Understandable, and I’m not suggesting that, but I do think it’s pretty unfair that the 99% get told to basically ‘screw off’ when we experience an issue.
A bug is a bug, does Blizzard really have a policy that dictates which segment of players they’ll step in to help?
When I was grinding mechagon for the cycle, I had two separate bugs making the achievement incompletable without GM interference. It took over a week for each response, but they were both fixed without any trouble.
Those days were fun. You never knew when one of them would just show up when you were out goofing off, doing basically nothing much and then strike up a convo or something.
Once, on my mage Mouseface, I used to put her to bed in the inn in Thunder Bluff but I was kind of ocd about it and would take extra time to line her up right before /sleep and logging off.
The next day I logged onto her, I saw a goblin sleeping next to her. It was so funny.
Same goblin that used to appear by the TB lake and set up that picnic basket/umbrella toy next to where I and a few others would stand and then proceed to strike up a conversation.
Those days were fun. I miss them.
Any times I have had to contact support. They contacted me within 24 hours.
The first time was within ten minutes. I think the big problem is players expect
GMs to be able to do just about anything. Thus they seek their help with things
they cant, or not allowed to do.
A good example is my very first MMORPG, EQOA.
I was out doing a quest where I had to collect a vial from mummies.
Then, once it dropped. I take it back to the NPC, and NPC does not even
react to it. It was as if I didnt even have it.
I sent in a request for help just asking if the quest is working. Or if it is bugged?
The response I recieved said “Sorry, cant help with quests”.
I specifically asked for a way to contact the player to take legal action against them.
The whole reason why was because we were talking smack as one does after a bricked key and then he escalated things started making vieled threats
Hence my follow up was who or how would i contact somebody via a lawyer.
There response was along the lines of “we take all this very seriously if it happens again just put them on ignore”
Okay thats literally noy what i asked but sure “case resolved” button it is
They do take real life threats very seriously had have worked with rescue services to help many players, and with law enforcement to resolve criminal issues. Blizzard can not give you the personal information of another player for any reason. To get that information you would need to follow through with law enforcement. Report it and file an appropriate case. Blizzard will respond to a legal request through appropriate channels to law enforcement. Your lawyer can then obtain that info via those official channels.
When it comes to the in-game actions of players, you can report real life threats via the website report pathway for WoW. Under the Ticket categories for WoW is In-Game Issues > Report a player. Most will direct you to use the right click report in game. However doxing and real life threats will let you enter a ticket - if that is what is going on.
https://us.battle.net/support/en/help/product/wow/197/201
Otherwise, if you don’t feel your life, or the life of others, is at risk, you would follow the path for Harassment. To do that you put the person on Ignore. If they try to get around the Ignore you record the name-server, chat channel, date, time, and nature of contact. Then put that on ignore as well. Do not ever respond back or it becomes a two way street instead of unwanted contact.
You can read more about the ongoing harassment category here
Ya none of that was told to me at the time of the ticket.
They just told me that they take it seriously put them on ignore
Thanks for the info.
I honest to goodness haven’t had a decent response from CS since WoD. Every time since then has been an automated response that sounds an awful lot like whoever looked at my ticket never even bothered to read it. I am as clear as possible and include as many details as I can in my tickets. Last ticket I submitted was about an item that wasn’t working. My ticket was unceremoniously closed and marked as resolved. It was never, ever resolved.
That’s clearly something that GM’s cannot help with. That’s not something you put a ticket in for, so yes it would just be closed/resolved. If you want to report a bug you use the report bug opttion or post in the bug report forum. You aren’t contacted for those unless they require more info.
I’ve had nothing but good responses. But I’ve also had very few tickets, because I only put tickets in for things that support can assist with.
I am sorry to hear that. I have issues with how CS handles ticket communications but am not in a position to fix that. Sometimes an explanation of the whole system really helps the player understand their options, along with what can’t be done. It reduces a lot of frustration when given the “why” part, not just a flat answer.
I hope you were able to resolve your dispute with the other player by Ignoring them or otherwise reporting them.
