4818 réponses à ce sujet

[TastyLaksa]

../../../images/forum/icon_navbar_main.gif Created about 2 days ago



Howdy everyone.

I've
been given an early Christmas present in the form of an amazingly
talented person to help as part of Community here at BioWare. I want
you all to meet Victor Wachter.

Victor joins the Community team
in the role of Community Facilitator. This means he is going to help
take all of the information you supply us (feedback both positive and
negative, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc) and help make sure they
reach the Dev team. He is also going to work with the Dev team to get
information they need (specific questions the team may have or feedback
they require) as well as helping present information from them to you.

He
comes to us with a vast amount of experience working with or leading
Community teams for some of the biggest video game companies around. He
has a lot of cool new ideas to help improve communication and
information exchange around here and will work with me, the Dev team
and volunteer moderators to make sure what is said reaches the ears of
those who want or need to hear it.

Over the next few weeks
you'll be seeing some changes (all for the better) to the forums here
as we work to improve your experience with Dragon Age and the Social
site. I will let Victor speak for himself and he'll explain more about
what he'll be doing here and some of the changes you'll be seeing soon.

So
please wellcome Victor. Treat him AT LEAST as well as you treat me, for
liek me, he wields the mighty banhammer of justice. Sure, he may not be
as kind and nice as you all know me to be (stop laughing), but he's a
pretty good guy.

Say hello VIctor. ../../../images/forum/emoticons/smile.png



../../../images/forum/emoticons/devil.png

I hereby debunk the theory that there are no BIOWARE people working. Cause i think this be a Bioware post?

[Jokerman321]

Lohe wrote...

What a big fun to read some peoples posts. lol. calm down. its just a game. you pc people have got 2 patches so far and still cry for more. we console people (the ones who like the fast-paced action games, the ones who never can sit still ) are calmer than you with all the support BW provides atm for you. I would release the dlc for console first now. The PC gamer will surely tear the DLC to pieces due to their own overrated expectations and if something is not the way it should be in that DLC..omg, thats not an easy job Bioware. Dont want to chang positions Like with Duke Nukem....3drealms knows how high the gamer-expectations are - it will NEVER be released, believe me :-)

i would agree being a console gamer myself and all.

[Thomohawk]

TastyLaksa wrote...

Thomohawk wrote...

Holy hell there's alot of ****ing on this thread, especially from the guy with the "software purchasing buisiness". Good god man just go and read a f*cking book or something.

Maybe he IS reading a book AND posting on this forum. You can do both you know? If your point is he needs a life. You're ignoring the fact that whinning on forums can be a fun life too. And that's again assuming you can't have a life AND post on this forums.

Whinning about whinning is not whinning?

Oh yah do you mean read a book or read a sex book? cause if it's the latter do you have any suggestions. Twilight? is that a good sex book? 

Twilight seems like it would be the soft porn of the sex book industry. But I digress...I simply meant we could all be doing something productive instead of, well, this. Of course you make a good point. For some reason we as civilized peoples cannot stay away from some good old fashioned online drama.

This thread gave me a headache.

[Jokerman321]

anything relateing to twilight is just awful the book it self is a fail that of course meaning im not a vampire fan im a dragon fan why do you think i bought the game anyway bioware you got a new fan.

[Verticae]

Disection? Enchantment!

Broken1477 wrote...

Thank you, Torias.  You have just made my future gaming decisions for me, rather who I WON'T be purchasing software from.  This goes back to my first post, and BioWare's biggest problem...bad business.

You've managed to find one flaw in Bioware's otherwise near-perfect reputation. Good going. I'm sure there's no developers anywhere who've delayed games for more than a year.

Hello Mr. Customer, I see you are interested in purchasing this house/car/computer/cup of coffee/comic book, but "life is a series of challenges" and we are simply not professionals and therefore we cannot provide you with your product at this time.  Don't get upset!  "It's something you shrug at and move on to something else for now."

