Regarding the Queue-Disaster and a Company's good will

Wump · June 2017

Hey all,

we are all fully aware this BG Queue-Problem and all the fixes that dont fix anything (in case of this weeks patch: even made it worse). So no need to reiterate all the comments of how much we are frustrated and so on. No need to be toxic, the disaster is here and it doesnt look like it will be solved soon.

But this is the first time since I started playing MMOs (started with BC WoW) that i can understand why from time to time players want the Company to give a substantial sign of good will. I am fully aware that we as frustrated (and paying, by the way) customers are in no way entitled to any form of "real" compensation (read: money back). I want to repeat this, cause otherwise a hundred forum warriors will jump me:

I-am-fully-aware-that-we-are-in-no-way-entitled-to-any-form-of-compensation

Now with this out of the way: I think the Queue-Bug-crisis has reached a critical state. At this point I feel more and more that Zenimax not only fails to solve the problem but it - and this ist propably even worse - shows not the slightest sign of empathy (apart from the Forum Mods who give their best to calm the situation down). Many players are frustrated as hell, and it gets worse from day to day.

If you, Zeni, are not able to fix the problems, give at least a sign of good will: give us a few free days of playtime, give us a few crowns, a pet, whatever. Dont get me wrong: I dont need any of these things. But your GAME is in desperate need of a proof that you care about your COMMUNITY. Right now I got the feeling that parts of your playerbase have lost faith in you. We are going into ANOTHER week in which the BG Queue wont work. And you? You do nothing that is VISIBLE to your playerbase. Sure, youre working hard behind the scenes, I appreciate that. But as a Company you should realize the importance of good PR: Give us a little present to demonstrate that you care about you customers.

Take the in-game model of a little snake, call her "Queue" and give it free to the playerbase that bought the Morrowind-Chapter. Be ironic cause, you know, being ironic to oneself is a smart move (and a sign of emotional intelligence). But do something that restores my faith that you care about your customer.

Wish you all the best,

Wump

Rohaus · June 2017

I don't want anything you mention for compensation... I want to queue up with friends in a battleground together and not have to wait 1 hour + to actually get into a match together.

It is not that much to ask for considering we all paid $40+ for this "Chapter" that was supposed to deliver us a new PvP experience...

Vonnegut2506 · June 2017

Or maybe a costume T-shirt that says "Someone has declined the group."

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

I got 5 free orbs from Fire Emblem because they forgot to mark something on map...anywho....

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

Or maybe a costume T-shirt that says "Someone has declined the group."

That would be awesome. Just make it the generic text for error codes.

Cant login in? Someone declined the group.
Game crashes? Someone declined the group.
Killed in PvP? Helpful Hint: Don't decline the group.

The joy that could be had.

casparian · June 2017

Have you not heard me? Have I not made your choice plain? You will listen, mortals … even if it means peeling the ears from your scalps and shouting Namiira's will into whatever's left of your broken skulls! Someone declined the group!

NeillMcAttack · June 2017

Well, first of all, players are fully entitled to return the product with a full refund if they so choose.

But anyway, I fully intend to stop paying my monthly sub once I sort my inventory out. I have a few weeks left to get that sorted on my current sub. But it's not that it isn't functioning, it's far more to do with how it was handled. We had many threads during PTS warning about the issue, and many after relating to the live server. It was in one of these threads that our Community manager entered and said; paraphrasing: Well tbf it is telling you that someone perhaps outside your group is declining the invite.
Obviously it wasnt and isn't the case. The CM then returned later and spoke about how the Lead Designer decided to hop into the game and that he noticed something was off. How can this be the way bugs are found. The lead designer has to actually log in himself!! This kind of lackadaisical, sub par service is not something I can continue to support into the future.
Especially being a console player who knows that this will not be sorted for a long long time, if at all!

If they want to laugh and joke about how they have squandered the sums of money I have spent supporting this game, well fair play to them. But I won't be finding it funny.

mesmerizedish · June 2017

While I would never say no to free stuff, I would much rather they just fix the damn group finder.

LiquidPony · June 2017

NeillMcAttack wrote: »

Well, first of all, players are fully entitled to return the product with a full refund if they so choose.

But anyway, I fully intend to stop paying my monthly sub once I sort my inventory out. I have a few weeks left to get that sorted on my current sub. But it's not that it isn't functioning, it's far more to do with how it was handled. We had many threads during PTS warning about the issue, and many after relating to the live server. It was in one of these threads that our Community manager entered and said; paraphrasing: Well tbf it is telling you that someone perhaps outside your group is declining the invite.
Obviously it wasnt and isn't the case. The CM then returned later and spoke about how the Lead Designer decided to hop into the game and that he noticed something was off. How can this be the way bugs are found. The lead designer has to actually log in himself!! This kind of lackadaisical, sub par service is not something I can continue to support into the future.
Especially being a console player who knows that this will not be sorted for a long long time, if at all!

If they want to laugh and joke about how they have squandered the sums of money I have spent supporting this game, well fair play to them. But I won't be finding it funny.

This is far from the first time, and certainly won't be the last time, that I see something that leads me to believe ZOS's QA process is just total garbage.

I often relate the anecdote, but back during the last console MoL fiasco, someone from ZOS told us that the teams at ZOS were having trouble reproducing the crashes we were seeing. Which was absolutely ridiculous; no one on XB1 could get through the second add pull in MoL without losing half the group to crashes. If ZOS couldn't reproduce it, and if they can't reproduce the BG queueing issues, then their test environment is garbage or their testers are pants-on-head ***. Failing that, they're just lying to us, and they're aware of the bugs but shipped the product anyway and planned on making excuses to cover their asses.

Sigtric · June 2017

I'm cool with them simply continuing to work on it.

idk · June 2017

While I agree Zos' inability to fix the GF is a major issue, I don't see Him there is a lack of empathy. That's a bit of an exaggeration, especially since they have communicated they're working on it and have replied and asked for more details from those reporting the fix didn't fix it.

If you feel that our moral would be better served by them walked my around Tamriel weeping due to this game system failing then maybe that is what they should do.

Tandor · June 2017

Criticisms always come across far better when they aren't accompanied by requests for free gifts. In this case, ZOS are clearly well aware of the problem and are continually working on it. I've no doubt in that respect.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

Tandor wrote: »

Criticisms always come across far better when they aren't accompanied by requests for free gifts. In this case, ZOS are clearly well aware of the problem and are continually working on it. I've no doubt in that respect.

Do you ever wonder what happen to the dungeon finder then? Something they obviously gave up on and decided it was 'good enough'?

kevlarto_ESO · June 2017

Good will is not in zos's vocabulary, been here since beta never seen them do anything to garner any good will with the community.

BigBragg · June 2017

Group Finder is perpetually in a state of not working in some form or another, so why would Battle Grounds Queue be any different?

What would I want for compensation? Spend a fraction of the Morrowind profits and hire somebody from outside ZeniMax to come in and help solve this problem. The internal crew has struggled with this for far too long. This isn't ZOS inventing something new. It has successfully worked in many genres of gaming for well over a decade now. I just want them to get it done.