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Very happy to eat my own words.
Player_420
Member Posts: 686
It started just as a simple mistake (I would have rather gotten the d/l version) when I ordered the box version (maybe I need to lay off something?) and they wouldn't return my e-mail for a immediate refund. So I posted on here in a minor rage. 2 Days later they responded, he said he did the refund in full and would also give me a full month free if I purchased the game.
Weeks went by and no sign of any refund from the company, I sent e-mails and got no reply. I prolly made a few posts on MMORPG.com about it here and there. Well on the 31st of Jan they gave me back the $80.00USD in full on my account. Around 4 weeks after the fact. Very happy.
Well 2 days ago I got the boxed version of the game, and my account is still valid and everything. It was marked as a gift, but I'm not sure if it was a mistake or not. I will be obviously sending them en e-mail in regards to what they want to do about it.
All in all, a bit slow, but this company is sure not "scamming" everyone as many are claiming.
In fact I looked around and a bunch of MMORPG's don't even have refund policys..
I play all ghame
Comments
Bump for a positive thread, being as all others are negative.
I play all ghame
Bump for you. seems like the vipers only swarm on the neg-threads
My sig is just as logical as your posts are
I think the guys at StarVault have always been pretty stand up guys. They are very cool gamers, and have been as honest as they can be. It is sad that they ran out of money and that they have to push it out this fast, but I hope it works out and they cross that threshhold where they can survive and keep improving on their game.
Exactly....any haters....lets see how you do making a MMORPG that doesnt follow the norm....oh and try doing it with under half the budget of other indie MMO companies. Also anything they have done they have told the playerbase about well before hand *cough*SWG*cough*
I play all ghame
There is far too much negativity around here. It is nice to see someone posting something positive for once.
Honestly I think SV has been up front about everything they have done so far. They have not lied to us or attempted to scam anyone. They are just a small team with very limited resources trying to do something very difficult. They deserve a lot more support and respect than many of the people on this site are willing to give.
Exactly, you do NOT have to enjoy the game to at least give some human beings respect in a tough industry.
I play all ghame
Its good that they are nice guys and such. But I dont care to be honest. They screwed up and that is it. Hopefully they will be able to pull this game throu.
I7@4ghz, 5970@ 1 ghz/5ghz, water cooled||Former setups Byggblogg||Byggblogg 2|| Msi Wind u100
I am glad you got a refund. Sadly.. many people who sent similar messages to StarVault never even got a response. We were forced to work through our Credit Card companies to get the results that you seem to have gotten.
So while I am happy that you were able to get your money back... perhaps you can understand the anger of the folks that never, ever got a response?
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Small company + low budget = Bad response time.
They may have responded to you by posting on MMORPG.com because someone higher ranked may have read it and wanted action taken for you.
All the while the guy thats assigned to respond and work those emails (which is very likely not is primary job) is overloaded and not able to handle the requests adequetly enough.
Companies like to save money on salary by makeing people do more than one job. I'm willing to bet that the inbox is a low priority job for one or more persons doing other things.
I'm glad you had a positive experience with the company. Shifts the light away from them being scammers and evil and more to just poorly managed and underfunded.
I hope, for thiers, the whole communitys and even the genre's sake, that they succeed and produce a quality and successful MMO.
I think that the being poorly managed part has more to do with them being a disaster for their customers than anything else. Most of us don't have the fortune of getting responses back from SV at all, and the only way to get any information is to run into IRC for info -- which really doesn't help either since everything they say there is conveniently "unofficial".
As for the "time" to answer emails and responses well... if you email them asking "OMG I love the game", I guarantee you'll get a response. It's just that any complaints are ignored entirely. Not to mention, if you look at the sheer amount of time they spend on IRC doing inane things that don't matter -- you would know they have plenty of time to answer an email or ten.
I think that the being poorly managed part has more to do with them being a disaster for their customers than anything else. Most of us don't have the fortune of getting responses back from SV at all, and the only way to get any information is to run into IRC for info -- which really doesn't help either since everything they say there is conveniently "unofficial".
As for the "time" to answer emails and responses well... if you email them asking "OMG I love the game", I guarantee you'll get a response. It's just that any complaints are ignored entirely. Not to mention, if you look at the sheer amount of time they spend on IRC doing inane things that don't matter -- you would know they have plenty of time to answer an email or ten.
No I sent around 7-8 e-mails non-stop making the headline "Immediate refund requested" among other things. I was not friendly nor did I mention buying the game again.
