Soo - a bunch of people in my guild preordered Omens and had it charged to their credit cards. (Personally, I bought it in a box.) Charge showed up on their cards, they got confirmation emails, all that stuff.
Starting last night, several of them had Omens removed from their accounts and were reduced to level 65, after spending the last week or so grinding levels. When they called customer service they received no explanation, they just had omens turned back on for their accounts. They're still level 65, (some of them had reached 70, all of them had put in many, many hours getting to at least 68) and there has been no time frame given for fixing that. It could be a week or two.
Now, mistakes happen - but this happened with LoY. It also happened with LDoN. Just how stupid do you have to be to make the same "{bunny} you, valued customer" mistake three times in a row? What are preorder periods FOR, if it's not for clearing up billing issues? How much attention exactly do they think customers are going to pay to the work they're putting in repairing things in the game when the billing department is busy {bunnying} everyone over?
I'm allergic to stupidity. Anyone got a good treatment for the hives I've got right now? :P
Quit, no more stupidity. You can send me your login and password and I will deal with the stupidity for you....lol. But really, we al know that new expansions get a little buggy when first going live. All in all, this expansion has by far been the smoothest that I have seen. Remember what happened to people during Luclin? Even GoD, LoY, LDoN had more problems if I remember correctly. I don't remember any problems I had frm Kunark or Velious. But in general, not a huge amount of bugs on release of OoW it seems so far. May be a pain for right now, but I am sure they are gona fix it.
Whether it will be fixed (I'm sure it will be, eventually) isn't the issue. The issue is that they've done this in three out of the last four expansions - even my dog learns faster than that.
We are not talking about a simple thing here. And even if it is the same problem happening with each expansion, we don't know if it is the same thing that is causing it. It could be something that is only fixable on live servers, or something that only happens when a certain thing happens when it goes live. I have not been able to even get on since last Thursday due to RL stuff, but even though I ordered with my CC, if I don't have OoW, I will just petition, CS email, and then play the game until they fix it.
Well, that's an explanation I certainly accept for in-game issues - there's just no way to test software the way 500,000 people can. However, this appears not to be a software issue. (it certainly wasn't the last two times) This is a very simple issue - they should be verifying who bought the expansion and who didn't at the time they send the confirmation email. Certainly they should be verifying it before they take action on your account...
It's not complex at all.
Are people still suprised and outraged when SOE does something like this?. I suggest quitting and never playing another sony game as long as you live. Like me.
This won't happen in WoW. Blizzard is the second coming of christ. That is all!.
Well what I have read on other posts, shows that the issue arises with those that pre-order with a CC that has an expiration date before shipping date. So if this is the case, then we are looking at maybe the credit card company denying payment on shipping date due to expired billing info so blame the credit company and then the people that have expired billing info....LOL.
Quote from: Murkk DakruulAre people still suprised and outraged when SOE does something like this?. I suggest quitting and never playing another sony game as long as you live. Like me.
This won't happen in WoW. Blizzard is the second coming of christ. That is all!.
Careful with that Murkk... Blizzard is completely unproven with this type of customer service. While WoW will most likely be a decent game, we have yet to see what the CS will be like.
It's ridiculous that they just automatically turn off tons of accounts like this automatically. At least an email stating you need to give them updated credit card info is in order.
QuoteWell what I have read on other posts, shows that the issue arises with those that pre-order with a CC that has an expiration date before shipping date. So if this is the case, then we are looking at maybe the credit card company denying payment on shipping date due to expired billing info so blame the credit company and then the people that have expired billing info....LOL.
That makes sense, actually, considering the charge itself wasn't applied on my card until the day of release.
It makes some sense in those cases (although it reminds me of a former landlord of mine who used to save my rent checks for several months before cashing them) - but while that was apparently true of a couple of people in my guild, most of them didn't have that problem.
With Blizzards past record of customer support I would not hold my breath at them being any better then SOE is, all they care about is the money and they have proven it in the past as have most every gameing company.
Quote from: MeemaeWith Blizzards past record of customer support I would not hold my breath at them being any better then SOE is, all they care about is the money and they have proven it in the past as have most every gameing company.
Odd, I've heard they have a superb record of CS? Not experienced it myself though, just what I've been told *shrug*
Though I'll agree with you, gaming companies like all businesses are are there to make money first and foremost, whether its SOE, Blizz, Square-Enix, Microsoft etc. They produce all these exciting games - but they're only exciting to make you part with your cash - not to gain your admiration or respect. If they thought they could get away with "Horace Goes Skiing Online" they'd do it.
Ashlane said that people who were dropped from OoW because of lack of payment (expired cards) did receive an email sent to the address registered with SoE before they were dropped. I would bet that they did not have a current email address registered.
