade will apparently go live at noon on that same day. This method will result in maximum frustration for the World of Warcraft players. First it will be difficult to get hold of a box on the 16th. Mail orders will probably only arrive a couple of days later, and local PC games stores might very well be sold out rather quickly. Then all the people who actually got a box will have to register their Burning Crusade key on the World of Warcraft account management website. It is well known that the WoW website is one of the major weaknesses in the Blizzard infrastructure, and more likely than not it will collapse and not be available for many hours on end on the 16th. And once you got past that, you'll still need to pass the bottlenecks of the login server, and the patch download, before you can actually play. And that is if the game servers can withstand thousands of players all crowding the same zone, Hellfire Peninsula. There must be better possibilities to handle all this.
Frank Pearce, senior VP of product development at Blizzard, talked in an interview about the possibility of digital distribution. Quote: "It's something we're talking about, but no final plans for The Burning Crusade." As we haven't heard anything yet, it is likely that there won't be any digital distribution for the Burning Crusade, which is a shame. But even if there was one, if you can start that download only on the 16th of January, it would probably be very slow. The Blizzard servers could never handle direct downloads, and the peer-to-peer solution they use for patch downloads is crawling only at a snail's pace. The BC beta download took me 36 hours with that system, in spite of me having high-speed ADSL. And even if the Burning Crusade could be downloaded on the 16th, that wouldn't solve the problems with the account management servers etc.
So what the fundamental flaw of the Burning Crusade distribution is, is the timing. What Blizzard *should* do is to distribute the boxes and preferably also a digital download version at least one week before the expansion goes live. That gives everybody time to get hold of a copy, get the key entered into the account management website, and be ready for playing on the day that the Burning Crusade goes live. Blizzard has already realized the importance of distributing data early with their "background downloader" application, which downloads patches before they go live. What is true for patches is even more important for expansions, people need time to get everything set up.
Other companies have far better servers for downloading large amounts of data. Already many people download their World of Warcraft patches from sites like Fileplanet. Blizzard should team up with one of these companies for the digital distribution of expansions. The digital distributor takes a cut, but so do regular distributors, and then Blizzard saves the money for the CDs, box, and manual. If Blizzard would combine early distribution with outsourced digital distribution, every player would be able to get hold of the expansion in time. Even simpler, there are a lot of people already having a functioning BC beta client running on their PC, so if Blizzard would allow them to just purchase a key and change a small file to connect to the real servers instead of the test realms, they could get lots of people playing with minimal download effort.
But maybe Blizzard doesn't *want* all the players to be able to access the Burning Crusade on day one. I remember being lucky on the European start of World of Warcraft, and being one of the few players who got past the account management site before it broke down. That resulted in me being able to login and level up without too many other players getting into my way. Every player who doesn't get a box on the 16th, or who can't get his Burning Crusade key registered, will be one less player blocking the login servers or overcrowding Hellfire Peninsula. Makes you wonder if the bad distribution system is a deliberate strategy.
- posted by Tobold @ 10:49 AM Permanent Link
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They really do need to get their act together for this.. and online distribution would certainly be an awesome way to go -- that's how I bought the 2 expansions to Guild Wars and I was so thrilled with the experience compared to waiting for the pre order box to arrive at my door for the original release!
Now they one-upped most games I know by even integrating the shop inside the gaming client.. Many people complained that it was 'too easy' to buy cards and packs in MTGO, can you imagine what it would have been if you didn't even need to switch to a web browser pour a few mins?
(Of course I'm talking about a LL-created feature in the client, not a post-LL wizard client change which would have probably meant no more store for 6 months)
No idea how GW goes at it for file transfer, but it sure rocks.. For the last 2 expansions I had all content sitting already on my pc when release day came, and that didn't mean 2 weeks of waiting for it. Two days before Nightfall I started the client on my work laptop and got the whole update in one swoop at 300k/sec! I'm really mystified, but whatever they're doing sure works!
Considering the ressources at Blizzard's disposal, they really should be looking into this.. No idea if the old battle.net team members are still on speaking terms with present blizzard devs, but maybe they should work out a technology licensing deal...
