Armor Set Sale Ended Early

[Wulfengrim]

Take it as a learning experience or not.

 

I've learned a lot, none of it good.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Wulfengrim

[Wulfengrim]

The op claimed that the devs ended the event early either to deceive him or due to incompetence. This is a severe case of solipsism and speaks more to the incompetence of the op rather than the devs. They did nothing wrong or suddenly changed something along the way, the op simply didn't take into account that there are different time zones on this planet and not everyone and everything follows his personal idea of what the start and end time of the "civilized world" is supposed to be.

 

Your interpretation of my remarks is very uncharitable.

 

I find your illiberality towards a fellow player, customer, & subscriber curious, since you have bent over backwards to insist that we interpret the Devs announcements in the most charitable way possible, whether Dev practices really makes sense or serves the player base.

 

I have tried to raise an issue regarding a Dev practice that serves no purpose & harms players. Why can't you be constructive?

[Phazonfreak]

I have tried to raise an issue regarding a Dev practice that serves no purpose & harms players. Why can't you be constructive?

 

Because you can't be. I was the first one to explain to you how end times are handled in this game in order to let you know that it didn't end early and that the premise of your criticism is incorrect.

 

Instead of acknowledging that fact and formulating a constructive criticism that event and sale announcements should always include the exact end times to avoid confusion, you decided to forego the constructive part and attack the devs on the basis of your personal idea of how a civilized world should handle it.

 

I only responded in kind.

[BelorfinSiana]

It seems like strange timing to me. Usually everything resets on Tuesdays.

[ceryxp]

It seems like strange timing to me. Usually everything resets on Tuesdays.

 

True, but even if it had reset on Tuesday, it still would have reset at 12:00 UTC (4:00 PST ~ 7:00 EST), so it still would not have included all of Tuesday for the States, which appears to be the OP's issue. And which is an entirely illogical complaint. No matter when something ends it is going to cut off part of a day because the US (just the 50 states) ranges from -5 UTC (Eastern time zone) to -9 UTC (Alaska time zone).

 

Even if the reset was at 00:00 UTC, which would be 16:00 PST ~ 19:00 EST, someone would complain that they missed the sale because it ended before they got out of work.

[Wulfengrim]

It seems like strange timing to me. Usually everything resets on Tuesdays.

 

A fact which added to the confusion.

[Toraak]

The fact is it's the best time for BW to end a sale. Regardless of what day it ends having the time end when the server resets is the easiest thing for BW to do. It's been like that for 10 years. So if the Op has truly been here that long, then they should know that BW has not deceived anyone, and that is simply the time when they always end them.

 

Most likely BW puts in an automatic timing on it, just like for Double XP event when the previous patch was implemented, so by having it stop at a server reset makes 100% sense for them.

[Wulfengrim]

The fact is it's the best time for BW to end a sale. Regardless of what day it ends having the time end when the server resets is the easiest thing for BW to do.

 

True, but that's not the issue I raised.

 

It's been like that for 10 years. So if the Op has truly been here that long, then they should know that BW has not deceived anyone, and that is simply the time when they always end them.

 

The OP has not been here for 10 years. I never said I had been here for 10 years. You have me confused with someone else.

 

But even if I had been here for 10 years, so what? Does it really make sense for SWTOR to expect every player to remember that events which are advertised as running through 27 December (for example) actually end part-way through the day?

 

What about players with ADHD? Players experiencing depression? Players with a looming deadline for Project X or Article Y or Conference Z? Players with wives & families & border collies? Players with in-laws visiting for the holidays? Players who were on the road? Players recovering from the coronavirus because Cousin Jack won’t get vaccinated? Players with allergies or migraines?

 

What about players trying to decide between SWTOR that other MMO? Or the other other one?

 

What about casual players with more money than time?

 

Most likely BW puts in an automatic timing on it, just like for Double XP event when the previous patch was implemented, so by having it stop at a server reset makes 100% sense for them.

 

And that’s fine. It’s not the timing I have an issue with. It’s the way the timing is announced.

 

In my opinion (as someone who has worked as a professional writer & in retail & in restaurants): If an event is planned end sometime on 27 December (for example) it should be advertised as running “through 26 December.” In this context “through” is less ambiguous than “to.”

 

By implication, if an event is advertised as running “through 27 December,” it should run through 27 December and partway into the next day. Other MMOs have done this. Other MMOS have avoided grief by doing this.

 

A second-best option is to announce the time an event ends in every single announcement & hope that players don’t get confused about time zones. Good luck with that.

 

But I think you’ve hit on something. SWTOR probably picks a date & uses the same date for both the announcement & the programmed end time.

 

IOW, they’re thinking like programmers.

 

They assume the default. They know their computer won’t think “27 December” includes the whole day unless they it is instructed to include the whole day.

 

A civil engineer, OTOH, would build in a large margin of error.

 

A good waiter would warn his customer of any possible misunderstandings about the menu or closing time. (Eg., “The bar is open until 2 AM, but the kitchen closes in half an hour.”)

 

A contract writer for a professional services department drafting a statement of work would build in a margin of error but otherwise strive to be as clear as possible (to avoid disappointing the customer).

