What Blizzard do better

[zZeDz]

Ah, that very well could be. Maybe over time they will get better the way it sounds like Blizzard did. Time will tell.

 

Time they dont really have, if patch 1.2 is not a miracle then it's likely they will lose a large portion of their player base to other MMO's, even back to WoW.

Edited March 8, 2012 by zZeDz

[DomDos]

its 7 years? from wow yes, but dont we learn anything ? they got all the data and info from other games that they would be needing to be well prepared and have a good system to solve this, i dont think its an excuse that it is a new released game, i can take that they have some issues but the game is filld up with them, and u dont get any help at all from support.

 

I had this bug on my char that i couldent do flashpoints, was impossible to enter and i couldent play with my friends, i did the ticket but after some days i gave up on getting help and i started to brows on internet if others had the same problem, in the end i found a soulution to the problem on a random forum that the one that had leader was bugged. the fix for this was to pass leader to someone else and then that char would have the plague. so created an alt and pass it to that one so the alt is bugged instead.

 

SO IS THAT GOOD HELP ??? when u have to solve your problems yourself to be able to play the game that u are paying money for ?

[Dyraele]

They shouldn't need time to get customer service right though. It's an industry that's been around forever. I wouldn't expect a start up retailer to not do returns or exchanges because they were a new store and didn't have the experience with running a retailer that Wal-Mart has, maybe in time they'll get better? That's ridiclious. CS isn't hard if you give decent people good tools with an objective to make customers happy.

 

Well, you can say it is ridiculous but a lot of MMOs I have played were terrible at first, including the example from this thread which is WoW. They were really bad in the beginning to the point of not even answering at all. They got better it seems, so I was applying the same logic to BioWare.

 

They may not have the time to get better like another post said, and times are different, so we will see if it kills the game or not.

[kevlarto]

laying of 600 workers, in the latest news, they did that pretty well..LOL

[Bullwrath]

Please let English not be your first language.

 

This.

[Osicat]

Jesus matter if the gramar is corretc or whatever? Mabye I should draw englich pictures for you if you dont undertsand the text, but it seems like you did.

 

"wall of text about how i feel for ppl missing the message cause person typing dont have the language 100% correct and that I cant post cause i would get warning for it, think bad words and different things you can do and put with grammar"

 

*edid, fixed a misppeling

Edited March 8, 2012 by Osicat

[Arasys]

really ?

 

My account was hacked and I never got it back, I sent at least 15 emails to Blizzard. In fact, the hacking was so obvious that my old account's email address was changed to something like urhackd123@hotmail ... I lost all of my characters and all the items I worked so hard to get ( I started playing the game in its first month ). In return Blizzard kept me waiting for months then I gave up. It's been 2 years now, still I haven't got a reply from them.

 

Look at wow's own forums, people are frustrated with the new resurrection scroll. Does company care about how much people worked to get to level 80 ? or loyalty of its customers ? meeh.. not really.

 

 

 

Of course Blizzard is a bigger company than Bioware, but at least ( so far ) Bioware doesn't have the robotic-corporate understanding yet.

[Icebaron]

Please let English not be your first language.

 

You can't tell? Guy spells fine, just uses words in a weird order and has a sig talking about an EU guild. Why post what you posted at all? Only two reasons for it;

 

1. Your deductive skills are lacking.

2. You are trying to insult him.

 

So, which is it?

[Gankdalf_]

Game aside they do customer service and forum moderation much better, infact I nominate these forums for the most unprofessional moderators I have ever seen on any messageboard.

[Icebaron]

Game aside they do customer service and forum moderation much better, infact I nominate these forums for the most unprofessional moderators I have ever seen on any messageboard.

 

Seriously, the forums as a whole are a joke. No off topic section, no server specific forums, and moderators that close threads linking to other closed threads. Not to mention all the infractions for what qualifies as 'trolling'.

[Behrit]

Bugs. Happen.

