Dear Blizzard,
I've been a loyal fan since the Warcraft 3 days and been playing WoW since the US Open Beta (including searching NYC Phone directory to find somebody with my name, so I could enter an address for registration). I have had an active WoW subscription (and sometimes even two or more) for at least 10 of the past 12 years and have spent more on Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm than my girlfriend on shoes. On a yearly basis I stayed up until 5am to watch BlizzCon, despite the time difference of living in Europe. Even when I found out I had to start from scratch because my career took me to Australia and I had to leave my veteran toons behind on the EU servers, I bit the bullet, spent more money and re-bought a game I had owned for nearly a decade.
I have been around for a while and seen it all.
But today, for the first time, I was severely disappointed by you.
I am referring to ticket number EU55233632 on my girlfriend Verena’s account [email protected].
While we were living in Australia I had already purchased WoW and WoD for my girlfriend, on the Oceanic Realm Frostmourne. When we moved back to Germany, I bought her the same again, so we could play together.
Unfortunately, through the stress that comes with an intercontinental move, she did not immediately find a chance to play. So I was excited, when she told me that we could play this past weekend.
After leveling countless twinks and several accounts, I suggested that we start with our level 90 boosts, so we could experience the WoD and not level through old content yet again. You may feel differently, but I am pretty sure I will not be able to motivate my girlfriend (a fickle gamer) or even myself to painfully grind through a decade old expansion such as Outland, with it’s dated quest mechanics and lack of immersion… for the umpteenth time. Similarly, there is a reason no one plays FIFA 2007 on PS2 anymore.
Unfortunately, after logging in for the first time, she couldn’t find a level 90 boost. After some research and speaking to several GMs it turns out, the level 90 boosts have apparently been permanently disabled, since May 17th, when WoD was entered into the battlechest collection.
Despite this issue being around for 3 months, it took three GMs and three tickets until I was finally told what the root cause is. In the meantime I was told to delete folders, change passwords, uninstall addon managers, reboot and even reinstall the game (which has grown to a hefty 36 Gigabytes by now), which took quite a substantial amount of time and effort on my end - all in vain. Don't get me wrong: your GMs were always polite and mostly friendly - but ultimately, they were clueless.
Finally, one GM found out that the Level 90 boost had been disabled for European accounts and told me the solution was to pre-purchase Legion and gain a level 100 boost (Which doesn’t actually help us play the fantastic WoD content).
That response really disappointed me. Being clueless is one thing, but being clueless and greedy is another.
I am the owner of no less than 4 copies of WoW & WoD (2x EU, 2x US / Oceania) and I expected to receive the following:
Level 90 boost
RAF bonus
Free month of play time
Of these, I have received nothing.
The level 90 boost is gone and apparently irreplaceable in Europe (it works fine in the US and no one knows why!).
The RAF bonus can’t be activated and the free month of game time fizzled away without ever been logged into once.
I asked about possibly getting some form of compensation, such as reactivating the Recruit a Friend bonus, so we could reach level 90 the conventional way - faster. I was told 'that's not how RAF works', because the purchase of WoW had taken place more than 30 days ago. The fact that my girlfriend had not logged in, until a few days ago, was irrelevant. Instead the proposed solution was to simply start over yet again, or throw more money at the game and pre-purchase Legion.
I am not looking for something I have not paid for, nor am I asking for some unfair advantage towards any other players. I simply want to share the amazing experience of questing in WoD with my girlfriend and get her to love you and all Blizzard games as much as I do.
Since I have not received anything I paid for, I have decided to ask for a refund of my purchase of WoD #176978850.
I realize that €14,99 won't even register with Blizzard-Activision. In fact, it barely even registers with me. When I started first playing, I saved my allowance and worked part time next to school to afford being able to play World of Warcraft. Nowadays, my hourly rate and the time I spent writing this mail is worth far more than €14,99.
So why even bother? I could easily just follow your GM's advice and pre-purchase Legion for my girlfriend - I have already done so for myself anyway. But I don't feel the attitude you displayed is deserving of more money.
I won't make empty threats of boycotting or badmouthing Blizzard, because let's face it: I love you and will continue to play your outstanding games. Odds are, my girlfriend will never understand why, now.
The blind faith that I had in you and your desire to be a company from players for players has been tarnished and this is the only way I know how to express my disappointment in you.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours faithfully,
Patrick
