GMs setting a new standard of quality.

[Duskmourne]

I love SWTOR, so don't get the wrong idea, but...

This isn't my first experience with an E.A. MMO. I used to play Ultima Online, and E.A. had the worst customer service in that game. I don't expect it to improve in this game if E.A. is involved with that aspect. If Bioware is doing the C.S. then it might get better.

[openair]

By countless you mean, what, 20-ish? No one cares.

BioWare is a corporation. A corporation run by people, not machines. They take time and they make mistakes, just like YOU do. Gamers like this really need to take a step back and realize that life doesn't revolve around them and their problems are no more pressing or important than anyone else. If you can't handle that, than by all means start your own company and show them up.

This. So many examples of problems i would never expect a GM to waste time on in this thread...

If you're too ..... to loot an item when an item drops, and a GM can't find that item in the logs (therefor afatk you're just scamming, would you rather they just give items to anyone who asks for them?)... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If you buy the wrong item, and a GM can't fix it for you... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If something is bugged... NO GM IN ANY GAME EVER RELEASED will rewrite stretches of code while you wait...

[Sumatran]

This. So many examples of problems i would never expect a GM to waste time on in this thread...

If you're too ..... to loot an item when an item drops, and a GM can't find that item in the logs (therefor afatk you're just scamming, would you rather they just give items to anyone who asks for them?)... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If you buy the wrong item, and a GM can't fix it for you... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If something is bugged... NO GM IN ANY GAME EVER RELEASED will rewrite stretches of code while you wait...

Not sure if serious or....

I assume you were talking about me and something being bugged. They (the GMs) can flag the quest as completed and let me move on leveling my guy. But no, my class quest was bugged, and they told me to just reroll. At level 5 thats not a problem, however at level 42 or something, if my shit gets messed up again and they tell me to just reroll, then thats a lost sub.

That clear things up? If I am a GM of a multimillion dollar game, and somebody opens a ticket saying their quest was bugged and they couldnt complete it... lka;sjdlkfajds;lkdsaj I would just flag that quest completed.

[shimerra]

This. So many examples of problems i would never expect a GM to waste time on in this thread...

If you're too ..... to loot an item when an item drops, and a GM can't find that item in the logs (therefor afatk you're just scamming, would you rather they just give items to anyone who asks for them?)... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If you buy the wrong item, and a GM can't fix it for you... ITS STILL YOUR FAULT.

If something is bugged... NO GM IN ANY GAME EVER RELEASED will rewrite stretches of code while you wait...

Thing is most of those problems should be easily fixable by a competent GM, or at least has been my experience in other MMOs(not all). They're not high priority issues but they are addressable, no one ever questioned whose fault it was but there is a standard of service here. I wasn't expecting stellar customer service right from the gate but you don't need to excuse it when it's actually been fairly crappy so far.

Took a month for me to get an item issue resolved. I traded a friend a crystal and he gave me some mats/credits. After the trade "completed" neither of us had the traded items in our inventory, the game basically deleted everything including the credits. I waited three weeks before I updated/created a new ticket and it was still a week before I got a response.

There are perfectly legitimate CS complaints about this game just as much as they do things right, stop excusing it when it's poor though.

[openair]

I assume you were talking about me and something being bugged.

You assume wrong... I generally do not reply to posts consisting of little more then irrelevant "this little gem" and "i shit you nots."

Took a month for me to get an item issue resolved. I traded a friend a crystal and he gave me some mats/credits. After the trade "completed" neither of us had the traded items in our inventory, the game basically deleted everything including the credits. I waited three weeks before I updated/created a new ticket and it was still a week before I got a response.

There are perfectly legitimate CS complaints about this game just as much as they do things right, stop excusing it when it's poor though.

