tl;dr- If a bug exists that can be exploited to steal unbound Liang from you, customer service will NOT help you. Exploiting is welcome here, and you are on your own. Yes, this is Closed Beta, and bugs are understandable... but the customer service response is not, and is a great indicator of what is in store for players in this game's future. Be careful with your money in this game.

*****

So about a week ago my gf was running through Chengdu when suddenly a divination request appeared. Someone asking to do "free" divinations. A quick check over the window confirmed what they were saying- 0 Liang was the cost! So she accepted.

Little did she know that there was a bug regarding the display of actual Liang cost. The divinator can set the price to whatever he/she wants and the user that accepts the divination will pay up if they have the funds available, all while telling the acceptor that the price is actually 0.

The result? She lost 500 Liang, or ~$15 USD in silver.

Fair enough. Since it was an exploited bug, and not simply a case of her getting scammed which a more observant player could have avoided, and it is a bug that apparently Snail games has been aware of since Christmas, it is fair to assume that the people who get hit by the bug will be reimbursed for the silver they lost, and perhaps there will even be consequences for the exploiters.

In any other game, that would be the case. But here? She opened a GM ticket today, expectant to resolve the issue and be on her way! The reply she received? They are aware of the issue, they will deal with it eventually, and they currently have no plans to reimburse anyone who falls prey to the exploit.

That... does not sit well with me. At all. To lose $15 USD to a bug that is known to the company but never made known to the public (unless you got lucky enough to read a forum post about it), and then not have them help deal with the matter?

The bug is understandable, this is closed beta, but the refusal to help your customer? Getting scammed is one thing- losing money because you didn't look at the window closely enough is something you deserve. But getting scammed due to an exploit and then being left in the cold by customer service is completely unacceptable to me. Maybe I've been "spoiled" by AAA MMOs like EVE and Guild Wars 2, where customer service actually cares about its customers, but I simply can't accept that letting a player lose $15 to an exploited bug is a good way to do business.

You are on your own in this game. Be careful how much money you put into it.

This might get you upset, but why has your gf (or why would ANYONE) use the cash shop in a build that is not final, and understandably, filled with bugs?

I see your point, and you are right to be upset, but on the other hand... :)

You couldn't push harder to get it back? I know of this bug. I lost 150 liang the same way. I stoped devining because of it, I didn't want people looking at me like I was trying to scam them. It's beta, so I understand having a U.I. bug, but they should correct the issue, or take devination off line until.

Good luck to you man. 

I agree, that does pretty much suck and that response really isn't acceptable from Tech support.

I'm getting ready to try this game, and as a long time EVE player I'm going to be very wary of anyone offering to do anything for cheap or free for me, too often ends up in a scam somehow.

Thanks for the heads up.

Originally posted by BTrayaL

This might get you upset, but why has your gf (or why would ANYONE) use the cash shop in a build that is not final, and understandably, filled with bugs?

I see your point, and you are right to be upset, but on the other hand... :)

It is possible they got the liang in game,

Liang has a real world value like isk because you can transfer one to the other (but not the other way) but that does not mean all liang was bought with cash anymore than all isk is gotten for real money in eve.

I have heard of this bug, I keep all my liang in the bank unless I need it so I have never ran into it. They do need to fix it fast if it is that bad.

Originally posted by BTrayaL

This might get you upset, but why has your gf (or why would ANYONE) use the cash shop in a build that is not final, and understandably, filled with bugs?

I see your point, and you are right to be upset, but on the other hand... :)

No reason to get upset, it's a valid question. Though my response is- I expect such bugs to exist, though I also expected customer service to take more care in handling such situations. Because it has been announced that this build will carry over without wipe, many of the players are treating this as a headstart rather than just a beta. Yes, bugs can exist and so can exploits, but as with any game (and ESPECIALLY in one where RL money can be involved) one would expect customer service to at least be willing to help sort the issue out, and not just send you on your way empty handed.

I suppose I've been spoiled on AAA MMO customer service from games like EVE. :-\

on the phone with esurance as I type. They doubled my polocy because they lacked paper wrok and then debited my account for 379. I was told 2 days ago I would get a complete refund with my cancelation, but they only sent back 132. So pissed. Yes, I know Well this is about CS right? eh..

Sorry to hear of your trouble with the game. I for one have been leary of this game. It looked good and had a lot of hype, but most asian made games I wait until they have been released for a while before playing seriously. I also would not use real money for any game in beta. I feel it is poor practice for any MMO to even offer cash shop items or real money purchases when they are in beta stages. If a game wants support from the community for further development it should not be disguised in cash shop purchases before the bugs are worked out. Offer a link to a site where people can donate money to support a game, but POOR POOR practice to have anything like that in beta.

Lesson learned I would say. 

Originally posted by Xepo

Sorry to hear of your trouble with the game. I for one have been leary of this game. It looked good and had a lot of hype, but most asian made games I wait until they have been released for a while before playing seriously. I also would not use real money for any game in beta. I feel it is poor practice for any MMO to even offer cash shop items or real money purchases when they are in beta stages. If a game wants support from the community for further development it should not be disguised in cash shop purchases before the bugs are worked out. Offer a link to a site where people can donate money to support a game, but POOR POOR practice to have anything like that in beta.

 

Lesson learned I would say. 

I will say this- the game itself is one of the most fun MMOs I have played in a while. It's different... and in a good way. My issue is with the publisher. My situation is only one of several- there are many such bugs costing people in game money that comes from RL money. Again, all understandable... but the customer service is leaving every one of those players out to dry. I can't even imagine how many hundreds of dollars worth of RL money has been lost to bugs that will never be reimbursed.

It's an amazing game, but it seems to be run by a shady publisher (here in the US at least. I haven't heard any such complaints from the Chinese publisher)

I lost 300L to this bug. You cannot get it back, so move on. I track the person that did this to me and kill them on site every time I see them until they pay me back.

500L is alot of money, but you don't need to buy gold to get that kind of coin.  Get a craft other than Chef, or play the markets. I have guildies that have 2d all ready from crafting.

And the game is live, no server wipes after this beta - FYI.

Originally posted by spladian

I lost 300L to this bug. You cannot get it back, so move on. I track the person that did this to me and kill them on site every time I see them until they pay me back.

 

500L is alot of money, but you don't need to buy gold to get that kind of coin.  Get a craft other than Chef, or play the markets. I have guildies that have 2d all ready from crafting.

 

And the game is live, no server wipes after this beta - FYI.

Since, unfortunately, moving on for me would mean moving on to a new game since I would not be able to trust this game's customer service ($15 is a lot to have stolen from you via an exploited bug), I will persue this as much as I can.

There are at least 2 other bugs besides this which are used to remove excess amounts of unbound Liang from players. The fact that they have been known to the company since before Christmas (forum posts with GM replies dating as far back as then) and yet aren't fixed, combined with them refusing to reimburse any lost unbound Liang... sounds shady to me. I'm desperately hoping that it is just a big misunderstanding and they will indeed reimburse the players involved.

Having players losing real money through nickle and diming bugs and not helping them get it back? I'm not a fan of that type of gameplay. Bugs happen in a closed beta, but bad customer service should not.