Another example of proficient city flipping off customers

Early this morning (7/16/15), wartune on r2 servers has weekly maintenance.  We were originally told they were adding the following content:

1. Added a new PvE system: Bounty Targets.
2. Added a group dungeon: Narrandera Remains.
3. Added a new battleground: Land of Twilight. The old battleground has been replaced.
4. Added a new Eudaemon: Scourge Mage.
5. Added an advanced mount, Magic Mount.
6. Added two double element Sylphs: Loki and Odin.
7. Optimized the Dimensional War.
8. Optimized various game systems.
9. Resolved various typographical issues.

This morning, they added the following statement:
Please note that points 1-6 were only updated to the pre-launch servers this time. Other servers will have these new contents following next maintenance.
They list servers affected.  Last night, I was under the impression that ALL servers was affected, but it was only a selected amount of servers. This is yet again another example of cashers being treated like dirt but they continue to tolerate it by cashing in a completely optional game.

It is also looking like proficient city also made some unannounced changes that isn't listed above. Fortunately this only happened in their servers that received the new content so people like myself who wasn't affected can plan for these changes.

Again cashers why do you keep rewarding them?

Also, do you noticed how vague their updates are?  They use "optimized" instead of listing in details what they are changing.  Again, why SHOULD you spend money if the game will once again change the gameplay in which you have to change your strategy?  Here, here, and here (you need to dig through the comments section) are examples of games where anytime and update is made, they add every last detail on what they changed on their game.  Unfortunately these games are not online games but these are custom made fan-based game that are well made, free to play, free to win, free to master and the creators want to provide the best customer service and gaming experience for these games.  If these people who make games for free offer better customer service than games companies like r2, proficient city, kongerate, and kabam, why can't they do the same? 

"Guild" management - how guildmasters on games should manage

Almost every game, you can join something that is called a guild.  Basically, it is a group of players who are in a same group sharing similar beliefs. Usually, one person or a few players manage the "guild" while you can have other ranks such as "assistant guild master," "officer," "sergeants," and so on.  Ranks depend on usually whoever the guild master or assistant guild master assigns. 

So, how should a guild be managed?  Below is some advice as how a guild should me managed:

1. Helping active members getting their multi-player runs done. 
If you see members that are showing up for guild events like guild battle, actively contributing to guild funds, recruiting members, and so forth, you better be helping that members get their multi-players activities done.  Find out when the player(s) will be on and run some mp's with them or help them find a group if you won't be around when the player has time to run.

2. Talk to the guild
When members come on, say hi.  Initiate conversations or contribute to conversations.  Too many guilds have guild masters or officers that don't talk or acknowledge their members.  They need to know that they feel welcomed otherwise they may try a different guild or quit the game.

3. Stop your gloating
Only talking about your strength or all of the stuff you accomplish will turn off some players.  Some players don't have money to spend on their character.  Others will interpret it as how rich you are, or how much you support rotten customer support if the game truly does have awful customer service like proficient city & r2.

4. Stand up for your members
Are there non-guild players bothering guild members?  Guild masters or officers need to step in and try to resolve issues.  Also, don't you even think about siding with the person or running multi-player events that is causing problems with members.  Your guild members won't like that and you will be setting a poor standard.

5. Notify members times of all guild events
It is easy as creating a facebook page, twitter, or some other site where members can go and look up when guild events are.  Just because a guild master said, event x will be a y doesn't mean everyone will see it.  Assume they won't. Also, be consistent and avoid changing times if possible.

6. Dealing with problematic players in guild
There may be times where some players in the guild don't get along or cause problem or bully people.  You need to step in and find out what's causing them to behave that way and put a stop to it before you have several people leaving over it.

7. Be respectful of other guilds
If you want to grow, you need to be respectful to all people, not just people in your guild.  Don't go around and bully other members.  It may bite you in the back if another guild retaliates and your members may suffer.

8. Don't play favorites
Having a group that you only do multi-player activities can turn people off who don't have groups.  I recommend that if you have a daily group not to be in a high-level guild position because it may upset members that don't have a dedicated team to run with.  Help members find a group if they don't have one.

9. Trusting members to take over when you go on vacation
Games like wartune doesn't allow other people to activate guild events; only the guild master.  You need to ensure that you have at least 1-2 members that you can trust to take over your guild when you decide to take a few days off from the game.  Also, let people know when you do take time off. Don't hide secrets from members.

10.  Use a voice programs like Skype
If there are events like guild battles, it is much easier to talk to members and how to stradegyze by using programs like Skype than trying to type. 


What would other people say how a guild should be managed?

More examples of how Proficient City has no respect for paying customers

R2, Kongerate & kabam all have something in common.... they have no respect for paying customers nor do they believe in customer service.  It's simple, they host the game wartune which is owned by 7-road also known as proficient city.  I will at least give some credit to yahoo since they stop hosting servers of wartune and gave them to kabam (if I have time, I'll provide links at a different time). The others hosts seem have no desire for any customer service since they keep putting up with proficient city's incompetence.

