So I have to wait 16 hours for a GM?

[Kiwillian]

Been waiting 2 hours so far and have gone from 8 to 7 in the queue.

Is this really going to take almost a whole day for someone to look at my report? Seriously?

This is just stupid.

You are currently number 7 in the help queue for the request sent at 03/30/2009 10:49:06 GMT.

 

[Seasseragh]

No, the queue number means nothing, 7 is the best you will ever get. Usually it doesn´t take that long to get some kind of answer.
Also the GMs operate on US time, so most likely sleeping at 10:49 GMT.

 

[Kiwillian]

No, the queue number means nothing, 7 is the best you will ever get. Usually it doesn´t take that long to get some kind of answer.
Also the GMs operate on US time, so most likely sleeping at 10:49 GMT.

Well, OK

But are you also saying the GMs are not outsourced now? (I thought they were, anyway)

And also that they don't have 24/7 coverage? Coz that is pretty **** poor.

 

[Kiwillian]

Oh well, never mind, just got a canned response anyway. *sigh*

 

[Petra Fyde]

what was the problem? sometimes someone here will know how to fix it.

 

[Borric]

what was the problem? sometimes someone here will know how to fix it.

I always come here to ask for help. You get a much faster and more informed response. Kudos to the UHall.

 

[Harb]

Over recent months (at least five), it’s clear we have no dedicated GM team. You can go as high as 6 in the queue, not due to players receiving responses, but because they cancel or log/ time out. You will get an email response, whether you wait 30 minutes or 15 hours. I guess two things bother me personally. Foremost, why do we not have at least one dedicated GM? OK, I can accept they were consolidated and prioritized toward a different Mythic game due to resource restraints - I blame no one on our team for this (but do blame Mythic). Second, since we do not have a dedicated support team/ individual, why leave the queue in place - integrity should require that it be removed as it is meaningless? Again, not the fault of our dev team, rather an extension of poor communications and deception dating back to the EA decision to structure UO beneath the Mythic studio. I suppose I'm not really angry with Mythic either, it does appear they've had a role in ensuring UO's survival, and do understand UO was never their product. But really, make the queue work or take it out - please! Make the announcement and be done with it.

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

GM support is pretty bad now. I remember the days when you called a GM and yes you might have been high in que but they came and actually talked to you. I think maybe there is 1 GM for all the shards, sure seems that way. Does anyone remember the Companion Program I think it was called? Any idea why they stopped that. If you dont remember it, it was people that played the game that volunteered their time to help the gms. They didt have the power the gm had but they help answer questions ect. They did it for free if I remember correctly. I think they should bring something like that back

 

[Faeryl]

GM support is pretty bad now. I remember the days when you called a GM and yes you might have been high in que but they came and actually talked to you. I think maybe there is 1 GM for all the shards, sure seems that way. Does anyone remember the Companion Program I think it was called? Any idea why they stopped that. If you dont remember it, it was people that played the game that volunteered their time to help the gms. They didt have the power the gm had but they help answer questions ect. They did it for free if I remember correctly. I think they should bring something like that back

Wasn't there like, some lawsuit or something that caused them to cancel that? Or am I thinking of something else?

 

[Dor of Sonoma]

Over recent months (at least five), it’s clear we have no dedicated GM team. You can go as high as 6 in the queue, not due to players receiving responses, but because they cancel or log/ time out. You will get an email response, whether you wait 30 minutes or 15 hours. I guess two things bother me personally. Foremost, why do we not have at least one dedicated GM? OK, I can accept they were consolidated and prioritized toward a different Mythic game due to resource restraints - I blame no one on our team for this (but do blame Mythic). Second, since we do not have a dedicated support team/ individual, why leave the queue in place - integrity should require that it be removed as it is meaningless? Again, not the fault of our dev team, rather an extension of poor communications and deception dating back to the EA decision to structure UO beneath the Mythic studio. I suppose I'm not really angry with Mythic either, it does appear they've had a role in ensuring UO's survival, and do understand UO was never their product. But really, make the queue work or take it out - please! Make the announcement and be done with it.

Well said, Harb

 

[Dor of Sonoma]

Wasn't there like, some lawsuit or something that caused them to cancel that? Or am I thinking of something else?

No, there was never a lawsuit from Companions. (I remain one to this day)

You're thinking of the Counselors, one of whom took it upon themselves to launch a class action lawsuit to sue for back pay and benefits (or somesuch crap). That action eventually brought an unhappy end to the 'Volunteer' program. Damn their eyes!

 

[Dragonchilde]

GM support is pretty bad now. I remember the days when you called a GM and yes you might have been high in que but they came and actually talked to you. I think maybe there is 1 GM for all the shards, sure seems that way. Does anyone remember the Companion Program I think it was called? Any idea why they stopped that. If you dont remember it, it was people that played the game that volunteered their time to help the gms. They didn't have the power the gm had but they help answer questions ect. They did it for free if I remember correctly. I think they should bring something like that back

I left before the program was canceled, but I was a Lead Companion...gold robe like the GMs, Counselors, and EM robes.

