More Server downtime?!?
By
Airhammer,
Posted on: 2011-08-25 05:50 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
What amends must be made? Even if the servers were down the entire day, that's less than 50 cents.
I play this game a lot. Prolly 5 to 10 hours a day. And yet, one day without it is not going to kill me.
You can not plan for everything. To say otherwise is lunacy.
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Yes... because City of Heroes is vital to world peace and the economy.
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Originally Posted by necropsie
The excuse that drives ignorance, starts wars, and crashes economies.
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Schism, you are a heck of a lot more charitable than I. My hat's off to you.
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Originally Posted by Schismatrix
There is also the slight possibility that you're using over the top exaggerated hyperbole to make yourself look like a massive twit with no sense of perspective, but who would deliberately try to make themselves look like that? No one, that's who. (OTOH, that could be why someone would be blocking your access to the servers most of the time if they're players or GMs who don't like you.)
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Where to find me after the end:
The Secret World - Arcadia - Shinzo
Rift - Faeblight - Bloodspeaker
LotRO - Gladden - Aranelion
STO - Holodeck - @Captain_Thiraas
Obviously, I don't care about NCSoft's forum rules, now.
I'd rather have the down time and have them fix the rate of crashes to very very minimum than have them keep the servers up and crash constantly in RWZ atlas cap etc where there's a lot of ppl n lag for those poor folks who can't afford killer graohics cards but enjoy playing... Type of stuff. And having all the people that will be coming when freedom launches I know I don't wanna see a slide show animations over smooth graphics.
VIG0S: 1356 badges in counting
Something for ppl to use
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It doesn't matter what I paid, the fact is I paid. Let me put it another way. Let's say you go to an upscale restaurant and you get the priciest thing on the menu and someone at another table gets an item much more affordable, that person would still have as much right to voice their concerns over their dish if they felt something were wrong. That's just how business is conducted.|
Originally Posted by Shojo
What amends must be made? Even if the servers were down the entire day, that's less than 50 cents.
I play this game a lot. Prolly 5 to 10 hours a day. And yet, one day without it is not going to kill me. You can not plan for everything. To say otherwise is lunacy. |
And you can't quantify the investment in this game on dollars and cents alone. This game is also a time investment. I'm trying to change the alignment of a character from villain to hero for a friend who's on vacation which we all know takes roughly 40 hrs assuming I were to get tips on a regular basis. I took off work today to spend time doing just that and find out I can't log in. There on the forums I saw the five hour shutdown window. I'm inconvenienced but it's not a big deal. I can still plan around it. I log back in later on for about 30 minutes and out of nowhere I see the red text stating I had 5 minutes left to play. All day I check intermittently with little to no information from Freitag. When my friend gets back from vacation, his toon probably won't be ready to play with the rest of us who play heroes for another day or so. While I do acknowledge the apology, how's that going to help me keep a promise I made to my friend? It isn't. I'm probably going to give him a purple recipe to make up for it. I know he won't be up in arms demanding any reparation but it's the gesture that counts. Now while I think awarding everyone purple recipes is a tad excessive perhaps some extra offline XP and perhaps reset everyone's fame timers.
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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I dont know why you mentioned price though. The pure fact of you being a customer gives you the right to complain.|
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
It doesn't matter what I paid, the fact is I paid. Let me put it another way. Let's say you go to an upscale restaurant and you get the priciest thing on the menu and someone at another table gets an item much more affordable, that person would still have as much right to voice their concerns over their dish if they felt something were wrong. That's just how business is conducted.
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What it doesn't give you the right to though... is to complain about something that was totally out of their hands.
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| And you can't quantify the investment in this game on dollars and cents alone. This game is also a time investment. I'm trying to change the alignment of a character from villain to hero for a friend who's on vacation which we all know takes roughly 40 hrs assuming I were to get tips on a regular basis. I took off work today to spend time doing just that and find out I can't log in. There on the forums I saw the five hour shutdown window. I'm inconvenienced but it's not a big deal. I can still plan around it. I log back in later on for about 30 minutes and out of nowhere I see the red text stating I had 5 minutes left to play. All day I check intermittently with little to no information from Freitag. When my friend gets back from vacation, his toon probably won't be ready to play with the rest of us who play heroes for another day or so. While I do acknowledge the apology, how's that going to help me keep a promise I made to my friend? It isn't. I'm probably going to give him a purple recipe to make up for it. I know he won't be up in arms demanding any reparation but it's the gesture that counts. Now while I think awarding everyone purple recipes is a tad excessive perhaps some extra offline XP and perhaps reset everyone's fame timers. |
Ok, so you couldnt keep your promise to your friend... but to be honest, there was *nothing* that you could do about it. Would you be the same if there was a major powercut in your area and you were unable to play the game?
What is possible though is that we might get a few free days of gametime added to our account (everyone can at least use that).
