Watch out! Sony Customer service in action!

[JillieMT]

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

[Eatbugs]

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.

She was correct, they did.  About five minutes before, from what I can tell...

[Cyphen Wilder]

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

[Eatbugs]

*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.

[Eatbugs]

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

[Cyphen Wilder]

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.

[Eatbugs]

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.

[Ukator Iceblood]

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.

[danaconda]

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:

[Jkal_Shihar]

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.

[JillieMT]

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.

[Urim]

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.

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.

[Eatbugs]

*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.

[Cyphen Wilder]

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.

[Eatbugs]

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.

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