So What's the Deal with VIP Support?
As if talking to you will change the logs? Look at the logs. The logs do not lie or misremember, players do.
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Also, Dumps...I'm reading this thread, taking the feedback seriously, but the entire time, there's this voice in the back of my head going...
![](http://i.imgur.com/xWbBD.jpg)
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
Are GMs from NCSoft or Paragon Studios? ...or are they farmed out elsewhere?
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
![](http://www.jaybonaut.com/Stuff/heroes/Samuraiko.jpg)
Of course, I'm not privy nor part of the Customer Service policies or procedures...
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Zwillinger, player petitions are a customer service issue, but the fact that you have no involvement in that process from a community relations position, is a fact that ought to be changed. The game servers are the REAL community.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
My instinctive feeling is that the customer service reps we call GMs here are ace, but I've sometimes felt that there's a disconnect between what we type in petition and how they respond.
Some of the other replies to this thread make a lot more sense - in that they are tasked to respond to every petition in game live - a fact I was unaware of.
I guess that means by definition they don't get the meat of the petition - they just go in and ask what the problem is, which is fine, but if you've just typed it, then from the user POV slightly frustrating. However to mitigate that fact, the response times are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy faster than before in my experience so the time spent in recounting the issue, isn't a huge problem. I guess what Dumpleberry is recounting is one of those issues where there's clearly a conduct issue, but it's very hard to demonstrate immediately. It's not like "Glowy broke - glowly no work when click" or "stuck in tree" - and requires a more informed and subtle response from the GM.
I've sent many many petitions over my time here and the only time I've ever had less than a perfect response was with a badge - but in all other cases I've felt that the GMs have bent over backwards to resolve my issue. Zwillinger, please pass my continued thanks to the CS team!
![](http://repeat-offenders.net/savecoh/SaveCOH_Blue_leaderboard.jpg)
Thelonious Monk
From my experience as a Gamemaster, taking reports of harassment went something like this:
I'd get the ticket. It would say "Soundso called me a ****"
As I was logging into the server, I'd pull up the information page of the person reporting the incident. If the name of the person being reported was on the ticket, I'd also pull that person's information page up.
I would contact the player.
"Hello, this is GM _gmname_, I understand you've been having a problem with harassment."
"Could you please describe the incident?"
"And when did this happen?"
"Okay, thank you. At this time, please /ignore the player. I cannot inform you of the results of the investigation. Have a good day, and enjoy your time in Vana'diel"
If the incident, as described by the player, was something we could act upon, we would then send a log request to the floor supervisior for the times specified by the player to verify the incident. I did not have the capability (or the authority) to look up chat logs on my own.
I will say that the queue for the tickets was not without bugs. It worked well most of the time, but sometimes things would happen wherein one ticket could get claimed by two GMs, and the player would end up saying "But I already told this all to GM _othergmname_" in those cases, I would yell across the room "Hey, Dave, did you talk to soundso?" to confirm.
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/HellkatPredator/2012%20Livestreams/ChompAeon.gif)
What, that someone working for a company didn't get training that is not applicable to his/her job? That bothers you?
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Cap said it best:
Zwillinger, player petitions are a customer service issue, but the fact that you have no involvement in that process from a community relations position, is a fact that ought to be changed. The game servers are the REAL community.
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C'mon now.
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/HellkatPredator/2012%20Livestreams/ChompAeon.gif)
I don't think I can express how much this bothers me as a customer.
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I agree. There's a major disconnect between the Customer Service team and the main Customer Facing representative - however my gut instinct tells me this is a communication and quality issue - probably because the GMs cover all NCSoft games and Zwill has a much narrower focus on CoH. But, I'll bet anything you want that's a technical issue and relatively easily resolved. Questions is, how easily do they want to resolve it?
![](http://repeat-offenders.net/savecoh/SaveCOH_Blue_leaderboard.jpg)
Thelonious Monk
This has sometimes been something I've wondered about: How much of Community Relations actually involves matters related to the in-game community? I've mentioned before how, out of my big global list of very active friends, I've never seen any of them on the forums. And many of the most vocal forum posters have occasionally admitted in their posts that they rarely log into the game during long stretches of time. Do you know where most of my friends find out about upcoming issues, new items on the market, and other new content? Me.