Yes, it would indeed have been very professional to release a product that wasn't yet ready. Another good professional quality is to base your decisions on the words of a spokesperson of the company you're dealing with, not a forum moderator. Although Torias has a big 'moderator' stamp, it doesn't mean he is in any way responsible for BioWare's actions. I would imagine, though, that he's sick and tired of all these rants on the forums, including yours. After all, moderating the forums is what he does.

Well, I have moved on.  I have moved on to anything that doesn't have a BioWare label attached to it.  You have insulted me, your customer, and my hard earned money.  Don't worry, though, I will continue to use and abuse your Dragon Age:  Origins title.  I will likely use and abuse your future products, as well.  You won't have to worry about my complaints, though, as I will likely be obtaining all of your future releases via B i t T o r r e n t or the like.  I would have gladly paid for them, but I can't bring myself to, now.  It's a matter of principle, you see.

I assume that if your wife would be five minutes late at your wedding, you'd start using and abusing her without any official ties, too? I mean, it's a matter of principles, you see.

I am also in the process of cancelling our orders for BioWare's products.  Oops, I didn't mention that I am the software buyer for the chain of computer stores that I co-own.  Gee, you didn't see that one coming, did you?  When my customers ask why we don't carry your titles, I'll show them this response, and explain that, for BioWare  "life is a series of challenges" and given BioWare's unreliability and poor customer service, we have chosen to spare you, our customer, the frustration of dealing with them.  If you want it, order it, but you won't find it here.  We appreciate you as a customer and don't want to be associated with any problems you may have with them.

I very much doubt that you have any connection to a store. If you would have, you would have tried to contact BioWare officially, rather than whine on a public(!) forum. This is not customer service, and the response you base this entire rant on, is the response of a non-employee; a forum moderator. If you cannot distinguish the two, I don't think you're competent enough to work in any store whatsoever.

Speaking of competence, nobody ever said tht life was a series of challenges for BioWare employees. It was directed at the wailers, such as yourself.

I have seen, perhaps the largest television ad campaign for DA: O than for any release in YEARS.  It's a shame that you couldn't have spent a little of that massive advertising budget on meeting your own, self imposed deadlines.  In the end, how can you measure how much business you have lost due to this?  This thread alone is reaching 200 pages and is being posted on by your disenfranchised customers every minute.  Surely I am not the only one who has a bad taste in their mouth from this. 

It's DLC. It's an hour's worth of gameplay. Surely, the fact that many people have already spent 100+ hours on the game, and are apparantly anticipating that tiny extra hour enough to post about it, means that they suck.


I'm sure you try and sound very professional, but you don't. Next to the blatant lack of reading comprehension, and little to no understanding of commercial infrastructure, you're actually saying you'll go and illegally download games from now on. If you were indeed in the software business, advocating piracy would be commercial suicide.


Nice try though, I'll give you that much.

Modifié par Verticae, 27 décembre 2009 - 11:16 .

[Tigg]

So, when to expect this DLC ?

Now is holiday already.

[Abbatrl]

I hope i can buy these DLC from Russia ... Offcourse when DLC come out

[Broken1477]

Bomfy wrote...

Broken1477 wrote...

Thank you, Torias. You have just made my future gaming decisions for me, rather who I WON'T be purchasing software from. This goes back to my first post, and BioWare's biggest problem...bad business.



Hello Mr. Customer, I see you are interested in purchasing this house/car/computer/cup of coffee/comic book, but "life is a series of challenges" and we are simply not professionals and therefore we cannot provide you with your product at this time. Don't get upset! "It's something you shrug at and move on to something else for now."



Well, I have moved on. I have moved on to anything that doesn't have a BioWare label attached to it. You have insulted me, your customer, and my hard earned money. Don't worry, though, I will continue to use and abuse your Dragon Age: Origins title. I will likely use and abuse your future products, as well. You won't have to worry about my complaints, though, as I will likely be obtaining all of your future releases via B i t T o r r e n t or the like. I would have gladly paid for them, but I can't bring myself to, now. It's a matter of principle, you see.



