[PSA] An apology for poor event presentation and a bit of spreadsheet

[pidde59]

Puerto Rico Building Event PLEASE EXPLAIN !!The whole event w Puerto Rico is really a scam u state it should be possible to complete the ship building, by completing missions and get ship building tokens and by trading these for boosters AND PLAYING ACTIVLY It also states u can have time of from playing By Buying ADDITIONAL Boost For Dublones !!!I have completed all daily missions and collected all daily login gifts, but it calculates the time is to short and i spent 14 000 dublones on getting additional boosters to be able to complete the ship.. It still says i wont complete it without completing additional task And these task are Almost impossible to complete in time Like the Latest Directive to Obtain 300 Ship building tokens u Should Do 5 tasks of Obtaining 27 000 BASE XP...!!!! No extra Xp for Prem account or Flags or any other Xp boost are accounted for.!!! U get an average of 1000 xp for a win and maybe 400 Xp for a loose that means u have to play at least 40 games (13 wins 26 loose )with a 50 % win rate !!! 40 games a 20 minutes is 800 minutes of playing time that's +13 hours playing time per directives Times 5 thats Over 65 Hours Of playing time to Obtain 300 Ship Building Tokens !!! This is very misleading how do you calculate if a player spends +18 h a day playing and pays additional 14 000 dublones and still wont be able to complete ship?

[Karasu_Browarszky]

54 minutes ago, pidde59 said:

Puerto Rico Building Event PLEASE EXPLAIN !!The whole event w Puerto Rico is really a scam u state it should be possible to complete the ship building, by completing missions and get ship building tokens and by trading these for boosters AND PLAYING ACTIVLY It also states u can have time of from playing By Buying ADDITIONAL Boost For Dublones !!!I have completed all daily missions and collected all daily login gifts, but it calculates the time is to short and i spent 14 000 dublones on getting additional boosters to be able to complete the ship.. It still says i wont complete it without completing additional task And these task are Almost impossible to complete in time Like the Latest Directive to Obtain 300 Ship building tokens u Should Do 5 tasks of Obtaining 27 000 BASE XP...!!!! No extra Xp for Prem account or Flags or any other Xp boost are accounted for.!!! U get an average of 1000 xp for a win and maybe 400 Xp for a loose that means u have to play at least 40 games (13 wins 26 loose )with a 50 % win rate !!! 40 games a 20 minutes is 800 minutes of playing time that's +13 hours playing time per directives Times 5 thats Over 65 Hours Of playing time to Obtain 300 Ship Building Tokens !!! This is very misleading how do you calculate if a player spends +18 h a day playing and pays additional 14 000 dublones and still wont be able to complete ship?

 

Yes, it is a scam.

 

I first tried to get away with just the first two premium boosters costing 14k in all. Quickly realized, not gonna work. Then bought the 3rd premium booster about 4 hours after the building had started on Dec 17. Still not enough. Had to buy the Gorizia to make sure I'd clear the first 3 directives quickly enough, as well. Had to make sure to get all the tokens from the dailies. With all that, having activated enough boosters I 'escaped' the necessity to ransom out the ship from WG at the end. The last of the token boosters, 4 out of 8, I think, made sure I would actually finish ahead of schedule.

 

Success, in a way, not that I'm actually too happy about it. And this will impact my future spending commitment to WG.

[loppantorkel]

10 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

Yes, it is a scam.

 

I first tried to get away with just the first two premium boosters costing 14k in all. Quickly realized, not gonna work. Then bought the 3rd premium booster about 4 hours after the building had started on Dec 17. Still not enough. Had to buy the Gorizia to make sure I'd clear the first 3 directives quickly enough, as well. Had to make sure to get all the tokens from the dailies. With all that, having activated enough boosters I 'escaped' the necessity to ransom out the ship from WG at the end. The last of the token boosters, 4 out of 8, I think, made sure I would actually finish ahead of schedule.

 

Success, in a way, not that I'm actually too happy about it. And this will impact my future spending commitment to WG.

You learned something dealing with a 'F2P' gaming company relying on gambling mechanics? I'd call it a huge success. Anyone is free to do whatever they want, but for me it's pretty simple - don't get sucked into these events, just play as long as you enjoy the game and spend money on known returns.

[Toivia]

Still the first event I'm ignoring. Now I'm pretty much done with snowflakes and am trudging along for the Gorizia (damn that's still gonna take a while, just finished the second directive yesterday).

[imoenbg1]

To be honest, I got baited as well.

 

However, I cannot deem the event other than a complete and utter [edited] and failure. It is ridiculous.

 

And the fact Earl Grey and the other staff decided to make fun of the poor idiots that threw their money WG's direction is well......horrible.