Zwillinger, player petitions are a customer service issue, but the fact that you have no involvement in that process from a community relations position, is a fact that ought to be changed. The game servers are the REAL community. |
Customer service is all about individual player relations. In Community , we're more focused on Community relations, as a whole. I draw a very distinct line between CS and Community and do not tread on things that are their purveyance. Our CS team are specially trained according to NCsoft policy to handle individual petitions with care. As much as I would love to be able to help each and every person that sends me a PM with a CS related issue, I don't have a team big enough to handle it, nor do I have the time required to perform due diligence.
We certainly spend time on the servers, in a Community capacity, attending player events, hosting our own events and just randomly hanging out or dropping War Walkers on people. When it comes to policing said servers and assisting with the problem that require significant amounts of time, we leave that to the professionals.
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
And for whomever was asking, our CS group is in Austin.
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
I realize that your job is to attend to the forest and not each tree. I also think you do a fantastic job. I spent a few years writing for public relations departments, so I also understand how such a granular approach to the game's public image would have all the effect of one tree being petted in the Amazon (everyone picture Zwillinger petting a tree ).
What surprised me was having new knowledge that there is zero communication between your realm and theirs. I'm getting the image of an NCSoft CS manager, who has little or no experience with City of Heroes, making a decision that creates a small mess on your side of the street; a mess like now.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
This change in policy is good to know. It sounds like if I need to petition behavior, I should automatically highlight and copy the body of the petition so that I can paste it into the tell when the GM asks me to repeat what I just got finished typing.
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
You know what? Never mind. What the heck. I'll give the new system a try, and see for myself whether it's even a big deal. Then I'll give actual constructive feedback.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
What surprised me was having new knowledge that there is zero communication between your realm and theirs. I'm getting the image of an NCSoft CS manager, who has little or no experience with City of Heroes, making a decision that creates a small mess on your side of the street; a mess like now.
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Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
i reported a name violation who was spamming help
happily playing when a gm sent a tell asking me if id spelt the name right and if the help text id sent in was right....
like others i honestily thought id hit the wrong button
and broke out in a cold sweat
i felt like i was wasting there time and done something wrong
(i genrally petition and carry on)
*edited to add*
i will however live and get past this trauma if issue22 comes out soon *cough*
I'm honestly saying, "If you see someone violating the TOS/EULA for the game, and/or otherwise ruining the play experience, just /ignore or /ignorespammer and keep walking. Do not engage CS."
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If you are honestly telling people not to report hate speech, then you are part of the problem.
Please Do Report Hate Speech!
Proving for the FIFTH time this month, from forum posts alone, that the GM's are absolutely clueless.
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I have had a similar experiences. The first time I simply told the GM that details were in the petition, and I needed no personal action.
Then the second time, I included in the petition that I didnt need a personal responce. And I wasn't bothered by a GM.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
Been dealing with support the last few days.
I got double charged on a purchase of Paragon Points, apparently the process to deduct them before issuing a refund is a bit wonky.
Ugg I can't buy anything and I'm down 50 bucks until they fix it.
Calgon take me away!
COMING SOON: A new Epic that will change the way you see Arachnos...
Brought to you by @Equation
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Oh if you got the impression that there's zero communication, I apologize. This couldn't be further from the truth.
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![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
Like I said, I'll be back with actual feedback after I have my first run-in with this system. I think I may have already, if you're wondering why the sudden open mind.
I thought the OP was saying this JUST NOW was going into effect, but after some of the replies I've seen, it made me remember: a GM showed up a few weeks ago, after I petitioned "feedback and suggestions". I do this kind of often as I'm running around and get ideas, but I try to keep it to a sentence or two. Anyway, he showed up, which was really odd, but we just chatted about my idea for a couple of minutes. He didn't really have any feedback, but he seemed very personable (and emotive heh) and was just making sure I knew he'd get my feedback to the right place.
That's why I'm willing to have an open mind. If that is all this is about, then I'm just not going to be very concerned. Also, what tanstaafl said. That is one reason why I started thinking of ways to get around the problem as soon as I read the OP. You couldn't talk me into avoiding the petition system if you tried. Wherever there's people in groups, there are times when you have to do what's right, even in a video game.
Edit: The weird thing is, I have petitioned with suggestions a few times since then, so maybe this new system isn't being dutifully enforced, or maybe they're required to ask for more information at random intervals. Hmm.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
I'll just take knowledge of how soon I will have a Lil'laruu and go on my way.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.