I am also in the process of cancelling our orders for BioWare's products. Oops, I didn't mention that I am the software buyer for the chain of computer stores that I co-own. Gee, you didn't see that one coming, did you? When my customers ask why we don't carry your titles, I'll show them this response, and explain that, for BioWare "life is a series of challenges" and given BioWare's unreliability and poor customer service, we have chosen to spare you, our customer, the frustration of dealing with them. If you want it, order it, but you won't find it here. We appreciate you as a customer and don't want to be associated with any problems you may have with them.



I have seen, perhaps the largest television ad campaign for DA: O than for any release in YEARS. It's a shame that you couldn't have spent a little of that massive advertising budget on meeting your own, self imposed deadlines. In the end, how can you measure how much business you have lost due to this? This thread alone is reaching 200 pages and is being posted on by your disenfranchised customers every minute. Surely I am not the only one who has a bad taste in their mouth from this.



Thanks again for showing me how I am a valued customer.

Interesting, you will show your customers a reply stating that you will willingly steal a product by downloading them. Oh sure, you will have some great attempt at a justification about how they have wronged you so horribly by not being keeping us informed minute by minute and how dare they have a delay when technically it's still considered a holiday season. Even if it's late it still happens, you have never told a customer that there was a delay/problem you could do nothing about? I know the answer is yes, it happens.



Now about the part in which you acknowledge that you would steal willingly and without remorse. Any customer with half a mind would not give you any business and would tell people about you. How could they know you aren't trying to screw them in some manner? You have just admitted to being a thief. People tend not to give money to untrustworthy people, you know, it's a matter of principle, you see. Not to mention people probably won't care in the slightest that BioWare got you upset, they just want to give you the money and get the game. I know that if a store I used was not stocking a game because one of the co-owners was making a point that kept me from buying it, I'd never ever give your store a dime. It's a matter of principle, you see. So please, tell us all the name of the great chain you have so we can start telling people why they should buy from someone who admitted they will steal games and not carry them because he has a problem with the company.



Edit - Lastly this thread is well under 150 pages, so claiming reaching 200 is jumping the gun. It probably will hit 200, but it may hit 350 as well.

I meant I would show them Torias' ridiculously callous and sarcastic, non-customer-friendly reply. As to the use of my personal computer, that is my business. When ANY of you can honestly say that you own the legally obtained rights to EVERY SINGLE MP3, WMA, WMV, AVI, JPEG, GIF, or other media file stored on your computer, then you can throw the first stone at me, otherwise you're a crook and need to spend your afternoon reformatting your hard drive...wouldn't want to accidentally miss one. Oh, and keep in mind, this DLC costs less than most full length albums, so if you have more than 5 or 6 MP3s that you ripped from a friend's CD, you have already exceeded the dollar amount of what you are attempting to chastise me over.



If I choose not to carry Brand X laptops because they have a history of poor customer service and how frustrating their service department was, I trust you would understand. If you were still determined to purchase a Brand X laptop, the fact that I choose not to carry them isn't going to stop you, is it?



Now, when there is a customer issue. There is ALWAYS something you can do. If you have a problem you feel you have no control over, you aren't trying hard enough. There are diplomatic, courteous, and proper ways to communicate a possible delay to a customer. The biggest issue is that you communicate it with your customers! People are much more understanding when you pick up the phone, write an email, etc. If you brought your computer to my service department and I kept it for two weeks without calling you, you'd consider filing charges against me. Would YOU accept it if I said:



"1) Relax and calm down.

2) Go do something else.

3) I will call you when we get around to getting your laptop finished

4) Buy another computer for now, if you really need a computer right away.



Complaining about stuff is just wasting your time. No amounts of cries of betrayal and pr disaster and other nonsense is going to make any difference in the world. It's just screaming into an abyss of bits.

If it makes you feel better, fine, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and then go do something fun with your free time.

If it reinforces your frustration, then take a breath and walk away

Life is a series of challenges, and quite frankly, getting your computer back to you barely even counts as a challenge. It's something you shrug at and move on to something else for now."



Yes, I do feel that BioWare owes me, as do many in this forum. Should I pirate the DLC? No,probably not...will I pirate the DLC? We shall see.



