DDO Customer Service - Please refund one month of my VIP subscription

[Gordo]

A professional company would not need me to request this - they would have done it already. Being proactive in customer service, in tough times, is the hallmark of a successful company.

I cancelled my VIP this morning. You are too vested in being hall monitors but never invested enough in infrastructure thus leading to the complete debacle we now find ourselves in. How such a storied brand could be ransacked like this is beyond comprehension.

SSG has literally seen this train coming like the steamroller scene in Austin Powers. There was so much time to get out of the way and yet you let it run you over anyway. This was the most telegraphed "own goal" in business after Blackberry insisted "Nah, people prefer a keyboard". There isn't a case study ever done that proved you'll be a successful business being reactive instead of being proactive. All of these years of lag complaints, derision of "it's your PC or Wi-Fi connection", weekly server restarts, were all for naught. It was just kicking the can down the road until you succeeded in angering (almost) everyone.

To what end did that serve? The player base is ridiculously small as it is. Why push people away further with one bad decision after another? Capital constraints? Employee issues? Hardware? Falling Revenue? All of the above? You're entitled to have all of these problems but how you manage the public facing communication of them is what defines how a company succeeds or fails.

 

[DDO Gaming]

Assuming the lag is permanently fixed and SSG offered compensation...which would you choose:

1. one free month of VIP
2. an ultra-rare item?

And you know SSG is generous in that respect, the Year of the Dragon rewards reflect that

 

[Yeet]

*In a narrators voice* ..... And SSG still said nothing, did nothing, and continued to stonewall.

.... SSG will SSG. If they have learned nothing after a decade of feedback, it's hopeless to believe they will now. They are, quite literally, incapable of receiving feedback, understanding constructive criticism, or course adjustments.

It's really sad because DDO could be so much more than it is, and instead of flying ... it's being shackled, plucked, feathered and cooked.

64 bit servers are a last gasp effort to keep this game going. A change that should've been made years ago ... but we kept being told it wasn't possible. The lying and lack of integrity on SSG's part is pathetic. And we are all witnessing the results of those bad decisions, happening before our very eyes.

Denial really does no good, not if the sinking ship is to be saved. Yet still ... ssg is gonna ssg. So .. *shrug*

 

[Sarandra]

I still prefer a keyboard by the way. They can grab it from my cold, dead hands!

 

[Gordo]

Assuming the lag is permanently fixed and SSG offered compensation...which would you choose:

1. one free month of VIP
2. an ultra-rare item?

And you know SSG is generous in that respect, the Year of the Dragon rewards reflect that

The truth is I don't really want anything. What I do want is a professional company to behave professionally. I want clear communication, honesty, and integrity. Take some pride in ownership and own up to your mistakes. In the Army, we always said, "anything worth doing is worth doing well".

 

[Ryiah]

SSG has literally seen this train coming like the steamroller scene in Austin Powers.

A company can see it coming but still be unable to do anything about it. SSG is beholden to two parent companies. One of which is a corporation with stock and shareholders that don't care about the customer and their inconveniences unless it kills the ability for the company to make money. I do think 64-bit has been on their radar for a while they just couldn't justify spending resources on it until it reached critical mass.

Voting with your wallet is a good thing and we really should have done it earlier but we're all entirely too happy to continue paying for this game when it's in a far less than ideal state because the alternative is playing games that don't even remotely resemble this game because there's nothing like this game. I've played World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online, etc and while they're good games I keep coming back here for a reason.

 

[Gimp-1]

The truth is I don't really want anything. What I do want is a professional company to behave professionally. I want clear communication, honesty, and integrity. Take some pride in ownership and own up to your mistakes. In the Army, we always said, "anything worth doing is worth doing well".

There is also a saying about military intelligence.....

 

[Gordo]

A company can see it coming but still be unable to do anything about it. SSG is beholden to two parent companies. One of which is a corporation with stock and shareholders that don't care about the customer and their inconveniences unless it kills the ability for the company to make money. I do think 64-bit has been on their radar for a while they just couldn't justify spending resources on it until it reached critical mass.

