Requesting Compensation

[DarthOvertone]

We were promised early access and we really haven't gotten the chance to enjoy it much.

 

Early Access has to be the biggest MMO scam on the Interwebz. Every time I see "early access" being promoted, all I think is Free Beta Testing. lol

 

Call me a cynic...

[Narasil]

Absolutely some recompense is in order. It's not just about the one dollar you're out for two days of not being able to play, they're selling an experience. Moreover some people arrange their schedules around new content and I could care LESS what you think about those people. They took time off work, or missed some function they could have attended etc etc etc. People absolutely have the RIGHT to expect good service from any company they're paying for service, and companies are routinely held accountable in courts for failing to do just that. I think it might be time to start holding game companies to the same standards we hold other companies to.

[Pagy]

Absolutely some recompense is in order. It's not just about the one dollar you're out for two days of not being able to play, they're selling an experience. Moreover some people arrange their schedules around new content and I could care LESS what you think about those people. They took time off work, or missed some function they could have attended etc etc etc. People absolutely have the RIGHT to expect good service from any company they're paying for service, and companies are routinely held accountable in courts for failing to do just that. I think it might be time to start holding game companies to the same standards we hold other companies to.

it sounds like these people are foolishly making radical life decisions around a video game.

 

before anyone does this, i would insist they read the eula they agreed to.

 

i'd also insist they consider every single other bw content launch which was riddled with bugs and crashes. if it happens every time, you should start to expect it.

[tshack]

I know we're probably going to get nothing, but yeah, we should get some sort of compensation. Especially people who are paying a monthly fee. Whether it's in the form of free premium time or CC, we really should get something for this garbage. Whatever team is in charge of applying the patch or working on the launcher needs to get their **** together. That or management needs to get their **** together and handle the constant issues before they lose faith from their subscribers when the fix was as simple as building a reliable infrastructure and process for their users to play a great game. I haven't seen a series of patches, or launcher, this bad since Age of Conan's launch.

[ChidoriOokami]

I know we're probably going to get nothing, but yeah, we should get some sort of compensation. Especially people who are paying a monthly fee. Whether it's in the form of free premium time or CC, we really should get something for this garbage. Whatever team is in charge of applying the patch or working on the launcher needs to get their **** together. That or management needs to get their **** together and handle the constant issues before they lose faith from their subscribers when the fix was as simple as building a reliable infrastructure and process for their users to play a great game. I haven't seen a series of patches, or launcher, this bad since Age of Conan's launch.

 

 

They're working on it. Chillax. If it is not a matter of principle for you, then just remember that you can easily come up with a month's worth of sub fees by simply saving a few quarters each day. Coins that you don't use and just let pile up somewhere. Opting not to buy that latte or hot coffee on that one day. Etc. They know people are upset, so naturally they're going to fix it as soon as they can. Remember they're just one company, but have to talk to multiple other ones. Imagine if you couldnt get your shoes tied unless you first call the shoe store, who also needs to call the manufacturer etc

[Narasil]

it sounds like these people are foolishly making radical life decisions around a video game.

 

before anyone does this, i would insist they read the eula they agreed to.

 

i'd also insist they consider every single other bw content launch which was riddled with bugs and crashes. if it happens every time, you should start to expect it.

 

Thing is that you don't get to decide that for people. I would insist that bioware read the Fair Business Practices guidelines put out by the FTC....I betcha it trumps the EULA.

[Narasil]

They're working on it. Chillax.

 

How many times do you give someone a pass? Do you "Chillax" when someone gives you a veggie pizza when you ordered a meat-lovers?

[ChidoriOokami]

How many times do you give someone a pass? Do you "Chillax" when someone gives you a veggie pizza when you ordered a meat-lovers?

 

Well if I don't have time for them to give me my meat lover's pizza, yeah i'd chillax and eat. In this case, if we apply it to SWTOR, I would already know that I'm getting my meatlovers pizza, and keep my veggie one too ;o There are worse things that could have happened.

[Pagy]

Thing is that you don't get to decide that for people. I would insist that bioware read the Fair Business Practices guidelines put out by the FTC....I betcha it trumps the EULA.

this again?

 

was it not enough how badly we embarrassed you the last time you tried to play armchair lawyer?

[TwiztedFairytale]

Well, it's time lost none the less, you don't need to comprehend my life, or what I value in it. I think it's fair that compensation be given for the time lost.