You are absolutely correct that people don't do business with people they perceive as dishonest, just look at how they didn't wait for an investigation, they simply stopped doing business with Enron ($63.4 billion), Bernie Madoff ($17 billion), and...wait for it...The biggest of all, The United States Government ($12.1 trillion)



I apologize that my opinion is my own, and I cannot speak for my business partner, as I don't know if they necessarily share said opinion. For this reason, I cannot speak for him, and therefore, speak for the company as a whole. I never said my meager 4 stores was a grand chain, but we keep our promises, and we have done so for 14 years since we opened. Sometimes we have people work in service all night because we have committed to the customer that we would have the task done. I don't have anyone pulling voluntary all-nighters this week, but I also don't have anyone's computer that's not going to be repaired on time. I also don't have any outstanding customer orders that I can't fill because I MANAGE MY BUSINESS. I treat it as a business.



Finally, I suppose as a matter of principle you would stop shopping at Wal-Mart because they stopped carrying your favorite brand/kind of fresh produce due to the fact that they could contain E. coli. If this is your philosophy on your retail store choices, you're going to have a mighty short list of stores you're willing to shop at. I suppose your reaction would be the same if Wal-Mart was out of stock or backordered on a particular item, and I'm also willing to bet that you wouldn't even ask the blue-smocked Wal-Martian how their store could have the gall to not have the product YOU want to buy. Yep, never stepping into Wal-Mart again...until I want that cereal that costs half the price of my local grocery store, that is.



The point is, when you allow a manufacturer, service provider, or retailer to disappoint you, You are giving them carte blanche to both keep doing it AND test the limits of how much they can disappoint you. If you will deal with some disappointment, then they have you in the palm of their hand. The only weapon you have against a manufacturer is withholding your money. Business runs on bottom lines, and if you are still willing to bend over and smile as you hand them your dollar, you can bet that they won't change a thing. Almost every retailer in the US has lowered their standards for customer service and cut staff in their stores. We are in a recession. If they raise the price, you won't be as likely to buy, so they have to find a way to cut overhead. The quickest way to do so is to thin staff, which causes a decline in their customer service, yet you willingly make your weekly pilgrimage to the retail Mecca like all the rest of the drones, oblivious to the compromise you have made. Now, who's the real thief, someone who downloads an occasional song, etc., or the retailer/manufacturer who has trained you like a puppy to accept poor service and like it.

[Tigg]

Hey Broken1477,

did you know when this DLC will be release?

[Count-JN]

Mr Broken1477



So you are basic saying that you or your company do not order anything from AMD, Intel, Microsoft or any other big companies what have delayed they promised product date and not informed it properly? Also you or your company never use any service from your country mail system, after all they have (I am 100% sure from it) time to time messed up packages. Not to forgetting banks.. oh my..



I just have to ask, will it not bother you to ask your customers to bring ALL needed items when you repair they computers? After all you can not buy them for you self (based from your own logic)

[Saiino]

Broken1477 wrote...
blah blah blah

Woah, i think someone needs a valium and get a long rest.

If a business disappoint people, the people will stop buying, end of story. No need to write a book about it, which also emphasizes that your self appointed business man statement is bollox.

In a world where so many are struggling to get by/stay alive on a daily basis, you people whine about a computer game addon.

Shame on you.

Modifié par Saiino, 27 décembre 2009 - 12:34 .

[J.F.C.C.McDondy]

Serious business indeed.

[Lohe]

Well maybe its because christmas time. nerves are down and so on. Someone should close this thread. 137 pages. omg. thats more than a monster, thats pure madness. and i dont think torias said something unfriendly to customers - he just spoke the truth. go out, take a deep breath of fresh air, drive bicycle, play with your dog -> but it doesnt change anything to post in here and getting this monster about 200 pages at the end.



The addon will come "when its done". Dont get whats the problem with such a declaration?

[LynxAQ]

Regardless of what Broken1477 said about piracy etc (I dont agree with btw), he has got a point about the rudeness of the comment made by the community representitive.



Had that been where I worked and someone spoke to customers with that disregard, his job would of been on the chopping board.

