greplocos Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 was with a group, we were in the middle of something so 15min warning did little to help us, other than give us a moment to chat about it. we were bummed but it happens in a new game. I was shocked it was on friday night though ... my comment to the others was "well, I guess it must be pretty serious, some credits or items hack or something like that". So we logged and I looked for info. I was kind of blown away that there was no info about it. Usually it's limited info, which I expected. Some kind of loosely worded very short post saying that it was important, necessary, and unexpected for them as well. That would have done it right there. But zero info? zero? While not unheard of in the mmo world, it's more often a thing of the past. Modern customer service behaves better. So- (1) 15 minute warning doesn't do much for people ingame. Someone told me it was on the forums - really doesn't help people ingame. We are supposed to be surfing the forums as we are playing? nonsense. an hour would be nice, with periodic messages. But even so, if it absolutely has to come down quick 15min is ok _if_ modest info is given. (2) Zero info isn't a good policy. Little info is fine, people running mmo games have to work against all forms of hackers and it's a bit like playing poker. You don't have to show your hand, but say something, not nothing. It's very simple - just convey that it's important, necessary, and unexpected. People are understanding and if they say they are not and they rage, well quite frankly you don't want them as customers. They would probably quit the game over something regardless. (3) Disabling the forums during downtime is ... odd. Not heartbreaking, but given the above points it looks odd. Never seen that before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeodic Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I can't swear to it but I am pretty sure there was something on the launcher about it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfmiolleh Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Yeah, I was in the middle of something so I logged off and did it today instead. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmegaMayhem Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 They posted on the forums about 8 hours before, and there was a message on the launcher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greplocos Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 thanks for the reads. yeah, nothing on the launcher when I came in. forum info doesn't really help ingame. you know, I'm surprised in all the games I've played I've never really seen a good communication system for ingame handling of system wide notices. about all I've ever seen is a chat message that can scroll by extremely quickly, sometimes you see them, sometimes not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areto Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) They disable the forums during downtime because they can't handle the increased load. It's just one of these things they rushed or did on the cheap or w/e. Bioware seems to be quite secretive and maybe it's just because they are worried about bad press, it seems to stray into "cutting off the nose to spite the face" pretty often though. A lot of companies nowadays try to invite the community to "join them" in a way so they feel connected personally to the product and the team who are producing it. This leads to greater loyalty in the long run, a stronger community and a fan-base willing to produce the fan art, spread-sheets and such forth that can really draw people into the game and keep them playing and participating in a wider way. I assume there must be some downside to that approach (although I can't think what it would be) because bioware has decided to do the opposite, keep the players at arms length and only respond to the community in detached ways like blog posts, interviews and carefully composed form-letters if the forum is getting really rowdy. I think it's a pretty solid game, and once it gets it's "real release" it will be pretty awesome. But if bioware keeps this chip on their shoulder I think it will be hard to maintain the community which is really what holds an MMO together(and what kept the white elephantine WoW bringing in the cash for all those years). Sorry for all the "" and () but I like 'em. Edited January 28, 2012 by areto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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