GM Spada says Hi again! and wants to hear from you.

[Spada]

Avenhar
hey there,
Do you have any influence on Bulk sales?


Nope, sorry I don't have any influence over discounted bulk sales. However, I'll make a note of it and see if I can't find the person who is and run it by them.

Thanks!

 

[Spada]

I don't suppose you have any say in the patch message updates do ya? Those could be updated a lot more often and give details on when events are beginning and ending as well as information links that are pertinent to the game.

No I don't have any say in the patch message, but I know who does and I'll make sure she knows that you want!

Thanks!

 

[Experimental]

As far as I'm concerned, you can go crawl back under whatever rock you came out from.

After seeing first hand (irl) the ruination of a friends UO acct by you for no good reason, I concur with Sev.

 

[Spada]

On Lake Superior Shard, when trying to redeem a promotion code purchased from uogamecodes.com

Lake Superior shard is not talking to the promo code server.

It hasn't since last friday.
I would like to see something like a timeframe as to when this issue will be resolved.

Other shards are still talking to the promo code server. It's works on pacific.

Could you maybe talk to your network people and see if maybe they have inadvertantly firewalled it?

Thank you.

Hi Scamper! I was forwarded this very issue yesterday afternoon and I passed it along to the server guys. I betcha it's already fixed! Give it a shot and let us know if it's still not working.

Thanks!

 

[Liena_of_LS]

Just what categories will your team be working on as customer support?

Phone support? When the support phone numbers are near impossible to locate? Heck even finding mention that EA admits to running Ultima Online on the EA website is near impossible unless you spent hours looking for just the right pull down menu. Sims has not this problem. It's like EA wants the cash for it but not the hassle of it.
Obviously not in game GM support.
Web site support for all the bad info the web site gives. Like IDOCS that are OSI owned and haven't fallen but have gone idoc weekly for over 2 years even when they have no vendors in them, or how about the one north of the LS trammel Brit moongate that has idoc'd weekly for over 1.5 years that STILL has standing vendors in it. NOTE: these were reported months ago when EA asked for the locations of the OSI owned homes that were refreshing, you guys ever going to USE that info you were given? How about getting the web site updated for all the new monsters and tameables that have been added the last 3 years or so?
Finishing up the plant systems?
Finishing up the Virtue system?
both obviously coding issues, but they've been on a back burner now for years, and telling your customers that it will be happening then not producing isn't a good thing by any stretch.
How about NOT promoting a new system or rewrite of the clients until they are fully baked and READY to play. KR is still something I only log into to do a bug report before returning to the 2-d client. AND I still resent having the 3-d client that I always used packed up and thrown out by you guys in favor of KR? Sheesh!
I still resent the idea of "we can close the doors on 90 days notice" when you have people buying your 6 months game time and then "we don't refund" WTH? Makes me really nervous about buying 6 months at a time to save money. You could decide to close the game and I'd be out 3 months of game time already paid for on 4 accounts that way. NOT an inconsiderable amount of cash. You want to do customer support. FIX IT.

How about the bug report I placed months ago when my mare lost 1/4 of it's hp because of a bug in changing servers when the mare was hit with a weaken spell. The support I got then was WE HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT THE MARE'S HP WERE. Like your support team can't look at the web site and see that 264 hp were WELL below what a mare MIN-MAX hp were supposed to be?

Lame answers just upset your customers. I can't speak for others but I'd much rather be told that they don't know the answer but will check on it than be told to go read a web site I've already combed for the answer before calling or emailing support.

INSTANCE: I have a list of 6 LS OSI owned houses that are refreshing when the web site indicates that they all should have fallen months if not years ago. These are ones ONLY on the Trammel side and on the mainland or in Malas, not on islands. Heaven only knows what the total number will be when I'm done checking the rest of Malas and other facets and the islands. Yes, I'm into idoc'ing in case you hadn't guessed. I'd like to see idocs indicate on the sign if they're likely to refresh due to the customer challenging a banning or whatever reason rather than get the hopes up for those looking for a house or looking to loot a falling one only to find they've wasted their time yet again due to it refreshing when the web site says it should have fallen. Wasting my time on that just makes me log out angry. Not a good way to keep folk playing.


Now that I've complained a bit, I'm serious, just what is your team going to be working with in the line of support?