Their refund policy clearly states you have 10 days, and I used 6 of them spamming their inbox, and even MMORPG.com forums. I got a response eventually.
The point of my OP was to show that they do follow legit buisness practices. If you pre ordered the game, played the awful beta for 1-2 weeks (some people were complaining after 6 months of pre order).....THEN you went and sent them e-mails after the 10 days are up cause you regret your decision...well then once again I must referance this: if you go check around (DF included) most games dont even have a refund policy.
I play all ghame
The official SV "policy" is No Refunds. The only reason you got one (IMHO) is because a ton of people before you had to go and fight for their CC company to file a claim... which results in fines to the offending company (in this case SV). I think they have finally realized that it is cheaper to give the refund than have to give the refund AND pay the fine (for in fact NOT following business practices as required by their contract with the card companies):
Here is the policy as posted: https://account.mortalonline.com/public/pdf/refund_policy.pdf
Perhaps you missed it because despite what other say, it is still not prominently displayed nor are you required to read it before purchasing a product. So again, I am glad that you were able to obtain a refund, but many.. MANY others before you never even got a reply from the company despite repeated attempts at contact.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Give them time and I'm sure they will make this game good. Many people hate it, but many people also like it
So props to those guys for not giving up and doing all that they could to not go out of business
Pepsi1028
PEPSI!!!!!
Get out of your box already...
Its a very good company and trust me MO will be very buggy at the beginning, but hey even darkfall survived and is amazing now. MO has amazing graphics and there are well over 60 % of mmorpg players that care for graphics so trust me it will survive. The gameplay in the game is pretty much like darkfall but even more open. You can pretty much make a level 1 char and right away run far far away in the forests and mountains and build a house there and start living from there, then the rest of player will catch up to you and see your house and you will tell them that you explored the area to the north, they will pay you 100 gold for info about the swamps and how to get around them. this game is as sandbox as it gets trust me.
Anyhow, here is a link to a post from TODAY with someone expressing a very different response from SV;
http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/33411-anyway-cancel-preorder-2.html#post730632
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Some people should figure out that going through their CC works better as Starvault does not have any support. Do a charge back and you will get your money in about a week. I don't understand people that wait 30 days - 60 days for an email response, screw that just contact your credit card company and you will get a refund in a week. Some people want to be "moral" and wait for SV's response and all I can say to that is NO THANKS
I personally DESPISE people using the "Hey they are an Indie Company" for an excuse to problems with their games and stuff like that; however, with Star Vault I have learned to make an exception because they really are on a shoe string budget by the look of it and they still do many things better than say Blizzard or NCSoft. For one they have a fully functioning Forums which NCSoft Lacks with Aion even now.
I while back I hosted the Original "(Un)Official" Mortal Online Community Ventrilo Server and I had Moderators and even a Dev one time stop in and chat with us! It was super cool and I can guarantee you that all other major MMO companies have never done something like stop by a Player hosted Ventrilo site. It its pretty small in the large scheme of things but its the little stuff that SV has done that have kept me around even despite there shotty beta at times. Even that lately has taken a huge turn around and is truely impressing me.
My Opinion: Flat Out Star Vault isn't Blizzard or NCSoft. They Never will be by the look of it. But thats fine because they do the small things to perfection. Go Star Vault and I hope for the absolute best for Mortal Online. Can't wait for my Full Loot Bag!
^ This!
As you said. They are not Blizzard, nor any other big company. They are an independent company, doing what no other big company would do! We need more to this genre imo, and since no big company does it, well, I guess it is up to the indies to do it then even if it is hard.
It is a tough businees, and they are trying their best. This thread is the proof od that!
See you in game!"
Does not matter how nice they are or anything like that, if they can't produce a professional game, they should not be in business. Thats how capitalism works, if you fail, something else will take your place.
Propping up companies by being a blind fan does *not* help the MMO community, nor the PvP genre *at all*. All it does is encourage people that have no business making games (like SV) to make games and try to sell them.
Capitalism does work. People make a product that serves a niche, but if that product does not adequately fulfill that niche, or the product is subpar, capitalism is what removes it from the market because the demand for the product is poor and the quality as well. When you have people fanning the flames for a product that sucks, you subvert the point of capitalism. Well, I suppose that's advertising. But ultimately the product if it sucks, will fail.
Only time will tell in MO's case, but my guess is that launch will be atrocious and the game will go the way of Dark and Light. I mean, all the same signs are there, including people fanning the flames for a game that most people think sucks.
