Maybe an actual GM can help me?

[Gokijin]

Ok, so I just bought this game 4/5/11. New to it. My buddies talked me into playing it and I've been wanting to, so I get it, make all my accounts, blah, blah, blah. I get to the character creation and I can't make a toon on the server where my friends play. Well, I just got it, so I started on the handful of servers they had listed. I've been trying to get in touch with "customer support" and finally today I did. I asked him if I would have to pay to transfer my character to the server I wanted to start on. I dug around in the forums and stuff wondering why we couldn't get a gold world pass so I could start on their server. After we dug around for a while, we found that the servers were shut off from new characters because the servers were scheduled over a month ago to be merged. The earthquake has postponed it. I began to look for info as to when the servers would be available for me to make a character on the server I had wanted to make a toon on.

I found nothing and all I get is it will be announced? So, having just purchased the game and all the expansions, I started my toon and played the last two days. The thing that upsets me is when I got ahold of someone over the phone, he was cutting me off mid sentence, rushing me, and told me to "go check the forums" for info. How in the blue hell is that service? I asked to speak to a supervisor since he was rude and I was told "he's busy" and when I said I'd like to hold for him, he comes back later and tells me that his supervisor was too busy. Then he said "you can pay your $25 to move your character, or you can delete the one you have now and start over on the server your friends play on when they become available again." I asked him when that was and he told me he didn't know that the info would be released at another date.

So my rant is I just bought this game and I was supposed to know that it was just bad timing? I dug through the posts and it never mentioned when the servers would be available again. So I was supposed to buy a game and then wait around to make a character where I wanted to have it? It really pissed me off when I asked to speak with his supervisor and he just kept giving me excuses and telling me to have a good day. The only thing he managed to help me with was to tell me I could delete my character and start a new one. I don't see why I should have to pay to move my character when the servers become available again since there has been no information as to when they will be coming back up and they've been unavailable for over a month. I did not know that I wouldn't be able to start a character at the time I bought the game. I didn't know it was my job to read through month old posts to see about server maintenance and servers being down. So if a GM could maybe talk to me and not just tell me to check the forums, that would be appreciated. I don't think I should have to wait around paying a monthly fee, checking forums to see when the mergers are going to happen, and then delete my character or pay the $25 to move my character. Sorry if this is repetitive and hard to follow, but I'm really just aggravated and annoyed at the poor "service" I received from Square-Enix about this.

[Cream_Soda]

The first step to getting them to read what you say is to use paragraphs. Nobody in their right mind is going to read that large wall of text, me included.

Clean it up

[Hoshi]

I believe the tl;dr version states that he's new to the game and wants to play on the same server as his friends. He was unable to make a character on that server because of the merge (and SE gives no warning to new players that they can't make a toon on some servers before purchase). He wants to know when the merge will happen and why SE is making it so hard on new players who are trying to do things with their friends.

I think he makes a good point. People who have started accounts since the merge announcement (and registration server shutdown) should be given a one time free pass to move their character to the server of their choice once these restrictions are removed. Sorry I don't remember the date of the merge but it should be on the official website in the news and maintenance section.

[chubrocka]

The first step to getting them to read what you say is to use paragraphs. Nobody in their right mind is going to read that large wall of text, me included.

Clean it up

Not true.. I read the whole posting. Reading it is how we make an informed response.

The reason there is such a hard time to move cross servers is RMT (real money traders) If it was easy to do people would sell there chars more often and it would effect the game. It does suck i agree, but what can they do. There are very few things i agree with when it comes to SE but this is one they cant do a lot on.

[Cream_Soda]

I said "in their right mind"

[Karbuncle]

I said "in their right mind"

those sneaky "Qualifier" phrases.

[RAIST]

Yeah, they are in a bad state right now. Not trying to make excuses for them--being rude on your customer support line is just not cool. But they have been under fire for a crap load of snafus they made over the past month, and patience is wearing thin on both sides of the line.

The merger is supposed to happen in May, they just haven't set a specific date just yet. They still have a lot of screwups to clean up first before they can move on to that project. Hopefully we'll see some of those issues finally fixed soon and start getting more info from them.

Unfortunately, you did come in at a bad time. If you just started, you are in a free trial "grace" period, and that is going to run out before the merger takes place--so if you stay active you will get hit with a double whammy for the first month billing, plus the server transfer. You'll want to make sure to remove your character and such in time before the next billing cycle to avoid the extra charges. There are some gotcha's when closing the accounts--I forget all the details but if you close it out wrong it can monkey up the content ID link and screw up an account. A friend of mine left for a while several years back and lost 2 of her level 75 toons that way.

I hate to send you back to them, but I would go through customer service again and make sure it is done properly. Just tell them you only wanted to play on x server with your friends which is locked out until after the merge, and ask them to walk you through what you need to do to suspend billing and such until you can come back and go directly to their server. Hopefully they will be able to take you through it. If not, perhaps someone here who has gone through it themselves can give you a how-to on it.

[Gokijin]

Well, either way, I appreciate the feedback and about the RMTs and I did as you had asked and broke it down, it's now three paragraphs lol.

[Zephrose]

I think there is a block on which servers you can choose to create/transfer a character at the moment. This is due to the up coming Server merger when the version update comes. They prevent players from doing this due to last server mergers grievances.

Sorry if this is an inconvenience to you.

[Gokijin]

Yeah, it might be bad timing, but I don't think that I should have to suffer as the player considering it really isn't something I could have prevented, or fixed myself short of just not starting the game.