Amateur Hour at Blizz

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Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

<RANT>

I am incredibly frustrated with the amateurs at Blizzard today.

First, they should test their patches before they release them to their
entire paying customer base. It's idiotic not to conduct thorough
testing, but obviously they didn't before this one. :-(

Second, with all the money they're making, they REALLY need to spring
for a second Tech Support line. Having a Tech Support line that's always
BUSY is like NOT having a tech support line AT ALL. :-(

Third, before releasing a patch, they should fix their Forum Servers so
people can post and share information about the disaster that, in this
case, 1.6 actually is. For the last five hours, it has been impossible
to post to their web forums because their "Login Server is Down." :-(

As far as I'm concerned, that's strike three and YER OUT!!! The only
remaining method of contacting them is via email. But all you get back
is an automated form letter. :-(

All this is making me want my money back for the game. It was pretty fun
until today, but now all I can think is, "What a giant waste of time."
If I'd known this was how Blizzard actually operates, I never would have
bought the game in the first place. But in talking to some of my
friends, they are all telling me that this is typical for Blizzard. With
such an opportunity in their hands, it's astounding how badly they're
blowing it. :-(

"Wow" takes on a whole new meaning. Wow. It's Amateur Hour! :-(

</RANT>

Joe

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

In article <db1kh0$kjm$0@pita.alt.net>, "Mike Kohary" <sorry@no.spam>
wrote:

> Joe Broke wrote:
> > <RANT>
> >
> > I am incredibly frustrated with the amateurs at Blizzard today.
>
> I know you're ranting, but as soon as you say something like that, I just
> skip the post. FYI.

Yeah, I know. LOL :-D That's OK, and understandable. I <was> just
ranting.

So far, at least they're looking into the problems. There are a boatload
of Realms that are presently down, due to these kind of reported issues.
Most of my own frustration came from having to resort to EMAIL to even
report the problems! Having a 100% busy tech support line AND a
non-functioning web forum is really a serious mistake, IMO.

I know it can't be easy to develop this kind of game product. I only
would encourage them to do a FAR better job on the customer side of
their business. The way they're doing it leaves a big gaping hole of an
opportunity for ANYONE with a similar product to capture their market if
they can do patches and customer communication better. Frankly, I can't
imagine it would be all that hard to do better in these areas!!! And
that's not frustration talking; it's many years in business. Watch out
when you stumble as badly as this, because there are a dozen (or a
thousand) others just as good as you who want your market, and are ready
to take yours from your "incompetent hands," as that may be.

My final hope would be that Blizzard would do some post-launch analysis,
see the major blunders in 1.6's launch, and allocate the necessary
resources to shore it up for the next one. Then they could actually
graduate to being a first-class company, instead of the third-class
experience so many (including me) have had with them today.

Joe

 

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Joe Broke wrote:
> <RANT>
>
> I am incredibly frustrated with the amateurs at Blizzard today...

Go play Guild Wars, then.

Brent

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

Sounds like you got unlucky.

I downloaded the patch file direct. (Found the link here on the
forum.) Downloaded it on my machine, my girlfriends, and my notebook
(just in case). 20MB downloaded really fast over a cable modem and was
on the 3 machines within 10 minutes.

I ran the patch entered the game and continued on with what I was
doing.

My girlfriend got home and after a swim and dinner we loaded our Druids
in Darkshore and played for a bit.

No errors except a slight glitch with an add-on.

And the honor bar really is there. I'm such a carebear that it doesn't
really register much. 106 HKs the other night helping attack South
Shore and I get a measly little red bar on the far left of where it
should be.

I did, fool that I am, run around Elwynn looking for the Darkmoon
Faire. It's nowhere yet as far as I can tell. And I did whack on some
humanoids but no cards dropped. (What are slime covered muckdwellers
doing with playing cards? They do carry nice magic stuff though.)

I haven't logged on as my Warrior so haven't messed around with the new
talent setup yet.

Otherwise a patch without problems for me, and downloading the file
direct, the fastest patch I've ever done.

A /cheer for Blizzard from me.

 

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"Joe Broke" <JoeIsBroke@YahooNOSPAM7734.com> wrote in message
news:JoeIsBroke-BCCF31.17014112072005@news.supernews.com...
>
> I know it can't be easy to develop this kind of game product. I only
> would encourage them to do a FAR better job on the customer side of
> their business.

This has always been the gaping meteor-crater hole in their operation-
has been since as long as I can remember. Their customer service is
next to nonexistent. You just get what little they give ya, and like it.

> The way they're doing it leaves a big gaping hole of an
> opportunity for ANYONE with a similar product to capture their market if
> they can do patches and customer communication better. Frankly, I can't
> imagine it would be all that hard to do better in these areas!!! And
> that's not frustration talking; it's many years in business. Watch out
> when you stumble as badly as this, because there are a dozen (or a
> thousand) others just as good as you who want your market, and are ready
> to take yours from your "incompetent hands," as that may be.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be even 1 'others just as good as they
who want their market'... if there is, they've been mighty stealthy with their
product, so far.

