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Making Shadowscream sucks, everyone who has done blacksmithing cheaply knows this. You have to farm 4 or 5 components just for a single combine, some of them no drop. Then you have subcombines that don't stack with a high trivial, which means you have to farm more no drop substances to make up the difference. Fine, I can handle that. The level 35 undead you farm the Swirling Shadows from lifetap proc for 210 every other swing and have a 20 minute respawn time. Fine, I can handle that too. Then you have to have special tools from Shar Vahl to make the sub and final combines. The quest to get these tools is a pain in the butt timesink, requiring 16 rare drops from an uncommon spawn in Shadeweavers Thicket and some of your farmed components. Fine, that sucks, but I can handle that as well.
So, I've got my farmed components and my special tools, I am ready to do some blacksmithing. I start combining, things are going as exspected and I've gotten a few skill ups. Then, in the midst of a combine, I go Link Dead. Ok, fine, I am on a crappy dial up connection. I go Link Dead all the time, I am used to it, so no big deal. Logging back on a few minutes later, I start to resume my blacksmithing when I notice something odd. My special tools, the no drop ones I spent hours questing for, are gone. They are not in my inventory, not in my bank, not anywhere. Gone along with with them are all the components of an attempt at Shadowscream Boots; a Boot Mold, 2 Swirling Shadows, a Humming Orb, my Humming Luclinite Mallet, My Vah Shir Anvil, and, I am assuming as I didn't keep real close track, a Water Flask.
Well, that sucks. I think I know what happened though. I clicked 'combine', the ingredients for an attempt at the boots were removed from my inventory, and my computer sent a request to the Everquest servers for the results of my attempt, at which point I was disconnected without recieving the results of my combine. Ok, this is just a bug, I just need to get a GM to give me back my tools so I can keep blacksmithing. So I file a /petition stating what happened and what I would like back, all the component of an attempt at Shadowscream Boots. So, I wait, because I cannot continue blacksmithing untill I get my tools. And, I wait, and wait, and wait some more. Fine, it is New Year's Day, most of the GMs will be off today, nothing I can do about it. So I play an alt for a bit, shop the bazaar, do a bit more farming, all while checking my petition every once in a while.
So I go to bed that night with no Shadowscream tools, leaving my trading mule /afk in the Bazaar. I check back in the morning to see that I recieved a couple messages from a GM during the night. I check my /petition and see a new comment from about 2 A.M. The GM is requesting more information on what happened, so I fill out a new comment trying to be as specific as possible. The whole day goes by with nothing happening, and still no tools. I go to sleep again and wake up this morning and check, and nothing.
It has been nearly three days now since I lost my tools. I like Everquest. I like it a lot. It is hard to play with a bad dial up, but I can live with that. The game is very buggy sometimes, but I can live with that too, it is a big game. But to add bad customer service on top of all that... It doesn't make me mad, not really. It just makes me sad. Everquest could be a really great game, despite its flaws and bugs, if only there was good customer service. The conspiracy theory part of me thinks that in keeping bad customer service in game, they are trying to discourage people from even trying to get bugs fixed or recongnized. The rest of me thinks that they are just trying to maximise profits by skimping on customer service.
Whichever it is, I am discouraged. Why even try to get issues resolved if it takes a week to get a result? Why bother petitioning for a rez from falling through the world or losing an item? It is more efficient and less of a head ache to simply move on and forget it. Re-quest the item, kill more monsters so you can re-ding, don't bother trying for help, because it isn't there. I will continue playing, because I like Everquest, and love what it could be, but it just makes me sad sometimes.
So, I've got my farmed components and my special tools, I am ready to do some blacksmithing. I start combining, things are going as exspected and I've gotten a few skill ups. Then, in the midst of a combine, I go Link Dead. Ok, fine, I am on a crappy dial up connection. I go Link Dead all the time, I am used to it, so no big deal. Logging back on a few minutes later, I start to resume my blacksmithing when I notice something odd. My special tools, the no drop ones I spent hours questing for, are gone. They are not in my inventory, not in my bank, not anywhere. Gone along with with them are all the components of an attempt at Shadowscream Boots; a Boot Mold, 2 Swirling Shadows, a Humming Orb, my Humming Luclinite Mallet, My Vah Shir Anvil, and, I am assuming as I didn't keep real close track, a Water Flask.
Well, that sucks. I think I know what happened though. I clicked 'combine', the ingredients for an attempt at the boots were removed from my inventory, and my computer sent a request to the Everquest servers for the results of my attempt, at which point I was disconnected without recieving the results of my combine. Ok, this is just a bug, I just need to get a GM to give me back my tools so I can keep blacksmithing. So I file a /petition stating what happened and what I would like back, all the component of an attempt at Shadowscream Boots. So, I wait, because I cannot continue blacksmithing untill I get my tools. And, I wait, and wait, and wait some more. Fine, it is New Year's Day, most of the GMs will be off today, nothing I can do about it. So I play an alt for a bit, shop the bazaar, do a bit more farming, all while checking my petition every once in a while.
So I go to bed that night with no Shadowscream tools, leaving my trading mule /afk in the Bazaar. I check back in the morning to see that I recieved a couple messages from a GM during the night. I check my /petition and see a new comment from about 2 A.M. The GM is requesting more information on what happened, so I fill out a new comment trying to be as specific as possible. The whole day goes by with nothing happening, and still no tools. I go to sleep again and wake up this morning and check, and nothing.
It has been nearly three days now since I lost my tools. I like Everquest. I like it a lot. It is hard to play with a bad dial up, but I can live with that. The game is very buggy sometimes, but I can live with that too, it is a big game. But to add bad customer service on top of all that... It doesn't make me mad, not really. It just makes me sad. Everquest could be a really great game, despite its flaws and bugs, if only there was good customer service. The conspiracy theory part of me thinks that in keeping bad customer service in game, they are trying to discourage people from even trying to get bugs fixed or recongnized. The rest of me thinks that they are just trying to maximise profits by skimping on customer service.
Whichever it is, I am discouraged. Why even try to get issues resolved if it takes a week to get a result? Why bother petitioning for a rez from falling through the world or losing an item? It is more efficient and less of a head ache to simply move on and forget it. Re-quest the item, kill more monsters so you can re-ding, don't bother trying for help, because it isn't there. I will continue playing, because I like Everquest, and love what it could be, but it just makes me sad sometimes.
Seasons.
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