-Lith
Another good point Lithale. It isn't like SOE doesn't mention a ton of times to make sure your email is updated. If after everything passes with this along with credit card expiration on billing, I am gonna laugh my butt off. Everyone ranting and raving that SOE sucks at releasing an expansion where this bug exists when it actually is their fault for not keeping updated billing info and updated email info. :D
The people who had this happen will still claim that SOE is at fault though, that is always easier than admitting that they themselves were wrong. :P
Quote from: LithaleAshlane said that people who were dropped from OoW because of lack of payment (expired cards) did receive an email sent to the address registered with SoE before they were dropped.
She was correct, they did. About five minutes before, from what I can tell...
Yea, damn SOE!!!! They should have sent out emails a week before everyone's credit cards expired reminding them to renew billing info. They also should have googled and hired private investigators to track down all subscribers and ensure updated email info as well. Then they could have gone to all of their houses, leveled them all to 70, maxxed them all out with AA, wipe their runny noses, and put them to bed. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: hehe
*sigh*
No, they should have done what any company that doesn't want 10,000 angry phone calls from customers does - notified people of a problem a week or two in advance. Notifying people the same day is simply stupid - stupidity being defined as engaging in an action that thirty seconds thought would let you know was detrimental to your own interests.
Oh, and by the way, Ashlanne didn't say that about emails being sent. All she did was cut and paste from the official announcement.
Forgot to add - the official announcement she was quoting was made two days after the problem started happening, so there was no way for anyone to have seen it ahead of time. :P
I did bait you with the last post Eats, but only to point out that there is such a thing as personal responsibilty. Wasn't SOE's responsibility to ensure that your payment method was valid or that you maintain a current email address. Simply put, for those playing OoW that was later taken away for non-payment due to expired billing info, you were using a product WITHOUT paying for it. If SOE was such the evil monster everyone thinks them to be they could tell everyone that was deleveled or whatever that they were playing a product they did not pay for and therefore there would be no refunds of xp or whatever. But, no, they are refunding what game advancements they can, and informing the affected playerbase via email what happened. SOE is taking the time and effort to fix something that wasn't there fault, and what could have been avoided if individuals had just taken some personal responsibility.
Absolutely - if your payment method was invalid when the charge went through and you forgot to update your email address, my symapthy is pretty limited. However, neither of those things was true for the majority of the people I know that this happened to.
When you know you're likely to make mistakes, (and the CS people at Sony have to know it by now - all billing departments make mistakes, if not always on this scale) it pays to think ahead of time about how to avoid the problems caused by those mistakes. There was no thinking involved here.
I had the issue. My take is that I had just changed the card that it went to, canceld the account that I did the preorder on. I guess thats what the issue was. They had no problem billing the card for the monthly fee.
I never got an email. Still havent.
They gave me back my xp by rollback, and when I logged on everything I had done since Monday was gone. Epic stuff *up to last fight*, Fenin Ro flag, spells. I petitioned and came to work. Just hoping to have it all when I log on tonight. Really want to try the epic tonight.
I didn't order Omens.....yet. I might in the future. But seriously.... what's wrong with SOE?? When you signed up their server didn't check to see if your credit card would be valid at the time it would be charged? That's just lazy on their part.
I understand that people need to be more responsible. But honestly, that's SOE's fault also. If I order a product online and my credit card is expired, but they ship me the product, that's their fault. Sure you may say that this is different since it is a "future" purchase. Well, as far as I know, since the pre-orders were available they didn't move the release date (could be wrong). So they should have been smart enough to make the order form only accept expiration dates after the release date.
I also recall a few years ago, that one of the reps (probably from Verant, pre-SOE) said that they would change CS reps' policies and would believe the customer first and foremost, then if they found out later they were cheated would do something about it. Well....... that's obviously not the case here.
What they should have done is one of two options. Both better than what they did here. Option 1: put the account in an inactive state until either Omens was cancelled by the customer, or they brought the account up to date. Option 2: Let the customer keep whatever they got for 2 weeks (but restrict further access to OoW zones). After the 2 weeks have passed then they could roll the character's levels back, but leave the items (and also credit back any OoW AA's). That's what the business world would call "good customer service."
Does it cost SOE anything to allow people -that made a mistake with billing- to play in zones on a server they already payed for? I doubt it. This leaves yet another bad taste in people's mouths.
Sure, some may think that this is the "hindsight is 20/20" approach. I hate second-guessers myself. However, seeing the fiasco that happened right after the release of GoD, they should definitely take the light-footed approach in any situation that arrises.
