Overwatch & Um–No News?

I haven’t posted in a while and there are reasons for that, but more to that momentarily. There are bigger fish to fry:

OVERWATCH Stress Test Weekend

I haven’t been this excited to buy a brand new game ever. I know there are a few people in the beta/stress test weekend who didn’t enjoy it, and that’s cool, but I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I want to play again (and again, and again).

Play of the Game seems to be connected to multikills/ultimate abilities, and as such it seems like Bastion & D.Va are (imo) the two easiest heroes to get PotG on, so here’s a couple of mine:

Thoughts on the Game

The Good

• Objectives. I prefer objective-based play over deathmatches (most of the time), and I feel like the objectives are mostly balanced and equally achievable by both teams, which is one of those things that’s pretty important but you don’t usually notice it unless it’s a problem.

• Heroes. There are a variety of heroes to choose from that fall into 4 different sort of “categories:” tank, support, defense, damage. Don’t get too caught up in that, though; not only do the playstyles differ between the categories, they differ strongly from character to character. For some maps, for instance; you’ll want to start with one tank and finish with a different one. On some you may choose to not have  a tank or support at all. Feeling it out is the best way to get to know the heroes. Though it’s tempting to play one hero when you get comfortable with it, try to play around so you have a small collection.

• Pace. The pacing in Overwatch is perfect. You don’t have long periods of waiting for fights (thanks largely in part to the objectives), but matches usually last a good 10+ minutes. Every once in a while you’ll be part of a shutout that happens in 5 minutes or less, but I didn’t see this much (and hey, at least then it’s over and you’re already starting the next game).

What Could Be Better

• Bastion (Bastion is a robot hero that can either shoot on the run or deploy as a shielded turret). I hate writing this because there is nothing better than setting up Bastion in sentry mode on a defending team and just thumping away at the enemy team. But having been on both sides of the onslaught, Bastion is just a little overpowered right now. If he’s in sentry mode against a wall or a corner, the only way to kill him is to get close enough to him to get on top of him, bomb him, or pin him, and that limits the heroes that can take him down and the circumstances during which that can take place. Put two Bastions down supported by a team on an objective, and as an attacking team, you feel pretty hopeless. The nerf I would suggest to fix the problem is make the shield a little less durable–just enough that if I’m targeting his shield and putting significant damage into him, it actually breaks. 

• Personal Stats History. This may be something in the works that just won’t be live until the game is, but I have done exactly 0 reading (sorry!) so I’m going to mention it anyway. I like the commendation system and the cards and the ratings, but I would like to be able to see more than just my current match and averages. Somewhere I should be able to view my entire history on each hero with similar stats to what we see at the end of a game. Kind of like how you can look up your match histories on League of Legends–I want to do that for my Overwatch stats.

The game is super addictive. Really, really addictive. I’m going to have to set parental controls for myself when it comes out, but it’s addictive because it’s fun.

Okay, The Non-Update

One of the reasons I haven’t posted in a while is because my guild is no longer raiding. 

We were on Mythic Mannoroth, averaging (good) pulls in the 15-20% range with 70 attempts when the tank we had taken on and geared up to replace our druid tank evaporated. He stopped showing up to raids at all without warning. Last I heard, his work schedule interfered with raiding too much (which would have been something nice to know beforehand).

This lead to a few weeks of trying to do Mannoroth with offspec and alt tanks. This lead to regression, and if you’ve raided much, you can probably guess how the rest went.

In the end, the decision was made to take a break from progression. As you might expect, half of the raid team left to find new guilds, another portion went AWOL, and the rest of us are just off doing other things and occasionally checking back in.

We did come together just enough to get our moose mounts, so at least there’s that. I’ve been spending most of my time playing EVE Online and Hearthstone and cleaning house in preparation for the holidays.

In other words, I’ve got nothing newsworthy to report. 

 

 

Heroic Hellfire Citadel: Kilrogg Deadeye, Kormrok, & Gorefiend

So far, I like Hellfire Citadel. It looks cool, I like some of the bosses and I don’t absolutely hate any of them (yet). We’re 7/13 Heroic in Group #1 half mains, half alts, and 6/13 in Group #2, similar comp.

Hopefully your experience in there hasn’t been too bad, either! I’m gonna take a look at the next 3 heroic bosses as quickly as possible. 😀

As before, clicking on the boss’s name will take you to the video.

Kilrogg Deadeye

We’ve had our eye on this guy since the beginning of the expansion… >.>

Okay, seriously though, here’s what you need to know:

• Heartseeker is a projectile launched at a player. It displays an arrow targeting the person, then a few seconds later it travels to the chosen target, doing damage to and spawning a Blood Globule add on anyone in the path. We just split the raid on two sides and had the person targeted run to the middle of the room as far back as they could go.
• Blood Globules will explode if they reach the boss for a ton of damage, so don’t let them.
• Salivating Bloodthirsters are adds that spawn throughout the fight, 2 toward the back of the room and one in front. If they reach the pool at the front of the room, they become Hulking Terrors. The one at the front will always transform but the two in the back should be killed before making it to the boss.
• Hulking Terrors need to be tanked and interrupted when they cast Rending Howl.
• Death Throes is a raid-wide AoE that does less damage the further from the boss you are while also launching fire around the room that you should avoid.
• Shred Armor does damage and causes a stacking tank debuff. The debuff will not be applied if the tank has active mitigation running when it casts.

