GM's and Their Questionable Habits...

Before I begin, let me start by saying that I am posting on behalf of my better half. She is a nursing student and doesn't have a whole lot of time to play (keep this in mind) and doesn't frequent the forums (she gets her news from me and has been warned of all negativity we throw around in here). So let it be known that this is not a personal QQing thread.

Also, I do not wish to smear anyone at Square Enix, their employees, or any players. I post this because I want a better game and better service for everyone.

So, with that in mind, I will share my [girlfriend's] story.

So, my girlfriend, (in-game name) Adryad, and I play this game irregularly. I have more time to play than she does, being that she is a full-time student. The time we do play together we spend it with friends, accomplishing goals, and helping each other. She's not a power gamer, so she's just alright with playing the game and having fun with it. If there's an obstacle in her way that she's super passionate about, I embrace it because it's something in the game that she has found more than just a passing interest in.

This past week, we found ourselves in the projected path of Hurricane Sandy (for those wondering/worried, she hardly touched the part of Pennsylvania we live in). We, naturally, found ourselves with a lot of free time. We thought, "Why not spend this time grinding out the last bit of unobtainables we can feasibly get?" And so we did.

So around Eorzea we went. We farmed neglected NMs, walked in the Wanderer's Shadow, giggled at Hildebrand, and had a blast. Some things we had to let go, such as getting a win at Garuda (just really bad luck, for those that feel like laughing) among others. All around though, we counted down the last hours of the recorded game satisfied with our progress and waiting for A Realm Reborn with baited breath.

One of these things, the NMs, took a little maneuvering. As you may or may not know, some of these guys take a little extra oomph to take them down. With no static linkshell (getting back to the irregularity of our play times), we had to shout for help. That wasn't too hard; people were rushing about just like we were in order to get their unobtainables.

Now, we come to Haughtpox Bloatbelly. I took him down once before, and I was excited to tank him again for Addy's achievement. We gathered some people, which, for him, actually took much longer than expected. We head on out to him, caught him during the daylight, and took him down. It was a great time. As usual, we focused on his buddies before switching our attention to him. One by one, the gobbies fell, until finally, we were down to Ol' Bloaty himself.

He and I traded blows like old rivals. Addy zapped him good and our single white mage did a spectacular job and keeping me in the white nearly the entire time. Little by little his health bar dropped until, yes, it was gone. Everyone needed the kill in the party besides me. Some even had him as their twenty-fifth NM kill, and got two achievements. Nice job, everyone....

Except poor little Addy. I searched the log, hoping to take a screen capture of her achievement. But it wasn't to be found. She checked her list and saw that Bloaty was still unchecked. She logged out, back in, changed areas, even waited about an hour for the server to catch up. No dice. It wouldn't take.

Now, at this point, I am not surprised, nor am I angry. A little let down, I admit, but not any of the former. Games bug out, especially this one. No problem. I showed Addy how to contact an in-game Game Master to see if they could solve the issue. So, while the party dispersed after fighting the last of our quarry, we waited.

And waited.

No response. Finally, we got so tired (it was about four in the morning at this point) we just went to bed. The next day would be the final save. It was her last NM for the achievement. Where was the GM response? We hopped back on in the morning and she gave one more call. And so, we ran around and did more questing and such. And we waited.

And waited.

No response. We took matters into our own hands. We launched our final shouting campaign into Ul'dah. Through the spam of trolls selling Garuda wins for eight mil and people reminiscing over time spent in the game, we shouted. And, boy, were we nervous. If this was going to be as difficult to find people for as the previous evening, we were, by all accounts, very much screwed indeed.

It took a long time. And some begging bored friends. And camping our Friend Lists for people we whacked the Good King with a few days earlier. Finally, with the weight of Yoshi-P bearing down on us, we head out. Through the same process, and with many many fingers crossed, we deplete his health again. And Addy got the win.

Rejoice! Sound the trumpets! We beat the system!....but...Where were the GMs?

Turns out, a few days later they were Rick Rolling the kids in Ul'dah and trolling the players who were reading too deep into Kipih's columns.

