...that isn't another crappy old school useless legendary).
Speak for yourself. I don't believe there is such a thing as "useless" legendaries. For example, despite only having two skills Minuet is a mainstay on voyages here. Same with T'Kuvma. Even Capt. Scott with his single skill I don't feel is useless, and he's roundly panned on these forums.
Now that I've gone off topic, what do I feel DB should do in this situation? Nothing. The outage wasn't caused by DB but caused by forces outside their control. They made the right call here in not providing global compensation
You'd prefer a 2 stat rubbish legendary with 2016 stats to something else?? Do you have infinite crew slots?
I didn't say that all 2 stat legendaries were crap, I said that the ones DB tend to give us outside of mega events as freebies tend to be crap. And *a lot* of 2 stat legendaries are just -1 crew slot as a 1/5 which is where they are going to stay for most people.
2) Important announcements don't have to be made in-game, so obviously all the players who need to know will see them here, so the forum readers are NOT a tiny minority.
Well devil's advocate... people that can't get in game due to the outage won't be able to see a message sent via in-game mail...
If they used an in-game announcement, people could see it when they are/were finally able to log in, which they'd need to do to be able to open a ticket anyway.
Okay, they could use the web form to open a ticket. But they'd need to know their DBID, which they need to get by logging into the game.
Oh, they could get it here, but only if they were a registered forum member.
I'll see your devil's advocate and raise you a logical rebuttal.
Absolutely they should have alternate servers or be able to reroute traffic through other networks.
Ever been through project planning for an AWS deployment? Because I have. I've sat through hours and hours of conference calls, quotes and cost analysis of redundancy options. It's easy to just blurt out "OMGOSH you should have more redundancy", without realizing the costs or complexities involved as part of a huge deployment.
No, it's all too easy for everyone to play armchair quarterback instead.
Kudos to @SSR Barkley for trying to offer a reasonable analysis and commentary. I am curious about something: How have any other game companies handled this outage? Timelines is all I play, so I'm entirely oblivious to the rest of the gaming world.
I play several other mobile games, and they are headquartered/hosted on various continents (one in Britain, two in Asia, and another in North America). None of these others have had any trouble this weekend. Draw your own conclusions.
You seem to have a lot of information about DB's inner workings. Are you a representative of the company? Not an accusation, simply a query.
I work in IT and know how data centers, the internet and deployments actually work ... vs how people think they work.
I can do a DNS query on disruptorbeam.
I've also sat in chat rooms where good, former employees used to join us and shoot the breeze.
Kudos to @SSR Barkley for trying to offer a reasonable analysis and commentary. I am curious about something: How have any other game companies handled this outage? Timelines is all I play, so I'm entirely oblivious to the rest of the gaming world.
I play several other mobile games, and they are headquartered/hosted on various continents (one in Britain, two in Asia, and another in North America). None of these others have had any trouble this weekend. Draw your own conclusions.
yet ... this is not an apples to apples comparison.
You seem to have a lot of information about DB's inner workings. Are you a representative of the company? Not an accusation, simply a query.
I work in IT and know how data centers, the internet and deployments actually work ... vs how people think they work.
I can do a DNS query on disruptorbeam.
I've also sat in chat rooms where good, former employees used to join us and shoot the breeze.
I'll get the aloe vera
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
I did. Received a few trinkets. I know people who received more, people who received less. It's Customer Service Lottery and that's part of the hurt people feel.
I have an Aussie in my squad and she was affected. CS told her that there would be no blanket compensation and anything given out would be through in-game mail.
How very DB.
We're told to open tickets about this, and the result?
Some people are being told there's no compensation.
Some people receive some minor compensation.
Some people are being told it will be handled through in-game messages.
So very typical of DB. Just like everything else, Customer Service is handled by RNG.
Kudos to @SSR Barkley for trying to offer a reasonable analysis and commentary. I am curious about something: How have any other game companies handled this outage? Timelines is all I play, so I'm entirely oblivious to the rest of the gaming world.