 

Promises were made and they weren't lived up to. Maybe I'm funny like that, when I make a promise, I tend to live up to it. I promised them money, provided it, they got it...and yet they're to hold up their end.

It's actually a fair thing to ask for, and in many other comparable game communities such compensation happens regularly. I'm not talking about refunds of money, but some ingame stuff to merely keep the good-will up, as you mention.

 

I've played EVE online for many years, and whenever there was a bug or issue that delayed use of the game for an extended period we'd login to find a nice gift of skill points waiting for us to say sorry for the problem and thanks for our continued support. Such a gift would equal a day or two's training for your character, nothing big, but it's the thought that counts.

 

I'm a new SWTOR player, barely been here a month, and out of that month at least a full week has been spent either battling issues such as we've seen with the update + patch (I can't login myself atm), or enduring the horrendous download speeds while trying to download the full game (took me numerous sessions of 4+ hours a day for around a week).

 

Overall certainly not the best impression to give a new player and subscriber in their first month ingame. I plan to stick with the game though (loving it!), but still feel that from what I've seen so far Bioware needs to step up their service somewhat.

Edited February 12, 2016 by TwiztedFairytale

[tshack]

They're working on it. Chillax. If it is not a matter of principle for you, then just remember that you can easily come up with a month's worth of sub fees by simply saving a few quarters each day. Coins that you don't use and just let pile up somewhere. Opting not to buy that latte or hot coffee on that one day. Etc. They know people are upset, so naturally they're going to fix it as soon as they can. Remember they're just one company, but have to talk to multiple other ones. Imagine if you couldnt get your shoes tied unless you first call the shoe store, who also needs to call the manufacturer etc

 

I pay a monthly fee because I think it's the best way to support the game since they can pretty well predict that revenue. IMO, everyone playing the game can afford it. If you can't, you wouldn't have a nice enough computer to even play it.

 

My biggest problem is with the launcher and the reliability of almost every single patch they have. If they seriously have constant vendor issues, they need to change vendors. I find it hard to believe this is an acceptable amount of uptime. They do not deserve BW money or support because their customers/users expect and deserve better.

 

"We're working on it" isn't okay when we're starting to expect that every time they patch the game.

[Lunafox]

It's actually a fair thing to ask for, and in many other comparable game communities such compensation happens regularly. I'm not talking about refunds of money, but some ingame stuff to merely keep the good-will up, as you mention.

 

I've played EVE online for many years, and whenever there was a bug or issue that delayed use of the game for an extended period we'd login to find a nice gift of skill points waiting for us to say sorry for the problem and thanks for our continued support. Such a gift would equal a day or two's training for your character, nothing big, but it's the thought that counts.

 

I'm a new SWTOR player, barely been here a month, and out of that month at least a full week has been spent either battling issues such as we've seen with the update + patch (I can't login myself atm), or enduring the horrendous download speeds while trying to download the full game (took me numerous sessions of 4+ hours a day for around a week).

 

Overall certainly not the best impression to give a new player and subscriber in their first month ingame. I plan to stick with the game though (loving it!), but still feel that from what I've seen so far Bioware needs to step up their service somewhat.

 

Just wanted to say Welcome! And it's nice that you're enjoying the game. It's a nice thing to hear. I've been here since before launch myself, and I still enjoy it. I've just been getting frustrated with stuff like this, and while I'm mostly patient and say little, this time was a bit much for the limits of my tolerance.

 

As you say, the nice gift you'd get from EVE goes a long way in maintaining good will and it shows that they care about us. It would be nice if this game did that too. Like you say, impressions count and whether it's to impress a new user or maintain an old one, it's important. I just fail to see why every time there is a patch, it just gets more and more screwy? Don't they learn, don't they try things out ahead of time? Makes me wonder about their process, and it bugs me, because you do set aside or make time to do a thing, and when you just get that window, it sucks when it's when you can't get access.

 

Now, I don't really know if this was meant as a form of compensation for all this non-sense we've been going through, but they said on the TWITCH that if you go into your 'Account' and then go to 'Basic Information' on the left side bar, and check off all the boxes to receive emails, they will award you over 1000CC for February. I think they said this must be done by Valentines Day. So make sure you do that and get your CC reward, as I understand it, this is a bonus on top of your usual grant.