For as invested into this game as I am and for how much I have loved this franchise since I was introduced to it, I was really disappointed, even betrayed, by this. The GMs were ignoring our calls when we really needed them and had enough gall to still mess around with the players afterward. (P.S. for anyone willing to doubt our claim, Addy got an automated "Rate your GM experience!" message.) I know the version is ending, but can we at least take it seriously?

TL;DR: In summation, with the reinvention of the game, I hope we reinvent some systems and public relations while we are at it. A bit more personal service would take this company a long way, and I mean that in earnest, not anger.

To a better Final Fantasy XIV,
Jivu Wolfasura (Wolfandre)

GMs usually respond on an availability basis. When your girlfriend called them, they may have been busy answering other calls.

This past week, when they were "Rick Rolling the kids in Ul'dah and trolling the players who were reading too deep into Kipih's columns.", since there's no save going, and there's a lot less people online, they're probably much less busy answering calls, and had time to (oh my god the travesty!) generate entertainment for those that were still logged in.

To put it down simply, I'm sorry, but I don't think the GMs behaved incorrectly or "questionably" here.

you don't think these were outstanding circumstances? that someone made the call to rate interaction with the player base before final save higher than GM calls about a NM that's easy enough to kill again?

i'm not trying to downplay your story or anything, but it seems a bit egocentric given the timing.

I really don't see it as a big deal. If your character was bugged or something that kept you from playing the game it probably would of been different. This is so minor, so why fuss over such a thing? I'm not trying to talk down to you but GM's were more than likely swamped with more important issues like maybe preparing for these past and upcoming days.

With all due respect, every interaction I've had with square is nothing but personal and helpful.

Idk it sucks that she didn't get the kill right away but if she got the achievement what's the problem?
And as far as the "Rick Rolling kids in Ul'dah" idk about everywhere else but that JUST happened today on my server.
So again what does that have to do with the bug you encountered?

Like everyone else is saying there was alot going on so waiting till the last minute wasn't a good idea to start with anywho

I am pretty sure I read that GM's don't deal with achievements or loot. Was like a year ago when I read a response on something to do with this. So it was very low priority and probably placed aside. Because as you said you did the kill again and she got it. What was so hard about that? And if it was a bug report like that they would of told you to post it on the forum anyways, or place a call on the support page. They don't deal with those things in game, they do deal with harassment or drastic problems on abuse on or by players.
Also pretty sure they would of told you if they did respond, Try the kill again and if it repeats then report it.
Sorry about the trouble but they don't have questionable habits as stated and known. the rickrolling and fun time GM's are for the no save game to give some livelyness in the event. I think its awesome to have live team's in game interacting with us.

As a nurse myself, I understand how busy she is. Keep up the good work, random guys girlfriend!

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Originally Posted by Rex

With all due respect, every interaction I've had with square is nothing but personal and helpful.

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Pretty much this D:, GMs have always been awesome with me when I've needed something that you could say was 'worthy of their attention', if you're in deep crap and need them they're there... but your situation was easily resolvable D:

They can't hold our hands through everything, there's simply not enough of them and their work keeps them extremely busy! Even now with the final save long gone I can bet that they still have a bunch of stuff to do(maybe not as much as usual, but still) yet are still making this event special for everyone.

A good rule of thumb in the future is if you think the situation can be resolved yourself, whether it's killing an NM again, running a dungeon once more to get a drop that was meant to fall to you etc then do it since GMs won't intervene unless it is something you absolutely cannot fix yourself (and even then there are some things they can't do).
I do sympathize with you and your ladyfriend though, it does suck when things like this come up, and I'm glad you were able to find a solution!


(As an endnote; Thanks GMs for your hard work! and Thank you to [SGM]s Jhanaka and Qeepel, I'm really enjoying my new home on ragnarok! -Irina)

I think the after-save behavior of the GMs is irrelevant. They were busy before save, and then before they got around to you, your issue was resolved. Now its after save and they aren't as busy.

Even if you could get a GM, they would probably apologize for the inconvenience and suggest you defeat the NM again, which is what you did.

Crisis averted.

I think you wasted more time and inconvenienced more people with this 1058-word post of yours.

