Something I MUST know before I buy WA:

[Phaezik]

I loved DoW, and at least for a while more than Warcraft 3. However, I eventually gave up DoW for Wc3 when I wanted to play an RTS game....why? Gamespy is why.

Yes, horrible, horrible gamespy. Servers that randomly kick people out of games and whatnot...they took enough fun out of the game that I ended up having more fun with Wc3, even though I like the game mechanics of DoW better.

So I NEED to know that the servers have been improved and are more reliable now, before I spend money. And I know I am not the only person that this issue bothered, a couple of my friends ended up quitting DoW for this very reason. =[

Anybody know anything about this, have the devs commented on this issue at all?

Thanks for replys.

[TBS]

Its really up to gamespy to get their act together - I imagine that THQ will have had words with them (Tranj has kept us informed of various gamespy screwups) but I dont know whether the servers are significantly improved yet.

[hybris]

This really is a serious issue, and I hope THQ doesn't take it lightly nor let GameSpy get away with it too easy.

After a year of experience of how GameSpy handles these problems, I hardly see any other solution than Relic building their own multiplayer lobby solution.

[aerziel]

think of it this way if DOW becomes even more popular with this expansion sooner or later relic has to make its own networking system much like battlenet for blizzard but im just guessing.

[General Blaze]

Yes, but even then they will risk making a lobby system WORSER than Gamespy. Remember Battle.net 1.0? It was HORRIBLY buggy. Worse than GS back then. Fast forward to a few years later and it's the BEST online browser out there. It took Blizzard tons of cash. Not to mention an already dedicated fanbase since they can risk losing a few fans until their online browser's near perfect.

Seeing as how Relic's fanbase isn't that big and DON'T have a ton of cash, I don't think they'll take that chance anytime soon. Unless a team of coders from the Battle.net team at Blizzard goes to Relic and code for them, but not stinking likely to happen.

[thamacdaddy]

Personally although I find gamespy annoying at times I can live with it and I sure as hell wouldn't give up playing because of kick bug or the fact that sometimes me and my friends cannot connect (which is more firewalls to be honest)

[DarkStar782]

I hate gamespy and have given up playing normal online games.

The main problem is that me and my brother both share and internet connection, so if we want to play with one of our other mates, we immediately run into problems trying to both connect to gamespy at once (it doesnt like 2 concurrent players behind the same NAT)

Add to that the random disconnects etc, and I find it much easier and simpler for us all to use a VPN program like Hamachi (www.hamachi.cc) and just all play via direct connect.

This means that our small group of friends only ever play together, but its worth it to avoid the hastle of gamespy.

[Kargard]

Anyone else hates the fact that finding an automatch 2v2 game takes ages? I was 2v2 player in W3, switched to 1v1 purely out of convenience in DoW..

[Surge]

Gamespy doesn't have any issues with 2 concurrent players behind the same NAT DarkStar782. Myself and a friend were on the same lan behind a NAT when DoW first came out and we played online hundreds of times together. Its all we did.

The problem must be your setup.