So I finally get my computer up and running after two weeks. I install Guild Wars, first program I always install on my computer; and I log in and remain in game to let it background install all the extra info. Well I try to log in Saturday and I get code error 45... and it tells me my account is blocked... so lets review my month so far.
Beginning of the month computer crashes, have to wrestle and yell at Dell for two weeks to come and fix it. Now that's it fixed ArenaNet blocks my Guild Wars account. So now I STILL CAN'T PLAY!
So I contact ArenaNet. And yes I am pissed!
Me:
So after two weeks of not having a computer I install Guild Wars on my new system and log in to get the message my account has been blocked.
Why?
And how are you going to correct this?
After getting several automated responses that get you no where fast I get this:
Hello (my name),
Thank you for contacting NCsoft Account Support.
Your account was blocked because someone other than you was accessing the account. The block is placed on the account the moment we notice the intrusion to help prevent any further damage to your account.
At this time we need to verify that this is indeed your account. Please provide as much of the following information as you can:
-- What first and last name did you use when you created the account?
-- What physical address did you use when you created the account?
-- What date of birth did you use when you created the account?
-- What are the 20/25-digit serial codes/access keys for all games you added to the account?
-- What is the Unique Account ID for all the game accounts you added to the account? (This was sent to you via e-mail on the date your game account was activated with a subject header of 'Game Account Activated'.)
-- Original billing information: If activated using a credit/debit card, please provide the last 4 digits of the credit card used. If activated using a game time card, please provide the 20-digit game time card code used to activate the account. If activated using PayPal®, please provide the Transaction ID or the Invoice ID associated with the original activation purchase.
We look forward to assisting you.
Thank you,
Max
NCsoft Account Support
To contact our Billing or Technical Support by phone, please call (512)225-6359.
Monday - Friday, 12 PM - 5 PM Central Time (North America)
Long distance charges may apply.
So I fill out their information, as they put it "as much as I could". After 5 years of playing GW and moving several times in that time frame I don't have all my little activation numbers laying around. As well you don't use a CC or PayPal to activate a GW account because it has no monthly fees. But I give them the rest of the info. And I receive this back.
Hello (my name),
Thank you for providing that information to us.
In reviewing the information you’ve provided, we see that some of what we’ve requested is missing from your response, or the information you’ve given us does not match what was registered to the account. This information is important and is used to assist us in locating the account as well as to verify you as the owner of the NCsoft and game account.
Please try to the best of your ability to locate as much of the information below and we will review your account issue.
-- What date of birth did you use when you created the account? (The date of birth you have provided does not match the registered date of birth for this account.)
-- What are the 20/25-digit serial codes/access keys for all games you added to the account?
-- What is the Unique Account ID for all the game accounts you added to the account? (This was sent to you via e-mail on the date your game account was activated with a subject header of 'Game Account Activated'.)
-- Original billing information: If activated using a credit/debit card, please provide the last 4 digits of the credit card used. If activated using a game time card, please provide the 20-digit game time card code used to activate the account. If activated using PayPal®, please provide the Transaction ID or the Invoice ID associated with the original activation purchase.
We look forward to assisting you.
Regards,
Roger
NCsoft Account Support
To contact our Billing or Technical Support by phone, please call (512)225-6359.
• Monday - Friday, 12 PM - 5 PM Central Time (North America)
• Long distance charges may apply.
... Seriously, Roger. You want to fuck with me? So now I am seriously pissed. This is the same fucking shit that I just went through with Dell. So I ranted and rambled for quite a bit in the following text I sent back to them. Here is the jist. (The following will be slightly/a lot less offensive then what I actually sent them).
ArenaNet here is the deal. I have been playing Guild Wars for five years (I included my activation date in this). I have been a loyal customer, I have even continued supporting the game through microtransactions, because I like the game and I want it to succeed. I have also invested in all the expansions, including the Bonus Mission Pack, on a preorder or as soon as released basis. I have brought over a dozen different players into the game who have all bought expansions and are investing financially in the game as well. It seems that on November 20th a bunch of people, both friends and guild members of mine, have had their accounts blocked. Is this a systems error that you will immediately correct? Or is this ArenaNets way of saying fuck you we don't want anymore of your money? All I want is my account unblocked so I can play, which according to your own information provided to players (that account security is our responsibility not ArenaNets) should never have been blocked in the first place.