There’s one other very important mechanic to know about: the Visions of Death.

When Visions of Death is cast, the boss will place 3 glowing rune circles on the ground in the direction he’s facing. One player needs to stand in each rune, and these players will be teleported to a second realm where they need to kill adds and survive.

As players kill adds in the realm, they will receive a stacking buff that increases their damage for 1 minute. The goal is to survive and kill enough adds to get to 20 stacks. When players die in the realm, they are transported out to the main room, at which point they should use their CDs to pump out damage with the active buff.

We sent in 2 alternating teams of 2 dps + 1 healer each and getting the 20 stacks was not a problem.

Handle mechanics, kill the boss, it’s really not more complicated than that.

Kormrok

Okay, this guy is big and ugly and whatever.

Abilities:

• Waves – He spawns waves from around the room (how many depends on where the boss is at and which pool he has most recently jumped into). Just dodge these. They’re a little obnoxious when empowered (coming from all 3 sides), but even hitting a wave won’t kill you. Hitting 3 or 4 of them probably will.
• Grasping Hands – Similar mechanic to Kromog, but you don’t have to stand in them, they’ll grab you automatically. Stack up before they come out and AoE them down. When they’re empowered (green pool), they will drag you towards the closest pool, so kill them ASAP.
• Runes – These runes explode on the raid if left to their own devices, so players need to pop a cooldown and run over them, soaking the damage and preventing the explosion.
• Explosive Runes – These have to have their own category because there’s a trick to dealing with them. After Kormrok jumps in the red pool, the next runes will be empowered, and when a player runs through a rune, it will spawn a new rune directly in front of that player. Handling this: Have a team of players prepared to handle runes. These players will walk through the runes while facing the middle of the room, forcing the runes to spawn towards each other. When the runes get close enough to each other, they will start canceling themselves out until there’s only one rune left (you can see how this is handled at 4:57 in the video).
• Pound – Unavoidable raidwide AoE that can be mitigated by spreading out 4 yards from other players and requires a healing cooldown.
• Tank Junk – Tanks in this fight get knocked back (Swat), grasped by a big hand that must be targeted down (Fel Crush), stunned and forced to explode on the raid like Mark of Chaos (Explosive Burst), and be taking increasing magic damage (Fel Touch).

Honestly, the fight itself is pretty straightforward, and the execution isn’t terribly difficult. Ezpz.

Gorefiend

This fight has a lot going on, but you can break it down pretty easily, I think. This guy, though; dat belleh.

The Main Room

• Spread Out. You’re constantly doing damage to each other, so stay spread 5 yards.
• Touch of Doom targets a player with a debuff that will explode when it expires and leave a puddle at the player’s feet. Move to the edge of the room before it expires.
• Shared Fate connects 3 people by beams of light. One of them is rooted, and the other 2 players must run to them to free them.
• Kill/Kite Adds. Adds spawn throughout the encounter. If one is attached to you, run away from it, otherwise kill the adds quickly.
• Don’t Stand in Swirls. Purple swirly circles spawn on the floor in a spiral shape, don’t stand in them.

The Belleh

If you die in the main room, you aren’t immediately killed; instead, you’re sent inside Gorefiend’s stomach. Some players will be debuffed with Shadow of Death, as well; which will kill you and put you in the stomach.

While there, your first objective is to kill adds (or if you’re a healer, heal the friendly NPC) before they get to the middle. Roots and knockbacks work, as well.

Your second objective is to run to the center when your debuff is about to wear off so you don’t die inside. If you die inside you’re really dead.

Also, if you die shortly after coming out of the stomach, you die permanently.

Feast of Souls

This is like the boss casting Evocation. During the channel, he takes 100% more damage. He also spawns adds that move toward him and will explode for aoe damage upon touching a player.

• Stack up together in the middle of the room in melee range.
• Assign soakers (we had tanks and warlocks doing it) to catch the adds that are going to attempt to blow up on the raid.
• Pop CDs and go as hard as you can.
• Healers will need to have healing CDs planned for the entirety of Feast of Souls.

It sounds complicated, but once you see it, it’s really not.

We’re doing flex tonight (Thurs 6/25) for fun and tier, then Heroic again Sunday @8pm Eastern on twitch.tv/ambermist. 😀

Adventures in Blackrock Foundry: Day 2

We had so much fun Tuesday, we had to go back in last night (seriously, new content is so good), and we ended the night at 9/10 Heroic.

As I did yesterday, just posting a quick recap of the 2 bosses we did last night as ranged.

