... and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.Originally Posted by forge7960
... and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.
and hate sex. don't forget the hate sex
If you have bought any game within the past couple of years or so, you have been at most a beta tester. I've been a private beta tester for games and believe me they are all doing it, especially the big name companies. Actually, for some of them, every time you buy a new game in one of their series of games, you are buying a repeat beta version since a lot of what bugs they do release in games are never fixed.
I give Trion my patience (it's not unending) because they are a newer company, not a big name one, and this game is not like any that other devs have made. I expected it to have problems just as I expect the xbox one will not be perfect and the first iphone sometimes acted like a brick. There are other cookie cutter games out there that by now should be flawless because the devs have had many years to get them right and they're still piles of crap. And not once have the devs ever tried to start any sort of dialog with their loyal fanatics.
At least Trion does have ways for us to communicate and as paltry as it may be, they have often responded.
Unfortunately I understand what you are talking about. As a PR graduate whenever I tell someone my education they immediately jump to the "spin doctor" understanding of PR. I don't want to get in to deep, but I believe that telling the truth and being transparent is the best form of public relations.
With the technology available to people today, it won't take long for them to call you out on your BS. Two-way symmetrical communications, a theory from James E. Grunig, is focused on enforcing a "your problems are equal to our own" form of communication. Mixing that in with truthfulness is a very difficult and highly resisted form of public relations.
Just because they all do it doesn't make it right. If you want to build product loyalty just be honest. I'll beta test for free no worries. I'll donate to a kickstarter so the company can gather enough venture capital to lauch the title. Just come clean. It's a rough game ready to play. There may be some issues but with your input we'll add polish. That's all it takes.
Huh.
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Hey All,
The Astral Diamond Exchange and the Auction House have been temporarily taken offline to resolve a high priority bug.
At this time we are still investigating the details regarding the issue and will post more information as the situation progresses.
As the issue involves in-game currency, we understand that there may be questions regarding the follow up actions needed to ensure that the economy remains fair and balanced. At this time we are still in the process of collecting the data, but plan to share details regarding follow up actions once the investigation concludes. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we continually smooth out issues during open beta.
Sincerely,
Dezstravus and the Neverwinter Team
Update 12PM Pacific: We are still investigating the situation. There is a high likelihood that we will be performing character-specific rollbacks on any accounts that were found to be utilizing the exploit. Additionally, we are investigating the extent of what can additional steps can be taken to remove any illegitimately obtained Astral Diamonds that have entered into the economy. We are also investigating the possibility of a shard-wide rollback.
Update 12:15PM Pacific: We're bringing the shards down temporarily to better investigate the issue. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. Thank you!
Update 12:45PM Pacific: We're still investigating the issue and will have more information for you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!
Update 12:55PM Pacific: The shard downtime will be extended for two more hours as we address the AD/AH issue. More details soon - thank you!
Update 1:30PM Pacific: We are identifying the accounts that have utilized the AH exploit and will be taking action against said accounts. We are also still investigating the severity of the issue and its impact on the game, and from this information we will take corrective action. Estimated downtime is at least two more hours.
Update 5:15 PM Pacific: We have most of the information in-hand, but are waiting on a few final details to determine our plan of action. To clarify one thing I've seen around on Twitter, whatever we ultimately decide to do, a full character wipe will not happen. We're doing everything we can to minimize the impact of this fix, so that it changes what must change, but not much else. Thank you all for your patience, we appreciate it and will have you back in-game as soon as possible.
Update 6 PM Pacific: We're still finalizing the plan of action. Once everything is locked in, we'll be posting everything, so keep your eyes on Facebook, on Twitter and on our forums -- we'll make sure it goes everywhere. Thank you all again, we appreciate your support and patience.
Update 6:35 PM Pacific: We have a plan of action. We're verifying the exact timeline with the Neverwinter team, then we'll be triple-checking the planned forum post with all key stakeholders before posting. We're not finished yet, folks, but we're getting closer.
