Originally, I was hoping to actually communicate with customer service regarding the battlepass activation debacle, however I was instead treated to what seemed like a canned, robotic response from support.
For context, I didn’t even know that I had activated the battlepass. When I navigated to the seasonal journey tab (using a controller) I wasn’t sure where my curser was, pressed some buttons to figure it out and was like, “oh, the battlepass is already activated. I guess they didn’t communicate that the pre-order battlepass would come activated. Ok.”
I found out later through gaming news that I must have accidentally activated it. No warning, no confirmation message, nothing. Then, I found out Blizzard later changed the functionality of this to give customers a confirmation message—like any company does when you’re spending money.
No doubt the original design was predatory. However we could also give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt and say it was a mistake, which is what I assumed. A dumb mistake, but much like my mistake in activating the battlepass, it’s understandable. So I contacted customer support hoping there is something they could do. Here is a copy of our communication:
Me:
I didn’t even realize I had activated season 1 battlepass. At first I thought that it came activated by default because it was bundled with my purchase of Diablo 4, but I’ve recently read news that early in season 1 the controller curser would default to “Activate Battlepass” and wouldn’t even ask for confirmation. My activation of the battlepass was completely unintentional. Am I able to un-activate the battlepass and save it for when I really mean to use it?
Greetings!
This is Game Master Agecmor. (￣^￣)ゞI just got the chance to read over the case about some concerns with a battle pass that was activated by mistake in-game. I’m sorry to hear that this happened, especially if there were plans to save it for a different season instead.
Given the circumstances at hand I did some digging around to see what options might be available. Through all of the information I could find, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of tools or capabilities that allow an activated battle pass to be undone. Without a way to reverse this, I’m afraid the battle pass must remain activated on the account as it is.
While I know this wasn’t the answer you were looking for, we do appreciate your time in reaching out to us, as it never hurts to ask and see what might be possible. Take care, and let us know if there’s anything else we can look into!
This was my response to that support message
Me:
Hello Agecmor!Thank you for your reply, I do appreciate you taking the time to review the case.
Regarding the functionality of the seasonal battlepass tab in game: Controller cursers were default set on top of The “activate battlepass” button without any prompt ensuring the user meant to activate the pass. Was this design intentional? It seems that it might not have been because, as per the news I read, you guys patched it so that the curser was not default set to the battlepass activation and also added a prompt.
The fact that I didn’t even realize I activated the battlepass is a huge problem for me as a customer, as I paid extra money not only to get early access, but also to have the freedom to choose which season I use the battlepass for.
It is unfortunate that there is no way to revert an activated battlepass, but from my perspective as a customer that is on you guys for implementing the seasonal page the way it was. Otherwise I essentially just unknowingly spent my money on something due to faulty implementation on your team, and you’re just keeping my money going “it is what it is sorry.” Can you understand how that feels from my (and most likely others’) perspective?
I don’t want to feel obligated to play this game. I have played Diablo since the first one as a child, and was looking forward to this one for a long, long time, despite all of the live service things that are in vogue with games today that I do not enjoy. This experience is solidifying my distaste for the “trappings” of live service.
I wasn’t planning on playing through all of season 1, as I have other games I wanted to spend time with after playing Diablo 4 beta and launch pretty much the whole way through. You should be offering a credit worth a future season for players in the same situation that I am in. I understand you probably don’t want to do that because there will be some who take advantage of this, but again, this was due to the way the seasonal page was constructed, which in a way seems intentionally predatory—this experience isn’t making it look any better.
I also want to make it clear that I am not blaming you directly for this stuff, and I hate to even blame your dev team at all because I know we’re all people and mistakes happen. But even in a restaurant, when you are brought the wrong meal by the service staff, you aren’t forced to eat it. Your correct order is made, and unfortunately the food that was made in error is usually thrown out. But that is the cost of keeping loyal customers when mistakes are made.
I hope you can understand my perspective. The restaurant analogy probably wasn’t the best but I am trying to convey how important customer service can be. I am already unhappy that I even need to be writing all of this over the cost of a $10 digital product.
Please let me know what you think, and again thank you for doing what you do.
Laenowatar
Hey there!Game Master Laenowatar here, at your service! I received your ticket and want to help provide some information on this.
I see you’re looking into a battlepass activation. Thank your for providing feedback regarding the battlepass system. We definitely appreciate the feedback and I will definitely forward your feedback up the the developers.
*We understand the answer here isn’t quite what you are looking for, and you’d like to save the in-game battlepass for future seasons. This option is currently not available, as it is a permanent claim. I would definitely recommend to share any feedback on the Diablo 4 forums: *
Let us know if you have any other questions. Take care, and have a great rest of your day! (^_^)/"
I am so disappointed. Amidst all the drama, all the BS, I gave Blizzard the benefit of the doubt because I grew up with their games and I know there are real humans who work on these projects that deserve recognition and praise. But this type of treatment is something that people do not—myself included—forget.
I’m not suggesting this because I even want to play anymore Diablo 4 after all this, but from a customer service standpoint, Blizzard should be offering people SOMETHING for this debacle. It’s one thing if you release a buggy game, or go back on design promises. It’s another thing entirely when you act cavalier with people’s money. I know the battlepass only costs $10, but it’s the principle behind a huge corporate entity like Blizzard fumbling like this, then passing the pain onto customers instead of admitting what they did was wrong and offering some kind of fix as recompense.
I am posting all of this here because that’s what I was instructed to do in my correspondence with Blizzard support. I don’t expect any players to read through all of this, I am hoping that someone from development or customer support reads it and realizes how a misstep like this can destroy what was once a long relationship with a longtime customer.
Also, I am usually part of the silent majority in that if I buy a game and don’t like it, I just move on. But in that scenario I KNOWINGLY spend my money on something, so I eat the cost because I chose to spend my money. Dark patterns like we saw in the original Seasonal Journey page operate so that oops! I spent something I paid for without even wanting or knowing. It’s disgusting, slimy, sleezy, amateur, predatory, opportunistic, and quite frankly pathetic.
I don’t know what the future holds for me with Diablo 4. I spent the money on the game and enjoyed it for what it was, but I am left with such a sour taste that I can’t bring myself to play it unless a friend needs help. One thing I am now ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN about is that I will never, ever, ever spend any money on any battlepasses and I don’t even want to give Blizzard any money for a Diablo 4 expansion now.
There are so many games out there that don’t make you feel all this negativity, I could play great games for the rest of my days and never, ever feel like I’m missing something by skipping Blizzard titles at this point.
Devs, customer support, anyone working in some customer facing capacity at Blizzard, I hope you read this—though based on how I was treated I doubt you will.