Forum Discussion

2 years ago

Solved

Event Pack Oversight

I've recently been playing and noticed an issue with the FFVII crossover event you currently have active.

I had intended to purchase most - or all - of the event, since I have always been a big fan of Final Fantasy, but an issue has arisen that seems to be unintended and unfair.

During the event, players can earn event currency to purchase packs which, with the grand prize being guaranteed to those who purchase all 36, can reduce the cost of the event as a whole for many players and hence makes the event feel far more affordable/valuable. The pricing system for the event packs also contributes towards this, with the first pack being free, the second pack being 100 Apex Coins, the third through sixth being 500 Apex Coins, etc. - however, this is where the issue arises.

First, I can guarantee that the vast majority of your player base (especially the paying customers) will try to maximise their value for money, and so will first try to achieve all the free packs before paying with their own money - I calculate this to be 4 packs, the first being your standard free pack, and the other three being packs purchasable with event currency, free but earned through playing the game daily. My first issue lies in the fact that, despite the fact I have logged in every single day and completed all event challenges to be able to purchase all of these packs (as I said, with the intention of purchasing most or all of the event items), the event has been designed to only allow one pack to be purchased per week. This means that, no matter how much any player plays and no matter how much currency they have earnt, they are limited in what they are able to purchase, purely due to an artificial and arbitrary timescale. I was not remotely aware of this when playing the event, and have therefore missed out on one of the free available packs, and therefore will need to spend a considerable amount more to purchase all of the event items if I chose to do so. This makes very little sense to me, considering it is only harming your players that play the game THE MOST.

But the second issue, and the issue in which I feel will likely prevent me from purchasing anything during this event, is that these free event packs purchased with event currency CONTRIBUTE TO "PAID PACKS" AS FAR AS THE PRICING SYSTEM IS CONCERNED. So, for example, when any other player would first open their free pack and then consider buying the next pack for just 100 Apex Coins, those that have already redeemed an event pack with the event currency will instead immediately be offered the 500 Apex Coins price. It is impossible for anyone to take advantage of the 90% discount if they open any other free pack. This is only compounded by the fact that these event packs MUST BE PURCHASED WEEKLY as explained above, and so players will unknowingly and inadvertently make the whole event significantly more expensive for themselves, just by playing the actual game. In other words, your players that play the game the most, will also have to pay the most. This seems somewhat unintended - partially due to how little sense it makes to put a higher cost burden on your most loyal player base - but mostly because, despite redeeming an event pack with the event currency, the first purchasable pack was still free. Evidently, there is a system in place to ensure the first pack purchased remains free, and the same system could also accommodate those that have waited to spend money on packs but have redeemed some through event currency in the meantime. I have trouble believing this is anything but an oversight when there were clearly efforts to ensure the first pack maintained its intended price, but every following pack is misattributed to the increased prices intended for those that have purchased multiple packs already.

I'm somewhat disheartened by both of these issues. A lot of the practices we've witnessed with this game for some time now have seemed increasingly predatory - everything from price increases (on top of already being some of the highest prices in the industry) and additional rarities, to removing earned dive trails and making them a paid-for product instead. And this event seemed to be the worst we have seen thus far. I, like many I'm sure, was initially willing to set this aside to support one of my favourite current games collaborating with one of my favourite games of all time, but it's issues like those above that really push away your most dedicated players. I have already spent a considerable amount of money in your game, far more than I have ever spent on any other game, but I don't think I can continue to do so in good conscience with issues such as these.

I've posted all of the above in verbatim to EA themselves, who, as unhelpful as ever, referred me to here.

gameplay discussion

EA_Mako
2 years ago
Hey @JymsC,

Thanks for the lengthy and detailed feedback about this event.

If you were speaking with the support team and they suggested you post here, that'd be the right place!

Our support team is primarily able to help with account or game issues, but they wouldn't have any way to make changes to an ongoing event. Getting feedback passed along for any future events would be the best bet at that point, so you're in the right spot for that.

This tiered discount system for the event packs is a new touch, so I appreciate the details you've shared here. We'll pass the feedback along to the team, thanks again!

4 Replies

EA_Mako
Community Manager
2 years ago
Hey @JymsC,

Thanks for the lengthy and detailed feedback about this event.

