User talk:Gaile Gray/Archive Misplaced Articles and So Forth/June 2007

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This article contains older materials from the category Misplaced Articles and So Forth on the User: Gaile Gray discussion pages. This Misplaced Articles and So Forth category contains game-related questions or comments placed on the discussion pages of User: Gaile Gray. More relevant discussion of these topics can be found on the discussion pages for each specific topic.

Bug in Dragon's Lair

I found something odd in Dragon's Lair. :) It seems that the Shiverpeaks aren't so far off afterall...[1] and [2] ;) - File:Drago-sig.gif Drago 23:34, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes that's an old bug, doesn't contribute anything to the GMC title either. -- Scourge 23:58, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Old, but still a problem, it's a portal glitch, and needs to be fixed. Now it will.. I'm sure. :) - File:Drago-sig.gif Drago 00:08, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

XML information

Would it be possible to show character information right from the server in the form of a .xml file? That way we could create custom sigs, and character pages using automatic information straight from the server. --Chiaro 16:53, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I highly doubt that ArenaNet would provide such a method of accessing the game database directly. Too risky. And in another note, you should know that this wiki is not meant for creating character pages - it was just something that users do in their namespace. -- ab.er.rant 17:41, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how it's "too risky" to provide information from the database... Also, Chiaro did not specify that he would use this information on the wiki (indeed doing so would be very difficult). LordBiro 18:30, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I think allow character profile access via XML would be great -- many MMORPGs do this -- but I think it unlikely for such an expensive feature that doesn't directly relate to game playability to be added to a game with no subscription fee. —Tanaric 18:44, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I do have an email out to ask about this. I don't think it's possible, but I will learn what I can and share it with you when it's possible to do so. --Gaile 04:16, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Any news? --Chiaro 21:17, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

No, I am sorry, I have not heard back. I will see if I can buttonhole someone. :) --Gaile 08:13, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I checked about the XML information, and at this time we would not be able to offer that option. But the idea is on the table, and we're definitely interested in finding additional ways to allow you to create pages, show off your characters, and generally display your love of Guild Wars. For certain this cannot come with GW:EN, but options of this kind -- perhaps not exactly as requested but with a similar objectives -- are possible in the future. --Gaile 18:57, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Dont need any XML stuff or any complicated protocol. A simple cron job could run on the game servers and do post methode on the wiki to update some page on GWW that would be read only for the users. eg: when a character logoff server post methode the character stat to gws:character_CharacterName. the user jsut add this template to it user page. Same go for town when faction score is recalculated; server post in namespace gws:town_Cavalon a template of who own it and how much faction is need and this get included on the Cavalon article. This could also be use to display who last won the HOH in the HA article and witch territory got the favor of the gods. This do not expose any of the server internal to the public internet and only require to run a http client to work --Bob 16:47, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

This is fairly serious...

This is a GW issue, not a GWWiki issue, so feel free to reroute this, however... I think its very important that you raise the awareness of the developers to this problem. I was just in a run in The Deep with guildies and when we were finished, our monk zoned back to the guild hall and he lost EVERYTHING he got in the run. Since I would classify this as a Priority Zero bug (i.e. a stop the press kind of bug), I thought I would bring it to your attention. Similar to the trade window issue showing the wrong number of Ectos.

We know that he did not drop at any point during the run. He had been to the guild hall before the run, and he had no anomalies all along the run. However, when he got back (he used the Guild hall button in the guild window), his inventory basically got "reverted" to its state before the run. i.e. he lost ALL the drops he picked up during the run however, the lockspicks he used were returned. This means that his invetory got "rolled back" while/after zoning out. This, of course, is a HUGE issue. I know I would have major problems going on any long/difficult runs if I faced even a 1% chance of simply losing all the drops and wasting multiple hours of my life for nothing. This would be what devs call "critical loss of data."