I play multiple other games and use other online content. I have been able to access my work machines which are hosted in the US.
The only application that has had problems in my experience has been Timelines.
There might be other applications out there that were impacted but I personally are not aware of them.
2) Important announcements don't have to be made in-game, so obviously all the players who need to know will see them here, so the forum readers are NOT a tiny minority.
Well devil's advocate... people that can't get in game due to the outage won't be able to see a message sent via in-game mail...
But they would be able to get in eventually. They may never check the forums
tbh I am in Europe and I wasn't affected except for a fact that game was SLOWER than usual and now I am not sure if that is worthy of submitting a ticket.
There will not be a blanket compensation for this issue.
We regret the impact this major internet outage had on some of our players, and we understand the frustration this has caused.
Please submit a ticket for any specific issue this created for you, our Support Team will assist you. Thank you!
Shame for a couple of reasons - the first being CS is frequently a lottery. I suspect there'd be a lot less requests for blanket compo were CS to be consistent.
The second was it was a golden opportunity to win a lot of goodwill that could also have driven additional sales.
There will not be a blanket compensation for this issue.
We regret the impact this major internet outage had on some of our players, and we understand the frustration this has caused.
Please submit a ticket for any specific issue this created for you, our Support Team will assist you. Thank you!
Shame for a couple of reasons - the first being CS is frequently a lottery. I suspect there'd be a lot less requests for blanket compo were CS to be consistent.
The second was it was a golden opportunity to win a lot of goodwill that could also have driven additional sales.
DB/TP need to hire Ferengi with bigger lobes.
I think the problem is that they hire Ferengi but forget that the player base is human.
The Ferengi model doesn't work too well on us hoomans!
I did. Received a few trinkets. I know people who received more, people who received less. It's Customer Service Lottery and that's part of the hurt people feel.
I have an Aussie in my squad and she was affected. CS told her that there would be no blanket compensation and anything given out would be through in-game mail.
How very DB.
We're told to open tickets about this, and the result?
Some people are being told there's no compensation.
Some people receive some minor compensation.
Some people are being told it will be handled through in-game messages.
So very typical of DB. Just like everything else, Customer Service is handled by RNG.
You'd prefer a 2 stat rubbish legendary with 2016 stats to something else?? Do you have infinite crew slots?
I didn't say that all 2 stat legendaries were crap, I said that the ones DB tend to give us outside of mega events as freebies tend to be crap. And *a lot* of 2 stat legendaries are just -1 crew slot as a 1/5 which is where they are going to stay for most people.
1. Without going into too many details, I'll have roughly 30 free slots after the event: I currently have 155. As I finish cards, they stay or go depending on if they meet my criteria or fulfill a need in the Arena. This is called "discipline".
2. Regulars on this forum routinely rag on any legendary with less than three stats. Whether the card is old or new makes no difference. Less than three stats = bad, unless they have a decent Arena ability.
3. If those cards stay at 1/5 then "most" people probably lack discipline, have no free slots, and probably need to rethink their strategy for accumulating honor.
There's definitely some lottery there, but it could also be the way the person articulated their case for compensation and what they requested. Since @Shan clearly stated that they won't be taking a blanket approach, those things matter. If you go in saying "this wasn't fair, gimme something" you probably won't get the same result as someone who goes in and says "I know it wasn't your fault, but here is how I was clearly disadvantaged and based on these facts, I think I deserve X."
Like all things customer service, you're more likely to get something if you're clear in what you want, and go in with a spoonful of honey instead of vinegar.
There's definitely some lottery there, but it could also be the way the person articulated their case for compensation and what they requested. Since @Shan clearly stated that they won't be taking a blanket approach, those things matter. If you go in saying "this wasn't fair, gimme something" you probably won't get the same result as someone who goes in and says "I know it wasn't your fault, but here is how I was clearly disadvantaged and based on these facts, I think I deserve X."
