Problem with missing pet support

Support Customer Support
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I don’t know if cross posting is allowed in these forums, I’m not a frequent visitor, but I view this as both a bug and a customer support issue, and it was suggested I come post after a failed in-game ticket. And I’d like an answer on both the bug and the support aspect, so-

Hello.

I have finished a game ticket for a missing pet. Basically I was told I was SOL.

I last played in 2012. Then I came back to play 2 weeks ago. In 2012, I had a blue rare pet called the Disgusting Oozeling. This is before combat pets. Took me ages to farm.

Eventually, vanity pets became companions or battle pets. This is while I was gone from the game, I believe. Battle pets came out in Cata? Doesn’t matter. I didn’t have it as a battle pet.

So, I come back, and notice the pet is gone. Now, Disgusting Oozeling is one of the few pets that’s not account wide, and it had other special characteristics. My beef is that this pet went missing during some kind of transition from vanity pets to combat pets. While I was gone from the game for 7 years, yes. But all my other equipment made it. Disgusting oozeling DID get converted, but I wonder if it didn’t stay in my pet collection because it wasn’t account wide? Just seems to me that it is possible SOMETHING happened to make it go missing, during this time.

Sooooo…blue rare pet, goes missing during transition from vanity to combat, during the time I was away from game… and I can’t get it back because I don’t have any proof I had it.

Now, I don’t know about you (and this is where I stray off topic), but I didn’t keep a log or screenshot of everything I owned when I stopped playing, somehow knowing I would come back in 7 years. I get that GM’s can’t just hand out stuff based on a player’s word.

Wait, what?! Oh, that’s right, Blizzard thinks all of its players are cheaters. None of them can be trusted at their word.

I mean, that’s why the item restore page came into existence, right? To get rid of the most obnoxious requests and deal with them in a firm, protocol way?

But how often does a player come back from 2012 and just randomly pick a blue pet that probably got lost in a pet transfer glitch… oh, yeah, we don’t trust any Blizzard players to tell the truth, ever. Nevermind.

I was seriously offended, to be lumped in with someone who is cheating, SIMPLY BECAUSE I ASKED FOR SOMETHING BACK. Great way to treat your customers. I felt so welcomed. Not so much upset about the pet, now, but about being treated like a criminal just for asking for something that went missing. Oh, sure they dressed it up in pretty language… but the tone was still there. “We don’t trust you”.

Maybe I’m taking it personally. Boo hoo, right? Not the only player to have lost something.

The loss wasn’t my fault, but Blizzard couldn’t even acknowledge the possibility that something might have happened, they have to pretend like it didn’t go missing, since I don’t have proof, because if they admitted the possibility, they’d have to give things back? So they just stonewall, and tell the players, SOL.

I mean, how many people are gonna make crap up, anymore, to really try and get away with something? Just seems to me that Blizzard ought to be a little more trusting and considerate to its players, than to treat them so poorly they feel like a thief or liar just for asking for a missing item back.

So, pissed at missing my favorite pet, and pissed that something seems seriously wrong in the way that the GM’s responded to my ticket.

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As customer support is a player-helping-player venue, there’s quite literally nothing we can do for you here. We can’t conjure things up in-game, we can’t access your account/s, etc. A bug, maybe.

But seven years is plenty of time to generate a looooooot of data for millions of other players. It’s simply a technological limitation for them to keep data for that long, and not all data is treated the same. The data they may have had on-hand to prove you once had the pet probably no longer exists, and without that proof, they’d be setting a precedence of giving stuff out simply by people asking for it, not just cheaters. It’s dangerous terrain.

While it is unfortunate, you aren’t being compared to cheaters in any way, it’s just much easier for them to keep the playing field even by treating everyone the same.

I think you grossly underestimate the mindset of this generation of gamers that prove time and time again that they want instant gratification in many respects-- I wouldn’t at all put it past them to want something for nothing.

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Once a battle pet is added to the account-wide collection (which came out in MoP pre-patch), then it is available to anyone on that same Battle Net account. There are of course, a few restrictions, such as faction-specific ones OR guild Pages/Heralds that have to be purchased on every character in order to access them.

I can confirm that the Disgusting Oozeling is available to any of my characters on my account.

842×611

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I highly doubt blizzard accused you of cheating now as to the logs issues u were gone for years logs only go back months before there purged if blizzard cant prove that you had then there rarely much else that can be done other then telling you to go to general to suggest a change or go farm the pet again.

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it’s just much easier for them to keep the playing field even by treating everyone the same.