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You took time off work yesterday so you could switch alignments on your buddy's toon? To each thier own I guess. |
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
It doesn't matter what I paid, the fact is I paid. Let me put it another way. Let's say you go to an upscale restaurant and you get the priciest thing on the menu and someone at another table gets an item much more affordable, that person would still have as much right to voice their concerns over their dish if they felt something were wrong. That's just how business is conducted.
And you can't quantify the investment in this game on dollars and cents alone. This game is also a time investment. I'm trying to change the alignment of a character from villain to hero for a friend who's on vacation which we all know takes roughly 40 hrs assuming I were to get tips on a regular basis. I took off work today to spend time doing just that and find out I can't log in. There on the forums I saw the five hour shutdown window. I'm inconvenienced but it's not a big deal. I can still plan around it. I log back in later on for about 30 minutes and out of nowhere I see the red text stating I had 5 minutes left to play. All day I check intermittently with little to no information from Freitag. When my friend gets back from vacation, his toon probably won't be ready to play with the rest of us who play heroes for another day or so. While I do acknowledge the apology, how's that going to help me keep a promise I made to my friend? It isn't. I'm probably going to give him a purple recipe to make up for it. I know he won't be up in arms demanding any reparation but it's the gesture that counts. Now while I think awarding everyone purple recipes is a tad excessive perhaps some extra offline XP and perhaps reset everyone's fame timers. |
It takes you 40 hours to switch alignments? You have more issues than the servers being down. Also, you know that they can play hero side just by going rogue right? Thats gotta cut your investment down to at least 20 hours. no need to take another day of work off! Yay!
Just to note, you agree to the below every time you log in. So pretty please, with sugar on top, leave your entitlement off the interwebs.
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| 10. INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE |
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(a) NC Interactive reserves the right to interrupt the Service from time to time on a regularly scheduled basis or otherwise with or without prior notice in order to perform maintenance. You agree that NC Interactive will not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever. (b) You acknowledge that the Service may be interrupted for reasons beyond the control of NC Interactive, and NC Interactive cannot guarantee that you will be able to access the Service or your Account whenever you may wish to do so. NC Interactive shall not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever. (c) NC Interactive has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s) of the Service as it sees fit in its sole discretion. (d) NC Interactive shall not be obligated to refund all or any portion of any Account fee or Additional Feature fee by reason of any interruption of the Service by reason of any of the circumstances described in paragraph (a) or (b). |
I'm sure you're just venting. But you do realize that they're gearing up for what they expect to be a considerable increase to the population once the game goes free to play (hence all the beta server stress testing).
I didn't mind the down time because the beta server was up. It was packed more than I've seen any server and it held up with zero lag so you know they are doing something right.
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I thought so too, until I read this:|
Originally Posted by Gangrel_EU
Just to point out that account sharing is a bannable offense.
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Accounts, Passwords and Security: You may not use anyone else's NCsoft ID, password or account at any time without the express permission and consent of the holder of that NCsoft ID, password or account. NCsoft cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these obligations. |
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Among other things. Frankly none of your concern how I spend my time. |
Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
You took time off work yesterday so you could switch alignments on your buddy's toon? To each thier own I guess.
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| It takes you 40 hours to switch alignments? You have more issues than the servers being down. Also, you know that they can play hero side just by going rogue right? Thats gotta cut your investment down to at least 20 hours. no need to take another day of work off! Yay! |
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Just to note, you agree to the below every time you log in. So pretty please, with sugar on top, leave your entitlement off the interwebs. |
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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You are absolutely right. However, it does say something about your quality that you are willing to shirk responsibilities in order to play a game. My favorite part is when you expect ncsoft to take responsibility for you not being able to play despite you agreeing that that is acceptable, and expected every time you login.|
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
Among other things. Frankly none of your concern how I spend my time.
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| Oh so you were there every waking moment I was working on his toon? I must not have seen you hovering over my shoulder. It's possible, just possible that I'm not yet finished getting his character to Rogue status yet. I'd say the odds are good considering there was a downtime of about nine hours. Ultimately, I'd like to get him to hero so he could join the SG and use the hero O-portal. Just when you thought you had your bases covered... |
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| I'm trying to change the alignment of a character from villain to hero for a friend who's on vacation which we all know takes roughly 40 hrs assuming I were to get tips on a regular basis. |
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| I'm well aware of the expressed agreement. Bottom line? I paid for a service that I didn't get for nine hours. You think I have no right to make my case? Why oh why did they provide me with a forum to do exactly that? Your argument holds no water and the fact you lack any tact makes what you have to say without merit. |
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Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
You took time off work yesterday so you could switch alignments on your buddy's toon? To each thier own I guess.
