Kinda scary... but hey, it's business, or somesuch...
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: Aanicat ]
*edit* PIZOWNED!
*edit* cold medication fucks you up for 149 points of damage
But if it's that scam thing on the UNGODLY slow loading EZboard..
more like a guide telling "dirty little SOE/VI secrets"
But we've known that SOE has been screwy for a long time hehe
quote:
You guys have heard me ragging on Guides and GMs in the past few weeks, and really making fun of EQ Customer Service in general. However, I have a confession to make. I am posting this here as this in the one place I can assure Sony will not be able to have the post removed.For the past year and a half I have also been known as Guide Aislyn on the Tholuxe Paells server. Yes, your *cough* beloved *cough* guild leader was a Guide. Not only that, I proudly served as a Senior Guide for 3 months... before being demoted.
Yes, you guessed it. I was demoted and removed as a guide because I will not keep my mouth shut when I feel something needs to be said, and not only said, but shouted from the roof tops. The subject I touch on here is one near and dear to my heart, and that is Customer Service to the players of EQ.
When I was demoted and it got out as to why (I will go into this later) many asked why I was not removed. It was because of this very post. I just became a larger liability to the vaunted Powers That Be in SOE Customer Service. My gag is off and I will NOT be silenced. If you are from Sony and reading this post I ask you one thing and one thing only... prove me wrong. I rest assured that you will not.
The whole thing came to a head the day I was promoted to Senior Guide. My birthday as a matter of fact. That was the day it was announced to the guides in the programme that servers would no longer have a GM assigned to them. We would hence be blessed with a roving band of GMs who would come and blast away the red petitions (GM only) and the customers would weep with their good fortune. Oh, players wept allright. They wept in frustration that it now takes a month to get an issue resolved, if it gets resolved at all.
This is how it was supposed to work (and remember this was after they RIFed about 10 GMs) you would have a cluster of approximately 7 GMs who each had different responsibilities and two GM in this cluster who were just there for Guide Contacts to handle server issues. Each cluster has a Lead GM. These clusters were assigned to approximately 7 to 10 servers. And then there was one cluster dedicated to handle e-mail from the Contact Your GM link on the EQ site. GM Breave is the lead GM of this group and handles an ungodly amount of email. This lady gets work done.
Well what happens? Servers are ignored for weeks if not months and players and guides begin to complain. Players are petitioning day after day with no resolution in sight. Finally they give up. GMs quit in frustration. The guide programme begins to hemorrhage at the rate of 10 guides per day. Senior Guides (the administrators of each server) begin to leave in unheretofore seen numbers. Each week we are told to hang on, things will get better, we just need to get used to the new system.
Meanwhile the Grading Team Chair, who is in charge of making sure the applications for a Guide Position are properly graded so that we continue to have incoming guides for the ones who retire is told by Brenlo and Ledian in Team Chair meetings that they cannot put a Help Wanted message in a MOTD on servers or in a Patch Message because... wait for it... the developers cannot work it in. Yes, evidently the developers of EQ, the most wonderous game online, who can create the wonders we daily experience, cannot put a TEXT MESSAGE into the numerous ones we witness, like today's ad for the EQ store. In my time as a Guide we went through 3 Team Chairs on the grading Team. But as it stands now, they have graders waiting for applications that Sony does not want coming in. Sony doesn't want new guides. They dont want a Guide Programme at all. No, free Customer Service for their product is a pain in the ass, and they will no longer support it. This is amazing considering that after Brenlo's major fuck up of spawning Ragefire for two whining guilds on another server got out and they put the shards to spwan Ragefire into the next patch post haste when other players noted how this was unfair. Amazing they can do that and yet not put up a text message. I stand in utter amazement.
