Lost my Job, Now I lost My Base, Thanks Support(?)
By
Ad Astra,
Posted on: 2009-05-12 11:08 in Base Construction
Leaders get demoted after a max of 45 days of no login. The first person in the SG to login after the leader gets demoted gets the star (I think it would actually go to the last person to log in BEFORE the leader gets demoted... confirmation please?) This is what happened to you. Working as intended.
Check on the SG screen what the auto-demote time limit has been set to (lets assume 45 days). You can wait it out, and watch as the new leader gets close to the 45 day mark, then log in as much as you can on and around that day and hopefully you'll get it back.
But it IS working as intended.
Couldn't you know, ask the person ?
Im assuming they were invited to the SG by you, or at least by someone you promoted.
<edit>
Oh and as for advice generally if you have a base and want to retain ownership, make sure only characters on your own account(s) are in the SG when time expires. It will sit safe and sound until you re-activate.
The guy who was Best Man at my wedding was off in WoW for over 2 years, but the SG name and base are still his.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
is the new SG leader active? How many days has he been offline?
What level have you been demoted to? Are you next in line? Or way down the line?
Are there other SG members who also stand between you and the SG leadership role?
More important, have you found new employment? This job market is one of the worst we've had in decades, so I hope you've either had - or are having - luck on that front. That's what's really important here.
(If not, "little" things like this can take on more importance. So don't sweat it.)
Good luck on all accounts.
[ QUOTE ]
Leaders get demoted after a max of 45 days of no login. The first person in the SG to login after the leader gets demoted gets the star (I think it would actually go to the last person to log in BEFORE the leader gets demoted... confirmation please?) This is what happened to you. Working as intended.
Check on the SG screen what the auto-demote time limit has been set to (lets assume 45 days). You can wait it out, and watch as the new leader gets close to the 45 day mark, then log in as much as you can on and around that day and hopefully you'll get it back.
But it IS working as intended.
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You know, I have had this SG since the ability to create bases started (CoV?) and teh auto-demotion had never kicked in before. Was this something that was fixed in the latest feature release? Regardless, it suddenly hit me. There needs to be a way to fix this when accidents occur. What happens if someone gets promoted leader and that person kicks everyone off the Supergroup?
Thanks for your answer, I have been getting/replying to emails to support and they offered no useful suggestions how to fix this. Its really upsetting when you spend hundreds of dollars on a game, and then have some stranger that was recruited by someone who recruited someone who recruited someone get to be leader, and then have no way to fix things. 
[ QUOTE ]
Couldn't you know, ask the person ?
Im assuming they were invited to the SG by you, or at least by someone you promoted.
<edit>
Oh and as for advice generally if you have a base and want to retain ownership, make sure only characters on your own account(s) are in the SG when time expires. It will sit safe and sound until you re-activate.
The guy who was Best Man at my wedding was off in WoW for over 2 years, but the SG name and base are still his.
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There are a couple snags with that. First off, when we reactivated and signed back on, we found this person was the new leader and neither of my sons nor I recruited him. And he had been leader for a couple weeks and also had been offline for 14 days. Now he is offline for 41 days so 4 more days and perhaps the nightmare is over.
Second, if I purge the SG of non-alt/persons that aren't on my account, that punishes a few loyal members that have diligently supported the base with their time and prestige. HAD I KNOWN auto-demote was working (and that it only demotes the leader? Where does it say that?) I might have promoted another member to leader status so that he could run things in my absence. Its a base that took a long time to make since it was done mainly by casual gamers, not farmers or people that log in nightly.
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(and that it only demotes the leader? Where does it say that?)
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Not to be unsympathetic, but it's called "Inactive Leaders Demotion" right on the SG configuration panel.
<QR>
Wow. What a sense of entitlement. His accounts were inactive for almost 5 months and he expects NCSoft to punish the other members of the SG indefinitely on the hopes that he might one day reactivate his accounts.
Customer Support - What? You say your locked out of your base because the SG leader's account is inactive and rent's due? Too bad. We don't care about our PAYING customers.