Voting with your wallet is a good thing and we really should have done it earlier but we're all entirely too happy to continue paying for this game when it's in a far less than ideal state because the alternative is playing games that don't even remotely resemble this game because there's nothing like this game. I've played World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online, etc and while they're good games I keep coming back here for a reason.

There is no doubt in my mind that Stockholm Syndrome exists in this game.

 

[Balvix]

Assuming the lag is permanently fixed and SSG offered compensation...which would you choose:

1. one free month of VIP
2. an ultra-rare item?

And you know SSG is generous in that respect, the Year of the Dragon rewards reflect that

Do they really reflect that?

 

[Magnumaniac]

Assuming the lag is permanently fixed...

Hahaha, good one.

What they will do in a couple of weeks time is say "we have noticed a significant reduction in lag", forgetting to mention that Night Revels ended during that time too.
Everyone will go about their normal business until the next iteration of Crystal Cove / Night Revels, at which point another unneeded nerf will be hailed as the panacea to lag - maybe Archmages are firing too many Magic Missiles next time, who knows (well, we know who doesn't know...).
Good luck to anyone remaining, you're going to need it.

 

[FaceDancer]

The Jester and Flurry still have yet to do their dance. If special events are the cause of the crippling lag... we'll be in for a long winter!

 

[Ryiah]

What they will do in a couple of weeks time is say "we have noticed a significant reduction in lag", forgetting to mention that Night Revels ended during that time too.

Cordovan finally admitted that they agree Night Revels isn't doing this game any favors by being active.

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/cormyr-arrives-on-wednesday-october-23rd.14862/page-7#post-183492

 

[Magnumaniac]

Cordovan finally admitted that they agree Night Revels isn't doing this game any favors by being active.

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/cormyr-arrives-on-wednesday-october-23rd.14862/page-7#post-183492

I'm sure they must be shocked at this discovery. I mean, it is not like it has caused problems EVERY OTHER F'ING YEAR that it has run, in whatever form.
The levels of incompetence have reached astounding levels. So instead of turning off the thing that is 100% causing the issue, they nerf an entire play style on the off chance that it might improve things a bit.
Anyway, no doubt the ban hammer is heading my way for telling things the way they are - but it honestly makes no difference anymore, I'm done.

 

[Grimscore_Riffstorm]

I don't know if this applies to everyone, but I reached out to my financial institution about going to bat for a refund for Myth Drannor because of development problems. They said once a year they will happily force a refund and gave me a form. I haven't submitted it yet, but if the game ends up dying over this I will indeed be getting a refund at least for that.

 

[Ryiah]

if the game ends up dying over this

If things like this would have shut it down it would be long gone by now. Around a decade ago the game was unplayable for a couple of weeks because of a data center transfer and we're still here today still spending.

 

[Gordo]

If things like this would have shut it down it would be long gone by now. Around a decade ago the game was unplayable for a couple of weeks because of a data center transfer and we're still here today still spending.

This.
The game has reached the lowest player base possible that also has the most likely amount of players to not leave under any circumstance. This Stockholm Sustainability Index should be studied at Harvard Business School as a means to determine what is your guaranteed minimum basic income you can earn for the lowest quality service supplied. This "floor" number is essentially a free put option on their business.

 

[Yeet]

Rumor mill has it that SSG bans the account when you get your money refunded via a bank charge back and the like.

This is why I never forced the issue with Feywild. But it IS why I will not spend $$ on this game until I know my purchases are worthwhile.

 

[Vyder]

I'm sure they must be shocked at this discovery. I mean, it is not like it has caused problems EVERY OTHER F'ING YEAR that it has run, in whatever form.
The levels of incompetence have reached astounding levels. So instead of turning off the thing that is 100% causing the issue, they nerf an entire play style on the off chance that it might improve things a bit.
Anyway, no doubt the ban hammer is heading my way for telling things the way they are - but it honestly makes no difference anymore, I'm done.

I hear ya, at this point I don’t even know what to say anymore.

 

[Ryiah]

Rumor mill has it that SSG bans the account when you get your money refunded via a bank charge back and the like.

Every company I've ever known has done this. It's an anti-fraud measure otherwise people would buy, get access, and reverse the payment.