Update 9 PM Pacific: The post about our plan of action is being confirmed -- stay tuned, folks, we're getting closer.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/sho...-House-Offline
+
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/sho...loit-Follow-Up
FAQ - AD/AH Exploit Follow-Up
Got questions about how we are handling the Astral Diamonds/Auction House exploit? We will be updating this thread with the answers to the most common questions about todays downtime, and what it means for the adventurers of Neverwinter.
Q: What happened?
A: Early Sunday morning a very small group of players discovered and abused a game exploit within the Neverwinter Open Beta that affected the Auction House and Astral Diamonds.
Q: What exactly has changed?
A: We took the Neverwinter OBT down for emergency maintenance, found the bug, corrected it and tested it. In order to fix the damage this exploit caused to the in-game economy, we implemented a necessary rollback of our servers to 5:20 AM PDT the morning of May 19, 2013. This means that characters have been reverted to the state they were in at that time, pre-exploit damage. That includes items, level, experience, etc.
We know that character progress matters in Neverwinter, so as an apology for the lost time and as profound thanks for your continued support throughout this Beta, we have put together a package of items to give everyone. More information about the Caturday Survivor's Pack is available here.
Q: What about ZEN I spent/transferred after 5:20 AM PDT?
A: You'll have any and all ZEN that you transferred to Neverwinter -- we tracked all transfers during that time and made sure players have the ZEN they should have. If you spent ZEN on items during that time, you'll need to re-buy the items, but you'll have all of that ZEN. No one will lose any money they spent on Neverwinter because of this fix. If you have any issue, please see the customer and billing support contacts below.
Q: I leveled up after 5:20 AM PDT -- what happens to that progress?
A: Unfortunately, in order to properly fix this exploit, that progress has, by necessity, been lost. We know how much that progress means to all Neverwinter players, though, so we have put together a package of items to thank everyone for their support. More information about the Caturday Survivor's Pack is available here.
Q: What about the ZEN I bought/sold after 5:20 AM PDT in the Astral Diamond Exchange?
A: All ZEN exchanged during this period will be returned to the original owners.
Q: What about my astral diamonds?
A: We are currently gathering information on this and will update this question as soon as we have a complete answer to post.
Q: What about respec tokens, or other consumables?
A: You'll have everything you had at 5:20 AM PDT. If you had the consumables before 5:20 AM PDT, you'll still have them; if you bought them with ZEN or gold that you had before 5:20 AM PDT, you'll still have that gold or ZEN.
Q: I have another question, where can I get answers?
A: Post it in this thread! We'll dig through to find common questions, and we'll edit this post to include them.
Q: But... I won the Armored Nightmare from a lockbox! I'll never get that lucky again!
A: We are currently working to restore Armored Nightmare mounts that were earned legitimately during the period of time that was rolled back.
Q: I was working on a Foundry Mission during that time. What happened to my design work?
A: We did not revert any changes in the Foundry, so your work is still there.
Q: This bug existed for more than 7 hours. What are you doing about the fact that players took advantage of this before the rollback window?
A: We are performing additional log searches and investigations to ensure that the appropriate actions are taken against any accounts that performed the exploit before the rollback window. Exploits that were performed prior to our rollback window make up a fraction of a percent of total impact, so we will be dealing with those issues selectively as not to cause greater impact on those legitimate testers.
Q: Celestial Coins were lost as a result of the downtime? What will be done about this?
A: We understand that this is a concern and we are aware of the feedback. Though we may not be able to provide replacement Celestial coins, we are certainly looking into it. As we cannot guarantee replacements, we are ensuring we shortly deliver a robust thank-you pack.
Q: What happens to Founders Packs that were purchased during the rollback window?
A: No changes were made to Founders Pack purchases. You still have access to receive your items on new characters and reclaim them on existing characters as normal. If you claimed any of the singleton items from a Founder's Pack, credit for those will have been refunded and you can reclaim them after maintenance.
Q: How is crafting affected by the rollback?
As with all character data, all crafting progress during the rollback period will be reverted.
Q: Will characters created during the rollback window be completely lost?