You can lower the Auto-Demote time to 15 days and get him demoted then you should get the Leader rank provided your at the General rank or the most recently logged in. Then once you get the Leader rank you can set the Auto-Demotion time back to 45 days.
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<QR>
Wow. What a sense of entitlement. His accounts were inactive for almost 5 months and he expects NCSoft to punish the other members of the SG indefinitely on the hopes that he might one day reactivate his accounts.
Customer Support - What? You say your locked out of your base because the SG leader's account is inactive and rent's due? Too bad. We don't care about our PAYING customers.
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hey hey hey, we'll have none of that talk around here, haven't you heard? we're a socialist country now!
Oh yeah, that was the time that girl got her whatchamacallit stuck in that guys dooblickitz and then what his name did that thing with the lizards and it cleared right up.
screw your joke, i want "FREEM"
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You can lower the Auto-Demote time to 15 days and get him demoted then you should get the Leader rank provided your at the General rank or the most recently logged in. Then once you get the Leader rank you can set the Auto-Demotion time back to 45 days.
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Incorrect. If the Super Leader has chosen to restrict lower ranks permissions then no one in the SG but the Super Leader can change the Auto Demote time.
As long as the Super Leader logs in before the Auto Demote time expires he wil retain that rank unless he chooses to demote himself.
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<QR>
Wow. What a sense of entitlement. His accounts were inactive for almost 5 months and he expects NCSoft to punish the other members of the SG indefinitely on the hopes that he might one day reactivate his accounts.
Customer Support - What? You say your locked out of your base because the SG leader's account is inactive and rent's due? Too bad. We don't care about our PAYING customers.
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Sorry Chief, I already had that problem addressed. Any member of the SG can pay the rent. So, nice try, and thanks for the sympathy. I can see you have customer support experience. 
I'd set up the base so that any promoted member had full access to the base, with all the features enabled (full lab, lots of storage, all the beacons, etc).
I just didn't want some griefer coming in and kicking everyone out or destroying the base. I put a lot of work into the design, lighting and colors.
While I can understand your concern over the hard work you put into your base, I cannot understand why you didn't take steps to make sure that very base would be taken care of while you were away. Now you come back expecting NCsoft to resolve a problem you created.... and you become indignant when they cannot/will not...?
I do hope you can get it back, but I do not have very much sympathy for your predicament. It should be a lesson learned for you and anyone else taking a gander at this thread.
Um.. Sam, I have to say that while I do sympathize with your plight, I can't help but find myself thinking that you really did this to yourself.
Before the latest update there were FIVE levels of access that supergroup could have. I'm sure that had you given things the proper time and effort, and made sure that only the people you WANTED promoted to the higher levels were done so, you would not be as deep as you are now. It's entirely possible with the permission system to give members access to ALL of the things that you wanted them to have access to but still not be ANYWHERE near the leadership structure.
Laissez-faire SG/VG leadership does not work, or at least not work well, and i think you're seeing it. Complaining to Customer Support because they won't automatically cave because you made poor choices isn't "bad customer service". It's the extension of the adage.. "the customer is always right. .but only when he actually IS right." Pi$$ poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on their part.
When and if you get this situation resolved, go through your permission settings and set up something that will be less prone to this.
Arc #1267 The Key of Brass and Flame
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Sorry Chief, I already had that problem addressed. Any member of the SG can pay the rent . . . I'd set up the base so that any promoted member had full access to the base, with all the features enabled (full lab, lots of storage, all the beacons, etc).
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Nice try, but the point you seem desperate to avoid is that you no longer had an active account. End of story. Customer Service doesn't enter into the equation.
You had a 45 day grace period to return, not 60, not 90, not 120. For whatever reasons you decided that there were other things in your life that were more important than the SG you had in the game.
The SG meant so little to you that you couldn't even be bothered to promote a trusted SGmate into leadership before you left.
Heck if they SG was such a valued commodity to you and you didn't trust anyone else with leadership, you even had the choice of removing the SG members and making it a solo SG until you returned.