 

Enjoy your time here

[Snakesoul]

Thing is that you don't get to decide that for people. I would insist that bioware read the Fair Business Practices guidelines put out by the FTC....I betcha it trumps the EULA.

 

FTC is indeed there to protect consumers from bad businesses however FTC doesn't always fully cover online gaming because of how much it changes and because of laws not fully covering all corners of the online world (yet, U.S, Canada and UK have slowly started to update their laws regarding online practices but still a long way). When I say online gaming I'm referring to MMOs mainly, because of how much they change from their original state, it's very hard to protect the consumer legally, this is why we the consumer agree to the EULA/Terms of Service/user agreement because it reminds of how much things change relating to the game and also it protects the developer from any legal action relating to these changes. So for example you can't sue Bioware/EA if Old Republic states they are shutting down Old Republic.

 

Now some countries do have Online Consumer Protection which includes MMOs however U.S and Canada aren't one of them yet. Some parts of Asia and Europe has a more extended version of the Consumer Protection Act which protects everything including MMOs but again they only cover so much.

 

Again this doesn't mean FTC is a guaranteed yes or no. Like anything relating to legal actions and laws it comes down to every little detail and if it goes to court (because if any legal action were taken it would go to court) and if the court sees nothing legally wrong from the business then your likely going to end up with a bill because nothing is free sadly.

 

A good example is Steam/Valve a few customers/legal protection agencies have been trying to fight steam's user agreement and that it violates their country's laws but a lot of the cases are still pending or were dropped because of how the user agreement is written (one being under U.S law and the other being that Valve is a U.S company meaning no assets for other countries to force them into their courts). It's a bit tricky.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Snakesoul

[Lunafox]

Early Access has to be the biggest MMO scam on the Interwebz. Every time I see "early access" being promoted, all I think is Free Beta Testing. lol

 

Call me a cynic...

 

I'm starting to learn this It's something I used to get excited about, but now...not so much. It's like someone else said, we're paying them for the privilege of testing their game and doing their work for them lol.

[ChidoriOokami]

It's actually a fair thing to ask for, and in many other comparable game communities such compensation happens regularly. I'm not talking about refunds of money, but some ingame stuff to merely keep the good-will up, as you mention.

 

I've played EVE online for many years, and whenever there was a bug or issue that delayed use of the game for an extended period we'd login to find a nice gift of skill points waiting for us to say sorry for the problem and thanks for our continued support. Such a gift would equal a day or two's training for your character, nothing big, but it's the thought that counts.

 

I'm a new SWTOR player, barely been here a month, and out of that month at least a full week has been spent either battling issues such as we've seen with the update + patch (I can't login myself atm), or enduring the horrendous download speeds while trying to download the full game (took me numerous sessions of 4+ hours a day for around a week).

 

Overall certainly not the best impression to give a new player and subscriber in their first month ingame. I plan to stick with the game though (loving it!), but still feel that from what I've seen so far Bioware needs to step up their service somewhat.

 

I won't be surprised if we ARE compensated with something lol also dont forget to opt for SWTOR mail on your basic info tab -- if done before 2/14 then we get ingame ticket for a code which will give us 1050 cartel coins among other things

[Callaron]

I'm not the sort to complain overly much or make demands, but in the case of this last update, I think I'm within my rights as a subscriber to request compensation for time lost. The launch was delayed, the content full of bugs and problems, and now this latest patch has rendered the game unlaunch-able.

 

I'm from Canada and I'm getting annoyed with this. I feel very badly for our European friends who seem to have it even worse.

 

I don't think random coin giveaways are enough, although I appreciate that Musco tried. I think all subs should be given two-three extra days of play time on their subs. We were promised early access and we really haven't gotten the chance to enjoy it much.

 

This was a rather ridiculous amount of downtime, yes. And if you were European you pretty much lost the entire Tuesday, and given the recent launcher issues, even more than that.

 

I think the upcoming 1050 CC voucher that we're getting in the mail is their way of apologizing though. Which is technically worth more money than 2-3 days of sub time.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Callaron

[anonnn]

This was a rather ridiculous amount of downtime, yes. And if you were European you pretty much lost the entire Tuesday, and given the recent launcher issues, even more than that.

 

I think the upcoming 1050 CC voucher that we're getting in the mail is their way of apologizing though. Which is technically worth more money than 2-3 days of sub time.