****Slight derail, but I gotta get this part off my chest****
I have played this game since March of 1999. I *think* I got the game on release day, but maybe it was one or two days later, not sure. I loved this game. I still do. I have agreed with any decisions that the developers/creators/programmers have made that make this game the way it is. Even if it meant nerfing my class. It was always in the best interest of the game.
I used to laugh, literally, at the people complaining on message boards. People need to grow up and realize that nerfing is a healthy part of a persistent online game. If they gave rangers a spell right now that was an unresistable instant-refresh/recast spell that had zero aggro attached to it, I would not complain (except to the ranger that just KSed my mob). I'm sure there would be a solid reason..... that's the kind of person I am in regards to a game. Make it fun.
Lately however, like the last year or so, my opinion has slowly began to change. I found myself second-guessing this game. The whole "customer service" crap they started after GoD was released was when it started getting much worse. I still laugh at it. How can a company go for so long without listening to customers and then "claim" to do an about face. Sure, they threw us some bones. But that's all I see them doing, just baiting us with small carrots. I admit, most changes are for the better. I am not so blind to think that this new "customer service" is a good thing.
I noticed a few people had posted about them nerfing the drops in this new expansion soon. I would bet a million dollars on it. They do it every time. EVERY expansion. No change. Gem drops in LoY zones. Item drops in allother expansions (can't remember each specific one, but I do remeber it in every expansion). I understand they cannot possibly release content knowing how it's going to turn out with 500,000 people. It's hard I'm sure. Very hard. But come on, EVERY expansion they screw up the drop rate to be too good? Wanna know why they do it? It sells expansions. Every time too. We all fall for it. We all hear about "Dulak's Harbor farming 1k per hour in gems alone!!" Then the nerfs come after too many people buy the expansion and want this new loot. Hmmmm...... coincidence? Maybe the first 2 or 3 expansions.
OK....enough out of me. This was a long mofo-ing rant! Sorry, been hanging out in rants maybe too much lately. :roll:
No more rants forum for me!!!! :oops:
Or you could do what I did. Cancel supscription cause it's not fun anymore and RL is more important.
Seriously though, just like above stated. It really isnt the company's fault. If I entered in my CC number and exp date and didnt pay attention that it would expire say end of month and it was a pre order that wasnt expected for 3 months. I'm to blame for not supplying them with the updated exp date.
It would've been easier to send out emails/letters to those with exp CC's but to the company that takes time and time is money. I think I've been around the financial department of my company to long to see that.
I completely disagree that allowing crazy loot to go easy is to sell expansions.
1. Most people who play EQ, buy the expansions right off the bat. I have *never* heard of anyone who waited to see what the drop rate was like before buying an expansion. If anyone here has done that, lemme know... :P
2. Of course the drops have to be tuned to the game! When betatesting is done for a new expansion, they are not testing the drop rates. They are testing the gameplay. There is NO way that any expansion can be completely ready for release without seeing how it acts when it is really live with real, conniving, players. If it's too easy, why keep it that way? What's the point of playing without challenge, or something to work towards?
3. And where is the complaining when drops get easier? When I played my warrior, that red dragon scale for the epic was tough to get! You only had two choices: raid Naggy over and over again until you earned one, or one of your clerics finally got their turn with Ragefire (after a year-long wait on the list), and it just happened to drop the scale, and you just happen to get it. Since then, the chance to get it has increased a hundredfold: The scalekeeper in the Hole was added (is that still there now though, not sure...) and there is no waiting line for RF anymore. Granted, the warrior epic is now meaningless (although less so now with the new epic quests), but my point is still there: some drops have gotten easier. Why? To tune it to the game.
I find it amazing how much people complain about this. Tune the game, and people cry nerf! Don't tune, and people cry about being ignored by CS. Amazing.
QuoteBut come on, EVERY expansion they screw up the drop rate to be too good? Wanna know why they do it? It sells expansions. Every time too. We all fall for it. We all hear about "Dulak's Harbor farming 1k per hour in gems alone!!" Then the nerfs come after too many people buy the expansion and want this new loot. Hmmmm...... coincidence? Maybe the first 2 or 3 expansions.
Paranoid much?
I can't see how anyone would believe that higher drop rates at release are there only to increase people buying the expansion. As was said in the previous post, i don't think anyone waits until they hear about drop rates before buying. I would like for a single person to come forward and say that they spent the $30 JUST because they heard the drop rates were good. I don't think a single person did it and if they did they sure as hell wouldn't admit it because its just so idiotic.
My personal take on the drop rates being changed is to try and entice people into exploring the new zones. We all know the experience in these new zones doesn't exactly match up to the experience in PoFire or other zones, so what reason would someone have to come to these zones in the first few days when they are trying hard to get 70? A lot of it is to find out new items. Of course they cannot have these items entering the economy at the same rate forever or else everybody and their mother would have them. So they lower the drop rate a week or two after release to what it should normally be when everyone has seen it the drops.
