Deceptive reward scheme

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Everyone seems to ignore my last line, but this is what my message was all about. If Square-Enix were sincere in providing this reward as a gift, they wouldn't have made such a fuss about re-issuing the Fantasia. To be clear, Fantasia is an out-of-game tool intended to enhance the player's in-game experience. I did not receive any enhancement to my in-game experience, but I did receive a boatload of frustration. ("Go purchase another one!") tells me this whole Fantasia mess is about promoting the game's accessory business. That's where this starts to look like a sham. If the genuine intent was to enhance my in-game experience with this reward, then it should be a no-brainer to forward another one. Case closed.

I don't have anything against the Moogle Shop. I've used it. I never thought anything bad of it. However, the handling of this matter has really soured the game for me, and scorched my image of the company.

I read your entire message dude, I can say I did not ignore your Last Line. But, I am confused where you heard or have the idea that a Fantasia is meant to "Enhance Your Experience" The items use to to change your Race, its gender, and/or other details of your character from tattoos, to Skin tone, and eye color or eyebrow shape, even the tail depending on your chosen race. The only thing you can change without a Fantasia in game, is your Hairstyle and its color.
Again, your expecting SE to give you another Fantasia because you made a mistake, they are not obligated to do so because you made an error.
It doesn't reflect badly on them for not giving you a 2nd freebie because you wasted the 1st one; by accident as it sounds.

[Iscah]

Everyone seems to ignore my last line, but this is what my message was all about. If Square-Enix were sincere in providing this reward as a gift, they wouldn't have made such a fuss about re-issuing the Fantasia. To be clear, Fantasia is an out-of-game tool intended to enhance the player's in-game experience. I did not receive any enhancement to my in-game experience

You are misunderstanding the extent of what SE is obliged to do for you.

Yes they are sincere about gifting you a Fantasia, which gives you an opportunity to edit your character appearance.

You used the opportunity. As far as they are concerned, according to their system, their gift to you has been received and used.

They are not obliged to give you another one because you didn't use it to the full extent of its potential.

[LianaThorne]

snip

1. No one is maiming you, we're giving you criticism. Also this is a public forum so posting anything on here opens the door for other people to comment. Square told you to post in here because that's all they can do for you but you're not going to earn any sympathy from those on here by coming at us. If posts on here grow large enough, Square may consider making changes. The end.

2. If there wasn't an Appearance section in your menu (which I highly doubt but sure, let's go with it), you should have taken screenshots of your entire process to send to staff. If it was a legit bug and you had proof of that, they'd probably be more lenient in giving you a replacement. They're not just going to give you something and believe you just based off word of mouth and no company is obligated to operate like that either.

3. If you were confused on the Fantasia process, what stopped you from looking up a guide on YouTube or Google in the first place? It's not exactly rocket science, if you don't know something in life you look it up.

4. If you think paying for character customization is a scam, please do yourself a favor and stop playing MMOs and new-gen games. Most come packed full of microtransactions now, some literally forcing you to pay to even progress in the game in general. Square charging $7 for you to change every single detail about your character isn't that bad. If $7 is going to break your bank or make you feel this insulted, you might want to re-evaluate your priorities in life.

5. If $7 and them wanting you to be accountable for your own actions is going to ruin your view of a company you supported for 30 years, then that's your choice. Go for it. Just don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[Reinha]

Fantasias are not refunded or replaced, ever. Doing so would be unfair to every other customer who made a mistake whilst using it. Things don't always look the same in game as they do in the character creation screen and many players have felt small regrets after using their potion. Letting you get a fantasia for free because you weren't happy with the result would open the door for thousands of tickets saying they picked the wrong tail or voice or height or skin tone. They could simply claim they accidentally finished editing their appearance before checking all the options, as you did.

The rules are clear. You get one freebie. What you do with it is up to you.

[Jin-]

No, there is only one free fantasia given as a quest reward in the game.

Hmm really? I was so sure you get one from 2.1-2.55? Maybe my memory tricks me, it tends to do that a lot nowadays

[Rinhi]

Hmm really? I was so sure you get one from 2.1-2.55? Maybe my memory tricks me, it tends to do that a lot nowadays

you're probably thinking of the collectors edition this poster talked about, I started with shb and only got one at the end of the arr msq

I believe the Heavensward's one came with the collector edition, if I remember right.

[Genz]

Here you'll mainly find fanboys who'll gladly lose 100$ to SE, but would behave like you if they lost 5$ to a random shop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The game should be able to detect if no change has been done to the character when using a fantasia, or show a summary of the changes before confirmation.

[Saefinn]

"I messed up and want to blame someone else for it."

It's fine that OP made a mistake, everyone does sometimes. But to suggest that how to change your appearance is misleading, when it isn't even the first time that you used a fantasia, is pretty odd. And then all this waffle about being a customer for so many years...God it brings me back to the days of working in retail. "No sir, you buying your entire kitchen here does not change the fact that breaking your laptop screen by sitting on it isn't covered by warranty."

