KEY POINTS

  • Server issues caused frequent disconnections and unbearable queue times for "Path Of Exile"
  • Streamers were allowed to cut the long queue times and gain an unfair advantage over the leaderboards
  • The developers have admitted that giving streamers priority over other players was a mistake

The recent expansion for “Path of Exile” promised an exciting new league with new content for players to grind through. But many fans were left disappointed after a disastrous launch that barred ordinary players from playing while allowing streamers to continue unimpeded.

The launch of the new “Ultimatum” expansion saw players suffering through frequent disconnections and extremely long login queue times. However, a number of streamers who regularly broadcasted the game on social media channels like Twitch saw less frequent connectivity problems, and they were even allowed to skip the login queue.

Players in the “Path of Exile” community at Reddit expressed their frustration at how Grinding Gear Games treated the fanbase. Streamer priority gave successful Twitch streamers an unfair advantage over the rest of the playerbase who are also trying to race to the top of the league’s ladder.

Some players see GGG’s move as an understandable marketing tactic, but they still do not forgive the developer’s decision to let streamers into the game while everyone else is forced to wait for hours just to log in. Grinding Gear Games has acknowledged the problem and said that giving streamers queue priority was the wrong move.

“The decision to allow any streamers to bypass the queue was clearly a mistake” GGG lead developer Chris Wilson said in a Reddit post. He also clarified that the decision to prioritize streamers was made as part of its paid influencer marketing strategy, EuroGamer reports.

Path of Exile Ultimatum introduces a new way for players to earn gear
Path of Exile Ultimatum introduces a new way for players to earn gear Grinding Gear Games

Wilson explained that unforeseen server issues were the cause of the launch day’s connection problems, with “human error” acting as the root cause of the entire situation as they failed to run a “trickle migration” process that the devs normally conducted after every league.

He further added that they will dedicate themselves to creating a “fair playing field for everyone” when it comes to league starters, and that they will include this type of situation in their planning for marketing campaigns and contingencies in the future.

Server stability and queue time issues have since been resolved, and players may now log into the game as they normally would.

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