News: ProSieben Responds to Community Concerns - Page 7

ThGlump · 2012-02-25, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

To be fair I think most of what you are referring to is Alaplaya which until 2011 was not owned by Prosieben. You can also see significant efforts by Alaplaya to ensure players much of the concerns they have are surrounding old business practices or different types of deals entirely.

Prosieben is our publisher and support partner. SOE is making the games.

Once you gain bad reputation its hard to get rid of it. SOE had it back too, but lately you are staring to get plus points in communication with players and development (with direct hit to the groin for pro7 deal).

But there arent signs of alaplaya(pro7) getting better. If you (soe) want your games and your players be guinea pigs to see if they can change, thats your choice. But cant expect us to have trust and faith it will be better, based just on their word that they want to change.

But we can call us lucky. Pro7 will get their grasp on EQ2 (pity on them), and other games like half a year before ps2 will come live. By that time we will see how they handle it, and either begin to trust them, or watch their rotting corpses being ravaged by angry EQ2 mob

Wargrim · 2012-02-25, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

Nothing was swept under the rug. This was of course a negative in this however the potential it could bring our existing and future customers and products I think is severely misunderstood. This is going to provide a level of support for the EU that we have never been able to do. This company will also do television (actual television) marketing that we just don't have the resources to do getting this in front of millions of viewers.

Either way, as stated, they are currently looking at options that will satisfy our existing customers. It's just going to take some time.

I keep reading "existing customers", existing planetside players, existing outfits, and formulations of a similar meaning. What about new players? We have cross - Atlantic friendships too, and want to be able to play on the same server. Will we be able to do it or not?

And jea, Pro7 will be able to deliver massive television marketing, but i am pretty sure most players dont mean that when expressing worries about the quality of support from Pro7. I am pretty sure they mean stuff like
- speed of patches being delivered
- dealing with cheaters/hacks/abuses
- privacy and data security regarding accounts / credit card info
- if Pro7 can set its own prices at the cash shop
- if Pro7 can alter stats of ingame/cash shop items
- if you will still be able to have the direct feedback paths as SoE account holders
And so on.

Mirror · 2012-02-25, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

Which practice in particular concerned you most?

Originally Posted by Wargrim

And jea, Pro7 will be able to deliver massive television marketing, but i am pretty sure most players dont mean that when expressing worries about the quality of support from Pro7. I am pretty sure they mean stuff like
- speed of patches being delivered
- dealing with cheaters/hacks/abuses
- privacy and data security regarding accounts / credit card info
- if Pro7 can set its own prices at the cash shop
- if Pro7 can alter stats of ingame/cash shop items
- if you will still be able to have the direct feedback paths as SoE account holders
And so on.

Can I borrow this?

It has been said in another thread or maybe in this one that SOE will be managing game releases, patches and what goes on the shop, which is good. Please remind why I should need to make an account with Pro7 when my current SOE account does that job perfectly just now? Or is this something that is also being discussed?

Kran De Loy · 2012-02-25, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by Wargrim

I keep reading "existing customers", existing planetside players, existing outfits, and formulations of a similar meaning. What about new players? We have cross - Atlantic friendships too, and want to be able to play on the same server. Will we be able to do it or not?

And jea, Pro7 will be able to deliver massive television marketing, but i am pretty sure most players dont mean that when expressing worries about the quality of support from Pro7. I am pretty sure they mean stuff like
- speed of patches being delivered
- dealing with cheaters/hacks/abuses
- privacy and data security regarding accounts / credit card info
- if Pro7 can set its own prices at the cash shop
- if Pro7 can alter stats of ingame/cash shop items
- if you will still be able to have the direct feedback paths as SoE account holders
And so on.

I'm also really leery about the 'existing customers' part that keeps cropping up. It implies that they will still be keeping the region lock. Just for 'new' players which is pretty much anyone that doesn't already have an account with SOE, I would assume.

I'm utterly dumbfounded on how anyone could be still trying to cling to region locking.
It. Will. Limit. The. Player. Base.
Limiting the players will also limit the cash yield from them. How is this a good idea?

**RadarX** · 2012-02-25, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Mirror

Can I borrow this?

It has been said in another thread or maybe in this one that SOE will be managing game releases, patches and what goes on the shop, which is good. Please remind why I should need to make an account with Pro7 when my current SOE account does that job perfectly just now? Or is this something that is also being discussed?

I can't speculate what is being discussed beyond they are looking into a way that region locking will either be different than the original plan or unnecessary. It's also less complex for folks who speak English. If you don't? You have no access to a Community Manager or developer.

I think I've done enough cheerleading which wasn't my original intent. I just want to ensure everyone understands the facts and knows we are fully cognoscente of player concerns.

Wakken · 2012-02-25, 07:06 PM

i really hope they just integrate Pro7 with SOE and let us all use our SOE accounts, pro7 for the marketing and we all buy from SOE's shop.

I will personally just go with SOE if possible. I dont want to create a account nor join Pro7's community. And I dont want to buy stuff from their shop, I dont trust them at all

EU just seem like a second hand customer (again), exactly what happened with the other games I've played that had a EU and US community with a EU partner. EU just being dragged along.

