I see all these people talking about cryptic's "bad customer service" and i have this to say to those people.... Cryptic is doing the best they can with the resources they have at the moment. Considering the enormous pressure they were under to complete this game in under 2 years and the amount of work that goes into setting up and maintaining an MMO... Id say that cryptic has done a hell of a job with the game and every time Ive needed to contact customer support they were very helpful and quick to respond. It all comes down to people who want everything to be perfect from day one. well if you have played other MMOs as I have you will quickly realize that perfect is a term that you will never see describing an MMO. There are and will always be issues in the game to resolve and the best way to make sure they are taken care of is to inform cryptic about it and let them do thier job.
I think Cryptic did a good job of getting the game out in the time required by the license. Now they just need to spend the next few months fixing server issues, finishing the Klingon Faction, adding End-game content, and doubling/tripleing the current Episodes in the game.
Cryptic is doing the best they can with the resources they have at the moment.
Simply explaining WHY you are doing something poorly is a not a reasonable substitute for taking the steps necessary to resolve the underlying problem. I would imagine that Crypic is in control over the "resources they have at the moment". If they are understaffed for this product launch, then that is a planning failure on their part.
. If they are understaffed for this product launch, then that is a planning failure on their part.
I hate to point this out, but it drives me crazy. Atari, that would be a planning failure on Atari. they control cryptic. they are Cryptic's puppet master.
Simply explaining WHY you are doing something poorly is a not a reasonable substitute for taking the steps necessary to resolve the underlying problem. I would imagine that Crypic is in control over the "resources they have at the moment". If they are understaffed for this product launch, then that is a planning failure on their part.
The problem is we live in the real world. I hate to break it you but the 10$ people pay a month would not cover me in terms of wages going to the tea machine. It would pay for me to read your e-mail maybe and that would be about it.
People paying their 10$ a month and expect a 24/7 service and people able to deal with their issues within minutes. It is just not going to happen
The problem is we live in the real world. I hate to break it you but the 10$ people pay a month would not cover me in terms of wages going to the tea machine. It would pay for me to read your e-mail maybe and that would be about it.
People paying their 10$ a month and expect a 24/7 service and people able to deal with their issues within minutes. It is just not going to happen
I pay $14.99, but let's go with $10. Someone said recently that they had read that STO had close to a million subs at launch. Let's be conservative and say 400,000. So that's 4 million a month in potential revenue. Plus 400,000 copies of the game itself for another what, 20 million dollar instant cash infusion? I'm sure they are currently drowning in red ink, since the entire development and marketing cycle leading up this launch was pure cost. Still, you'd have a hard time convincing me that they are so cash-poor that they couldn't hire and train a handful of temps to ensure a reasonable customer service experience during launch.
The problem is we live in the real world. I hate to break it you but the 10$ people pay a month would not cover me in terms of wages going to the tea machine. It would pay for me to read your e-mail maybe and that would be about it.
People paying their 10$ a month and expect a 24/7 service and people able to deal with their issues within minutes. It is just not going to happen
And gamers like you are exactly the reason that game companies feel like that they can put out a shoddy product and get away with it. If they cant deliver the product and services of a 24/7 MMO then they should not be in the 24/7 MMO buisness.
expect a 24/7 service and people able to deal with their issues within minutes. It is just not going to happen
I'm not asking for 24/7 "within minutes support". However, I DO think it's pushing it when many subscribers are waiting in some cases nearly 2 weeks for tickets to be answered. I personally have had a non-bug, non-game related account and billing ticket open for 11 days now. Sorry, but you just can't spin that into being acceptable.
I agree the base game is good, there just is a lack of content. DDO has this problem at launch, and did not recover until they went F2P.
They need to get content out and quick, before launch buzz fades completely away,
Sorry to quote myself. BTW DDO was also overly controlled by Atari. While it realeased with far to little content, and payed the price. Turbine also got enough hardware to hand the initial launch volume, but in a couple months the servers were barren. While this would not be as noticeable to players, sense we are running shared instances. The cash outlay by Cryptic must still concern them.
And gamers like you are exactly the reason that game companies feel like that they can put out a shoddy product and get away with it. If they cant deliver the product and services of a 24/7 MMO then they should not be in the 24/7 MMO buisness.
Not to play devil's advocate, but this is not a 24/7 service. No MMO is.
