Just an update on the SWTOR situation.
Preorder: No resolution
Still no resolution to my preorder issue. I’ve received multiple mails from presumed autoresponder “M0-T0”:
Greetings,
I am Protocol Droid M0-T0 of Human-Cyborg relations,
Thank you for contacting us regarding the issue you are experiencing.
Since the game is officially launched, our Early Game Access and Pre-Order phases are now over. If you experience any issue accessing the game or posting in the forums, please make sure you have redeemed your retail code, and that your account has an active subscription.
• To redeem your retail code, please log into your account and click on the Code Redemption option, click on Enter a Code and follow the steps on screen.
• To add a subscription, log into your account and click on the Subscription option, then you can decide to either Sign up for a recurring subscription plan or to add a Game Time Code.
We apologize for any inconvenience that you may have encountered and hope to see you soon into the game.
Galactic Support is our specialty…
Sincerely,
Protocol Droid M0-T0 Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service
In other words “Since we didn’t bother to address your preorder issue prior to launch, we’re going to ignore it now”.
“Galactic Support” may be your specialty, but “Customer Support” is your job, and you’re not doing it.
Login status
Now that the official launch is past, I’m able to login to the game. This pretty much puts the nail in the coffin that my issue was indeed that the preorder code was never applied to my account, and that all SWTOR Support needed to do was issue me a valid preorder code.
At least I’m able to login. Many folks had similar issues with their retail codes, and are still waiting for a resolution. The “grace period” for doing so ends today, so anyone in that situation who doesn’t get their issue addressed will be locked out of the game. Hopefully SWTOR Support is more responsive to their issues than they were to mine.
Server Queues
I’ve seen minor queues (160-250ppl, 30 min) on the server our guild was allocated to, around 6-6:30pm when I get home from work. Many folks are seeing much worse. The problem seems to be that the fine folks at SWTOR allocated many large pre-launch guilds to the same servers, rather than spreading them out. Someone should have recognized this would cause issues.
But, queues are a part of MMO launches, so even though the worst of the situation should have been avoidable by some forethought and planning, this is still somewhat expected.
Forum Queues?
However, what’s more distressing is that as of this morning, there is now a queue on forum access, including the Customer Support forum. This extends to each page view, so evan after waiting 35 minutes for one page to refresh, moving to the next page of a long thread results in another queue.
This is ridiculous.
It seems that SWTOR Support’s answer to having many folks with issues is to:
Lie to customers and tell them their problem is fixed, without actually fixing anything. (I’m looking at you, “M0-T0”.)
Cut off non-email support - have the phone line hang up on customers, and deny forum access.
That’s not how you treat paying customers. That’s not right.
And they wonder why so many folks are pissed off.
But how’s the game?
Over the past two nights, I’ve played my Sith Inquisitor up to level 10 - the minimum required to join up with my guild. This is about how far I played the same class in the Thanksgiving weekend beta, so it wasn’t new content for me. Knowing how things were laid out helped move things faster.
They did fix the most glaring issue I had from the beta as well. In the beta, if you and your spouse were partied, playing the same class (she plays a healing priest traditionally, I play a mage - in SWTOR, both of those are the Sith Inquisitor), when you went to do Class Quests, only one of you could accompany the other. On the second character’s run, the first character would be locked out and unable to participate. Sitting out sucks. Thankfully this appears to be fixed.
Conversations in a mixed Light/Dark side group can be hilarious. Thankfully you now get whatever Light/Dark side points correspond to the answer you choose, not who wins the roll (In the beta, this was not the case).
My CE access allowed me into the “VIP Lounge” - a sparse area with a single vendor, who sells (for vast amounts of credits) things you probably don’t need. There’s an armor set that looks like it’s made for Bounty Hunters, but is Light Armor, so they won’t wear it. There’s some customization items for your companions. That’s really about it. That “exclusive vendor” really isn’t much to sing about.
Bottom line
Once into the game, it plays well, and I didn’t have many issues at all. The big problem with this game is Support (or more accurately, the lack thereof).
EA/Bioware NEED to fix this, or they will lose customers.