So when does SE plan to credit our accounts for the multiple ongoing service issues?

[Mandudez]

Every single other service that I have ever paid for in my life would have been crediting my account long ago if there were such frequent interruptions in that service until the issue(s) were 100% resolved. I find it completely unacceptable that all we have gotten are apology blog posts and posts simply stating if the issue is currently ongoing or has stopped for the time being. We pay premium prices across the board for everything in this MMO from the base game and expansions, to subscription price, mog station items, and other physical merchandise. This has been an on and off issue now for five months.

My suggestion would be to please consider lowering the subscription prices if you can no longer guarantee the same level of server stability as pre-stormblood had.

[Bacent]

Or keep the sub the same, give everyone a retainer.

[Arrius]

Those issues are not on the fault of their side if you refer about the interruptions regarding the DDoS attack.

They could show a sign of goodwill and throw a us a bone about it, but they owe us nothing.

[kikix12]

Those issues are not on the fault of their side if you refer about the interruptions regarding the DDoS attack.

They could show a sign of goodwill and throw a us a bone about it, but they owe us nothing.

Yes and no. It's not on their side as far as DDoS goes. They can only work to mitigate it, but it's not possible to completely deal with it, true.

However, it's entirely based on contract and law in whatever country the occurrence takes place. A paid service, if interrupted, may be obligated to compensate the person by it. For example, if your network won't work for 15 out of 30 days because a hurricane destroyed the cables, you don't need to pay for the 15 days that you did not have the network, and thus your monthly bill would be reduced by half. Well, in some countries.

Basically, you pay only for the days when you CAN make use of the service without interruptions (whether or not you actually do is irrelevant here), with the exception of times that are contractually void of service (like, in this case, maintenance). Unforeseen circumstances cannot be contracted.

The company in question could, of course, try for recompense of their own if the "unforeseen circumstances" were caused by another person, or they could try to get a dotation from the country if it was a natural calamity, but that is another thing entirely.

As I said, it is dependent both of the actual contract and law, and those vary from place to place. In practice, most people wouldn't (and honestly...shouldn't) even bother with smaller or larger interruptions. The likelihood of being reimbursed is pretty low, really. I mean, law enforcers aren't very well known for understanding that what is "small" to them may be majority of the "free" budget of the person in question, and being "objective" is a myth as far as courts go. Besides, one would probably lose much more money on the random costs like transportation than get from the favorable outcome of a case (if it was favorable in the first place).
However, theory is one and practice is another. You said that Square Enix doesn't "own" anything. That's a theory. And it is possibly incorrect. It may very well owe to some of the player base, but not to others.

Well, in case that it's the ISP's issue entirely...Square Enix have nothing to do with it, however. The ISP may be liable instead.

[ManuelBravo]

Yes and no. It's not on their side as far as DDoS goes. They can only work to mitigate it, but it's not possible to completely deal with it, true...,.

See terms of use. Technically it's not an issue being it is accessible and DC are cause of server congestion. I personally haven't had a single problem logging in or staying logged in, neither has a few of my friends being in different servers. Hate to tell you this but there are a lot of factors in which SE is not responsible for trolls out there. Sure if they can make an article about it would be nice, however it does not seem there are enough players having that issue to really make it a big deal.

[kikix12]

See terms of use.

See, this little part is extremely irritating to read. Do you know why?! Because it's absolutely wrong, in a lot of cases.

If in the terms of service they wrote that you have to kill a kitten every time you want to log on, would you?! Heck, could you?! Would they be able to deny you service if you fulfilled the requirements otherwise?! If even one answer is different than 'no' for someone, then that person would need to see a specialist. And probably their local prosecutor if it would be for the first one...animal abuse is illegal in a lot of places of the world.

If a clause in any contract (terms of service included) goes against the letter of the law, it is invalid. They can write anything and everything they want in terms of service. More, I'll tell you this. Many publishers of MMO's, especially F2P ones, KNOWINGLY and PURPOSEFULLY add clauses that are invalid (the "you will not take X to court" variation being the prime culprit), just cause it will stop people that don't know the law, while it won't really hurt them against those that do.

If a law would obligate them to pay compensation, even if it is one of the things they wrote about in terms of service as exceptions, they will need to pay compensation if taken to court. Simple as that. The clause being in terms of service would be absolutely no argument at all and bringing it up could actually lead to a fine, instead of help their cause.

However, as I said, this is LAW DEPENDENT, and it does NOT apply to all people, as the laws where they live apply, not the law where the servers are, where Square Enix is located or anything else on their side. And some countries offer more pro-consumer laws than others.

It also does not apply at all, anywhere, if the issue is entirely on the ISP or any other middleman. How many people are affected or are not affected doesn't matter, only the source of the cause.

All in all...unless there would be many people gathering up for a group law suit, this is all moot, because practice shows that the losses, even on a won case, would absolutely not exceed gains when the matter is over such amounts as are brought up here (monthly subscription).


Now, don't get me wrong. I am neither telling anyone to go to court or anything of the sort. I am merely trying to inform you of the reality as it is seen by law, not by personal feelings of what is right or wrong. Cause law not always follows what one would call "common sense". And sometimes, like in this case, for a very good reason. You wouldn't want people literally sold into slavery just cause they ended up signing a contract that would enslave them, would you?! That's why law needs to trump over personal contracts, even if at times, it causes a completely innocent party to pay the price.

[ManuelBravo]

See, this little part is extremely irritating to read. Do you know why?! Because it's absolutely wrong, in a lot of cases....

.

Their is a reason why it's call a business and all business know what may and will most likely happen specially online. For example; if it's a recurring charge until canceled and it specifically states that on their agreement just because the consumers have better things to do and refuse to balance their checkbook like responsible people, take the time to cancel properly, and still complain, why should a company pay for it? 2 years, 3 years, and then expect the company to give them a refund just because they didn't log in and use their service? being an online service this things are predictable and have and will most likely continue to happen. IF people can't say OK I read the contract, it's their rules, I ACCEPT TO THE TERMS and want to play is considered a matter a choice. IF the company feels it has effected enough people they may actually offer some type of compensation of their free will just like when their is a natural disaster. I mean it could be worse, at least their not Apple.

[Tsumdere]

This has been repeated ad nauseam - the server issues are not the FFXIV servers. It is their provider who is being hit with DDoS attacks.

[Kisagami]

I can see their point though. Many other games give small items in exchange for unexpected downtime. They could do something small like throw us some silver chocobo feathers or another form of compensation. Nothing too major, but something considering that it takes play time from people who may not be able to play a lot due to having a RL.

[Lazaruz]

I can see their point though. Many other games give small items in exchange for unexpected downtime. They could do something small like throw us some silver chocobo feathers or another form of compensation. Nothing too major, but something considering that it takes play time from people who may not be able to play a lot due to having a RL.

While I can see your point about them throwing us a bone with something like the silver chocobo feathers, I actually genuinely think that not only does SE not owe us a thing (as the service interruptions are not on their part), but they shouldnt throw us a bone to begin with, as while it may not be in the way intended, it'd still make the example to people like the ones DDoS'ing the servers (for whatever reason) that such tactics work to get things your way.

It's a incredibly risky thing to allow as it entices people doing things like this again whenever SE does something that upsets people