Blizzard's CS Meltdown... What Exactly Went Wrong? The Weekly reset WoW News

[00:06] another episode of the weekly reset. Talson and Everel's wondrous wisdom show in a week where we're going to be talking about swearing in what they're

[00:18] calling the customer service meltdown. >> If that sounds like a weird topic to spend the main part of a video talking about, then um I'm lucky, I guess, cuz I just wrote nine pages on it somehow. It's a discourse.

[00:31] and dive into that one, here's Everel with a rundown of the week's news. with a rundown of the week's news. Welcome to Ey's news rundown. With 200 guilds having successfully downed mythic wind chimes, Blizzard has confirmed that

[00:47] the Hall of Fame for mythic march on Queldon is now full. Unlucky immortalis Argentu just missed it. Congratulations to all famed slayers of the dark naru.

[00:59] Great title on their achievement, which will be even more impressive now that Blizz has announced wide-ranging nerfs to mythic lura immediately after the closure of the hall of fame. These are meant to mitigate the so-called phase 1

[01:13] wipe fest, reducing the number of glaes up at one time from 10 to 5 and nerfing star splinter and criticality damage by 20%. What are you waiting for? PTR news

[01:25] 12.0.7 is on the horizon with a predicted release date of June 16th based on seeing Turbulent Timeways, Dark Spear Dash, and the Midsummer Festival being listed as starting on the 16th in the in-game calendar. And with that,

[01:41] the in-game calendar. And with that, data mining on the PTR is in full swing. Loads of new mounts and achievements have been data mined, including for the invasion points, Nigal, and Val, each of which has their own meta achievement.

[01:54] Completing the Val meta achievement, a trip around the stars, requires completing the usual quest lines, world quests, and rares, and rewards the voidmancer's starver, a void themed

[02:08] surfboard, which I'm not going to give my verdict on until I can see exactly how stupid my character looks at top it. Nigttowal, on the other hand, requires completing a trip through the stars and rewards you with the Star Mech Cosmic

[02:22] Collapser, a mount that sounds really godamn cool and which technically is, but of course is also just a recolor of the light forged Warframe from Argus. And just to muddle your sense of time passing even further, Dragonflight Time

[02:39] walking is coming in 12.0.7. And of course with it loads of goodies and rewards to try and make you feel better about the fact that we are now in better about the fact that we are now in fact doing dragon flight time walking.

[02:51] There's this nice obsidian egg staff and this cool tiny whimy sword. But have you this cool tiny whimy sword. But have you seen this actually genuinely really good Netheran themed helm and shoulder set and this full druid of the flame kit and

[03:05] the dark version of the ultimate good boy mount Tyan, the Blackford Bakar. Is he supposed to be the evil version of Tyan? There is no evil version of Tyan. And who could say no to the liquid hot magma slug? I know I couldn't. You'll

[03:21] need to save up those time warped badges though because collecting these will not be cheap. God, does this mean I have to do time walking now? Notable among the goodies and cosmetics coming in 12.0.7 is a new toy called the photo finisher.

[03:35] This is a toy that allows you to summon a bronze welping in a raid who then automatically screen grabs your boss kills. This is cool in theory, but one requires you to remember to summon the little guy to make it happen. Two,

[03:49] doesn't actually always manage to get the screen grab as of right now on the PTR, and three, literally just grabs your screen from your POV UI and all. I hesitate to say it, but I'm pretty sure there's an add-on that does all of this

[04:05] and better. So, why not just download Momento instead? This is, of course, the PTR, so huge changes could be coming as we speak. But, I'm just saying there's an add-on for that. God, I've been downloading so many add-ons since the

[04:20] death of add-ons. And as always, we'll be providing links to the relevant Wow Head articles in the description below relating to everything we've talked about in today's video. So go peruse at your leisure. Lastly, sorry if my voice

[04:33] has sounded a bit tired today. I just feel a bit rund down. our job is to report WoW news knowledge also discourse.

[04:48] >> And this has undoubtedly been the main discourse of the week, the customer discourse of the week, the customer service meltdown. First up, here's what happened. A player of the popular video game World of Warcraft.com tweeted at

[05:03] the America's customer service department regarding their banned WoW account. A player who, for the purposes of this video, we will be calling player A because this is the internet and the internet is very weird. I know you

[05:15] correspondence with Blizzard, showing them repeatedly asking why the account had been banned and receiving standard template responses that didn't give any specific answers to the player beyond that initial ban text which said it was

[05:29] because of inappropriate communication. That includes abusive chat, advertisement, spamming, or other communication that violates our code of conduct. It was not an especially long ban. All of this happened last week, and