The GMs are busy doing what they should be doing, making the game awesome!

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Originally Posted by Rex

With all due respect, every interaction I've had with square is nothing but personal and helpful.

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What universe do you live in lol.

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Originally Posted by Wolfandre

Through the spam of trolls selling Garuda wins for eight mil and ...

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Oh dear, I knew that would turn up somewhere, someday.

I think the GM's are generally really helpful WHEN THEY ACTUALLY RESPOND.

I never had this problem in XI, whenever I called a GM I received a somewhat prompt (within an hour) reply. XIV is a different matter entirely. I've had similar issues as you, and only once have I received a reply, which said "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do about it" (paraphrasing of course).

We're paying SE and we should expect a GM system that works. Your problem wasn't extremely severe, but what if someone was stuck in the landscape? Sure said person could teleport, but really GM's should be on hand to help.

If there's not enough, more should be hired. There's no excuse for sloppy customer service.

I disagree with the disdain on the GM's doing the events currently, however. They're doing a great job livening up this event, and I commend SE for that.

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Originally Posted by Wolfandre

Before I begin, let me start by saying that I am posting on behalf of my better half. She is a nursing student and doesn't have a whole lot of time to play (keep this in mind) and doesn't frequent the forums (she gets her news from me and has been warned of all negativity we throw around in here). So let it be known that this is not a personal QQing thread.

Also, I do not wish to smear anyone at Square Enix, their employees, or any players. I post this because I want a better game and better service for everyone.

So, with that in mind, I will share my [girlfriend's] story.

So, my girlfriend, (in-game name) Adryad, and I play this game irregularly. I have more time to play than she does, being that she is a full-time student. The time we do play together we spend it with friends, accomplishing goals, and helping each other. She's not a power gamer, so she's just alright with playing the game and having fun with it. If there's an obstacle in her way that she's super passionate about, I embrace it because it's something in the game that she has found more than just a passing interest in.

This past week, we found ourselves in the projected path of Hurricane Sandy (for those wondering/worried, she hardly touched the part of Pennsylvania we live in). We, naturally, found ourselves with a lot of free time. We thought, "Why not spend this time grinding out the last bit of unobtainables we can feasibly get?" And so we did.

So around Eorzea we went. We farmed neglected NMs, walked in the Wanderer's Shadow, giggled at Hildebrand, and had a blast. Some things we had to let go, such as getting a win at Garuda (just really bad luck, for those that feel like laughing) among others. All around though, we counted down the last hours of the recorded game satisfied with our progress and waiting for A Realm Reborn with baited breath.

One of these things, the NMs, took a little maneuvering. As you may or may not know, some of these guys take a little extra oomph to take them down. With no static linkshell (getting back to the irregularity of our play times), we had to shout for help. That wasn't too hard; people were rushing about just like we were in order to get their unobtainables.

Now, we come to Haughtpox Bloatbelly. I took him down once before, and I was excited to tank him again for Addy's achievement. We gathered some people, which, for him, actually took much longer than expected. We head on out to him, caught him during the daylight, and took him down. It was a great time. As usual, we focused on his buddies before switching our attention to him. One by one, the gobbies fell, until finally, we were down to Ol' Bloaty himself.

He and I traded blows like old rivals. Addy zapped him good and our single white mage did a spectacular job and keeping me in the white nearly the entire time. Little by little his health bar dropped until, yes, it was gone. Everyone needed the kill in the party besides me. Some even had him as their twenty-fifth NM kill, and got two achievements. Nice job, everyone....

Except poor little Addy. I searched the log, hoping to take a screen capture of her achievement. But it wasn't to be found. She checked her list and saw that Bloaty was still unchecked. She logged out, back in, changed areas, even waited about an hour for the server to catch up. No dice. It wouldn't take.

Now, at this point, I am not surprised, nor am I angry. A little let down, I admit, but not any of the former. Games bug out, especially this one. No problem. I showed Addy how to contact an in-game Game Master to see if they could solve the issue. So, while the party dispersed after fighting the last of our quarry, we waited.

And waited.