Just last week, wartune had a consecutive recharge event  where if you recharged your account for every 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 days you would claim a reward.  Apparently there was problems with the 10th day recharge where it didn't give out the rewards.  Instead, it appeared that you had to recharge for 11 straight days for the 10th day to work. 

Then, they issue this statement:

"An issue occurred with the Accumulative Recharge Bonus event which started from June 17th and ended on June 28th.  We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused by the issue and appreciate your understanding.  Compesation for the Accumulative Recharge issue will be sent within 3 days after the event ends."

NO, YOU ARE NOT sorry proficient city.  Your rotten communism supporting company keeps making these mistakes... now weekly.  You have no interest in making any comments or addressing ANY OF THESE LEGEDMETE REPORTED BUGS.  All you do is take advantage of ego-driven cashers who can't control themselves and who think they have something to prove.  All you are doing is ruining your reputation and the reputation of other gaming companies like R2, Kongerate, and kabam and it is because of YOU that I started this blog and I hope my blog inspires people to avoid all of your games completely since you have once again proven you have no desire to offer superior customer service to your "free service."

As for people who cash at these sites, please stop and demand that they fix their bugs, enforce their TOS to the fullest extent before considering them giving a dime in game that is completely free to play!  As I have said in my previous posts, you are REWARDING gaming companies like proficient city for their poor service.


By the way, proficient city haven't told people who participated in the recharge event what the compensation (at least I spelt this word correctly) pack would be yet and they said it would occur within three days. 

Example of crybaby heavy casher whining about rotten cutomer service

I always get great joy and comic relief when I see heavy cashers complain & whine about in-game issues in their "pay to win" game.  Not too long ago, I came across this whiner in the forms where they had problems "recharging" or purchasing in-game currency. 

Perhaps Darkst0rm, YOU ARE the problem.  Why do you keep rewarding games like wartune for their rotten customer service?   Guess people can't control their ego's and think by cashing in rotten games like wartune is the answer.

By the way, if a heavy casher wants me to remove a post about them, you will need to send me a cashier's check for at least $25,000.  Contact me for an address.  Sorry but I have bills to pay and if you can spend thousands of dollars a month on a game, then my amount I am requesting should be a drop in the bucket.

Issues with "One Size Fits All" cashing in "free to play" games

Free to games like "Wartune" always offers stuff to buy in their store usually with currency that you can only get by paying with US dollars to help your character get ahead.  At times, they will offer "specials" when you purchase a certain amount of in-game currency using US dollars.  The same goes with spending in-game currency.  At times the game will give you items when you spend a certain amount.  Each player can get the same rewards regardless of how many times they purchased currency or how strong they are.

I think that using the "One Size Fits All" approach I mentioned above isn't a good idea for any games especially "free to play" games.  I consider this concept in a way like wealth discrimination.  There are some people who can't afford the US dollar cost of casher items.  There are other people who can easily afford it.  Everyone else would be in the middle.    For comparison, let's say we have $1000 recharge event.  Here is % of some set incomes per year:

$20,000  5% of income
$50,000  2% of income
$100,000  1% of income
$500,000  0.2% of income
and so forth.....

So if you offer a constant rate, the amount of income that person makes will affect them to make a decision if to purchase or not. 

There is also another factor, the strength of your character.  Regardless of how strong your character is, you will be offered the same price for items or purchasing in-game currency.

Games like wartune should offer "fluid" prices for their items that you can only purchase using in-game currency with US dollars.  If a player has demonstrated that they are willing to spend lots of money to build their character, then the prices for the items in the game should go up as well.  In addition, if they are buying the same item, that item's price should go up with each purchase.  Here are some reasons why:

1. When players buy items, they will hit that item cap far sooner than people who don't buy it.  This encourages the game developers to release new junk into the game where cashers can spend more money on new items otherwise the casher may get bored and quit or may quit because they have already spent money but now needs to spend more money to stay ahead.

2.  Why would a non-casher spend a lot of money knowing that won't be enough money to catch up at the same prices?  I bet if a non or light casher saw a great one time deal, they would spend some money to buy some items in which they wouldn't have purchased. 

3. Since games like to release new junk to the game, they have no choice but to make the current items easier to get in the game (If they wouldn't have made some items easier to get, I would have quit wartune already).  Some people like taking their time and getting these items.  Others would get annoyed when they spent countless hours trying to get their item(s) only to find out that they made it easier to get a few months down the line.

Below are some more additional issues that a "free to play" game could run into:

1. Someone starting 2+ years into the game will have a different gaming experience than someone who started shortly after it opened.  The game has to make stuff easier to get for the person who started 2+ years later than the person who started the game out shortly after it opened.  (I know if I wanted to start playing World of Warcraft, I would rather start out at the first release and slowly work my way into the expansion packs but I think this is almost impossible now)

2. Someone who truly hasn't cashed but is able to keep up with some of the light - moderate cashers will be underappreciated and their achievement will most likely go unnoticed (I would fall into this on Wartune).

