I suspect the big killer that could not be simulated by the alpha/beta was how frequently the regional servers communicated with the global database. I think Blizzard did not realize that this would be as significant of an issue as it was and even put out their December PTR specifically to test their fix.
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Takes very little effort to reply, but you’re actually right, feeding you only continues the charade. Unfortunately for all of us you’re a bit too sadly entertaining. I do enjoy a good troll though, so congratulations, you’ve earned your Certificate of Expert Trolling 
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i want to understand why people think ladder 6 months after launch is even remotely acceptable. not caring about ladder isnt valid. If they vastly underestimated the numbers (i dont believe that to be the case) then that is a serious failure. Do you have anything to suggest that happened or is it more likely they tried to do this on the smallest budget possible while raking in the one time cash and doing just enough and not a $ of effort more beyond.
takes very little effort to troll, i will say making up like 5 versions of an analogy for micro and have him still not learn a thing was more painful than I had hoped. but alas my time has ended and I have things to do today. holllller
At this point you’re arguing semantics for no reason at all. The ladder comment was lawyer talk by Rod Fergusson. He distracted the gullible with “shortly after” making them believe there was a reliable time frame given, when in fact there wasn’t. He can always point to “once everything settles down” part of his sentence, to which “shortly after” is contingent on and secondary to, thus giving Blizzard leeway to delay the release if necessary. Technically his post wasn’t wrong, just slightly misleading at worst. It maybe would’ve been clearer if he wrote “once everything settles down it will come shortly after”, even though this means the same thing.
Obviously they didn’t expect the disastrous launch, which changed the scope of the time frame entirely. In your shower analogy it would be the same as the shower not working, and therefore pushing the deadline beyond the initial 48h window. You won’t be doing anything until you take that shower, just as they won’t be doing anything before getting the servers fixed.
D2R has been riddled with problems ever since release, and I for one didn’t expect ladder to come in 2021 after that launch. I suspect their plan was always to roll out ladder with a new patch and had to postpone both as a result. I understand the patience of many players is running thin and Blizzard can’t delay it forever, but since I don’t think they’re merely rolling their thumbs I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. In hindsight it was a huge mistake to release D2R when they did, as painfully demonstrated. They have received their fair share of deserved criticism for it. Hopefully they learned from it and won’t repeat the same mistakes with ladder launch. So if they are taking their time because of this then I don’t mind it as much. Their communication is horrible as always though.
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Well-articulated response 
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In all honesty, ladder was not needed at launch and the game was better off for the delay. The biggest draws to ladder are the fresh start/reset economy, and the race to the top (OG LoD had the massive ladder only content, D2R does not). D2R already had that at launch, even if the rankings are not memorialized. If they announced ladder after launch to take place a month after, two weeks after, whatever in a short period of time after launch, I’d say a good number of folk would have just waited for ladder and not bothered with playing at launch. Having the ladder 6 months post-launch is nothing different timetable wise than OG’s ladder system, which is around a 6 month timeframe anyways.
Instead of dividing the playerbase at launch, we were given a full ladder pre-season, whether intentionally or otherwise. Ladder doesn’t make D2, D2. Diablo 1 had no ladder, D2 did not get a ladder mode for 3 years (patch 1.10) nor did D3 have seasons at launch (I don’t exactly remember how long it took them to get seasons up, but do remember it being done in response to players wanting the fresh start).
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Seasons in D3 were introduced shortly after the D3:RoS expansion or was that once there was D3:RoS. In either case, D3:RoS happened first.
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Guys, he has stuff to do today, he won’t be able to reply till later.
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the reason i am arguing is because micro said blizz never said shortly after launch, he started this. while contingent upon settling down, it does not suggest there will be an additional “shortly after” amount of time beyond the settling down which is the whole issue being debated.
you, just like micro dont seem to realize the point of the analogy. the point is to show how once changes the meaning of the sentence. im painfully aware of how this scenario played out. anyone that thinks the need to explain what did in fact happen is completely missing the point.
while i understand your analogy point, that only confirms micro doesnt get it. yes the 48 hour window started at 5 pm in the first one, and of course there are scenarios that could stop it from being successful, but that would make me a liar in that point whether intentionally or not.
the reason the timing is being debated in the first place is because people are blaming me and other players and suggesting i should have known ladder wouldnt be out for 6 months and not purchased the game when in fact I was misled and blizz said ladder will be shortly after launch. then micro argued semantics incorrectly.
his praise of your post is actually an insult to you.
edit; super, i got a break in between shoveling
to make this ultra clear, the reason the wording matters is because micro thinks it is my fault for buying a game without ladder and thinking id get it before march. that is ridiculous and no one in sept thought that. captain hindsight
I don’t agree it would make you a liar though. Underestimating the time frame or getting it completely wrong is not the same as lying. It wasn’t an act to deceive. You didn’t expect the shower to stop functioning just as they didn’t expect the servers to collapse, so neither of you were lying when you gave the initial estimate. It just turned out to be wrong. This is probably why Ferguson covered his bases with “once everything settles down”, because he knew there were no guarantees.
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Let’s be clear about what I think instead of you assuming it.
My thoughts are if one’s D2R purchase decision was based on playing ladders and only playing ladders, then it makes little sense to buy D2R until the precise date of ladder is officially announced, since D2R is a digital purchase.
Secondly, if the plan was to buy eventually D2R when ladder was announced with an official date or at some later point where the ladder existed, it is not that significant that one essentially gave Blizzard an interest free loan since one was still going to purchase the game anyway just at a later time point.
Irrespective, PezRadar announced that ladder is coming and that the plan is to have the upcoming PTR be the last before the patch and the ladder that will happen a couple of weeks later.
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we were lead to believe there would be ladder at launch, they switched their tune. now we’re waiting over half a year… STOP PATTING THEM ON THE BACK FOR ANOTHER ABYSMAL RELEASE.
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Both Rod and Adam explicitly said that ladder would not be at launch. This was widely reported in the video game news media. This was also posted on the D2R forum as a blue post.
No one is patting them on the back for the quality of D2R’s release.
since you have a memory of goldfish. when i bought the game ladder was advertised, i didnt return it because i believed them. i would buy the game now i dont have the time to play starting in march so no this isnt moot whatsover for me, maybe for some, but not for me.
Curiosity question do you play WoW or plan to purchase any Blizzard game/merchandise in the future?
Thank you for saying this, the only difference between people in this thread is some people can take what happens in life like adults, and some take it like whiney children.
i will never spend another penny on blizzard ever again with zero exception. played wow since vanilla, havent played much in the past 4-5+ years
go order something on amazon, wait 2 months, dont get it, just acknowledge that its not great or complain? we both know the answer.
people may not be patting on the back, but they sure are defending and rationalizing it to the extreme. thats what a lot of us have issue with.