Blues Biting Back

[Salech]

They're not really biting back at all, they're just giving a lot of excuses for things many people don't like, and their response generally boils down to, "we make the game so fuck you, do as we want you too".

It also seems as if they are quite stressed about all this when they do these things, (i'm not saying they are stressed, but they way they are acting it is easy perceived that way), I don't know why they are doing it now though, with an expansion just released.

[Stede]

Complete and utter bunk. Tying Cataclysm's subscription loss to CM comments is the ultimate stretch with no actual facts behind it, and plenty of facts against it. Starting with the fact that the majority of the player base never even reads the forums.

Your post smells of someone who has engaged in these types of rant posts and is looking for justification.

(Besides, everyone reading forums knows full well that its subs went down because the game was too hard / too easy / too casual / too old / too static / too changed, all at the same time. )

My respect for a company goes up when they challenge rude customers back in a respectful way, which is as far as Blizzard takes it. Any company which rolls over with a neutered "we appreciate your feedback" response is a company which isn't listening anyway.[COLOR="red"]

I haven't posted a rant. Search 'Stede' on b.net. You'll find none. I said that poor ratings for Cataclysm were given and often cited the shitty CM attitude. Draw your own conclusions. Blizz isn't respectful - their business practices show it. I've not raged out at a CM ever and I think they're jackasses - so there's at least one guy here who stands as a counter-example to what you're asserting.

Beyond which, why on earth you'd base your 'respect' for a company (which, in itself, in the setting of corporate America, is a very quaint, if not cute, notion) on them challenging their customers is a bit of an enigma to a guy like me - because I frankly don't care much about Blizzard but that I can enjoy their products in exchange for money. Their response to fellow gamers with differing views on the game from mine has no bearing on that enjoyment. So, since you brought up someone who's looking for justification - might have a look in the mirror - and remember to always bring protection when you let blizzard 'validate' your entertainment choices.

[Rotesbart]

I wonder about something: why is it acceptable for us that a customer should complain about a defective car, bad hotel conditions, a rude waiter, lousy internet connections to the ISP, but when it comes to video games, the general reaction is to tell the complainer to STFU and to mock him?
Interesting.

For the exact same reason I STILL haven't gotten my $8.50 back from George Lucas for Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

It's entertainment, sold to us. Whether or not we enjoy every aspect of it, or any aspect of it, is not the content creator's direct problem in which any kind of restitution to us is appropriate.

[Stede]

snip

The sticking point isn't how the community acts towards Blizzard. The sticking point is the rampant unprofessionalism in the reactions of Blizzard CMs to the community. Honestly if they can't post anything but a smart-ass reply, they should stop posting. They've a job to do, and acting unprofessional diminishes their ability to perform that job.

And that's it. Ten times out of ten, no less.

[Raziella]

Honestly, as much shit as they probably have to read on a daily basis, and disregarding whether I agree with different QQ rants or not... I am disappointed when the "blues" get disrespectful and bring themselves down to that level.

I manage a company's CS department, and I've seen the public say some of the worst things imaginable to very young employees, and even make threats. The QQ is laughable compared to some of the things I've had to intervene in irl.
And, at the threat of being instantly fired from my job, I have to treat EVERYONE respectfully, and make them feel like I agree with their concerns, and just take all the shit that's thrown at me.
And I've had to fire kids from their first job, single moms, veterans, and everyone else trying to make a living for even the slightest disrespectful remarks - even to hostile drunks who cuss out and insult people way past acceptable levels.

I think the least Blizz's employees could do would be to just give the facts, and ignore the QQ.

[Theodoxus]

The thing that gets me regarding dailies is that at 90, there's no reason for every mob to drop a quest item. I get as you're leveling, it's actually beneficial in an xp kind of way for things to take multiple kills to get a drop. But at 90? It's just torture. Having to blow through many multiples of millions of hit points to get a single drop - and you need 8 or 12 of them? That's seriously overkill.

And the quest hubs not being phased makes it just that much harder. If I'm having to kill 100 dudes for my 10 tongues, at least don't make me have to fight every other jackhole to do it too.

[fizzbob]

i think blizz employees try too hard to come across as gamers

they don't fucking have time to be gamers while working there and we know it. game development becomes your life. they basically can't answer the real questions so they chime in on the bullshit. most jobs require that you remain emotionally UNATTACHED and keep YOUR shitty day from affecting your interaction with a customer.

if i was the God of Blizzard i'd say 'fuck, we're making good money but 10% of our subs are bots and most of the real players know it. we look like bitches. maybe we should promote something less conducive to the botting mentality"

[Arbs]

Bout time, The Casuals thought they ran the show & the forums. Blizzard should of done this at the beginning of Cata instead of the beginning MoP.