 

MC did similar things when WoW was in its infancy. Don't pretend that 7 years of having a LIVE game, not just beta, which introduces its own issues and bugs and what-not, and being able to see how their game operates LIVE and address the issues that it introduced...don't pretend that didn't happen. This crap about comparing BW's product to Blizz's product as they both stand now is tinfoil hat nonsense. WoW runs smooth instances for the most part now because it's had 7 years to address the very same kinds of bugs, which DID exist in WoW, that you're complaining about in SWTOR. I'm sorry you experienced one, but "What Blizzard do better" is release an MMO seven years earlier. Period.

 

I'm not quite sure how you missed the point of his post entirely. But, you did. He is talking about customer support, not bugs.

[DawnAskham]

really ?

 

My account was hacked and I never got it back, I sent at least 15 emails to Blizzard. In fact, the hacking was so obvious that my old account's email address was changed to something like urhackd123@hotmail ... I lost all of my characters and all the items I worked so hard to get ( I started playing the game in its first month ). In return Blizzard kept me waiting for months then I gave up. It's been 2 years now, still I haven't got a reply from them.

 

Look at wow's own forums, people are frustrated with the new resurrection scroll. Does company care about how much people worked to get to level 80 ? or loyalty of its customers ? meeh.. not really.

 

 

 

Of course Blizzard is a bigger company than Bioware, but at least ( so far ) Bioware doesn't have the robotic-corporate understanding yet.

 

You can call 800-blizzard or whatever the number is these days and get your account back very fast, assuming it is your account and you can prove it by doing something simple like verifying your billing information and providing a copy of a drivers license with the same name as the account.

 

If however you bought your account off ebay and the name on the account is Charlie Brown, Marty McFly, Scoobie Doo or some other non-sense, then yeah, sorry, you aren't going to get the account back.

 

And as follow up, the stuck thing getting an instant response and a resolution versus other things getting very slow responses with no resolution seems to suggest more of a systemic problem than one of Bioware wanting just wanting to be cheap about provide service.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they just don't have tools to allow a CS rep to quickly and easily verify problems and make on the fly changes like updating a quest or restoring an item.

 

Of course that isn't something we as paying customers should accept as a legitimate reason for their failure to provide effective service, just that we might be waiting a while as developing tools takes more time than just hiring some extra staff.

Edited March 8, 2012 by DawnAskham

[Blotter]

Differences I've experienced...

 

WoW - Something bugs such that you cannot complete an activity or an item / loot is missing. You submit a ticket, a GM will resolve the issue which sometimes may even include working with you in-game to to complete / correct, such as updating your quest progress or restoring an item. The end result is a player that is happy with the outcome even though they had a negative experience, and even though the actual underlying bug may still be present. Players feel Blizzard cares about them and that Blizzard stands behind their product.

 

SWTOR - Something bugs such that you cannot complete an activity or an item / loot is missing. You submit a ticket, you get an auto response back with 'thanks for telling us we have bugs, your ticket is now closed'. No resolution or work-around for the issue. In this scenario players go from just disappointed and frustrated to pissed because not only did they have to deal with the original issue, but now they feel Bioware could care less about them and that Bioware isn't standing behind their product.

 

So while both games have bugs and problems that are only corrected with patches, Blizzard will work to ensure the player achieves an outcome in game as though the bug did not exist while Bioware does nothing to assist the player.

 

Edit to add: None of which is to say customer service is instant in either game, nor do I expect instant customer service (though it would be nice).

 

This doesn't answer the question. When did Blizz EVER respond to "omg, MC reset on us while we were trying to do Ragnaros" by saying "oh, ok, here, we'll just clear ourt all the trash and other bosses and let you run straight to Rag then"??? When? NEVER. That's right. NEVER. People threw epic tantrums when that crap occured and it didn't change that there was nothing Blizz could or would do about it other than acknowledge the problem and assure you they were working on it.

 

So again, what more could possibly be done to address the OP's problem in this thread other than simply responding with a "thank you for reporting the bug, we're aware of it and working on it"?