I was a regular companion on my home shard, and a Lead Companion on another (Lake Superior, I think?)

It wasn't about helping GMs, though, it was basically being a guide for new players. We had limited powers of teleportation and invisibility when on duty. The idea was to have an experienced player help out [young] players. Didn't have anything to do with GMs or their queue. We had an entirely different queue. Just a list of the current [young] players online that we could then teleport to.

 

[Cailleach]

I've said it before - EA don't have a customer service team, they have a customer disservice team. The biggest bug bear for me is the fact that I pay the same as USA customers, yet I get far, far less access to support as it's all based on American time zones and I'm in the UK. And it would cost me a fortune to call them as well. I've said this before too - if you run a multi national, multi time zone game then you need to provide multi time zone support. The fact that EA doesn't sucks big time, and says a lot about the regard they hold their customer base in; "give us the money, we don't give a stuff about anything else". And, btw, when I say EA, I'm not counting the devs in that - I'm referring to the bean counters. If they can put together a $2 billion bid for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc last May, why on earth can't all of their UO players have some decent ingame support?

 

[Chrissay_]

If you ever have an issue or you would like to give props to the way a GM handled your situation you can always report it in the GM Reviews form.

Chrissay

 

[Jhym]

Chrissay, could we have someone fully explain the process of how a GM call gets answered, from initial entry to the queue to closeout of the ticket?

I think this would be a VERY helpful thing to have on the website and as a fof discussion.

This particular thread is a big reason to have such things, then we have a clear, concise list of things to look at before we get upset about good or bad service. It should also have POCs at each step if things go wrong -- both in your review form AND through direct email.

 

[slayer888]

I waited 3 hours and no GMs come for my aid.

Anyways, people call gm on me takes maybe 10mins for me to suspend 72 hours.

I call GMs for 3 hours still no respond.

Way to GO!

 

[Faeryl]

No, there was never a lawsuit from Companions. (I remain one to this day)

You're thinking of the Counselors, one of whom took it upon themselves to launch a class action lawsuit to sue for back pay and benefits (or somesuch crap). That action eventually brought an unhappy end to the 'Volunteer' program. Damn their eyes!

Ah... Had a feeling I was thinking of something else, just thought I'd make sure since I didn't know much about it.

 

[Bomb Bloke]

I can't remember where I read this (it was quite a while ago, I think in one of Jeremy's posts), but to my understanding the system "works" like this:

GMs can look at the ticket queue and answer them in any order they like. If they reckon something is a "quick fix", odds are they might deal with it before another more difficult task. Presumably this means they can put off doing a specific ticket indefinitely, but I assume there's some "minimum response time" quota they have to stick to in order to get payed.

On the client side, we see a queue position number but this doesn't actually relate to our position (even forgetting the bit about GMs doing tickets in whatever order they like - the number we see is just plain wrong).

So, in a nutshell, it's pointless to try and work out how long it'll take for a GM to turn up. There's just no way of knowing until they get to you (or, at least, until they insult you with a Knowledge Base link).

On Oceania, the typical wait time for me has been within an hour. Even after being served, I'll probably still get informed on occasion that I'm in position 6 of 7 until such time as I actually log out.

 

[Azaroth Dragon]

No, there was never a lawsuit from Companions. (I remain one to this day)

You're thinking of the Counselors, one of whom took it upon themselves to launch a class action lawsuit to sue for back pay and benefits (or somesuch crap). That action eventually brought an unhappy end to the 'Volunteer' program. Damn their eyes!

As I remember it, the counselor program was ended long before the lawsuit.

If I recall correctly, shutting the program down was a preemptive strike based on a lawsuit that happened between AOL and their volunteers.

I may be completely mistaken.

The real reason I post is this:

This thread has confused me. Are there GMs servicing UO or not?

 

[Harlequin]

There are GMs servicing UO. And they have GM accounts in UO. When they find that the situation warrants it, they will appear. In red robes and all.

But most of the time, instead of appearing they will give you canned messages, bring you to jail to discuss your issue, or come to you, but remain invisible.

I'm fine with the bringing you to jail part, at least we can have a dialog to better explain our situation. Sometimes, alot of people, myself included, do not know how to report a certain issue that can convey the message perfectly without risking a mis-interpretation by GMs. A dialog will allow the GM to gather more info.

Unfortunately, instead of asking, most of the times, they assume that it's a certain issue and gives a canned message that directs you to an unrelated article in the knowledge base.

Then you have to page again to explain again, wait through the entire queue, hoping the same GM is still around and will pick up your 2nd page.

I believe it's the response time and canned messages that needs to be looked at.

Adding on to that, as Hard mentioned, they may have to split their support between different games.

We also do not know if there's still supposed to be 24/7 hr in game support. If not, it might be a good idea to advise players of the support hours.

 

[Kiwillian]

I'm fairly sure they do GM multiple games, which may not help. I have some other theories as well.

Anyway, perhaps some transparency on the issue is needed? I sent a set of queries to the FoF about it. Whether or not it gets on a FoF - who knows?