 

[Scamper]

Hi Scamper! I was forwarded this very issue yesterday afternoon and I passed it along to the server guys. I betcha it's already fixed! Give it a shot and let us know if it's still not working.

Thanks!

As of this minute, it's still not working on Lake Superior shard. I also checked on pacific, it works fine there.

This is the first indication I've seen that anyone at EA is aware of the issue and is working on it. Thanks for that.

 

[Maplestone]

It would be nice to see a nice status page on the shards and secondary services (login server, housing server, promo code server) with up-to-the-moment-status, maint windows and notes about any known outages.

It would actually make more sense if there was some company-standard (or even industry-standard) tool for service monitoring primary/secondary services with just a skin of art/fonts for each different game). *sketches out business case*

 

[Nok]

It would be nice to see a nice status page on the shards and secondary services (login server, housing server, promo code server) with up-to-the-moment-status, maint windows and notes about any known outages.

It would actually make more sense if there was some company-standard (or even industry-standard) tool for service monitoring primary/secondary services with just a skin of art/fonts for each different game). *sketches out business case*

Excellent idea.

Ideally it would include game specific RSS feeds, and embeddable widgets.

 

[Maplestone]

Ideally it would include game specific RSS feeds, and embeddable widgets.

*looks up from my vi session*

You mean <table></table> isn't still the cutting edge of web-fu?

 

[Spada]

As of this minute, it's still not working on Lake Superior shard. I also checked on pacific, it works fine there.

This is the first indication I've seen that anyone at EA is aware of the issue and is working on it. Thanks for that.

Ack! I pinged the server guys again to see if after fixing it, if it went down again with maintenance.


-Also, great idea on the server monitor stuff, I know Stratics or someone used to have a page for this but I can't remember what ever became of it. My memory fails me after 8 years :\ However, I'll dig into what might need to take place to get something like that rebuilt.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I will not be addressing any “In-game” GM customer support. GM Support is not my team and as such I can’t really comment on your in-game experience.

Out of curiosity, who can comment on that? It's been UO's weak spot for the entire decade or so that I've played. And it's what I first thought of when I saw your post, until I read the above-quoted excerpt and sighed.

-Galen's player

 

[Petra Fyde]

I remember that site, I used to have it bookmarked. Something changed in the way server and client communicated and that broke it. If I'm remembering right.

 

[Spada]

Now that I've complained a bit, I'm serious, just what is your team going to be working with in the line of support?

As I mentioned above, I am helping to make Account and Technical Support a better experience and at the moment that's all I have the ability to do. I can see from your post that you have some deep concerns and I wish I had a silver bullet or some magic wand that could wisk them all away for you. I will say that I think you have no real issue if you want to buy a 6 month GTC. Get the discounted price I would! I can promise you that as long as I'm here, we'll take steps to make sure that nobody is cheated out of time. That's just not right, and I don't feel we've given any indication we would.

I'm also just as upset about the outdate information both on the uo.com site and the support site and it's my goal to try and get the info on support.uo.com updated over the course of the next few months. I blame Cal and all the dev team for adding new things and making changes so often!!


In regards to the rest of your post which has a very large laundry list of valid issues. They are unfortunately issues which either live in the Dev realm, or the in-game GM teams realm and not in mine. They are not easy to fix, but it's my hope that they can be over time.

Thank you

 

[Nok]

You mean <table></table> isn't still the cutting edge of web-fu?

*snorts* LOL

Also, great idea on the server monitor stuff, I know Stratics or someone used to have a page for this but I can't remember what ever became of it. My memory fails me after 8 years :\ However, I'll dig into what might need to take place to get something like that rebuilt.

Ya that was quite a while ago, very early on. Thanks for taking a look into it.

 

[Scamper]

Ack! I pinged the server guys again to see if after fixing it, if it went down again with maintenance.

I just tried it again and it worked finally. Was able to redeem the code on Lake Superior.

I want to personally thank you very much for not ignoring this. I'm happier now. I wish you luck on improving overall customer support issues for EA.

Also regarding your comment about in game customer support being not in your ball park. In my opinion, that particular line of customer interaction should be foremost in importance. In game GM's are the ones most people see first. When people have a bad experience with one, it reflects back upon the entire customer support staff of the entire company. Not just that game.

Support is support. If you are representing EA, in game or out, your public relation interactions with your customers will make or break your company in the long run. I don't care if you have the best games in the world. If you treat your customers badly, people are not going to keep coming back for more.