 

Everybody makes mistakes. However this is a PR nightmare. And I am rather curious how will WG deal with Earl Grey after their vacation.

 

Oh , and since he decided to make fun of us publicly, I think it is only fair that his punishment is public as well.

 

 

[Vhadur]

Been doing directives for the PR, No.1 & 2 where okeyish... No.3 took more time.. but still managed it, Dailies whern't a problem either.. NOTE: im did it mostly in Random and without Gorizia being baught which makes directives 1-2-3 alot easier, hence why they put it in the shop for Sale and onc you get it for free in No.3 you wont get anymore Goizia missions in No.4 and upwards lol.. thats a downright calculated Sales pitch thier and in part a calucalted Scam.

 

Working on No.4 atm, and the missions are downright harder.. it takes alot of time to get the 27k Base XP and that for multipul nations.. yes you can use what ever ship within that given nations ships available.. but you need to do that x5 or x4 if you lucky with the dmg mission, the numbers are redicules within the Directive stages themselves and it encourages people to activly spend thier dubloons or buy in oder to progress the PR to be able to get a chance to finish it.. the most people who dont spend anything will get are the free so called Goodies or containers you get along the progression build.. so far managed to do German Ships Base XP since directive No.4 opend doing British atm, but its all taking so long.. and with the given time frame until next Directive unlock and the free booster being needed before hand to progress its ney impossible for the most part to get this so called Ship for free without spending Dubloons.

 

The whole Event in itself is a Disaster, and they activly knew what they where doing thats the thing... im not here for hate or anything. But they have plenty of oppertunity to change the PR event before they whent for Christmas Break, why changing the amounts needed in each Directive Stage by 50-75% reduction to make it posible for people.. they still make heaps of money otherways anyway, and its just been a Greedy PR disaster in all.

[argoteck]

Look at this picture. It was written to mislead you think that you have 1 chance from 86 not that you can get one ship from 86. . Also the collection is tied to directives so if you dont complete them you cant complete the colection. This and the PR disaster..... very mery christmas.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

42 minutes ago, argoteck said:

Look at this picture. It was written to mislead you think that you have 1 chance from 86 not that you can get one ship from 86. . Also the collection is tied to directives so if you dont complete them you cant complete the colection. This and the PR disaster..... very mery christmas.

 

Let me put it this way, this year's event offered us not just one but two free ships!... and I ended up having to pay for both of them.

[Longbowmann]

Whole problem of this event is WG are disconnected from their customers. I think its because their managers are not experienced much in things like public relations or long term customer . They got large cash flow so it all looks good but man how many great companies ended when they thought they are ok and then things started to change.

I for myself love this game and I understand why people spew anger. It is because they care and are invested in this game.

I do not loose hope that WG realizes importance of satisfied long term customers and tries to reduce these openly hostile actions to the minimum like: twitter trolling,  attacking CC on live stream, suboctavians spreadsheets, GM talks about how disabled and notworking people are focus of christmas event. These unmature actions damage this company.

I wish you WG all the best for year 2020 and I pray you learn and improve so we can happily play and buy your products with knowledge you are with us and not the otherwise.

[Afghanicus]

Seems like the WG managers have better understanding of gambling mechanics and psychology than the actual two-way engagement and mutual respect. 

[deciver]

6 hours ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Let me put it this way, this year's event offered us not just one but two free ships!... and I ended up having to pay for both of them.

And you are proof that their marketing strategy is right :) For those who don`t understand basic economics - games are not made to make pleasure to gamers. They are made to make profit and sometimes provide pleasure for gamers.

Btw I have just made my Gorizia not spending a dime. I`m vert happy with this years events and there are lots of prizes.

Thank you WG staff and I wish u all a very happy new year . Keep up the good work.

 

[Karasu_Browarszky]

2 minutes ago, deciver said:

And you are proof that their marketing strategy is right :) For those who don`t understand basic economics - games are not made to make pleasure to gamers. They are made to make profit and sometimes provide pleasure for gamers.

Btw I have just made my Gorizia not spending a dime. I`m vert happy with this years events and there are lots of prizes.

Thank you WG staff and I wish u all a very happy new year . Keep up the good work.

 

 

Well, at least I had some idea that I was being scammed. My tactic was to try to get something out of the fiasco for myself. The Gorizia is different from most cruisers, it is actually somewhat playable for me, unlike just about every other mid tier cruiser. I manage something with tier 9/10 cruisers, some at least. Currently I have only 3 on tier X, so I will welcome a fourth. I worked out the pricing, and I think what I ended up paying for them is 'within reason'. But they are not free, and I might have been able to get the Gorizia for free before the end of the event, but that would have meant losing the Puerto Rico.

