Expectations of paying customers

**SolArisa** · 01-08-2012 04:25 PM

Open letter to Square Enix

Hello,

being a paying customer now brings one major change for us. We are no longer rewarded by being allowed to play for free in exchange for helping Square Enix to make this game successful and their investors happy.

Instead, we are now paying for a good service. And we expect Square Enix in general, and Yoshi-P in particular, to deliver a certain minimum here. Most important issues:

- Square Enix has the nerve to sell the game in many countries, but offers the customers there no way of paying the service fees, because neither Crysta nor C&B supports their home country, thus locking them out. Example: Israel. Square Enix had 22 months until now to address and fix the basic billing issues, but now improvements were being made. Instead, the SE support starts massive finger pointing to Click&Buy. Dear SE, we are your customers, not those of C&B. YOU are our single point of contact. We expect YOU to fix this, nobody else.

If this problem persists in a week, we may feel no other choice than to escalate this outside of those forums to the SE customer complaint department and top level management. You should be aware that selling a product like FF XIV and not offering the service after you accepted the underlying contract by doing this, violates competitive law in most countries and I am sure that /poking a top level manager to this issue would help resolving the problem a lot faster. So I highly suggest that this escalation should be performed by the regular customer support within company limits as soon as possible.

- Until now, we were used to spending hour after hour being bored in the game, because of the lack of new content and the existing content of the latest patch not having much longevity. Patch 1.20 is the best example - only one relevant content for level 50 (King Moogle) being added, old existing content like the raids, NM tiers, or strongholds not being expanded in any way, still no level caps for low-level content to make this content enjoyable or whatever, and the new content being made even easier with patch 1.20a and obsolete after another week.
If you do not have the resources for generating new content before old one is being obsoleted, then make the new content last longer. Sorry, but this is YOUR problem now, and not ours anymore. Our expectation as paying customers is now that we're not having to pay to be bored. Yoshi-P, with all due respect, we expect you to keep us busy day for day starting with the next patch. Perhaps it would help if you ask your co-workers who know FF XI a lot instead just eyeing to games you know yourself as a player; I recommend asking them about things like "Dynamis", "Nyzul Isle", "MMM", "Einherjar" or "Limbus" before they got destroyed by the Abyssea expansion.

- We expect a good customer service from now on. When we have a problem, we expect being helped. The usual sentences from first level support like "This is not our problem" is no longer accepted, because we pay you to enable us to play. Perhaps this 1st level support attitude works in Japan, but surely not where I live.

Long story short: We pay you for keeping us happy, day by day. Now start working on designing and implementing this, please. And please stop feeding us with promises how cool and nice FF XIV may be in a year - we already heard this 2 years ago, and we do not want you to repeat this.

Thank you,

Sol, on behalf of our linkshell

**Bucho** · 01-08-2012 11:09 PM

I just wanted to point out something here, as i know differences will apply with what type of gamer you ask, and i agree with 99% of the above post, however i think abyssea saved FFXI, the game became much more fun after that point, and i got around 10 more people to come play it, dynamis however was not fun, but a 2 hour long boring night, 3 nights a week, to get most likely nothing as the original drop rates were horrible.

People will argue the point, "It makes you feel accomplished to finally get something after waiting so long," so ill say straight up:

No it doesnt, those 1% of gamers who actually believe this statement, are the reason FFXI never was as popular as other MMORPG, and is also why it has been said it was "one of the hardest" to play, with LONG experience gains to each level, on level enemies that you cant solo, etc.

I also do not want them to say well, abyssea or dynamis worked in FFXI lets put that in XIV, but i do agree there should be a lot more to do, i made a post yesterday about there not being enough quests, like seriously 4 quests every 5 levels doesnt cut it.

**Razzle** · 01-09-2012 01:43 AM

I support every single word of this letter.
I hope it gets passed to the developers and other who has a hand on this issue.

**P_Subfocus** · 01-10-2012 05:24 AM

Coming from a programmer, I know full well the difficulty of the tasks these teams are working on. FFXIV had a disastrous launch and the game just wasn't what it should have been and they know this. Yoshi-P is a very ambitious man, and his team just as so trying to meet the demands of the users. Not many games have gotten to this point and still survived. Not to mention this man and the teams working on FFXIV are basically completely redesigning the game. Give it time. What I suspect they're doing at the moment is keeping the current version of the game playable for us while slowly updating it to show us what will be in 2.0. Once 2.0 launches, your jaw will probably drop. By the way, I'll have you know that this is $10.00 not $15.00 a month. Not to mention the community is a lot better here, so many friendly people and you get to experience playing with people from different nations (Usually games have separate servers for different nations). I can see why they decided to start billing, and I completely agree. FFXIV is no small game, it takes money to keep it all going. If we want Yoshi-P and his team to finally create the game we thought FFXIV would be, we won't complain about paying $10 a month.