Liena_of_LS has a point on some of those houses. I know of one that has a bulletin board in the house where people have been posting caddy comments on it's refreshing for over 2 years now. It's a rather humorous read.
There was a parrot in it that was 23 weeks old when it first went IDOC. I remember, because I was one of those camping it for the fall. Today it's 177 weeks old. Just checked.

The house in question is on Lake Superior shard at coordinates 4*44N, 11*57W in Malas. The bulletin board is in the back of the house bottom floor.
Numerous people have paged about this house, and written emails to EA about it over the years. It's still there. The first time it went IDOC was around Febuary 2006.

It's almost become an insider joke among idoc'ers now.

 

[Liena_of_LS]

Ok your team is working with account and technical support issues....

Now, how about providing a list of those handling other support issues.

In game GM support supervisor...

Bug investigation supervisor...

(There's not even a method of finding out if a bug is a bug or intentional. Most recent notice on the log in server. * We've received multiple reports that new, supposedly "rare" items are appearing across the servers. These are not sanctioned items from the recent content patches or events, and in some cases even take on the appearance of server-birth rares. * Just what is that supposed to mean when someone finds an armor engraving tool on LS. Is it, isn't it? It took hours to dig out that it was cross sharded from one of the oriental shards.) How about coming up with a master list of OK items and getting it posted on the support web site so folk don't inadvertently buy a contraband item thinking it's ok, or pass up an ok one thinking it's contraband. Or better yet, hard code it into the trade windows and vendors to ONLY recognize and transfer items with sanctioned item numbers INGAME with a list it pings to confirm it's legit status, the list being controlled by the Dev team. If a contraband item lands on a vendor it auto moves the item to a *jail* and records the account and character id of the person who put it there, if it's passed in a trade window the same happens. That way if it's a legal item and just not on the master list, a GM can return it, if it's not *grin* you've got the guy and can question him about it.

The guy we need to notify of exploits, and some way to exempt a player from punishment for investigating/reporting an exploit when they track it down to it's being reproducible like Scamper and I did a couple of years ago on the bug that allowed players to get onto the large Malas island well before the dungeon was put over there. Fertbert was quite surprised that players COULD get there.

etc.

I much prefer to complain to the right person when I complain.... or compliment which I'll admit doesn't happen often with the web site giving out such erroneous information for so many years.

 

[¥§hàdòw¥]

We've heard lots of reports from customers over the last few months about this, and I know it's something Cal has in the works to fix in the very near future. However, if you are having problems purchasing codes via the code store and you are not pressed for time I would recommend going to support.uo.com and "contacting us" with your request.

Make sure your CC info is up to date on your account and that you send in the following.

UO Account name:
The email on the account:
your Date of birth:
Last 8 Digits of the CC on file:
the item you want to purchase:

It can take about 2-4 days depending on how much CS traffic we are seeing but you should get your code pretty quickly. If you have any issues of course pet me know in PM with the incident # of the email and I'll track down what happen, and make sure that steps get fixed.

Thanks!

While I haven't had any issues getting the tokens from the Code Store, I am having a problem redeeming them on the Lake Superior Shard. Every other shard that I have toons on (and that's a lot of them) I can get to the point where I need to enter the code. I can't do that on LS, says the promo code server is down, please try again later.

It's been like that for several days now.

Edit:

Just logged back in and it's working now. Thanks for passing the info along Spada!

 

[CatLord]

Welcome back Spada.

The one thing that THREATENS all of us is account Hacking.

Imagine playing since September 97 to log in one morning and see it all... deleted.

My question and the question of every player is:

- How can we solve this problem?



Thank you.

 

[Spada]

Welcome back Spada.
The one thing that THREATENS all of us is account Hacking.
Imagine playing since September 97 to log in one morning and see it all... deleted.
My question and the question of every player is:
- How can we solve this problem?
Thank you.

That is a very large problem to solve indeed and I know your probably looking for us to solve it, but I have to say that EA could only really reduce the damage of a hacked account, I don't think we or anyone could ever solve it.

