Is there anyone who governs Game Masters

I am extremely disappointed by the response I received from Blizzard. As a paying customer, I expect to be treated with respect, and the handling of my issue regarding the Kalimdor Cup quest has been unacceptable. I did everything correctly, but due to a bug on thier end, I am being denied the reward I earned.

Instead of addressing the issue and providing me with a fair resolution, their team responded with generic, unhelpful replies, followed by a threatening tone in the latest communication. This has left me feeling dismissed and disrespected as a loyal customer.

As a paying subscriber, I have the right to a fair resolution, not to be told that I will face penalties for simply trying to seek the reward I earned. I am seriously considering canceling my subscription and moving to another game, as Blizzard’s customer support does not seem to prioritize its players’ concerns. the worst part is you can’t reach anyone that governs support! It’s concerning that a company like Blizzard would essentially threaten a paying customer for trying to resolve an issue and appeal a decision. Their message is not only dismissive but also oversteps by implying that further attempts to address the issue could result in penalties and or account termination, which is definitely not how customer support should be handled. I have every right to be upset by this, especially since I’ve been polite and clear in my communication. It feels like they’re trying to shut down any further discussions without addressing my concerns, which is definitely not good customer service. I understand their policies, but as a paying customer, I feel that this is unfair, and I would like to be treated with more respect and a reasonable solution. The issue at hand is simple: I completed the Kalimdor Cup quest, earned the achievement, and am being denied the rewards due to a known bug. I pay for this game and expect a level of customer service and fairness in return. Instead, I am being offered workarounds that don’t apply, incorrect investigative findings, and no actual solution and this is what I get - Account Action: Warning
Offense: Violation of Customer Support Interaction Policy

The account listed above has continued to ticket in appealing our decision on a matter. At this time, we must ask you to adhere to the outcome we have provided. Repeated contacts about this situation can result in severe penalties for this account.

We understand that accidents and mistakes can result in gameplay behavior that isn’t perceived as ideal. Customer Service as a whole, from individual customer support agents to global directors, do everything in our power to deliver an ideal experience. However, as with every job, there are policies and procedures in place to ensure we’re upholding the intended game design. Many of us are avid players of our products as well, and we understand why you’re asking for a different outcome.

We would like to make it clear that the resolutions you’ve received will be the only one we can offer as a business. While we understand, and welcome, additional contacts that further clarify a situation, there comes a point where the outcome we’re providing is the correct one for us as a game studio. At this point in time, we’d like to make it clear that we will not be able to offer a different solution.

Continuing to submit tickets appealing this decision may result in penalties being applied to your account, up to and including account termination. What resolution? What differant outcome? So we are cheated in recieving rewards because of a bug? At no point will anyone grant the reward just sorry its a bug you don’t get your reward. How is this support? How about sorry you have a bug you don’t get paid for this months subscription? No one explains why they cant grand the reward, when i was almos told its something they are not capable of doing or not within their capacity, It almost seemed reasonable but they ended that with their decision was not to. No why?

3 Likes

Hello Adonislubomi,

So they told you they cannot help because this is a bug. The bug needs to be fixed.

They told you that again, then again, and at some point they basically said, well, we’ve told ya what we can do.

So they are not wrong here. It’s a bug, wait for the devs to fix it.

22 Likes

Afraid if there is a bug that prevents something from happening a gm can not fix it! You might have earned it but a bug is blocking things. Nothing they can do and yes if they tell you any more tickets on the subject will put youa arrount in jeopardy. Well I would listen to that warning.

12 Likes

To reach the GM supervisor team you would fill out the survey you get when your ticket is closed.

Please keep in mind that GMs do not have the ability to fix bugs, nor do they have the ability to award things that were not actually granted by the game. It does not matter if the reason for the lack of reward is that a bug caused it.

The most they can do is tell you to please report it as a Bug on the Bug Report forums, or in-game. The Devs are the ones who fix bugs, but usually that is not retroactive and won’t grant you rewards that were not earned due to a bug. You would have to repeat the event.

If you keep putting in tickets for the same thing, after being told what they GMs can, or can’t do, then it does cross the line to GM harassment. Sometimes the answer is that they can’t help you. They would love to give you what you want, but they can’t either due to lack of logs/data or due to policy.

If you did not complete an event, kill a boss, earn a reward, get an achievement - they can’t grant it to you.

You can read more here about what GMs can, and can’t do. Their powers are actually quite limited, esp for in-game things.

Edit to add - the only way you will get a resolution is if the Development team fixes the bug and the fix includes granting the rewards. That is in their hands, not the hands of GMs.

24 Likes

No one asked me to wait on anything or suggested it or said let us investigate and then well see what can be done if anything. If anyone suggested that hey, give the bug report some time and let’s see what happened and how we can move foward from here, I would have accepted that but thats not what has ever been said. I would have welcomed that idea. If anyone helped me to understand that we cant offer a reward or resolution till the investigation or bug is resolved that makes sense, but no one even implied it.

1 Like

Well then perhaps they could have been clearer. They respond, generally, via templates. This means that the GM has to choose the most appropriate. So, yeah, perhaps they could have been clearer. But, that is what they meant.

10 Likes

Because GMs don’t investigate bugs. They don’t document bugs. They don’t fix bugs. They don’t grant anything to the account that may be missing due to a bug (with very rare exceptions).

