Drysc on Blizzard customer service
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 29th 2008 at 11:00AM
We are all rather critical of Blizzard at times. After all, many of us spend an inordinate amount of time in the game; especially the WoW Insider staff on patch days. We expect things to work in a certain type of way, and we expect that when we encounter a problem, things will be solved ASAP.Nothing is wrong with these expectations we have, and indeed we should have them. After all, we want this game to be the best game possible. For many folks it's the only one they'll play. The happiness and smooth sailing in game is principally the responsibility of the customer service department at Blizzard. They're the ones to fix our issues when something goes wrong.
Drysc, one of the most visible community managers, made a wonderful post earlier this week on exactly what happens in Blizzard's support services. The full post and response are worth taking a second to read. The bullet points of his posts are as follows:
- In-game GMs are active 24/7, 365
- Tech Support and Billing work overlapping shifts, available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Drysc, Nethaera, Bornakk, Hortus, Belfaire, and all the other Community Managers are on call 24 hours a day
- Much of the rest of the staff is also on call 24 hours a day. Including developers.
- Support is trained and kept in-house. No outsourcing.
- There could be better Tech Support wording to delineate what they do, and what the GMs do.
What do you think about Drysc's recent posts?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
vildand Mar 29th 2008 11:12AM
"We are all rather critical of Blizzard at times."
No we aren't, and please don't presume such nonsense on my behalf ever again.
Rabbit Mar 29th 2008 11:33AM
I have to agree with this comment. Most of the time we just breeze along and I appreciate what Blizzard offers us. I accept little glitches in stride (WoW is a massive piece of work and could never be perfect code-wise). That being said, I will get critical if a thread on the forums reporting a problem grows to 10 pages without a single blue comment. That is really the only time and is easily rectified by a "We're aware and are working on it" type of post from Blizz.
Bastiaan Mar 29th 2008 11:57AM
Most people know or assume that Blizzard works hard at the game, of course.
However, when people encounter bugs, feel nerfed, or are upset for any other reason, they'd like to hear something from Blizzard about that. A simple acknowledgment from Blizzard, something like "we hear what you're saying," "we're looking into it," or even "we're sorry but you got shafted there" would make people feel listened to and take away a lot of the resentment they sometimes feel towards Blizzard.
Because then, they'd know that Blizzard is not only working hard at the game, but also working hard to fix that one particular bug.
That's where Blizzard could improve; their forums give them a brilliant chance to calm people just by having CMs say they are aware of the problems and are working on it. Right now they're letting that chance just pass by them.
Diabla Mar 29th 2008 12:01PM
I agree with you rabbit. there are things in game that should take precedence over other "bugs" Blizz focuses on sometimes. The Tauren weapon thing is one right right now that makes me a bit critical b/c there's other things brought up the definitely should be higher up on the "fix it list"
vildand Mar 29th 2008 3:44PM
I've had a number of run ins with the blizzard customer service myself.
The worst problem that comes to mind was doing a free character transfer. My guild had decided to migrate to lessen bg queue times, but the realm filled up doing the hour we had planned for migration and half of us got stuck on each server. This was before the paid migration was possible, and the policy from Blizzard was that it was just unfortunate.
We all complained and I personally ended up cancling my account via the phone support because I didn't intend to play while being stuck behind. Two weeks later they reopened the free migration and everything worked fine.
The most recent problem was doing easter where Blizzard apparently had some problems accepting Danish visas in their paid character migration, and one of my characters was stuck because of it. I reported it via the webform and I didn't hear anything from Blizzard until two days later where they told me the problem was now fixed.
I guess you could say that I've had able opportunity to be angry with the Blizzard customer service, but I havn't been.
In fact I'd say they were one of the better customer services I've had to deal with in 11 years of playing various MMOs.
Pucelle Mar 29th 2008 11:16AM
They work overlapping shits? I'm surprised they aren't crankier.
tigress Mar 29th 2008 11:30AM
I hate it when my shit overlaps, forreals.
twelve Mar 29th 2008 11:33AM
Hilarious typo! :)
Adam Holisky Mar 29th 2008 11:39AM
I just wanted to give you guys something to laugh about this morning. ;-)
I think that's the worst typo I've done...
twelve Mar 29th 2008 4:22PM
Thanks Adam, made my day :)
Fish Mar 29th 2008 11:32AM
overlapping shits? lawl
Kav Mar 29th 2008 11:50AM
i am ridiculously critical of blizzard all the time.
not of how hard they work, but the stupid things they work hard on
(anyone else notice balls now coming out of VR's ass and him not actually targeting who they're flying at? 24yard mind flay range ftl. it's like he lets one rip on a beeline trajectory to me. nothing like having a boss on farm for months and then getting demolished by his IBS)
Prince Mar 29th 2008 11:51AM
Get better bloggers imo
Diabla Mar 29th 2008 11:54AM
Care to apply for the job? stfu>fo -_-
PeeWee Mar 29th 2008 11:55AM
"In-game GMs are active 24/7, 365"
Pure LIE.
In EU they don't work on "Labour Day"
Ahoni Mar 29th 2008 12:11PM
Lie: is an untruthful statement made to someone else with the intention to deceive
Not a lie, a mistake. Perhaps a false statement made from ignorance. I don't think he was intending to deceive. He may not be aware of the holiday schedule of every employee of the company in every country around the world. Horrors! Lighten up a little people.
Adam Holisky Mar 29th 2008 12:22PM
Hi PeeWee,
I am a big fan of your playhouse.
Regarding European GMs not working on Labour Day, do you have any evidence of this? Could you post a link here?
Not saying you're not telling the truth or anything, just looking for some support of that statement.
Thanks,
Adam.
Mike Mar 29th 2008 12:52PM
Adam, see the post dated 30/04 at http://wow-europe.com/en/news/archive-news2007.html
Blizz say this is French law and I have no reason to doubt them.
Adam Holisky Mar 29th 2008 1:13PM
Neither do I. :-)
Thanks for the link!
PeeWee Mar 29th 2008 5:41PM
"No in-game support on the 1st of May
Ryann, 28/04/2005
The 1st of May is Labour Day holiday in France, and working on that specific day is subject to tough legal restrictions. Therefore, Blizzard Europe will not be able to provide you with our full 24 hour in-game support on Sunday, May 1st. This will be the only exception in the year.
You will be able to play as usual without interruption, but our Game Masters will not be available. Of course, all tickets sent on Sunday will be answered by the Game Masters as quickly as possible first thing on Monday, May 2nd. Thank you for your understanding."
-http://www.wow-europe.com/en/news/wow-oldnews2005.html