In future, could we please get better notice of this kind of thing than above message which was posted approximately three quarters of an hour after this one started?Quote:
Originally Posted by BB_Ravel
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In future, could we please get better notice of this kind of thing than above message which was posted approximately three quarters of an hour after this one started?Quote:
Originally Posted by BB_Ravel
You were at least 25 hours too late with that message. We need to know that a day in advance. It said server upgrade and that is a planned procedure. How useless are BB at community management? Why do they hate to share information? Are the lead developers mute?
There was indeed a miscommunication on this issue and you have every right to be upset about it.
We are working on avoiding this type of situations in the future.
Thank you for your patience and understanding!
This is far from the first time there is a "misscommunication". Is there even a system where different departments communicates with each other? Because it seems like the developers and and the community are two completely isolated units.Quote:
Originally Posted by BB_Ravel
Is the word "sorry" even in Blue Byte's dictionary, Ravel?
If we "have every right to be upset about it", then surely we have have good reason to expect a proper apology and not the usual half-baked corporatised nonsense you have just posted.
They never apologies and they never even admit that problems exist. Their heads are firmly stuck in the sand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzymandeus
If a gem bought item is destroyed while there is an unexpected downtime does support compensate it? Yes im fishing for a BB answer i can flaunt in supports face who will undoubtedly answer that its my own fault that i was unable to login.
i want to say that BB Ravel is an forummoderator and only gives us information he gets from BB, so no need to be upset to him. He is only the person in the middle.
BB Ravel despite some miscommunications thanks for all your work
Following 2 weeks of dire frustration due to extreme lag caused by the introduction of a temporary feature that was supposed to enhance game play, I went to log on this morning shortly after 9am BST with some degree of optimism.Quote:
Originally Posted by ROLANDHOLLANDER
Everything looked normal on the front page, with the Maintenance news item minimised as it had been completed. I type in my username and password and I am greeted by a 'general error' message. I try again.. general error. I close the browser and restart it... still an error. So I clear my cache, close the browser, restart it and try again.... still no luck. So I try the same process with a different browser... then I clear both caches again, restart my computer, and try again.... general error... I decide to go directly to the Uplay site itself and try logging on there.... there I am also greeted with an error and, most importantly, NOTHING to indicate there is any kind of maintenance going on. I try looking at the uplay.com support pages to find there is no way I can submit a ticket to that site without first being logged in and there is no FAQ I can find regarding login issues.
At this point, some 15-20 minutes after I first tried logging on, I reload the Settlers front page and the news item I quote at the top of the thread has suddenly appeared, I look at the clock and notice the time is 9:46am, some three quarters of an hour into what is strongly implied to be a routine and/or planned procedure.
To say that I was frustrated at this point would be something of an understatement but, by the time I am actually able to log on and post something about it here, several hours have passed and I have calmed down to the point I can (relatively) casually request advance warning of things like this in future.
However, to then have a duly appointed representative of BB post that we have every right to be upset and then completely fail to apologise... well might I ask who you think I should be upset with, ROLANDHOLLANDER?
Well articulated Ozzy
I think I am more upset with the numpty who assumes that because someone is a 'forummoderator' they must automatically be a 'he'...... What a sexist world we live in..... Especially when Ravel is actually the 'Community Team - Community Manager' and as such should be able to apologise on behalf of BB for what was obviously an internal breakdown of communications and possibly systems within the Uplay environment that impacted both the BB environment and its player community.
As the Community Manager, Ravel may not have been informed by other departments exactly what was to take place. Do you really want Ravel to get down on her knees and beg forgiveness. ;)
Absolutely not, especially given this is not of Ravels making. I completely agree with Ozzys post copied below re the corporate language used in many communications these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by swiftly
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzymandeus
Possibly a more appropriate post on the home page would have been along the lines of.....
Due to a an unscheduled technical issue the game is currently unavailable to players that log in via Uplay. We are sorry for any disruption this causes affected players.
