Ultimatum Launch: Server Issues and Streamer Priority

"

We tell people that Path of Exile league starts are a fair playing field for everyone, and we need to actually make sure that is the reality.

Want it fair? Anyone who had queue priority should have their character's and stashes wiped and start over today. Let them feel the never ending doom of the rest of us who actually wanted to play the game but had to deal with its disconnects. Fair is fair right? We could not play, so any progress they made should be removed as well.

Reset the league !!

Its the fair thing to do.

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007noctis wrote:

I woke up this morning expecting there to be a league reset time later today; setting a fair playing field for all. This did not happen. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is now ruined.

No i think your life is ruined, what you gonna do now !!! 🤯🔫

Thanks for taking the time to write this post. We all make mistakes, not everyone would be willing to acknowledge and learn not to repeat them.

I do not know if a reset of the league would be worth it at this point. The launch was a mess, and wasn't fair to anyone taking the competition seriously, it is what it is.

At least the technical issues will not be lasting throughout the weekend, great job on fixing them.

Take care.

Reset the fucking league!!!!!

"

Lagruell wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to write this post. We all make mistakes, not everyone would be willing to acknowledge and learn not to repeat them.

I do not know if a reset of the league would be worth it at this point. The launch was a mess, and wasn't fair to anyone taking the competition seriously, it is what it is.

At least the technical issues will not be lasting throughout the weekend, great job on fixing them.

Take care.

God i am tired of posts like this... they obviously didn't learn a thing or they would announce a league reset... But i am sure that people like you just letting it slide will be a huge help in teaching them not to mess with their community.

Im at a loss for words.

I could care less about the technical, it happens. Albeit, you are years into your game and still have issues like this?

Regardless...

The streamer priority is what disgusts me completely. Its one thing for a developer to say "Hey heres some money, play 2 hours, sponsored stream". Its another to pay big streamers money, who already play your game, and give them priority in a crisis. And I could be wrong but I dont think I saw a '#ad' in any title. I could be wrong, but you paid, they played, they got in priority, and no one knew they were being paid. At least I didnt.

This is honestly the first time Im hearing that streamers are being paid to play at your league launches (all to hype up your game and get viewership). Or maybe Im oblivious to titles. Continuing with that thought, it is now NOT far fetched to say that you up their streamer RNG / loot drops. Its all been a meme up until now, but its very viable. All the big loot drops and lucky drops that streamers get...up for debate now as legit or not? Since you can clearly manipulate specific accounts into 'privelage'.

Again, others may be in the know more than me knowing that streamers were being paid by GGG to play the game. I didnt know that. Knowing that, with the priority they were given, and the potential for their loot to be upped in the interest of content... I really dont want to play path of exile. And it could be a hard pass for me on POE2.

Guys, we give other developers so much shit for dropping the ball on their launches due to technical. GGG had both a major technical issue and a PR issue. I have loved POE for years as seen by my supporter pack purchases. But this is a tough one to swallow.

And lastly, while this isnt something im advocating for... people have been screaming for a reset. Def ears. Its too late now. But yesterday 1-2 hours into the league would have been the best. Downtime IS ok GGG. You could have fixed your server issues, reset the league, removed the priority and gotten in front of this PR nightmare.

Logging off of POE for a while, perhaps until next league or POE2. I dont even know. Taking my time and $$ elsewhere for a bit.

For anyone that would take the time to attack my post, that would be unfortunate. You have the right to feel completely at home with their action and explanations. I have the right to voice my displeasure. I don't care about the technical issues. I do care about the streamer priority. Ive dumped loads of money into this game and simply because Im not a streamer, my time and money is invalid or less valued than a streamer. :(

Dear GGG,

In the rearwiev mirror, what a catastrophy the Ultimatum launch was. Unfortunate but yet undeniable.

Great news is that the issue seems solved and that GGG with the launch of Ultimatum been granted an excellent opportunity to show the community where GGG stands in 2021. Once and for all, GGG will show the community who is dictating the current and future direction of a game that was built in a close relation with the community.

The write-up adressing the issue is most welcome, but to not leave the majority of the playerbase in the ditch behind, this biased approach to the launch of Ultimatum where economic interests were(/are?) weighing more than the content of the playerbase, I do hope that you, @GGG, consider alternatives more than a few lines, promises and excuses in case you truly want to achieve former levels of trust and belief from the community.

A staple GGG qoute is that "the league should be a fair and fresh start for everyone". This will stand out as a major hypocritic claim, if you do let the Ultimatum league unfold from the current state.

One can always hope that everything will be forgotten and fine shortly, when you address the issue and state that you are sorry as well as promising that, this biased priority approach to future launches anchored in your economic standpoint will never happen again.

Though I'm sincerely afraid that, you can not wipe the magnitude of this community upset you have just witnessed, under the carpet with that written statement alone.

If you do care about the community, this is your chance, GGG

Thanks, as always, for your candor. Yes, mistakes were made, but as long as lessons are also learned, I can forgive, especially seeing as the game is free.

You should seriously consider restarting the league, though - migrating all of our existing Ultimatum progress to Standard, and then starting fresh Ultimatum leagues. Not that it matters much to me, personally, since I'm an SSF type who never trades (trading is a chore, and I play games as a hobby to avoid doing my chores), but the trade league economies have to be seriously borked by now. Restarting to re-level the playing field is probably the right call, and it doesn't get any easier to do by delaying. Just rip the bandaid off.

On the plus side, this league, when I could in to play it, has been FANTASTIC! The Ultimatum mechanic itself is fun and rewarding, at least early on, and game client performance has been the best I've seen since before Betrayal. Buttery smooth, no SSD required, and not one single client crash, which has not been the case with any other recent league, so your improvements to the client code are having their intended effect.

"

The backstory is that we have recently been doing some proper paid influencer marketing, and that involves arranging for big streamers to showcase Path of Exile to their audiences, for money (they have #ad in their titles).

Hey Chris,

While i get the reasoning behind this (it's a big bad capitalistic world after all, right?)... i hope you are aware that this is quite deceptive, if you dont communicate it right away?

What about Streamer RNG when it comes to Loots?
Is that also Part of "the influencer marketing"?