If the Devs need to get in contact with him or need the character name to check logs or anything, I will be more than glad to help and my character info is in my user profile. However, I'd rather not do this through NCSoft's support because I frankly have very little faith in them. So, if you reroute me to support, I am afraid that will be the end of that. Thanks and hope you guys look into this. --Karlos 04:39, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

This needs to be reported to Support, and immediately. I'm sorry, but this is not a Dev Team matter at the first report, it's a Support matter. They can get it into the research and investigation queue only with a full report from the person who experienced this situation. If you are saying that you demand direct Development Team response at the first level or you will not report the matter, then I'm very sorry and I feel that is a very bad choice on your part. The GWW cannot be used in a manner that essentially attempts to circumvent the trained, skilled, and caring professionals we have in place to try for an inside track to resolution. Yes, I understand that you feel the matter is essential, but the Support Team will get the info we need, route it to the proper people, and expedite the resolution of the issue. Thanks. --Gaile 04:48, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

He has already written an e-mail and I made him file a support bug. That's the most I can do at this time. You trust the support guys to bring this through to your Devs, I do not.

I have, over the course of the past two plus years accumulated a lot of disdain for the support crew. They have firmly confirmed, to me, that while they're very good with the pleasantries of customer service (how do you like our service? here's a survey), they are quite inept. You obviously cannot possibly share my view on this issue. I am a developer myself and I have always felt them a hindrance to all the issues I ever came in contact with them about. For the game's sake, I hope I am wrong. I know I would be extremely frustrated if this issue came back to affect one of my characters weeks after he filed a bug about it. And something tells me it will. Sorry for the grim note. --Karlos 05:06, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I work with our Support Team daily, and yes, I respect them and believe they do a good job. They're not flawless, but then, neither am I. :) I might garble a community response as they may mis-assign a support ticket. But overall, I do trust that they will bring the matter to the attention of either (or both) Technical Support and QA in order to research it. One thing to consider is that I am currently active on the major fan forums, I mean this very minute, and I've not seen a single thread about this. Were the problem widespread, I am confident I would have seen multiple posts on the amtter. That makes me wonder if this may be a singular issue, one that is connected with this individual's ISP or personal connection or somesuch thing. But I'm not Support, and I won't presume to guess beyond that. Thank you for asking your friend to submit a ticket. --Gaile 05:14, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't want to turn this into a thread about NCsoft support, so I won't. :P As a developer, I can tell you this, there is absolutely nothing that the user's ISP, computer, network, windows can do to make that inventory get wiped. We're talking about server side information that got rolled back to an earlier state without anyone telling it to. If I were a developer in ANet, this would be the kind of thing I would want to hear about. Even if it's an isolated incident that happens once in a life time, it's a symptom of a pretty serious issue. Was it a combination of having inventory open, zoning to guild hall while scrolling the mouse wheel or was a server hiccup that caused it to rollback his character? I'd be very interested in documenting all the circumstances that accompanied the incident because this could be big. I would want to hear about each and every one of those instances and note their occurances and when and where and so forth.

I worked in your friendly neighbor, Microsoft, and I can tell you that if a developer in Word heard that there was an instance in which Word lost 2 hours worth of work from a single user without a crash or any fault from windows and that user had no way of regaining it, they would be very concerned. The software is absolutely NOT supposed to do that.

If this was something I heard in town or from some pug player I would not have even bothered. I would have shrugged and said, maybe he's exaggerating or joking or he sold his gear. But I know this man very well and we were there on TS together every second as he went from talking about his gold Serpentine Scepter to "What the..."

At least mention it to a dev in the cafeteria one day. :P --Karlos 07:46, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I may, actually I know I am butting in here, but I trust Karlos and his statement and I know how bad it is to lose your time. I also know that GW does not replace any items for this sort of thing, so I would like to offer anything of mine that might make up for it as my loot, cash, etc will be collecting dust until GW:EN comes out. Bugs like these in real life are more critical than in a game, trust me, I work as a programmer for the government, but a lose is a lose none-the-less. Feel free to email me or IM me if your monk friend wishes to take me up on my offer.