Note: If you click the boss’s name header, it will take you to the video on my stream!

Blast Furnace

Here an add, there an add…the first two thirds of this fight is nothing but killing adds and blowing yourself up properly.

In Phase 1, We left Foreman Feldspar up and just cleaved him down with the other adds, putting the raid on one side at a time while leaving one group of ranged to kill the Bellows Operator on the opposite side of the raid. Security Guards leave shields on the ground that will protect any add within them, so adds shouldn’t be in the shield.

While you’re handling these adds, it’s important to run bombs well–players will be targeted with bombs just like in the Spoils encounter in Siege of Orgrimmar, and bombs also drop on the ground when Engineers die.

If you’re targeted with a bomb or you pick one up, you run it to the Heat Regulator on the side of the room in which you’re fighting and then use your extra action button to blow the bomb up, damaging the Heat Regulator. You have to kill both to proceed to the next part of the fight, and the longer it takes, the more you’re wearing on your healers.

Phase 2 is honestly probably a bigger DPS check than the Phase 3 boss, because getting through Phase 2 quickly makes the rest of the fight much, much easier. During P2, there will be Primal Elementalists channeling around the center area of the room. They’re shielded and immune to all damage, and the only way to break the shield is to kill a Slag Elemental on top of them.

We just decided on a kill order starting from the side of the room we were on and moving around the circle to the other side. When someone is fixated by a Slag Elemental, they stand on top of the Primal Elementalist (you can have more Slags than you need, in which case the extras should just hang out, they don’t hit that hard) and the Elemental is killed.

When the Elemental dies, the Elementalist will lose his shield. If you want to make Phase 2 & Phase 3 more manageable, focus on getting the Elementalists dead before their shield respawns. Use the CDs you have available and give up padding on the Slag Elementals to get the Elementalists down as quickly as possible.

Note: Slag Elementals do some pretty sick AoE damage when they die, so don’t be standing next to them when they explode.

Phase 3 is a boss fight with a ton of raid-wide damage (sorry healers). We started on one side of the room with ranged stacked and then moved out of the puddles on the ground, working our way around the room. Ignore Slag Elementals at this point, they don’t hit hard enough on their fixate targets to matter and it’s not worth trying to kill them and/or risk blowing them up in the raid, just focus the boss down and win.

Iron Maidens

This is one of those fights that starts out with a couple of mechanics and then just keeps stacking them. Fun fight, though.

The three bosses have to be pushed below 20% at the same time, then you just dps, don’t die to mechanics, and pray. On a timer, the boss with the lowest health that hasn’t already will jump to a ship across from the main platform, and you’ll want a group assigned to grab the hooks and kill the adds on the ship. Each boss has its own ship mechanics/adds, so the order in which you do them depends on your raid. We chose to do Marak > Garan > Sorka.

I’m just going to make a list because that’s easier. Abilities you need to know how to handle as a ranged DPS:

• Blood Ritual: Marak will choose a target and start Blood Ritual, which looks like a red squiggly line (yup, dem’s professional-soundin’ werds) connecting the target to the boss. Move so that you create a triangle with the tank who will move into the cone you’ve created and soak the AoE damage she does when Blood Ritual ends.
• Rapid Fire: Gar’an will target a player marked with a red arrow and begin to shoot a volley of pain at that person that detonates in an AoE marked by a circle on the ground. Move out of the raid and kite it around the edge of the room. Tip: it moves more slowly than you think it will, so don’t rush or speed boost or you might cause it to arc through the raid. Don’t hurt your friends.
• Penetrating Shot: Identical to the Aim on Paragons except that you won’t take splash damage from standing too close in the beam while you soak it, so just pile everyone into it. It can be feigned, guised, and invised just like in Paragons.

How to Be a Boss at Bombs

When one of the bosses goes over to the ship, it will trigger a barrage of bombs on the main platform. This mechanic is stupid easy to avoid taking damage from if you know what to expect.

First: Red targeting circles land around on the ground, not many at all, avoid them. Bombs will appear wherever there was a targeting circle. Get close to one and pay attention to where it is.

Second: Those targeting circles will disappear. As soon as they do, move onto the bomb that was dropped by the circle. In another second, targeting circles will fill the rest of the space that was not previously targeted–basically, anywhere there’s already a bomb will not be targeted.

Third: That bomb you’re standing on is going to start looking really pissed off because it was one of the first to drop. After a few seconds of looking angry, it will explode. Before that happens, move to one of the new bombs.

Fourth: As soon as the first bomb detonates, move back to that spot and wait for the rest of the bombs to explode.

It sounds like a lot, but I promise once you see it, it will make sense.

The last phase, after they’re pushed, is pretty chaotic and hella fun. And you might die. You’ll probably die. Burn them down one at a time, kill turrets as they spawn (and avoid the fire spitting from them), and continue to handle the other mechanics.