After all if Mr. Garfield licenses the rights to do a CCG left and right and MTG is still there, it's not like it'd make everything collapse in an instant..
Now they one-upped most games I know by even integrating the shop inside the gaming client.. Many people complained that it was 'too easy' to buy cards and packs in MTGO, can you imagine what it would have been if you didn't even need to switch to a web browser pour a few mins?
(Of course I'm talking about a LL-created feature in the client, not a post-LL wizard client change which would have probably meant no more store for 6 months)
No idea how GW goes at it for file transfer, but it sure rocks.. For the last 2 expansions I had all content sitting already on my pc when release day came, and that didn't mean 2 weeks of waiting for it. Two days before Nightfall I started the client on my work laptop and got the whole update in one swoop at 300k/sec! I'm really mystified, but whatever they're doing sure works!
Considering the ressources at Blizzard's disposal, they really should be looking into this.. No idea if the old battle.net team members are still on speaking terms with present blizzard devs, but maybe they should work out a technology licensing deal...
After all if Mr. Garfield licenses the rights to do a CCG left and right and MTG is still there, it's not like it'd make everything collapse in an instant..
# posted by 
: 2/1/07 12:22
: 2/1/07 12:22
Blizzard downloader is total crap. I wonder why as it's simply a BitTorrent client with integrated .torrent file
Beside BackgroundDownloader that is slow as is designed to work slowly.... Anyway the normal downloader is still a mess.
I don't like solutions like FilePlanet as requires registration and eventually to pay. All is needed is a working implementation of bittorrent technology.
For now I always resolved by extrapolating the .torrent and using a standard client to download in few minutes what used to take hours or days.
For example, Burning Curusade beta was downloaded in 5 hours using a 2mbit connection. Just a bit more than my theoretical maximum speed.
For the expansion....
I would have sent in this days a prepatch (eventually optional) with all BC content. So that everyone could setup a full BC client before 16th jan.
In any case what matter is the code and account activation for new content. So would had been better to have everyone completely patched and updated with all new content.
Beside BackgroundDownloader that is slow as is designed to work slowly.... Anyway the normal downloader is still a mess.
I don't like solutions like FilePlanet as requires registration and eventually to pay. All is needed is a working implementation of bittorrent technology.
For now I always resolved by extrapolating the .torrent and using a standard client to download in few minutes what used to take hours or days.
For example, Burning Curusade beta was downloaded in 5 hours using a 2mbit connection. Just a bit more than my theoretical maximum speed.
For the expansion....
I would have sent in this days a prepatch (eventually optional) with all BC content. So that everyone could setup a full BC client before 16th jan.
In any case what matter is the code and account activation for new content. So would had been better to have everyone completely patched and updated with all new content.
# posted by : 2/1/07 12:57
: 2/1/07 12:57
I don't like solutions like FilePlanet as requires registration and eventually to pay. All is needed is a working implementation of bittorrent technology.
I'm pretty sure Tobold doesn't mean FilePlanet perse, but any distributor who is set up specifically for alowing large downloads. They have the knowhow and the infrastructure let such company deal with it.
Besides, I'm sure Blizz and FilePlanet would work something out to get the files to your PC in the free download section.
I'm pretty sure Tobold doesn't mean FilePlanet perse, but any distributor who is set up specifically for alowing large downloads. They have the knowhow and the infrastructure let such company deal with it.
Besides, I'm sure Blizz and FilePlanet would work something out to get the files to your PC in the free download section.
# posted by : 2/1/07 13:16
: 2/1/07 13:16
I meant the Direct2Drive service of Fileplanet, where you can buy PC games and download them at full speed, without paying a subscription.
I really get riled when the Blizzard downloader tells me 'apparently you are using a firewall' when its download speed drops to about 25 kb/s. Its solution to this is for me to open ports x, y and z. I don't see why I should have to mess with my router just to download a game patch (me being pretty ignorant of what a port even is). Yesterday I downloaded a Far Cry patch of 180mb, and it was all done in a matter of minutes. What is the problem?
As for BC, I have ordered it through Amazon, and I don't expect it to arrive for at least a couple of days once it is available. In the meantime, there are plenty of bugs since the patch that need fixing. Will we have to wait for BC to be released before they are sorted?