**Reinheart** · 01-10-2012 06:20 AM

Fix the payment for those that want to actually pay and play... this should be the accounting teams top priority to be taken care of ASAP. Like others said on other threads they had enough time to look into this and this has NOTHING to do with FFXIV's flaws/system as it goes through the main Square-Enix accounts page.
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Better GM/Special Task Force support - We report the bad guys we expect you to investigate and take care of them as quickly as possible, not 5 month later or never. Don't really affect the current game now so don't really care but this kind of support shows how good the GM or Special Task Force is doing even now.
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Reporting the progress of 2.0
No I don't mean showing us one screen shot of jobs, male Miqote and stuff like that (it's nice though lol). Let us know if your 2.0 road map is going as planned thus far. Would be nice if you can show actual progress of 2.0 in visuals but not required. I just want to make sure the money I'm paying is being used well to support YoshiP and the dev team/ management team in making this 2.0 happen.
I know some will say that this information doesn't benefit the players, sure... but I for one are here paying and playing the game because I trust the dev team and I want to make sure 2.0 does happen and to make sure this is going on I don't think it's too much to ask to get current status report on 2.0
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As for more content stuff people are asking, would be nice for sure but if developing one content for 1.0 (current) is hard to work on while making sure the system works for 2.0 is a hassle I can wait a little more for new contents. I just wish they can find a way to change the current server program so they can allow smaller groups to participate in primal/raid (DH) I'm sure it's possible in 2.0 but I'm talking about current server program.

**JillianNekonia** · 01-11-2012 11:32 AM

I live in Germany and I bought Crysta through Pay pal the option is there if you read it...

**MicahZerrshia** · 01-11-2012 11:39 AM

here we go again...

**Zantetsuken** · 01-12-2012 04:16 AM

Seems like a good place to post this:

Open letter to HBO

Hello,

The end of my free trial period of your channel brings a change to me. I am no longer rewarded by being allowed to watch your shows for free in exchange for helping HBO to make their shows successful and their investors happy.

Instead, I am now paying for a good service. And I expect HBO in general, and its CEO in particular, to deliver a certain minimum here. Most important issues:

- HBO has the nerve to advertise its channel and shows via the internet which is available in many countries, but offers the customers there no way of paying the service fees, because of the limited options for cable and satellite providers. Instead, HBO support starts massive finger pointing to the fact that they have no providers in the area. Dear HBO, We your customers, not those of cable providers. YOU are our single point of contact. I expect YOU to fix this, nobody else.

If this problem persists in a week, I may feel no other choice than to escalate this outside of those forums to the HBO customer complaint department and top level management. You should be aware that producing a show like 'Game of Thrones' and not offering the service to me, I hope violates a law in some country and I am sure that /poking a top level manager to this issue would help resolving the problem a lot faster. So I highly suggest that this escalation should be performed by the regular customer support within company limits as soon as possible.

- Until now, I was used to spending hour after hour being bored of the replays of episodes of your shows, because of the lack of new episodes and the content of the existing episodes not having much re-watchability. 'True Blood' is the best example - vampires have been done to death and I feel like the episodes are all about stuff I've seen before. I simply can't be expected to watch the same few episodes over and over again waiting for the next episode to be released. Its BORING.
If you do not have the resources for creating new episodes before I become bored with the last one, then make each episode more interesting and re-watchable. Sorry, but this is YOUR problem now, and not mine anymore. My expectation as a paying customer is now that I am not having to pay to be bored. Mr CEO, with all due respect, I expect you to keep me entertained day for day starting with the next episode of each of your shows. Perhaps it would help if you ask your production teams who have made good shows in the past a lot instead just eyeing to shows you know yourself as a viewer; I recommend asking them about things like "Band of Brothers", "Deadwood", "Oz", "Six Feet Under" or even "The Sopranos" before it got destroyed by the final episode.

- I expect a good customer service from now on. When we have a problem, we expect being helped. The usual sentences from first level support like "This is not our problem" is no longer accepted, because we pay you to enable us to play. Perhaps this 1st level support attitude works in the developed world, but surely not where I live.

Long story short: I pay you to keep me happy, day by day. Now start working on designing and implementing my ideas, please. And please stop showing me promos of how cool and nice your future shows will be - I've already seen this 2 years ago, and we do not want you to repeat this.

Thank you,

ME.

**Catapult** · 01-13-2012 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by JillianNekonia