There’s 2 more mechanics to be aware of in this phase: Dark Hunt is just damage, but when it ticks off it hurts for a lot, so use a CD. Lesson learned. There’s also a debuff called Convulsive Shadows that should NOT be dispelled. It will hurt a billion times more if you dispel it than if you just let it fall off.

The fight’s a mess, but I thought it was fun.

Next up is Blackhand. I’M READY, LET’S GO.

Warlords So Far: Leveling & Gearing

It’s only been 5 days since Warlords of Draenor released, but with all of the craziness, it feels like I’ve been doing this for longer. Server issues/crashes/bugs/insanity/sleeplessness aside, I’ve enjoyed the expansion so far–how about you?

Leveling

Around 4pm on Thursday, the game just quit for me. I got stuck in every way possible, from the flying-in-mid-air-over-the-garrison to the 90% loading screen. At 9:30, I just gave up.

The next day was better, only 2 hours of 90%-loading-bar time, and I ended up hitting 100 at 3am Saturday morning.

Quests/Story. Holy crap, guys. I did the full story line in every zone, and I was not disappointed. SMV was a little distracting with its million side quests and Garrison activities, Gorgrond was on the shortish side, but Talador–favorite leveling zone by far. That cinematic at the end was amazing; I’ve watched it three times since level capping.

Spires of Arak was nifty, but Nagrand got kind of grindy for me. Could have had something to do with being 2am and being on the edge of delusion and desperation to hit 100. The Throne of the Elements quests, though; and the final story quest with the cinematic were the perfect way to level cap.

Killing Crap. Most of it was a joke, honestly; I went in with almost full Mythic Warforged and Starfalled a lot. I was teamed up with two mages for SMV and a monk for Talador. Might be another reason Nagrand felt grindy–it was the first time I had to work for some of those kills.

Treasures/Rares/Objectives. I didn’t go hunting for these most of the time. If they popped up on the map (TomTom/Handynotes ftw), I’d go grab them, but otherwise I just stuck to my quests. I also didn’t touch dungeons until 100, as most of the dungeons don’t have quests and the XP you get from completing them doesn’t compare to what you get from doing pretty much anything else.

Gearing

For anyone who’s into raiding, hitting the level cap is like opening up an entirely new game, and it’s all about gearing. I have to say, I’ve been pretty lucky so far. I’m at 631 equipped ilvl, a good start for sure, even if I did just transmog over the new items. What? They didn’t match!

Heroics. I’ve mostly been doing heroics with guildies and friends, but I’ve pugged a few. With guildies, it’s usually easy peasy. With PuGs, there’s often a wipe or two along the way, but I’ve not yet failed to complete a dungeon I started due to a bad group. Of course, as one of my friends pointed out, as more players get to 100 and venture into heroics, PuGs will become more hit-or-miss because it will be drawing from a much larger cross-section of players than it currently is.

Running with guildies is better anyway, duh.

Missions/Professions. The only item I can currently make is the leather engineering helm, but I’m waiting. A guildy pointed out a couple of days ago that with Molten Core dropping 640 helms, using my mats to make the helm might be a waste.

As for mission gear? I haven’t seen much yet. Most of my missions provide XP, gold, or garrison resources, and I’m perfectly okay with that.

AH/BMAH. Keep an eye on your AH. Yeah, the prices are probably pretty high at the moment, but take note of the seller and send them a message. You’ll occasionally find someone willing to barter. That’s how I got my 100k 665 ilvl neck for 50k. Thanks again, friend.

BMAH’s so hit or miss and usually way beyond my price range. But if you’re swimming in gold, you never know what you can get there. Just ask my GM; he’s the big guy who stands on buildings.

#TLBCFarewellPandaria

Last week I started a giveaway thanks to Ask Mr. Robot: one-month free premium access to AMR. I asked you guys to show me your favorite place in Pandaria and tag it with #tlbcfarewell Pandaria. Here are the winners!

From Katherinn(e) [@wowinthedetails]:

From Syrco Owl [@Syrcorax]:

From Stormie [@Summerstormsz]:

From Anna [@NotAnna]:

Congrats and thanks for sharing your favorite places with us! I’ll be sending you all a DM with your AMR key today!

A Story of Two Guilds, Heroic Garrosh 25-man, & The Warlords Announcement

A Story of Two Guilds: Heroic Garrosh 25

Some of you might recall this post, borne from the frustration of dealing with a new guild that had recently transferred to our server.

That post sparked a, uh–conversation, of sorts, which ultimately resulted in a peaceful state of being between our guilds.

I posted that in March, and in the 5 months since, our two guilds have actually formed some sort of bizarre and yet completely functional bond–one that resulted in combining our two end-of-expansion rosters into a single 25m Heroic Siege group.

After an easy clear up to Garrosh and 40 wipes on the ugly orc himself, our band of unlikely compatriots cleared the instance on Heroic 25–the first group to do that on our combined Durotan & Ysera server.

Congrats, Chi Cerca Trova & Check Please. Thanks for being awesome and making beautiful raid babies together.