It takes you 40 hours to switch alignments? You have more issues than the servers being down. Also, you know that they can play hero side just by going rogue right? Thats gotta cut your investment down to at least 20 hours. no need to take another day of work off! Yay! Just to note, you agree to the below every time you log in. So pretty please, with sugar on top, leave your entitlement off the interwebs. |
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Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
You are absolutely right. However, it does say something about your quality that you are willing to shirk responsibilities in order to play a game. My favorite part is when you expect ncsoft to take responsibility for you not being able to play despite you agreeing that that is acceptable, and expected every time you login.
Oh, and here I assumed you said that it takes 40 hours to switch alignments. Not 40 hours to switch alignments and do other crap... Wait a second... that IS what you said. Then my point still stands. Actually, that is exactly what it means. you agree that you have no case every time you log in, whether it is your account, or someone elses. Bottom line? You have no platform to stand on. |
P.S. BTW, if trying to belittle me makes you feel like more of a person then by all means type away. Far be it from me to tell you what to do with your time or assay your strength of character. That would, in fact, be a waste of my time infinitely moreso than anything else I've done today.
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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I dunno, it seems to be pretty hard for you to say, "Well, I guess they are coming out with a new issue that is changing the entire way the game is played. They are also changing the server hardware, so I guess it can be expected that they would have some downtime. I know that they will do their best to keep it to a minimum, and be happy with the fact that this means smoother gameplay with servers capable of handling a large influx of new players. Take your time, do it right."|
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
I mean, how hard would it be for them to say, "We apologize for the unexpected server downtime and to make it up to you we're holding another double xp weekend.
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Take away the entitlement, and tact shall make an appearence.
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I'd be more understanding if there weren't an error that warranted another shutdown and if more warning were granted for the second shutdown and if more information were provided during the downtime. From a business standpoint this was all handled very poorly. I have to conclude that the developers simply didn't give themselves enough time to do whatever it was they needed to do AND check their work. If initially they stated it would take nine hours I'd have been okay with that. If they gave us more than five minutes warning to log off I'd have been okay with that. If Freitag had something more substantial to say than, 'I don't know what happened and I don't know how long it's going to take.' I'd have been okay with that. Again, I can't stress it enough, at the end of the day, it's a business. These were all courtesy opportunities they missed out on. And I'm saying had this occured at a store, a cafe, airport, etc. it wouldn't be okay.
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Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
I dunno, it seems to be pretty hard for you to say, "Well, I guess they are coming out with a new issue that is changing the entire way the game is played. They are also changing the server hardware, so I guess it can be expected that they would have some downtime. I know that they will do their best to keep it to a minimum, and be happy with the fact that this means smoother gameplay with servers capable of handling a large influx of new players. Take your time, do it right."
Take away the entitlement, and tact shall make an appearence. |
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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So you are in a coffee shop(only because you signed a waiver) that just opened after a 3 hour closing to work on the gas lines. 15 mins later, they ask everyone to evacuate because they have an emergency and need to close because the place is going to blow up. |
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
I'd be more understanding if there weren't an error that warranted another shutdown and if more warning were granted for the second shutdown and if more information were provided during the downtime. From a business standpoint this was all handled very poorly. I have to conclude that the developers simply didn't give themselves enough time to do whatever it was they needed to do AND check their work. If initially they stated it would take nine hours I'd have been okay with that. If they gave us more than five minutes warning to log off I'd have been okay with that. If Freitag had something more substantial to say than, 'I don't know what happened and I don't know how long it's going to take.' I'd have been okay with that. Again, I can't stress it enough, at the end of the day, it's a business. These were all courtesy opportunities they missed out on. And I'm saying had this occured at a store, a cafe, airport, etc. it wouldn't be okay.
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Maybe I am reading this wrong, but it seems like your first instict is to ask for free coffee.
Way to employ reducto ad absurdum. The scenario you describe sounds like it would be life threatening which disqualifies it from applying to our case.
Another way to look at it is ordering a coffee drink like an elaborate mocha and that coffee taking 7 minutes to make instead of the 3 it usually takes. Then as you take your first sip the barista asks for it back because it was prepared incorrectly and you have to wait another 6 minutes. It's within the coffee shop's best interest to reimburse you. Either with a coupon for a free one next visit or some sort of refund/ discount. And in this scenario you'd never have to ask for it.
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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You mean even after you signed an agreement with the coffee shop that you understand that sometimes it may take longer to make your coffee, and that in no way does it entitle you to a refund, or a new coffee? Talk about an absurd argument.
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Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
And in this scenario you'd never have to ask for it.
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Really? Even after I listed the many ways they dropped the ball? And you still bring back that tired old canard? Sure I signed an agreement making an allowance for interruption of service but do you honestly think it applies to repeated and prolonged interruption? No. I think they meant a reasonable interruption in which they take the time they need to work on and maintain the game. Otherwise, that clause would allow them to wantonly halt service unchecked. Look, they screwed up. They even acknowledged their screw up in the form of an apology. They failed to deliver. So now what should they do? How about issuing patrol xp to make up for lost time? Or a reward merit? Or something? It shouldn't be too hard to implement and it wouldn't cost them a thing. So what's the harm?
