The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

[Kailea]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

The point was more along the lines that you don't make money if you turn people away from subscribing to your game because they noticed it still has FFXI's flawed mechanics. They're starting a new game from scratch, so it costs them nothing to fix the mistakes they made in FFXI right from the start, just by coming up with a better design before they get to work. It's in their best interests to do so if they want the game to fare well, especially if they're trying to sell it on a PS3.

It's not terribly hard to imagine alternatives to the gear swap system. If they don't do something about it, they're really just trying to sell the game through nothing more than its name and flashy next-gen graphics.

Well at least the interface probably won't suck ass this time.

if it still relies on a controller, I am sure the interface wont change much

[Aksannyi]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

"Why was I banned?" customer support wont know that -.- you have to ask a GM.
GM and customer support are two different departments. Yes they should be one, but in FFXI they are not.

No, the GMs do NOT KNOW. This has to do with the STF, who should FUCKING COMMUNICATE with the service people, because common sense should fucking dictate that the FIRST FUCKING QUESTION one would ask upon seeing an LM-17 message on their account would be, "Why was I banned?" And thus, they should, as I said, FUCKING COMMUNICATE. It would not be hard for the STF to make a note on every banned account stating for what reason they are banned, even something as simple as "RMT," "Hacking," "3rd party tools," etc.

Someone in my linkshell got banned, and they didn't tell him anything about why. How is that not horrible? He's just supposed to take that? Just supposed to sit back and say, "Hmm, okay then." No! While it's in the TOS that they can ban you anytime they want, it isn't too much for us to ask that they at least provide a reason? If I get evicted, they have to furnish me with a reason. It's shady. This is why they fail.

Also, the GMs don't know the answer to this question. And furthermore, how do you suggest one ask a GM about being banned if they are banned? I'd like to know what kind of magical powers one should possess to be able to call a GM while banned. Especially considering that if you call them from another account (friend's account, your own second account) they will tell you that they can not give you any information about other accounts. Not helpful at all, even if they can verify that your name is on both accounts. So I don't quite see how this works.

now on the other hand "Why was I charged twice this month?" and "Can you assist me with the cancellation of my account?"
even though canceling your account is so friken easy, I don't see why people need to have assistance with this.....

Canceling accounts is easy but people are dumb and will ask about it anyway. The SE reps should know how to assist with this, and I've heard stories of many who are incapable of helping with this simple task. There are plenty of things they should be able to do but are completely incapable of. Things that are reasonable expectations one would have of what they should expect when they call customer service, and people are not getting these reasonable expectations met. I reasonably expect that if I need assistance with my billing, that they should be able to handle it. I reasonably expect that if I have a question as to why I was charged twice this month, they should be able to answer it. I reasonably expect that I should be able to ask, first of all, if my ban is temporary or permanent - something they rarely know - and second of all, why. "Violation of the TOS" is a broad term and tells you absolutely nothing.

People are angry with this service because it is shoddy. Yes, I do expect the reps on the phone to be able to answer simple questions. I don't expect them to have access to logs, to tell me that at 12:53 PM on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, in Dragon's Aery, I was suspected to be using a claim bot. I do expect them to be able to tell me that I was caught using third-party programs. You see what I'm saying? There are a lot of reasons to have been banned, I just want them to narrow it down a little. I don't think it's too much to ask of customer service to know this information. Because, like I said, they should be able to reasonably assume that when I see an LM-17 message I'll call them (as it does say in the message, to call for more info) and ask why. If it says to call for more info, why can't they give me any? Sloppy. And they should fix it.

[Armando]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

if it still relies on a controller, I am sure the interface wont change much

It's not the aesthetics I'm concerned about, it's functionality. Our interface is laggy/unresponsive as hell, can't be customized beyond pure aesthetics, can only have one menu open at a time, and has that absurd "You can't perform this action at this time" problem. If the interface were better and there was no need to gear swap mid-battle, people won't resort to 3rd-party-tools to get the job done.

It's just a little bit tangential but still related, but we also have no way of checking which buffs/debuffs are on a player OR enemy. I can understand hiding some details but flying 100% blind as to the mob's state is pretty lame.

[Kailea]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

the "Why was I banned?" question is silly anyway, you are not banned for no reason ever. if you get banned there was a reason, and 90% the person knows, they just feel like they can act stupid and ask "Why was I banned?" when they damn well know why


and yes calling in on one account and asking about another, is a big nono, its all about saving their butts, its a security risk.

Its stupid that people blame customer support for many things when alot of the time the problem is the person calling or the attitude they have. Act like and asshole and you wont get help. Out of the 4 times I ever had to call, I got flawless service every time, even when I could not give them any of my product keys... (lost them all a bit back)

---------- Post added at 01:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 PM ----------

It's not the aesthetics I'm concerned about, it's functionality. Our interface is laggy/unresponsive as hell, can't be customized beyond pure aesthetics, can only have one menu open at a time, and has that absurd "You can't perform this action at this time" problem. If the interface were better and there was no need to gear swap mid-battle, people won't resort to 3rd-party-tools to get the job done.

It's just a little bit tangential but still related, but we also have no way of checking which buffs/debuffs are on a player OR enemy. I can understand hiding some details but flying 100% blind as to the mob's state is pretty lame.

yeah I agree with ya there

if I play a mage, and or support type, I would like to know whats going on with everyone, not just me.