If it was billed that way, it would be a delusion of grandeur.
They had one guy on phone support a few weeks ago when this product went to hundreds of thousands of people.
I have a ticket that is 7 days old. Others have more.
They need to be more forthcoming with info.
Not to play devil's advocate, but this is not a 24/7 service. No MMO is.
If it was billed that way, it would be a delusion of grandeur.
Ok you lost me at the not 24/7 thing. This game is up 24/7 except for maintenance? If you answer yes and you have to answer yes because it is up 24/7 then i think you are wrong and i doubt you will find anything in the EULA that contradicts me. Yes the billing and staff departments might close at set hours but the game never does.
Ok you lost me at the not 24/7 thing. This game is up 24/7 except for maintenance? If you answer yes and you have to answer yes because it is up 24/7 then i think you are wrong and i doubt you will find anything in the EULA that contradicts me. Yes the billing and staff departments might close at set hours but the game never does.
Except for maintenance, and everything else that prevents you from playing.
So it's not up 24/7.
It can't be by default.
So it isn't.
There will be Cryptic's ISP outages, DNS issues, patching game down time. Unexpected downtime. Server maintenance time.
This is true for every game.
And then there's beyond their control stuff, too. Like power failures, bad weather taking out power/phone/internet access lines and whatnot.
You can't have a server running 24/7 unless you can control everything that it is connected to, in all it's forms.
I see all these people talking about cryptic's "bad customer service" and i have this to say to those people.... Cryptic is doing the best they can with the resources they have at the moment. Considering the enormous pressure they were under to complete this game in under 2 years and the amount of work that goes into setting up and maintaining an MMO... Id say that cryptic has done a hell of a job with the game and every time Ive needed to contact customer support they were very helpful and quick to respond. It all comes down to people who want everything to be perfect from day one. well if you have played other MMOs as I have you will quickly realize that perfect is a term that you will never see describing an MMO. There are and will always be issues in the game to resolve and the best way to make sure they are taken care of is to inform cryptic about it and let them do thier job.
You sir, stand alone.
The game needs substantial revision. At a minimum:
1. There should have been Klingon content pre-launch.
2. There should have been a better Exchange interface.
3. There should be rewards for 'healing' and 'tanking' on-par with dps.
4. There should be a reason to join a fleet besides 'for fun.'
5. There should have been at least 1 'raidisode' included at launch.
6. There should be enough hotkeys for an admiral to hotkey all his/her abilities. I have at least 40 skills and can only hotkey 30.
7. Given that the game takes maybe 2 weeks to reach max level at a casual play schedule, there should have been respecs included at launch.
8. There should be a crafting system.
9. There should be non-combat mission options beyond 'go scan 5 items.' Only maybe 5 non-combat missions diverge from that template.
10. There should be some variety of world pvp.
11. WTB auto-fire by weapon class. Spam spacebar and requiring non-internal macros is fail design.
12. There are still bugs in-game that make some missions unplayable.
Except for maintenance, and everything else that prevents you from playing.
So it's not up 24/7.
It can't be by default.
So it isn't.
There will be Cryptic's ISP outages, DNS issues, patching game down time. Unexpected downtime. Server maintenance time.
This is true for every game.
And then there's beyond their control stuff, too. Like power failures, bad weather taking out power/phone/internet access lines and whatnot.
You can't have a server running 24/7 unless you can control everything that it is connected to, in all it's forms.
Except for maintenance, and everything else that prevents you from playing.
So it's not up 24/7.
It can't be by default.
So it isn't.
There will be Cryptic's ISP outages, DNS issues, patching game down time. Unexpected downtime. Server maintenance time.
This is true for every game.
And then there's beyond their control stuff, too. Like power failures, bad weather taking out power/phone/internet access lines and whatnot.
You can't have a server running 24/7 unless you can control everything that it is connected to, in all it's forms.
I think me and you are arguing over semantics. and you will see that i put in my post that included downtime for maintenance. so we can agree to disagree.
I think me and you are arguing over semantics. and you will see that i put in my post that included downtime for maintenance. so we can agree to disagree.
I'm not trying to argue, there's just far too much to factor in. I mean the server could be up, but through no fault of your own, or Cryptic, you might not be able to access the game. So you'd never know.
And yes, it is semantics. I'm sort of a jerk like that.
