Links, Blogroll, and Emailing Me

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Stuff You Should Read

One of my guildmates posted about Sage healing on our guild blog.  Wait, you’re not already subscribed to it?  What’s wrong with you?

See, a lot of our guildies are bloggers – and those who don’t have their own blogs like to have a platform for when they want to make an occasional post.   It’s definitely not the kind of “guild blog” that announces what we killed when we killed it. We write about normal bloggy-things with only the occasional “guild news” post.

While I’m Learning 2 Sentinel, I’ve found this post on the official forums very VERY useful.  But I’m always looking for more things to read if you have suggestions.

And I’ve been obsessed with fashion for both my sentinel and smuggler lately, so imagine my rejoicing that there is a Smuggler Fashion Show thread on the official forums.  All the pieces are fully-moddable (orange), so most of them work for sentinels too (except smuggler quest rewards that are unobtainable by non-smugglers).

Mah Blogroll

I updated my blogroll to prune blogs that are inactive.  And I am always looking for new fun blogs to add!  So holler if I missed yours.

Email and the Contact Form

Every so often, my inbox gets the bright idea that messages submitted through the contact form are spam.  Sigh.  If I don’t answer you, it probably got caught in spam.  If that happens, or if you find contact forms annoying, you can always just email me at njessi [at] hawtpantsrepublic [dot] com.

More Adventures in Companion Customization

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

You know how I said I was customizing all my companions?  And how I wouldn’t ONLY IF the kits were so disgusting that I couldn’t stomach it?  That happened.

Apparently, it was too much to ask to get rid of the mustache on Doc.

(Insert inappropriate joke about “mustache rides” here)

Apparently he has to have facial hair of some disgusting sort on most of the customization kits. Unfortunately, the previews are small.  Also unfortunately, I was throwing up on my mouth for some of them.1

Doc Customization 2. Facial hair not improved

Continue reading »

  1. Note: I don’t have a picture of Kit 1, which comes from the Ilum security key vendor.  It’s a very dark-skinned guy with a blond goatee. ↩

Being Gray

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I was a little bummed that being gray (i.e. not “light side” or “dark side” but rather somewhere in the middle) had no super duper gear choices like full-light or full-dark.

But then I realized that for non-min-max purposes, gray was awesome.

(1) Every choice is a choice

If my character is really goody-goody, chances are I will pick the light side option most of the time because that’s what a goody-goody character would do, end of story.  Vice versa for being totally evil.  But if my character is truly neutral, every choice, every single one, could go either way, and I get to sit there and debate with myself what to do.  I love that.

(2) Diplomacy

I took up diplomacy.  Some people use it to grind light side or dark side points, depending on their preferences.  I use it for money.  That’s right, I’m a smuggler, dammit, and light and dark make no difference to me.  I choose the mission based on the profit.

I would be so super-pissed if I saw a diplomacy mission with a rich payout but was light side and didn’t want to take the dark side hit (or vice versa).  As a gray, whatever, money is money.

Jedi are totally different. Jedi aren’t influenced by money.  However, it’s awfully easy to get dark side points just making choices that a normal person might make.  Failure to tattle to the council? Dark side. Covering for a friend? Dark side.

 

Update: Customer Service Ticket Answered!

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Remember a few days ago, I wrote about a ticket for an item restoration that I had put in over 2 weeks ago.  Well, today I got an emailed response!  2 of them actually.

Greetings [My Real Name],

I am Protocol Droid [Redacted], and I have received your transmission your item you lost due to a issue with the game.

I would also like to thank you for sending the requested additional information.

Your report has been forwarded to the relevant department, who will investigate further. We regret we will be unable to provide you with further updates on this issue, but recommend checking future patch notes for any up to date information.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and to thank you again for the valuable feedback you have provided. Please do not hesitate to report any other issues you may encounter during your game play.

Galactic Support is our specialty…
Sincerely,

Protocol Droid [Redacted] Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

And not two hours after that, a follow-up.

Greetings Njessi,

I am Protocol Droid [Redacted] Human-Cyborg Relations.

I have received your item restoration request.

I am pleased to inform you that on this occasion I have been able to restore your item. Please check your inventory in-game mail to ensure that you have received the correct item.

Please note that our restoration policy allows you 3 item/currency restorations within a 6 month period. On this occasion you have not used one of your allotted item restorations, but future requests may use up one of your allotted restorations.

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we investigated your issue, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. Should you require further assistance with this or any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Galactic Support is our Specialty…

Sincerely,

Protocol Droid [Redacted] Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

Consider me pleasantly surprised.  Professional customer service that is directly responsive to the problem.  And not charging it against the allotted restorations has definitely made me a happy camper.

I still have concerns. I’m not a convert yet.

The first concern is that my initial complaint did not appear to be read and asking for additional information was unnecessary.

The second concern is the response time.  Though a customization kit is scarcely game-breaking, and I’d hope that if it were something seriously important, I wouldn’t have to cool my heels for 2 weeks.