  • Bugs need to be reported to QA via the Bug Report forum or in-game tool. You said this is a known bug.
  • QA is the team who investigates, documents reproduces, a bug.
  • Dev fixes it on whatever schedule they have - either in a hot fix or a patch.
  • Any changes or fixes to that bug have to wait on that patch. The GM has no idea when or if that will happen.

The only way they can help, is if the Devs give them special tools and permission for this one bug. Not something they can promise you or ask you to wait for. It is not the GM’s decision.

21 Likes

Nothing for a gm to investigate, They have zero to do with bugs. They can not assist you or give you a resolution or reward.

8 Likes

I appreciate everyones response and I got more answers here then support, They don’t outline what they can or can’t do and when they said they can’t they then added in we chose not to with no explination why they chose not to, One came back with an investigation they claimed but had they read my ticket they would see why their invetigation was incorect. One reply offered a workaround but again had they read my ticket they would understand the workaround was invalid. I had so many replies to tickets mainly responding to why the solution they offered was not a solution and why it was not.

Not relevant to a gm that a work around does not work. Things like this and bugs are in the hands of QA people in bug reports and the devs. Gms have zero involvement when it comes to bugs.

6 Likes

Yah the thing with templates is the more specific they are, the less generally useful they are and the more yah need and when to use this nitch one or that one, etc. As templates are used by big companies with large customer support they have to have a balance. Not always easy.

Anyway, they can’t help with bugs unless given specific tools/permission by the devs.

6 Likes

I did file a full bug report with as much detail as i could give. I explained that I accepted the quest and how the quest guided me from one location to the next and how with each race completed it gave a green checkmark so I can see the progress. Once completed I got the achievment and the ? icon that it was complete when I went to turn it in it would not accept it or reward me, I relogged, I went to another world and I returned later and no change, I saw a suggestion in a forum to abandon the quest and reaccept it, When I did that all the green checkmarks were gone as if I never did the quest, SO trying to turn it in at another location could not be done as suggested and being told in the GM deep investigation that I did the quest first then went to accept the quest after completing it is not true because of how i described what happened and the result as i progressed clearly i had the quest first, SO yeah i was resopnding to that and that generated more ticket replies.

I have a different experience. The vast majority of the GMs who assisted me were extremely polite, kind, and attentive.

9 Likes

Ok. Your next step is to re-do the quest then. Once you abandoned it, they especially can’t help with it.

When you do the quest again, then you can try this part.

If you have time to wait a day or two in hopes they get it fixed, esp after Tuesday restarts, that might be wise. Don’t wait until too close to the end of the event though!

8 Likes

I don’t understand when they are not being clear on what can or can’t be done and what they offer as a solution does not work or apply and I respond to say thanks but this is not a valid solution or workaround and that goes back and forth with me trying to find a solution of making sure they trully understand the ticket details because the responses suggest they don’t understand the ticket details and then as a result of this to get a final letter reply as a warning when im just trying to get an actual resolution that at no point no one says they cant only to answer with they choose not to it does not sit well. I expect better then this. Im glad some people get replies that are kind and polite and I got those too but they also missed the details in the ticket as if they skimmed trhough and just slapped something that might work without the details. Thats frustrating. It all came across as we choose not to reward you and thats our choice with no explination at all. What made it worse is your making a choice and clearly not reading the details ive outlined when I’m understanding here is how missguided this all was.

Simply put: The gms ain’t able to just give someone something because they said such. It isn’t a matter of nagging someone until you get what you want, it’s about what limits they have. They’re not choosing to not help you because they can, it’s because they’re allowed to whatsoever without the devs greenlight.

5 Likes

Gm’s never will tell you directly they can not do something. They will refer you other places like bug report or wowhead.

Either way gm’s are not there to help with bugs

5 Likes

I totally understand this and it is a serious drawback of the template system they currently use. It does not actually clearly tell players what they can, and can not do. It leaves people frustrated and wondering if there was more that could be done, and WHY they could not be helped. Maybe the GM did not get it even.

If you ever have an issue you can always ask here first. The CS forum is an Information Desk to help guide folks through the ticket system, explain policies, and explain account services.

It can save a ton of frustration for everyone by just asking what the best path is for an issue. For example this forum would have probably suggested you put in a bug report so the QA and Devs know, and then do the quest again. They would have told you here that this is not likely something a GM can fix.

I am very sorry for your frustration with all this. I do get it.

9 Likes

There should be a survey for u to fill at the end of ur ticket that will go to there supervisor.

3 Likes

It’s ok now that I understand whats happening and why with support. I had no idea this is how they function and why. I was under the impression im getting a real person with real answers or explinations and each time a partial acknoweldgment and diversion and me trying to direct it back to the initial question needing an answer to it that no reply gave clearly and I was polite and detailed so to get that warning was horrible. When no one is actually answering me but diverting everything and responses that are not valid to the information provided, It feels like bots now to be honest. Like talking to an artifical intelligence system, or an AI of support. Honestly though I can see big companies doing this but when you pay for a service to me your not paying just to have access but the level of service when there is an issue, in cases like this someone should be able to investigate an issue and give the failed rewards. We should not have to do it again as all those races took time. I feel more should be available. Thank you again.

2 Likes