 

[Bomb Bloke]

I've had GMs help me past midnight on Oceania (GMT+10). Probably the latest I've had one turn up would be 3-4am? (I assume I'd get them later then this, but I've never tried).

We have server maintanence at 7am.

 

[Kiwillian]

Oh and to be fair, when I woke up this morning I had a PM from Chrissay asking for more details, so at least there's one person who cares

 

[H2O]

If you ever have an issue or you would like to give props to the way a GM handled your situation you can always report it in the GM Reviews form.

Chrissay

GM reviews is a joke. I once complained on a GM and guess who did the GM review? You guessed it, it was the same GM I was complaining about. If you think I am making this up just pm me and I will give you all the details you will need to look it up. Since GM reviews is done by the GM's its always gonna be biased since they are reviewing themselves or one of their friends. GM reviews should be done by someone other then GM's.

 

[Der Rock]

If you ever have an issue or you would like to give props to the way a GM handled your situation you can always report it in the GM Reviews form.

Chrissay

I will not complain to much about the GM-support, because in the past i always got quick help if i called a GM,i was always satisfied with the GM support, but here is a short story:

last week i logged in with a 81 month old account,made one champ and "parked" the character at the bank for dinner, when i returned, i had a GM message:
violation no.4(character name)name got changed and acc. got flagged for violation the rules.
hm,this acc. is 81 month old (eightyone month)and uo need 81 month to realize this name was against the rules?????
(meanwhile(GM told me)i know that name has a double meaning,BUT how should I know this)
(MY resaerch results are 3 different animal synonyms and 3 ornithologie names, so NOTHING
unacceptable relevancy)
ok, i could life with that,but the account got a flag, and i dont accept that flag,because the name was valid for 81 month,and abrupt he was against the rules ?
I used those GM-Review Form, but all i got was a :

"unfortunately................. and
"Any further replies regarding this subject will not be acknowledged. Take Care."


ok, on the good side,i could call a GM for a "1 time name change", so i could chose a name i prefere, but i realy cant accept this acc.flag.
it is realy sad that you(EA/Mythic) deal with customers that way ,these day´s.
maybe if the gtc expire, i am not sure if i will reopen this acc. in the future.

 

[Bomb Bloke]

Er... What was the name?

(You could always pastebin it if you REALLY think it could offend...)

 

[Izzy MBC]

I havn't read the entire thread, but hopefuly this lends some insight from my recent experience with a GM:

A few weeks ago, it was late at night, something like 1 or 2am GMT. I can't remember why, but I was sat bored at Luna bank, and I still had some ridiculous scroll in my backpack which related to Carvings in Kaldhun? You couldn't bin it, you couldn't drop it, it was stuck there unless you completed this quest, the one I never opted for.

Driving me nuts, I sent a ridiculously composed message in the Report Feature in-game, and entered a queue of 9 or something, and it was jammed on that for 10 minutes, constantly reporting that point in the queue - but he arrived.

This is the message I sent, word for word: (I saved this in screenshots during my encounter, I collect images for these kinda moments - don't ask XD)

I don't suppose I can finally be rid of this Cursed Parchment can I? T_T It haunts me from within my Backpack, it has weed beedy eyes, and big sharp teeth, LOOK AT THE BONES?! Seriously this Parchment, it's not going anywhere -_-

It's amazing I got a response really.

Anyway, a GM by the name of Cielua contacted me through the GM Chat thing, and seriously, brilliant service and very kind! After he removed the item, which took about 60 seconds to do, he asked if I needed further assistance, and wished me safe travels in UO.

I was pretty darn pleased, and did in fact send an Email off praising the GM, and the rest of the Team, and got a reply back the next day.

All thumbs up from me ^^

Edit: And I lol how it considers me a visitor because I have only made 13 posts, I guess I deserve that though -_- I try to come here more often, but personally, I end up moving from Forum to Forum, because I can't follow all 20 simultaneously that interest me - as much as I'd love to, hehe.

 

[Der Rock]

Er... What was the name?

(You could always pastebin it if you REALLY think it could offend...)

The name was a synonym for "long ear",grey animal, donkey,mule
or ornithologie: giant ice bird,kookaburry or laughing hans
if you search on the LEO translation side english/german, all names are harmless

 

[Basara]

All my experiences in the last few months have been like Izzy's. Relatively quick (I think the longest I waited was 45 minutes, the shortest, less than 10), successful, and the GM even asked if I needed other things fixed while I was at it in every case.

It really DOES help to be as specific to your issue as possible (and if you have the extra characters, do something with them to catch the GM's attention, or at least their funny bone).

And, there appears to be a subset of Griefers out there that go out specifically looking for people to do name pages on. A had a guildmate, an account even older than the one mentioned above, that had a 9-10 year old character suddenly have their Bard's name paged on and changed (Minstrel Flo, IIRC).

 

[Kiwillian]

lol, Minstrel Flo is a pretty good name

 

[Anon McDougle]

i had a GM show up very fast but he didnt have a clue what a transfer crate was or how i could have something stuck in it kept asking me where it was. i had to work at not laughing at them !!

 

[Cogniac]

The GM system is a complete and utter failure.