[Spaghetti_Ninja]

The forums get so messy with all the quoting, so I'll just leave in the juicy bits.

Broken1477 wrote...

...ridiculously callous and sarcastic, non-customer-friendly reply.

...then you can throw the first stone at me, otherwise you're a crook...

...you have already exceeded the dollar amount of what you are attempting to chastise me over...

...will I pirate the DLC? We shall see...

...I MANAGE MY BUSINESS. I treat it as a business...

You are giving them carte blanche to both keep doing it AND test the limits of how much they can disappoint you...

...and if you are still willing to bend over and smile as you hand them your dollar...

...yet you willingly make your weekly pilgrimage to the retail Mecca like all the rest of the drones...

...who has trained you like a puppy...

It's too bad you can't sell frustration, otherwise you would have a real goldmine on your hands.

Modifié par Spaghetti_Ninja, 27 décembre 2009 - 12:46 .

[Grommash94]

Torias was frank imo. He could have chosen his words more carefully, but he wasn't outright rude.

[LynxAQ]

Lohe wrote...

Well maybe its because christmas time. nerves are down and so on. Someone should close this thread. 137 pages. omg. thats more than a monster, thats pure madness. and i dont think torias said something unfriendly to customers - he just spoke the truth. go out, take a deep breath of fresh air, drive bicycle, play with your dog -> but it doesnt change anything to post in here and getting this monster about 200 pages at the end.

The addon will come "when its done". Dont get whats the problem with such a declaration?

Doesnt matter whether or not he was being honest, when you are in the retail industry and sell products to the general public, sometimes being "honest" is not the right way.

His post can be summarised as "You people are a bunch of whining losers who need to get some sun and do something else..." I am surprised he is allowed to keep his job.

There was nothing wrong with saying "when it's done", but the rest of his post was uncalled for, and btw so was the whole "I am gonna pirate now" etc etc.

[Grommash94]

He is just a moderator though, he isn't part of the retail industry,

[Little Paw]

essarr71 wrote...

Little Paw wrote...

You don't get it, WE WANT TO BUY THEIR GAMES!!!
My customers don't complain because they dislike my company; they complain because they DO like it and want us to be better when we let them down.
Get it?

So.. lets say you make a very popular successful business endevour, so successful that you decide its a good idea to continue to build on it, even tho it's already made you a butt-ton of cash and you've got other projects that could use your attention.

Now, since you're such an awesome guy, and all about the consumer, you announce an expansion on your project which is greeted with great enthusiasm, until they get a wiff of what it is youre going to sell - the people dont like it, think you might be short changing them, taking advantage of their loyalty.  They make suggestions - because they feel invested too.  So, under no obligation to do so, you go about adding more trinkets to keep the customers happy and you decide to lower the price, doing more work for less.. cause you're all about the customer.  Now, thanks to some stupid shipping company (we'll call them xbox and ps3 inc) you're going to have to wait for the final touches to be prepared.  Regretfully, you say to your loyal customers: "hey! we're doing all this great stuff that you asked for, and I really was hoping to get it to you by christmas, but thanks to some complications due to the changes, it might take an extra week!  thanks for your patience, we'll get it to ya as soon as possible!"

And here comes the day after christmas, and all these customers youve been working to satisfy, despite you not breaking any promises, despite you going out of your way to help them, are ready to torch your store. 

What do you do, little?  Early release for the locals?  xbox and ps3 inc is going to be pissed, and the people who get the product shipped to them by that company are going to feel deliberately crossed.  That wouldn't be too consumerific, would it?

When it hits jan 3rd, ill eat the hat you bought if its not released.  Until then you people need to frickin chill - its just an hour long dlc.  Priorities people.. priorities!

