Yesterday evening, WoW’s ninth expansion went live and players eagerly waiting to journey to the Dragon Isles were finally able to do so. For me, it was a relatively smooth launch with only a few issues with disconnections and trouble with actually getting to the Dragon Isles. But, what’s a expansion launch without its problems? Surely, we’ll all look back on this day and laugh?
A crowd of players waited at the Stormwind City docks for the clock to strike Expansion Time, and then wait some more for the boat to ferry us all into a new era. Unfortunately, this is where the first issue made itself known. The boat was delayed, and what was supposed to be a few minutes wait turned into fifteen minutes until the correct boat appeared (the boat to Kul Tiras shares the same dock.) When the boat finally arrived, I almost missed it as I decided to pass the time fishing off the dock. It was a “blink and you’ll miss it” situation; when I looked over to check for the boat it was indeed there, but was already pulling away! I’m not sure if the boat never stopped, or if it only gave a slight pause until it was off again. I quickly chased the boat down on my flying mount and barely made it onboard before the loading screen took us all to the Dragon Isles.
I was one of the lucky ones – some of my guildies weren’t so lucky to get onboard that first boat, and another one wouldn’t come around for at least another hour. Eventually the boats started working as intended again, and more players were able to journey to the Isles. After making it to the Isles and spending about twenty minutes there, I was disconnected from the game and had some troubles reconnecting. I was able to log onto other characters who aren’t in the Dragon Isles though, and after trying for about fifteen minutes I was able to reconnect.
I’ve spent some time working through the main storyline quests in the first area, the Waking Shore, but I haven’t completed it yet and haven’t formed much of an opinion as of yet. My first impressions so far include being excited to see Khadgar and Wrathion, and fawning over the cute new duck models that make occasional adorable quacks.
