Why is everything about FFXIV @$$ backwards

So bought every FF game since 7, including 11 for a couple years. Im a sucker for FF games. Been following 14 and read all the bad stuff, but decided to give it a go. Build a pc that can run it and I buy the Collectors Edition. Second sucker move.

Anyhow, had a bunch of codes and put them in according to the instructions. Asks me if I want to transfer over beta stuff. Why the hell would I do that. I played the beta for exactly five minutes 2 years ago before uninstalling . So start the game and create character. No collectors items. Sigh. Go to the forums to ask a question in new players section. Says I cant login because I dont have a active account or character. Internet says recreate character. I try that twice. Nada.

Ok, no problem. Went to the customer support page and they have an article. Turns out that the codes could be attached to the $%^$#$ beta instead of the game I just bought because I chose not to transfer what I thought was useless beta info. What the @##$%!. Thank goodness there's a form for you to fill out to Retry Beta transfer.

Retry form instructions say to make sure you delete your character and the account with the character you want to transfer because they cant fix the issue if you have characters on the account. No prob. Very next day get a email from SE. Nice! Email says, "We have an answer to your problem,(Woot!) see below.......blank....... If you have anymore issues let us know". Um, what?

I reply and explain what the issue is again. Twice. Several days later, get another email from SE, "We hear you have an issue, please create a ticket so we can look into it for you." Huh? Already created two but oh well. Least they included a phone number this time. So create the ticket and call them up. On hold forever, explain to the rep whats been happening. He says seems items are attached to the beta game, yep.. like i figured when I submitted the redo transfer form a week ago. The solution he says? Create another ticket...*&@*$% #$@!!!!!

Me: So that retry beta transfer form I filled out a week ago, does that do anything?
SE Cust Service: Yea, dont know anything about that. All I can do is create another ticket.
Me: Any other solution to this thing? I paid alot for the collectors edition and my
free month is running out.
SE: Dont see how.....unless you buy another copy of the game and try transfer again.
Me: Hmm. Dont see that happening so any idea on when I can expect to hear
back from you guys on this thing? I already lost a week because the instructions said it cant be fixed unless all characters deleted.
SE: Nope sorry. There's a bunch of folks with similar issue waiting ahead of you. But you don't actually have to delete anything. You can create your character and keep playing just fine till we get to your ticket.
Me: Really? Nice! So they can add the items in later because I thought you had to create the character with them. Doesnt make sense if I have to delete my character again later.
SE : Sure they can add it later... Actually, hold on a minute.....yea, they cant add them in later soo...

Anyone want to take bets on if they get to this before my month is up? Ive been playing mmo's for a long time and Ive never seen such a puzzling approach to mmo creation and management. Why allow people to attach items from a full purchase game to a beta version without proper explanation then give them the option not to carry these items over? Doesnt the purchase usually take priority over the beta? Why arent these thing account wide? Obviously it keeps happening to people because they have support page article on it with a form because its not explained and horribly executed . Why have the retry transfer form if it does nothing? Whats so hard about adding in or transferring items once verified? Is it a coding issue? Do they have to make each individual item in Microsoft %$*#$!! paint first?

Oh, and all this time I couldnt post in the forums to ask questions because the forum couldnt verify that I have a character. The same character they told me to delete. So I create a character. Forum time right? Nope, three day wait for the system to locate it. And btw, every time I want to check if they fixed the issue, I have to delete and recreate the character to see if the items are there, so probably lose forum access again. Good Lord!

I read alot of negative things, but thought I may have issues with content, not character creation. Was ready to give this game go and even convinced two friends to do so with me. Im sure SE doesnt care, but they could have had three new customers but now I doubt they will even have one.

Yes the initial sign up procedure is a pain in the ass, its very convoluted but you come to expect this kind of crap from SE.

Welcome to the world of FFXIV btw :D

The only thing you can transfer over from beta is your character name. You can't transfer over any items or levels that were earned in beta. So you are better off making a new character.

Ok well I'm on Balmung too so send me a /tell if ya ever need help with anything in game. =)

I don't know if terrible customer support is everything about FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

The only thing you can transfer over from beta is your character name. You can't transfer over any items or levels that were earned in beta. So you are better off making a new character.