 

So that’s my advice: Build in a margin of error. Advertise your sale as running “through Sunday 26 December” & include an asterisk that says “Sale prices not available after 1200 GMT on 27 December” or something like that.

 

In the meantime, I’m still screwed.

[Wulfengrim]

Still annoying...

 

The op claimed that the devs ended the event early either to deceive him or due to incompetence.

 

That’s a tad overliteral. I replied to your first comment with a rhetorical question: “Was I deceived intentionally? Or through sheer incompetence?”

 

Because I was misled. So were many other people, as I have seen elsewhere online.

 

As someone with extensive experience in business & customer service, I find the date announcement practices of SWTOR to be very poor customer service. These practices create an unnecessary opportunity for misunderstanding at the customer’s expense.

 

 

This is a severe case of solipsism and speaks more to the incompetence of the op rather than the devs.

 

That interpretation speaks more to your lack of empathy for a fellow player & your absurdly legalistic defense of a stupid practice.

 

 

They did nothing wrong or suddenly changed something along the way, the op simply didn’t take into account that there are different time zones on this planet and not everyone and everything follows his personal idea of what the start and end time of the “civilized world” is supposed to be.

 

Now you’re just being a *******.

 

I am quite aware that there are players in different time zones. Once or twice a month, I team with a player in Sweden, an old friend I recruited to the game. We have to play on Saturday mornings because it’s really the only time when we’re both awake & available.

 

I’m sure some players in Europe or the UK missed out on part of the sale because they got home from work after the sale had ended. I know players in Latin America missed out on part of the sale because they didn’t realize it was ending early on the morning of 27 December.

 

You claim to find my comment about “nowhere in the civilized world” offensive & ethnocentric. Please tell me: Do you truly not understand idiomatic speech, or are you just trolling us?

[Rolodome]

FWIW, I agree with your concern. Seems like the easiest way to fix this problem as it relates to cartel sales would be to add something into the interface for the special sales that has a countdown, much like the countdown on the flash sales. People should not be expected to hunt down obscure info posts and do time zone calculations to work out when a sale will end, when it can be communicated readily to them in-game with basic automated math.

[Wulfengrim]

FWIW, I agree with your concern. Seems like the easiest way to fix this problem as it relates to cartel sales would be to add something into the interface for the special sales that has a countdown, much like the countdown on the flash sales. People should not be expected to hunt down obscure info posts and do time zone calculations to work out when a sale will end, when it can be communicated readily to them in-game with basic automated math.

 

That's a good idea.

 

The only problem there is that the Countdown Timer for Flash Sales is always wrong (in my experience). In my experience, the Countdown Timer (as I see it) counts down to midnight, even though the Flash Sales actually ends at 0800.

[Rolodome]

That's a good idea.

 

The only problem there is that the Countdown Timer for Flash Sales is always wrong (in my experience). In my experience, the Countdown Timer (as I see it) counts down to midnight, even though the Flash Sales actually ends at 0800.

Oof, I didn't realize they get it wrong.

[joshuadyal]

Don't feel badly. I was out of town away from a computer for a while and planned to make some purchases today. Regrettably, I fell for the same mind trick. Having re-read the announcement, the dates are pretty clear- I was just stuck in this "Everything ends at roll-over" mindset. Too bad the sale didn't last just a little longer. Hope you catch the next one, mate.

Same thing happened to me. Sucks. I actually think for the anniversary they could have offered a little more than a one week sale that takes place over a holiday. Maybe it'll come around again before the celebrations are over.

[SteveTheCynic]

The subtext here seems to be that you favor anything that screws over the Americans. Bias noted.

The subtext is that you completely failed to realise that the indicated statement was a joke.

[Rolodome]

Same thing happened to me. Sucks. I actually think for the anniversary they could have offered a little more than a one week sale that takes place over a holiday. Maybe it'll come around again before the celebrations are over.

If financial quarters are anything to go by, I'd bet that if 7.0 struggles on its release there'll be a sale before we're through with March. How much of a sale might depend on how well it does and considering it's so far looking like it will hurt weapon sales, I could see them doing a big-ish sale of some kind to try to offset the loss in expected revenue from that.

 

Just doing guesswork based on their priorities here, no way to know for sure, but that's what I figure (not counting on it tho, of course).

 

Whether something as good will come around again, I'm not confident about that at all. They can be pretty stingy. :/

[TyrFoge]

considering it's so far looking like it will hurt weapon sales :/

I'm not sure how having weapons in outfit designer will "hurt" weapon sales... If anything it should increase them seeing as we won't have to be considering constantly re modding and augmenting our weapon everytime we get/want a new one.

[Rolodome]

I'm not sure how having weapons in outfit designer will "hurt" weapon sales... If anything it should increase them seeing as we won't have to be considering constantly re modding and augmenting our weapon everytime we get/want a new one.

You probably aren't caught up on the latest. AFAIK, the latest is: weapon designer has been delayed (not coming out with 7.0, it instead will allegedly be coming out with 7.1, whenever that is) and on top of that, the level 76+ weapons won't be moddable. So that combination will mean people who do the new level cap in 7.0 to find they can't both gear up and have custom weapon looks, which is a downgrade from what we have on live atm. That's what I was referring to.