Thus begins the history lesson. Before EQ, 989 Studios/Verant had an online MMORPG that was a tank shoot 'em up. Not many people remember this game. The name isn't important (must not be, I can't seem to remember it myself), however, this fact is. When EQ beta testing was announced they dropped customer service on that product and let the game die. By the time EQ went client, the tank game was a fond memory (Kinda like Meridian59). Anyway, guess what was announced last month? SWG is going into bets testing. Guess what is getting shit canned in EQ? You guessed it. The mental giants at Verant(SOE) decided they will kiss EQ goodbye because we're all going to SWG and EQ2.
Now, who remembers Legends? Show of hands? Good. Legends was not a haven for the Uber at Heart. Legends is a marketing experiment. Once again you begin to see the light. Last month Brenlo announced there would be no Guide Programme for SWG. Guess what kind of Customer Service they will have there? You pay for premium service, say $40 a month and you get 24/7 Customer service. Any bells ringing yet? You don't pay for the premium service, then you can e-mail your complaint to someone who cares, only thing is, Verant/Sony isnt planning on hiring these caring individuals because they... cost money.
When I drew this perilous, heretical parallel I was demoted from Senior Guide and given the opportunity to transfer to another server. Uh huh, yeah, right Elder Guide Jessla. I wasn't demoted for being a fuck all, do-nothing Senior Guide. I was demoted for touching on a TRUTH you don't want the public to know. And BTW, I own this board, so don't bother e-mailing me asking me to remove this post. I'll shove that missive so far up your ass you will be reading it from inside your stupid one glial celled head.
Now, let me touch upon the ineptitude that resides at the highest echelons of Sony Customer Service. There are the employees of Sony, idiots like Brenlo, Mr. No Jessla and Agnieska are NOT Elder Guides because they lived in my house! And the volunteers, Like the Elder guides. Elder Semiconsious, as he is fondly referred to in the halls of SOE in San Diego, and Pending, then there are Jessla and Agnieska, two women who are so inept that a word has not yet been coined to sufficiently describe their stupidity. Jessla, in her infinite cluelessness actually locked a thread on the Common Hall (General Discussion Guide Board) written by a soldier in Germany who happens to be a Guide extolling the virtues of those who have given their life for the cause of freedom since 9-11. Yes, dangerous post, Jess. Seditious in it's very patriotic message. One Elder guide resigned after her attempts to get Agnieska and Jessla removed went nowhere. Her crime? She cared about the guide program and the players who would be effected by their stupidity.
Let me tell you why the Elders hate me. Shortly after becoming a Senior Guide I made a post asking why, after 3 years, the Elder Guides had no policy in the Policy and Procedures regarding their accountability. Everyone is accountable to someone in the guide program, so why not them? I was basically given a song and dance routine reminiscent of Vaudeville, with one guide going so far as to say that this is not a democracy. I was also written up for inviting the Elders, all of them, to a Senior Guide meeting, which we held every other week to discuss issues, because it was "sarcastic and degrading". My post was not either of these things. I mentioned that Jessla was the only Elder I ever witnessed and it did not seem fair to keep heaping all of our ire on her as she was not the only Elder Guide in the program. Another Senior Guide made another post saying the exact same thing mine did and he was not rebuked or in any other way reprimanded for his post. Selective reading? I think not. Jessla had Agnieska do this task as she was insulted and degraded by my invitation to the other Elders so she would not be beat up on all alone. I sometimes imagine her crying at her desk reading that post.
Shortly before being made Senior Guide Brenlo told the senior guides that they would no longer be able to change first names and there was a programming snafu and only GMs would be able to do first name changes now. Two weeks later the Pay For a Name Change was announced. Brenlo admitted to "misleading" the Senior Guides and apologized. Great Mea Culpa Bixie. Shows how foreign that particular action is in your life. Since then the program has been losing guides and seniors at a fairly brisk clip.
