Issues with the realm first achievements
But on a few realms, Blizzard ended up giving some of the awards to multiple players, resulting in the ingame mail you see above. We're not sure if it's because they all hit within a certain time period, or whether Blizzard's servers weren't working correctly, but as you can see, they say the issue is fixed for now. If you did rush to be the first on a server, you can be satisfied that you're the only one.
Thanks, Penny!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Quests, Leveling, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Vorust Nov 19th 2008 4:05PM
Doh, I suppose it's easy to do but, good on them for fixing this but, it's definitely a cool feat to have accomplished, congrats. to all who have.
-Sam
Robert M Nov 19th 2008 5:12PM
OK, I'll start with saying I was never going to be one of the server first anything, so that this doesn't appear like QQ'ing because I got cheated, but there are several players who did get cheated.
Server firsts needed to assume that everyone was able to start playing at the same time. Even with the midnight release, those on east coast had a huge jump than those who were unable to get their expansion until midnight on the west. Server firsts for 80's and other such nonsense can't be accurately awarded when some were playing the game hours ahead of others.
They brought all the servers up at midnight eastern time and yet wouldn't allow gamestop on the west coast to sell the game unitl midnight. The problem only becomes compounded when many on here had reported that they received their delivery a day before the actual release.
Although a great idea for feats of strength, it hardly served spirit of the original intent when many were playign against a stacked deck.
Amaxe Nov 19th 2008 8:26PM
Maybe I misheard, but I thought LK went live at the same time across the country (midnight EST, 9pm PST)?
Lemons Nov 19th 2008 4:08PM
that would suck!
"Yay! server first!"
...two days later...
"Did we say you got the server first? Just kidding!"
Deadly. Off. Topic. Nov 19th 2008 4:49PM
Would be awesome if they got rid of that feat of strenght for everyone who rushed to get 80. I'd like to see the smirks rubbed off the faces of those people. ^__^v
Hreidmar Nov 19th 2008 4:10PM
First Post!!
wait what... I wasn't... damn
dphyled Nov 19th 2008 4:12PM
hahah, nice..
sammy Nov 19th 2008 4:13PM
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
Upon Further Review
"Get a Realm First Achievement. Lose a Realm First Achievement."
Lab Monkey Nov 19th 2008 4:38PM
lol
SaintStryfe Nov 19th 2008 4:17PM
Owch. hope there's a limited edition pet or something unique for these guys who got shut out.
Jembai Nov 19th 2008 4:20PM
Shit... I hope this doesn't count for people who got it through the 30 second or so window of opportunity, cause I thought Blizzard said that window was intended. =/ My friend and I got realm first engineering together and I really hope he doesn't get screwed out of his achievement just because the RNG gave me a skill-up 2 items before him. :(
Random Cow Nov 19th 2008 8:04PM
Dude... how can their be more than one "first"? Someone got it first, someone else got it second. There is no 30 second window on math.
kala Nov 19th 2008 4:21PM
"(Blizzard apparently broadcasts them across the realms)"
- I don't think so. Server only AFAIK.
pudds Nov 19th 2008 4:44PM
Realm = server.
You're thinking battlegroups, I assume.
kala Nov 19th 2008 6:15PM
"Realm = server."
- That was my point and that is what i wrote.
"You're thinking battlegroups, I assume."
- I did not, but Mike Schramm, author of the article perhaps did.
kala Nov 19th 2008 4:22PM
"(Blizzard apparently broadcasts them across the realms)"
- I don't think so. Server only AFAIK.
Jay in Oregon Nov 19th 2008 4:22PM
My question is, will there be a way to see how many people on a server have a certain achievement, or see who was the first one to get it on a server? I'm not talking about first to level 80 or first to 450, but things like "who was the first person to get a Dalaran Cooking Award achievement" or who was the first "Leeeeeeeeory" (I mean, other than the original).
The reason I ask is, I was futzing around with my bank in Dalaran on Monday and saw my Brewfest clothes. So I put them on, ran out and bought some strong alcohol, and got "Disturbing the Peace". Now I'm curious to know if I was the first person on my realm to think of that...
Arktic Nov 19th 2008 4:24PM
Something VERY important to note here. Blizzard CAN remove achievements. I have seen posts on the forum that state that achievements cannot be removed. I cannot find, and therefor link to any specific posts however, so for a lack of specifics, it is just good to note, and good to reference back from mow on, that Blizzard can remove them.
Rivana Nov 19th 2008 4:28PM
An issue on our server was that my realm (server time: CST) went live at 12am EST. I live in the CST, and there were Death Knights running around an hour before my local retailer would sell the game to me! Not to mention that many people didn't even know about the "achievement" anyway - though it doesn't interest me personally, I feel bad for those who might have tried if Blizzard had bothered to advertise the "achievement".
People in the USA on USA servers started the world-first "race" six or seven hours after the Euros.
The whole "realm first" idea probably sounded good on the drawing board, but potential participants were not informed, and the start times were not the same for everyone!
I have to grade the actual implementation as "epic fail".
Jay in Oregon Nov 19th 2008 4:39PM
If they wanted to do "World first"s, they should have had the switch to turn on WotLK content go off across all servers at the same time. Otherwise, it's like giving a prize in a marathon to the first person to cross the finish line after letting 10% of the runners start a hour before everybody else. (I'm not saying that Eurpoeans are 10% of WoW's subscribers; it's just a number for illustrative purposes.)
Regardless, getting "World first" achievements is always going to favor some span of timezones. Europe got to play first, so they were more likely to get them. If they'd flipped the switch for everyone during North American primetime, we probably would have been favored to get them.