There is no way for anyone to know you were coming back. You abdicated your leadership position and disappeared for almost 5 months. You got exactly what you deserved. The problem you now face is one you created for yourself.
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I just didn't want some griefer coming in and kicking everyone out or destroying the base.
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If that were true you would have left someone in charge or made the SG solo til you returned.
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I put a lot of work into the design, lighting and colors
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Consider this a lesson learned and next time you'll know better than to abandon something you wanted to keep.
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So, nice try, and thanks for the sympathy. I can see you have customer support experience.
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If you were expecting sympathy for a problem you created for yourself, you are looking at the wrong guy. I am currently caretaker of three SG's where the founders left me in charge, and haven't played in 7 months/227 days, 5 months/177 days, and 10 months/319 days respectively. Their characters and SG's are waiting for them to return.
Jeez he lost his job, [censored] already! You got nothing better to do than break down the poor guys post to make yourself feel right or superior? Move to the next threat you frakin' troll.
When the change was made, the devs did mention something about contacting customer support for certain issues but I don't think unfortunately you fall in one of those issues. Wait it out and hopefully you'll get your SG back. Welcome back btw and hopefully you will find employment and continue to enjoy the game with your family in the future. Best to ignore some [censored] bags on here literally.
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Jeez he lost his job, [censored] already! You got nothing better to do than break down the poor guys post to make yourself feel right or superior? Move to the next threat you frakin' troll.
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The OP's the one that's been trashing CS for something that isn't any of their business. His demotion didn't occur because of a bug. He stopped playing for 5 months. Why he left is not relevant. The SG went on without him. They recruited and promoted new members. Thus is life in a Supergroup. People stop playing and new people take their place. It happens every day.
The Auto Demote has been around just as long as bases, and is there to prevent SG's from getting stuck with absentee leaders. He's actually very lucky that the new leader didn't choose to clean house of inactive members. I've seen SG's kick inactive members after 30 days.
If the OP is lucky the current SL will remain offline and get demoted after 45 days, which should happen in 3-4 days. If the SL logs in before then tho, I'd strongly suggest he nicely ask the SL to step down. If he gets the guy upset he might find himself kicked from the SG altogether, and judging from the recent posts from Sunstorm CS won't get involved if that happens.
Sunstorm:
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The new ranking system is mainly needed by our internal Customer Support team . . . This tool essentially allows us to resolve your tickets more rapidly, keeps us from getting involved in SG/VG political drama
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I don't think the person that starts the SG should EVER been auto demoted. This is just crazy!
This is the aspect I have always hated about this game. If the founder AFK's for any period of time he could leave someone in charge but not lose control of what he built up. If members do not like this fact they should leave and start their own.
For this very reason it has always been just my girlfriend and myself in our groups across all the servers. This way we know nothing will happen unless it is a game bug.
I feel for this persons feelings as I built up a group by myself and know how much work it is. So all of you doing nothing but bashing get a life. This person has the right to the feelings he has regarding this matter and as the person who started it should never have been auto demoted....the developers need to fix this as it isn't fair to that person.
I hope the OP gets control of his group back. Happened to me once and I got lucky that this person didn't log in for the 45 days. Promptly kicked this person once I could to ensure it didn't happen again.
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<QR>
Wow. What a sense of entitlement. His accounts were inactive for almost 5 months and he expects NCSoft to punish the other members of the SG indefinitely on the hopes that he might one day reactivate his accounts.
Customer Support - What? You say your locked out of your base because the SG leader's account is inactive and rent's due? Too bad. We don't care about our PAYING customers.
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Forbin man, they were cruising on a peaceful solution here, the guy got irritated and didn't look at the problem from every angle, no big deal. He didn't steal your toast, so no need to be dickish man.
It's likely the fake leader will get auto demoted in a few days and everything will be right as rain. Last I checked humanity felt pretty entitled as a whole, like you sense of being entitled to judge anyone you see fit, and my sense of being entitled to criticize you for it.
OP, welcome back from your break, don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch (referring to your experience with support, not Forbin) as sucky as it is, there isn't too much they can do given that you are an exception to the rule.