 

Yeah I'd go for compensation in Cartel Coins if I were anyone. That'll some day legitimately increase your enjoyment of the game. Extending subscription 2-3 days is just more drops in the same bucket, can't really get excited about that.

[Lunafox]

This was a rather ridiculous amount of downtime, yes. And if you were European you pretty much lost the entire Tuesday, and given the recent launcher issues, even more than that.

 

I think the upcoming 1050 CC voucher that we're getting in the mail is their way of apologizing though. Which is technically worth more money than 2-3 days of sub time.

 

 

I agree, I think the 1050CC that they're giving us for signing onto the mail, is a good apology. So, I'm feeling a bit better about things. I just wish they'd sort out whatever the issue is. I'm not sure why every new patch is just getting more and more of a pain to implement.

 

I didn't ask for CC as an apology because I'd get people saying I'm trying to milk them for coins, bad enough a few trolls were implying I had no right to ask for time...as that was what were promised as subs.

 

I hope everyone who had troubles signs up for mail in their account to get their CC bonus, so that they can get something nice to make up for things.

 

 

Thanks for the CC Bonus, Bioware/EA.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Lunafox

[wwwwwvwwwww]

I'm enjoying all of the BW shills posting in this thread saying that their customer base has an entitlement issue because they expect the service and product they pay for to function per their terms of service.

 

I pay more for swtor than I do for Netflix. If they had the issues that swtor has had over the past 2 days, it would be WORLD news. Yes, that's a sad fact of our society in general, but a fact nonetheless. EA has botched releases and upgrades for almost every game I've purchased from them for at least the past 5 years. There is an endemic problem somewhere along their product chain that has not been addressed after multiple failures. I guarantee it comes down to dollars and cents. They probably have IT and service folks that want to fix the issue, but are not given the budget because they lose less customers per incident than they do profit from new and current customers that keep giving them a break.

 

I'm not saying it's certainly an interest of mine to initiate, but I'm guessing this is actually getting into class action territory against EA and their subsidiaries sometime soon, if it's not already.

[DarthSpuds]

relax the entitlement pls

 

Since when was expecting the level of service you paid for "entitlement".

 

As someone who was subbed by the given date, and who was therefore promised two days early access I am both morally, and legally entitled to exactly that.

 

Should BW fail to deliver that they are in breach of contract, and compensation is therefore wholly justified.

 

All The Best

[Pagy]

Since when was expecting the level of service you paid for "entitlement".

you need to read the eula again, sorry.

your expectations dont match reality. you're claiming youre entitled to something you've already agreed that you aren't.

As someone who was subbed by the given date, and who was therefore promised two days early access I am both morally, and legally entitled to exactly that.

you aren't legally entitled to anything. you're paying a subscription for a game licence per the terms of the eula. and they are fulfilling their obligations.

 

Should BW fail to deliver that they are in breach of contract, and compensation is therefore wholly justified.

 

All The Best

breach of contract? le sigh

[KileyS]

The best compensation you can get is one you give yourself. Unsub and save your money.

[sarabearrah]

Lets send Penny there to kick em in the nads.

 

[Lunafox]

Lets send Penny there to kick em in the nads.

 

 

Then we can all be like Sheldon, "We did it! What...I said, we."

[squirrelballz]

I had early access for like an hour. And yes I played it, and it was full of bugs. It's not just a couple hours of maintenance, it was down for most of the day. Europeans, given the time dif didn't even get any early access. And today is a normal day where we should have access to play the game and the launcher won't launch after the patch.

 

You ask how I figure the extra playtime? Well, we were promised as subs to get 2 days early access, and it really hasn't panned out, owing to all the delays and problems and issues on Bioware's end. It's false advertising to say to people 'hey sub as of this date and you'll get two days early access' and then when it's time to launch it's so problem infested that it won't work.

 

I don't need to relax anything, I don't ask for much as things go, and this is probably the first thing I've asked for in at least 3 years, and it's a fair request. I feel fully justified in making this request. You may not agree, that's fine for you, but I feel it's worth asking for.

 

I agree with you Luna this patch rollout was abysmal at the very least. Customers have the right to ask for compensation whether they receive it or not is up to EA/BW. I also agree that the game had a ridiculously long maintenance and when hundreds of people are having connection issues it's the company's fault no one else's. People need to stop defending everything EA/BW does we get it crap happens it doesn't remove the fact that the crap is still there. Excuses are for people who don't properly plan or test their product and that is definitely the case here.