Comments
I also try not to anthropomorphize businesses.
Simply explaining WHY you are doing something poorly is a not a reasonable substitute for taking the steps necessary to resolve the underlying problem. I would imagine that Crypic is in control over the "resources they have at the moment". If they are understaffed for this product launch, then that is a planning failure on their part.
They need to get content out and quick, before launch buzz fades completely away,
I hate to point this out, but it drives me crazy. Atari, that would be a planning failure on Atari. they control cryptic. they are Cryptic's puppet master.
There it is, in a nutshell.
The problem is we live in the real world. I hate to break it you but the 10$ people pay a month would not cover me in terms of wages going to the tea machine. It would pay for me to read your e-mail maybe and that would be about it.
People paying their 10$ a month and expect a 24/7 service and people able to deal with their issues within minutes. It is just not going to happen
I pay $14.99, but let's go with $10. Someone said recently that they had read that STO had close to a million subs at launch. Let's be conservative and say 400,000. So that's 4 million a month in potential revenue. Plus 400,000 copies of the game itself for another what, 20 million dollar instant cash infusion? I'm sure they are currently drowning in red ink, since the entire development and marketing cycle leading up this launch was pure cost. Still, you'd have a hard time convincing me that they are so cash-poor that they couldn't hire and train a handful of temps to ensure a reasonable customer service experience during launch.
And gamers like you are exactly the reason that game companies feel like that they can put out a shoddy product and get away with it. If they cant deliver the product and services of a 24/7 MMO then they should not be in the 24/7 MMO buisness.
I'm not asking for 24/7 "within minutes support". However, I DO think it's pushing it when many subscribers are waiting in some cases nearly 2 weeks for tickets to be answered. I personally have had a non-bug, non-game related account and billing ticket open for 11 days now. Sorry, but you just can't spin that into being acceptable.
Not to play devil's advocate, but this is not a 24/7 service. No MMO is.
If it was billed that way, it would be a delusion of grandeur.
they haven't done a super job.
They had one guy on phone support a few weeks ago when this product went to hundreds of thousands of people.
I have a ticket that is 7 days old. Others have more.
They need to be more forthcoming with info.
I can see cryptic adding more and more to this game and all of the QQers coming back when the game has been out for a few months
Ok you lost me at the not 24/7 thing. This game is up 24/7 except for maintenance? If you answer yes and you have to answer yes because it is up 24/7 then i think you are wrong and i doubt you will find anything in the EULA that contradicts me. Yes the billing and staff departments might close at set hours but the game never does.
Except for maintenance, and everything else that prevents you from playing.
So it's not up 24/7.
It can't be by default.
So it isn't.
There will be Cryptic's ISP outages, DNS issues, patching game down time. Unexpected downtime. Server maintenance time.
This is true for every game.
And then there's beyond their control stuff, too. Like power failures, bad weather taking out power/phone/internet access lines and whatnot.
You can't have a server running 24/7 unless you can control everything that it is connected to, in all it's forms.
You sir, stand alone.
The game needs substantial revision. At a minimum:
1. There should have been Klingon content pre-launch.
2. There should have been a better Exchange interface.
3. There should be rewards for 'healing' and 'tanking' on-par with dps.
4. There should be a reason to join a fleet besides 'for fun.'
5. There should have been at least 1 'raidisode' included at launch.
6. There should be enough hotkeys for an admiral to hotkey all his/her abilities. I have at least 40 skills and can only hotkey 30.
7. Given that the game takes maybe 2 weeks to reach max level at a casual play schedule, there should have been respecs included at launch.
8. There should be a crafting system.
9. There should be non-combat mission options beyond 'go scan 5 items.' Only maybe 5 non-combat missions diverge from that template.
10. There should be some variety of world pvp.
11. WTB auto-fire by weapon class. Spam spacebar and requiring non-internal macros is fail design.
12. There are still bugs in-game that make some missions unplayable.
I won't even get into their pricing model.
this QFT...
I think me and you are arguing over semantics. and you will see that i put in my post that included downtime for maintenance. so we can agree to disagree.
I'm not trying to argue, there's just far too much to factor in. I mean the server could be up, but through no fault of your own, or Cryptic, you might not be able to access the game. So you'd never know.
And yes, it is semantics. I'm sort of a jerk like that.
No they do not stand alone. Please speak for yourself.