Oh, and too bad about making this a support thread :P, I'm going to add that I have been contacting support about the missing Stoneherder's Flatbow for over a year, being that I am a green collector, and all I got was explanations about how to farm and about farming the boss more, it will not drop everytime you kill the boss, etc. and look, it is finally introduced in the game. Companies with strict time tables may not be able to research everything every ticket that is sent to them, but it's nice to get a more in depth answer on issues such as the missing Stoneherder's Flatbow than "You need to farm the boss more". In any case, I'd still like to help, Karlos, if you contact me, I'll log back in-game when its convient for you. — Gares 14:53, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I am laughing a bit at the fact that they finally fixed the missing necro pants from Sol Pyrrhus and Kathir, but didn't fix the missing monk pants. :P - BeX 15:30, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the offer, Gares, we're pretty well-off as a guild and the person in question is fairly rich himself. In fact, there was much rejoicing at him losing his drops as he had the best run by far among us (three golds in the run itself not counting chests and Kanaxai's chest). :P However, this is a very serious issue, and the concern is not returning the goods to the guy (which was the response the support guys told him, sorry, we can't refund), the concern is that this is a potential game killer if it turns out to be something that will happen at a 5% clip since the recent update.

As for the support, that's pretty much been my experience. They are given a "customer service tree" and they follow it to give you one of the standard responses. They have never, ever, ever, played the game. They have no clue what you are talking about. They ask for certain input parameters that guide them through the tree to an output response: "Thanks for contacting us, the issue is X, we suggest you do Y, sorry we can't do Z, bye bye" It's very impersonal and for an experienced player, very frustrating. --Karlos 20:11, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Karlos, honestly, get a grip. I will not have you posting such nonsense on my personal discussion page. Don't cast the aspersions that may be appropriate when said about your own Support Team upon ours. Your friend's ticket was answered, and more than once, within hours of its submission. It was escalated to QA immediately. As far as I'm concerned you owe the team an apology, and surely must stop from further insults. --Gaile 20:25, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

In defence of Karlos I have to say that the support team has a fairly negative image in eyes of many of the players. They might or might not be good at what they are doing, but they certainly aren't good at giving a good impression and letting the players know that they are listened to. Anyone who I know that has filed a support ticket has only had negative impressions. I think you guys should think about promoting the positive sides of the support team and letting the players know that filing a support ticket really is helpful. Fixing some of the small things that have been reported dozens or hundreds of times during the past one or two years might also help. ;P -- (gem / talk) 21:17, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Please, feel free to make a page about Support. Please do not post this here. That is not the function of this page, and I will not be responding further. --Gaile 21:28, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Appreciated. Sorry, just thought that someone needs to say something before you two start a war. :) -- (gem / talk) 21:38, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Actually, no. "Someone" or "someones" simply needs to read and post appropriately. :D :D :D A place for everything, and everything in it's place, eh? :) The wiki is intended for the dissemination of information, and personal pages are intended--at least in my idealistic view of the GWW--for discussion of issues outside personal-opinion-as-information, without negativity, and outside requests for service. I'm sorry, but wild claims such as "Never, ever, ever play the game" and so forth just don't sit well with me. The fact is, the Support ticket was handled and relayed promptly, but that seems ignored, and more jump on the "Disparage This" bandwagon. That's simply distasteful to me. I'm no apologist for any member of the team, but I am vehement that we not cast aspersions that are unfair, unjust, and inaccurate... especially in my space! :) --Gaile 21:42, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I am genuinely shocked at your responses at this point, Gaile. I can see this section getting archived very quick, which I guess is fine. It has become bad publicity and must go away. I guess this is what ANet was talking about in terms of policing what type of things users say about the game or competitors. Let me emphasize a few points:

1. I did not come here asking you to do the job of the support staff. I came here because I felt this was a very urgent matter, much like the post about the trade scam in Guru, which you read, and directed Devs to contact me and I helped them reproduce the bug. That was my line of thinking. I figured you probably get some kind of alert if I posted here, so this is why I posted here. I didn't come here asking you to give me (or my guildie) special treatment, I was acting based on precedent. I see now that you don't like that, so I won't bother with this anymore.
2. It is obvious to me, that you were not exactly pleased by the number of veteran players who chimed into the thread who also voiced their displeasure at the support guys for one thing or another. This is becoming bad publicity (because your talk page gets such high visibility), so all of a sudden, free speech goes down the drain. It becomes unpatriotic and impolite to criticize the support staff. If I were you, I would be a LOT more concerned that relatively experienced players who span a wide area of interests (Gem, Gares, Bex, myself) all expressed a lack of trust in the support crew at some level or another. This is honest sincere feedback, not disparaging ANet for the heck of it (I don't even know who handles the support tickets, ANet or NCsoft).
3. The criticism here, Gaile, is not that the support crew is evil, or that they do not try... the criticism is that the feeling they generate is one of incompetence, that they are poorly qualified. I believe that the more complex the issue is, the less useful they become. Whether they actually do play the game at a high percentage or never, ever, ever play the game is not the point, the point is that they project the image of cluelessness as the issue becomes more complex. I'll give you an example: During the Factions beta weekend, I was one of the VERY first to get all the way to the Unwaking Waters gate. So, I got there and talked to the guard to update the quest, and the game sent me somehwere totally random. I did not knowwhat to make of that. i.e. whether the quest was broken or the preview over or what. So, I filed a bug, asking if the quest was broken or if the preview was over. And the guy gave me the standard "thank you for contacting us, we'll look into it but we cant promise we'll fix it, we can't even tell you if it's a bug" response. I got frustrated, and I told the guy the preview ends in two days, can you at least get back to me on whether this is or isn't the end of the preview. And his response was the same exact text. Not to mention that he amazed me by the fact that he basically didn't know how to look up a quest by it's name (i.e. use the wiki, which at that point, 90% of the player base knew). Just overall, he generated a sense that he had no idea there was a special beta event going on (suggesting that solutions to issues possibly take days and weeks, not aware the event is two days), that he had no idea what quest I was talking about, that he had no way of looking up that quest and finding out if was or was not working and that he had no idea where the preview ended. And I asked him to ask his superiors and so forth... No dice. By the next day, the forums had concluded that this was the end of the preview... But for me, as an experienced player able to get there first, I felt support failed me, badly. I have a friend who's necro had been unable to advance in the game for EIGHT months, until I helped him out. He sent ticket after ticket after ticket. I have another who's game boots him with error code 10 (no reconnect) everytime he salvages multiple things or picks up a few items in quick succession for the past SIX months.
4. I can't believe how personal you are making this, "Get a grip?" Wow. I am very disappointed. I know you're an advocate, not an impartial judge, but please don't turn this into something personal. I do not know you at all, and I don't believe you know me much either.
5. Finally, for the record, I believe the support crew tries hard and I believe they are very patient and well coached in terms of dealing with customers. I do NOT believe they are highly qualified, that's the jest of this whole criticism.

That's all I have to say. Feel free to move this quick before more users read it and uninstall the game. ZOMG! --Karlos 00:10, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

I will archive this discussion now, not because I fear a widespread exodus from the game :) but because the issue is or will be adequately addressed via the Support ticket and because the size of the contributed novellas threaten to blow up the page. *grin* --Gaile 00:53, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion question

Hi, I'm curious to know if there is a way to submit suggestions to ANet? I posted one in the forums over on guru sometime ago but it, naturally, was quickly buried in many pages of other suggestions. Rather than reposting or bumping continuously, is there an e-mail address or something it can be submitted where it will at least be skimmed for merit (and potentially subsequently discarded I suppose ;) )? Its over here if you're curious. Lojiin 18:30, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Nope, they don't have a place to submit suggestions, but they read the fanforums actively. Even if your message gets buried own, they will most likely notice it. -- (gem / talk) 18:58, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Possible bug?

