Recently, the largest community event in Elite Dangerous started. However, this space mission caused numerous pilots to be unable to log into the game for hours upon its launch.
This is what happened: On January 13, the launch of a massive community event was set in Elite Dangerous. Nearly 12,000 pilots, including developers of the game, wanted to embark on the huge space mission Distant Worlds 2.
However, the launch faced initial difficulties, causing thousands of players to be unable to log into the game for hours.
This is how the launch went: To make the launch of the space expedition as smooth as possible given the large number of participants, the departure to Beagle Point, the destination on the way to the journey at the edge of the galaxy, was staggered in several waves.
In total, space explorers were supposed to take off from the starting point in three waves at different times last Sunday. The pilots were divided into regions within a 12-hour time window – starting with Europe, followed by the USA, and lastly Oceania.
This is how the launch caused problems: However, when thousands of pilots from the European and simultaneously largest group initiated the first jump to hyperspace from the starting system, the game servers collapsed.
Overload was the result; for more than two hours, many players were stopped from participating in the expedition. Even many who did not participate in the expedition could not play during this time.
Thus, pilots could not log into the open game (multiplayer). Even in singleplayer, many could not play Elite Dangerous since the game requires a permanent online connection and the login servers were overloaded.
Were problems foreseeable? Numerous fans had anticipated server issues. This is because the previously largest mass event in Elite Dangerous encountered technical problems in 2017 as well – albeit with “only” about 3,000 participants. For many, these problems were therefore predictable.
How did Frontier respond? The developers confirmed the server issues, apologized to the community, and immediately set to work to resolve the problems. Although this took several hours, Frontier could provide stable servers again for the start of the second wave from the USA.
This is how fans reacted: Contrary to some fears, fans took the server crash mostly calmly and even with humor. In Discord servers and forums, there was good mood, and it was joked that only elite players would enjoy crashing the game.
Moreover, hardly anyone had expected that the servers would withstand the initial onslaught of hyperspace jumps.
What is Distant Worlds 2 all about? As part of this event organized by the community, players want to travel together through the Milky Way over the course of 8 months, thereby creating the ultimate MMO experience for space explorers.
The destination on the way is Beagle Point, a nearly legendary space station among explorer pilots at the edge of the galaxy. New waypoints are communicated weekly that can be explored by participants. On weekends, pilots then meet at predefined gathering points and continue their journey from there towards Beagle Point.
Frontier is also participating in the huge community event. On the one hand, some developers are taking part themselves, and on the other hand, there are special missions and community goals that Frontier contributes for the long journey.
Once Beagle Point is reached, the return will be on a different route. On the return journey, they aim to follow the route that the spaceship USS Voyager from Star Trek also flew.
The journey is seen as exciting and dangerous among fans. Numerous parts of space are unexplored along the route. Additionally, Thargoid aliens often ambush players unexpectedly.
The expedition is accompanied by the Fuel Rats and Hull Seals, among others. The Fuel Rats refuel players who run out of fuel in unexplored and hard-to-reach areas of space. The freshly founded Hull Seals are also a network of helpful pilots who can repair damaged ships.