In response to that information I got this:
Hello (my name),
Thank you for witting back to NCsoft Account Support.
I am escalating your ticket for further assistance, and someone will be in contact with you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Parsec
NCsoft Account Support
To contact our Billing or Technical Support by phone, please call (512)225-6359.
• Monday - Friday, 12 PM - 5 PM Central Time (North America)
• Long distance charges may apply.
After this I promptly called their number listed on the bottom of the email, only to discover that they don't handle account issues.
Look, all I want is to blow off steam after a long day at work. And kill monsters in a fantasy settings and maybe spend some time with friends. Instead I get your account department trying to rectally probe me. And I find it offensive. Unblock my account. Do it now! and I would suggest doing the same for all those others who irresponsibly blocked. Ok I have had a horrible month, and you guys are making it much worse. I will not (hell I cannot) invest in any other ArenaNet or NCSoft products until this is resolved.
22 November 2010
20 November 2010
Identify this Real Time Strategy
I played this RTS about a decade ago, it was on my first computer which ran Windows 98. So this is an older game. I bought this comp right around the Y2K scare, and I don't remember if this was before or after the millennium. Someone loaned me a demo for this game. I don't remember the name, what I do remember is this.
It was based on early human civilization, prehistory if you will, it also had a focus on magical elements. You were the leader of a primitive tribal society, and a bit like Black and White you had magical powers, these were mostly nature based. You could summon ground out of the water, create tornadoes, storms, etc. You lead a tribe in warfare. Unit production was unique, it involved creating birthing tents and placing a male and female inside the tents, this would slowly produce more tribes men that you could then send into other tents to give them specialization like priests, warriors, etc. There did not seem to be any water combat, at least not as far as the demo let me see. From what I remember of UI, it reminds me of C&C to a certain extent with the vertical combat bar, but I think it was on the left side of the screen. I also remember you could set up watch fires, but had to place a unit to tend the fire. This unit would actually patrol, or dance (almost in native American fashion) around the fire while tending it. Resources... only two I remember were wood and food, but I may be mistaken about them. The civilization I remember reminded me of a very early version of the Incas, not in technology, but in art style (almost Easter Island like).
Anyways that's all I remember, except that the game demo disc was from a gaming catalog, maybe PC Gamer? but not sure on that either. Anyways, would be much appreciated if someone could ID the game. Have been searching the net for it, and no where I have looked has any info.
Thanks.
It was based on early human civilization, prehistory if you will, it also had a focus on magical elements. You were the leader of a primitive tribal society, and a bit like Black and White you had magical powers, these were mostly nature based. You could summon ground out of the water, create tornadoes, storms, etc. You lead a tribe in warfare. Unit production was unique, it involved creating birthing tents and placing a male and female inside the tents, this would slowly produce more tribes men that you could then send into other tents to give them specialization like priests, warriors, etc. There did not seem to be any water combat, at least not as far as the demo let me see. From what I remember of UI, it reminds me of C&C to a certain extent with the vertical combat bar, but I think it was on the left side of the screen. I also remember you could set up watch fires, but had to place a unit to tend the fire. This unit would actually patrol, or dance (almost in native American fashion) around the fire while tending it. Resources... only two I remember were wood and food, but I may be mistaken about them. The civilization I remember reminded me of a very early version of the Incas, not in technology, but in art style (almost Easter Island like).
Anyways that's all I remember, except that the game demo disc was from a gaming catalog, maybe PC Gamer? but not sure on that either. Anyways, would be much appreciated if someone could ID the game. Have been searching the net for it, and no where I have looked has any info.
Thanks.