This is what it reminds me of too. I used to work customer complaints in a call center.

snip

I didn't ignore your last point. So you missed the points I raised. But I will elaborate on the relevant ones here.

It's not to get maimed by players, but it is a public forum, which means your feedback can be critcised by other players. But the forums is probably the best place to give feedback. You disagree with their policy and procedure, they're not gonna change it for one person. So it is a reasonable suggestion because when a company has this many customers, it takes many customers to be unhappy with something for something to change.

The people you dealt with are probably not allowed to do more. If you're dealing with customer service people who are that adamant about not giving you one probably means they're not allow to according to policy. They won't act against policy because they don't want to get into trouble. Normally in a company of that size (as I used to work for one) if you want policy change then enough people have to complain about it.

The second point is that they're not here to cover up your mistakes. A system that allows them to is open for abuse and all customers have to be handled to the same standard...at least is the aim. I say 'aim' because you are still dealing with humans who're subject to error, which is why if you think something has been done in error you can contest it. If after contesting it the decision remains the same, chances are that it wasn't in error.

People who want to snag a freebie can put on really convincing cases, I've dealt with customers who do exactly that and they are good at it.

Not saying that /you/ are, but same standards have got to apply to you and the next guy. Even that said, you made an error and it doesn't entitle you to a freebie. It sucks, but you can treat is as a lesson in caution and reading descriptions and double checking if you're unsure than taking things for granted. No company is expected to give you free stuff because you made a mistake, some might because it keeps you sweet, but you should have no expectation of it.

On the point of whether it was there or not, this is what you would have seen:

Here you'll mainly find fanboys who'll gladly lose 100$ to SE, but would behave like you if they lost 5$ to a random shop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The game should be able to detect if no change has been done to the character when using a fantasia, or show a summary of the changes before confirmation.

Not really. I post criticism of stuff SE have done fairly regularly here. I have no qualms about criticising them where I think they've done wrong. This forum is full of criticism, because often or not the forums are where people go to complain. But people don't always agree with those complaints or believe they have merit.

But I just don't have this view of self-entitlement when it comes to a mistake I've made and pass the blame or responsibility onto somebody else. If I lost $5 to my own error (and I have) then I would not make it somebody else's problem. $5 is not a terrible price to pay for a mistake you've made. I also have the experience of the other side to have an insight. People often think they're entitled to more than they actually are, hence we see "Karen" and "Kyle" memes all the time when people take that belief to crazy levels.

The summary of changes is seeing what your character looks like and the picture I showed above. Then you have a confirmation that asks if you're happy with these changes.

[LianaThorne]

Here you'll mainly find fanboys who'll gladly lose 100$ to SE, but would behave like you if they lost 5$ to a random shop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The game should be able to detect if no change has been done to the character when using a fantasia, or show a summary of the changes before confirmation.

Hiya, I'm a whale. Nice to meet you.
The simple solution is to not have Square hold your hand through using Fantasia and to just look it up on Google if you're confused, or use common sense to know that the Appearance section in that menu would affect what your character looks like. If it wasn't there, then looking up on Google what it SHOULD look like would have strengthened their argument to staff as it would have been a bug issue and their fault for the Fantasia being wasted. Like, not doing any research and making assumptions that Square is just out to screw you over because you made a mistake is ridiculous and just passing the blame to someone else rather than being accountable for the fact that your assumptions about how it worked were wrong.

[NickStinger]

Before I sign off for today...

1) I'm not gaming the system for a re-do. I'm trying to get a first-do (technicalities aside).

2) Why does the Fantasia editor allow players to exit easily without making any changes? This would be a total disaster if I actually paid for it.

3) Why doesn't the final dialog say that you are exiting Fantasia instead of having a discussion about your hair?

4) Yes Fantasia was gift and there is no obligation on Square-Enix's part, but I find it rather disingenuous to not re-issue the Fantasia in my particular case. There is no cost to re-issue a virtual item, except unrealized revenue. The only way I can make that part work in my favor is to never buy anything again. I don't enjoy that idea. I want to get perks and more retainers someday, but if unrealized revenue is their reason for giving me this disappointing level of support, then what else can I do? In general, its not a good idea to spend money with businesses that don't support their customers.

5) Don't put my case into the same bucket as the other 10,000 cases that want Fantasia. I'm sure some are like mine, but not the majority. Square-Enix wouldn't have to re-issue Fantasia to 10,000 customers. Especially if the Appearance button is as exceedingly obvious as everyone says it is. Forgive my blind-sightedness.

6) People are trying to say I need to take responsibility. I'm not trying to play a blame game, even though I've finally succumbed to making UI complaints. What I'm trying to get is some support, regardless of where the blame lies. Sadly, too many tech companies don't know how to do that these days.