For a minute there, I thought Blizzard was going to do the impossible: launch an online game without significant server problems. I should have known better!
“We’re currently investigating an issue affecting our authentication servers, which may result in failed or slow login attempts,” Blizzard said on Twitter at about 8 pm Pacific today.
I tried to play after I saw that message, and hit a login queue for the first time since Diablo 4 launched in early access last week, when owners the special editions were able to start playing. Today is the full launch, which means many more people are trying to play, although we don’t know exactly how many more.
In the replies to Blizzard’s tweet, some players are reporting that they were kicked mid-game and are now stuck in a queue with the message “game start pending…” After a countdown from five minutes, I got that message, too, and spent at least another 10 minutes waiting before I got in. But I did get in just now, so there’s hope: If you’re in line, stay in line?
Another player at PC Gamer is already in the game, and said he experienced a huge lag spike that prevented him from moving to a new area for nearly a minute. But for at least one of us, it’s been fine.
[#Diablo IV] We’re currently investigating an issue affecting our authentication servers, which may result in failed or slow login attempts.June 6, 2023
It’s hard to say how many players are affected without more details on the specifics of the problem, but we’ll keep monitoring it.