 

As for your anecdotal generalizations. Meh. I've had a great experience with their responses to my tickets because they were simple requests like an item exchange. Maybe you just got unlucky or maybe your ticket was about something they can't really address...or maybe it was rude. I'm sure they get a whole crapload of people flying off the handle like a self-entitled brat. Besides, you and I could walk into a store today and get completely different treatment from two different store clerks when asking for help with the same thing. Which one of us is right when we then generalize our experience to the entirety of that corporate entity and their stores?

[Kypp]

I know alot of people don't want this, but I really wish they'd add a cross server LFG tool for flashpoints heroics(maybe) and warzones similar to wow's. Being on a low pop server this would probably make me want to actually run flashpoints and make warzones more enjoyable. I was stupid and went ot a smaller server to avoid queue's in the beginning so yeah its my fualt but I ahve alot of toons on this server and do not want to start over.

 

I don't really think merging servers is a good idea just add cross server grouping similar to wow. Just my opinion

[KashraFall]

Alright the game just came out not a few months ago. For those that are starting this what WoW does better and what not you should really stop. Considering this is Bio's first their very first mmo they are doing good. Really the only complainers are those that have played the mmo's of the past and are expecting the same service and quality appearance.

 

To be honest Bio is doing a fantastic job, the game was released a bit early but what game isn't now adays. I was there at WoW's launch, the game was alright but it wasn't mind blowing, for its time it was a fantastic game, though the animations were pathetic, you could barely tell when you parried let alone struck someone, the classes were highly imbalanced, and the pvp was non existent. Well look what a couple of years can do, trial and error through player suggestions and their own ideas they created a fantastic game. This game will flourish in due time, give it that time and stop comparing it to other games. As for what blizzard does better, I would say Difficulty. Least when it first came out, I find myself having difficulties quite often but not anymore.

 

Ah well that is my 2 cents, take it as you wish Toodles!

[Jenel]

As people have already said, Blizzard have had 7 years to improve the game and whatnot. However they've also had 7 years to improve the tools and processes that their CS teams use.

 

As previously stated, Blizz customer support at the start was probably about the same level as BW's is now, "Thanks for the report, we'll look into it and get it fixed in future". You have to remember, that BW's CS teams are probably quite small at the moment, they will probably expand in future once the game gets a steady footing and begins to grow, and then we'll most likely see an increase in the level of support.

 

Blizzard also introduced many features in game so that you didn't need to contact the GM team, item refunds and loot trading in raids for one thing. I can imagine that those features reduced the amount of contacts to the GM team by a sizeable chunk, leaving them free to focus on the important stuff where you actually need a GM to intervene.

 

Most contacts to a GM team in any game is not because something is broken, it's because you've messed up. Bought something you shouldn't have, called your character something inappropriate, took the wrong reward, can all be avoided with a little attention.

 

I can imagine that the BW GM team is swamped by these types of requests, and it's unlikely that they have the tools to be able to investigate fully and repair the mistake if they felt it was necessary.

 

I understand that when you complete an Operation and don't get your title, or the loot bugs, your first reaction is "raise a GM ticket". But is it really necessary? Do the operation again, it's likely that you'll get your title the next time. As for loot problems, well that's different, and I'm sure that if the GM team can do it then they will, it just may be that they're unable to investigate that kind of issue at this time.

 

So give the GM team time to grow and I'm sure it will get better in future as they're tools develop along with the game.

[Kayin]

Yeah well... Blizzard didn't do Star Wars game, so I don't care

(I don't even like MMOs that much, but SW brought me here)

Edited March 8, 2012 by Kayin

[Asuka]

Customer Service cannot assist with bugs, it's not difficult to understand. You give them a bug report and they pass it on to QA to investigate. If it's a critical issue like something progression halting they may escalate it to higher support if it's something they can fix prior to a patch which is typically unlikely otherwise you simply have to wait for the fix to come in a patch.