My recommendation would be extremely strong passwords that you change often for both your game accounts, email accounts and just about every account you have on the internet. I love this guys website, and he has a 63 key random alpha-numeric password generator that you could then use 8 random characters from. https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm (He also has LOADS of info on PC internet security that everyone should just know about for good measure)

I would also recommend that you never share your account with anyone no matter how much you trust them (outside of very close family members)

Biggest on the list would be never download anything you don't completely trust from a reputable company or person, and that means for UO or any game. And don't go to sites you don't completely trust. (I would even shy away from the people part, I don't even open my own Father's "Joke" emails since he's been infected with so many viruses over the years)

But to talk to your point, I don't think there is a solution so much as things everyone can do to lessen the risk. Follow just the things I've outlined above and you've possibly reduce your risk to nill (+ or - .00001%)

There are things EA/UO could do, but like I said those only reduce the damage done and then only in a few very unique cases.

Does that help?

 

[Spada]

Ok your team is working with account and technical support issues....
Now, how about providing a list of those handling other support issues.
In game GM support supervisor...
Bug investigation supervisor...

I believe it's the choice of those in charge of these teams to disclose if they want to make their names public or not, but I know that QA is on these boards already.

However, if you want to reach the GM Support Supervisor or the nice lady in charge of QA then I would recommend http://www.uoherald.com/feedback/index.php

 

[Lady Aalia]

oh here is another thing i just thought of...

I would like to know if there is any standart into how EA goes by detemening who an account belongs to, and what to do if you know the mess hitd the Fan.

You know that UO accounts sometimes have changed hands a many times , but what do you do if you recived an account and you didnt do the official tansfer?

I have seen many horror stories on the board and some guidlines would be great

As of how do i become the official owner of an account i have had but never used transfer?
What to do if an original owner tries to reclaim an account
Can accountnames be changed?
shouldnt an account be mine if i have paid for it many years?
How do i change an email to an account if the original one no longer exists?


I have heard so many diffrent things now...

One will return an account to you with an old CC number another may want an original game key, another wants the email, and one told me on the phone that if the account was paid for by another for over 90 days it becomes theirs no matter what.

 

[Nok]

My recommendation would be extremely strong passwords that you change often for both your game accounts, email accounts and just about every account you have on the internet. I love this guys website, and he has a 63 key random alpha-numeric password generator that you could then use 8 random characters from. https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm (He also has LOADS of info on PC internet security that everyone should just know about for good measure)

Gibson Research is a great site for tightening down one's PC.

How about using a password strength meter on the account creation and password change pages of the account management site? If nothing else, a password strength meter would be an encouragement & reminder for players to use stronger passwords... without one, for many players password strength would be "out of sight, out of mind". Many won't think about it unless it is front of them.

Just a thought.

 

[CatLord]

That is a very large problem to solve indeed and I know your probably looking for us to solve it, but I have to say that EA could only really reduce the damage of a hacked account, I don't think we or anyone could ever solve it.

My recommendation would be extremely strong passwords that you change often for both your game accounts, email accounts and just about every account you have on the internet. I love this guys website, and he has a 63 key random alpha-numeric password generator that you could then use 8 random characters from. https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm (He also has LOADS of info on PC internet security that everyone should just know about for good measure)

I would also recommend that you never share your account with anyone no matter how much you trust them (outside of very close family members)

Biggest on the list would be never download anything you don't completely trust from a reputable company or person, and that means for UO or any game. And don't go to sites you don't completely trust. (I would even shy away from the people part, I don't even open my own Father's "Joke" emails since he's been infected with so many viruses over the years)

But to talk to your point, I don't think there is a solution so much as things everyone can do to lessen the risk. Follow just the things I've outlined above and you've possibly reduce your risk to nill (+ or - .00001%)

There are things EA/UO could do, but like I said those only reduce the damage done and then only in a few very unique cases.

Does that help?

Aye it does... thank you very much.

One thing that would rock would be character undeletion... (no items)
Dont return the items... return the naked characters.
Items are easy... but some characters are way too special to be erased.
I believe many left after being hacked... not because they lost their million, but because their characters were deleted.

Just my two cents.

 

[phantus]

I think this is a thread you need to look at Spada:

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=123331

 

[Budweiser]

Glad your back. Thanks for taking the time to help UO become great again.

 

[Harlequin]

Hail GM Spada,

I would like to make a small suggestion - Suspend the system of using standard response for a while, and have the GMs show up to attend to the players and talk to them. Let the players feel that someone is there and actually gives a hoot about their problems.