I am not sure how a GM solving your issue relates to my post, other then the length of time it took... Again a GM cannot recode the game while you wait. Bugs related to missing currency or traded items first need to be tracked and solved, before then can A) restore lost items, B) find the necessary info to ensure you are not simply scamming. A GM restoring hacked&stolen, ninjad, or mislooted items is no way comparable to a GM restoring items lost to a bug.

[Synbaby]

Trion customer service is awesome and has been since rift's launch

[Sydänyö]

When most of the people available to fill these GM positions are of very poor quality, then very poor quality is exactly what the service will be.

Not only aren't there enough smart, literate, and knowledgeable people out there willing to work god awful hours for minimum wage in a customer service position serving us - the ungrateful bunch of a-holes that we are - the gamers, but those few crazy people who actually know computers and games and are fluent in the language used are lost in the vast endless sea of poor quality "IT hopefuls".

Don't just blame BioWare.
Blame also the ease at which you can get a college degree in IT.
Blame also the amount of people with no ability wanting to work in IT, especially on games.
Blame also the fact that nobody in their right mind wants be in customer service to a bunch of ungrateful and annoying MMO gamers.
In other words, blame us, the people.

[Littleshashi]

So that guy who claimed he worked on this game and then quit/got fired and circulated that nasty blog post about the game....

I'm honestly starting to wonder if he was legit. One of the things he mentioned was that they basically had no customer service staff.

[Sarac]

Only had good expiriences with GM's myself. But it has been over 2 years since I made a ticket so yeah...

[StaeleAilar]

I've actually found that as the game has been out, the time it takes to get a response has been getting longer and longer. But, that's kind of to be expected, as the longer the game is out, the more people are playing, and therefore there are more ticket submissions.

What bothers me more, is that I usually end up with some auto-reply BS, that half the time doesn't actually answer my question, or solve my issue.

Almost as if, the same GM's are working for Blizzard too amirite? Oh no disgruntled customer, i'll just auto respond to it or just make it go away, that'll keep the customer happy.

[Lathais]

Only had good expiriences with GM's myself. But it has been over 2 years since I made a ticket so yeah...

You made a ticket in SWTOR 2 years ago? Check the forum you're in.

[Tyrven]

More often then not the ticket responses are late and do not in any way address the issue that sparked them being made or was talked about in the ticket. I don't know if they are undertrained, dont care or know what to do, something is not right though.

I know my favorite one recently. I was in Civil War got chain stuned and died when I rezzed in the ship I was still pinned to the ground and couldn't move. I ended up getting removed for not leaving the safe zone. So I wrote a ticket and the reply I got was to use my Quick Travel if I am having difficulties moving around zones. In some ways I would have rather the person just told me to fuck off or not answered me.

---------- Post added 2012-02-23 at 01:21 AM ----------

You made a ticket in SWTOR 2 years ago? Check the forum you're in.

I did have a ticket from the beta testing in October that was just closed with the last patch. No info on it but they closed it after 4 full months had passed.

---------- Post added 2012-02-23 at 01:22 AM ----------

So that guy who claimed he worked on this game and then quit/got fired and circulated that nasty blog post about the game....

I'm honestly starting to wonder if he was legit. One of the things he mentioned was that they basically had no customer service staff.

It does seem like its 2 or 3 ppl that know what they are doing and 50 monkeys that can press a button and give you a automated reply.

---------- Post added 2012-02-23 at 01:25 AM ----------

When most of the people available to fill these GM positions are of very poor quality, then very poor quality is exactly what the service will be.

Not only aren't there enough smart, literate, and knowledgeable people out there willing to work god awful hours for minimum wage in a customer service position serving us - the ungrateful bunch of a-holes that we are - the gamers, but those few crazy people who actually know computers and games and are fluent in the language used are lost in the vast endless sea of poor quality "IT hopefuls".

Don't just blame BioWare.
Blame also the ease at which you can get a college degree in IT.
Blame also the amount of people with no ability wanting to work in IT, especially on games.
Blame also the fact that nobody in their right mind wants be in customer service to a bunch of ungrateful and annoying MMO gamers.
In other words, blame us, the people.