18 November 2010
So! Good news! Got my computer up and running Dell finally came and fixed it. Only took them 2 weeks. Two long hard freaking weeks. And a special thanks to a special douche named Steven who came and fixed it (4192348511). He wasn't that bad, just seemed kind of anal that someone actually made him do his job. BTW it was him that apparently made it two weeks. Dell said if it wasn't for him it would have been fixed in three days. Great job getting cheap labor from outsourcing Dell.
So I thought maybe I would take the time to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate after this. While I have a fresh HDD. But guess what!? No stores actually carry a full version of Windows 7 Ultimate. The upgrade from Vista yes... not Windows 7. So I eventually moved against that idea, without a comp long enough. I will just go ahead and use XP. So I installed Guild Wars, which installed and was up and playable in under 10 mins. And I started DLing Star Trek Online, which was still DLing when I left for work two hours later.... Difference in scale? Also started the tedious process of Security and Service Pack updates. And got a new Firewall and Anti-virus up and running.
Hopefully will be back and playing on STO tonight. Then Starcraft 2. Looking back on the whole thing though. I should have realized something was wrong, my computer kept getting louder. I thought it was a fan though, but in retrospect it may have been the HDD failing. Hrm...
At least it wasn't the video card or the motherboard.
Anyways, back to the gaming grind stone tonight.
So I thought maybe I would take the time to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate after this. While I have a fresh HDD. But guess what!? No stores actually carry a full version of Windows 7 Ultimate. The upgrade from Vista yes... not Windows 7. So I eventually moved against that idea, without a comp long enough. I will just go ahead and use XP. So I installed Guild Wars, which installed and was up and playable in under 10 mins. And I started DLing Star Trek Online, which was still DLing when I left for work two hours later.... Difference in scale? Also started the tedious process of Security and Service Pack updates. And got a new Firewall and Anti-virus up and running.
Hopefully will be back and playing on STO tonight. Then Starcraft 2. Looking back on the whole thing though. I should have realized something was wrong, my computer kept getting louder. I thought it was a fan though, but in retrospect it may have been the HDD failing. Hrm...
At least it wasn't the video card or the motherboard.
Anyways, back to the gaming grind stone tonight.
16 November 2010
Well Dell finally called me and said they were coming to fix my computer... hrm I wonder if it will really happen.
Need to reinstall games, I should start with Guild Wars. Compared to most other games I have Guild Wars is relatively small and easy to install. After that I should install Star Trek Online, there have been a lot of updates while I have been without a computer and I really want to get through them all. After that Star Craft 2. Blizzard saves progress through Battle.net I believe so I should be able to get back in and pick up where I left off. However, Blizzards DL and Installer suck, so bit of a headache there. May not do that tonight, but wait till tomorrow to install it. At this point I have no real desire to install anything besides those three games. I have a digital copy of Civ5, and although I bought it through Direct2Drive the DL itself was applied through Steam. Steam is evil, very very evil, and hogs a bunch of system resources. So will not re-DL Civ5 at this point.
With APB relaunching I will prepare my computer for APB: Reloaded. I betaed APB. APB was a great game except for one massive critical flaw. Rage. The game was 95% PVP, while PVP is fine the games pace made it so you PVPed, then were thrown into more PVP, and even more PVP. It did it in such a way that it slowly hyped up your adrenaline until you literally felt enraged. I would have to walk away from the game at times just to get away from that focus. If a PVE element was added in combination to the PVP, and maybe more diverse areas of play. I think APB would be a great game. Amazing customization and player built content, the last 5% of the game play I consider to be sandbox creativity. I loved this about APB. I refused to play it after launch, but if it goes F2P as they planned I will reDL it and play.
Looking forward to TOR and GW2. Hope I can play them soon. This whole event as made me rethink buying a new computer. If they actually come and fix it. Next computer I get I am leaning towards an Origin PC system. Made and supported in the US according to their site. They are an off shoot of old Alienware employees that didn't like the Dell take over. I priced a good system for around $5000. Nice specs and processor. But I don't have 5k to blow on a computer. Plan B, start saving $100-200 a month. That way when I end up buying a new computer, hopefully in a year, I have a nice down payment on the system. The rest then should take me to long to pay off by that point. I could technically afford a computer right, but it would be tight.
