D3's midnight local time launch IS the worst (funniest) thing ever for Oz/NZ

[Flux]

I've been taunting Azzure with this possibility, and it's amusing enough that I must share it more widely. It's hypothetical on several levels, but just play along.

Gamers in Oz and NZ have long been vexed by Blizzard for never setting up any SEA b.net servers. They have to connect to USWest, which is like 8000 miles away across the Pacific, or else to Korea/Singapore servers, which are geographically closer, but generally have worse lag and no shared language. Sux to be them.

D3 they should have better luck playing thanks to the various anti-lag measures included in the game. But where it gets interesting is May 15th. We don't know when D3 will become available, and Bliz hasn't issued any useful clarifications, but recent semi-official rumor was that it might be midnight at the local time for every region around the world.

I find that unlikely, if only because US West coast is behind almost every other region on earth in time; it's -8 GMT; Europe is 8-10 hours earlier, Asia is 16-19 hours earlier, etc. Basically, from Irvine it's almost always tomorrow in China/Japan/Oz/NZ, etc. And it seems weird that Bliz would launch D3 everywhere on earth 8 to 10 to 20 hours before it launches in their home region. (The fact that I"m also in that time zone might be skewing my objectivity on this point.)

Still, just imagine if D3 does launch worldwide at midnight May 15th, local B.net server time. Aussies are around 19 hours ahead of USWest coast, but if their "local" server is assigned as USWest, they'd have to wait 19 hours, until evening on the 16th, to start playing. Meanwhile, people in their approximate time zone in korea, china, Japan, etc, would already have level 40 or 50 characters, since they have their own B.net servers and would have been playing since midnight the night before.

Aussies and Kiwis have long been infuriated by their lack of B.net servers... but that would be the final straw. As I told Azzure, that would be the longest 19 hours of his life, at least since the last Yahoo Serious/Crocodile Dundee movie marathon.

[Eagle]

Infuriated would be a massive overstatement. Most of us don't care and personally I would choose to play on US servers even if Aus/NZ ones existed.

I'd be pissed if something happened that meant people in NA on the NA servers got a head start on us, but I can't see any way that would happen. I don't care about what happens on other servers (well not for a <24hr difference anyway; I'd be pissed if I lived in one of the countries that isn't getting D3 till a couple of weeks(?) later though.

I would be greatly amused if they brought the NA servers up at our midnight but only let us in and left the NA players ~18hours behind. Though there is no way in hell that will happen.

[Autti]

Doesnt make a difference what time in the day we start playing Flux, as the Americans will start at the exact same time anyway. In fact i prefer it. I will get to start playing at 2pm, making a hardcore night of play way easier then starting at 1am.

I just think they should make all the servers launch at the same time, and not let China get a headstart

[skien]

Servers come up for me at 5 I believe, sleep in, pick up CE, install, play for 9 days straight, die happy.

[spfun]

My understanding was the NA servers would go live at 12:01am PDT. So me in NZ, i have to wait until 7pm the 15th!

I don't mind at all, i'm WAY more worried about my relatively spikey/unstable internet connection 5.5km away from the exchange in a small town >.<

[z00t]

Yeah, at 12:01 am PDT, it'll be 5pm here in Melbourne.

I've posted on this phenomenon a few times in other threads. It's the most bizarre behaviour for a midnight launch because you go to the launch, get the game, rush home, install it....and then sleep, wake up the next day, have breakfast, chill, browse some forums, have some lunch, read a book, surf the web more, THEN play Diablo 3 :P.

But hey, I'm cool with being all rested before beginning my marathon D3 playing session :P. Just as long as the game isn't all laggy on launch day, I'm happy.

[cozmiccc]

Uhm.. I been saying this in various comments ever since the release date was announced. Aussie having a 18 hour headstart is nothing new at all though, this is the same case with Starcraft 2 launch as well, so by precedent alone there is strong possible that the game will launch in New Zealand first followed by Aussie and SEA shortly after. I don't know why people from NA should be furious at all... after all unlike SC2, Diablo 3 at launch is not a competitive game, there's no downside really other than envy

I actually think that local midnight launch is a better idea for Blizzard, this way they can prepare their servers for the biggest launch in NA and less people getting in all around the world at the same time... heck some people might have logged out already saving them server load.

Also Flux, Singapore is in SEA so obviously there is no Diablo 3 server in Singapore, and they speak English as the national language, which definitely a shared language with American :P

[fmulder]

Doesn't bother me at all since my CE won't arrive unitl a few days after the 15th :(

And please don't mention Yahoo Serious around here again

[Namik]

I find that unlikely, if only because US West coast is behind almost every other region on earth in time; it's -8 GMT; Europe is 8-10 hours earlier, Asia is 16-19 hours earlier, etc. Basically, from Irvine it's almost always tomorrow in China/Japan/Oz/NZ, etc. And it seems weird that Bliz would launch D3 everywhere on earth 8 to 10 to 20 hours before it launches in their home region. (The fact that I"m also in that time zone might be skewing my objectivity on this point.)

But they did it with Cataclysm launch. People from Europe where able to play at 0:01am Paris Time, while Americans had to wait till 0:01am Pacific Time (people at East Coast had to wait till 3:01am). And I think the same thing was with Starcraft 2 launch (although I might be wrong here).

[knifebunny]

I cant say that the anticipation for the game the last week worth of countdown to launch won't be the most excitement i've had about this game since it was known the game was in development. I will be seriously itching to play, that's for sure .. but I suppose another 15hours really can't hurt, and playing at 5PM as opposed to midnight sits rather comfortably for me.

A lot of people seem worried about the stability and performance of the game at launch, as everyone scurries to create their first character, accept their first quest, but at least 5PM my time .. If the servers are choppy for a couple of hours, I still have a serious wedge of playing time before I have to hit the sack.