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If that's true it makes this whole debacle even more infuriating and mind boggling. I dont care about any items or levels I earned in beta, cause there wasn't any. I uninstalled beta after 5 mins. That the whole point of why I said no when they asked about transferring beta info. Yet somehow the item codes I put in from my game are all attached to the beta.

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Originally Posted by Vice

I don't know if terrible customer support is everything about FFXIV.

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It certainly isn't but lets not fool him into thinking he's not in for a whole lot more ass-backwardness once he gets into the actual game!

yeah send me tell if you need ls

You can type out ASS you know. It's even in the game several times.

Regardless, I'm baffled by the fact that they kept the same exact sign up process... I remember going nuts on launch day just because of how convoluted and ridicolous it was!

I really hope they get it changed before 2.0.

Appreciate the offers of in game assistance, but I haven't been playing because a) the support page says the issue cant be fixed unless characters are deleted, and b) if they ever get around to attaching my items to the proper account, it seems I would have to delete the character to get them anyhow. I don't know if they will get around to this before my initial month is up and Im so put off by this initial introduction to the game.

They really need to get away from words like, options, options list, continuous options, list options continued automatically.

Use words that are more commonly used when paying for a mmo.

Collectors items are useless, if not having them is preventing you from just creating a new character and playing the game, then I don't think you really want to play.

I can understand the principle, but really get over it and give the game a go. I'm sorry you've had a bad experience thus far, but cowboy up and move on.

I discarded my collectors items anyway...

You played for less than 5mins in the beta, and you still want that character back?

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Originally Posted by Andrien

You played for less than 5mins in the beta, and you still want that character back?

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Only because he wants the collectors edition stuff, I think.

Dude the items are so rubbish and dont work after level 10 lol why you stressing out about them!

CSR for SE and XIV in general is quite literally the poorest I've seen for any company. They barely acknowledge you have an issue and instead filter you through "standard procedure."

Clearly SE reps aren't even human, they're just robots programmed to piss you off.

CSR support needs a big redo for 2.0 or they'll have some issues down the road.

Regardless, the beta items are junk.

The CE came with ingame items? Why was I never told about this!?

/sarcasm

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Originally Posted by ChiefCurrahee

Collectors items are useless, if not having them is preventing you from just creating a new character and playing the game, then I don't think you really want to play.

I can understand the principle, but really get over it and give the game a go. I'm sorry you've had a bad experience thus far, but cowboy up and move on.

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I hear ya, but you say you understand the principle, but maybe you dont. If you pay for something, you should have it. If you bought the collectors edition, you understand its pretty sad to begin with. People pay for seemingly "useless" vanity items in mmo's all the time, because they want them. I could have put that extra money towards monthly fees or something, but I wanted my items.

In addition, this is an mmo. Things go wrong all the time. If this is the mind boggling approach to customer service I have to look forward to down the line when other stuff comes up, its not encouraging.

I'll second the notion the Collector's edition (and the various other 5,000,000 items you could get when starting the game...) are quite rubbish.

What's truly rubbish though is this support and management. You physically phoned in to the company and they basically said "sry bro, not my problem, but ill make a support ticket for you!" - Takes me back to when the system wasn't accepting my credit card on my account, but my girlfriends. Called in, got told it's most likely due to wrong address and CC won't work (Which, the account it worked on didn't have the correct info!) Then told after 1 attempt it's locked for 24 hours (Lord forbid people try to pay for their game or typo a number) and was told it was stuck being locked.

Customer Service is abysmal without even getting into in-game GMs. I would keep calling and asking for someone who can help you, as the amount of time you've waited to get something you paid for already is absurd.

Cheer up Buttercup :p

But I do agree with you in regards to SE's customer service it does need to improve

Longinus, every character you create on the user account you that has the CE edition will begin with the CE items in their inventory. So all you have to do is delete your current character slot from the accounts page (which you cant use anyway). Make a new character slot (this is all free due to your free month btw) once that's done , add the item codes to the account page also. Now any character you create on this user account will have the items right in the inventory regardless of how many you create or delete.

You could not add CE items to a Beta character so I have no idea why the SE guys were confused on that.....

The only thing that beta did was save the name,

you shouldnt even worry about the items lol they are useless the hermes boots only last 30 min and rechardge in a day besides archer gets swiftsong making the shoes usless and Onion helm? lol

Make a new character

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Originally Posted by Longinus

@$$

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You're allowed to cuss on the internet. It's not like we don't know what you're saying anyway...

