So I made a post over on the War Z forums... and was subsequently banned because of it. Here is the original post for you guys to read and comment on and I'll include links to my response to the ban as well (I made a few YouTube videos on it):

 

This will turn into a wall of text. Just a fair warning now. See the bullet points if you want to avoid the rest of the post. PLEASE mods/devs/etc don't delete this and ban me. Let people discuss these points civilly.

Let me start off by saying that I've been a HUGE supporter of this game from almost day one (see forum title, posts, registration date, etc). I've backed the developers and did that whole, "It's not even in beta yet" nonsense left and right. Now, I'm just tired of the game and where it's headed. Here's why:

1. Hackers. We all know it's a problem. We all know it'll eventually be fixed. But we just did a wipe to even the field and already the hackers have an advantage even more than they already had. Not only can we not defend ourselves, but they have lots of gear to better protect themselves and make matters worse.

2. Server hopping. We know that's a problem. I've said it before... the solution is SIMPLE. Lock out the ability to join another server for 5 minutes after logging off. But you can instantly rejoin the same server you left. Solved.

3. Banditry. You upped the server population size, and made the game a complete and utter deathmatch. Now instead of running into someone every 5 minutes, we run into them every minute. EVERYONE kills EVERYONE. If they have a gun they don't care who they kill because there's no bounty, no repercussions. Nothing.

4. Developer abuse. This is a touchy subject and already one of my unit members were banned for bringing this up. But at NO POINT after a wipe and when the game is intended to not be wiped again, should developers be giving out weapons to other players. Especially over powered weapons, that aren't found elsewhere. Get real. That's never acceptable.

5. Banning of people. First off, the forums is supposed to be a nice place for us to discuss topics and not fear bans. But the trigger is pretty quick and I've seen some great points being made only result in a ban. The second are people being banned in-game for, "Due to recent reports you have been banned for hacking". I have a member who was banned for "hacking" when he clearly wasn't. I've run with him DAILY and multiple times a day. He's been killed legit and by hackers over and over... and I KNOW he doesn't hack. But he was banned. Really? Due to reports? What evidence is there? Are you just relying on reports? I know I've made a bunch of reports and was always told I needed more evidence. I even had a screenshot of a guy claiming he was glitching/hacking and nothing. :\

6. Misrepresentation. This game has been misrepresented over and over in so many different ways. Zombie survival? Yeah ok... the three zombies you run into at a time and can hammer them instantly? Where are the hordes from the screenshots? Vehicles? What ever happened to them? We have screenshots of the vehicle being driven and now, they're not going to be in until AFTER release? Keep in mind, that vehicle, isn't even coded into this game. One of our members opened up the code and there's an APC and a truck/bus.

7. Horrible support. Lots of guys are reporting having issues and no solutions from the support. Guys wanting refunds or having account problems are also being ignored. There should be a whole team dedicated to technical support and billing that are all active on the forums to help with issues.

8. Private server. NOW. Forget later. Forget soon. We need them NOW so people can lock down servers to communities and allow respectable people to play on them.


I could go on all day. This game is clearly NOT what it was represented to be. The devs NEVER say a word to us. We rarely even hear from Sergey any more. He's been asked a ton of VERY legitimate questions and refuses to answer (he doesn't even accept PM's to be given direct links). Kewk... he's not answering us either. We need to know things. Both as testers and consumers. The line of communication between the two of us needs to be perfect or this will fail.

So how do we fix this? WAKE UP. If you're serious about this game, get serious. Start fixing the problems being reported to you. I still see people climbing trees. I still see people walking through walls. So many issues it's absurd and no answer as to when it'll be fixed. But more importantly... LISTEN TO US. We have as much of a commitment to this game as you do if not more. I am here with an open wallet willing to spend. I've spent over $200 on Planetside 2 already, and around $100 on War Thunder... both new free to play games. Spent more money there than here. I want my money back at this point, forget spending more of it.

Do something about this mess. Don't shut us out. Don't lock this thread and delete it. Don't ban people because they question the way things are going. Start listening. Fix the issues. RESPOND TO OUR POSTS. Let us know you give a sh*t about our comments and that you're even committed to this project. Want an example? Look at Star Citizen. They sent out 50+ updates throughout a Kickstarter campaign and still post and send messages out now that they have our millions. Even as blasphemous as it sounds... look at SOE. They listen in Planetside 2, they get involved in their community. They feature a clan every Friday... you guys don't even mention anyone. How about weekly reports? Let us know where the development is going. Do SOMETHING.

I have a unit in this game with over 100 members in War Z alone. I'd say about 20 of them are now giving up on this game and more and more are joining in every day. Taking our group as just an example of your player base... you started with 100% support. You now have 75-80%. If you keep going like this, you'll have 50% or less. Imagine all of that lost money... all of the GC... all of the word of mouth.

