Not only Testers - also Customers

[goboy]

<DIV>When I signed up to play on test, I was fully prepared for the downtime.  However, I also expected communication from SOE of why things happened.  Well, test has been crashing repeatedly for the past few days and not a word from anyone.  As a paying customer, this is getting old. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here are the things that are missing:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <DIV>Updated status on the chat page.  Test was down for a few hours Sunday before we got them to add it to the banner.  Then, test was up for hours before they removed it from the banner.  I know I personally was in the chat room for 3 hours after test came up.  I did not notice since I was in and out of my office.  Needless to say I was more then a little angry.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>An explanation.  It would be nice to know why test keeps crapping out and hear that something is being done about it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And lastly, an apology for our inconvenience.  This is usually the first thing that a live server hears - I have yet to see it for test.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>I truly enjoy test and the test population.  I do not have any characters on live servers.  I have made my commitment to play on test.  Please show a committment back to us as both testers and customers.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Sacha]

<DIV>I agree Jaly. I feel like little more than an annoyance most days. The lack of feedback and communication since beta is very disheartening.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First Nate left with no word, then Palladius took over. He was very helpful, but disappeared during beta saying he would be back soon (TM). He never returned.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now we have Feldman, who I have to say is the most helpful, all-round nice guy. He's trying really hard in the small amount of time they allow him for Test Server duties. However...he is not permanent. He is a temporary, part-time fill-in until a replacement is found. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But will they ever replace him? Is our server the job no-one wants? Or is it simply not feasible to put a full-time member of staff on a server with a population of less than 20 some days? Maybe they found that the beta server was entirely more efficient, and are thinking that that would be the way to go in the future? Maybe they want us to leave? :smileywink:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't know. I'm ready to hang up my hat. I already closed 2 accounts, and downgraded this one from Station Access to the minimum. I'm weaning myself off slowly <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I love Test Server, I love our community, its size is its strength. And it used to be a pleasure to test for SOE. That close relationship made us feel like we were really helping to shape and sharpen the game. That is gone. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am not so needy that I need constant praise and validation, but occasional acknowledgement of the issues we put up with would go a long way.</DIV>

[EtoilePirate]

Months ago, there was a major problem with communication.  Test Server players were angry we weren't being listened to, and Live Server players were angry about the volume and severity of bugs making it out.  The solution, at the time, was Palladius.  Cool. It's been proven time and time again that <i>when something really matters</i>, the dev team is communicative and responsive.  We saw it in testing Splitpaw: there were instanced playtests every couple of days, some run by QA and some run by Devs.  If we had complaints about something ("Yeah, I'm totally wiping in Harclave every time because these two groups of six mobs come at me through the wall from another room") someone came and watched, and after the next patch that didn't happen anymore.  Same thing in DoF Beta: for at least 75% of problems, someone somewhere responded with a, "We'll look into that," "that's intentional," or, "oh, dear.  That shouldn't happen at all."  Just hearing one of those three things made the beta-testing masses -- most of whom were not used to living in a testing environment -- calm down. So here, it seems to be not "SOE doesn't care," because that's definitely false.  It's, "SOE isn't doing anything <i>now</i>."  And that definitely begs a "why."  Why is LU #14 less important than LU #13, when there are so many little things that need to be fixed?  And why do staffers keep disappearing from Test?  Now I <b>know</b> there are other guys besides Feldman on Test, because I've run across them.  Level 50 toons that are Level 1 Unskilled in crafting and have on either the indium set that a beta-buffed toon got or their IoR clothes are clearly not naturally evolved, and I've come across a couple of each in the Sinking Sands recently (and on a /who all for those names, one didn't exist even though he was standing in front of me, and another came up as GM-QA).  So okay, there are people working and testing on Test.  Why keep so quiet about it?  Why let a population get festeringly angry about being ignored when there <b><i>are</i></b> people around? I mean, jeez.  If you're that desperate for Test server staffers, I'm unemployed.  Open a New York City office of SOE and we're good to go.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> As for the server crashes, it's getting frustrating.  The server coming down for patches during prime time is one thing.  We all signed up for that when we signed up for test.  But the server crashing during prime time every day, and none of us being told THAT it's a problem, let alone that anyone cares or is aware or is going to fix it?  Well.  I've just created three new level 2 toons on Live, and if I could get live servers to run instead of CTD as soon as I log in, I doubt I'd have been on Test at all in the last two days. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>