F
fraidy cat
Guest
Hello all, I've just recently finished up my first month of playing (even though the game insists my account is 2 months old...) and have a question or two and a few suggestions.
First: Is there a telephone number to contact customer service with? I've been waiting for a response on my ticket regarding purchases through uogamecodes and have yet to receive one...or my purchases. This is highly amusing to me as, when I tried to purchase them a few days before but the CC's weren't able to go through, they blew my phone up at work the next day to see if it was fraudulent activity, but can't be bothered to respond to me when I've actually SPENT some money there...lol
This is one of the reasons I seriously questioned starting to play this game...EA, their horrible reputation, and their terrible idea of "customer service." However, the game sounded appealing so I thought I'd give it a go. That's my first suggestion: please do something about the gamecodes site (it accepted an e-mail address one day, and now tells me it's invalid...wtf?), and if Customer Service is going to tell me I can expect a response within 24 hours, then I expect a response within 24 hours--even if it's just a response saying give us another 24 hours--otherwise, please just remove that little lie from the form.
Second: I've seen many, many, many threads regarding new players, how to attract them, how to retain them. As a new player, let me offer some feedback/suggestions. I do not think there needs to be anything done regarding the new player area or quests, with the lone exception of gargoyles. It is practically impossible to start one out in their homeland, and you're not able to use ANYTHING AT ALL you get from the starter quests/loot drops in 'New Player Town' (heh, sorry, I forget the name)--wait, I take that back: you can use the 3 pieces of jewelry they give out...but still. This is not a confusing area, as some have stated, and it's not difficult to find/figure out what-to-do/where-to-do-it if you take the time to actually read what the NPC's are saying to you instead of mashing through in a mad rush to GET THE REWARD! The only time I looked on-line for anything regarding the new player area was to see what the rewards for each quest were so I could decide which ones to do...that's it! Everything else was a breeze--in fact, if I were to change anything about the new player area I would actually SLOW DOWN THE SKILL GAINS! I honestly couldn't believe how fast my skills rocketed up before I'd even gotten out into the great, wide world.
The only other thing I think that needs to be addressed as far as new players/player retention is the whole 'client' debacle. As a naive newbie (
), I absolutely HATE looting in the 2D client--talk about carpal-tunnel and squinty eyes! lol--it's much easier in the newer one; however, the (sorry, just looked it up) 'Enhanced Client' just doesn't work for me--every 5-10 seconds my character freezes up for 1-3 seconds before continuing on with whatever he was doing, unless of course he's dead by then... So, it appears my choices are either physical pain from the 'Classic Client' or psychological pain from the 'Enhanced Client'...lol As far as graphics go, I'm not really sure the game needs a huge overhaul, as it actually doesn't look as bad (at least to me) as some have said.
Lastly (and this is the part where I may step on some toes and irk some--please don't get offended!): Life is what you make of it. The same can be said for just about anything, including a video game. New players don't need an outrageous stash of starting goods/cash to equalize them with the veteran players as a means of bribing them into staying with the game. Veteran players don't need to shower amazing gifts on anyone running about in 'New Player Town' and offer advice on how to 'zip through training your skills while watching TV' so new players can quickly get to the veterans' level. New Players don't need gifts of hundreds of thousands of gold pieces (or even 1 million as was suggested!) so that they can purchase some things from the crazily over-priced player vendors; they need more player vendors (I kiss the feet of everyone who does this, I appreciated it so much!) who sell cheap, crappy, low-end gear at cheap, low-end prices instead of nothing but artifacts and imbued pieces they're charging MILLIONS for. Don't give me (the new player) a million gold pieces so I can buy MAYBE buy one piece--if that, even--of armor in Luna; take that million gold and use it to set up a new player vendor that sells low-end gear at low-end prices--may not make you a mint, and the goods may not move quickly, but those of us just starting out APPRECIATE THIS IMMENSELY!