I totally understand there are very good reasons you have this system in place, among them

1) Efficiency, you create a reply template once, and everyone can use it subsequently, without needing to waste time writing a new one

2) Manpower, this will reduce the work load of the GMs, allow less people to handel more cases

3) Standardizing, you don't have to worry about conflicts when GM A does one thing, but GM B does the opposite to deal with similar problems

4) Distraction, remaining hidden and sending a mesage prevents other players seeing the GM and coming up to ask all sorts of questions, this will delay the GM from responding to customers that actually sent in a page


However, at the moment, it appears that either there's either insufficient GMs, insufficient training for the GMs, the GMs lacks passion for the game, they don't play it at all, or this system is being abused.

Often customers need to wait for hours to get a response, imagine the frustration when all they get is a canned response -

1) Please refer to the knowledgebase
- If you know it's in the knowledgebase, at least give the url of the article you want us to refer to. The knowledgebase contains alot of articles and we may not know what keywords to search for. Besides that, what the GM suspects the issue to be, may not be what the player is experiencing. Players gets left feeling that the GM is hoping the player wastes time searching for the article and when he realizes it, it's someone else's shift...

2) We cannot replace lost items
- This gets abused even more often. This gets sent if the problem report even remotely sounds like the user wanted to get an item replaced. Personal experience - I log in to find myself unmounted and that the very first nightmare I tamed didn't log out with me. Logged off and re-logged on, nada. Used a summon ball, nada. Was hoping that a GM could help track it down via the pet ball. Kept getting canned messages 1 and 2 while I was desperately trying to explain I don't want a replacement, I need help to find my mare.


This is opposed to my first GM experience when UO just started. I tamed around 10 sheep in Yew and was bringing them back to Britain, but they didn't follow me across a server line no matter what I did. Paged and a GM came. After listening to me, he moved them one by one across and also informed me this was a known issue. Next time, all I had to do was run across the server line. I was so impressed by the GM's actions and still remember it to this day, 11 years later.

If you think about it, it didn't take that much more time to give excellent service, and you've given a customer a positive experience that he still remembers more than a decade later.

 

[Dor of Sonoma]

The in game help from the GM's have improved slightly, however, the phone line support seems to have gone down hill. I'm not very happy about UO being in the "other games" category instead of having its own mention. It just adds an exclaimation mark on EA not being supportive of UO, kind of like we've become the ******* stepchildren.

While I must echo that sentiment, I have a (happier) story of my own to add:
This past Tuesday, I called EA with the intention of purchasing some Game Time codes (to reactivate an account or two). I've been purchasing codes over the phone for 8 or 9 years now, and have generally been quite pleased with the relative ease of the transactions (with one, glaring exception - but that was a year ago).

Initially, I was puzzled and a bit put off by the new phone system, when there was no mention of 'Ultima Online' anywhere in the menu. I listened to it twice, just to make sure! I finally decided to try 'Other games', hoping to find some help there. After 15 minutes or so on hold, a gentleman answered who seem confused by hearing 'Ultima Online'. I explained what I needed, and he immediately responded that 'we don't do that here'. Ack! I explained my usual routine, but he insisted that that was no longer an option. Period. (at one point, he hollered to someone else where he was, "We don't sell Game time, do we?") He insisted that I go online and purchase through the website. I explained that that was not an option, as all that I was pulling up from the site was a splash page (a freaking UGLY splash page at that...but I digress). He said, 'Well, that's your only option.' I said g'bye, and hung up, depressed.

I couldn't leave it at that, though. It made no sense! Besides, I was in danger of losing my 11+ year-old account if I couldn't reactivate it immediately...so I didn't have the heart to leave it so...undone.

I called back. And this time, I picked 'Pogo'...for no particular reason, save that it wasn't an 'Other Game' or any of the named ones. It was a miracle! A wonderful guy answered, who, while he also seemed unfamiliar with UO, was more than happy to check it out for me, to see what he could do to get me set up. He was great and patient and effective. He was so cool, that he had me check my email while he waited - just to make sure that I'd received my codes. (Yes, he did sell codes to me, and they were all good You rock, Justin M.!

So yeah...still some glitches there, but my experiences remain positive despite them. Well, except for that 'Other Games' guy...grrrr!