As for BC, I have ordered it through Amazon, and I don't expect it to arrive for at least a couple of days once it is available. In the meantime, there are plenty of bugs since the patch that need fixing. Will we have to wait for BC to be released before they are sorted?
# posted by : 2/1/07 16:59
: 2/1/07 16:59
The reason you can't cut out the Box retail system is because the stores would refuse to sell your other products.
Best Buy, for example, would tell Blizzard they will simply take all their other games off the shelves. World Of Warcraft may be the biggest seller, but its not the only thing Blizzard sells.
So if you go to a download system, you have to be ready to do that will all of your products and all of your future products. Not smart.
Best Buy, for example, would tell Blizzard they will simply take all their other games off the shelves. World Of Warcraft may be the biggest seller, but its not the only thing Blizzard sells.
So if you go to a download system, you have to be ready to do that will all of your products and all of your future products. Not smart.
# posted by : 2/1/07 17:45
: 2/1/07 17:45
Best Buy, for example, would tell Blizzard they will simply take all their other games off the shelves. World Of Warcraft may be the biggest seller, but its not the only thing Blizzard sells.
That's simply not true. Guild Wars is readily available in any store carrying games I've ever walked into, yet can be downloaded directly from Arena net too. World of Warcraft is available on Direct2Drive, yet you can still buy it in a store as well.
No retailer is going to be idiotic enough to tell Blizzard "you may have sold 7 million copies of WoW, but because you're doing digital distribution we're not going to carry your expansion."
For whatever reason Blizzard hates digital distribution. Fine, whatever. There's still no good reason to delay shipping the product until launch day. Last minute changes are handled by the patches. You can't play the game until noon of the 16th, but shipping it early would allow people to get installation and account upgrades taken care of over a longer period of time under lower pressure conditions.
Blizzard's current release plan is a formula for nightmare. If their hardware can hold up to the strain, great, but historically it has not.
I agree with Martin -- Guild Wars' system works almost flawlessly. I don't know how they do it, but its spectacular, and Blizzard really needs to take some notes.
That's simply not true. Guild Wars is readily available in any store carrying games I've ever walked into, yet can be downloaded directly from Arena net too. World of Warcraft is available on Direct2Drive, yet you can still buy it in a store as well.
No retailer is going to be idiotic enough to tell Blizzard "you may have sold 7 million copies of WoW, but because you're doing digital distribution we're not going to carry your expansion."
For whatever reason Blizzard hates digital distribution. Fine, whatever. There's still no good reason to delay shipping the product until launch day. Last minute changes are handled by the patches. You can't play the game until noon of the 16th, but shipping it early would allow people to get installation and account upgrades taken care of over a longer period of time under lower pressure conditions.
Blizzard's current release plan is a formula for nightmare. If their hardware can hold up to the strain, great, but historically it has not.
I agree with Martin -- Guild Wars' system works almost flawlessly. I don't know how they do it, but its spectacular, and Blizzard really needs to take some notes.
# posted by : 2/1/07 18:17
: 2/1/07 18:17
Graktar, you underestimate the pull of brick and mortar retailers. It's one thing to trumpet the Guild Wars model (which does sound fantastic) but comparing them directly is an exercise in futility. The amount of money lost by the brick and mortars because of a direct download of a Guild Wars expansion is negligible at best. Would they prefer that there were no digital downloads? Of course, but is it really worth fighting that fight for the numbers we're talking about? Probably not.
However, it most certainly is worth their time and effort to fight something like the WoW expansion going direct download. Blizzard doesn't "hate" digital distribution. WoW can be digitally downloaded today if you'd like, straight from Blizzard. TBC will be available for digital download as well, probably 6 months or so down the road at a time when it won't ruffle any retailer feathers.
I know my local retailers have had dummy boxes of TBC on their shelves for close to a year now, and cardboard standups as well as other signage for 6 months or so. They are doing their part to earn their cut of the expansion release, and you can bet they have no intentions of losing a big chunk of their piece of this back to Blizzard with direct downloads.