Don't worry, we won't tell your Mom.

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Originally Posted by Longinus

Appreciate the offers of in game assistance, but I haven't been playing because a) the support page says the issue cant be fixed unless characters are deleted, and b) if they ever get around to attaching my items to the proper account, it seems I would have to delete the character to get them anyhow. I don't know if they will get around to this before my initial month is up and Im so put off by this initial introduction to the game.

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Long

All i can say is I had a similar experience

F**ck the items there crap past lvl 15 anyways !!!

So just create a char and get on the game. :)

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You could not add CE items to a Beta character so I have no idea why the SE guys were confused on that.....

The only thing that beta did was save the name,

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Tell that to my beta account that stole my items when I accidently put the codes in the wrong place !. I lost the lightning gloves and the onion helm and this was day 1. soooo.

Tbh though it was my own stupidity and tiredness :(

To get bonus items you need to enter the code in your SE Account page.
Because there is still no mail system ingame, only new created chars get the bonus item.
After you leveled all your classes past level 10 you can sell all your bonus items to a npc.

Honestly? I am a major SE fanboy (which I hate and have no reason to be) but customer service? SE is the single worst customer service I have ever experienced! I got hacked near launch, reported it and SE froze my account for 3 months. 3 months they froze my account to "investigate" (I did chase it up ALOT, like every week) they then gave me my account back and told me "we couldnt finish the investigation, here is a welcome back package" and it contained a few hundred thousand gil and some crystals......

True story

I agree cutsomer service isnt the best but this is user error like most. The CE item is only the onion helm and its tied to your account, any character you make after entering the code will have it. The hermes shoes, and the gloves from preordering ff13 on ps3 ARE NOT CE ITEMS. The shoes were from having an active ffxi account when making your ffxiv character and they cant be obtained anymore. If you deleted the character who had them you can never get them back.(not like they are worth having)

Hehe, my friend thought he had payed like 5 times before i said "il do it" 3 days ago from now, even though i said how he should do it, and its pretty easy to understand that register card registers your card and add new character adds a new character.

Btw did they seriously say this? xD
"SE: Nope sorry. There's a bunch of folks with similar issue waiting ahead of you. "

if they did, its worse than i thought.
a normal company would just say:
"Ok, wait a minute ...." One minute later "ok, there, ive put a new key to your account, it should work now, have a nice time playing."

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Originally Posted by JakeRoon

Longinus, every character you create on the user account you that has the CE edition will begin with the CE items in their inventory. So all you have to do is delete your current character slot from the accounts page (which you cant use anyway). Make a new character slot (this is all free due to your free month btw) once that's done , add the item codes to the account page also. Now any character you create on this user account will have the items right in the inventory regardless of how many you create or delete.

You could not add CE items to a Beta character so I have no idea why the SE guys were confused on that.....

The only thing that beta did was save the name,

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Appreciate the responses and Im tempted to try what you say, but Ive deleted and recreated the character several times. I read all about items being in inventory after character creation. They arent there. Ive tried re-entering the codes for my Onion helm and Asuran armguards several times, but every-time after the first it says the items are already used. So I dont know if I delete the account, then it may be final.

Someone said it was user error or stupidity on my part. Maybe, but if that's the case its due to piss poor instructions and a mind boggling account creation, management and item registration process, because I read and followed the instructions to the letter. I said from the first post, it appears that if you choose not to merge beta data, it creates another account instead of replacing the beta account data. So every code that you put in automatically goes to the beta account unless you understood there was a beta account, knew before hand to delete the beta account, or chose to merge it.

And if you now want to switch to that first account? Well as SE Cust service told me, "You would have to buy a new version of the game", because you cant access it until it has a game code. Why the hell are item codes registered to it if no valid game code is registered to it?

Or if as you suggest items cant be transferred from the beta account, then where are they, in the ether? Maybe we can just log into the account page and see where and what was registered right? Nope, that would make too much sense. They dont show you a history of item registration, or what account it was registered to, at least I cant find it.

SE knows what the issue is and Im sure its not unique to me or else they wouldn't have this http://support.na.square-enix.com/fa...2&la=1&ret=faq.

