What Square-Enix needs to fix before anything else...

[jcw005]

...utterly abysmal communication/customer service. A lot of the major concerns players have go days, if not weeks, before being addressed by a community representative - if they're addressed at all.

I understand that the problems with the game aren't always trivial to solve, and solutions can take time. That's fine. That's the nature of hard problems. That said, what I would love - and I'm sure I'm not alone - is for some outward representation that lets us know our concerns are heard and our frustrations are felt. You don't always need to wait until you know precisely how you're resolve a concern before saying anything, a simple and timely acknowledgment that expresses understanding of how we feel goes a long way.

Let customers know they matter and you will be rewarded for your efforts. We know you're only human, so be human.

[faris]

SE customer service has been terrible since FFXI. That's not going to change any time soon.

[jcw005]

...and that's okay with you?

[Elegance]

...and that's okay with you?

I think its more a resigned to it kinda thing, the same way every other suggestion in swtor was met with "can't happen due to engine limitations" "oh ok".

I'm sure we'd all love better communication from our devolopers, but sadly that doesn't ever seem to be a thing.

[ZakarnRosewood]

Now, to me that all depends on what your issue is. Is it really something that needs to go to customer service? Is it something that is a known issue and they are addressing? Also keep in mind that you are contacting SE customer service not Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn customer service. You might get that department of SE service center but thats not the same as the MMO having its own self sustaining, self regulated, and solely focused customer support team.

Does this excuse the customer service? No. but I hope it puts things a bit more into perspective. Should a game on such a massive scale have its own self sustaining, self regulated, and solely focused customer support team? I think it should. This should come in time once they recuperate some of the debt this company has incurred over the last 3 years. Remember that they have been running this game at a deficit for the last 3 years with negligible amounts of money coming in. They have worked through the worst natural disaster and nuclear disaster in decades, they have recovered from "the worst MMO launch in history" and they also have continually put up with customer abuse.

Just some perspective...

I havent even got into the communication, which I feel is pretty damn good, all things considered.

[jcw005]

I think its more a resigned to it kinda thing, the same way every other suggestion in swtor was met with "can't happen due to engine limitations" "oh ok".

I'm sure we'd all love better communication from our devolopers, but sadly that doesn't ever seem to be a thing.

I don't know; it might be poor memory, but having played both WoW and D3, I feel like Blizzard is infinitely better at this sort of thing.

Does this excuse the customer service? No. but I hope it puts things a bit more into perspective. Should a game on such a massive scale have its own self sustaining, self regulated, and solely focused customer support team? I think it should. This should come in time once they recuperate some of the debt this company has incurred over the last 3 years. Remember that they have been running this game at a deficit for the last 3 years with negligible amounts of money coming in. They have worked through the worst natural disaster and nuclear disaster in decades, they have recovered from "the worst MMO launch in history" and they also have continually put up with customer abuse.

How hard is it to pay someone minimum wage to watch the forums and do that very thing? There seem to be people who essentially do that very thing for free both here and on the FF14 subreddit.

[faris]

...and that's okay with you?

I think you need to put things into perspective. No matter how special you deem yourself, by some miraculous stroke of luck, no SE bigwig is going to magically be on these forums at this very moment (and believe me. The ARR team, much less the community reps simply don't have the authority to hire and fire on behalf of SE) read your thread, decide that indeed, it's the first thing that needs to be fixed right away, and get on the phone immediately to the HR department to locate, purchase callcentres in every country in the world for ARR support, and employ thousands of people to man these.

[Elegance]

I don't know; it might be poor memory, but having played both WoW and D3, I feel like Blizzard is infinitely better at this sort of thing.

How hard is it to pay someone minimum wage to watch the forums and do that very thing? There seem to be people who essentially do that very thing for free both here and on the FF14 subreddit.

That I'd have to agree they are, I didn't include blizz since I feel they're still the "gold standard", and rightly so, they have the resources and use them.
They have their issues still, but they get the basics right.

All in all, I'd love SE to continually keep us in the loop when things are delayed and such, but I sadly don't think it will happen anytime soon.

[ZakarnRosewood]

How hard is it to pay someone minimum wage to watch the forums and do that very thing? There seem to be people who essentially do that very thing for free both here and on the FF14 subreddit.

Well, I dont work for SE, I don't know all the things that go on behind closed doors so I cant say how hard it would be to do such a thing. You may be able to point to one example of a company that does it but again, I dont work for that company either so I cant tell you how things compare behind closed doors. If i did have a magic ball that could show me exactly what has been discussed at their corporate meetings, then maybe I could be condescending about what I see on my end.

Fact is, I simply dont know nor do I pretend to know or feel I am in a position to tell them how to do their job. I can offer suggestions but I dont feel right making degrading remarks on what they do/dont do.

But feel free to continue to vent. While I agree with you that customer service could be improved I dont agree with how you are saying it. Sorry.