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 |  | Fun and Frisky Friday Grab Bag |  |
|  | Posted By: Sanya Thomas | 2002-08-16 19:44:14 |  |
| |  |  More fun than guacamole dip:
Q: (Insert question about the newly reopened Pendragon character copier here)
A: Common answers to common questions this week:
- You can only copy to Pendragon ONCE. You can’t delete the copied character and “do over” if you didn’t like a choice you made. The copier is looking to see if you ever successfully copied a character to Pendragon. If the answer is yes, it won’t let you do it again.
- The character on Pendragon will have the name of the placeholder you created, NOT the name of the character you copied over. So, don’t name your Pendragon placeholder “DroopyDrawers” as a joke, because you’re going to have to live with it, even if your real character is known as Pippen Galadriel Moonbeam. (For that matter, please don’t name your character DroopyDrawers even as a joke. It’s not as funny as you think it is. Really.)
Q: What happens if you feel that you were treated badly by a CSR? Who watches the watchers, so to speak? Is it even worth it to appeal a CSR? Are there other avenues to address customer service problems besides appeals?
A: There’s a few things you can do. First and foremost, you absolutely may appeal. Such appeals will be escalated to the supervisor level. After all, a CSR is the only personal contact with a Mythic employee (and they are all paid employees, located here at Mythic headquarters) that most customers will ever have, so it’s in our best interest to make sure that your contact is always polite and professional. We do log the conversations that CSRs have with customers, so there is always a record of what was said and by whom for us to look at. You can also always email me – my job is to be on your side and assume you’re in the right unless the logs prove differently. I will always open an investigation if a player asks me to do so. Sanya@mythicentertainment.com - use the header PROBLEM WITH CSR. I’m also always happy to get HAPPY WITH CSR email too =)
Q: I seem to get more loot, and more rare drops, when I first move into an area. Are the loot tables somehow connected to the camp bonuses?
A: Nope, it’s completely random. You’re just having good luck. With that said, it’s always good to move around ANYWAY, for those fabulous camp bonuses. I just rolled an alt on one of the servers with a rather low population, and it’s blissful. Every green gives the exp of a blue, and all the convenient to town campsites are always full of mobs.
Q: Is there a cap on skills such as parry or block? If I take one of those to 50, and then add to it with a realm ability, will I hit a point where I’m not gaining any percentages to my skill?
A: Nope. There’s no hard cap at all. The only limit is how many points you have to spend.
Q: How do you fill the team lead positions? What do the team leads do?
A: Team leads are chosen, never elected. There’s a bunch of things we look for in a team lead:
- Active on class message boards. This doesn’t have to mean the Vault – there are many smaller forums we lurk in, and many class-specific sites we watch (The Safehouse, the Drunken Friar, etc.).
- An analytical nature. By this, we don’t mean a picky britches, although that does help a lot. We like spreadsheets, charts, and factual data. Someone with a basic grasp of statistics is always welcome.
- Rational. If you have a tendency to post “this suxxors” without backing up that statement, you will probably never be a team lead.
- Recommendations from other team leads. One from the class TL you’re replacing can’t be beaten, but recommendations from other classes doesn’t hurt. The TLs are a team, and people are expected to get along. The Pendragon boards can have some pretty heated discussions, and a good TL gets along with the others.
- A reputation for being a calming influence, not a rabble rouser.
Team leads are expected to give us information. They are not required to post to message boards at all, although we’d prefer our TLs stay active in their communities. They are expected to have a solid grasp of the mechanics of their class, and while they do not have to be level 50, they should at least be familiar with the concerns of the high end player of their class.
They are expected to have an excellent microview of their class and its needs. We don’t expect our team leads to see the big picture of all the classes, that’s our job. We expect the team leads to be civil in tone, and to keep the private board discussions private – but we DON’T expect the team leads to agree with us, or be little yes-men and women. We’ve got a lot of strong personalities and passionate players, and that’s just the dev team, let alone the other testers =). If you’re the type that rolls over rather than face a little healthy conflict, it might not be a fun experience for you.
It takes a lot of time to be a team lead, and it takes a lot of love for the class itself. It’s largely a thankless job, and one that takes a lot of energy to fulfill. However, despite what some of our TLs may feel like after many months, we couldn’t do this game without them. They know their classes better than we do (well, except for those of us who’ve played a class to 50, and that group of devs would say they were equal to a TL, not superior), and if we’ve got a question, we know we can get an answer from the TLs.
I’d ask the TL coordinator to add a few words, but he just finished printing out all the TL reports, and took the 90 page document in ten point font home for a little light reading this weekend.
At any rate, as I said, the TLs are chosen, not elected. It’s a job you can’t apply for, the theory being that you’d have to be crazy to want the job =) I do read the emails from people who want to be team leads, and make suggestions, but the decision isn’t mine. If you want me to take a look at you, just be sure to include your posting name and the URL to the board you’re active on. But no promises (and no replies, if I’m going to have the time to read your posts =)) – we’d rather limp along with an empty spot than fill the spot with the wrong person in a hasty decision.
All righty. I know that’s short, but we’re gearing up for some changes to the website, we’re looking over styles, we’re looking at classes that seem to be underperforming in RVR, and we’re standing over the guys doing spellcrafting and alchemy, beating them with tree branches.
A special thanks to all the fan mail senders this week =) I can’t tell you how much it’s appreciated.
An even more special thanks to the critical mail senders – we are listening. I only wish I could answer each one.
If you’re looking for a news site, you might want to check out MassiveMultiplayer.org. It’s another general MMOG news site. I just gave them a little somewhat sassy interview. No, Mystery, I wasn’t drunk. Sheesh.
And on a final note, the DAOC Atlas Book is now listed at the Mythic Store for pre-orders. It will be available on August 21, and will be certainly more durable than the three ring binder or the accordion folder you’re currently using, and absolutely cheaper than the second computer you keep telling your spouse that you really, really need. Head over here and check it out! We are grateful to Kirstena, whom I never link to for fear of crashing her web server, but if you know her maps, you love them, trust me. I don't play the game without her and the guys here.
Have a good weekend everyone, and as always, thanks for being part of the crew.
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