[05:42] player A is already back in the game. But their initial tweet definitely has the kind of exasperated tone to it that you might recognize and expect from someone who has been fruitlessly trying to get any meaningful communication from

[05:56] actually impressive how this company owned by a company worth over $2 trillion can't have a support system that doesn't just spew AI written [\h__\h] back to me. How are you this terrible dude? Blizzard CS Blizzard and

[06:11] Warcraft. This tweet was then met with a response from the tagged Blizzard CS of the Americas account which said, "I just looked at the logs. You seem to have a fondness for dropping fbombs. Even one if reported is enough, BJ." And this

[06:26] response got people talking in a good way, of course, and especially on the forums where users were full of praise for Blizzard's quick response and human were paid to the way that the customer service agent PJ wrote in a way that

[06:43] expressed personality and due diligence and care for the consumer with even this low-key calling out. They now accepted the 6day ban and no it's a [\h__\h] show obviously. So I need to report anyone that says in a video game tell me

[06:58] me Blizzard is a lost cause. I thought this was woow not Hello Kitty Island Adventure. You guys have a profanity filter in game. Are you people stupid? Blizzard is cucked. WoW has become a gay

[07:11] other. I thought the law was supposed to be dark, grizzly, and you know about war. Being suspended for saying is pretty unless he was harassing someone. Enable language filters by default and allow people to say freely. I don't know

[07:26] the full context of the guy's ban. Probably deserved it, but let me say for sake. And yes, I know there is a huge irony in us bleeping out swears in this video of all videos, but Blizz has their profanti filter, we have our

[07:39] monetization filter. So anyway, almost 34 hours later after this had become viral and the talk of the WoW town, there was another response on this post

[07:51] from Blizzard. Hey all, jumping in here. The way we engaged with this post isn't the quality we expect of ourselves or each other at Blizzard. Customer service guidance. We want to make our policies clear and we want you all to feel

[08:04] comfortable reaching out. To be clear, cursing is not blanket punished within our games. Context matters and in this case, the context warranted upholding the action. Thank you for making your voices heard. Now off. Oh no, sorry. And

[08:18] we will work to communicate with more clarity moving forward. So that's the story reported. Good. And now we're going to pick this apart and work out what is actually going on here in a segment we are calling multiple things

[08:32] segment we are calling multiple things can be true at the same time. First and this is the most important bit. Okay, that's why I'm putting it first because it's the most important bit. People are tired of Blizzard customer service. I

[08:46] mean people are tired of customer service full stop, right? Because as AI seeps into more and more of our lives, a whole bunch of billionaires find every excuse to replace humans making human decisions with shack bots. Our customer

[09:00] understaffed by businesses for decades anyway. So basically, every single interaction we now have online with any company or service provider is guaranteed to be a joyless nightmare of wasted time, complete neglect,

[09:15] misunderstanding, and thinly veiled disdain for the customer. and indeed humanity itself. We are extremely tired of this [\h__\h] And that is extremely clear in the responses to BJ's post. Around half of these replies are

[09:31] pointing out that they have reported much worse in Blizzard's games. Slurs, white supremacy, harassment, and so forth without any action ever being taken at all. As well as on the flip side, known instances of players getting

[09:45] spam reported for unwarranted bans. something which apparently happens a lot in PvP because of course it does. God guys. And they are rightly wondering why anyone at Blizz is wasting time banning people for saying when they let all that

[10:00] other much more important stuff slide. A very fair criticism that I completely agree with. And the answer is obvious. Of course. It's because there's only a handful of people at Blizz even doing this job in the first place. So of

[10:14] you report if the logs aren't super clear. Of course, they are going to prioritize easy cases and lowhanging fruit. Of course, they are going to rely on automated systems and only look into things manually when there's an appeal.

[10:27] And of course, they are going to use template responses even then. And none of that is because the people working for Blizzard CS suck. It's because Blizzard suck. It's because Microsoft suck. Global neoliberal shareholder

[10:39] capitalism sucks. Sh. So, I don't find it surprising that thousands of people use this post as a place to go and dump their frustrations at years of shoddy, impersonal service, ignored reports, and vague responses. And I don't blame

[10:54] people doing it either. Boo this thing. Boo. I say that's the most important life with real people. And so, I think there's some more to say on this, too, because honestly, I don't think anyone covered themselves in glory here.

[11:09] don't think there was anything wrong with the way PJ responded here. I just looked at the logs. You seem to have a fondness for dropping fbombs. Even one if reported is enough, PJ. Did it lack a certain formality? Absolutely. Would I

[11:24] be annoyed if I were PJ's employer? Definitely. Did they get completely one manned on Twitter? And was it a little bit embarrassing to read? Yes. Can I bring myself to be even slightly offended on player A's behalf?