 

The Gorizia I'm not sorry for getting, as for the PR.. time will tell.

[Ueauvan]

from what i read before the event started, it appeared that if i got the 3 boosters and used them before the start i would hit the reqd number at the end of the allotted time. ive just finished directive 1. sorry i havent finished it in less time but its christmas, my eyesight is poor and i have arthritic fingers so i dont play 24/7 nor would i want to. having wasted the booster doubloons ( i was stupid to get them) i wont hit the target by event end. i am lucky i have disposable income and ive retired. but im new to this game and try to have fun and sometimes this game doesnt like non uber types. so frankly this puts WG in a very bad light in my eyes and less likely to spend more money on a game where people are misled and after being misled arent sorted out, ie change the event rules recognising that people have been misold, more people get what others say is an inferior ship and learn from the experience. however i dont think that will happen and you will rub your hands with glee when people instant complete with more doubloons. here is a simple way to treat your customers better. decrease the instant buy out if they bought the boosters or complete at least 1 directive.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

4 minutes ago, Ueauvan said:

from what i read before the event started, it appeared that if i got the 3 boosters and used them before the start i would hit the reqd number at the end of the allotted time. ive just finished directive 1. sorry i havent finished it in less time but its christmas, my eyesight is poor and i have arthritic fingers so i dont play 24/7 nor would i want to. having wasted the booster doubloons ( i was stupid to get them) i wont hit the target by event end. i am lucky i have disposable income and ive retired. but im new to this game and try to have fun and sometimes this game doesnt like non uber types. so frankly this puts WG in a very bad light in my eyes and less likely to spend more money on a game where people are misled and after being misled arent sorted out, ie change the event rules recognising that people have been misold, more people get what others say is an inferior ship and learn from the experience. however i dont think that will happen and you will rub your hands with glee when people instant complete with more doubloons. here is a simple way to treat your customers better. decrease the instant buy out if they bought the boosters or complete at least 1 directive.

 

WG said they would refund the tokens on certain terms to those who contacted their customer support. This meant also resetting the progress made from and removing the stage rewards. For any opened crates they would also charge you the gold price.. about 1250 doubloons IIRC. It's either in this thread earlier or some other. Suggest you bring this up in Gameplay to get the idea how to do this.

 

EDIT if you complete at least stage 3, you can buy 35k to get the ship. The price decreases by stage after that. Stage 4 is 25k, stage 5 I think 15k. Stage 6, of course, would have been 'free'.

[Ueauvan]

its down to 25k for me and will be 15k as i will complete stage 5. its not that, resetting and all the reverse charges etc makes it painful for the customer, like we know we did wrong but if you really want to do it have some free pain on us. what happens if the person doesnt have the doubloons, o wait they refund with one hand and take back with the other. if i had known about all this from the start, i wouldnt have bought all those doubloons in the first place and if i had bought some i would have bought super santa in bulk probably via paypal rather than doubloons.

about something radical, how about customer support contact everyone who bought boosters, they know they were in the wrong but this way the customer has to do stuff to fix their screw up. and they know every account that bought boosters before the event started ...

 

sorry thats way too customer focused when all that matters is money. im stopping writing as my blood pressure is higher than it should be or usually is at this time of night. yes im that old i have to measure twice morning and night

[Toivia]

22 hours ago, deciver said:

And you are proof that their marketing strategy is right :) For those who don`t understand basic economics - games are not made to make pleasure to gamers. They are made to make profit and sometimes provide pleasure for gamers.

Btw I have just made my Gorizia not spending a dime. I`m vert happy with this years events and there are lots of prizes.

Thank you WG staff and I wish u all a very happy new year . Keep up the good work.

 

I envy you so much. Just spent a full day grinding and got one third (!) of the way for ONE mission in the third directive. That's ridiculous...

 

Even if I eventually manage to get Gorizia, I won't have any time to complete the mission chains for the researchable ships. Which also means I won't get enough shipbuilding boxes to complete the collection (I'm about halfway and no other shipbuilding containers in sight).

 

I'm really having fun, WG. Not even mentioning the idiotic teams one gets in Random right now. Why play random? - you may ask. Well, some bright mind removed Ranked* from the requirements on the Third directive missions. AWESOME! /s

 

* EDIT: Umm, somehow Ranked showed back up in the baseXP missions, thank god.