[fizzbob]

Bout time, The Casuals thought they ran the game & the forums. Blizzard should done this at the beginning of Cataclysm.

hate to break it to you, but casuals ran wow in vanilla. you don't break the 1,000,000 mark catering to just hardcores

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Casuals=/Bad

[zehzao]

I find it funny but sometimes it does annoy me, i see some really good posts and they're just quote the funny part and "bite back", so i wonder if they're really listening. Last night i thought about making a post there, the number of people complaining about dailies/rep grind with facts are beeing (most of them at least) throwed out and ignored.

I know a blue post said they can't/aren't ready to change the way dailies work on the fly and i agree they've been working on this for a couple months/years, i'm sure it isnt easy. My problem is that some people were complaining about that back in beta and it did made it live without any changes, same goes with that brawler's guild*(somethig like that), a lot of people are complaining about some things on it and they're going to ignore everything and go live like that. Reason im bringing this up is that i don't really care when blues bite back IF they're doing what they can to make the community/game better, but i dislike when they bite back just 4fun, just to turn a serious (wow-wise) topic in a joke one.


ps: I worked on a big online support company in Brazil and i agree with most people, we learn to ignore the ones who are really overreacting, sometimes we just put them on hold so we don't stress out (thats the company way to deal with dumb people), i only disagree with those comparing the CM response with RL situations, i guarantee if you act like a douche in ANY enviroment, they're going to be like 'Oh, im sorry you feel that way, let me try to help you" 'grabs the phone and call security".

Don't lie to yourself thinking if you go to a company and blame/curse/yell*capsthreads they're just going to ignore you, you're going to be removed from there.

[Tharn]

Honestly, as much shit as they probably have to read on a daily basis, and disregarding whether I agree with different QQ rants or not... I am disappointed when the "blues" get disrespectful and bring themselves down to that level.

I manage a company's CS department, and I've seen the public say some of the worst things imaginable to very young employees, and even make threats. The QQ is laughable compared to some of the things I've had to intervene in irl.
And, at the threat of being instantly fired from my job, I have to treat EVERYONE respectfully, and make them feel like I agree with their concerns, and just take all the shit that's thrown at me.
And I've had to fire kids from their first job, single moms, veterans, and everyone else trying to make a living for even the slightest disrespectful remarks - even to hostile drunks who cuss out and insult people way past acceptable levels.

I think the least Blizz's employees could do would be to just give the facts, and ignore the QQ.

I applaud your excellent training. Every Public Relations/CSR rep and trainer knows how difficult it is to deal with enraged customers, defusing is the first and foremost of the training we give our CSR's. It's 1000 times worse when you have to face the customers, Bliz Blues have it easy. Hell the company I've worked for has seen some customers throw their super hot coffee's even knives from time to time. Blues you have it easy to a certain degree, try facing an enraged customer(s) while dodging hot coffee and a knife or two thrown at you because their so mad they are crying while being enraged. No matter how much your stressed, the enraged customer is twice as stressed as your are.

That being said I do not dismiss the stress you Blues are under. Rise above the QQ and yes go to your superiors and ask them for some more forthright directions or to assume some of the angst themselves. If this is a made in Upper Eschelon problem, have the Upper Eschelon start taking responsibility for their actions. Just make sure you do it with courtesy and decorum like the professionals we all know you are, just very weary ones.

p.s. the policy of letting customers enter the company & head office while carrying takeout coffee cups/refillable mugs has been revoked since those incidents, water coolers are now available for parched customers.

[Reavyn]

From a business perspective, it's just wrong to act like this towards your customers. I'd even go as far as saying that it's downright stupid to do so. Wether they deserve it or not, that simply doesn't matter. Unlike in real life, it's extremely easy to filter out the QQ and leave only the constructive critisism on the internet. But for some reason, they don't do that.

Now, I can understand at least wanting to address the QQ-crowd, as not to make them feel ignored. But antagonizing this section of the crowd invariably worsens the situation. The mere fact that this thread was created will bring more attention to this issue. If they honestly must reply to all/some of the QQ stuff, they should do so with some decorum and the standard blanket statements that are pretty much meaningless or vague at best (AKA Soon™, Maybe™ & We'll Pass It Along™). Not piss them off by basically saying 'You're wrong, we're right.'. That's the number 1 way to piss customers off, bar none.