The final concern is that this response may only be due to the blog article I posted about this issue.  True I have a blog with a small readership, but it was cited yesterday by MMO Melting Pot (and I have no idea what, if anything, went on with the twitterz).  It is entirely possible that it was read by people who can get shit done – and then, well, shit got done.  If I did not have such a platform, would I still be waiting, and would my response have been so satisfactory?

Companions: Gift Early, Gift Often

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

OK, here’s a chance for me to do math.  The horror.  Don’t worry, it’s fuzzy math.

If Corso loves weapons, I give him a green quality level 1 weapon, he gives me +96.  When he reaches 2000 affection, I need to give him a green quality level 2 weapon for that same +96.  Now, a level 1 gift costs (at the vendor) 200 credits, and a level 2 gift costs 600.  So I have to pay more than double for the same affection gain.

On the other hand, conversations are unchanging.  He will give me +15 for an answer he likes regardless of his affection level.

See where I’m going with this?

If I at first rely on conversations to get Corso’s affection, and then I supplement with gifts later when he’s already at 4000+, I have to pay out the nose for those gifts because rank 3+ gifts are pricey.  If I gift FIRST and then let conversations raise affection later on, it’s cheaper, because I’m buying the lower level gifts.

Companion economics FTW.

Customer Service Fail

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

What Happened

OK, as you might have heard me yabbering, while taking screenies with the UI down, I then put the UI back up, and the UI refused to come back up, my character locked up, it was generally unpleasant, and at the end of it all, Corso’s Customization #2 went POOF.

My Ticket

So I put in a ticket in-game as follows:

1/21/2012.  I had hidden my ui using alt Z to take some screenshots.  While it was hidden, my character locked up and could not move.  I tried control u twice and the UI finally came back but I was standing in front of Corso and he suddenly changed back to the default.  His customization kit was not on him or in my inventory.  It was Corso customization 2.  It’s possible that it might have been deleted by my clicking while the UI was down.

It would be great if I could have that customization kit back.

Customer Service Response

The response 3 days later was as follows:

01/24/2012 – SWTOR CSR: Greetings Njessi,

I am Protocol Droid [redacted], Human-Cyborg Relations.

I have recieved your transmission requesting an item restoration.

Unfortunately, your ticket did not contain enough information for us to process your request. Please submit a new ticket, and include the following information:

– Afflicted character name
– Server
– Item name/Currency type and amount
– How the item/currency was lost

Please use the word “[redacted]” in the subject line of your email in order to allow us to track your request.
Please note that currently our item restoration policy is that you are eligible for 3 restorations within a rolling 6 month period.  This request will use one of your allotted restorations.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.  If you require further assistance with this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Galactic Support is our specialty.

Sincerely,

Protocol Droid [redacted], aka [redacted] Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

My Response to Their Response

By that time I was seriously pissed off.  And I emailed them back.  I had to transcribe the previous interchange from screenshots (it wouldn’t allow copy of in-game ticket text, and I had not received an e-mail), which already had me hopping mad, but I wanted a “history” in the email.  After recounting the history of the ticket, I wrote the following:

This response is unacceptable for the following reasons:

(1) The requested information was included in the initial request.

-The initial request was sent from the character in question using the in-game ticket system, so the character name and server should be obvious.

-The original request described in detail what the item was (Corso Customization kit 2)

-The original request described in detail how the item was lost. (Issues with locking up after the UI was hidden)

Granted the information was not in the exact format above, but it was all there for anyone who bothered to read.

(2) This item was deleted due to a bug.  Not due to anything on my end.  It is beyond ridiculous to limit me to 3 restorations and count against that limit a loss that was your fault.

(3) The ticket was submitted in-game and answered in-game, yet the clarification was requested via email (with no email address provided).  This proves cumbersome to even the most dedicated player.

Nonetheless, I will answer your questions in the format you requested:

And then I did.  Mostly it was quoting the original ticket since I had already given all the information.  (And, quite honestly, if they don’t have my name and server from the ticket that I submitted in-game, there’s some serious problem with their ticket system.)

Why I’m Mad

OK, end of long tale of woe.  Can you tell I was mad?  I spent 3 days waiting for a response to what I assumed was a fairly simple problem, and when I got the response, I was told that I hadn’t given information that I most definitely had and that I would be effectively penalized for their bug (which is a dumb policy right after launch when of COURSE there are bugs).  Not to mention transcribing stuff from screenies makes me vaguely stabby.

I am totally aware that it took me more time and effort to write angry emails (and this post) than to simply earn the 12.5k, hop in my ship, and buy a new customization from the Taris or Balmorra vendor.  And I certainly do not want an easily-obtainable item to count against my 3 restorations that I might actually need for something important.  But it’s the principle.

Resolution (or Lack Thereof)

As of today, I have an open ticket in the system which was opened on 1/24.  So that’s 2 weeks ago? I went and bought a new customization kit, and I should technically close the ticket but I want to see just what happens with it.  If anything.