If you could be so kind as to have a quick look at my user page and comment. Thanks. Lojiin 06:49, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Please report your issue to Support. If they cannot help, they will pass it along as a potential bug to QA. I cannot serve as relay for the Support Team, with apologies. --Gaile 07:03, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Ok, will do, thanks. Sorry to bother you.  :) Lojiin 15:35, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

No problem at all. It's an interesting situation -- I hope that they can provide you with insight about that. Let me know how it turns out, please. --Gaile 17:21, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Quick question

How do I report people in Guild Wars? I can't find it anywhere on the Official Site & don't want to bug Support@PlayNC about something this small.--§ Eloc § 04:36, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

You can't. There's a Support ticket type in Ask a Question specifically for player issues. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 04:38, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Meaning?--§ Eloc § 07:05, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Meaning...

If you encounter any players who you believe violate our guidelines by using third party software or any other breaches of our User Agreement or Rules of Conduct, we'd like to know about it. Please note the details of the situation and use our online help tool's Ask a Question form on the support website of your choice at http://www.guildwars.com/support/ to inform us of the violation.

--Snograt 07:49, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

It means basically, go to support, log in under the "Ask a Question" area (there ought to be a tab for it) and then type out your report, select inappropriate conduct or whatever from the drop down menu. If you're reporting a bad name there is another way to do it, but for abusive behaviour, it has to go through support. - BeX 07:53, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Too bad the system phails... ~Readem (Don't add unsigned plox)

Could I just email support@plaync.com?--§ Eloc § 08:05, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

The troll system has failed for decades, but I'm not bugging you for using it -FireFox File:Firefoxav.png 08:07, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Troll system?--§ Eloc § 08:35, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

@ Readem: sometimes they can't help in the way a user wants, but generally you get a result. I've reported abusive people and they've received blocks (and it's only a few steps from there to a ban), and a friend reported a trade scammer (he traded a guy 4 ecto for 28g when they guy was advertising to buy for 7k each - this was before the 000 system was introduced) and the guy got blocked for like four days. - BeX 08:55, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

@Readem, GWW:SIGN specifically requires you to have a link to either your user page or talk page. And the time helps ppl determine whose comment came first. -- ab.er.rant 16:50, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I think you can still report people on: reportname at arena dot net, atleast that's where I have reported a while ago... ~ Emp 09:42, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

@Ab.er.rant - I don't think Redeam was logged in, now, lets stay on topic.--§ Eloc § 20:02, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I never sign in. ~Readem --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:75.162.241.249 .

BUMP! My question still isn't answered.--<font color=Black> § <font color=Red> Eloc </font>§</font> 00:29, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Eloc -- the system for reporting any sort of issue is through the Support pages of www.guildwars.com. There are multiple language choices, and the fastest way I've found is to select "Ask a Question" and then fill out the form. They may not be able to tell you what they do about any reported player, but they read and act on report daily. Now, the exception is reports of offensive names, which you can report through an email address: reportname@arena.net. The reason I am editing to add this is that I forget about that email address because it's intended for reporting offensive names, gold sellers, or suspected bots. If your concern falls into one of those categories, please use the email, otherwise, please use the Support system. --Gaile 07:56, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

So email reportname@arena.net for a possible bot?--<font color=Black> § <font color=Red> Eloc </font>§</font> 14:16, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you may do that. You may also use Support, but we'll accept a suspect bot report via that email address as well. (I need to say that address is not for reports of general player misbehavior, scamming, account issues, etc. Suspected bots, though, or gold sellers or those who choose an offensive name are fine via that address. --Gaile 00:10, 20 June 2007 (UTC)