And to be perfectly honest, the QQ on the WoW forums is mild at best. It's whiny, yes. But nothing out of the ordinary. Especially for anonymous people on the internet. Anyone who is an actual customer relations employee, should know better than saying that the customer is flat out wrong. And they sure as hell should know better than to bring your own opinion into the discussion if it's the polar opposite of the customer's point of view. Lie through your teeth if you have to, that's pretty much what the job is all about when dealing with unsatisfied customers.

But from a personal perspective, I find it lolworthy and gives me a good few laughs at the unproffesionalism on the part of Blizzard. You expect crap from anonymous internet tough guys, not from paid employees of a gigantic corporation. I'm just waiting for the first few to be fired while I eat my popcorn.

[Pascal]

As long as it's otherwise polite and well constructed. I highly enjoy when blues post delicately weaved responses about why the OP is an idiot, but I definitely don't like the sinking feeling I get in my gut when I see them respond with blunt insults or, worse yet, incorrect or misled information.

For instance, my work is 90% customer service. Customers are generally pretty stupid and they actually don't understand how things work, even in a simple setting like a fast casual dining business, in the same way that WoW players don't actually understand the way Blizzard's business and game development work. The process we use, the product we use, the reason things are or are not priced a certain way, even down to the way we communicate with one another is generally misunderstood by the customers we serve.

In our business, it's less important to talk back to customers and we mostly just encourage our associates to make sure that they are producing the product the customer is asking for. Sometimes though, customers can make unnecessary remarks and be jerks and assholes for literally no reason. I speak purely of non-constructive insults or complaints - people who complain just to hear their own voice, who will actually refuse a solution to their problem and leave you wondering "Well then why did you bring it up in the first fucking place?!" That is the nature of the general population, which is what our customer base consists of. I have some employees who are very capable of talking back to a rude customer. When they do so in a diplomatic, polite way, I can only smile to myself and enjoy it. However, we have some employees who are not so clever, and yet for some reason or another still take it upon themselves to talk back in such a situation. I feel like I'm dashing into oncoming traffic to save a baby carriage that's been left in the middle of the street when I rush over to diffuse these situations. I can only think to myself "How the fuck did you think that was a necessary thing to say!?" while I explain to them how to correctly handle future situations.

No matter how stupid a poster is or how stupid what they're saying is, a blue is a customer service representative. If they can't call a poster bad without being subtle and polite about it, then they need to stick to normal PR responses. It just leaves the rest of us feeling like we're watching a sitcom where the actor just set himself up for such an embarrassing situation.

[Honeyprime]

I found the QQ U MAKE ME DO DAILIES WHEN I HAVE A WIFE AND KIDS P.S. I HAVE 9 LVL 90S guy hilarious in a 'Oh deary me' way

I found that pretty funny myself. It took me a month and half just to get one character to 90 with my schedule so I got a good snicker out of it. And I love it when the blues fire back against the haters, whiners and trolls.

I especially enjoyed the Cinder kitten thread.

I did too.

[Firecrest]

Anybody else find it refreshing and humorous that the devs are biting back at the QQ? Especially as an EU player where we simply get robotic devs on our WoW forums.

I moderated a section of the MTG forums for a time. As a company representative, the very worst part of it all was having to hold my tongue against the rash of idiocy that was just as common there as on any other. It really sucked. But that's the way it should be.

Moderators/CMs/Blues/whatevers should ignore the idiocy. Not feed it or give it credence by replying. As an average Joe, I can feel free to point out and repremand whatever stupid posts people can think up. However, giving it an "official" response just makes things worse in the end - not better.

It's an axiom almost as old as the internet itself... "Don't feed the trolls".

[Dole4011]

I love when they rake them over the coals. They generally maintain their composure too, which makes it even better. I just regret that they can't get any more barbed than they do.

[Buu]

Nope, I don't like when blues bite back. I hate ANY "foot at the door".

[Deleted]

Bout time, The Casuals thought they ran the show & the forums. Blizzard should of done this at the beginning of Cata instead of the beginning MoP.

sorry what ? casuals ? sorry i never QQed on the offical blizz forums , nor i never will. i am a casual and i like the way wow is going now. so how about u look at the forums , blue post respowns and go to the guy with 9 lvl 90s , is that "casual" ?

[Griffter]

I like that the CMs are given the freedom to reply candidly and sometimes even bluntly. As long as it doesn't become too unprofessional, I don't see a problem with it.