If you were speaking with the support team and they suggested you post here, that'd be the right place!

Our support team is primarily able to help with account or game issues, but they wouldn't have any way to make changes to an ongoing event. Getting feedback passed along for any future events would be the best bet at that point, so you're in the right spot for that.

This tiered discount system for the event packs is a new touch, so I appreciate the details you've shared here. We'll pass the feedback along to the team, thanks again!
JymsC
2 years ago
Hello Mako,
Thank you for your response.
Unfortunately, whilst I appreciate that you have read my post and vaguely responded to the issues I've raised, the lack of any kind of support or resolution to the two current issues I have will mean I will undoubtedly not purchase anything during this event, nor am I likely to purchase anything going forward.
It is a shame really. I understand the lack of power you may well have personally in the way of remedying this for me, but from my point of view, I have now exhausted all avenues available to me and still have no meaningful or satisfactory resolution. There should be proper processes to investigate and correct issues such as these, not labyrinthine online forms and FAQs to navigate through, only to end up in the same place you started. It's quite literally the worst possible experience for any of your customers.
EA_Mako
Community Manager
2 years ago
Hi @JymsC,

It's extremely rare to have events completely changed mid-course like this.

The feedback that you've provided is much appreciated, but the way the event currently works is not something that can be changed on an individual basis. Rather, that would be taken into account when looking toward any future events.

That you're not comfortable with purchasing anything going forward due to the nature of this event is completely your call, thanks again for your thoughts on the purchase structure here.
JymsC
2 years ago
Hello Mako,
I feel you're mischaracterising my argument here. I agree that it would be completely unreasonable for any of your players to expect an entire event to change mid-course to appease a few customers who have had a bad experience with it, that is not what I am asking. Despite the fact I know that this is a very simple and easy fix to do, a case of adding a line of code that accounts for bought vs free packs, or even just making the store pricing only count paid-for packs when calculating prices, and despite the fact I know that changes like these have been made in the past when your events were giving away free or discounted packs and that was hurting your profits, I am not expecting a change like this.
My issue, is that despite the fact I've highlighted an easily provable problem I've encountered, one that is preventing me from experiencing the game like other players, making the same purchases or even accessing the same content as other players, there is absolutely nothing you or any member of support are offering to fix this. Your responses essentially amount to "thanks! But no thanks, nothing is changing, none of your problems are being fixed, you get nothing but this response", you're just using different words. That is the experience of mine and any other person in my situation.
To make a very clear, black and white customer service scenario here: good customer service would be something measurable, noticeable and tangible for the customer, something the customer can walk away from the experience with a belief that they have been valued as a customer and that their custom is appreciated. For example, in my specific situation, it could be as simple as "Hey! You're completely right, we can see that even though you are attempting to buy the exact same product as any of our other customers, you are seeing a different price. We would be charging you more for the exact same product everyone else has purchased due to no fault of your own, and that's not right. So here, if you purchase that pack for 500 coins, we will refund 400 of them, so that you will have effectively bought the pack for 100 coins just like everyone else, and going forward, we'll try to make sure we account for these things in future events." Bad customer service would be any response that leads to absolutely no difference being made on the customer's end. That could be anything from no response whatsoever, to a response where you essentially say "the outcome here is not changing, you are going to leave this interaction in the exact same situation as you started." My experience here is the latter. Nothing is being fixed nor is any support being offered in you saying "That you're not comfortable with purchasing anything going forward due to the nature of this event is completely your call".
And if case this needs to be made ever clearer, in the first instance, you leave a customer feeling valued, validated and happy, that they have been cared for and appreciated and that their reaching out made a difference; they are likely to become returning customers that are much more likely to purchase much more. In the latter case, you just lose customers. I don't think I need to explain much more there.
So this is why I first reached out to customer service. I see this as a customer service issue. And, on top of the already-bad customer service I have experienced in which I've essentially been told that absolutely nothing about my situation is going to be changed/fixed/improved for me, I've also been given the customer experience of "here, why don't you run around through our various forums, FAQs and live chat personnel, only still for your experience to remain exactly the same - except now, you've wasted a bunch of your time too!". I'm not sure how much clearer I can make this.