Guides are sick and tired of taking abuse from players because their GM Only issues never get resolved. Remember Darissa? She was also Sandpiper. A few weeks ago she quit the game, returning all the items I had ever given her. She had been a guide for a few months on the Povar server. She quit because of all the abuse she'd taken from the players. She found herself unable to even log in to play. She was a great guide. That's the kind of people they are running off. When I was a Senior Guide it was nothing to spend 30 hours offline handling administrative issues for my server. I was on ICQ nearly 24/7. My email box was constantly full. And I still managed to do 11+ hours a week online handling online issues. I was back guiding one week after my miscarriage because Senior Guide Glaiven told me I needed to get back to work. This is the kind of people they are running off.
The question that stuck in my mind was why? Why run off their free customer support? Why did they keep kicking us when we were already down, nearly out?
Premium Service baby. You're gonna have to pay to be ignored in SWG and EQ2. Bow down before the one you serve, Sony. You're going to get what you deserve.
Thank you, but I will not ever slip into mediocrity to please others who worship at it's altars while trying to hide their Peter Priniciple. I'm out, glad Im out, and praying that someone pulls their head out of their ass and helps the dedicated guides and GMs who do this because, despite it all, they still think they can help players. Think about that next time you file a petition that never gets answered. Maybe they all got fed up and quit, and the GMs are all in a meeting listening to Brenlo talk about how great he is to have thought of the entire scheme while keeping all us mushrooms exactly where he wants us.
a repost, because EZboard was slow for me too.
very...interesting. =P
This thread is about a guide revealing some interesting things about SOE and Verant.
"The customer service in EQ sucks for a reason. Soon, you'll have to pay to get your corpse unstuck. Don't like it? Don't play. Legends tells us that enough people are dumb enough to pay a ridiculous amounts for the same customer service to keep us rich. We don't need you."
quote:
Terena Azal wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
I think he's referring to that one thread where that one person screws up a scam so very badly when they didn't log out of one of their accounts.This thread is about a guide revealing some interesting things about SOE and Verant.
Yes!
Though, if they do plan of charging 40 bucks a month for EQ2, and EQ goes away... then I guess that's no more EQ for me.
Opinion. Don't destroy.
I'll be one of them. 
SOE and Verant are getting the wrong idea from Legends. It looked good before but now people are coming to a realization.
quote:
Now, who remembers Legends? Show of hands? Good. Legends was not a haven for the Uber at Heart. Legends is a marketing experiment. Once again you begin to see the light. Last month Brenlo announced there would be no Guide Programme for SWG. Guess what kind of Customer Service they will have there? You pay for premium service, say $40 a month and you get 24/7 Customer service. Any bells ringing yet? You don't pay for the premium service, then you can e-mail your complaint to someone who cares, only thing is, Verant/Sony isnt planning on hiring these caring individuals because they... cost money.
[ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: hard technology rock ]
If SWG or EQ2 is 40$ a month I'm not playing.
One of the reasons I left the guide program is because they treated us like they didn't want us.
Ferrel!
quote:
This insanity brought to you by Ferrel:
One of the reasons I left the guide program is because they treated us like they didn't want us.
EQ's Guide program has the main problem of being inefficent. Everyone is asking for everything all over the place, and the guides and GM's are scrambling to keep up with it.
What the petitions needed from the VERY START was an unbugged interface (Oh, uh.. I lost your petition text. Can you repeat it again and think I'm a dumbshit? Thanks..) that narrowed your problem down before you asked for help. Notice most games made after EQ have this sort of thing? Log onto EnB if ya want a good example.
Even if they dont have THAT, they need a bigass patch message/MOTD/something to TELL EVERY SINGLE PLAYER in the game, no matter what, the things that are appropriate to petition for. Stuck corpses, falling under the world, etc. Guides wont rez you if you walked into a city that didnt like you.
Besides, wasn't Legends more or less a failure since so few people signed up for it and even fewer stuck around when they found the benefits were far outweighed by the cost?
Something tells me the future MMORPGs from Sony will feature a compromise between standard EQ and Legends, both CS and cost-wise.