 

A couple days response is perfectly reasonable when you have a 1.7million+ player base and only so many customer service peeps. STO response time was a month+. Blizzard according to past insider info had under 30 GM with about less than a 3rd being Senior GMs. Not to mention GMs get paid about the same as game testers, around $10-$12/hr so you get what you pay for.

[DarthTHC]

Blizzard beats BioWare on more than just customer service. My top 3:

 

• Overall quality / quality assurance process for patches
  
• Customizable GUI
  
• More time playing, less time preparing or waiting to play
  

[DawnAskham]

This doesn't answer the question. When did Blizz EVER respond to "omg, MC reset on us while we were trying to do Ragnaros" by saying "oh, ok, here, we'll just clear ourt all the trash and other bosses and let you run straight to Rag then"??? When? NEVER. That's right. NEVER. People threw epic tantrums when that crap occured and it didn't change that there was nothing Blizz could or would do about it other than acknowledge the problem and assure you they were working on it.

 

So again, what more could possibly be done to address the OP's problem in this thread other than simply responding with a "thank you for reporting the bug, we're aware of it and working on it"?

 

As for your anecdotal generalizations. Meh. I've had a great experience with their responses to my tickets because they were simple requests like an item exchange. Maybe you just got unlucky or maybe your ticket was about something they can't really address...or maybe it was rude. I'm sure they get a whole crapload of people flying off the handle like a self-entitled brat. Besides, you and I could walk into a store today and get completely different treatment from two different store clerks when asking for help with the same thing. Which one of us is right when we then generalize our experience to the entirety of that corporate entity and their stores?

 

I'm speaking about the level service I get today. I could care less how bad service was back in MC.

 

And yes, I've had the simple stuck request go through. But I've also had tickets for things like quests that cannot be deleted and a class story fight that has been bugged since beta.

 

In both cases my tickets simply stated the problem, no rudeness or accusations just simple 'Quest X unable to delete' or 'Story Fight X bugged, unable to progress'.

 

In both instances all I received were auto-responses thanking me for submitting a ticket but providing no resolution.

 

In contrast similar tickets to Blizzard have resulted in quests being deleted from my log, updated to allow progress, or items restored.

 

And this is all before bringing up what Blizzard has learned over the years on how to avoid many tickets in the first place, such as allowing returns to vendors or trading of bound items among eligible group members.

 

That Bioware was too lazy, dumb or arrogant to ignore lessons learned by a major competitor is just sad.

 

I like this game. I want it to succeed. But Bioware needs to step up their game in many areas, customer service is one of those areas.

Edited March 8, 2012 by DawnAskham

[Knockerz]

I think Blizzard is failing with the recent scroll of resurrection. It has pissed off their customer base and has done some thing Blizzard has said will never do. The player who receives the scroll of resurrection get's a free 80 level instantly and a free Cataclysm upgrade.

 

Blizzard is effectively bribing ex-players to resubscribe to wow with free expansions upgrade up to Cataclysm and a free instant level 80, which is some thing they said would never happen. Not that I would take up the offer since I already have every class at 80 except shaman and druid, which I have no interest in playing due to the fact that Blood Elves can't play those classes, but on Alliance might be useful for my dwarf shaman or gnome warrior.

 

Obviously, Blizzard isn't attracting enough new players, so they are incentivize ex-players to return.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Knockerz

[Osicat]

So again, what more could possibly be done to address the OP's problem in this thread other than simply responding with a "thank you for reporting the bug, we're aware of it and working on it"?

 

Ok Blotter, here is how they could have done:

 

1 Check did they kill the boss in the set time? yes they did, 1h 20 min

2 Give the players in the raid the title they deserve

 

Solved. I never asked for a clear for a boss, or a personal GM to come and hold my hand kill any respawned boss. Nether did I need help clear any trash and how you can this i asked for this i dont understand as I clarifyed this 2 times so far.

 

So for the last time Blotter about my personal issue, we did bosses, bosses is dead, bosses died in less than 2 h, we did not get accivment.