I bought it back when you had buy it to try the beta. I was very upset at what they had for the E block of beta was supposed to be what they were going to have for release. I sent a nasty email to them also nasty posts on various forums lol. Got warned here and banned from their forums ) But whatever ive cooled off ,just got the beta again last night and wiling to give these guys another chance. I need a good hardcore FFA mmorpg so, hope they can pull it off.
Propping up companies by being a blind fan does *not* help the MMO community, nor the PvP genre *at all*. All it does is encourage people that have no business making games (like SV) to make games and try to sell them.
Capitalism does work. People make a product that serves a niche, but if that product does not adequately fulfill that niche, or the product is subpar, capitalism is what removes it from the market because the demand for the product is poor and the quality as well. When you have people fanning the flames for a product that sucks, you subvert the point of capitalism. Well, I suppose that's advertising. But ultimately the product if it sucks, will fail.
Only time will tell in MO's case, but my guess is that launch will be atrocious and the game will go the way of Dark and Light. I mean, all the same signs are there, including people fanning the flames for a game that most people think sucks.
Well, I have to disagree on this. Regarding to yourself DF had no business model either, and regarding to many players that is a good game today, right?
Even if a company is unexperienced and "unprofessional" (like you claimed AV was as well) they seemed to manage to get their game to the market, and still developing it for the better.
All again entrepreneurship makes things better imo. Even if only 2-3 outta 10 makes it, it is for the better good so we do not have all those WoW clones out there. I want to be able to chose what to play, not another clone every time! This is not only in the gaming industry, but in every industry. This is how it all spurs and evolve for the better!
Propping up companies by being a blind fan does *not* help the MMO community, nor the PvP genre *at all*. All it does is encourage people that have no business making games (like SV) to make games and try to sell them.
Capitalism does work. People make a product that serves a niche, but if that product does not adequately fulfill that niche, or the product is subpar, capitalism is what removes it from the market because the demand for the product is poor and the quality as well. When you have people fanning the flames for a product that sucks, you subvert the point of capitalism. Well, I suppose that's advertising. But ultimately the product if it sucks, will fail.
Only time will tell in MO's case, but my guess is that launch will be atrocious and the game will go the way of Dark and Light. I mean, all the same signs are there, including people fanning the flames for a game that most people think sucks.
Well, I have to disagree on this. Regarding to yourself DF had no business model either, and regarding to many players that is a good game today, right?
Even if a company is unexperienced and "unprofessional" (like you claimed AV was as well) they seemed to manage to get their game to the market, and still developing it for the better.
All again entrepreneurship makes things better imo. Even if only 2-3 outta 10 makes it, it is for the better good so we do not have all those WoW clones out there. I want to be able to chose what to play, not another clone every time! This is not only in the gaming industry, but in every industry. This is how it all spurs and evolve for the better!
No, I think Darkfall sucks because it's a boring game. Not because it's poorly programmed. They developed the engine from the ground up, they developed all the network code, they developed their server backend technology. They just made a game whose business model is flawed I think, but time will tell on that one... I still don't see it lasting that long just due to the harsh nature of the game.
Like I said... time will tell, and ultimately capitalism will prevail here. I think MO is going the same way as Mourning or Dark and Light -- all the historical signs point to it. Whereas AV released a game that is just boring (in my opinion), MO is set to release a game that is so incomplete and buggy, I wouldn't even label it a "game" yet. While people are clammoring for the big content patch that will fix every system, add in everything that's missing, redo combat, fix magic, fix crafting, etc... the reality is that patches like that do not work well and there is a history of MO messing up patch after patch. Look at the support forums on their own site -- they are full of problems of crashing, memory leaks, patcher problems (which I warned them about 6+ months ago), and a lot more.
The only thing you can say about DF beyond that, is that their launch was botched because they didn't have a method in place to create and validate accounts automatically. Beyond that though, the game was very playable and didn't leak memory like MO is, and gave good performance to boot. It's not fun, but the game in and of itself did work. That's why it's still around now.
I am sorry. Some time ago I saw that you "have found AV's business model". And you clearely state that it is poorly programmed, mediocre game play and so on, even that it was "a steaming pile of crap".
So I guess you are bit contradictory right now - and just talks bad about any product you dislike!?
AV's business model is not indicative of their programming.
I don't recall talking about their programming -- maybe some of their processes. With MO however, I know I can talk about their programming because a fan made their patcher. At least DF's patcher worked.
That said... people usually do talk badly about products they dislike. Otherwise they would like them.