The Warlords Announcement

Whoa, the Twitter feed today–half-impatience, half-angst, full-on, non-stop tweeting about the Warlords of Draenor cinematic & release date reveal.

My thoughts? Cinematic was cool–not-edge-of-my-seat cool, but definitely a good start to the story that we’re going to see unfold in the expansion. Preview trailer for WoD features was mostly me saying, “YES, I saw that!” and “I’ve quested there!” (Something a few more of you will be able to say after attending the event!).

The most exciting part for me was the release date. I was predicting sometime in November, but I knew I was one of the more optimistic ones–right before it started, I asked some of my in-game friends for their predictions, and the earliest was the first week in December.

What did you think of the cinematic? Of the features and zones? Of the Ashran explanation?

And how is your end of expansion to-do list coming along? We’re so close now, guys. I can hear the drums of war, and they sound awfully sweet. ❤

Twiiiisted!

Hey, guys! Just wanted to make a quick post to let you all know that the Twisted Nether Blogcast crew was foolis–I mean, awesome–enough to invite me to their podcast!

Seriously though, this Sunday, 9/22, 11 PM Eastern/8 PM Pacific. It’s a live podcast with a guest chat room–I’ve listened to TNB and been in the chat room before, it’s good times! You can get to the show by clicking the image above or hit up their site here: http://www.twistednether.net/.

Hope to see you guys in the chat room; I’m looking forward to chatting with Hydra and Fimlys!

Why I’m Glad I Dropped 10k Gold on the Black Market Auction House

It all has to do with the Brawler’s Guild.

I’ve had my eye on these invitations since they first appeared on the BMAH, but they were far too rich for my blood with auctions ending upwards of 50k. However, as Madam Goya continued posting the auctions and more and more people got their hands on invitations, prices quickly came down. Last night I grabbed one at just under 10k. I didn’t think I’d win it, and at first I had a bit of buyer’s remorse. Would it be worth it?

The answer is unquestionably, unmistakably: yes.

I fought through Rank 1 last night and Rank 2 this morning, and it has been the most fun I’ve had in game outside of raiding in a long time. Quick introduction, in case you’ve never seen the Brawler’s Guild, and then I’ll tell you the reasons I love it.

What is the Brawler’s Guild, Exactly?

Walk through a small door in the Deeprun Tram (Alliance–not sure where you Horde folks go) and down a quick ramp, and you find yourself in a bar with a huge pit in the middle. Inside this pit, bosses spawn, and competitors take them on one-on-one. If it’s your first night in the guild, here’s how you get in on the action:

1. Talk to a Brawler Bouncer. They’ll have a chat option to join the fight.
2. Wait in a (for me) short queue. Watch other competitors from your realm and sometimes others while you wait.
3. When it’s almost your turn, you will get an ingame announcement proclaiming “You are next in line!” Get ready!
4. When the current fight ends, you will be ported down and take on the first Rank 1 boss. There are 4 bosses per rank.
5. Kill the boss or die trying! If you kill the boss, you get a Brawler’s Purse with some gold and a gray item worth some gold, as well. You then queue again to move onto the second boss. If you die, you can queue to try again until you get it.

The bosses get progressively harder and go from Rank 1 to Rank 8. There are boss mechanics and enrage timers, so you will need to be on your toes!

Why I Love It

The Challenge. Prior to this, my most favorite thing I’d done in-game was the staff quest from Firelands, in particular, the part I had to solo in the Nexus. After a raid, the second thing I love most is a solo challenge that really tests my skill. How well do I know my class? How good am I at handling mechanics when there’s no safety net? This is that kind of challenge, and it’s exciting!

The People. I might just be lucky, but the people I’ve run into so far in the Brawler’s Guild have all been incredible. I was scared the first fight, worried that someone would call me a noob or yell insults at me if I did something stupid, but that was directly the opposite of what actually happened. Instead, people cheered me on, buffed me, joined groups with me so we could buff each other, rezzed me, and whispered me to encourage me and give me tips. I hope this experience continues, because it has been extremely rewarding so far.

The Experience. The whole setup is just fun. It’s fast-paced, you can watch other competitors, you feel like you’re progressing through the levels, you’re testing your skill–it feels exactly like what they described: a Fight Club for adventurers looking to test their mettle.

That is why I love the Brawler’s Guild. If you can get an invite grab one and step into the pit. You won’t be sorry!

I’ll be posting the December Challenge later this week, by the way! 

SWTOR & My Unexplained Ban: The Resolution

Okay. This, for real, should be the last post about this, but I make no promises, because that’s what I said last time.

If you’ve followed my story (Part 1 & Part 2), you know that the most recent update was an email from a representative at Customer Service, telling me they were trying to get in touch with me.

About 20 minutes ago, I got a call from Johnathan, and the first thing he offered was a profuse apology immediately followed with the answer to the one question I’d had: in this instance, the program they use to catch ToS infractions brought back a false positive, not once but three times.