And now for the last, and possibly offensive part: Want to know the single biggest thing you can do to attract and keep new players? STOP THE CONSTANT pancakes AND MOANING ON THESE FORUMS! Good lord, I honestly questioned whether or not this was a game I really even wanted to try after reading these over the past few weeks. It's fine to disagree with something or someone, and it's fine to dislike something or someone, and one is perfectly entitled to express their opinions--respectfully, one would hope--but there comes a time when, once you've expressed said opinion, you've got to give up the ghost and just move on. Honestly, it truly seems to me--and again, I'm new and am probably steppin' on some toes here, so forgive me--as if there's actually an active campaign to constantly malign the game and/or developers on the forums to deliberately keep new players AWAY! When a new player comes to the forums and reads mainly "uo is dead," "the developers are incompetent oafs," "this game's on it's way out," "they'll shut it down soon," it doesn't exactly inspire me to say, "Hey! This game sounds great, maybe I'll give it a try!" It makes me think, "Hmm, if it really sucks this bad do I even want to spend any money on it?"
That's what I meant when I said, "Life is what you make of it." As a community of players, we can repeatedly spout negative (and I mean vicious, rude, and unbelievably negative) posts on the forums giving the game, and ourselves, a bad first impression on new players, or we can air our grievances in a civil manner and try to be a bit more constructive/productive with our posts.
Good lord, please forgive the endless wall of text...I had no idea what really was a simple question regarding a customer service telephone number was gonna turn into this. Sorry all who actually read this far. And again, I'm not trying to stir up the pot with this post, I just wanted to tell you what an honest first impression is of a new player, and also get that contact number for Customer Service if there is one
EDIT: I know, I know, this is already a crazy wall of text, but I forgot the MOST IMPORTANT suggestion. And that has to do with events. I don't know exactly what kind of policy this company/community has regarding player behavior, but I do know that this behavior is a problem across every server from the recent posts regarding the event of the Queen's funeral. I went to one, and stayed very briefly, as I couldn't believe the behavior going on, and that nothing was done to stop it. Honestly, if people cannot behave like adults, or at least show some semblance of civility and manners, they need to be booted from the game if even temporarily. This does not look good for the community of players, the ''powers that be'' who are presumably policing things, or the company running the show. I can deal with it in most situations, but the behavior on display at the funeral event I attended--again, briefly--is completely unacceptable and I really can't believe it's allowed to go on. As a new player, if this is the manner in which events are handled, I can safely say it's a part of the game I'll not be participating in...please do something about it.
First: Is there a telephone number to contact customer service with? I've been waiting for a response on my ticket regarding purchases through uogamecodes and have yet to receive one...or my purchases. This is highly amusing to me as, when I tried to purchase them a few days before but the CC's weren't able to go through, they blew my phone up at work the next day to see if it was fraudulent activity, but can't be bothered to respond to me when I've actually SPENT some money there...lol
This is one of the reasons I seriously questioned starting to play this game...EA, their horrible reputation, and their terrible idea of "customer service." However, the game sounded appealing so I thought I'd give it a go. That's my first suggestion: please do something about the gamecodes site (it accepted an e-mail address one day, and now tells me it's invalid...wtf?), and if Customer Service is going to tell me I can expect a response within 24 hours, then I expect a response within 24 hours--even if it's just a response saying give us another 24 hours--otherwise, please just remove that little lie from the form.
Second: I've seen many, many, many threads regarding new players, how to attract them, how to retain them. As a new player, let me offer some feedback/suggestions. I do not think there needs to be anything done regarding the new player area or quests, with the lone exception of gargoyles. It is practically impossible to start one out in their homeland, and you're not able to use ANYTHING AT ALL you get from the starter quests/loot drops in 'New Player Town' (heh, sorry, I forget the name)--wait, I take that back: you can use the 3 pieces of jewelry they give out...but still. This is not a confusing area, as some have stated, and it's not difficult to find/figure out what-to-do/where-to-do-it if you take the time to actually read what the NPC's are saying to you instead of mashing through in a mad rush to GET THE REWARD! The only time I looked on-line for anything regarding the new player area was to see what the rewards for each quest were so I could decide which ones to do...that's it! Everything else was a breeze--in fact, if I were to change anything about the new player area I would actually SLOW DOWN THE SKILL GAINS! I honestly couldn't believe how fast my skills rocketed up before I'd even gotten out into the great, wide world.