After all, the above would appear to be factual (assumption based upon the downtime not being publicised on Uplay either), to the point and does in fact recognise the disruption this causes. And, being sorry for an external event doesn't imply guilt or give anyone the right to compensation but does go a long way to showing empathy to the community you are there to support!
This... this... a thousand times this! I honestly could not have put it better myself.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishslice
"Patience and understanding" are a lot easier to come by when it is actually possible to detect an element of contrition... something that is entirely lacking from legally sanitised language that is obviously more concerned with avoiding blame than actually showing any form of sympathy to the consumer.
And to answer you specifically, swiftly: No... I do not expect anyone to get down on their knees and beg for forgiveness. I do, however, expect important news such as this to be communicated in an honest and timely fashion.
Either this event was planned in advance, in which case the news item was less than timely, or it was unscheduled, in which case the news item was less than honest. Either of these circumstances warrants someone turning round and actually apologising for the inconvenience.
I wonder if it's some company policy never to admit that anything is wrong and never to apologise. Can you shed any light on the Ravel or is the existence of such a policy not to be disclosed? It would be nice if we got some posts "sorry, we made a misstake" or "sorry, we messed up" every now and then. Like when the explorers did not work. We were told it was just visual. When we said that it wasn't we were told that it's still only visual. Then there came a patch that fixed it and some mostly useless free stuff was given in game. It doesn't have to be personal, a "we" is enough. Because who messed up isn't really important, just that someone somewhere acknowledges that someone did in fact mess up would be nice.
How could anyone confirm such thing without being fired?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zotamedu
I bet no can do here, because there's allways a boss above that need to confirm such an act.
They don't need to point to a single individual. It is obvious that someone messed up so the company as a whole should at least acknowledge that something went wrong and apologise. Ravel's job is to speak on behalf of the company so she should be authorised to apologise on behalf of the company as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by SmurfAsH
Guys, when it is my fault, I will apologise. I am far from perfect and I am capable of assuming responsibility.
However, in this case, a server upgrade was being performed which meant all Uplay services became unavailable. Due to miscommunication and this global maintenance being short notice, announcements were posted after the start of the upgrade. This happened on a global scale for all games using Uplay login.
To be perfectly honest, I was grateful I was logged in at the time and able to post any news at all, since Uplay login being down affects BBs aswell.
All I can promise is we are working to avoid this type of situation in the future and we will do our best to provide timely updates when it comes to planned downtime.
You, yourself, said we have every right to be upset... by logical extension that means you believe we deserve an apology. So if you, as our duly appointed representative of BB (and by extension Ubisoft), is not going to apologise to us, who is?Quote:
Originally Posted by BB_Ravel
As for the issue of the server upgrade itself... Short notice or not, it is utterly moronic that some sort of "server upgrade" should happen and there not be a SINGLE WORD about it on the uplay.com front page. The whole situation just beggars belief, Ravel. It is unprofessional in the extreme. Bad feelings cause a lack of confidence about investing real money in this, or any other, Ubisoft game and they are not just bought off with a few freebies from the plumber.
Hi Ozzymandeus - while there was nothing on their front page, there was an announcement in their news and announcements section here.Quote:
Short notice or not, it is utterly moronic that some sort of "server upgrade" should happen and there not be a SINGLE WORD about it on the uplay.com front page.
While you may consider your anger/disappointment valid you are now directing it in the wrong direction. As stated it was a global issue not caused by TSO, and as such this is the wrong forum to be venting in.
I'm as hacked off as the rest of you, but please don't turn on those who are trying to help you.
This has been a familiar story for 3 years now, all the way back to BB Azariel, where information from BB Hq is sporadic or non-existent, and UPlay are just a law unto themselves, we got the same nasty surprise yet again on M&M Legacy and the Kingdoms of Posterior beta.
Playing several other language versions, the French get as little info as we do (apart from 1 guy a few years back who seemed to get the info even before the German CMs). The only difference is that BB's own announcements are timely on German forums but not elsewhere, but UPlay foul ups are ubiquitous. But even the German CMs have copped some flak recently, as anyone who read and translated the recent Livechat just after the gamescom event, learned some very interesting words there. ;)
These communication problems are dreadful though, and instead of improving instead the "chain of command" seems to be getting more and more obscure by the day, not just on info coming to us, but the whole feedback/bug reporting appears to be in disarray, like many I barely see the point any more.