Essar - you make a few good points, but you are using quite a bit of conjecture in your response.
If they simply are releasing it late because they are making it better, then say that, instead of the silence. It was alluded to, but not really expressed. I suppose lowering the price a dollar (that makes me giggle) is one way of quelling the consumer, if that dollar REALLY meant something to me. To others it might, I will not speak for them.
I expressed in another post that I am the consumer with money to spend, not a fanboy, or a hardcore gamer. To most businesses I am a core client, but maybe not in gaming.
My business model would include having these lesser DLCs user ready well before the release of the intial game, a la Wardens Keep. Have a few more bullets in the gun and you can please the eguest even more.
If the hold up is one of the three platforms, then say it.
We are living in an information age, albeit usually bad information, but the excuse that people are "taking a holiday" like we are living in Brixton in the 1950's is a joke.
How long does a post expressing where they are with the release take?
If a customer contacts me while I am taking leisure time and it is important, I take the time to respond.
I do not see an out of office disclaimer on this website.
Also, if the holiday season, which is debatable, was really after Xmas then so many people wouldn't have expected it to be out already.
Children and students might be off this week until after New Year's but that is not all gamers.

Modifié par Little Paw, 27 décembre 2009 - 01:40 .

[bibgar]

Yet he is a representative of Bioware...still, while his comment may be construed as rude and demeaning to forum goers it is symptomatic of the situation. Gamers and fans frustrated about the release of the DLC, and mods getting frustrated by all the negativity in the posts.



Bioware made the announcement, gave a date, and we're all waiting for delivery. Time might not be up, but if this is how the first release of DLC (excluding day one DLC) is going to be handled...well let's just say we can expect a lot longer threads over the next two years.

[Silensfurtim]

lol @ additional achievements = making it better

[Broken1477]

[quote]Verticae wrote...

Disection? Enchantment!

You've managed to find one flaw in Bioware's otherwise near-perfect reputation. Good going. I'm sure there's no developers anywhere who've delayed games for more than a year.[/quote]



[quote]
Yep, and Duke Nukem's lack of release did wonders for 3DRealms, too...promises, promises.[/quote]

[quote]Yes, it would indeed have been very professional to release a product that wasn't yet ready. Another good professional quality is to base your decisions on the words of a spokesperson of the company you're dealing with, not a forum moderator. Although Torias has a big 'moderator' stamp, it doesn't mean he is in any way responsible for BioWare's actions. I would imagine, though, that he's sick and tired of all these rants on the forums, including yours. After all, moderating the forums is what he does.[/quote]

 
[quote]
No, professionalism would have been to allocate the appropriate resources to complete the project.  Professionalism would be keeping the moderators who are speaking for your company on a customer-service friendly level.[/quote]

[quote]I assume that if your wife would be five minutes late at your wedding, you'd start using and abusing her without any official ties, too? I mean, it's a matter of principles, you see.[/quote]



[quote]And she's never been late since...[/quote]

[quote]I very much doubt that you have any connection to a store. If you would have, you would have tried to contact BioWare officially, rather than whine on a public(!) forum. This is not customer service, and the response you base this entire rant on, is the response of a non-employee; a forum moderator. If you cannot distinguish the two, I don't think you're competent enough to work in any store whatsoever.[/quote]
 
[quote]
And I will contact them on Monday morning when their offices open.  Paid or not, a moderator is speaking for the company.  No two ways about it.  Interesting that you question my ability to run a business.  Is it because I provide excellent customer service and expect the companies I deal with to do the same?  Is it because the concept of a retailer is actually trying to provide good service such a foreign concept to you?  Most buyers and retailers do surf the forums to find out what customers like, what they are tired of, and what they want more of.  This particular instance just happens to pertain to a title I am currently using.[/quote]

[quote]Speaking of competence, nobody ever said tht life was a series of challenges for BioWare employees. It was directed at the wailers, such as yourself.[/quote]


[quote]I disagree with your interpretation of the moderator's intent, but regardless, insulting your customers is hardly the way to keep them coming back and buying your product. [/quote]


[quote]It's DLC. It's an hour's worth of gameplay. Surely, the fact that many people have already spent 100+ hours on the game, and are apparantly anticipating that tiny extra hour enough to post about it, means that they suck.[/quote]
 
[quote]
So why exactly are you here, are you here to insult the people posting?  What are you bringing to the forum?  Everyone who is angry wanted to have the DLC by Christmas.  I guess by saying we all suck, you validate yourself somehow?  Are you fourteen?  Does your mom know you are playing a game rated "M"?  Did they forget to set the parental controls?[/quote]