Only every EZboard ive been to has a link there, every server board has a link there... Locked like 3 postso n this tonight alone at the tower, and sure more will get locked
Nothin you did wrong Aani [ 09-18-2002: Message edited by: Falaanla Marr ]
Just seen this so darn much
quote:
Nicole painfully thought these words up:
Reason number 2340856.5 to quit EQ and get AO.Opinion. Don't destroy.
Same problem. You pay for the customer service you don't get.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
it worked for UO, didn't it?
/sarcasm off.
Monkeys.
They don't cost money, only bananas and peanuts.
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Terena Azal was all like:
If what Maradon says is true then I foresee many people following Aanicat's example.I'll be one of them.
SOE and Verant are getting the wrong idea from Legends. It looked good before but now people are coming to a realization.
JOIN DAOC WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME!
quote:
Len the Studious got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
JOIN DAOC WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME!
already have.
Grestin, fire wiz of albion on Lancelot server.
HUZZAH!
Fuck EQ
ben(at)netmastering(dot)nl
Zonk right on the desktop.
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Meridian was all like:
DAOC is the ONLY game that I ever fell asleep playing.Zonk right on the desktop.
I fell asleep during EQ.
Nobody noticed, because I was a mage and stuff.
[ 09-18-2002: Message edited by: Len the Studious ]
Take that! 
quote:
Meridian had this to say about the Spice Girls:
DAOC is the ONLY game that I ever fell asleep playing.
That's funny, considering even Verant admits DAoC has dramatically less downtime.
Don't like sacrificing what I want to play so I can keep in contact with friends.
quote:
Aanicat obviously shouldn't have said:
The whole realm thing kinda lessen the fun for me. =(Don't like sacrificing what I want to play so I can keep in contact with friends.
Go play Mordred.
Or wait for the new co-op server they're planning.
(2) AO got to be boring... Endless cycle of missions.
(3) I fell asleep as a Shaman on a ToV raid. Beat that.
quote:
When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent RPC said:
PVP
Reakktors main focus in Neocron
Hell, even with your Law Enforcer in(PvP-), clan turrets on bases still attack you.
Imagine pre-kunark Rallos Zek. only worse in terms of l33t-d00d-gankfests.
Realm affiliations are a blessing and a curse. While it does suck being unable to talk to otherrealmly friends (or even PK them and know you're PK'ing them), the seperation of realms fosters a sort of nationalistic pride.
It's really kinda cool.
quote:
RPC painfully thought these words up:
(1) Enforced PVP like DAoC has is lame. I don't wanna deal with fucktards who like to pk your ass when you're low on HP after fighting a mob and then gloat over it
rofl, what game are you playing?
Did you even play DAoC to 20? 'cause if you did, you'd know you could easily level to 50 without ever engaging in any RVR, whether voluntarily or not. [ 09-18-2002: Message edited by: Maradön² ]
That And I'm not a huge fan of pvp. But hey, that's me =P
Though it's looking more and more like EQ2 is going to be *very* much like DAoC...
quote:
Aanicat had this to say about Knight Rider:
Though it's looking more and more like EQ2 is going to be *very* much like DAoC...
Yeah, it would appear even Verant thinks DAoC has a better design
quote:
Maradön² painfully thought these words up:
rofl, what game are you playing?Did you even play DAoC to 20? 'cause if you did, you'd know you could easily level to 50 without ever engaging in any RVR, whether voluntarily or not.
When I looked at DAoC the concept didn't really interest me. At the time I looked at it, the only way you could advance to "end game status" was to hunt in areas that allowed PVP. That's probally changed since then, but originally that's how it was setup.
Even if it has changed, it doesn't matter... the game just has 0 appeal.
quote:
This one time, at Maradön² camp:
Yeah, it would appear even Verant thinks DAoC has a better design
It may be.. but not for everyone, unfortunatly. And asking 40 bucks a month to play, even 20.. is redicules.