The computer said I was hacking. Out of respect for their policies, which I will explain in a sec, I won’t say exactly how. Eventually they realized the computer was wrong–it was our persistence (yes, all of you are included), that kept them looking at it, so thank you.

On a personal level, my account has been reactivated and I’ve been given free play time. In a couple of weeks, they’ll call me back to make sure everything is still going well.

I was also assured that this experience, my honesty in my blog, and I’m sure your input, as well, has made them take a new look at how they handle these types of situations in the future. The reason they didn’t want to tell me exactly what I had done is because (as many of you suggested) the developers who make the third party programs look for clues like that to improve their programs and make them harder to detect.

However, that doesn’t excuse the impersonal, form-letter replies, or the amount of time and effort it took to get someone to really figure out what was going on, and he agreed. I told him that if I could pass on anything from this situation, it would be that anyone who appeals, especially repeatedly, deserves the courtesy of a personal email, even if it says, “This might take a little while, but I promise we’re looking into it and we’ll let you know as soon as we know something.” And then actually do. Keep that line of communication open, because in the end, we just really want to know we’re being heard.

SWTOR & My Unexplained Ban: Part 2

The other post was getting lengthy, and as this is the last update I foresee posting (and also, a longer one), I’m writing it in a new post. If you don’t know the story behind this, you should read SWTOR & My Unexplained Ban: A Cautionary Tale. Context is everything.

Update: The Resolution

Update, Wednesday, June 20th, 9:02 p.m. I know I said I didn’t foresee updating again, but we might have a breakthrough here, guys:

Dear […],

I am J– of Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service.

I have been trying to contact you over the phone today to discuss your accounts suspension. Unfortunately I believe we may either have an incorrect contact number or have been calling at an unsuitable time.

If it is appropriate for us to call you, please provide us with a time which suits best and phone number that will reach you.

If you do not wish to discuss this over the phone we can always correspond over email.

Thank you for your time.

If you have any further questions about this, or any other issue, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Sincerely,

J–

Star Wars ™: The Old Republic™ Customer Service

I sent him back my phone number and the best hours to call. I’ll let you know what happens.

—————————————————

Here is the email I received today:

Dear […],

I am J– of Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service.

I am contacting you in relation to your one week suspension as a result of a Terms of Service violation.

I am very sorry if your suspension has caused any confusion or frustration. Terms of Service have examined your case in detail over the course of your dispute emails and have found that the suspension action on your account still stands. This one week suspension will be lifted on the 22nd of June.

Thank you for your patience in this matter, and if there’s anything further we can help you with please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Sincerely,

J–
Star Wars ™: The Old Republic™ Customer Service

We would love to hear your feedback on our Customer Service and invite you to fill out the following survey which will help us to continually improve our support!

There are so many things wrong with this message in light of everything I’ve already experienced, I don’t even feel like listing them out again. I have faith that those who have kept up with this rollercoaster ride can find all of its irony and frustration on their own.

I was on the fence about canceling until I got this. I’m not canceling because I got banned for a week. If I had knowingly done something wrong–or even if I had unwittingly done something wrong and was told what had happened so I could prevent it–I would have accepted the ban with no question. No, I’m canceling based on the principle of this whole experience. No customer should ever feel like this.

Here is the message I included when I canceled my subscription:

You can read the full account of my experiences here: https://battlechicken.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/swtor-my-unexplained-ban-a-cautionary-tale/. Not that you will, but you’re certainly welcome to.

This is why I’ve chosen to cancel my subscription:

I have been falsely accused of cheating four times now in the course of three days. I realize that whatever you’re seeing on your end must look very convincing, but whatever you’re seeing is wrong. If I did use a third party program with SWTOR, I am STILL unaware of what program I used, and I didn’t use it intentionally.

No one will talk to me. If someone would have an actual conversation with me, asking what programs I’ve used, what happened to me in game, getting details about what I have been doing, then maybe we could clear this up. I refuse to be treated unfairly and then get form letter after form letter telling me that I’m wrong without any actual discourse with your company.

There has been no legitimate attempt by your customer service to help me figure out what happened in this situation (exception given to JJ @SWTOR on Twitter, who did actually reach out to me). You have, in essence, treated me like a guilty liar without attempting to find out from me personally if there could be any truth behind what I’ve said. Based on the responses I’ve gotten, I’m still not sure anyone has actually read my emails.

I have been patient and thoughtful in all of my responses. I have tried to create some kind of communication, first by earnest emails and then with public support, and I’m still getting the exact same email over and over with absolutely no personal recognition of my experience or frustrations.

I still hold a faint hope that this could be resolved, not only for my sake, but for my husband, who is extremely upset that the game he’s waited for so long is being ruined for him with my issues.

Also, I hope you resolve your Customer Service issues in general for the sake of all of those others who have experienced this or similar and haven’t had the platform to voice their opinions and garner the support I have. I might have felt downright bullied were it not for the wonderful MMO/blogging/Twitter community that has consistently had my back through this situation.