You do blame Bioware if they hire ppl that are bad at their job and keep them. If they dont properly train them or have quality assurances to make sure ppl do what they should again it falls on Bioware. Any employer and industry has jobs that need to be filled in force and might not be desirable that doesn't mean that you can skate by saying oh the job sucks, the pay sucks so we are just going to have sucky employees.

[frogger237]

Yeah, they have one of the worst customer services I have ever used. I had submitted probably 5-10 different tickets and they all say the same thing which is basically that they are aware of the situation and cannot do anything. I really regret buying a collectors edition and paying for 6 months and had almost lost all faith in Bioware until I played the mass effect 3 beta.

[Will]

Yeah, they have one of the worst customer services I have ever used. I had submitted probably 5-10 different tickets and they all say the same thing which is basically that they are aware of the situation and cannot do anything. I really regret buying a collectors edition and paying for 6 months and had almost lost all faith in Bioware until I played the mass effect 3 beta.

Yeah, but don't forget ME3 is made by a different Bioware studio. ToR is all done in the new Austin, TX. studio.

ME3 looks amazing tho' i'm not keen on the cash shop greedy rubbish EA seem to obsess over including.

[Bane123]

Yep, poor customer service is one of the reasons I'm probably going to quit after 1.2 if it's not worth it to me. That, on top of another shitty thing EA/Bioware is doing with another game I won't mention... I don't want to give them my money anymore.

[Roose]

This. So many examples of problems i would never expect a GM to waste time on in this thread...

This is all their fault: http://www.swtor.com/community/showt...=292106&page=2

12th iteration of the performance issue thread. Ya, they are all making it up. It would not be half as bad if they managed their customers better and actually communicated with them.

They can treat customers any way they please, but there are consequences. 3 months in and still hearing the same excuses. They do not operate in a vacuum. More MMOs set to release soon.

[vizzle]

When most of the people available to fill these GM positions are of very poor quality, then very poor quality is exactly what the service will be.

Not only aren't there enough smart, literate, and knowledgeable people out there willing to work god awful hours for minimum wage in a customer service position serving us - the ungrateful bunch of a-holes that we are - the gamers, but those few crazy people who actually know computers and games and are fluent in the language used are lost in the vast endless sea of poor quality "IT hopefuls".

Don't just blame BioWare.
Blame also the ease at which you can get a college degree in IT.
Blame also the amount of people with no ability wanting to work in IT, especially on games.
Blame also the fact that nobody in their right mind wants be in customer service to a bunch of ungrateful and annoying MMO gamers.
In other words, blame us, the people.

No, you blame companies for hiring low-wage employees from 3rd world countries who can't communicate in English properly. A lot of people are looking for jobs in the US, but it's cheaper to hire labor from India/China.

I'm currently living in the Philippines, and I know people who work at call centers who can't speak English worth the lint in my pocket, and they communicate 24/7 online with people on the internet all over the world. Their salaries are about 200 pesos a day, which is about 5 US dollars. That's why they get hired over people who can speak.

[Vegemeat]

By countless you mean, what, 20-ish? No one cares.

BioWare is a corporation. A corporation run by people, not machines. They take time and they make mistakes, just like YOU do. Gamers like this really need to take a step back and realize that life doesn't revolve around them and their problems are no more pressing or important than anyone else. If you can't handle that, than by all means start your own company and show them up.

Blizzard's customer service sucked when WoW came out because they didn't expect so much interest in the game; its the same situation with SWTOR with nearly 2 million users. It will get better, don't be so damn impatient.

When WoW was launched you received answers to tickets pretty fast compared to the rate at which they respond today, in fact many people have said as the game got older the longer it took for them to answer tickets.

I opened a ticket in Swtor for a bugged quest that wouldn't let me turn in and complete it and have yet to hear anything about it, I opened that ticket in december.