However, it most certainly is worth their time and effort to fight something like the WoW expansion going direct download. Blizzard doesn't "hate" digital distribution. WoW can be digitally downloaded today if you'd like, straight from Blizzard. TBC will be available for digital download as well, probably 6 months or so down the road at a time when it won't ruffle any retailer feathers.
I know my local retailers have had dummy boxes of TBC on their shelves for close to a year now, and cardboard standups as well as other signage for 6 months or so. They are doing their part to earn their cut of the expansion release, and you can bet they have no intentions of losing a big chunk of their piece of this back to Blizzard with direct downloads.
I really agree that they should hold off on "opening" bc until a few days after the boxes arrive. Why invite a disaster? *shrug*
As for the B&M vs digital, you can do both, but what the anon poster mentioned about refusal to sell is correct. I remember talking to someone at Sony when I played EQ heavily about their bizarre pricing model for Digital vs Box (you paid more for a digital copy). It's a fairly complicated web of deals going on there, but refusal to put the game in the store would come back to hurt Blizzard, eventually. Plus there are, believe it or not, people who don't surf and what not, and would only get pulled in by seeing that shiny box.
As for the B&M vs digital, you can do both, but what the anon poster mentioned about refusal to sell is correct. I remember talking to someone at Sony when I played EQ heavily about their bizarre pricing model for Digital vs Box (you paid more for a digital copy). It's a fairly complicated web of deals going on there, but refusal to put the game in the store would come back to hurt Blizzard, eventually. Plus there are, believe it or not, people who don't surf and what not, and would only get pulled in by seeing that shiny box.
# posted by : 3/1/07 16:29
: 3/1/07 16:29
While Blizz distribution of product and patches is a long-standing disaster, I'm don't think that it's by design (though I'm thoroughly perplexed by their ineptitude in this area), and I don't think it will help much with server load.
The best that a delay can do is to perhaps delay the the peak of inevitable heavy loads and high population. But if I can't get the BC on January 16, I'll still be online in existing content anyway like many other people, so it may be that a delay won't really help with server loads.
I don't think that (in most cases) a delay will solve anything except possibly to give a few lucky early birds a jump on everyone else. Delays and crashes will just annoy people. The danger with annoying customers is, obviously, that you don't want dissatisfied customers. Dissatisfied customers may be motivated to find something else to with their time and money.
The best that a delay can do is to perhaps delay the the peak of inevitable heavy loads and high population. But if I can't get the BC on January 16, I'll still be online in existing content anyway like many other people, so it may be that a delay won't really help with server loads.
I don't think that (in most cases) a delay will solve anything except possibly to give a few lucky early birds a jump on everyone else. Delays and crashes will just annoy people. The danger with annoying customers is, obviously, that you don't want dissatisfied customers. Dissatisfied customers may be motivated to find something else to with their time and money.
The reason why blizzard doesnt do digital distribution (yet) is pretty simple and has nothing to do with cutsomer comfort or wishes.
In order to understand you have to realize that Blizzard doesnt do distribution. vivendi does, their mother company. With so many copies being sold each month its a power Vivendi holds over retail shelfspace which they can use for their other products.
digital distribution is in the hands of Blizzard and vivendi don't want to see the money in Blizzards hands, they want it to be their selling staffs work.
Its Politics, on its worst side. There is more if you dig deep but thats the simplest form to explain it.
In order to understand you have to realize that Blizzard doesnt do distribution. vivendi does, their mother company. With so many copies being sold each month its a power Vivendi holds over retail shelfspace which they can use for their other products.
digital distribution is in the hands of Blizzard and vivendi don't want to see the money in Blizzards hands, they want it to be their selling staffs work.
Its Politics, on its worst side. There is more if you dig deep but thats the simplest form to explain it.
I don't want to argue for Blizz because I'm thrilled too whether I'll get a box tomorrow for myself. But I guess if they would have supported two sales channels it would have been a hard nut to crack. How many boxes would you produce and distribute? If rather everyone goes for the digital version millions of dollars for the boxes would be spoiled.
# posted by : 15/1/07 14:57
: 15/1/07 14:57
You can now download BC and upgrade your account online. Right on the WoW home page.
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# posted by : 2/2/07 21:03
: 2/2/07 21:03<< Home
