Bad Communication From Blizzard

[Aneska]

Blizzard needs to communicate better with its customers (that is what we are as we are paying for this product)

Whenever there are issues regarding exploitations, bugs and errors.... all we hear from Blizzard employees is that they are looking into it not much are being said afterwards or how they fixed it.

Maybe in the future you can address issues with what is currently being done about the situation, estimated time of when it will be fixed and a full report on actions taken and how to prevent this from happening again.

Example of issues:

*Ring of Valor crashes - it took Blizzard weeks to remove this arena. There were numerous post about this and no action was taken immediately.
*Current MMR exploit issue - Can you please address this issue as to if the players will get a permanent ban and will their achievements be taken away?
*Bots - you keep telling us to report suspected bots, how does the process work from when I press the report button? Maybe if you explain how the process works on your side, customers will have a better understanding.

For a listed company your communication to your customers is not so good.

Hope you can appreciate what I wrote here and find solutions.

[icedwarrior]

While I agree that it would be great that they went more in-depth in their responses, be glad they communicate at all. I've played many a game that don't communicate in the way Blizzard does.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Blizzard is very communicative compared to other game producers.

Bots - you keep telling us to report suspected bots, how does the process work from when I press the report button? Maybe if you explain how the process works on your side, customers will have a better understanding.

If they give this information out to the public, it would enable bot coders to make their software even harder to prove that it is running.

For a listed company your communication to your customers is not so good.

Listed companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. Customer PR is more of a voluntary thing to make people like you.

[Aneska]

Listed companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. Customer PR is more of a voluntary thing to make people like you.[/QUOTE]

Well done, that is correct. But when you have upset customers, you might lose them, which could also result in loss of profit which is not good for the shareholders now is it?

I just feel that they need to be more specific instead of telling everybody that they are looking into it. If you have issues with a product would you not want to know when they will be able to rectify the problem and what action was taken?

[Deleted]

Blizzard needs to communicate better with its customers

Blizzard's customers who are in need of better communication from Blizzard need to communicate with Blizzard, not MMO-Champion.

[Deleted]

I guess they are doing what they feel like. They could easily hire more employees to their "customerservice/communication office". That's not a money issue.

[Deleted]

They don't communicate or they don't tell you what you want to hear?

Raised problems are fine but what do you expect the CM's to do about it?

They don't know if there's actually a problem unless they've seen it themselves, they aren't QA testers, they aren't designers, they aren't coders....

If they say 'we're looking into it' just assume they are, you don't need to know the in's and out's of the process, why should you?

Also lets not forget how carefully they have to word things, the way 'the community' twists what's said (or simply can't read) is frankly scary.

Just because I've noticed this end bit too:

For a listed company your communication to your customers is not so good.

Hope you can appreciate what I wrote here and find solutions.

Do you think this is an official forum? If you're looking for answers from Blizzard here you're in the wrong place, maybe that's not helping you.

[Yig]

No. When Blizzard gives you estimations, people just accuse of them of lying and try to hold them to artificial deadlines. You are not entitled to whatever you can think of as long as you pull the "customer" canard.

[GKLeatherCraft]

*Bots - you keep telling us to report suspected bots, how does the process work from when I press the report button? Maybe if you explain how the process works on your side, customers will have a better understanding

This one is pointless, they have already explained as much as they can, not so long ago actually, They have terrific communication compared to most game companies out there, There is no point telling you everything they are doing to solve a problem, because odds are you wouldn't understand it, They try numerous "fixes" changes in code etc to try and fix errors, but it all takes time, to say they do nothing at first is just plain silly, once a problem is noticed they set to work straight away, why wouldn't they? Just because they don't tell you every minute what they're doing doesn't mean they're not doing anything=)

[nyc81991]

In a way I agree.

Maybe it is just the posts Blizzard choose to respond to but almost every time they comment on class related problems they disagree. Wether it is a post about a class being Op or a class not doing very well. All they seem to say is "we are happy with the way things are" (even if most people feel that they aren't fine).

Then some time down the road after the issue has been around for weeks or months and countless people posted about it on the forums they fix it. Which leads people to believe that Blizzard just simply won't admit when they are wrong because they wait for unnecessary amounts of time.

[Deleted]

Sorry all I read is "wahh wahh I want to know more then their own investors wahh wahh".

If you don't like them, play another game. But be prepared for 500% less communication on ANY other MMO.

[velde046]

For a listed company your communication to your customers is not so good.

I disagree with you, and besides even as a listed company, they don't have to share info they don't want to share.... really.
And like I said, I disagree, because i think Blizzard is quite open in their communication and has short lines with their communities.... lots of companies can learn from them really. And I've worked for a few companies that could take an example from Blizzard on how to communicate with customers.

---------- Post added 2012-11-13 at 02:53 PM ----------

In a way I agree.

Maybe it is just the posts Blizzard choose to respond to but almost every time they comment on class related problems they disagree. Wether it is a post about a class being Op or a class not doing very well. All they seem to say is "we are happy with the way things are" (even if most people feel that they aren't fine).

Then that's it really.... it's their game, ultimately they decide what the game looks like. If you like it play the game, if you don't then don't play the game. If they are 'happy with' it doesn't even mean they think it's balanced, it just means they're happy with the way it is working....

Then some time down the road after the issue has been around for weeks or months and countless people posted about it on the forums they fix it. Which leads people to believe that Blizzard just simply won't admit when they are wrong because they wait for unnecessary amounts of time.

And of course if you encounter a big problem, you can fix it in a matter of minutes. Maybe they should let you fix the issues and see how that turns out. Also the fact that they change their mind doesn't mean Blizzard does not admit to anything. It just means that they took a long time to decide/fix it, or maybe they have gained new insights or even complaints that actually contained reasoning.... Opinions can change over time you know?
So being happy with something at moment A does not mean you're still happy with it some time later.
As a kid I was happy with a dollar I'd get for allowance, now it wouldn't change my emotional state in any way....
Two years ago I was happy with a HD ready TV. Last year I wasn't anymore, so I got a HD..... See that (emotional) states can change?

[nyc81991]

Then that's it really.... it's their game, ultimately they decide what the game looks like. If you like it play the game, if you don't then don't play the game. If they are 'happy with' it doesn't even mean they think it's balanced, it just means they're happy with the way it is working....

I know. Thats why I said it could just be the posts that they respond to. They could do a much better job of communicating things to the public through the forums.

Also, If a huge majority of your player base isn't happy about something you change it. That is if you want people to keep playing your game.