A Serious Question

[Jirel of Joiry]

Would you be willing to pay for better in game support with increased subscription rate?

I would HAPPILY pay 20.00 a month for UO if it gets us REAL GMs and ACTUAL in game support and no more can O' Crap messages. This would mean I'd be spending 100 dollars a month for 5 UO accounts. I have no issue with it IF I was guaranteed a 100% improved in game support system

I am frustrated because on Legends we have a certifiable jackass
That uses the global chat to harass people. This person has OVER 25 chars of the same name. If you put him on ignore he simply makes a new char.
He will follow his target from room to room. He says disturbing things like "Why don't you kill yourself in real life? I'll loan you the gun. Or Why don't you slit your wrists and die.” as well many more equally disturbing things.
You can not page on him using the Harassment option, when you try it says his character don't exist. I'm not the only person who has gotten this message there are other who can verify this as well. This is a known issue with the paging system that dates back to Jeremy's time as Community Rep.

I have used the live chat at ea.custhelp.com and they assured me it would be escalated to the disciplinary action team. I really, really hope they do come through on this for everyone's sake. It’s really unfortunate that you have to go through such extremes to get something done. As I understand it problems like this have driven off numerous UO players in the past.

I really believe that better in game support is a step in the right direction. I also believe that EA's privacy policy concern disciplinary action needs a SERIOUS overhaul. If a person is being harassed in game don't they deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing that something was ACTUALLY done and not just hoping that maybe something was done.

Anyway that is my 2 gps for what they are worth.

Thank you for take the time to read this.

Jirel

 

[hawkeye_pike]

No, I wouldn't. Here's why:

I think the first thing someone with a vision and money should do is, enhance UO in a way that it attracts more customers. There are many ways to achive this, the potential of UO is gigantic. Then, new subscribers will come all by themselves, increasing the revenue of the game. Then, more support personell can be afforded.

Instead of adding more and more landmasses and monsters with stupid AI, and adding content and items only for the veteran players, the game should be made more deep and intelligent. And more accessible for new players. And optically more attractive.

Should I pay more, just to compensate the wrong decisions that are being made about the future of UO?

 

[phantus]

Absofrigginloutely not!

Sorry you are having such problems but I refuse to pay for something that should be contained in the current cost of a sub.

You are fighting an uphill battle. UO's entire history has catered to the type of people that cheat, scam and abuse others and I doubt there will ever be any changes. Where other games have solutions in place to resolve scams and lost items UO has historically refused to show even the slightest compassion for these things. Worse, the vocal hardasses delight in telling others to chalk it all up as a life lesson because it's cooler to have that attitude than one of empathy.

 

[Buns Of Glory [ATL]]

I have 2 accounts that I pay for and thats enough for me let alone 40.00 a month? I'm not Brad Pitt... And as for people who have 10 or more accounts (a lot of people suprisingly do!) that'd be outrageous and spendy!

 

[AtlanteanAngel]

No I wouldn't. In addition to hawkeye_pike and phantus' points, the fact is - economic times are hard. And they look to get only harder.

If EAMythic increases the price of UO subscriptions by even a dollar, you can bet half the playerbase would quit.

Don't go down that path to ruin, trust me.

 

[A Rev]

No, I wouldn't. Here's why:

I think the first thing someone with a vision and money should do is, enhance UO in a way that it attracts more customers. There are many ways to achive this, the potential of UO is gigantic. Then, new subscribers will come all by themselves, increasing the revenue of the game. Then, more support personell can be afforded.

Instead of adding more and more landmasses and monsters with stupid AI, and adding content and items only for the veteran players, the game should be made more deep and intelligent. And more accessible for new players. And optically more attractive.

This

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Negative ... When they raised it from $9.95/monthly rate to the current one - which BTW was a 50% increase - it was promised that ingame support would be improved. That has not happened in general. So why would I pay an added 35% more to get nothing?

Why not make a totally different character - even on the same shard - and simply not allow anyone to know the association with whatever toon is being followed. Make absolutely NO mention of association to anyone, act as if that other toon does not exist.