No response. Finally, we got so tired (it was about four in the morning at this point) we just went to bed. The next day would be the final save. It was her last NM for the achievement. Where was the GM response? We hopped back on in the morning and she gave one more call. And so, we ran around and did more questing and such. And we waited.

And waited.

No response. We took matters into our own hands. We launched our final shouting campaign into Ul'dah. Through the spam of trolls selling Garuda wins for eight mil and people reminiscing over time spent in the game, we shouted. And, boy, were we nervous. If this was going to be as difficult to find people for as the previous evening, we were, by all accounts, very much screwed indeed.

It took a long time. And some begging bored friends. And camping our Friend Lists for people we whacked the Good King with a few days earlier. Finally, with the weight of Yoshi-P bearing down on us, we head out. Through the same process, and with many many fingers crossed, we deplete his health again. And Addy got the win.

Rejoice! Sound the trumpets! We beat the system!....but...Where were the GMs?

Turns out, a few days later they were Rick Rolling the kids in Ul'dah and trolling the players who were reading too deep into Kipih's columns.

For as invested into this game as I am and for how much I have loved this franchise since I was introduced to it, I was really disappointed, even betrayed, by this. The GMs were ignoring our calls when we really needed them and had enough gall to still mess around with the players afterward. (P.S. for anyone willing to doubt our claim, Addy got an automated "Rate your GM experience!" message.) I know the version is ending, but can we at least take it seriously?

TL;DR: In summation, with the reinvention of the game, I hope we reinvent some systems and public relations while we are at it. A bit more personal service would take this company a long way, and I mean that in earnest, not anger.

To a better Final Fantasy XIV,
Jivu Wolfasura (Wolfandre)

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I don't think it would have mattered whether they answered or not. GMs have basically no power whatsoever. They have never been able to fix any of my problems.

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Originally Posted by Majidah

I don't think it would have mattered whether they answered or not. GMs have basically no power whatsoever. They have never been able to fix any of my problems.

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A response would still be nice.

This is nothing new. I don't think the GMs ignored you, I just don't think there -were- GMs at the time you called. I have heard of many people waiting 4hours+ and never getting a GM response, so my assumption is they probably only hire english GMs in cali, from 9-5pst or something.

The GMs in this game are really fun. And I think the main problem was that so few people played this game, they just couldn't afford a large GM team. In XI GMs nearly always responded in under an hour.

And don't worry so much, it is just an achievement. It's the memory that counts :]
People always forget that a game should be about fun :p not bragging rights ^^

The only time I ever called a GM, the guy was extremely helpful (although it took a bit for him to get back to me).

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Originally Posted by Azurymber

This is nothing new. I don't think the GMs ignored you, I just don't think there -were- GMs at the time you called. I have heard of many people waiting 4hours+ and never getting a GM response, so my assumption is they probably only hire english GMs in cali, from 9-5pst or something.

The GMs in this game are really fun. And I think the main problem was that so few people played this game, they just couldn't afford a large GM team. In XI GMs nearly always responded in under an hour.

And don't worry so much, it is just an achievement. It's the memory that counts :]
People always forget that a game should be about fun :p not bragging rights ^^

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Not only is it just an achievement, it's an achievement that's going away in a week because you got it after the last save. In other words, it doesn't matter either way.

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Originally Posted by Molly_Millions

Not only is it just an achievement, it's an achievement that's going away in a week because you got it after the last save. In other words, it doesn't matter either way.

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they were trying to get it -before- last save. they are just posting about it late.

I suppose I am a bit of a story-teller, so I apologize for the long post. I kind of get into the process, so to speak. The important bits were the very beginning, and the very last; I'm not angry or hating, I just feel like if I'm paying for a service, I should probably receive some. At least some (although I do agree, most of the time it's "Thanks for calling, sorry, can't help you!")

You're right, it was an easy thing to redo; it's not like I accidentally dropped a relic or I fell through Ul'dah. All I'm saying is that this was an easy easy thing to at least talk to us about. At the time, we kind of felt like waiting a total of 6+ hours (combined, with both calls) was a tad excessive without at least an automated response.

Sorry for not being clear on the purpose of the post, so I hope this helps.