However, my subscription is set to renew tomorrow, and I refuse to give that $15 to a company who treats their customers like liars and declines person-to-person interaction in a situation that has escalated to this point.

For this reason, I am canceling my subscription.

Good luck to you.

Sincerely,

[…]

C’est la vie. 

I’m sad about not being able to play a game I enjoy, but my principles will not allow me to sit down and accept this. Maybe there’s still some resolution to be had and I can come back. I hope so.

SWTOR & My Unexplained Ban: A Cautionary Tale

I have checked and double checked these emails for privacy warnings, and I don’t see them. Unless they contact me and ask me to take this post down, it will stand. I have removed my name, my account name, and the SWTOR customer service identifying username, otherwise, the emails appear exactly as presented.

Update (again): The Resolution

Update: SWTOR & My Unexplained Ban: Part 2

Update, Sunday, June 17th, 7:04 P.M. I don’t think I even need to comment on this. I’m pretty sure it speaks for itself.  (But of course I’m going to anyway). If you’ve read this post in its entirety already, you know what the emails I sent requested. You might know that I requested the same things through Twitter, and those of you I’ve spoken with agree that the pivotal thing they’re not answering is the only question I really care about anymore: what is the name of the third party program used? And honestly, a follow-up, what was it used for? This is the email I got today:

Dear […],

Account Name: […]
Email address: druidambermist@gmail.com

Thank you for contacting us regarding your complaint (ticket number […]).
We have carried out a subsequent review and investigation into your complaint and in particular the actions taken on your account. We can confirm that your case was acted on correctly, in full compliance with our policies and procedures.

Please note that we do not provide any details regarding our internal procedures.

We will not be pursuing this issue any further, and as such we consider this matter closed.

Yours sincerely,

K–
Star Wars ™: The Old Republic™ Terms of Service

Either they are a) entirely missing the point everyone else seems to get, or b) still shooting out automated responses. In either case, it’s not good. No tiptoeing around it anymore: it’s incompetence at best, and I have to assume in either case they don’t care about my status as a customer.

The good news is, if they don’t care about me as a customer, that will make my decision to cancel my account that much easier. My $15 monthly might not matter to them, but if this is the type of customer service they’re providing to everyone (and I doubt I’m a special snowflake), they’ll lose other people’s $15, too, and future business.

Oh well. I liked it while it lasted.

Update, 2:20 p.m. EST: Earlier this morning, some people on Twitter and some commenters here suggested I check for hacking. At around 10 or 11, I ran a full Malwarebytes scan (gah, forgot how long that takes!), and came up infection free. There’s still a possibility, but unfortunately, it’s something SWTOR will have to check through the IP that was used at the time of the infraction. I only ever log on to the game from my computer or my husband’s, so if it’s an IP different from one of those two, it should be plainly obvious. It seems unlikely, as well, since my password and account information hasn’t changed. I would expect a good hacker to change the password immediately.

I also received a Direct Message on Twitter from @SWTOR, and from what I can understand, my ticket has been escalated and they’re looking into it. It might take a little while since it’s the weekend, but I have patience. I never minded a wait as long as the responses I get are fair and reasonable, which, until I was contacted through Twitter, certainly hasn’t been the case in my opinion.

Update, 9:30 a.m. EST: I called SWTOR Customer Support. The first time I called, I went with the option that included “violation reports,” but that didn’t take my anywhere useful. In fact, when my issue wasn’t mentioned in the sub-menu, I chose “all other queries,” where a recording told me to submit an in-game ticket and hung up on me.

The second call I put in to billing, and I did actually get to speak to a rep. I explained the situation, and he told me that I had done the right thing by emailing. He then informed me that there is nothing he can do for me except send a notice to the appropriate department that I called. I asked him if there was a number I could call to speak to that department directly. According to him, the only way to contact that department is by email.

I will wait for a response to my email. If it doesn’t contain the reason I was banned (and preferably an apology), I will be canceling my account today.

——————————

This is a World of Warcraft blog, although I have certainly dabbled in MMOs, especially lately with the Newbie Blogger Initiative. One of the games that I personally play outside of WoW is Star Wars: The Old Republic. Up until the past couple of days, it has been an enjoyable experience. I got into a guild that welcomed me and my husband and employed our sniper and bounty-hunter services to great ends, or at least to defeating several bosses.

I PvPed, and though I was slow progressing, I was getting very close to Battlemaster. I crafted, I cajoled, I server transferred with my guild. I was especially looking forward to playing after my server transfer, because suddenly I had a lot of friends all on the same server.

I became an officer in my guild. I managed the guild website, took screenshots and videos of our progress, and was, as far as I can tell, reasonably well-known in my guild. Believe me when I say this came as much of a shock to them as it did to me.

Yesterday, I attempted to log into SWTOR when I had a moment of peace in what had been a busy day. I was told my access had been denied, and to read the email that was sent to me. This is that email:

Dear […],

We are contacting you to notify you that we have found your Star Wars: The Old Republic account, […] , to be in violation of our Terms of Service.