That is not something GMs can help you with. They don’t take Bug Reports and are not allowed to fix individual bugs for players - with rare exception if approved by the Devs. To report bugs you are supposed to use the in-game bug report tool, or the Bug Report forum. You won’t get an individual reply. Bugs get fixed in patches that impact everyone at once, not a single account alone.
The disconnect between what GM’s/CS can do and player expectations sets people up for a lot of frustration and GMs up for a lot of negative interactions/tickets they can’t help with. They WANT to help, but have limits based on tools and policy. When people ask them to do things they can’t do, nobody wins or is happy.
This article on what GMs handle, and don’t handle, is good at helping players understand what to expect. Nobody is asking players to LIKE the limits, but at least they won’t be wasting their time getting frustrated when a ticket won’t help.
When in doubt, the CS forum is an Information Desk to help folks navigate the Support system, explain policies, explain services, etc. You can always ask there before wasting your time and find out if it is something they can help with. If so, what the best way of going about it is. Many things have self help tools now so you don’t even have to wait.
ahh yes.
the good old “i want a GM to do something they can’t do, so i’ll pretend they said something they didn’t”.
This is simply untrue. I have put in tickets about items and quests not working from vanilla through WotLK, and the GMs contacted me to fix my issue. Especially when the item gave a buff, was a saddle/reigns or a quest item. It’s insulting to ignore issues like these. The recent item in question was one of the primal essences that can be combined to form an heirloom. Hard to defend ignoring something like that - and I was far from the only one with the issue.
a LOT has changed in 16 years.
we have heaps of self-help options which weren’t available back then.
just because something isn’t fixed within a timeframe which suits you, doesn’t mean it’s being ignored.
…not everything is a “quick fix” like people seem to think.
so… a bug?
something GMs can’t help with.
I’ve never had an issue. Usually, I get the initial template response to triage tickets and make sure I exhausted all possibilities, then I resubmit and ticket is answered and solved.
Be short, succinct, don’t muddy the waters with superfluous information.
What was the issue?
are we playing the same game?
usually the first response from CS is a canned response to search for the answer on wowhead. what this means is they did not even read the ticket, it was automatically responded to.
then the ticket is resubmitted asking for a human to actually read it. normally by then you are not told to go to wowhead and an actual response is given.
Reminds me of that movie Rainmaker based on the J. Grisham novel — where the initial response by the insurance carrier is to deny a claim outright.
Which is exactly what Mirasol said:
You literally quoted it…
Incorrect. It means they triage tickets and they want to make sure all possibilities are exhausted first by the information already out there— especially if it’s not something they can even help with, like quests, which fall under game hints.
Customer Service is very broad. What exactly do you mean?
The only problems I’ve had with blizzard are the forum moderators (of which I can literally name like 50 friends who have the same issues with them lol) and in-game help GMs.
I can’t count how many times I’ve had to open a ticket because something wasn’t awarded to me when it should have been, only for the GM to somehow blame me, direct me to wowhead, and close the ticket. Only for the issue to be fixed in a hotfix months later, which could have been MUCH sooner if those GMs had taken the reports seriously and logged them, instead of blaming me.
But purchase issues, in-game action appeals, the CS support forum CMs, tech support, etc. I’ve never had an issue with. They always get answered fast and I can’t recall a scenario in those cases where I felt blizzard didn’t help me.
This is just silly. If they can’t fix a single item that creates an heirloom or prevents you from progressing in a quest within 48 hours, then they don’t care. It’s not rocket science. They used to do these kinds of fixes back in the day in a prompt manner because it affects gameplay, so there’s no excuse to close these tickets out and not do a darn thing. If they can do something back in the day when Blizzard was a much smaller company, they can definitely do it now. Unless Activision gutted CS, which doesn’t help any argument that CS is “good.” As a customer, it’s not my job to feel sorry for a department of a company. I only care about my gameplay, and whether issues regarding my gameplay are resolved in a timely manner. If they can’t be, that should involve some darn good communication.
Not everything is a self-help issue either. Like everything else I use wowhead first because I’m not braindead, and submit a ticket if the problem isn’t fixable on my end.
Ya i reported and ignored them but didnt get to contact anything legally for it which is where my issue was.
But yes the understanding part was nice so thanks for explaining it all