I wont make the same mistake again

Kran De Loy · 2012-02-25, 07:09 PM

Had to say it twice it was so appreciated.

Kran De Loy · 2012-02-25, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

I can't speculate what is being discussed beyond they are looking into a way that region locking will either be different than the original plan or unnecessary. It's also less complex for folks who speak English. If you don't? You have no access to a Community Manager or developer.

I think I've done enough cheerleading which wasn't my original intent. I just want to ensure everyone understands the facts and knows we are fully cognoscente of player concerns.

Thank you absolute tons for showing up and doing that much. Having someone with some clout (ie: blue name and oj text) dropping by to comment is very much appreciated by everyone, I'm sure.

Mastachief · 2012-02-25, 07:11 PM

By the way RadarX we do appreciate your interaction with us and for that matter all the soe/planetside 2 teams interaction with us.

We just have a strong distaste to have to have some third party account for a SOE game after almost 10 years of giving SOE money. 9 years of payments for 2 accounts in my case thats around $3000 including buying the game and core combat for both accounts. If I am to now play planetside 2 for another decade I would like to think that this sort of money would go directly into funding the games developement rather than some newbie tv station (by the way a 12year old tv company is a new tv company compared to say the bbc and independent tv in the UK or even bskyb).

Concerns such as the customer service teams being recruited from school children that currently play their farmville type games which would lead to these people having little or no understanding of our game and if they are not native language speakers (ie I'm german but i can speak english and spanish.) leading to miscommunication and fustration.

The patch stuff, I want my game to run at the same time as the u.s version i don't want to wait 4 weeks while pro7 convert it to 12 different languages.

The shop, Security and price equalisation. If sony self a Higby wig in the shop for $10 i want to pay what ever $10 is in my currency (£ so thats £6.66) i dont want to pay £10 or if pro7 decide £20.

I want to be able to give feedback to SOE directly regards bugs and development.

I want to be able to partake in SOE run Test server sessions (should they be held)

I want to forum whore with the U.S player base (half the fun was Forumside)

I want my U.S outfit members to be able to play with us and if we can to recruit more that like to play euroside due to work or location limitations on their play time.

I want to be able to (like i did last weekend) promote SOE and planetside2 to the LAN events i attend without having to go "by this game is great but you need to create an account with some random german company to play"

Wargrim · 2012-02-25, 07:15 PM

We really appreciate the bits of information you gave us RadarX.

I am pretty sure you already delivered the message to the higher ranks, but it cant be said often enough: The best approach to regional locking is to not have it at all. If the original plans included it, said plans should be flushed down the proverbial toilet, for the better of of the game, the community, and everyone.

basti · 2012-02-25, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

I can't speculate what is being discussed beyond they are looking into a way that region locking will either be different than the original plan or unnecessary. It's also less complex for folks who speak English. If you don't? You have no access to a Community Manager or developer.

I think I've done enough cheerleading which wasn't my original intent. I just want to ensure everyone understands the facts and knows we are fully cognoscente of player concerns.

Whats to discuss there? Region locking is unnecessary one way or another, and will only cost customers, with literally no gain at all for us, you or Pro7. Let people decide themself if they want to play under Pro7 or SOE, even if its outside their actual region. A single message that pops up when you register for one of the two from the region that is not intended for it (in other words, if a Euro registers for the US, or a US registers for the Euro) would be more than enough. Tell them that there is a different service for their region that provides support in their language as well has servers physically closer to them (better ping) and propably even servers in their language, and leave it that way.

You simply cannot force players to play under Pro7 if they dont want to. Instead of giving them the choice of Pro7 or SOE, you give them the choice of Pro7 or no game. And if they dont want Pro7, then its no game for them, means no cash for you.
Yea, i know, i simplify the whole thing by a lot, and the whole topic is much more complicated. But the way i wrote it is the way most players will see it.

PS: Radar, its saturday. You guys make a fantastic job at trying to get us happy again, but go take a break, or we drive ya crazy at some point.

Kran De Loy · 2012-02-25, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by basti

... the whole topic is much more complicated. But the way i wrote it is the way most players will see it.

Yes.

UnknownDT · 2012-02-25, 07:29 PM

We do love you RadarX. Just in case that point got lost in translation earlier in the thread.

<3

Mirror · 2012-02-25, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by RadarX

I can't speculate what is being discussed beyond they are looking into a way that region locking will either be different than the original plan or unnecessary. It's also less complex for folks who speak English. If you don't? You have no access to a Community Manager or developer.

I think I've done enough cheerleading which wasn't my original intent. I just want to ensure everyone understands the facts and knows we are fully cognoscente of player concerns.

I know that you guys are and although it's been said everyone appreciates the extra work on here that you are putting in.

So how big a deal do we make it when our community manager is a Pro7 employee?

**RadarX** · 2012-02-25, 08:08 PM

I hope no one took my text as me getting offended. I've been doing this long enough that is ridiculously hard to do. I'm just not in the habit of talking without a purpose. My primary goal was to provide a little more communication than you had seen this week and let everyone know we really are reading all this.

Mirror you should make it a huge deal. Whoever that is got the choicest assignment there. Just sayin...