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I don't think the person that starts the SG should EVER been auto demoted. This is just crazy!
This is the aspect I have always hated about this game. If the founder AFK's for any period of time he could leave someone in charge but not lose control of what he built up. If members do not like this fact they should leave and start their own.
For this very reason it has always been just my girlfriend and myself in our groups across all the servers. This way we know nothing will happen unless it is a game bug.
I feel for this persons feelings as I built up a group by myself and know how much work it is. So all of you doing nothing but bashing get a life. This person has the right to the feelings he has regarding this matter and as the person who started it should never have been auto demoted....the developers need to fix this as it isn't fair to that person.
I hope the OP gets control of his group back. Happened to me once and I got lucky that this person didn't log in for the 45 days. Promptly kicked this person once I could to ensure it didn't happen again.
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I've suggested several times that there should be a flag that is attached to the founding character that prevents him from being kicked from an SG. The flag would only vanish if the character voluntarily quit the group. Sadly the devs don't appear to want SG's to work that way.
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Forbin man, they were cruising on a peaceful solution here, the guy got irritated and didn't look at the problem from every angle, no big deal. He didn't steal your toast, so no need to be dickish man.
It's likely the fake leader will get auto demoted in a few days and everything will be right as rain. Last I checked humanity felt pretty entitled as a whole, like you sense of being entitled to judge anyone you see fit, and my sense of being entitled to criticize you for it.
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Your feedback is welcome Awesomus. I understand why you might feel my response was dickish to use your term, however I felt it was appropriate to the picture he was painting of CS being callous and unsupportive in a situation that they had no valid reason to get involved in. And tho we both have strong opinions on the subject, neither of us resorted to calling the other censored names. (You didn't stoop to that level either)
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Um.. Sam, I have to say that while I do sympathize with your plight, I can't help but find myself thinking that you really did this to yourself.
Before the latest update there were FIVE levels of access that supergroup could have. I'm sure that had you given things the proper time and effort, and made sure that only the people you WANTED promoted to the higher levels were done so, you would not be as deep as you are now. It's entirely possible with the permission system to give members access to ALL of the things that you wanted them to have access to but still not be ANYWHERE near the leadership structure.
Laissez-faire SG/VG leadership does not work, or at least not work well, and i think you're seeing it. Complaining to Customer Support because they won't automatically cave because you made poor choices isn't "bad customer service". It's the extension of the adage.. "the customer is always right. .but only when he actually IS right." Pi$$ poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on their part.
When and if you get this situation resolved, go through your permission settings and set up something that will be less prone to this.
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QFT!
Seriously, while it sucks that you lost your job (sadly, a common theme nowadays), that doesn't give you a free pass for bad planning.
Hey RandyAngelo, if he stopped paying his cell phone bill and his carrier gave someone his number, would he still get a free pass? "Oh but he lost his job!!!" So because of that, someone else should be inconvenienced (by having their number that they've already distributed in the interim taken away) to placate him? Sorry. Most businesses choose to take the side of those who are still active revenue streams. In this case, the SG went about its everyday business in the almost half a year he was "AFG". I don't care about the why and neither does NC. If I lost my job tomorrow, my accounts wouldn't go inactive (at least not until July of 2010) because I planned for the (possible) low times during the high times. Likewise, this is the same thing as those people who complained about their SG storage being ripped off. They made bad decisions along the same lines and finally the developers acquiesced to their wishes and gave us individual container permissions (which are an awful pain in the rear for those SGs that are managed well).
Like Universal Therum, my SGs only have high level permissions for those people that I can reach out and touch. I find people are far less likely to scam you or be unreasonable when they know you can show up at their front door to settle up. Granted, that's never had to happen (and I don't think it ever will) but I also don't have to worry about losing control of the SGs I created and not being able to immediately get it back.
While I truly hope Sam can rejoin the active workforce soon (if he hasn't already), I can't see why this is CS's fault. The 'why' he was away doesn't matter. The fact that he was away, does.
