Some major issues already

[iibukii]

I've been looking for an MMO that hit the spot for a while and with the time that I could play this was it. I am not cancelling my preorder or threatening to, but I most certainly will not pay after my free month is up if there is still issues F2P MMO's do not have. I know that some games haven't had great launches but the start of something can make it or break it. With the amount of preorders I've seen cancelled in this forum over the early access I'm concerned.

With that said, here's some issues I've found this far:

No forum moderator presence
- A lot of users complain because there's no one answering them. Hire some people, color their names in the forums and give them access to move/delete/lock threads. Give them plenty of information so they can address issues. This is vital because consumers these days want to be heard when they voice their opinion. They're also good for SE because they can relay what the community wants too.
I personally feel this is one of the most important things because how else are you going to keep consumers happy? The game will have issues at some point, even if it's just one guy who has them. Having a larger team of mods at the start would be ideal too. All these people cancelling preorders could have been talked out of it by a colored name explaining that their issue was being addressed and will be fixed at some point in the near future - mods in this case could have kept a lot of revenue.

Bad server load management
- As you all know, the server management is poor. Error after error, unable to create characters and so on. I'm not an expert on this stuff but even I know this is unacceptable. I would assume they have a sales team, the sales team should approximately know the amount of copies purchased and the people who run the servers should prepare as such. This also ties into..

No auto logout on AFK
- From what I understood you didn't need to stand idle to run a shop or do anything important. People can't login because people won't logout and the vicious cycle continues. It's what we all assume is the cause of the above.

Account issues
- Aside from all these other issues, making your account is way more difficult than it should actually be. I'm lucky and was ahead of the pack but for those of you who did make it during open beta or around that time experienced some severe issues (I had a few friends who had half-created accounts in limbo until they implemented a fix for it). The most recent issue is also posted, this makes me feel it's very disorganized.

There's all the issues that I can find pressing so far, it's not a QQ party because as I said this game is great and I really hope it doesn't fail. I hope they're willing to fix all of these issues or atleast address them somehow so that everyone can enjoy it and people who jumped the gun on cancelling their preorders feel bad.

[Wraithwin]

You can't see it, but I'm nodding my head at your post.

But I can assure you this: There are forum moderators.
They're just hiding, presumably because they weren't paid enough to deal with this.
I know this, because only someone with mod status could delete a 20+ page thread I was keeping up on.
(and doubtlessly other "petition" threads)

[Casual]

I know this is going to sound weird, it did to me when I first heard it...but I've heard this on a number of occasions.

From what I understand, JP companies don't concern themselves with the happiness of their customers because in Japan, big companies like SE and Nintendo are thought of like these amazing, untouchable deities that can do no wrong...so consumers just bend over backwards to give them support and never complain because the big company was the creator of this wonderful product and should be treated with respect.

It's a completely different mindset than in NA/EU...where we demand satisfaction in return for our hard earned money. So SE just doesnt know how, or probably care to know how to deal with all this negativity.

Now, I don't know this to be 100% accurate, I've never been to Japan, but I've heard this from some people from Japan, and if you think about it, it makes sense...the JP companies continue to thrive even after they start releasing terrible products because the JP market continues to support them.

[iibukii]

It should be different when it's an MMO though even if the company is Japanese. Unless you have specifically released the game to Japan only - you are catering to the whole world at that point. You would think they'd want to aswell because it can only gain them money by doing so. I hope this isn't the case and they'll prove the people that speculate this wrong because if it is true.. I don't even know. They could hire NA/EU mods because I would think SE had an office in NA/EU somewhere .. maybe? (correct me if I'm wrong here)

Also mods should quit being hidden. I hope they read this post and understand. There'll be nothing but benefits - I also hope that the mods are dedicated mods and not a programmer who does a bit of forum reading on the side. If they're getting paid to mod, they can start interacting with the community rather than being lurkers and stealth deleting threads/posts. Dealing with angry/asshole customers is part of running a business. Even if you are selling the best product in the world someone will be terrible about it and it's all about training people how to handle it correctly and ensuring you keep a customer if you can.

[pretzdothack]

There are mods, but like said earlier. They're hiding. Whether they don't have answers, or they feel bad for us idk. They're there though, deleted threads. Well worded thread, and I whole-heartedly support you! Good luck.

[iibukii]

Thanks, I hope they do something about it honestly. There's a lot of angry customers. I still feel like a few moderators posting 24/7 in technical support on launch would do nothing but help even if all they did was write, 'we're currently working on the problem, stay tuned' or something. Then users could know they were being listened to.

[Wraithwin]

Indeed. Appearance is everything, and right now, they appear to not care in the least.

You're totally right - something as simple as someone saying:
"We're sorry things aren't working - we're trying to get them up and running. We'll let you know as soon as we do!"
Despite being a cop-out response, it would still probably cut down bitter posts by at least 30%.

EDIT: For a company founded in an honor-rich society, this lack of accountability is baffling.

[Casual]

It should be different when it's an MMO though even if the company is Japanese. Unless you have specifically released the game to Japan only - you are catering to the whole world at that point. You would think they'd want to aswell because it can only gain them money by doing so. I hope this isn't the case and they'll prove the people that speculate this wrong because if it is true.. I don't even know. They could hire NA/EU mods because I would think SE had an office in NA/EU somewhere .. maybe? (correct me if I'm wrong here)

Also mods should quit being hidden. I hope they read this post and understand. There'll be nothing but benefits - I also hope that the mods are dedicated mods and not a programmer who does a bit of forum reading on the side. If they're getting paid to mod, they can start interacting with the community rather than being lurkers and stealth deleting threads/posts. Dealing with angry/asshole customers is part of running a business. Even if you are selling the best product in the world someone will be terrible about it and it's all about training people how to handle it correctly and ensuring you keep a customer if you can.

Oh I agree totally...it SHOULD be different. I'm just noticing that it's.....not.