> My final hope would be that Blizzard would do some post-launch analysis,
> see the major blunders in 1.6's launch, and allocate the necessary
> resources to shore it up for the next one. Then they could actually
> graduate to being a first-class company, instead of the third-class
> experience so many (including me) have had with them today.

Nah. They've been used to getting away with exactly this type of operation
since the first days of Diablo 2, many years ago. Since nobody has come
along to 'steal their lunch' yet, as it were, they've had no reason to concen-
trate on quality control and customer service, as job #1. I still love their
games, but you're right, their service and patch Q&A blows goats, always
has... ::shrug::
-Marshall

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

In article <uV2Be.4362$BK1.3217@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
"Marshall" <Marshall@nospam.com> wrote:

> "Joe Broke" <JoeIsBroke@YahooNOSPAM7734.com> wrote in message
> news:JoeIsBroke-BCCF31.17014112072005@news.supernews.com...
> >
> > I know it can't be easy to develop this kind of game product. I only
> > would encourage them to do a FAR better job on the customer side of
> > their business.
>
> This has always been the gaping meteor-crater hole in their operation-
> has been since as long as I can remember. Their customer service is
> next to nonexistent. You just get what little they give ya, and like it.
>
> > The way they're doing it leaves a big gaping hole of an
> > opportunity for ANYONE with a similar product to capture their market if
> > they can do patches and customer communication better. Frankly, I can't
> > imagine it would be all that hard to do better in these areas!!! And
> > that's not frustration talking; it's many years in business. Watch out
> > when you stumble as badly as this, because there are a dozen (or a
> > thousand) others just as good as you who want your market, and are ready
> > to take yours from your "incompetent hands," as that may be.
>
> Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be even 1 'others just as good as they
> who want their market'... if there is, they've been mighty stealthy with their
> product, so far.
>
> > My final hope would be that Blizzard would do some post-launch analysis,
> > see the major blunders in 1.6's launch, and allocate the necessary
> > resources to shore it up for the next one. Then they could actually
> > graduate to being a first-class company, instead of the third-class
> > experience so many (including me) have had with them today.
>
> Nah. They've been used to getting away with exactly this type of operation
> since the first days of Diablo 2, many years ago. Since nobody has come
> along to 'steal their lunch' yet, as it were, they've had no reason to concen-
> trate on quality control and customer service, as job #1. I still love their
> games, but you're right, their service and patch Q&A blows goats, always
> has... ::shrug::
> -Marshall

Exactly right on all counts. I spent a couple years addicted to Diablo
2, and now it's WoW, and their issues with bugs, customer service, and
server load have been as consistent as the compelling nature of their
games.

One can only hope that with the subscription model they've switched to
(as opposed to the free Battle.net) they'll feel the pressure to iron
out the bugs and improve service a bit better than in the past. Even if
the problems aren't dire enough to make people quit, at least the
"paying customer" is more likely to fire off GM tickets, emails, and
phone calls to get things fixed.

--
Eonar: Hemophage (60), Human warrior Purge (51), Undead mage
Dagobert (34), Human mage Vaik (12), Night Elf rogue

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

All the online games have this problem on updates. I have played FFXI, EQ,
EQ2 and many others. Of all of them FFXI and WoW are the most stable and
EQ2 very buggy. If you do not like the growing pains of a live and growing
game like these maybe a single player game is for you.


"Joe Broke" <JoeIsBroke@YahooNOSPAM7734.com> wrote in message
news:JoeIsBroke-4737D6.16023312072005@news.supernews.com...
> <RANT>
>
> I am incredibly frustrated with the amateurs at Blizzard today.
>
> First, they should test their patches before they release them to their
> entire paying customer base. It's idiotic not to conduct thorough
> testing, but obviously they didn't before this one. :-(
>
> Second, with all the money they're making, they REALLY need to spring
> for a second Tech Support line. Having a Tech Support line that's always
> BUSY is like NOT having a tech support line AT ALL. :-(
>
> Third, before releasing a patch, they should fix their Forum Servers so
> people can post and share information about the disaster that, in this
> case, 1.6 actually is. For the last five hours, it has been impossible
> to post to their web forums because their "Login Server is Down." :-(
>
> As far as I'm concerned, that's strike three and YER OUT!!! The only
> remaining method of contacting them is via email. But all you get back
> is an automated form letter. :-(
>
> All this is making me want my money back for the game. It was pretty fun
> until today, but now all I can think is, "What a giant waste of time."
> If I'd known this was how Blizzard actually operates, I never would have
> bought the game in the first place. But in talking to some of my
> friends, they are all telling me that this is typical for Blizzard. With
> such an opportunity in their hands, it's astounding how badly they're
> blowing it. :-(
>
> "Wow" takes on a whole new meaning. Wow. It's Amateur Hour! :-(
>
> </RANT>
>
> Joe