It works if you can keep from yakking it to anyone and play-act as a new person to the shard.

 

[Evlar]

I think that it would result in a big loss of subscriptions. Not only those with single subscriptions, but those with multiple accounts who would cut-back.

In the current climate, there's enough people with multiple accounts cutting back already and it would spell disaster. Arguably, it's people with multiple accounts that are keeping the game afloat at the moment.

Might be an interesting poll topic, to see how many players have more than one account. I have two accounts myself. Since 1999, one has run on and off for over 6 years, the other (which was actually my first account) has just two years (on and off again) on it since 1999.

If the subscription price were to go up, then I would say that one, potentially both, might have to go for good. I just couldn't justify $20 (which would actually be €20 in Europe) per month for UO in its current state.

I play both these accounts and a couple "free" pre-UO:R shards. I play the latter for their content and "classic" era gameplay, not just because they're free.

No, I wouldn't. Here's why:

I think the first thing someone with a vision and money should do is, enhance UO in a way that it attracts more customers. There are many ways to achive this, the potential of UO is gigantic. Then, new subscribers will come all by themselves, increasing the revenue of the game. Then, more support personell can be afforded.

Instead of adding more and more landmasses and monsters with stupid AI, and adding content and items only for the veteran players, the game should be made more deep and intelligent. And more accessible for new players. And optically more attractive.

Should I pay more, just to compensate the wrong decisions that are being made about the future of UO?

100% correct.

I do sympathise with the problems you're experiencing though Jirel of Joiry, but as far as I see it, the GM there needs a kick up the arse and the matter needs investigating filly, if it's causing such widespread breach of TOS (which do need to be updated properly as the game evolves).

 

[Connor_Graham]

No. Besides, they already pulled the "raise the sub rates to increase game support" card on us and the only thing we got out of it was a higher sub rate.

 

[canary]

Negative ... When they raised it from $9.95/monthly rate to the current one - which BTW was a 50% increase - it was promised that ingame support would be improved. That has not happened in general. So why would I pay an added 35% more to get nothing?

This.

We would just get another increase in the end with no better support. We were already burnt once walking down that road.

 

[Tina Small]

Would you be willing to pay for better in game support with increased subscription rate?

No. The current subscription rate is already too high for what we're actually getting. I have serious doubts that with the last round of cuts EA made that the game will actually improve for the majority of people still playing and fully expect that it will just get worse. Pockets of people with different styles of playing may at various times feel like they are getting their money's worth as the UO team chases its tail trying to figure out what it should work on. They'll continue to pitch out more pixel crack to keep the vocal minority happy, install a few more gimmicky systems, and keep chipping away at long lists of bugs, looking for the quick and easy fixes. But I think that EA will continue to squeeze budgets to keep their stockholders happy and as a result, UO will continue to flounder.

Sooner or later subscribers like me who are somewhat to seriously dissatisfied with the state of the game and our addiction to it will get up enough gumption to just shut down our accounts for good and quit the game cold turkey.

Now that I've reread what I wrote and think about your suggestion some more, maybe a subscription increase wouldn't be such a bad thing.

It might be the serious jolt that I and others like me need to go to the Account Maintenance site and just quit.

 

[Babble]

No!

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

HECK NO

I dont need in game support.
Whatever Issue I get minus my account being stolen, I can just deal with it.

Stuck. I get moved.
Loss 40 million gold. Ah well.
See scripter. Big deal.


I say lower the price to match the level of in game support they give us.

Maybe go to $7.95. When the service improves raise the price.

You got it backwards.

Raven

 

[Guido_LS]

No.

There are more than a couple of other MMO's out there, all larger in sub numbers, yet cost, on average, a dollar more a month, all of which not only support their own forums, but also offer full tech support, full dev communications, etc.

On that note, I do tip my hat to Cal - his communications over the last few days have been a breath of fresh air in a very stale environment, including answering PM's. This is most definitely a step in the right direction, and hopefully continues.