P.S. Thank you SO MUCH for ditching that ghastly voice-activated hell that masqueraded as a phone system for a couple of years. Seriously! :-D

P.P.S. Glad to see you back, Spada - and thank you for staying in Redwood City

 

[Redxpanda]

From my experience, i found that submitting a question via the website usually results in an answer that has nothing to do with the original question. Unfortunately, i can't find the email or i would show it to you. I was asking a question about recovering accounts when you no longer have access to the email originally associated with it and i got an answer that had nothing to do with my question (I dont even think the answer had anything to do with UO). I realized it would be easier to go through the process of recovering the old email account instead of asking the question again and waiting 24 hours for another useless response.

Anyhow, perhaps there should be someone to review the responses given to ensure they are accurate and people are getting the answers/help they need.

 

[Tuferon]

From my experience, i found that submitting a question via the website usually results in an answer that has nothing to do with the original question. Unfortunately, i can't find the email or i would show it to you. I was asking a question about recovering accounts when you no longer have access to the email originally associated with it and i got an answer that had nothing to do with my question (I dont even think the answer had anything to do with UO). I realized it would be easier to go through the process of recovering the old email account instead of asking the question again and waiting 24 hours for another useless response.

Anyhow, perhaps there should be someone to review the responses given to ensure they are accurate and people are getting the answers/help they need.

Control Q

And Liana on LS, Control Q

Basically after 11 yrs, I feel once EA took over there hasn't been any CS. When I lived in Redwood City, a local phone call (cause there was no access number on website that was findable) got me to someone effective.
But now I am in Missouri where hi-speed just got here 6 months ago and I am as frustrated as everyone else.
Go to the resevoir in San Mateo and drink the magic waters and come back and do a ground up creation of a real CS system. While it encompasses areas not under your control, no CS system will function when the answer is basically "That's not my job" however sweetly said.

 

[Dor of Sonoma]

But now I am in Missouri where hi-speed just got here 6 months ago and I am as frustrated as everyone else.

You have my commiserations :-\

 

[Kith Kanan]

Many of you may remember me, gods knows it’s been a long time since I had time to post and I apologize for that. You might be asking, “Are you back from the dead Spada?” Nope I’ve been here the whole time, only I’ve been busy working to make sure billing and tech support get better for you, and that Cal uses my aging knowledge of UO for the good of all mankind (sorry elves!) .

Why am I back now? This is probably the easiest to answer. I’m excited about our next expansion pack, I’m excited about all the great things Cal has managed to do for UO over the last few months, and I want to make sure that as UO continues to get better, that your experience with Tech and Account support gets better as well. I don’t expect you to be as excited about Customer Support as I normally am, but I can hope that when you do have to contact us, that you’re satisfied with support you got.

So what now? I’ll be looking through your posts and collecting feedback about your CS experiences. I’ll be looking for feedback that’s both constructive and valid. However, I have to put out the disclaimer, I will not be addressing any “In-game” GM customer support. GM Support is not my team and as such I can’t really comment on your in-game experience.

That being said I look forward to starting a few threads this week, and hearing from you. My PM box is open and I’m more than happy to hear from you. My one request is that if you are going to talk about Customer Support you include the Email “Reference #” of your contact so that I can easily see what you sent in, what CS said to you, and then follow up with the right people.

Thank you for your time, and your love of UO!

I GOT ONE THING TO SAY..... 2 FREAKING MONTHS FOR AN ACCOUNT TRANSFER !!!!!! NO WONDER PEOPEL DONT USE AND GET CHEATED !!!!

OHH YEAH AND U OWE ME A HOUSE AND 400 MILL WORTH OF STUFF , 5 SOUL STONES, ALL BECAUSE U CANT KEEP PEOPEL FROM DUPING SHID , AND LEGIT PLAYERS GET BUSTED FOR OWNING WHEN U CANT TELL......

 

[Aurelius]

From my experience, i found that submitting a question via the website usually results in an answer that has nothing to do with the original question.

I'll second that. I logged a query regarding my recent house decay concerns, using the website form so the category was PC Games, Ultima Online/non-specific version, gameplay/houses and boats.

So of course the 'suggested solution' -

Answer: If your EA game is crashing on your iPhone or iPod, here are a few things you can try:
Make sure your device has the latest software
Download the latest version of iTunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes.
Note: If you already have iTunes installed, open it and select Help > Check for Updates. Then install any available updates.

Haven't tried installing UO on my IPod yet, but maybe I should give it a go...