One thing I've noticed, is if it isn't something game breaking (IE: You are trapped outside the playable game map) or serious (whatever SE deems that to be) you are going to be put on the back burner where your problem will just simmer away. The reason this will happen 90% of the time is because people are lazy, try to exploit, didn't check pre-requisites beforehand, etc. Not getting the kill achievment happens when you: 1. DC before the kill 2. Aren't in the zone where the NM is, or 3. Aren't in the claiming party.

So, instead of SE taking the time (spending the money) to address your problem they left it to you to figure out why it wasn't unlocked. Let's say the reason was you had 10 people helping, and he/she wasn't in the main group. Is it worth the time of a GM to tell you that? Is it something that is wrong with the game? A GM isn't meant to be there for moral support, or to talk you through a problem you are having. They are there to keep players in the game world, and to report/funnel trouble tickets for problems that occur with game coding (like your underwear disappearing after an update, etc.)

In rare/extreme circumstances they have the job to deal with disruptive/vulgar players and remove them from the game world (either temporarily or permanently). So while I agree that their support is lackluster... they are simply doing their job, and it is part of their job to filter out all the spam/redundant GM Calls.

(Grammatical Edits)

Just throwing this out here but is it possible you haven't unlocked that achievement category npc yet?

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Originally Posted by Kyri

Just throwing this out here but is it possible you haven't unlocked that achievement category npc yet?

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It was her last NM to be checked in the box, so she had to have had it. We went to unlock it together months and months ago.

But, again, it's more the principle rather than the scenario. I'm not butthurt about the NM kill. It was easy enough to do again (once we found willing souls to help), it was more the fact that we had to do it again after we had already completed it and found no help on the technical side.

If there were more important calls, I could understand, but for that long, on two separate calls and after she received the "Rate your experience!" e-mail (not to mention the after-save ridiculousness that makes me not want to log in)... I'm honestly just here to shed some light on an experience and to ask for support when it's needed. As you can see from the other comments in this thread, I'm not the only one it's happened to. I'm just making the biggest deal out of the whole thing.

Im sorry that happened to you both. Me and my husband have been furious about SE costumer service both from xi and xiv over the years. They could really work on this. Props to the XI team though, they seem a lot faster about responses then before but still cant get payments through for the life of me.

i think people still grossly overestimate just how much staff SE has had working on the 1.0 client over the last year.

stop comparing it to XI. that game had ~250-350k subs last i checked, while this one is probably around 40-50k and is a dead client. it's been a dead client since yoshi took over. they're remaking the game, and putting most of their resources toward that. you don't/didn't have to play this version, which they acknowledged was broken. why would they put many resources into it when they made it clear they know it's bad and its days are numbered?

and i think people also underestimate just how many stupid, inane, ultimately pointless calls GMs have to sift through. when you basically have a barebones crew trying to do that + work on keeping players entertained during their world-ending event, and they don't even have enough GMs to keep mobs coming on all servers at once...

get real, man. give the guys a break.

if the service is still lacking in 2.0, yeah, solid argument and it should be improved upon if they expect to make customers happy. but right now? come on.

I would like to add to this, although my experience wasn't so much an issue with the GM's, but with service as a whole.

A good friend of mine deactivated his account when SE started charging sub fees, since he didn't feel the game was ready for that at the time. A couple months later, I showed him the changes made to the game, and seeing them excited him enough to really want to play again. He reactivated his account in June, and the two of us had planned to go after all of the things we wouldn't be able to achieve come the end of 1.0.

There was just 1 problem -- he couldn't log in. We figured it was just an issue with reactivating his character. However, after being unable to log in for over week, we started looking into it. On his SE account management page, his character was listed as being located on Rabanastre, which had merged into Durandal. So we guessed there was an issue with merge. Mind you, this was 2 months AFTER the merge was supposed to be complete.

After weeks of talking to customer service and getting the same advice (reinstall game, reset modem, port forwarding, etc) over and over and over again, he took his issue to the forums to get some other advice, as clearly phone support wasn't listening to him:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...vating-account.

