The crew at Epic Games couldn’t be blamed if they felt like they were under attack at their Cary headquarters Monday by hordes of fans as the new game “Fortnite” was hit by a rash of server and technical woes.

After years of development, Epic launched early access to its eagerly anticipated “Fortnite” game (zombies attack a fort) – and immediately ran into server problems. Despite numerous posts from Epic on forums explaining what was happening as the rollout turned into a day-long nightmare, fans weighed in with attacks – and praise.

“We all know what early access means by now and we know that means there will be issues,” wrote one fan. “The first question in the FAQ clearly states the game will go into early access on the 25th. No one at Epic took your wallet and made you pay when you could wait for the game to go free to play in 2018.”

Yet the support for Epic, which for years has been one of the world’s leading game developers ( Unreal, Unreal Tournament, the mega hit Gears of War series) and technology developers with game engines, did little to quiet critics.

“I’ve been working for 18 years straight after a session of the original Unreal. back in 99 for this?

“Epic, please, I’m old as #%&$ at this point and I need the new stuff. Llamas keep my youth a reality. Make it happen.”

One fan posted a screenshot of his “wait” advisory.

Complained one player: “[F]ounders that backed the game and paid money to get early jump yet half the time the game is down isn’t right… that’s trash they should have fixed in Alpha or Beta not early final release…. additional compensation to ALL founders should be made due to this.”

Then there is this:

“We live in a day were the money sign is more important then actually doing quality work.”

Another fan was resigned to his wait with a bit of wry humor, saying the downtime would be spent studying for a final.

Up and running

As of late Monday night, Epic’s technical crew reported progress.

“Hey Fortnite community,

“We are so sorry that you can’t get into the game right now. We are trying to scale up because so many players are coming into the game, and we broke it.

“We are working to fix it right now. As soon as we have an ETA we will give everyone an update.”

Later Epic added more positive news for players:

“We deployed an update and SERVERS ARE NOW LIVE. Other than a short que, we see no immediate issues.

“Thank you so much for hanging out with us on Twitter, Reddit, Forums and all other social channels. You are the real MVPs.

“We love you all. Thanks!”

You can read the trials, tribulations and comments at:

https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/forums/fortnite-discussion/general-discussion/11102-fortnite-server-status-7-24/page4?view=stream