 

[Spada]

I'll second that. I logged a query regarding my recent house decay concerns, using the website form so the category was PC Games, Ultima Online/non-specific version, gameplay/houses and boats.

So of course the 'suggested solution' -

Answer: If your EA game is crashing on your iPhone or iPod, here are a few things you can try:
Make sure your device has the latest software
Download the latest version of iTunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes.
Note: If you already have iTunes installed, open it and select Help > Check for Updates. Then install any available updates.

Haven't tried installing UO on my IPod yet, but maybe I should give it a go...

I'm sorry about that. It's one of my frustrations as well. The system that populates that area is not working to our satisfaction. However, I'll see what I can do to resolve that over the next few weeks.


Thank you
-Spada

 

[Dragkiris]

I GOT ONE THING TO SAY..... 2 FREAKING MONTHS FOR AN ACCOUNT TRANSFER !!!!!! NO WONDER PEOPEL DONT USE AND GET CHEATED !!!!

OHH YEAH AND U OWE ME A HOUSE AND 400 MILL WORTH OF STUFF , 5 SOUL STONES, ALL BECAUSE U CANT KEEP PEOPEL FROM DUPING SHID , AND LEGIT PLAYERS GET BUSTED FOR OWNING WHEN U CANT TELL......

Even if all 400 mil worth of stuff you had was duped I find it hard to belive they banned your account for that. I typicly have around 400 mil worth of val hammers alone on my account at any time.

 

[Trevelyan]

From I think sometime in 2002, during a Lake Superior chess match between RacerX and Stellerex

 

[Radun]

I understand what you said about GM in-game support not being your department... but since you brought it up I'd just like to mention that I've seen a considerable improvement in my GM experiences lately.

 

[Radun]

So of course the 'suggested solution' -

Answer: If your EA game is crashing on your iPhone or iPod, here are a few things you can try:
Make sure your device has the latest software
Download the latest version of iTunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes.
Note: If you already have iTunes installed, open it and select Help > Check for Updates. Then install any available updates.

ahahahaha roflroflmaolmao
how come we get in trouble for UMing and the GMs dont?

 

[Spada]

From I think sometime in 2002, during a Lake Superior chess match between RacerX and Stellerex

ahhh my "Staff of Giri!! How I miss thee!
Yep, I remember that day. It was lots of fun. I miss my red robes =( I had to wear Kaki's to work today :\

Thanks for the blast from the past Trevelyan!

 

[Teeshy]

Oh, Spada, since you're on, have you seen this thread? Does that fall into what you cover?

 

[Spada]

Oh, Spada, since you're on, have you seen this thread? Does that fall into what you cover?

Hello Teeshy, I have seen that thread and I have spoken to 4g about it already. Thank you for brining it to my attention.

-Spada

 

[Dragkiris]

Gm's are the devil. They jail people and burn there houses!!!

 

[debii]

Welcome Back!

 

[Teeshy]

Thankyou =)

 

[blackash]

if i am liveing in america i dont want to talk to some one from india. if i live in india i do not want to talk to an american. i grew tierd of payen minuets to be on hold and not get probs resolved. i will not call eny cs rep again after ea and blizzards circlejurk rutine. "can u change my mind" i feel that one shoulod post nown bugs or ishus on the login screen you know the one one typs there pass word could help with some of my persanal ishues with uo."so i dont needlesly report adding to the delema of you guys readingmore than need be or make same mistake others have brout to uo's attention already.also the help link is mindbogelingly screwed ima.

 

[Trevelyan]

Ok well heres a few more of SPADA but theres plenty more that I have from the LS thing

 

[Viquire]

So in other words "I'm sorry but i cannot help you with that."

thee, it's thee.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

- Maybe for you, maybe for Cal.

Another poster has been quite concerned about the ability for new players to purchase UO via uo.com.
Iirc, it mainly boiled down to the desire for a nice big 'buy now' button on the front page, rather than several links that take you to 'try now' for UO2D & UOKR.
As well, there are some inconsistencies in the wording / instructions for getting started in the UO2D client (as one set of links takes you to the uogamecodes website and then states that you must have an account in order to get the game... Mondain's Legacy I think it was. The problem is, that particular avenue for getting UO does not clearly spell it out to the new user that all they need to do is goto UO.com / Acct Mgmt / and create a new account first.

