East Coast gets the shaft

#1 - Dec. 3, 2010, 5:58 p.m.

So, I've never made a QQ thread in my life, and I don't plan to start now. Suffice it to say that I'm looking for an explanation more so than consolation..

Why is it that Blizzard has chosen not to "flip the switch" on Cataclysm until midnight Pacific time? While I can't recall 100% whether this was the case for WotLK (fairly sure that it wasn't,) it certainly was not the case when BC was released. I attended the midnight sale along with a few friends, and we were home and up and running by around 1:30 AM or so. This year, considering the fact that I have to be at work at 8 AM the next morning, I will most likely not experience Cataclysm content prior to returning home from work on Wednesday evening, since I won't be able to play until 3 AM. For this reason, I went ahead and just purchased the digital version and I can't imagine that there will be nearly as many people attending midnight events on the east coast as have in the past, considering they won't be able to play for a full 3 hours after they receive their copies of the game.

Anyway, rant aside, I am just wondering what the reasoning was behind this decision. I suppose if I can understand the reasons behind it I might not find it so annoying... might... ;)

Bashiok

Community Manager

#57 - Dec. 3, 2010, 7:05 p.m.

It's not a what's good for the goose is good for the gander situation, BUT, for both previous expansions (and original game launch I believe) the servers went up at 12:01 AM EST. Meaning us West coasters were waiting in line knowing there were people on the East coast that had a three hour head start.

It's not a revenge kick, but it's a fact that East coast has had the 'favored' launch times every time except this one.

As far as 'why' it's due to the digital preorder and the way the kick-on needs to happen on a regional level.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#66 - Dec. 3, 2010, 7:12 p.m.

It's not a what's good for the goose is good for the gander situation, BUT, for both previous expansions (and original game launch I believe) the servers went up at 12:01 AM EST. Meaning us West coasters were waiting in line knowing there were people on the East coast that had a three hour head start.

It's not a revenge kick, but it's a fact that East coast has had the 'favored' launch times every time except this one.

As far as 'why' it's due to the digital preorder and the way the kick-on needs to happen on a regional level.

Wait, what? Isn't 12 EST equal to 9 PST? That would mean you still got a head start.

No. Stores don't sell until it's midnight. Midnight PST is 3am EST. They've had three hours to play before anyone could even buy the game on the West coast.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#85 - Dec. 3, 2010, 7:20 p.m.

It's not a what's good for the goose is good for the gander situation, BUT, for both previous expansions (and original game launch I believe) the servers went up at 12:01 AM EST. Meaning us West coasters were waiting in line knowing there were people on the East coast that had a three hour head start.

It's not a revenge kick, but it's a fact that East coast has had the 'favored' launch times every time except this one.

As far as 'why' it's due to the digital preorder and the way the kick-on needs to happen on a regional level.

I am frankly insulted by this. What about everyone else East of those playing at PST? You know, much of the Americas, Europe, Asia, Pacific?

Really? Insulted? ... k

Well, since they're not a part of the North America game region and our release schedule it... doesn't matter. I mean I hope their launch goes smoothly but it has nothing to do with the game here releasing at midnight Pacific, which applies to US, Canada, and AU/NZ. (who by the way get to play at 7pm if you want to be mad at someone for getting an awesome jump ;)

Bashiok

Community Manager

#114 - Dec. 3, 2010, 7:31 p.m.

The point is there are any number of ways the problem could have been solved. Justifying it by saying "well we favored EST a few times so now we're gonna favor PST" is also a silly argument.

Bashi, didn't your momma ever tell you that "two wrongs don't make a right"?

:)

I specifically stated twice in my post that this isn't a case of two wrongs making a right. Only that to complain about it is to not know the history of what happened before. A reasonable person would say "Ok, well I guess I'll take a nap beforehand." But they're not in this thread then, are they.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#115 - Dec. 3, 2010, 7:31 p.m.

It's not a what's good for the goose is good for the gander situation, BUT, for both previous expansions (and original game launch I believe) the servers went up at 12:01 AM EST. Meaning us West coasters were waiting in line knowing there were people on the East coast that had a three hour head start.

It's not a revenge kick, but it's a fact that East coast has had the 'favored' launch times every time except this one.

As far as 'why' it's due to the digital preorder and the way the kick-on needs to happen on a regional level.

Im sorry but this is faulty logic. The fact is you west coasters got to play your game at midnight, just as we did.

It is still a resonable hour, 3am is not.

So by making this change to soothe the west coast players you've essentially robbed the east coast of the opening night game time experience. This was not done to the west coast on any prior launch. You can't even remotely compare the two situations.

I'm sorry blizz, I'm usually on your side but you have made a very poor deision with this.

Thank you for your feedback.