On a personal note though, the "plumber" bribe just riled me up even more, that got dropped on us very quickly, yet I am still fighting to get paid for items replaced that bugs have removed from the game.
Personally I'm more surprised than I should be there was no "We apologise for the inconvenience." It's just standard.
The somewhat baffling bit in all this is that it's not clear a number of posts are being read as [Feedback], which is exactly what they are. Valid frustration and a strong desire to feel one is talking to an actual person who might actually hear, understand, respond to and pass on those frustrations in a manner fitting the situation and their position on the communication ladder is one of the main reasons we address people directly. When something appears to go awry in that frustrations mount.
Even in less emotional situations, for example when I say "The 'stories' attached to "gift" packets are bizarre." I don't mean "Ravel, it's your fault for writing strangeness about piebald accordianists, wicked spells, people skulking round the black market, and plumbers!" I mean - A lot of people have no idea what these things are on about, a little clarity might come in useful.
In the case of this last one whoever it is that writes these for global release might have done a little better than to inform us we are "lucky".
http://thesettlersonlinewiki.com/upl...ts_Plumber.JPG
That's a bit rude to people who were heavily affected by some of the recent trouble.
The main point in this thread seems to be, once again - The chain of communication in TSO (and their associates) is very very broken. This makes everything more difficult for players as well as all the local teams and public voices of BB.
Bit silly people should have to go digging around on entirely Other websites to try to figure out what's gone wrong on the one they want. Most people wouldn't even have bothered. While a post to Uplay on their forum is appropriate so too is pointing out here, once again, very specific communications breakdowns.Quote:
Originally Posted by minion79Hi Ozzymandeus - while there was nothing on their front page, there was an announcement in their news and announcements section here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzymandeus
While you may consider your anger/disappointment valid you are now directing it in the wrong direction. As stated it was a global issue not caused by TSO, and as such this is the wrong forum to be venting in.
If [Feedback] on things that affect people here ought not to be given here, and given with the accurate understanding that there is a point to going to the trouble of writing it all out, where should it go? Aside from our local team we of the playerside don't have a lot of options for communicating with Those On High and as They very rarely speak for themselves we are compelled to turn again to our local teams to speak for them.
I have never used the uPlay forums. Since I gave up on the Assassin's Creed franchise, the only reason I have to use my uPlay account and password any more is for logging in here. So are you suggesting that the forums of the game I could not access are not an appropriate place to register a complaint.. and that instead I should go to post in a forum that I have never looked at before today, for a site that I have not directly used in years, to register my ire? This just gets better...Quote:
Originally Posted by minion79
I can't help but notice that post you link was also at extremely short notice. Begs the question just exactly how many people had any chance to see it before the maintenance happened? And considering, as I seem to understand it, this is a global umbrella that affected users of all Ubisoft platforms and games, I am afraid that just amplifies the lack of professionalism exponentially in my eyes.
If that is the case then why should we take this...Quote:
Originally Posted by Nogbad
...as anything more than meaningless platitude with no actual substance?Quote:
Originally Posted by BB_Ravel
Thank you for your patience and understanding! are you a politician, i dont see anyone being understanding or patient. own your mistakes
Because the point is much the same - The early update is much appreciated but this on the homepage:
would have been much improved by a small, simple, responsible, and considerate addition to either the original post or the update:Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSettlersOnline_SupportTeam
This could have been quite reasonably followed by:Quote:
We apologise for the inconvenience and any delay in response time.
We tend to be much more patient and understanding when someone steps up and that often lessens the feeling one needs to use excessive !. For both sides.Quote:
Thank you for your patience.
The only time I have ever seen an apology it was combined with an accusation of being a lying troublemaker and the apology was only if the accusation was incorrect.
So, apparently, nobody ever makes a mistake worth apologising for; they only misjudge people's intentions when complaining.