I was hoping these were things already being considered prior to the release of UO:SA, but figure I might as well mention it here.
(& Frankly, I felt more people would want to 'try now' rather than 'buy now' in the first place. But, maybe you or Cal can ponder that person's concerns.)
Here is one of the lengthy threads re: the subject.

Hi, and thanks for bringing this up. We are definitely looking reducing the number of steps it takes to join or return to Ultima Online, as well as making those steps clear and functional.

The Account Registration page is at the forefront of items we've had in testing since last Spring. We're testing and re-testing until it's solid. Spada is updated constantly. He's such a taskmaster!!

So, yes in regards to the expansion, we're trying to get the issues resolved now and allow our current users and past users to get back into the literal swing of things before SA launches.

 

[Deb]

Hi, and thanks for bringing this up. We are definitely looking reducing the number of steps it takes to join or return to Ultima Online, as well as making those steps clear and functional.

The Account Registration page is at the forefront of items we've had in testing since last Spring. We're testing and re-testing until it's solid. Spada is updated constantly. He's such a taskmaster!!

So, yes in regards to the expansion, we're trying to get the issues resolved now and allow our current users and past users to get back into the literal swing of things before SA launches.

Please Please tell us there will be a boxed version of SA for sale. That would
so help give UO the exposure it needs and deserves.

 

[Fluffi]

I’ll be looking through your posts and collecting feedback about your CS experiences. I’ll be looking for feedback that’s both constructive and valid. However, I have to put out the disclaimer, I will not be addressing any “In-game” GM customer support. GM Support is not my team and as such I can’t really comment on your in-game experience.

OK... how to improve customer service....


You could start by teaching your reps what EAs' rules actually are.

(Sorry, I can't send you the email conversations I had with CS as I regularly clean my inbox, and the extensive PMs I had with Jeremy were eaten by the Stratics crash)


To summarise:

I have multiple UO accounts, all were paid for with the same UK debit card. This situation had not changed for years.

One account ran-out, so I tried to renew it with the same debit card.

The registration page kept asking me for a card issue number, which my card does not have.

I mailed CS through the UO support page, detailing EXACTLY what my problem was.

(I forget the exact order in which the following events occurred)

CS replied, saying that if I mailed them my card details they would renew my account for me. (This didn't work)

CS suggested that I try using the card that was paying for my other accounts. (I was)

CS suggested that I phone them to pay for the account. (That didn't work either)

CS then decided not to reply to a couple of emails.

After unanswered mails, a transatlantic phone call that cost more than a months' subscription, and with a house beginning the decay process, I PMed Jeremy, detailing all my correspondence with CS.

She responded within 24 hours, saying she would look into the problem.

Jeremy then PMed me after being told by CS that there was no reason that my card would not be accepted.

With my house approaching IDOC, I gave in and bought a gametime code from a broker, ( I was past caring whether the gamecode had been legitimately acquired.)

A few days later Jeremy PMed me to say she had been misinformed by CS - UK debit cards were no longer an acceptable means of paying for a UO subscription.

I pointed-out that, in all my correspondence, I had detailed the card that I was trying to use, yet CS had told me to both email and then phone them to buy gametime with the "unacceptable" card.

Jeremy suggested that I forward all my correspondence with CS to her boss. I did, and oddly enough, didn't even get an acknowledgement.


The moral of the story:

UO nearly lost a long-term customer with multiple accounts; not because EA no longer accepted my type of debit card, but because this entire fiasco could only have been the result of one of two things:

either customer services were sending me scripted responses to a query containing the words "how do I pay for my account", without actually reading my email,

or customer service representatives are ignorant of EAs' in-house policies.


Whichever of those two alternatives was responsible for this shambolic affair, it does not reflect well on the supposed "customer service" department.


I look forward to your response to this post.


Fluffi.

 

[Spada]

I'm sorry that you had that experience, it should not have gone that far. However, I'm not privy to all the details and if you want to send me the incident # of one of your support emails in a PM I will be more than happy to track down who responded to you, and if knowledge of EA no longer supporting your UK debit card was known at the time.

I wont make half hearted excuses, but I will say that in a company this large, which in turn does business around the entire world it's not unheard of for customer support to be the last to know about changes of this kind.


However, I would love to review it, and make corrective suggestions if needed to the account team.

Thank you!
-Spada