Just got the call while I was typing this that repair guy is at my house working on my computer. So here is to hoping that I will have a working comp by the time I get home from work. In any case, my being pissed is starting to fade. Still mad as hell at Dell though. Damn that rhymed.
Need to reinstall games, I should start with Guild Wars. Compared to most other games I have Guild Wars is relatively small and easy to install. After that I should install Star Trek Online, there have been a lot of updates while I have been without a computer and I really want to get through them all. After that Star Craft 2. Blizzard saves progress through Battle.net I believe so I should be able to get back in and pick up where I left off. However, Blizzards DL and Installer suck, so bit of a headache there. May not do that tonight, but wait till tomorrow to install it. At this point I have no real desire to install anything besides those three games. I have a digital copy of Civ5, and although I bought it through Direct2Drive the DL itself was applied through Steam. Steam is evil, very very evil, and hogs a bunch of system resources. So will not re-DL Civ5 at this point.
With APB relaunching I will prepare my computer for APB: Reloaded. I betaed APB. APB was a great game except for one massive critical flaw. Rage. The game was 95% PVP, while PVP is fine the games pace made it so you PVPed, then were thrown into more PVP, and even more PVP. It did it in such a way that it slowly hyped up your adrenaline until you literally felt enraged. I would have to walk away from the game at times just to get away from that focus. If a PVE element was added in combination to the PVP, and maybe more diverse areas of play. I think APB would be a great game. Amazing customization and player built content, the last 5% of the game play I consider to be sandbox creativity. I loved this about APB. I refused to play it after launch, but if it goes F2P as they planned I will reDL it and play.
Looking forward to TOR and GW2. Hope I can play them soon. This whole event as made me rethink buying a new computer. If they actually come and fix it. Next computer I get I am leaning towards an Origin PC system. Made and supported in the US according to their site. They are an off shoot of old Alienware employees that didn't like the Dell take over. I priced a good system for around $5000. Nice specs and processor. But I don't have 5k to blow on a computer. Plan B, start saving $100-200 a month. That way when I end up buying a new computer, hopefully in a year, I have a nice down payment on the system. The rest then should take me to long to pay off by that point. I could technically afford a computer right, but it would be tight.
Just got the call while I was typing this that repair guy is at my house working on my computer. So here is to hoping that I will have a working comp by the time I get home from work. In any case, my being pissed is starting to fade. Still mad as hell at Dell though. Damn that rhymed.
15 November 2010
Rawr? I haven't posted on my blog in over a year. Probably should do something about that... but my fear is that if I become extremely long winded and noone will really want to read it. Oh well at least it gets the idea out of my head. I should really start posting more... and then tweeting the post ^_^
Right now I am pissed though. I have a Dell computer... I know I know... but I have a long LONG warranty on it. The thing is the HDD went boom. And they said yes, we will be right out to replace it. Well its been a week and a half. And so far this has been the pattern of events.
-Wednesday night. Computer crashed, I searched for boot disc to try and boot it. That failed.
-Friday. Called Dell, spoke to India and an idiot who couldn't even figure out how to adjust his headset.
-Friday. Called Dell back and they told me that a technician would call me on Monday and schedule a repair time.
-Monday went by and nothing... called Dell again. Told me he would call me in the morning.
-Tuesday... NOTHING. Called Dell, they told me he would call first thing in the morning.
-Wednesday 8 am. Called Dell and Support company line. Told me tech would call me in an hour.
-9 am. Called back Support company. Told me they would escalate it (whatever that means) and the tech would call me right back.
-9:30 am. Called back, spoke to manager who would figure out what was going on. And HE would call me back.
-10:30 am got call back from manager, who told me he can't get a hold of the tech...
-11:13 am Tech finally called and told me he would be there about 4 or 5pm
-2:12 pm Tech calls back he can't come, something that DELL DID WRONG??!! He will let me know what is going on. This was still Wednesday.
-Thursday I call the tech. He says the problem has been sent back to Dell and they will contact me about what is going on.