To the folks saying the items are useless, or useless past a certain point, thats fine. I already stated why its usefulness is beside the point. Plus there are a lot of different classes to level as I understand.

The reason that led me to post my rant is partly the missing items, but mostly it was after I was getting blank automated email responses from SE, had to create my umpteenth ticket and explain for the umpteenth time. Maybe it will serve as a cautionary tale to any future suckers who think of buying the collectors or who try to register items, or deal with customer service.

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Originally Posted by Longinus

So bought every FF game since 7, including 11 for a couple years. Im a sucker for FF games. Been following 14 and read all the bad stuff, but decided to give it a go. Build a pc that can run it and I buy the Collectors Edition. Second sucker move.

Anyhow, had a bunch of codes and put them in according to the instructions. Asks me if I want to transfer over beta stuff. Why the hell would I do that. I played the beta for exactly five minutes 2 years ago before uninstalling . So start the game and create character. No collectors items. Sigh. Go to the forums to ask a question in new players section. Says I cant login because I dont have a active account or character. Internet says recreate character. I try that twice. Nada.

Ok, no problem. Went to the customer support page and they have an article. Turns out that the codes could be attached to the $%^$#$ beta instead of the game I just bought because I chose not to transfer what I thought was useless beta info. What the @##$%!. Thank goodness there's a form for you to fill out to Retry Beta transfer.

Retry form instructions say to make sure you delete your character and the account with the character you want to transfer because they cant fix the issue if you have characters on the account. No prob. Very next day get a email from SE. Nice! Email says, "We have an answer to your problem,(Woot!) see below.......blank....... If you have anymore issues let us know". Um, what?

I reply and explain what the issue is again. Twice. Several days later, get another email from SE, "We hear you have an issue, please create a ticket so we can look into it for you." Huh? Already created two but oh well. Least they included a phone number this time. So create the ticket and call them up. On hold forever, explain to the rep whats been happening. He says seems items are attached to the beta game, yep.. like i figured when I submitted the redo transfer form a week ago. The solution he says? Create another ticket...*&@*$% #$@!!!!!

Me: So that retry beta transfer form I filled out a week ago, does that do anything?
SE Cust Service: Yea, dont know anything about that. All I can do is create another ticket.
Me: Any other solution to this thing? I paid alot for the collectors edition and my
free month is running out.
SE: Dont see how.....unless you buy another copy of the game and try transfer again.
Me: Hmm. Dont see that happening so any idea on when I can expect to hear
back from you guys on this thing? I already lost a week because the instructions said it cant be fixed unless all characters deleted.
SE: Nope sorry. There's a bunch of folks with similar issue waiting ahead of you. But you don't actually have to delete anything. You can create your character and keep playing just fine till we get to your ticket.
Me: Really? Nice! So they can add the items in later because I thought you had to create the character with them. Doesnt make sense if I have to delete my character again later.
SE : Sure they can add it later... Actually, hold on a minute.....yea, they cant add them in later soo...

Anyone want to take bets on if they get to this before my month is up? Ive been playing mmo's for a long time and Ive never seen such a puzzling approach to mmo creation and management. Why allow people to attach items from a full purchase game to a beta version without proper explanation then give them the option not to carry these items over? Doesnt the purchase usually take priority over the beta? Why arent these thing account wide? Obviously it keeps happening to people because they have support page article on it with a form because its not explained and horribly executed . Why have the retry transfer form if it does nothing? Whats so hard about adding in or transferring items once verified? Is it a coding issue? Do they have to make each individual item in Microsoft %$*#$!! paint first?

Oh, and all this time I couldnt post in the forums to ask questions because the forum couldnt verify that I have a character. The same character they told me to delete. So I create a character. Forum time right? Nope, three day wait for the system to locate it. And btw, every time I want to check if they fixed the issue, I have to delete and recreate the character to see if the items are there, so probably lose forum access again. Good Lord!

I read alot of negative things, but thought I may have issues with content, not character creation. Was ready to give this game go and even convinced two friends to do so with me. Im sure SE doesnt care, but they could have had three new customers but now I doubt they will even have one.

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Lost my asuran gloves because of that. Put the code after the character had been created.. Hope in the future, they could give back the items. Useless yes, but unique anyway.