You could also ignore this thread. You could just not listen to me. I haven't beta tested over 200 games before in the last 20 years of my online gaming. So I clearly don't know what I'm talking about or have any experience to back my statements up. /endsarcasm What do you have to lose by actually making a more up front and distinguishable effort? Nothing.

 

YouTube Videos in Response to Ban:

http://youtu.be/JSyvc7zyzQA

http://youtu.be/QbiiOOelQZI

 

YouTube Reponse to a Message Sent to me:

http://youtu.be/cBphvapDyik

it doesnt take much to get banned from WarZ forums i used to sit in the forums and watch people get banned left and right over petty shit it was pretty entertaining.

Still waiting to hear something from Dayz, December is almost half way through and Dean was saying he was trying to get it out this year. Times ticking.

As for War Z, hasnt crossed my mind to try it out, seemed like a quick cash grab to profit off the popularity of Dayz. The truth will get you banned in a lot of forums.

Originally posted by Sytek_88
it doesnt take much to get banned from WarZ forums i used to sit in the forums and watch people get banned left and right over petty shit it was pretty entertaining.

Originally posted by Fearum
Still waiting to hear something from Dayz, December is almost half way through and Dean was saying he was trying to get it out this year. Times ticking.

 

Yeah I had over 2,000 posts on that forum. Was REALLY involved in the community. In one fell swoop they ruined that. Here's my account there:

http://forums.thewarz.com/member.php?11600-Primus-Palus

 

I'm looking forward to Day Z too. Wasn't a huge fan before with the mod... too clunky and technical. But I need my survival fix. ;)

Yeah the mod is not that great quality wise, but I love the concept he is going for. Hope he can get it nice and polished with the standalone.

I saw your screen shots from the actual forums in the interview with the ban breakbown for the rules you broke.

You only broke rule 1,5,29 forum rules and (Data Mining) tos.

However you said A friend said he saw vehicals in the code, and you asked where they were? I really don't see that as a bannable offence. 

Rule 29? Don't report hackers talk about hacking??????????? WTF seriously so how do they get punished do you have to make a youtube video then submit the link in the IN-GAME supprt button? I don't even fathom what idiot made this rule.

rule 5 do not discuss moderators? So A mod is allowed to abuse their power and when no one awnsers tickets and you make a post about them doing it their staff is more important then their community so you get in trouble? For Real?

rule 1 don't ask for a refund on the forums? You didn't even ask for a refund lol. 

 

Man I knew warz was infested with hackers but I didn't know their team had just as many morons as their game had hackers on it. I feel bad for everyone getting ripped off right now. Apparently hackers can make 10000 posts on youtube showing off the new hacks, but you cant make a video and try to get them banned in the forums. No good deed goes unpunished ey? Well good luck on dayz when/if they ever handle the same problems, lots of people like MikeBakaFony stopped doing dayz livestreams because hackings gotten so out of hand.

lol man up and just leave the game, vote with your wallet.

if i were you i gonna thank them for saving myself, giving u a chance to get your life back

Originally posted by Elminzter

lol man up and just leave the game, vote with your wallet.

if i were you i gonna thank them for saving myself, giving u a chance to get your life back

problem is he already paid for the game,

Hey Primus, I read that thread and for what its worth you are 100% spot on. If you are done with the game and payed by CC, I would just do a charge back on them. I am getting to that point myself as the game is unplayable because of hackers as you pointed out.

I disputed my purchase through Paypal and got my money back without any hassle. The community support for this game is a joke. I don't know if it's the actual company or if it's just the community moderation that's the problem with the forums. It's almost as if these moderators are treating customers extremely bad and then banning them at the first sign of any negativity from the customer to cover their tracks. The actual developers activity seems to be few and far between.

 

I really don't care if they're volunteers or if they don't get paid. They have no excuses to be jerks and playing the sympathy card "For all they have to deal with".  If they can't handle feedback in a respectable manner, it's going to destroy the games image. This is an MMO, it's ALL about playing with others. So the forums play a huge part in how an MMO community thrives. Case and point, their moderators completely an utterly acted like asshats when they dealt with my banning inquiry. The end result, I got a refund not because of the game, but because of their horrible community "leaders".

I got a charge back after 45 minutes into the game. I had a bad feeling from the start of playing and this just reinforces my idea.

As for DayZ. Dean stated he is still trying for this year, but wont push it if it's not ready. He will delay a release to make sure the standalone is where it needs to be. IMO that is a sane business model for any developement. Obviously there is really no such thing as 100% ready for release, but to polish as much as you can to make it work and build from a solid core is the best way to handle a game launch.

If you are frustrated with The War Z and need your fix people I would probably do 1 of 2 things. 1 is just wait for this to work itself out. 2 is to get planetside2, play that and just wait for DayZ to save us all.