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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Are you saying that your eligible toons were not awarded patrol xp for time spent offline? Thats probably a bug and should be documented.
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Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
Really? Even after I listed the many ways they dropped the ball? And you still bring back that tired old canard? Sure I signed an agreement making an allowance for interruption of service but do you honestly think it applies to repeated and prolonged interruption? No. I think they meant a reasonable interruption in which they take the time they need to work on and maintain the game. Otherwise, that clause would allow them to wantonly halt service unchecked. Look, they screwed up. They even acknowledged their screw up in the form of an apology. They failed to deliver. So now what should they do? How about issuing patrol xp to make up for lost time? Or a reward merit? Or something? It shouldn't be too hard to implement and it wouldn't cost them a thing. So what's the harm?
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I am not a lawyer, don't play one on TV or any other medium, and my statements here do not constitute any kind of legal advice.
But, looking over the EULA:
"MEMBERSHIP FEES AND FEES FOR ADDITIONAL FEATURES ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, PAYMENT USING NCCOIN) FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INTERRUPTION OR UNAVAILABILITY OF SERVICE (SEE ALSO SECTION 10 BELOW)."
10. INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE
(a) NC Interactive reserves the right to interrupt the Service from time to time on a regularly scheduled basis or otherwise with or without prior notice in order to perform maintenance. You agree that NC Interactive will not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever.
(b) You acknowledge that the Service may be interrupted for reasons beyond the control of NC Interactive, and NC Interactive cannot guarantee that you will be able to access the Service or your Account whenever you may wish to do so. NC Interactive shall not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever.
(c) NC Interactive has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s) of the Service as it sees fit in its sole discretion.
(d) NC Interactive shall not be obligated to refund all or any portion of any Account fee or Additional Feature fee by reason of any interruption of the Service by reason of any of the circumstances described in paragraph (a) or (b).
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These policies get applied to too many contracts as an *** saver all the time, even my town's local public toilets have the same wording. Still, doesn't stop me being p'd off when i'm dieing for a No.2. and the toilets are down.
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Originally Posted by Tex
I am not a lawyer, don't play one on TV or any other medium, and my statements here do not constitute any kind of legal advice.
But, looking over the EULA: "MEMBERSHIP FEES AND FEES FOR ADDITIONAL FEATURES ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, PAYMENT USING NCCOIN) FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INTERRUPTION OR UNAVAILABILITY OF SERVICE (SEE ALSO SECTION 10 BELOW)." 10. INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE (a) NC Interactive reserves the right to interrupt the Service from time to time on a regularly scheduled basis or otherwise with or without prior notice in order to perform maintenance. You agree that NC Interactive will not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever. (b) You acknowledge that the Service may be interrupted for reasons beyond the control of NC Interactive, and NC Interactive cannot guarantee that you will be able to access the Service or your Account whenever you may wish to do so. NC Interactive shall not be liable for any interruption of the Service, delay or failure to perform resulting from any causes whatsoever. (c) NC Interactive has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s) of the Service as it sees fit in its sole discretion. (d) NC Interactive shall not be obligated to refund all or any portion of any Account fee or Additional Feature fee by reason of any interruption of the Service by reason of any of the circumstances described in paragraph (a) or (b). |
Too many 50's to list here's a few you may know.
Slazenger, Area51, Area53, Area54, Erruption, Mind Plague, Thresher, Sheath, Broadside, Debt
In response to Tex:
Quote the letter of the law as much as you like. You know as much as I do what happened yesterday, while not a breach of contract, shouldn't have happened and that many in your player base were inconvenienced. As I'm reading the terms of service, nowhere does it state that you absolutely cannot make reparations, only that you are not legally obligated to. Do the right thing and consider making things right for the folks that pay your bills.
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!
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Thank you, Captain Obvious! Gee, we should apply that line of thinking to every endeavor and get everything right on the first try for the rest of eternity. It would make life so much easier! |
Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
Personally, I'd rather they fix things right the first time around.
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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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Originally Posted by Ironblade
Thank you, Captain Obvious! Gee, we should apply that line of thinking to every endeavor and get everything right on the first try for the rest of eternity. It would make life so much easier!
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�Many things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.�
Magus Prime- lev 50 kin/ elec defender
Meta-Human- lev 50 fire/ ss tank
Cabal Bravo- lev 50 merc/ ff master mind
Schwarzchild- lev 50 grav/ ff controller
Shanghai Storm- lev 50 ma/invinc scrapper
Nicodemus- lev 50 db/ regen scrapper
Dragonhyde- lev 50 wp/ sm tank
On The Pinnochle server!