A: Unfortunately, yes. We understand that this is a very unfortunate circumstance. As stated above, we are working on delivering a thank-you pack as a token of our apology for this.
Q: What will happen to auctions that expired during the rollback window?
A: We do not anticipate that Auction House items will be lost. All items posted on the Auction House are still there, but do not show up as the Auction House is currently offline.
Auctions will expire as intended, though they will not be sent back immediately. They will be sent back when Auction House services are re-enabled.
Q: Will you be performing a complete shard wipe to counteract the effects of the exploit?
A: We are happy to announce that we have found a way to restore the economy and resolve this issue without significantly reverting player progress. After careful consideration, we have been able to identify and act upon what we consider to be the best course of action to ensure fairness and balance of Neverwinter's in-game economy. This plan has included the rollback of game servers to 5:20AM PDT on 5/19/13 and permanent banning of accounts that participated in the exploit. We are further investigating any measures that may need to be taken, and thank you for all of your feedback and support.
Q: Can we get some clarification on what was done regarding players who had illegitimate currency, and what steps are being taken against said players?
During Sunday’s maintenance, we took action against many players who took advantage of the bug, including but not limited to enforcing permanent bans. Those who took advantage of the exploit were permanently banned, including all "mule" account that were used to transfer illegitimately obtained AD. The rollback also pulled the damage out of the AD Exchange and Auction House. Additionally, we are performing constant ongoing investigations to identify any other accounts that received Astral Diamonds or other high value items via illegitimate means, including mule and alt accounts. Those will be permanently banned, their AD and items dissolved. Finally, we have improved our internal systems to better track the movement of currency within Neverwinter, meaning that we are more enabled to respond quickly to future reports from our users regarding potential illegitimate currency. We take this matter very seriously and would like to ensure our community that we are absolutely committed to ensuring Neverwinter is a fun, fair game for all and that exploiters are dealt with in the strictest way possible. And, again, very special thanks to our community for all the amazing support and feedback.
Q: When will the Auction House and Astral Diamond Exchange become available?
The Astral Diamond Exchange is currently open, and we're working on bringing the Auction House back up as soon as possible. While we do not have an ETA of when the Auction House will be available again, we do know that it will not be before Thursday, 5/23, Pacific Time.
Q: I believe that I saw another player in-game that still has illegitimately earned currency. What does that mean?
A: We believe that we have eliminated the majority of the currency that was earned through exploits. If you encounter a player that appears to have currency gained through exploitation, please feel free to report that player to us via the in-game ticket system. Additionally, please note that other players may sometimes claim that they have illegitimately earned currency or items as a way to stir up heated discussions, so we recommend taking these claims with a grain of salt. However, we do take all reports seriously and are committed to investigating any reports of potential exploitation.
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And they're like.. still in beta. I don't know, some MMO companies seem to try to communicate. (shrug)
P.S. Should I list the 100+ Twitter updates that accompanied the above communication?
So, they can waste time telling you, that there's a problem, or use the time to fix the problem so the servers get back up faster. Look, I have a better idea... they hire a clown to do funny tricks on a livestream while we wait because the real issue here is really that you're just bored.
Don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Bring a Rocket Launcher.
If they can find a clown that can handle a livestream as long as their servers are down, I am totally up for that. That's some kind of clown marathon.
Oh wait.
SLEDGEHAMMER IS THE CLOWN. It's his purpose to distract/inform us while the servers are down. He's running interference for the dev team.
Where are you getting this crazy idea that the community managers are working on getting the servers online?
Your suggestion, by the way.. is exactly what these companies do. Except it's not "hiring clowns to do funny tricks on a livestream", it's "hiring community managers to keep the community up to date".
Think that through a few times and maybe it will start clicking as to why the community seems frustrated.
That only goes until you have to do PR for the government. "Look, it was aliens at Roswell, and we purposedly started a war with a technological superior race. You know, those supernovas? It's just fireworks at their weddings and that meteor storm NASA reported on last year? It's not meteors. It's their fleet. Headed our way"
(Sorry, i'm in that mood and can't help it)
Don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Bring a Rocket Launcher.
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