I guess that’s my problem. They’re treating everyone the same, which is what I’m complaining about. Now, I’m not saying that it’d be easy. But I just have a problem with the intrinsic assumptions here, that there is so (potential) MUCH harm, that a bias that counts against fair players is a good idea.

So, do we have data that shows how much harm there actually is? I mean, okay, you can tell me the world is a big bad place full of young, cheating gamers, but even at 52, I’m not just gonna fall for that.

I think you grossly underestimate the mindset of this generation of gamers that prove time and time again that they want instant gratification in many respects-- I wouldn’t at all put it past them to want something for nothing.

Ok, let me break this down. You ‘think’. ‘underESTIMATE’. mindset - you read minds, do you? ‘time and again’ - ok, I just asked for data, you say time and again, show me those two times.

I wouldn’t at all put it past them

Again, you wouldn’t put it past them? OOOh, I think the jury will convict on that one.

I’m sorry, I just don’t see who would be harmed by me getting a random blue pet back because I said I lost it, and they believed me.

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Ah, so this is one of those threads. Got it.

Good luck, OP.

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Ekon, I’m here because the GM’s told me that some of my feedback would make it up channel. If that’s not true, I’ll leave.

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For feedback, you need to post in a Forum outside of the Support Forums. You can post in General Discussion where feedback is monitored.

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Kyzera, I’m really not clear about what you’re saying - am I supposed to post about both my problem with the bug of the missing pet, and about my problem with the value of the customer support I received, in the General Discussion forum? Feedback on in game support just goes in the General Discussion?

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It’s interesting you say that, because i was reminded of something similar that happened to me in another game.

I started playing ESO in beta and then got the game as soon as it went live. As an early joiner I received a special vanity pet however, for some reason it didn’t make it onto my pet list and when I came back to the game a few years later I couldn’t find it. I contacted their customer support, explained the problem and, despite the fact that it may well have been my fault, their support people were happy to credit me with the pet and put into my collection, no questions asked.

I have no idea if ESO’s ability to track such things is better than Blizzard’s, and it certainly didn’t happen 8 years ago as it did for you, but they seemed quite happy to help me out despite it probably being due to my own mistake.

It would be good public relations if Blizzard could do the same sort of thing for someone like you - give the damned pet to you, whether or not they are sure you are entitled to it, just to be good guys.

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The integrity of the game would be harmed. Game Masters can only restore what they can verify was lost, not purely on claims. And believe me, the number of claims on supposedly lost items of rare value are a very common request. If you do not value the integrity of the game, not much can be done about that, but one cannot force Blizzard to not care about it.

Also, the fact is, if you lost the pet, something you likely did on your end caused its loss. One of the most common is sending items in the mail to another character then not logging back in. In those cases, the loss of the item is intentional, as mail is not a storage place. Never has been, never will be.

As someone who is also 52, and who has been around the game since the beginning, I can assure you the number of those who would try to defraud a Game Master to gain an item they do not have, have never had, is quite high.

As such, in the end, they need to stick to their guns and only give back what can be 100% verified as having been owned. And even in those cases, they may not restore an item, as players are completely responsible for the management of their items. If Customer Support can assist, it is done as a courtesy, and never as an expectation.

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If Customer Support can assist, it is done as a courtesy, and never as an expectation.

I’m sorry, are you saying common courtesy isn’t to be expected these days? OH, right.

No, I think I and Kneeshooter have had similar experiences, and while it may be a challenge for this particular game, or this particular game developer, I think expecting a certain amount of customer service should be valid. And yes, when I get poor customer service, I take my business somewhere else. That may happen.

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Like i said in my first post u said you were gone since 2012 item logs only go back months before there purged it would be one thing if it was a toon but items dont last forever unfortunately.

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I get that the logs don’t go back that far. I even get that many players asking unfairly might upset game mechanics.

But a blue VANITY item? How is that going to harm another player? IDK, I get it, from one angle, but I think I still want to hold on to my values of good customer service is a thing. And maybe Blizzard came up with A solution, which kinda works, but if they set their minds to it, they could come up with a better one. But spending time on that wouldn’t increase their bottom line.

I’d say the Item Restore feature works as intended, right? So how many more requests does that leave to deal with, to triage into sensible and non-sensical ones? And so maybe some mistakes get made. BUT - my position is that it makes more sense to err on the side of the customer. I grew up with a saying, “The customer is always right.”

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Basicly they have to go at your word and base it on there logs if the logs match then yes they can restore if they dont there hands are tied at a developer lvl.

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You can just farm the pet or buy it from the AH its about 3k on average.