*shrug*
Drop rates are always a bit high when expansions come out, but I think that has more to do with not wanting to appear stingy with drops in a new expansion than anything else. If they err on the side of caution, they'll get a lot more negative publicity for a new expansion than if they set the drop rates high initially and then cut them back when they see there's a balance problem.
The one prevalent thing I see about all posts is that SOE is a big evil corporation trying to suck the money from its customers in types of conspiracies and scams. Whoever asked paranoid, hit the nail on the head.
Quote from: Cyphen WilderThe one prevalent thing I see about all posts is that SOE is a big evil corporation trying to suck the money from its customers in types of conspiracies and scams. Whoever asked paranoid, hit the nail on the head.
Then you haven't read my posts. Stupid != evil, nor am I complaning about anyone but the people who made that stupid decision. The devs, (who aren't responsible for those decisions) do a pretty good job. :P
Quote from: Cyphen WilderThe one prevalent thing I see about all posts is that SOE is a big evil corporation you see black helicopters trying to suck the money oh no you must think the sky is falling from its customers in types of conspiracies and scams. Whoever asked paranoid, hit the nail on the head.
My cliche filter has completed it's sweep.
Omens of War Access
We are aware of the reports of characters losing access to Omens of War content and features yesterday when logging in to their accounts. If you believe you were charged for this expansion (not just entered a pre-order, but have indeed confirmed that your billing method was successfully charged), and you have lost access to the Omens content, then please contact customer service so that we may restore your lost access and correct any problem that has caused the confusion.
We have sent emails to those who lost access (these were sent prior to losing access). If you did not receive an email, we ask that you please double-check the email address associated with your EverQuest account. You can update your email address and other information using the account button on the EQ login screen which will take you to the accounts web page Accounts. Make certain that you log in to the accounts web page with the account you wish to modify.
Purchasing Omens or contacting customer service can be done in a variety of ways. You can order Omens of War either through the station store at http://www.station.sony.com or by using the accounts button on the EQ login screen. You can reach our accounts and billing department by calling 858-537-0898 or by using our Live Chat service which you can find at http://www.station.sony.com/en/instantchat.jsp.
Also, you can use the in-game petition system. Since the petition system now uses an offline in-game mail system, your petition can be answered without you having to be online. If you've already entered a petition a GM should be able to get to you shortly.
Any lost experience from players who have encountered this problem, for whatever reason, will be restore
Guess we can close the thread.
dammit....hehe.....but will still say that was not SOE stupidity, but player base stupidity..... :twisted:
Read the previous posts. :P
Quote from: Cyphen Wilder
Also, you can use the in-game petition system. Since the petition system now uses an offline in-game mail system, your petition can be answered without you having to be online. If you've already entered a petition a GM should be able to get to you shortly.
.
Only thing I ever got from the new off-line reply was - "sorry, please /bug it or send in an email"
I didnt write that! I am sueing for musquoting :P
Increased value/size/portion etc upon release/opening is a standard business practice. The reasons may be different (sales/usage), but there is nothing unusual about its use by SOE.
The only expansion I ever pre-bought was LoY. When I placed the order, it politely told me to use another credit card, as my card was expired.
If it can filter todays current date, filtering the date of release is a simple matter.
Quote from: ShilleIf it can filter todays current date, filtering the date of release is a simple matter.
That was my point exactly. I am not a programmer, but I was under the impression that you have to keep a user's stupidity under consideration when doing things. IE: their CC# might expire before the date of release, and they might not realize that they get charged later, not now.
I mentioned earlier that some people might buy an expansion if they notice the drop rates of items are very nice. Why would it be stupid for someone to wait for things like that? I must have missed something about this game. I thought you played for 4 things: experience, levels, adventure, and loot. Any combo of those things can be considered "fun" in many different people's perspectives. Why is Allakhazam's website so popular? Why do so many casuals want good loot? hmmmmm..... Maybe because they like loot? I would say that's possible.
I was having a bad day at work the day I posted all that crap before :oops: . Figuring this was rants, didn't realize anyone cared if I ranted. Oh well, whatever. Being in a much better mood today I realize that it makes perfect sense to up the drop rate at release. Why wouldn't they? They realize most people want good loot. How do these items that are so rare appear just as release shows up to encourage people to hunt there or buy the expansion? Makes sense in every way. You want people to see the items right away so there's incentive to go there. Then nerf drop rates if you want the items to stay rare.
It serves another purpose in that it rewards people that explore. :D
One day I will learn to quote :oops: