Scarlet Shocker

Revel in both?

They probably wouldn't dare show their faces cuz they'd have to answer pertinent questions then and that simply wouldn't do

No

I prepurchased GR in the end but I'm buggered if I'm gonna pay to sub when clearly that is all NC wants from me. I pay £8.99 to be tolerated - there's probably a bean counter in Korea who's calculated that I'm acutally a "cost" and so I'm gonna take my "devil dog" and walk him more and find a company that actually appreciates my £££

Lets face it, the EU community's been given short shrift from before Brighton got closed - there's a story there but I wouldn't want to strain the rules telling it. But despite Avatea's best intent or War Witches chocolate deflections it became increasingly obvious that the EU is insignificant to NCSoft.

Ironically it took much mithering from the EU to get Black Pebble to raise his ugly stony visage - and yet he's totally failed to address any of the very valid issues raised not just by me but by many of the European community.

The EU exists as a dwindling revenue stream to NC. Those who love the game will buy a new account on the NA servers and sacrifice their toons, vet rewards, SGs, community and booster packs for the promise of an exciting new expansion to their gaming experience. I'm not prepared to do that.

I have a perfectly good account - I have 48 months of vet reward, I have all the booster packs and the new expansion. I have some toons with great badges, and I have friends. I'm not going to restart from scratch. It's clear that we are unloved in the EU, and in fact I'd suggest there's a big section of NC that thinks we are positively unwelcome.

I'm a big believer that there's nothing to keep people involved as good customer service, and this is nothing like good customer service.

Back in February I posted the "The EU gets shafted again" - the best response we got was War Witch trying to deflect and talk about chocolate.

Not good enough. I'm spending my ££ elsewhere.

What? You wanna see whether I'm happy that Bangla avoided the follow on?

See... that's where it fails. The only thing NC gives a monkeys about is about milking the existing revenue stream. There is no interest in long term customer gain or even customer retention. They are happy for us to fall by the wayside until they can make that press release saying that "The EU servers are no longer financially viable"

ooh look I can still post here

See this is why Black Pebble is incompetent. He can't even say David Nakayama

Black Pebble's initials are BP: Nuff said

I'm not as verbose or prolific as you Sam

You might post a bucket load but I don't. My post rate is like 3 or 4 a day maybe; about 1000 per year. Yours seems to be a tad higher than that. It's easier for me to check.

Given the forum merge was what... a year ago (maybe?) I'm betting my rep fluctuates a lot more than yours, simply because your "mass" is greater. I'm also aware that I've made some controversial posts (some threads got totally deleted) and I got massive negs for them.

Yes I do check. Deal with it.

I check for several reasons. I am naturally curious, for one. I am genuinely interested in what people have to say when shielded by anonymity. It's human cruelty at it's finest, one removed.

I'm also a severe chronic depressive. Sometimes this game has been all I've had to hang on to... a place I can transfer the darkness I live in day to day into some semblance of sense. The black thoughts are my foes - and here in Paragon I can defeat them. But sometimes, just sometimes, when my green bar goes red, it's like being sniped from the tallest building in Atlas, simply for being there.

I'm also very much from the old school: Stand up and be counted - say what you want to say and hold to you words. I know you and I have disagreed, but I have always been at pains to tell you "to your face" how I feel - never to snipe from the shadows. I believe this is my strength and weakness.

My objection to rep (speficially negative) is simple: I am happy for you to disagree with me, and argue and fight with me on the boards. But I want to argue "face to face." If you disagree, that's fine. You know that because you and I have been there. But if you and I disagree, we can at least come to a point where we agree to disagree and then leave it alone. Snipers... well that's what a this forum's become.. there's no recourse.

Bet you one thing, if every neg rep comment was posted in the forum with the poster's name, the snipes would stop.

Ok well the general useage tends to violate - because it engenders unmoderated behaviour, in my experience at least. How's that? Neg rep requires a comment, where as posi-rep doesn't - and because the system is largely anonymous, comments tend to be highly spiteful. I'd be quite surprised if the mods even know (or care) who posted the comment saying "you're a complete ****!" given the the forum software. Thus there is no form of censure.

With a PM you know who sent the message and in a public forum it's obvious.

/em mindbleach

Thus unless you notify a moderator directly the poster gets away with it.

It cannot be turned off - only the display can be turned off - thus is is non-consensual: If you want to post on the boards, you have to have it. (I checked but I couldn't see anywhere in the FAQ or Forum Rules that it is made clear that you can be neg repped without realising it.)

The argument that "it allows me to comment on the thread without detracting from the conversation" is specious because invariably those who do rep, positive or negative contribute to the thread anyhow, and it is not a comment on the thread itself - it comments the poster of the thread, board wide.

With older "Star" systems, the thread itself could be graded - but this system permits (undoubtedly a very small number of) sad individuals to form what is effectively a vendetta against people who post simply because they are "not one of us" or many other reasons.

Sure, forum wars happen all the time but it's curious that this topic is frequent, yet there is no official word from Paragon Studios on their double standards of operation.