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Ilyana, back then, I’m pretty sure, though the tooltips have changed so I can’t be sure, but when you clicked on a found pet, it went permanently into your collection and was soul bound, unlike the pets that these days can be recaged. Until you clicked on the item in your bags, it could be traded. Once you’d ‘adopted’ it, it was forever. As a blue rare, I think this was probably even more likely. I didn’t trade things between alts. So, I’m sorry, but

Also, the fact is, if you lost the pet, something you likely did on your end caused its loss.

the fact is…likely? So which is it? Is it a fact, to your knowledge, that it was something I did? Or is it just likely, and maybe you don’t really know, so you shouldn’t say things like that unless you’re trying to set out bait?

So, mismanagement is a common issue. If you want to help, by saying it’s all my fault that I mismanaged it, then your help isn’t requested. I know it’s gone, dude. I’m trying to work out how I feel about it, and express my frustration and the nature of the problem on the forums, like the GM told me to, in game. Again, if this post is not welcome, I’ll move on. But I’m looking for feedback and sympathy, maybe the possibility of shared experience to know that I’m not the only one who suffered this problem, and it’s a real bug - and to know that someone in the game might be reading this, and look in to the problems. I’m not looking for ‘SOL’ and whatnot - I said that in the original post, didn’t I?

Jeez, seems people want to tell me to shove off. Sorry I posted. I thought forums were a tool for players to use.

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The good news is that this pet hasn’t been removed from the game. If you really want it, and it seems pretty obvious you do, you can farm it again.

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Hey Corlicious, I understand you are frustrated so I want to try and take a few sections of your post to cover what I can.

First, let’s cover the pet’s account wide status. I’m afraid you are misinformed. The Disgusting Oozeling absolutely is account wide. If you have it added to your collection it can be summoned by any of your characters and yes, it still applies the ooze aura.

To be clear, all pets were converted from a single item to one that was used as it was added to your collection. This would apply to the Disgusting Oozeling as well. If you had the Disgusting Oozeling item in your inventory, it wouldn’t add to your collection until it was actively learned by you.

That isn’t remotely true, Corlicious, but I’m afraid there are several folks who absolutely would tell an untruth in order to have an item “restored” that they never actually owned. It is an unfortunate reality that since we cannot take everyone at their word the only fair thing to do is to eliminate a person’s word as part of the equation.

While I absolutely understand your frustration, please do not provide a false assumed false narrative as reasoning or motivation for our actions or policies. I can assure you that item restorations have never been considered an obnoxious request, let alone the “most” obnoxious one.

For clarification on how it all works… Item Restorations prior to the Item Restoration system have always had a firm protocol, it was the policies that our Game Masters followed when receiving a restoration request. That protocol… is the same as what our staff would follow, the item had to be in the deleted inventory for a Game Master to restore it.

Our Developers simply created a self help option so that when a player made the occasional mistake they didn’t have to submit a ticket and wait for a Game Master. They could simply check the list of deleted items on their character and restore the item themselves.

How often does a player return to playing from 2012? A lot actually, they return from all kinds of times.

It is the “glitch” that is not as certain. Usually if there is a “glitch” or what we call a bug or known issue, it tends to be experienced by a significant portion of the population. If we had some reports of a possible bug around pets and them disappearing, we’d have a policy that may allow us to restore them based on that. Unfortunately, we have no known issues around disappearing pets.

That isn’t to say you are lying, Corlicious, only that for all restorations we must be able to verify the loss.

There are studies, I am sure. There isn’t specific numbers I can give you, Corlicious, but from personal experience I have had myself received requests for items that a person never had. I’ve seen chat lines from folks admitting that they are making it up. So, I’m sorry, while we absolutely would love to good faith these kinds of things, it just isn’t feasible.

It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else who also said they lost something.

There may be a misunderstanding. The Game Master recommended that you submit a suggestion through the in-game interface or through the forums. The forums themselves are broken up by category and subcategory. The Support forums aren’t the same as the Community forums. The Community forums are reviewed by our Community Managers and Devs for suggestions and feedback. The Support forums are used by various Support agencies to provide, support.

We are not liaisons with Dev and therefore cannot help here.

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It’s not a random blue pet. It’s a rare blue pet. It also affects Achievements. It is worth about 12-15k gold on the AH.

If word got out that they gave an item to a player just on the player’s say-so the ticket queue would be hammered with players trying to get items they “absolutely, I swear” had back in __ expansion.

Every player would be “harmed” by this. It would affect ticket times. It would affect the auction house on every realm. It would potentially devalue having any rare item. The reason being that if they did it for one player, it would have to be policy for EVERY player.

You don’t actually know this. Even if they said so in a ticket. Your participation could have been marked on your account in a visible way and that allowed them to restore it. It’s possible they actually didn’t take you at your word.

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