But to answer the bigger question, I seriously doubt that the extra money would put a dent in EA's budget - UO just isn't that big. And I, for one, have NO desire to support the Sims, Littlest Zoo Online, or anything else, other than what my funds are directly paying for.

 

[Mapper]

No, The times I need ingame support are usually at IDOCs when I want to place a house but theres a water trough, parrot etc there.

The times I call a GM to remove them, I've yet to have a time when they did not come. The latest time I've asked for this to happen was last week. So customer service atleast still works for me.

There was also the time last year when I de-mounted my ethy and it never went into my bag, I paged a GM, They investigated it and were able to return it to me.

 

[slaveone]

Hell no! I can't believe you'd even consider this a serious question cause from where i'm sitting thats pretty laughable indeed. If anything in this day in age with PS3's , 360's and 10 new free/paid MMO's that come out every month that have WAAAAAY better graphics and support, UO should cost alot less not a single penny more!

I mean I still play 2d cause we all know the EC is crap. So i'm paying $13-$14 per account in 2010 for something made in the late 90's the cost for this game per month should be about $5 per account at this point at the MOST! We've paid for many years for this game and its development and the equipment used to run it. With what they've been pulling in there is no doubt in my mind it's been paid for plenty of times over. At this point EA is truly milking a good $7-$8 per account from every one of us and then topping it off by trying to cash in on the cash item transactions that free MMO's use to make money all the while still charging us a monthly fee!

To even consider the absurdity of raising the price you must be one VERY addicted UO player indeed. Most of us shouldn't even need to use the customer support except for in very rare instances why would "most" players want to pay for something that they more than likely will barely if ever use? Especially when UO is currently overpriced per month to begin with?!?!

 

[Uriah Heep]

No, The times I need ingame support are usually at IDOCs when I want to place a house but theres a water trough, parrot etc there.

I just test place a classic style, multiple story, on them...when I cancel it, the items disappear too =)
Lot's quicker than a GM call!!

 

[Cogniac]

Not a single person so far has said "yes" to this proposal, and I'm not going to make it any better: No.

As has already been stated, this has actually already happened, and was a complete failure in that it resulted in no improvement to customer support whatsoever. Doing this again would result in nothing but a further loss of customers.

 

[gunneroforgin]

If you want to play you'll pay what ever they ask. If you don't you won't.

 

[Beastmaster]

Yes, I'd pay more with a twist.

Here's the twist. If you pay the extra amount (a reasonable but not yet specified amount) you get a priority flag attached to your account that requires a GM to respond to your call in person. If that GM cannot resolve your issue in 5 minutes they would be required to schedule a time with you for a lead/supervisor GM to handle it later.

This way the subscription rate stays the same for everyone else.

 

[Magdalene]

Negative ... When they raised it from $9.95/monthly rate to the current one - which BTW was a 50% increase - it was promised that ingame support would be improved. That has not happened in general. So why would I pay an added 35% more to get nothing?

This.

We would just get another increase in the end with no better support. We were already burnt once walking down that road.

This.
Thanks but no thanks.

 

[MalagAste]

Negative ... When they raised it from $9.95/monthly rate to the current one - which BTW was a 50% increase - it was promised that ingame support would be improved. That has not happened in general. So why would I pay an added 35% more to get nothing?

This.

We would just get another increase in the end with no better support. We were already burnt once walking down that road.

This.
Thanks but no thanks.

I hate to say it but I agree ... I can't pay more for services unrendered.

I also have more than one account so I think they are getting MORE than enough out of me.... for right now.... unless that 20 bucks allowed me to have more than one house per shard I don't think I'd be paying it.

 

[aarons6]

i wish it was free to play.

 

[Lady Michelle]

I can't afford to pay more so no.
Anyone who tells anyone to kill themselves should have all their accounts perma banned on the spot, and never allowed to play UO again. cyber bullying should not be tolerated at all even if its on a game. in a chat room,on forums, on my space ect.