[Aksannyi]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

Well, you were lucky. When I called about my recent LM-17 the first two people I talked to had no idea how to help me. And like I said before, I selected the proper option on the automated phone system. It turned a five minute call into a 45 minute one. Shit like that is what I'm talking about. And it's not the first time it's happened like that for me. I give them all of the information they ask for, I don't go off on them and bitch them out (though sometimes they really deserve it ... ), even when I was banned I told the third guy I talked to that I was very frustrated and I just wanted an answer as to why it was happening, why I couldn't get my account back right away (as opposed to the first issue where they were able to verify my credit card number and I was good to go), what I could do to prevent it from happening again, and actually give him the information he needed to escalate the issue so they could investigate it and return my ability to play my account. The first two people couldn't even take down my name without thinking r e a l l y _ h a r d. I could like, smell the smoke from them thinking. Through the phone line. I mean they set up a separate queue for the credit card-related bans, but they couldn't tell the people they employed for that queue what they were doing, or why? I mean 30 minutes of training would have been sufficient. I'm glad at least someone was able to help me. Some of the people who posted on BG about their woes with this same exact issue as I've had were not nearly as lucky.

And really, a huge thing they could do to improve their customer service by a LOT, would be getting a toll-free number.

I have dealt with other customer service in the past. Sure, once in a while you get some bad eggs, but with SE, typically the customer service is bad more often than it's good.

[Kailea]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

Well, you were lucky. When I called about my recent LM-17 the first two people I talked to had no idea how to help me. And like I said before, I selected the proper option on the automated phone system. It turned a five minute call into a 45 minute one. Shit like that is what I'm talking about. And it's not the first time it's happened like that for me. I give them all of the information they ask for, I don't go off on them and bitch them out (though sometimes they really deserve it ... ), even when I was banned I told the third guy I talked to that I was very frustrated and I just wanted an answer as to why it was happening, why I couldn't get my account back right away (as opposed to the first issue where they were able to verify my credit card number and I was good to go), what I could do to prevent it from happening again, and actually give him the information he needed to escalate the issue so they could investigate it and return my ability to play my account. The first two people couldn't even take down my name without thinking r e a l l y _ h a r d. I could like, smell the smoke from them thinking. Through the phone line. I mean they set up a separate queue for the credit card-related bans, but they couldn't tell the people they employed for that queue what they were doing, or why? I mean 30 minutes of training would have been sufficient. I'm glad at least someone was able to help me. Some of the people who posted on BG about their woes with this same exact issue as I've had were not nearly as lucky.

And really, a huge thing they could do to improve their customer service by a LOT, would be getting a toll-free number.

I have dealt with other customer service in the past. Sure, once in a while you get some bad eggs, but with SE, typically the customer service is bad more often than it's good.

I feel you, I have been on "the other end" thats why alot of the time i am defensive when it comes to customer support.... Most of the time its not the guy on the phone fault (even though alot of them are stupid ;p) but all the BS rules they have to follow or be fired -.-

[Aksannyi]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

Yeah I used to work in that shit too so I know how it is which is why I try to be polite, but I can't believe a company would allow their service reps to know so little before putting them on actual phone calls.

[Kailea]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

Yeah I used to work in that shit too so I know how it is which is why I try to be polite, but I can't believe a company would allow their service reps to know so little before putting them on actual phone calls.

yeah true... sadly its all about keepin it cheap

[Amberly]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

lmao, I am currently at work at Comcast in the call center and you just gave me hope in knowing that some ppl know whats going on on our end.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

On the customer service issue, when I recently could not access my character I found out something that I thought was asinine. When I couldn't access the character I called a GM and, of course, that was a waste of time. So I called SE directly and I thought that was the best option. Well after 2 weeks of bs, I decided to use the technical email through POL. In my communication with them I found out that they do NOT have ties to the customer service for SE. So if you call about an issue, the tech dept that works via emails knows absolutely nothing about your problem...and vice versa. WTF!? Shouldn't there be a centralized computer system thats accessible by all associates that deal with technical complaints?

They need to revamp their CS for 14. Dealing with them is like dealing with a extremely dysfunctional family. It gives me a f**king migraine.

[Feba]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

They need to revamp their CS.

ftfy.

[Malacite]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

Well, they could either make more gear this time with the same bonuses, or just give us better gear to begin with.

I mean just take a look at DRK AF, the #1 fuck up out of all the AF sets. Seriously what the hell were they thinking with those stats?


I'm betting if they do make us less dependent on swaps, it will lie in the job system. They said the job system will be bigger and different from XI's, so I'm sensing a return of FFV's equipable abilities.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

ftfy.

Well I meant before 14 comes out but I guess I didn't word it very well.

[Malacite]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

[Aksannyi]

Re: E3 Square Enix Press Conference about FFXIV

I'm personally very fed up with their shoddy customer service. If I have to deal with another credit card related ban, I will probably just stop giving them any more money altogether. Especially considering the fact that the first time, from my cute little 1 hour ban message thing based on chargebacks (which I've never done, neither have several others who also got this short ban), the rep absolutely reassured me that the same thing would absolutely not happen again this month, and naturally, (not his fault) he didn't know, and it did happen again, and instead of an hour not being able to log in, it was three days.

I really just wish they could get their act together.