The only other thing I think that needs to be addressed as far as new players/player retention is the whole 'client' debacle. As a naive newbie (
), I absolutely HATE looting in the 2D client--talk about carpal-tunnel and squinty eyes! lol--it's much easier in the newer one; however, the (sorry, just looked it up) 'Enhanced Client' just doesn't work for me--every 5-10 seconds my character freezes up for 1-3 seconds before continuing on with whatever he was doing, unless of course he's dead by then... So, it appears my choices are either physical pain from the 'Classic Client' or psychological pain from the 'Enhanced Client'...lol As far as graphics go, I'm not really sure the game needs a huge overhaul, as it actually doesn't look as bad (at least to me) as some have said.Lastly (and this is the part where I may step on some toes and irk some--please don't get offended!): Life is what you make of it. The same can be said for just about anything, including a video game. New players don't need an outrageous stash of starting goods/cash to equalize them with the veteran players as a means of bribing them into staying with the game. Veteran players don't need to shower amazing gifts on anyone running about in 'New Player Town' and offer advice on how to 'zip through training your skills while watching TV' so new players can quickly get to the veterans' level. New Players don't need gifts of hundreds of thousands of gold pieces (or even 1 million as was suggested!) so that they can purchase some things from the crazily over-priced player vendors; they need more player vendors (I kiss the feet of everyone who does this, I appreciated it so much!) who sell cheap, crappy, low-end gear at cheap, low-end prices instead of nothing but artifacts and imbued pieces they're charging MILLIONS for. Don't give me (the new player) a million gold pieces so I can buy MAYBE buy one piece--if that, even--of armor in Luna; take that million gold and use it to set up a new player vendor that sells low-end gear at low-end prices--may not make you a mint, and the goods may not move quickly, but those of us just starting out APPRECIATE THIS IMMENSELY!
And now for the last, and possibly offensive part: Want to know the single biggest thing you can do to attract and keep new players? STOP THE CONSTANT pancakes AND MOANING ON THESE FORUMS! Good lord, I honestly questioned whether or not this was a game I really even wanted to try after reading these over the past few weeks. It's fine to disagree with something or someone, and it's fine to dislike something or someone, and one is perfectly entitled to express their opinions--respectfully, one would hope--but there comes a time when, once you've expressed said opinion, you've got to give up the ghost and just move on. Honestly, it truly seems to me--and again, I'm new and am probably steppin' on some toes here, so forgive me--as if there's actually an active campaign to constantly malign the game and/or developers on the forums to deliberately keep new players AWAY! When a new player comes to the forums and reads mainly "uo is dead," "the developers are incompetent oafs," "this game's on it's way out," "they'll shut it down soon," it doesn't exactly inspire me to say, "Hey! This game sounds great, maybe I'll give it a try!" It makes me think, "Hmm, if it really sucks this bad do I even want to spend any money on it?"
That's what I meant when I said, "Life is what you make of it." As a community of players, we can repeatedly spout negative (and I mean vicious, rude, and unbelievably negative) posts on the forums giving the game, and ourselves, a bad first impression on new players, or we can air our grievances in a civil manner and try to be a bit more constructive/productive with our posts.
Good lord, please forgive the endless wall of text...I had no idea what really was a simple question regarding a customer service telephone number was gonna turn into this. Sorry all who actually read this far
. And again, I'm not trying to stir up the pot with this post, I just wanted to tell you what an honest first impression is of a new player, and also get that contact number for Customer Service if there is one EDIT: I know, I know, this is already a crazy wall of text, but I forgot the MOST IMPORTANT suggestion. And that has to do with events. I don't know exactly what kind of policy this company/community has regarding player behavior, but I do know that this behavior is a problem across every server from the recent posts regarding the event of the Queen's funeral. I went to one, and stayed very briefly, as I couldn't believe the behavior going on, and that nothing was done to stop it. Honestly, if people cannot behave like adults, or at least show some semblance of civility and manners, they need to be booted from the game if even temporarily. This does not look good for the community of players, the ''powers that be'' who are presumably policing things, or the company running the show. I can deal with it in most situations, but the behavior on display at the funeral event I attended--again, briefly--is completely unacceptable and I really can't believe it's allowed to go on. As a new player, if this is the manner in which events are handled, I can safely say it's a part of the game I'll not be participating in...please do something about it.
Also, it really kind of saddens me that I missed out on so much of the past here...I really wish I'd have discovered this game several years ago. Think I was lost in Neverwinter, though... 
Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?