A Comparison

Now, let me tell you about the time I got hacked in WoW. YES I WENT THERE.  I’M COMPARING SWTOR TO WORLD OF WARCRAFT.  Ahem.  As I was saying, I got hacked.  It was a mess. I don’t know where all my characters were dragged off to.  I couldn’t even TELL you what they owned.  Yet in less than a week, the WoW CSR’s restored everything down to the last little miniscule item, to the last little level 5 alt.  There was, as I recall, one enchant missing, and that was IT.  Everything else back, and I do mean everything.

I can see that it was partially my fault for not having an authenticator, but never was I told that I was limited to X numbers of restorations and after that I was shit out of luck.  I knew a ton of people who got hacked.  They all got their stuff back.

I will admit that WoW was probably too lenient.  If you looted something and then later decided it should go to another player, often a CSR would fix it for you (this was before trading BoP’s was implemented).  People who deleted their characters ON PURPOSE and then 6 months later decided they wanted them back (true story) put in tickets and got those characters restored.  OK, that was a little ridiculous.  But giving back items without a limit or a fuss when they were deleted by an evildoer, bug, glitch, or outage is just good business policy.  Your customer is happy and life goes on.

So What Am I Going To Do About It?

Maybe they think nobody is going to unsubscribe over shitty customer service.  I know I’m not going to right now.  I truly enjoy playing the game.  But if something serious is wrong, not just an easily replaceable customization kit missing, and I get crappy customer service that doesn’t put an actually important thing right, then yes, I’d quit.  Because unlike a lot of the kids out there, I don’t have TIME to re-grind stuff.

Edit 2/10.  I received a response to the ticket.

Outside My Comfort Zone

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I have always played healers.  The closest I got to DPSing is to play a DPS offspec of a healing class and TOTALLY SWEAR that I wasn’t going to heal with it… and then go ahead and heal with it.  I felt really exposed leveling without the safety net of a heal, even though in practicality, you can’t usually heal YOURSELF when you’re being pummeled by a mob.

I swore that this time I was going to have an alt that would DO DPS FOR REALSIES AND NOT WUSS OUT.  Remember, with a companion, I can have a healer, even if it’s not ME that is the healer.

Enter the Sentinel, one of the two advanced classes in the game (well, we’re not counting mirror classes here) where you CANNOT respec to anything other than DPS.  No tanking, no healing, I R GOING TO SMASH THINGZ.

As little jedi says, I’m “pewing the guys.”
I’m totally old enough to be a Master Jedi. Just call me Doogie.

Continue reading »

Companion Customization and Hats

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Now, I don’t know about you, but I hide helm on my characters because I want to see my character’s face and hair that I worked so hard on.  Hoods are bad enough.

I rarely see both eyes on my Jedi Sentinel

For companions, I can’t see anything but a bucket head or sometimes part-of-face.  This is quite annoying.  Why spend my hard-earned money on a companion kit1 just to have the result hidden behind some hideous headgear?  Sorry, most hats ARE hideous.

Yuck. Trust me, it looks even worse on a cyborg missing her right eye.

Thinking myself smart, for one of my class quests (to go talk to some dude) I took off Corso’s hat in preparation for the cut scene, so I wouldn’t be listening to a disembodied voice echoing in a bucket if he chose to participate in the conversation with the NPCs.  Well, at the end of the cut scene I got my ASS handed to me when everyone turned hostile.  Sigh.  As the husband helpfully pointed out, there is no such thing as “just a conversation.”  I fully acknowledge that I probably would have been thoroughly beaten regardless of hat status, but still.  Gotta get every edge you can, and the hat cannot be ignored. So much for my brilliant “unequip for cut scenes” plan.

Which leads back to purchasing kits.  These days, Corso’s head is behind a bucket.

Oh your helmet is so big... (Spaceballs? Anyone?)

What the hell is the point since I can’t see their faces, except for during chats on the ship when the headgear mysteriously disappears (I would imagine that romance scenes would be quite difficult if the bucket did not disappear).

To add insult to injury, some of the aliens don’t have showing headgear.  Corso is hidden behind a bucket, but I get to see Qyzen’s gleaming lizard smile no matter what his headgear is.  Joy.

  1. And, as you might recall, I’m customizing ALL my companions ↩

Not Now, C2-N2

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Ah, look, I got a new mod.  Let me see, where do I put it?  Ok, I have my backpack open and my character screen, and ok… right click on jacket, and –

“Perfection delivered on schedule, master!”

At which point, C2-N2 shoves his little crew skill quest window in my face, thereby closing all my other windows.  He does this when I’m modding items, when I’m looking at the GTN, when I’m trying to mail things, and when I’m in combat.

And because my missions are around the same length, just as I get back to what I was doing with multiple windows open, BAM, the next companion comes back with something, and closes all of THOSE windows.

We already have a doodad in the top right corner for when we get a reward that we can’t take right away (inventory full, etc).  I would KILL to have the crew skills go there and leave me the hell alone while I’m BUSY.