Path of Exile is currently embroiled in a controversy sparked by the catastrophic launch of a new expansion and a backlash against preferential treatment given to streamers.
The popular action role-playing game last night launched the Ultimatum expansion. Here, players risk items for coveted rewards in increasingly difficult trials.
There is an element of competition here, with those reaching the highest maps first expected to dominate the in-game economy over the next few months. These players would also gain the lead in the fight for extremely valuable rewards given to those who finish on top of the ladder.
But Ultimatum suffered a disastrous launch that prevented people from playing. “This launch has been rough, to say the least,” lead developer Chris Wilson said in a post on the Path of Exile subreddit.
According to Wilson, immediately upon the launch of the league, the queue began to run incredibly slowly – so slowly that it would take at least two hours to get everyone in the game. Why? There was a “human error” that meant an important “trickle migration” process was not run, causing the queue to be “unbearably” slow to empty.