3. Offering items that you can only get by spending certain amount of money, making the item(s)almost impossible to get any other way, and/or offering items at limited times will turn off players.

4. At anytime the gaming company can decide to pull the plug on the game losing all of your investments.

These are many more reasons but most gamers should be able to relate to the reason(s) I listed.  But these are factors everyone should consider outside of customer service before making a decision to spend money in your "free to play" game (or any game).

Even more rotten customer service from r2 / proficient city

Today in the game "wartune,"  two new events was added today.  They are:

 

Both of these events start at  6/25/2015, one at 19:55 and 20:00.  REALLY?  Then, a footnote appeared on their weekly maintenance announcement:

 

"We appologized for the inconvenience caused by the early-opened Chaos War, the issue has been scheduled to be fixed in the maintenance on 6/25. Please keep an eye on our official websites and forums for the specific time schedule for Chaos War. Thanks."

 

This is yet another example of how r2 / proficient city has no respect for their cashers.  They continually let these kinds of thing slip.  People like this are not bothered because they keep cashing and cashing and cashing.  (If they claim they are, they would STOP SPENDING THEIR MONEY ON THE GAME, PERIOD!!!)  So I put the blame on cashers because they constantly spend money and reward r2 / proficient city to keep screwing up. 

 

R2/proficient city refuses to ban people violating their Terms of Use

As I have addressed in the past, each time you create a character in any type of game, you have to agree to terms of use.  In return, I demand and expect that the gaming company fully enforces the Terms of Use to the fullest extent.  And, I claim that people who are following the TOU to the fullest extent are being scammed by the gaming company when they are not taking any action against players that are not following TOU to the fullest extent.

I recently came across this form post on r2 wartune forms regarding sharing their account.  R2's terms of use specifically states:

"You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and are responsible for any harm resulting from your disclosure, or authorization of the disclosure of your password or from any person's use of your password to gain access to your account or account name. At no time should you respond to an online request for a password other than in connection with the log-on process to the Services. Should it be determined that you did reveal your password to any third parties, R2Games reserves the right to disable the account."

And when people post things in the form that players suspect accounts are being shared by other players, the moderators seemed to be "conditioned" to say, "file a ticket with screenshots or other proof you may have."  I say this is ludacris.  Back when I was a administrator and a tournament director for a league over in  myleague, anytime a player registers for a tournament, their IP address is logged.  They had a nice system where it would flag accounts of multiple people would enter tournaments because the system tracked IP addresses.  If myleague can do this, why can't r2/proficient city automatically do this?  Oh, they rather scam legitimate players and waste time of legitimate players by filing tickets where it seems that r2/proficient city won't do anything about it. 

At the end of that form post, someone posted a link about player reporting and in it, it states the following:

"Someone is piloting another player's account. Piloting is definitely not encouraged and is against our Terms of Service. Piloting can be dangerous because an account has its purchase history under the "My R2" tab and many players decide to link their financial information, leaving their credit card open to unauthorized purchases.

Piloting can also result in unwanted deletion or changing of a character, per the "piloter". Personal quarrels can arise, which may result in them deleting the entire inventory, or completing an event that the owner is unaware of are common problems. This could mean that the "piloted" account isn't being handled in the manner the owner wishes.

As we don't actively seek account sharers, it is up to you to keep your information confidential. We may temporarily or permanently ban an account if we find conclusive evidence of sharing, but generally account piloters are not sought out. This will mean, however, that assistance will be minimal should the safety of an account be breached by sharing sensitive information."

I will make an argument that if this is indeed R2's intention not to actively seek account sharers, it NEEDS to be placed in the terms of use and it needs to be in there.  Just because your "billing" information is in there is not a good enough reason not to share your account.  Until the statement is placed in the Terms of Use (or they actually start enforcing the Terms of Use to the fullest extent), here are some tips I would recommend on doing:

1. Stop cashing, period.  All you are doing my spending any amount of money into the game is rewarding gaming companies like r2/proficient city to continue their lack of terms of use.

2. Share your account.  Find someone trustworthy on your game to pilot your character when you won't be around.

3. Purchase a mouse macro program.  I am not going to endorse one but the macro program will basically tell you where your mouse should click.  This is perfect to use in a game like wartune because it is a 2-d game.  Only downfall is that it will take time to set up, but once it works it can save you alot of time and possibly money (better spent money).  Some programs can tell your mouse what color pixel it should click (hint: you could create your own bot!) Note: I would encourage people to use bots in wartune because in this post, nothing is being done to players that are using it.

4. Contact a lawyer.  Figure out what rights you have and if you can file a lawsuit against the game for damages Terms of Use violators has done to you.  And if you are considering to file a lawsuit, please contact me so I know if you have a case or not.  (I have considered filing a lawsuit against R2 for damages but I really don't want to pay a lawyer to consult my case)

5. If you are planning on contacting a lawyer, I would recommend recording all of your gaming adventures so that if you have encountered TOU violator you could seek damages.  (Heck, I would go as far as estimating how much money your character is worth and sue for that amount).