After completing an investigation of your Account, we have identified the following violation:

Violation: Use of an unauthorised Third Party program

Due to the severity of the violation, we are suspending your account for 1 week (168 hours) effective immediately.

Our penalty system is cumulative. This means that if you continue to violate our Terms of Service in this way, the next penalty applied may ultimately result in permanent account closure.

It is our goal to make the Star Wars: The Old Republic experience as safe, secure and enjoyable as possible for all of our players. As such, we take any violations of our Terms of Service very seriously.

Please ensure that you are familiar with our Terms of Service as repeated violations may result in your account being permanently closed. Our Terms of Service can be found here:

http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

If you feel you have received this suspension in error, please contact us at swtoraccountdisputes@bioware.com.

Yours sincerely,

Z–

Star Wars ™: The Old Republic™ Terms of Service

I have never in my life been banned from any game or website. I’ve never even been accused of anything. I’ve never received a warning or even a questioning glance in my direction. My behavior has always been above reproach to the best of my knowledge and ability.

As you can probably imagine, this email made me extremely upset. The fact that they didn’t identify the third party source meant I couldn’t even figure out if it was something I had knowingly done without realizing it was against the ToS. So I responded to the email they provided for the appeal.

Dear BioWare Customer Service,

I received an email today notifying me that my account (under the username “[…]”), has been banned for being in violation of the Terms of Service for use of an unauthorized Third Party program. I would like to be immediately notified of what this supposed third party program is.

The only program I have ever used in tandem with SWTOR is Bandicam in order to capture videos of my guild’s progress. If that’s in violation of the Terms of Service, I think you’re doing yourselves a disservice, and I will most certainly be canceling both mine and my husband’s account if this is the case.

The only other thing I could possibly think that I have used recently is LastPass, which is a well-known, highly-regarded password security service for websites (and websites only). I use it on every website into which I sign in in order to a) remember my passwords, and b) keep them secure. If you REALLY have a problem with me using a security program for this purpose, then I will remove the SWTOR account website as part of its programming, but I will do so with great dissatisfaction.

If either of these is actually a violation of the Terms of Service, please let me know. If not, I’d like to be informed of my violation specifically, since I have no idea to what it could be referring.

Let me assure you that the next email you send to me will be very important in my decision to continue playing–and thus paying for–SWTOR. I appreciate your prompt reply.

Thank you,

[…]

I waited for a response, sure that they would at least tell me where they thought I had acted incorrectly. Since I haven’t knowingly done so, I expected them to come back apologizing for their error or at least telling me what I had done so I could decide if it was something they had gotten wrong or something I had unwittingly done (as in the case of Bandicam or LastPass).

Instead, this is the email I received:

Dear […]

Account Name […]
Email address: druidambermist@gmail.com

Thanks for contacting us regarding the strike that has been applied to your account.

We have now completed our investigation into your complaint. After reviewing your case, we can confirm that it was acted on correctly, in full compliance with our policies and procedures. As such, we will not be pursuing this issue any further.

We can confirm that your character was observed working outside of its intended capabilities. For security reasons, however, we are unable to provide any information about methods used to identify the use of unauthorized 3rd party software.

Thank you for your diligence in bringing this matter to our attention. As a valued customer, your feedback is very important to us.

Yours sincerely,

A–
Star Wars ™: The Old Republic™ Terms of Service

My shock, hurt, and disappointment at this is far beyond what I have the capability to express right now, but know that it is great. To accuse someone of something without giving them any details of the charge is unfair, at best.

This is my response to the above email:

Dear A–,

I am sorry, but that is completely unacceptable. I have not intentionally or knowledgeably used any software with this game, and certainly not maliciously or with the intent to cheat. Anyone who knows me in game or out could verify that. Not at least providing me with what my supposed infraction is unquestionably unfair. How can I appeal that which I don’t even know?

At this point, I have to wonder if you even read the email I sent, or just marked it as an appeal and answered it accordingly. I have been a consistently reliable customer, and as such, I believe I have the right to know the details behind my ban, and “security reasons” does not seem like a valid excuse for keeping a loyal, well-behaved, paying customer in the dark. I do not feel like a “valued customer” today.

Telling me your investigation was completed gives me no insight into what actually happened, and I have no knowledge of what third party program you are referencing. I’ve never actually been banned from anything and have a spotless record across the board, so to say I’m angry, hurt, and disappointed is an understatement.

I will be discussing this with my husband today, and this will likely be the end of our time with SWTOR.

I would say thank you, but I am feeling understandably ungracious at this time.

Sincerely,

[…]

Beyond this, I don’t know what to say. I am floored. I will be discussing this with my husband when he gets up, and we will be deciding where to go from there. Without a doubt, there will be a phone call to customer service, at which point either our questions will be answered or we will probably cancel our accounts.

Good luck, out there. I’d say keep your noses clean, but even that’s not a guarantee that you’ll receive the service you pay for, apparently.