Like all things customer service, you're more likely to get something if you're clear in what you want, and go in with a spoonful of honey instead of vinegar.
You're probably right but that doesn't make the situation right. Players shouldn't have to "sweet-talk" anyone to have their issue resolved.
So, they tell @Shan to tell us to send "Customer Service" Tickets, then "Customer Service" tells people an assortment of things, including "Things will be taken care of through in-game mail", which sounds suspiciously like a blanket compensation package........
AGAIN: NOT SHAN'S FAULT THEY TOLD HER WHAT TO SAY!!!!!
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
There's definitely some lottery there, but it could also be the way the person articulated their case for compensation and what they requested. Since @Shan clearly stated that they won't be taking a blanket approach, those things matter. If you go in saying "this wasn't fair, gimme something" you probably won't get the same result as someone who goes in and says "I know it wasn't your fault, but here is how I was clearly disadvantaged and based on these facts, I think I deserve X."
Like all things customer service, you're more likely to get something if you're clear in what you want, and go in with a spoonful of honey instead of vinegar.
You're probably right but that doesn't make the situation right. Players shouldn't have to "sweet-talk" anyone to have their issue resolved.
It shows a clear lack of professional integrity.
I'm not sure I agree. They've been clear in their belief that they are not responsible for the outage, but that they are willing to entertain any requests for compensation if you feel you were unfairly disadvantaged. Regardless of whether we agree on their liability, this is clearly the position they have taken.
That puts the onus on the customer to justify their need for compensation, seeing as the baseline is "you get nothing." The better you are at articulating why they should compensate you and how, the more likely you are to get something. There's clearly a lack of professional empathy at the top, but this is not the same as a lack of integrity. I would argue that a lack of integrity would, however, present itself if DB themselves is able to extract some sort of compensation from CenturyLink and then fails to pass any of that on to their customers. However, based on how companies operate, I wouldn't expect us to ever find out about that.
So, they tell @Shan to tell us to send "Customer Service" Tickets, then "Customer Service" tells people an assortment of things, including "Things will be taken care of through in-game mail", which sounds suspiciously like a blanket compensation package........
AGAIN: NOT SHAN'S FAULT THEY TOLD HER WHAT TO SAY!!!!!
Not necessarily. In-game mail can be used on an individual basis.
DB had nothing to do with the outage. CenturyLink did, and there is already a Federal Communications Commission investigation, as it closed Emergency Services Call Centers in multiple states.
DB had nothing to do with the outage. CenturyLink did, and there is already a Federal Communications Commission investigation, as it closed Emergency Services Call Centers in multiple states.
Indeed, it seems DB aren’t the only entity with poor contingency plans. While a video game outage might be annoying and upset large chunks of players, that’s a business decision, not life and death. I don’t know who would be responsible for the IT operation of those call centres, but I wouldn’t be surprised if heads roll over this [no macabre pun intended].
When one of the Major Telecommunications companies in the US has a problem. There are going to be heads rolling, not at the 911 call centers, but at CenturyLink. They have bought up most of the competition.
Comments
You'd prefer a 2 stat rubbish legendary with 2016 stats to something else?? Do you have infinite crew slots?
I didn't say that all 2 stat legendaries were crap, I said that the ones DB tend to give us outside of mega events as freebies tend to be crap. And *a lot* of 2 stat legendaries are just -1 crew slot as a 1/5 which is where they are going to stay for most people.
If they used an in-game announcement, people could see it when they are/were finally able to log in, which they'd need to do to be able to open a ticket anyway.
Okay, they could use the web form to open a ticket. But they'd need to know their DBID, which they need to get by logging into the game.
Oh, they could get it here, but only if they were a registered forum member.
I'll see your devil's advocate and raise you a logical rebuttal.
Ever been through project planning for an AWS deployment? Because I have. I've sat through hours and hours of conference calls, quotes and cost analysis of redundancy options. It's easy to just blurt out "OMGOSH you should have more redundancy", without realizing the costs or complexities involved as part of a huge deployment.