@Remianen / @Remianen Too
Sig by RPVisions
This is why I have the strictest membership requirements for my SG.
1.) Must know person IRL
2.) Must like person IRL
3.) Must get acknowledgment from person that it is my base and don't mess with it (I don't require my friends to play in sg mode if they don't want to)
4.) None of them get promoted above rank 1, they have full access to storage bins, but I lock 1 or 2 personal ones these days
I am the Dictator of my little world, but as the base started as a personal one for my toons that's fine. My friends just like the fact we have a full teleporter room and a couple of bins lying around.
Crime of Fashion Level 50 Rad/Rad Corrupter
My Toons
My Rad/Rad Corrupters Guide
Mindscape - Reworking
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I don't think the person that starts the SG should EVER been auto demoted. This is just crazy!
This is the aspect I have always hated about this game. If the founder AFK's for any period of time he could leave someone in charge but not lose control of what he built up. If members do not like this fact they should leave and start their own.
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Nope...tried that...didn't work. Lemme tell you a story:
When I started playing 30 months ago I joined a SG created by friends of mine. Quite a few members, several alts each, lots of action. Over the course of a year we built up the SG to the topp 100 on the server. The the leader and his wife have RL things to do and tell us they're going to step aside for a while. They leave a couple of us in charge to keep the lights on and they leave for 6 months.
When my friend returns he asks to be reinvited and we do so. Then he asks for his title back which we gladly grant. Then he proceeds to kick everyone from the SG and sell it off to someone else in-game. 18 months of hard work for some of us shot out the window. No explanation was forthcoming and I don't speak t them now for some odd reason.
Creating a SG and not taking care of it is like making a baby and then handing it off to someone else. You may not have known the current leader but to be honest if they've been gone 41 days they're not doing a very good job either.
I sympathize with your employment plight. However you must have known that lapsing your account was coming. If you did and you didn't take steps to secure the SG in your absense then the fault is yours, not CS'.
If you leave the house with strangers in it while on vacation don't cry when you return and found they've painted it a different color...
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"
Your friend is a total dick. Why is he your friend?
IMHO, once you let your account lapse, you don't get to keep ownership of the SG. The best thing to do is hand it off to someone who is still playing the game and wants to maintain a SG. I would then have the person demote all of my characters to the bottom rank so they can be easily kicked if we need room (our SGs kick the most AFK person when we need to invite someone else and the list is full. Typically said person will have been AFK for at least a year or two when they're kicked. The only other reason we kick is if someone is actually an [censored] and we don't want to be associated anymore (has happened exactly once ever). I figure there's no point in missing out on any of those dev "all SGs gets 10k Prestige for every member!" days should they ever happen again.
The point is, the SG belongs to whomever is actively maintaining it, not to the guy who talked to the registrar way back in the day.
I remember the bad old days before auto-demote, where all of the leaders would eventually quit the game and move on and leave the SG in an unusable state for the people still playing. That's actually why my current SG exists. All of the current players had to quit the dead SG and start a new one because none of the leaders had bothered to promote anybody before deactivating their accounts. Much later one of the stragglers managed to get the SG restarted (when auto-demote was added to the game), and has turned it back into a pretty decent SG. None of the original leaders ever did come back AFAIK.
I lost my job in December, and had to let my accounts lapse for a couple months. I bought a couple time cards for my kids for Easter presents and discovered that all my chars and alts had been demoted and someone I don't know is now the leader of my Supergroup Base. I hollered for help from the Support Team, but they have been uncooperative. HOW can I get my base back? I'm a casual player and the base has existed on Freedom with Spectrum as the leader since bases became available. I was a member during the original beta, and yet, this is the "Support" I get. A mistake was made, and now years of gameplay and hundreds of dollars of subscription fees for 2 accounts have been wasted. I don't farm, or powergame, so I am at a loss how to regain what took me a lot of hard work to reclaim. How do I position my character to be the new leader when the stranger who is the leader gets auto-demoted? What recourse do I have? "Support" seems unwilling to help, taking a Gee its working how it should work, sucks to be you, don't forget to keep sending us money sucker...