-Friday evening... pissed. Get my manager at work to call, she gets a shouting match with Dell. Informs me that they had received a report from the tech that the problem had been fixed... What the FUCK?! But that they would call me on Monday to schedule an appointment time.
-Well its 5pm on Monday and nothing. I am pissed and wondering what to do.
Anyways at this point I have a few different options. Wait for Dell, who will probably never come. Replace the HDD myself, which will void the warranty I spent all that money on. Buy a new computer from someone else, continue to wait on Dell and if they don't show here in a few more weeks take legal action against them.
Here is the thing, I'm SCREWED no matter what way I do this I am FUCKED. I now HATE DELL, I will never buy a computer from them again. I will viciously oppose anyone that wants to. Anyone have any ideas? What I could do, what I should do. With the new computer, priced a new one with the specs I want, about $5000. I really don't want to spend 5k on a comp, but it is looking like that may be the only way I will have a working comp again. I would rather do that then fix it myself for two reasons:
1) It has been a long time since I have done anything like that on a computer and although a really simple task, I don't want to fuck it up and then have no warranty and be forced down another road as well.
2) If I fix it and they show up then they say I violated warranty and I am screwed on that, however if I don't fix it and they don't come then I can always take legal action in the future.
Got message from a guild member saying he missed seeing me online, I told him what happened. This is the most pissed I have been in a long while.
Right now I am pissed though. I have a Dell computer... I know I know... but I have a long LONG warranty on it. The thing is the HDD went boom. And they said yes, we will be right out to replace it. Well its been a week and a half. And so far this has been the pattern of events.
-Wednesday night. Computer crashed, I searched for boot disc to try and boot it. That failed.
-Friday. Called Dell, spoke to India and an idiot who couldn't even figure out how to adjust his headset.
-Friday. Called Dell back and they told me that a technician would call me on Monday and schedule a repair time.
-Monday went by and nothing... called Dell again. Told me he would call me in the morning.
-Tuesday... NOTHING. Called Dell, they told me he would call first thing in the morning.
-Wednesday 8 am. Called Dell and Support company line. Told me tech would call me in an hour.
-9 am. Called back Support company. Told me they would escalate it (whatever that means) and the tech would call me right back.
-9:30 am. Called back, spoke to manager who would figure out what was going on. And HE would call me back.
-10:30 am got call back from manager, who told me he can't get a hold of the tech...
-11:13 am Tech finally called and told me he would be there about 4 or 5pm
-2:12 pm Tech calls back he can't come, something that DELL DID WRONG??!! He will let me know what is going on. This was still Wednesday.
-Thursday I call the tech. He says the problem has been sent back to Dell and they will contact me about what is going on.
-Friday evening... pissed. Get my manager at work to call, she gets a shouting match with Dell. Informs me that they had received a report from the tech that the problem had been fixed... What the FUCK?! But that they would call me on Monday to schedule an appointment time.
-Well its 5pm on Monday and nothing. I am pissed and wondering what to do.
Anyways at this point I have a few different options. Wait for Dell, who will probably never come. Replace the HDD myself, which will void the warranty I spent all that money on. Buy a new computer from someone else, continue to wait on Dell and if they don't show here in a few more weeks take legal action against them.
Here is the thing, I'm SCREWED no matter what way I do this I am FUCKED. I now HATE DELL, I will never buy a computer from them again. I will viciously oppose anyone that wants to. Anyone have any ideas? What I could do, what I should do. With the new computer, priced a new one with the specs I want, about $5000. I really don't want to spend 5k on a comp, but it is looking like that may be the only way I will have a working comp again. I would rather do that then fix it myself for two reasons:
1) It has been a long time since I have done anything like that on a computer and although a really simple task, I don't want to fuck it up and then have no warranty and be forced down another road as well.
2) If I fix it and they show up then they say I violated warranty and I am screwed on that, however if I don't fix it and they don't come then I can always take legal action in the future.
Got message from a guild member saying he missed seeing me online, I told him what happened. This is the most pissed I have been in a long while.
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