No, it's all too easy for everyone to play armchair quarterback instead.
please ...
Second Star to the Right - Join Today!
I play several other mobile games, and they are headquartered/hosted on various continents (one in Britain, two in Asia, and another in North America). None of these others have had any trouble this weekend. Draw your own conclusions.
I work in IT and know how data centers, the internet and deployments actually work ... vs how people think they work.
I can do a DNS query on disruptorbeam.
I've also sat in chat rooms where good, former employees used to join us and shoot the breeze.
Second Star to the Right - Join Today!
yet ... this is not an apples to apples comparison.
Second Star to the Right - Join Today!
I'll get the aloe vera
I’m fine with that - assuming it’s.the same for all players?
How very DB.
We're told to open tickets about this, and the result?
Some people are being told there's no compensation.
Some people receive some minor compensation.
Some people are being told it will be handled through in-game messages.
So very typical of DB. Just like everything else, Customer Service is handled by RNG.
I play multiple other games and use other online content. I have been able to access my work machines which are hosted in the US.
The only application that has had problems in my experience has been Timelines.
There might be other applications out there that were impacted but I personally are not aware of them.
But they would be able to get in eventually. They may never check the forums
4x 5 Star Time Reductions.
Meh.
Hello Darkness, my old friend,
The sound of silence.
Shame for a couple of reasons - the first being CS is frequently a lottery. I suspect there'd be a lot less requests for blanket compo were CS to be consistent.
The second was it was a golden opportunity to win a lot of goodwill that could also have driven additional sales.
DB/TP need to hire Ferengi with bigger lobes.
I think the problem is that they hire Ferengi but forget that the player base is human.
The Ferengi model doesn't work too well on us hoomans!
This.
2. Regulars on this forum routinely rag on any legendary with less than three stats. Whether the card is old or new makes no difference. Less than three stats = bad, unless they have a decent Arena ability.
3. If those cards stay at 1/5 then "most" people probably lack discipline, have no free slots, and probably need to rethink their strategy for accumulating honor.
Hmmm.
There's definitely some lottery there, but it could also be the way the person articulated their case for compensation and what they requested. Since @Shan clearly stated that they won't be taking a blanket approach, those things matter. If you go in saying "this wasn't fair, gimme something" you probably won't get the same result as someone who goes in and says "I know it wasn't your fault, but here is how I was clearly disadvantaged and based on these facts, I think I deserve X."
Like all things customer service, you're more likely to get something if you're clear in what you want, and go in with a spoonful of honey instead of vinegar.
You're probably right but that doesn't make the situation right. Players shouldn't have to "sweet-talk" anyone to have their issue resolved.
It shows a clear lack of professional integrity.
AGAIN: NOT SHAN'S FAULT THEY TOLD HER WHAT TO SAY!!!!!
I'm not sure I agree. They've been clear in their belief that they are not responsible for the outage, but that they are willing to entertain any requests for compensation if you feel you were unfairly disadvantaged. Regardless of whether we agree on their liability, this is clearly the position they have taken.
That puts the onus on the customer to justify their need for compensation, seeing as the baseline is "you get nothing." The better you are at articulating why they should compensate you and how, the more likely you are to get something. There's clearly a lack of professional empathy at the top, but this is not the same as a lack of integrity. I would argue that a lack of integrity would, however, present itself if DB themselves is able to extract some sort of compensation from CenturyLink and then fails to pass any of that on to their customers. However, based on how companies operate, I wouldn't expect us to ever find out about that.
Not necessarily. In-game mail can be used on an individual basis.
#RememberSmudge
Indeed, it seems DB aren’t the only entity with poor contingency plans. While a video game outage might be annoying and upset large chunks of players, that’s a business decision, not life and death. I don’t know who would be responsible for the IT operation of those call centres, but I wouldn’t be surprised if heads roll over this [no macabre pun intended].