 

This is just my personal matter but im alos going into the matters of other ppl asking for help on tickets. legacy name change for once. If you search there is alot threads about this matter and ppl not eceving a simple helping hand. Also I know ppl who got wrong loot bound and asked for it to go to correct player. This they could not help with witch in my memmory was a matter often happend in WOW and the GM easy solved by move the loot to correct player in no time.

[zZeDz]

This doesn't answer the question. When did Blizz EVER respond to "omg, MC reset on us while we were trying to do Ragnaros" by saying "oh, ok, here, we'll just clear ourt all the trash and other bosses and let you run straight to Rag then"??? When? NEVER. That's right. NEVER. People threw epic tantrums when that crap occured and it didn't change that there was nothing Blizz could or would do about it other than acknowledge the problem and assure you they were working on it.

 

So again, what more could possibly be done to address the OP's problem in this thread other than simply responding with a "thank you for reporting the bug, we're aware of it and working on it"?

 

As for your anecdotal generalizations. Meh. I've had a great experience with their responses to my tickets because they were simple requests like an item exchange. Maybe you just got unlucky or maybe your ticket was about something they can't really address...or maybe it was rude. I'm sure they get a whole crapload of people flying off the handle like a self-entitled brat. Besides, you and I could walk into a store today and get completely different treatment from two different store clerks when asking for help with the same thing. Which one of us is right when we then generalize our experience to the entirety of that corporate entity and their stores?

 

you have an annoying habbit of completely ignoring what people write and making your own arguments.

 

The OP CLEARED all bosses within the timelimit, even with the bugged boss. He's not asking for them to award him the title because it bugged, he DID it, therefore he's entitled to his title. Hence the ticket. Bioware did NOT help in any way with his ticket because they have BAD customer service.

 

This happened all of the time in WoW with bugs, character transfer issues, titles and more but you would always get a helpful response and action i.e awarded title, item transferred to another account etc. This is because they have GOOD customer service.

 

Whats hard to understand?

[Icebaron]

I think Blizzard is failing with the recent scroll of resurrection. It has pissed off their customer base and has done some thing Blizzard has said will never do. The player who receives the scroll of resurrection get's a free 80 level instantly and a free Cataclysm upgrade.

 

Blizzard is effectively bribing ex-players to resubscribe to wow with free expansions upgrade up to Cataclysm and a free instant level 80, which is some thing they said would never happen. Not that I would take up the offer since I already have every class at 80 except shaman and druid, which I have no interest in playing due to the fact that Blood Elves can't play those classes, but on Alliance might be useful for my dwarf shaman or gnome warrior.

 

Obviously, Blizzard isn't attracting enough new players, so they are incentivize ex-players to return.

 

The free level 80 thing bugs me too, and I am a huge WoW fan. I don't see anyone quitting over it though. But there are two developers I trust to deliver quality games, Blizzard and Valve. I will continue to trust them until they betray that trust (sort of like what Bioware did with SWTOR, they were on that list with Blizzard and Valve untill this year).

[Hahkil]

In many ways SWTOR is outstanding as a game and I enjoy it in so many ways. Still one thing bugger me, the GM/ticket system

 

I was playing wow for many years both hardcore and casual. Several times things just dint go as planned. Some loot got messed up, some bug prevented a title or accivment etc etc. What did you do? You made a ticket about it and a few hours worst case a day later you eather got a GM to talk to or a mail where your problem where solved. You goot that loot you deleted or dint loot, the title you dint get due to x mecanic etc was there or your problem one or another was solved.

 

More like Best case a day later, I spent 2 weeks just waiting for a response about an account hack, the solution in total took about 1 month, and easily a week at a time whenever loot was done improperly. And as far as I am aware and have seen/heard about, they do not give titles if you didn't get it due to a bug or other issue, same as achievements...

 

Some companies have great customer service, at least compare it to one of them, not blizz...

 

(This is mostly from nearing the end of wotlk and start of cata)

Edited March 8, 2012 by Hahkil