[Ueauvan]

just seen the announcement that refunds not accepted after 26th dec. hour plus late  for me ... however as a English person in the UK i am protected by the Consumer Rights Act. I believe it is contrary to this legislation to limit refunds by a set time where the consumer has not been contacted and acknowledgement received from the customer of that time limit. i stated that in a ticket i just raised, pointing out that if this went legal (yes im retired and have the time and money to do this) that they had already accepted liability therefore when the court found in my favour they would be liable for my costs. we shall see. time limit is particularly galling given the PR nightmare they had already.

[leeuwbart]

Been watching a streamer fr4g.... On twitch, he is attempting the Puerto Rico grind. Def does not seem like a healthy grind at all. This event seems like it goes against any health measurements in order to be completed for free. This guy deserves credits and a medal for even attempting this lunacy. 

[Sunleader]

40 minutes ago, leeuwbart said:

Been watching a streamer fr4g.... On twitch, he is attempting the Puerto Rico grind. Def does not seem like a healthy grind at all. This event seems like it goes against any health measurements in order to be completed for free. This guy deserves credits and a medal for even attempting this lunacy. 

 

Mind giving a Link? That Name is Unfortunately not a very Good Handle for a Search.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Looks like it is getting curiouser and curiouser...

 

Sorry, didn't know that they had the foresight to limit the refund days after sort of announcing it in as much a hidden and clandestine way as possible to make sure as few people as possible could know about it... where Murica meets Byzantium, monsters are born... and the way how they stacked the odds against people who want to grind and try and get anything for free out of this scammy Scummas event so they'll just end up gimping their own efforts and will likely end up with nothing, zero, nada... apart from a few flags, smallish pile of coal and some steel (if they get that far) that is probably Chinese and rusted thru and thru to begin with...

 

It took me about 2 and a half days to clear 3rd Directive even with the Gorizia, with several hours put in daily. 2nd Directive was easier, only 2 days of gaming needed for that. 4th Directive looks about as inviting as trying to climb Eiger north face armed with nothing more than a Swiss army pocket knife and a toothpick wearing only your Y-fronts...

[Ueauvan]

and they have rejected my ticket despite submitting it maybe 5 mins after seeing the announcement. i told them i havent visitied the site before yesterday (they can check cookies probably). read announcement and terms and conditions denied. except they refunded others so t&cs go bye bye

[leeuwbart]

7 hours ago, Sunleader said:

 

Mind giving a Link? That Name is Unfortunately not a very Good Handle for a Search.

the end is pretty sad, the guy is very friendly.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

10 minutes ago, Ueauvan said:

and they have rejected my ticket despite submitting it maybe 5 mins after seeing the announcement. i told them i havent visitied the site before yesterday (they can check cookies probably). read announcement and terms and conditions denied. except they refunded others so t&cs go bye bye

 

They probably now use that announcement as a pretext. Mind you, even before some people reported they their refund tickets had been rejected, while others did get refunded on WG's terms. Unless anyone can suggest anything else, contacting UK consumer protection is at least worth trying. Hope you get it sorted out!

[Vhadur]

On 12/27/2019 at 4:21 AM, leeuwbart said:

Been watching a streamer fr4g.... On twitch, he is attempting the Puerto Rico grind. Def does not seem like a healthy grind at all. This event seems like it goes against any health measurements in order to be completed for free. This guy deserves credits and a medal for even attempting this lunacy. 

Im at the same Stage as this Streamer, unfortunatly No.5 Directive one can probably get 3-4 of the 5 missions done before No.6 unlocks, and 6 to 7 is ney impossible to do within the given timeframe required to get the points to accumalate properly for a Free PR to be constructed, hed have to use first and second Doubloon Boosters now for any completion without futher worrying of the grind, if he uses the one doubloon booster he will still need to grind No.5 in a given amount of time to effectily get close to completion etc.

 

Ive done the maths today what i got left, and im at the same stage as the Streamer without using boosters also..

Just realy sad that it all falls down to mission requirements being so blaintaly set high to force one to spend doubloons or buy doubloons and spend it on PR to get a chance to complete, im not going to give WG that satisfaction tbh, got better things to spend my 32 or 36 Euros which is around the 14k Doubloons cost for the two needed Boosters..

 

Also yes its not realy Healthy at all, i can say that ive sat down with alot of time to get where i am.. without sacrificing any familie time luckely..

[EmperorRyan]

The event itself is a really cool concept, timing and extensive grind is a bit much but manageable if you spent on the Gorzia in the early stages,

However even though I did this, and completed the tasks in the timeframe and used my shipbuilding tokens ASAP  im still only reaching stage 30 of 36 and very much feel like a reembursement of the doublons spent for a boost that did not deliver what was promised.
 

Im dispointed with how this event was rolled out and misadvertised and hope to see WG make up for this questionable delivery model