Buyer Beware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thursday, September 13, 2001 --  tigole

Once Again Verant Shows a Total Lack of Accountability

Enchanter "Best of the Best" a Sham on The Nameless

Tuesday night, whether because of the patch or the horrendous tragedies in the U.S., the Enchanter Best of the Best tournament was rescheduled. I, as did the thousands of other people logged onto The Nameless server at the time, read the following broadcast as it flashed onto my screen:

[Tue Sep 11 19:25:26 2001] Kahil BROADCASTS, 'Hello everyone, I have just been informed that our Enchanter BotB has been moved to Saturday the 15th of September as of yet we do not have a time but I will let you know as soon as possable.[sic]'

Fast forward to Wednesday evening. Upon logging into The Nameless, I hear rumors that the Enchanter Best of the Best is going on in the Arena. How is this so? Didn’t they just broadcast – BROADCAST – that the tournament would be on Saturday? My first reaction was to contact the GM running the event in the arena. I asked him how the event could possibly be taking place when the majority of enchanters on The Nameless were told by Verant employees that the tournament would not be until Saturday. The GM simply responded, "Read the MOTD." So following his advice I type, /motd and see a notice that the Enchanter BotB will take place on Wednesday at 4pst pm.

So apparently, even though a Verant Employee BROADCAST (you know BROADCAST, that bright yellow text that reaches EVERY person on the server who is online at the time) that the BotB will be on Saturday, somehow setting a MOTD sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning justifies the last minute change of schedule thus denying dozens of enchanters their fair shot at participating. Was the assumption that people continuously log on ALL DAY LONG checking the MOTD in order to see if an event is rescheduled? The mere suggestion is ridiculous. Most people log off at night and aren’t able to log back on until sometime the next night after school or work.

What’s worse is, the numerous Guides and GM’s I spoke with KNEW what they did was wrong. They kept apologizing for the mistake. YET somehow the event kept going. I believe there were something like 8 enchanters who knew about it. The Verant Event Staff was not able to realize that in the two previous BotB (Cleric and Bard) there were well over 20 participants. Instead they rushed through the tournament with the "select eight" who were privileged enough to be allowed to participate.

The action that Verant decided to take on Wednesday just reaffirmed my belief that the company’s Customer Service ethic is simply atrocious. How about, Verant, instead of making excuses for once, you take some action to do the right thing. How can a tournament award a title to someone as "The Best of the Best" when you didn’t give everyone a chance to participate? Why wasn’t the event rescheduled? At the very least you should be refunding EVERY 54+ enchanter their 10 dollars this month since you promised them a product and didn’t deliver. If you buy an airline ticket for a flight that leaves on Saturday, that flight leaves on Saturday (NOT WEDNESDAY) or else you get your money back. The talk of refunding money surely will grab your attention, Verant Interactive. And if you’re not willing to refund the Enchanters who were shafted through your FALSE ADVERTISING then perhaps you can hold a valid tournament, where the actual date and time are public information, given out more than 24 hours in advance.

The Best of the Best tournaments are extremely special to some players. It is the ONE AND ONLY chance players have a chance to compete against each other. Whether they win or now, most players are simply happy to be given the chance to participate in a celebration of their class.

If you play on a different server and think the sham that occurred on The Nameless doesn’t affect you, you’re wrong. The entire Enchanter BotB has had it’s integrity compromised. Whoever wins that final, will you be satisfied wearing a title that claims you are better than everyone else when in fact dozens of participants were denied a chance to show their skills? I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ALL BOTB ENCHANTERS, please DO NOT participate in the Finals. I know you’re thinking, who are you Tigole, to tell me not to go to the finals. I suggest you BOYCOTT the finals until Verant decides to be accountable for their GLARING MISTAKE and reschedules The Nameless tournament. Imagine if the same situation happened to you. Imagine if you logged onto your server one day and saw someone else wearing the title you so obviously earned through your skills. The enchanters of The Nameless need your support.

Verant, you should feel nothing but shame. You KNOW you were wrong. Yet no real action was taken to fix the problem. Yes, you are the gods of the world of Everquest, you make the rules (and seem to change them on us). However, when it's all said and done, we are paying customers. Your shoddy customer service and repeated lack of accountability will be your ultimate failure. How about instead of burying your head in the sand for once, you grow a spine and do the right thing.

--Tigole Bitties

As a footnote I’d like to add that it was very hard for me to make this update. Dashi from Shock of Swords was awarded the title of victor of Wednesday’s event. Dashi is an extremely talented enchanter, no doubt perfectly capable of winning a full-fledged "actual" tournament. I have no doubt that Dashi could win the title if a fair tournament was held. Dashi was one of the enchanters I had the honor of raiding the Avatar of War with. In no way do I want to diminish Dashi’s skills as an enchanter. My rant is directed at Verant and I apologize that in having to point out a company’s lack of basic business knowledge, it might come off as a comment about Dashi or Dashi’s skills. Not at all. Dashi is an excellent enchanter and more than capable of securing the BotB title.