[quote]I'm sure you try and sound very professional, but you don't. Next to the blatant lack of reading comprehension, and little to no understanding of commercial infrastructure, you're actually saying you'll go and illegally download games from now on. If you were indeed in the software business, advocating piracy would be commercial suicide.[/quote]
 
[quote]
In what world am I not professional?  I am in my living room, not the board room.  I don't have to be professional here.  If you'd like a lesson in unprofessionalism, read the moderator's comment.  I think you have to go through specialized training to be THAT unprofessional.  The only non-professional thing I have done today is take the time to reply to your post.  Saying I have no understanding of commercial infrastructure, is ludicrous,  Commercial infrastructure is the very heart of my complaint.  BioWare is not providing their end of the upstream customer demand.  Furthermore, they are not willing to explain why they are failing to do so, therefore, with respect to demand for commercial infrastructure the key is maintaining competition in the output markets for a product they have promised to supply.  BioWare is not maintaining a competitive edge in the market because they have dropped the ball with this DLC.  This places them in a non-strategic position, because they are showing the world that they cannot make good on their claims.  Perhaps BioWare needs the refresher course in commercial infrastructure.  Besides anyone in the PC software business knows there's no real profit margin in it.  Stores carry it as more of a convenience/add-on item.  The only exceptions are high dollar items like MS Office, Windows, Peachtree Accounting, etc.  Otherwise, it's a lost leader.  You don't see free-standing PC software stores.  There's no money in it, and frankly, it only accounts for 5-8% of gross profit.  No business can stand on that.[/quote]
 
[quote]Nice try though, I'll give you that much.[/quote]
 
 
[quote]
Thanks! 
[/quote]

[Little Paw]

Charliff01 wrote...

Bioware can't win:

Bioware - We promised to launch this holliday season
Customer - I want it now!!!
Bioware - It isnt ready for release!
Customer - You promised so i want it now!
Bioware - Ok here you have it
Customer - Hey it's full of bugs and errors you should have delayed the release until it was ready!
Bioware - *sigh*

Can we agree that "I want it now" is not all of our reasons for posting?
Some of us are discussing the business practices, or lack of, in regard to this DLC.
Also, the amount of people posting here is not THAT large a group. I am sure the late arrival of the DLC is not a "PR nightmare". They are not legally bound to the announcement.
I am sure Bioware and EA have plenty of people that assess various situations that go well, and that do not go well.
Perhaps some of the info in this thread gives some intelligent insight into what some consumers would like, are not pleased with, or suggest for the future.
DLCs are a relatively new business.
My biggest change would be having the calendar, production, and readiness of the DLCs more in hand before the release of the initial game. Perhaps the original deadline of the game prevents this but, if the gaming company had a few more user ready DLCs already in the works, like they did with Warden's Keep which was genius IMO - this is what would happen:
1. People would buy them all since the first playthrough is where the gamer has the passion and fire to acquire "all things relevant to the game". Now your game is worth $70-$80 out of the gate.
2. You would not be up agaianst future game releases; even your own.
3. You would not have to announce a release you can't meet - yes, I know the gaming industry is known for this, but that does not mean we have to accept it, or they do.
4. Other companies that can't do this would have to buck up and meet Bioware's standard, which is already preety high.

Peace.

[JanHenDAO]

bibgar wrote...

Bioware made the announcement, gave a date, and we're all waiting for delivery. Time might not be up, but if this is how the first release of DLC (excluding day one DLC) is going to be handled...well let's just say we can expect a lot longer threads over the next two years.

I think most people will just leave and walk on.

Modifié par JanHenDAO, 27 décembre 2009 - 01:54 .

[Grommash94]

It is still the holiday season, and will continue to be so until New Year's Day. If it isn't released by then, then yes, they would have broken their promise...



I think though, that it is apparent that it is out of their hands though. That post some time back pretty much insinuated that. Yes, they should come and say it directly...but they haven't. IMO it isn't cause for outrage. But, to each his own I suppose.