we're working damn hard to make it right for everyone who's supported us and bought the game. We owe our community that, it's the least we can do and they are right - when you buy a game it should work from launch.
We do sincerely apologize for not meeting those expectations, we really weren't expecting the ginormous reception that our game got. It's an awful problem to have, especially after workjng 8 years on the game and having such high expectations for a smooth launch. We did the best we could to make launch a success, planning for years, and it just goes to show that you can't plan everything.
You are all aware of what's happening with the game and the server issues, but maybe I can give you a bit more of a personal insight into what's going on right now at Arrowhead, and how we're all feeling.
Our core response team have been and are working on the issues around the clock. We make sure they are able to get some rest throughout the day in shifts so they are able to concentrate on the problems at hand.
Supporting these people we have many of our other devs, picking up the slack and any other tasks they can help out with, such as answering questions on Discord and within our community, helping QA, helping our support team. These guys are all champs; they are not necessarily doing things they would do everyday, but they've jumped in wholeheartedly to sign up for the cause.
Supporting all these people are the wonderful non-production folk, who make sure the devs have all the food, equipment and support that is critical for solving the issues. Without these guys it would be 100x tougher to perform as we are currently doing.
Then we have mission control, just coordinating everything, making sure we know what we're doing and reach our goals. These guys are the ones glued to our server status and control panels, monitoring everything. I am surprised they haven't gone blind by now.
We've been elated at the reception to the game. From what we can see beyond the very valid criticism related to problems, people enjoy it which is a huge relief. When you work on the same thing day in and day out it can be hard to see the forest from the trees. Or is it trees from the forest...?
At the same time, we're obviously bummed out that you haven't got the experience we so desperately wanted you to have and that we planned for. Disappointed. Slightly stressed. BUT we are confident in ourselves and our game to know that our determination to making it right for our players will trump these feelings. We haven't lost hope, we are confident in this. It just takes a little bit of time and a lot of begging for your patience.
For those of you who have not refunded, we want to extend a huge thanks for believing in us. We promise to deliver this awesome game in all its glory. For those who have refunded, we understand, thank you for trying it and we hope you may be open to giving us another shot in the near future when we've democracized the bugs you are seeing today.