Public service announcement: European readers, you do exist
by Lesley Smith 
May 20th 2009 at 6:00AM
Since the new site went live last night, an awful lot of our comments have been from here in the EU. Hundreds of our lovely readers have been having some problems, namely they can't find their characters using the on-site search engine.There's a simple reason for this. Because so many of the shiny new features are in beta, the search function is currently only taking info out of the US Armory, not the EU one. It will happen at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. Just hang on in there, you have not been forgotten.
As Liz said in her earlier post this morning:
Please remember, WoW.com Profiles are still in beta -- while we already have lots of ideas for the future, we want to hear from you about what we're doing wrong (or right!) to help us improve it. And before you even start protesting, we're aware that Profiles currently only work with characters in the US armory. (Though, to readers not on US servers, you can certainly create an account and participate on WoW.com Profiles -- you just aren't able to add characters. We're starting small with this beta run, but hope to have the ability for everyone to join us soon!)
Filed under: WoW Insider Business, Europe
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bod May 20th 2009 6:09AM
LOL...can't think of any technical reason to exclude the European Armoury other than...whooops we forgot!
Nice spin on the reason though.
Lesley Smith May 20th 2009 6:20AM
It's not 'whoops we forgot' - the reason is in the quote .... it's a beta, we're starting small and making sure everything works first.
Would you prefer we had info for EVERY character in EVERY territory on Day One, only for everything to crash and burn five minutes after launch?
Bod May 20th 2009 6:35AM
Well, yes I would certainly prefer info for every character, and would certainly prefer not to have a crash and burn. If those are really the tradeoffs I would make the decision you're making Lesley.
However, your reasoning would be more convincing if it had been clear from the start that Europe was to be excluded. Instead, two rushed posts are added (your post and Liz') at the last minute explaining that Europe is out. You have to admit it doesn't look very planned, it looks like "oh crap", we need to do something about the Europe feedback.
I stand by my point - if you're creating a technical solution for millions of US players, adding Europe isn't going to break the beta. If you're concerned about capacity or technical functionality you'd start with a subset of one of the regions. Hence my cynicism, and hence my response.
If I'm being unfair, then well, my apologies - but what do you expect when you exclude what's now more than half of the WOW community from a launch.
Macgayver May 20th 2009 6:57AM
I have to agree with you there Bod. However, you're blowing it out of proportion. It's not a big deal.
Danarok May 20th 2009 8:05AM
I thoroughly agree with Bod and disagree with Macgayver's last comment: it *is* important.
It is broadly the same as telling the first group of people:
"Look, we're giving you lots of shinies! Go play with them!"
and telling the second group:
"I'm sorry we forgot you were there/you're not important enough to include the minor technical tweak to include you from the start. You're going to have to sit here and watch those other people play with their shinies and wait for an undetermined period of time while we get through the list of things more important than giving you those shinies as well"
As a European reader I'll be honest with you, I feel let down and undervalued, possibly even slightly alienated. The armoury (and yes damnit, I'll spell it the english way) upgrade should have been held off untill all the readership has access to this functionality. The only way I'd feel slightly mollified is to be informed that this is currently the WoW.com team's *Top* priority, and that it appears within the next few days.
Thyago May 20th 2009 8:44AM
Well, as a Software Developer, I can't say I disagree with Lesley. It's just that the feeling that "someone is being punished" being put straight out honestly like this makes people react badly.
That's why, for example, Blizzard lies when something goes wrong on their servers, and they're doing quite well.
"Oh, I'm sorry, looks like our Interface communcation with EU servers have been strangely erased from our servers" = Good;
"Oh, I'm sorry, we left EU out just to make sure we're offering you a good service first, so you won't have to face any problems when we're out of beta, sir!" = Bad.
D May 20th 2009 9:38AM
Melodramatic and ungrateful.
Bubsa May 20th 2009 11:50AM
Ungrateful for...what, exactly? He hasn't got anything new to be grateful for except for a new site layout.
ChaosPrime May 20th 2009 6:12AM
Is there anyway to sign up, without using AIM Account or Facebook?
JimmyDeemo May 20th 2009 6:40AM
I can't actually find where to sign in using Facebook, just AIM. Is that US only too?
edsdame May 20th 2009 6:43AM
@JimmyDeemo: You can sign in with facebook too, upper rigt corner there is a clickabe facebook logo beneath the "sign in with AOL" thingy.
ChaosPrime May 20th 2009 6:54AM
I refuse to make an AIM account and i really don't want to use my Facebook; pretty much all my real life friends couldn't care less about what I do in WoW, but at the moment it looks I (we) have no other option.
JimmyDeemo May 20th 2009 6:53AM
Nope, can't find that. Unless i'm being really really stupid its not there.
Just have;
Add Your Characters!
Sign-in or Register with AIM
Then blank space. On http://profile.wow.com/, there is no mention of Facebook. Just AIM. Anyone else get this?
edsdame May 20th 2009 7:02AM
JimmyDeemo:
Check this pic, I screened the Facebook login button:
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/090520/facebook_connect_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
JimmyDeemo May 20th 2009 7:11AM
Thanks for the help. I definitly don't have that. Perhaps its due to some filters at work. Will try at home later on.
Keyra May 20th 2009 7:29AM
JimmyDeemo: You're not the only one, and it's not due to filters at your workplace. I'm at home, and I did see it, but only once. I haven't seen the link since. Weird.
Keyra May 20th 2009 8:24AM
DOH!
Um...(sheepish grin)...Jimmy? You can't see the Facebook login thing for the same reason I can't...because we're...um...already logged in.
Click the link to "Click here to login", now from your profile page, hover the mouse over the arrow and select "Sign Out". The Facebook icon will now reappear.
This is kinda buggy, but hey...it's beta :-)
edsdame May 20th 2009 6:15AM
Keep up the good work!
I hope we will see this feature in the near future. :)
I am missing somethig, or even now i can only comment with the e-mail adress and the code you sent me? Cause i am logged in, and the site demands these...
MazjinYrael May 20th 2009 6:19AM
This article is clearly full of lies, we Europeans simply cannot exist due to science.
The title gave me such false hope that you'd added the EU armo(u)ry too though. :(
GothicRebel May 20th 2009 7:38AM
My installation only half worked.
the add on for wow worked ok, but the application, didnt.
Im In the UK