Weeks of trying to get this fixed turned into months, until finally, 30 days before the final save, he finally said #&%@ it and stopped calling. Keep in mind, for 4 months, he was paying for the game, unable to play, and no one would help him, even though he repeatedly called and had lots of tickets started. The generic email he received 2 months in, stating his issue had been fixed was a nice slap in the face, too.

So in the end, we have a guy who wanted to play, paid for 4 months, and not once in that time was he even allowed to login. He couldn't even get a goobbue mount.

GMs wont fix technical issues concerning in game hiccups. What they'll most likely do is give you directions to make a proper report for it.

However I think it would be nice to see GMs be more active, and more open to answer questions.

You didn't get a response because GM Calls only are for harassment, offensive names, RMT, and getting stuck in the game's geometry. They will not respond to you if your complaint isn't related to any of those issues. They also suggest where to go for other types of issues.

There is text that details all of this in the same window that allows you to call a GM. You should have actually read it before typing up such a needlessly wordy post.

There is even a forum dedicated to posting about bugs that moderators view and comment on, as well.

I agree that the GMs didn't behave inappropriately, but I'm very sorry this happened to your girlfriend. I know how angry I would be if I went for an achievement and it glitched out. Luckily, you were able to fix the problem yourselves before the final save!

And hats off to your GF for choosing to be a nurse! I know plenty of nursing students, and my mother is a nurse, so I know how hard they have to work (most students at my university have to have a near perfect GPA to get into the program).

FFXIV GMs are trophy GMs. They don't exist for any good reason. Also, your post could have been made in like one paragraph. Thanks for the blog, though.

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Originally Posted by fusional

i think people still grossly overestimate just how much staff SE has had working on the 1.0 client over the last year.

stop comparing it to XI. that game had ~250-350k subs last i checked, while this one is probably around 40-50k and is a dead client. it's been a dead client since yoshi took over. they're remaking the game, and putting most of their resources toward that. you don't/didn't have to play this version, which they acknowledged was broken. why would they put many resources into it when they made it clear they know it's bad and its days are numbered?

and i think people also underestimate just how many stupid, inane, ultimately pointless calls GMs have to sift through. when you basically have a barebones crew trying to do that + work on keeping players entertained during their world-ending event, and they don't even have enough GMs to keep mobs coming on all servers at once...

get real, man. give the guys a break.

if the service is still lacking in 2.0, yeah, solid argument and it should be improved upon if they expect to make customers happy. but right now? come on.

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Aww it's cute that we can't complain about shitty service. I mean lets face it if your internet goes down for a week are you saying "Awww those guys have it so hard. having to fix a whole grid or do you phone them and tell them to fix it, your paying for it even when its down(or crappy)

Yes I didn't -have- to pay but I wanted to and they were still charging me almost $40 a month so I think I deserve at the least GM's who can respond to me when it's needed. I glitched out on a quest on the last server day and called a gm. they never did come help me. i remain stuck in a room untill I was timed out and couldn't finish the quest. The GM letter I got hours later only told me to go to SE and email them my issue. lol needless to say I didn't finish that quest. I wasn't too upset but maybe a little salty. However I do feel I had a right to be a little salty.

Second off, ive been paying for these two services for 8 years. Anti XI to XIV aside, I think Ive gathered enough intel to know when it's unfair or justifiable.

Quote:
and i think people also underestimate just how many stupid, inane, ultimately pointless calls GMs have to sift through. when you basically have a barebones crew trying to do that + work on keeping players entertained during their world-ending event, and they don't even have enough GMs to keep mobs coming on all servers at once...

Third. Damn every other buisness in the world has to do this for it's own reasons and I never have to wait nearly as long as I have had to for SE. Imo, this is invalid. In XIV I have -never- had a gm call go through. just a note to go wait and call them.


Also, this isn't just -GM's- Gm's in XIV are like useless frustrating helpful tips that don't even do that right. I think this has to do with Square Enix customer service in a whole.

Though I wanted to reply to this I would also like to add I am -happy- with SE both xi or xiv or I wouldn't pay for them. however I do have a right to complain when my cheeseburger doesn't come back with no burger patty.