[11:38] Do I think a lot of people are pretending they think PJ's response is unprofessional or offensive because they smell blood and want to pile on? 10 with me here, that's absolutely fine. But as someone who has worked in

[11:51] customer service and also as a functioning adult just about, let me give you some free advice, okay? If you genuinely want help or answers from a think you've been treated badly, even if you are angry and frustrated, please do

[12:06] you are angry and frustrated, please do not talk to them like this. Just spew AI written [\h__\h] back to me. How are you this terrible dude? Not because they entitled to it, but because they will definitely not help you if you do. The

[12:21] second you swear at customer service, you lose. You're done. They now have every right to put down the phone or block your email or usher you off the shouldn't be rude to waste staff, no matter how bad they are, unless you like

[12:35] don't know many people who do. So, don't be angry with me. This isn't a judgment, okay? This is just good advice for adults who actually want to get stuff done. So, no, I don't give a [\h__\h] about PJ's sassy response. After swearing at

[12:49] them, player A is lucky he even got a response and not just another ban. I'm saying that's the way it is. What I think is a much more complex subject think is a much more complex subject though is the issue of swearing in game.

[13:03] This is a nuanced topic which many of us will feel differently about. So, let me get out of the way a lot of very stupid arguments that I saw in this thread so we don't have to bother with them in the proper conversation. One, this is a

[13:16] freedom of speech issue. This is the dumbest [\h__\h] I've ever heard. No, a video game suspending your account for swearing is not in fact a free speech issue. There's no argument here. It objectively isn't. Move on. Two, the

[13:29] game World of Warcraft is rated T for teen and in fact does have instances in game of players using profanity. Famously, Gash calling Sylvanas a bowl of fruit. But also as recently as the war within, good old cuddly Bran

[13:43] war within, good old cuddly Bran Bronzebeard saying bastard. Moo bastard. Oo, it feels good. I can see why he says it so much. But also, as many helpful people on this thread pointed out, Cassidy in Overwatch has a belt that

[13:55] says B on it, and Tracer says wanker. And also, WoW is a game with killing in it. This is another very stupid argument. When a piece of art shows something, it doesn't mean that you can do the same thing as you interact with

[14:09] that art. If I go to Florence to see Michelangelo's David and I get my dick out, it's not going to be much of a defense as they drag me off if I'm like, "But he's got his dick out. Are you seriously telling me you sold me a

[14:22] man with his dick out and I'm not even allowed to get my dick out?" And also, allowed to get my dick out?" And also, let's be real, bastard. Bamp wanker. Did you notice how I didn't have to bleep those out because they are not the same

[14:35] those out because they are not the same as are they? And even if a character did saying wow, which they never ever would, it doesn't automatically track that players should be able to say it to each other. If my English lit teacher tells

[14:48] me to read from to kill a mockingb bird in class, it doesn't mean I'm then know, I hate to be the guy that puts everything in the context of I think you really are sounding quite a lot like the guy on the ghost tour right now. Don't

[15:03] be the guy on the ghost tour. Three, there is a profanity filter in game and so you should be able to swear without worry. Any [\h__\h] that has it turned on doesn't get the swears anyway. And this I absolutely agree with. It is a great

[15:17] point up to a point because a word doesn't exist in isolation, does it? doesn't exist in isolation, does it? I've said 18 times in this video so far and I've filtered it out each time. But you know what I was saying all the same,

[15:30] right? Can we also agree that there's a difference between What an easy key. Thanks team. And this healer, man. Worst healer I've seen. Yo, healer you. Even that [\h__\h] tank is saying to me there. You know, and that's even before you get

[15:46] differently to get through the filter. I guess what I'm saying, and I never thought I'd be saying this on this channel, not all fbombs are equal. And considering we don't know what it is that player A is supposed to have said,

[16:00] and considering no less than two real life GMs have now looked into Player A's case, and both independently decided it was banworthy, including the GM who was happy to publicly chew out PJ, his colleague, I'm personally inclined to

[16:14] believe it might have been more like the second instance in player A's case. Of course, you could rightfully argue that player A also doesn't know what they're perceived lack of transparency is a major major issue, and people are right

[16:31] to be upset about that. But look, the dude literally dropped an Fbomb in his tweet to customer service. I mean, is WoW so soft and feminine and gay now that you cannot swear in game? Unlike the golden days of vanilla where you

[16:46] would get banned if you didn't swear in game. Blizz have said in that clarifying tweet that swearing is not a blanket ban. And I believe them. Honestly, I don't think 99% of people replying to this post actually think that you will

[17:01] get banned in WoW for dropping a I think everyone knows how you get banned for saying in WoW. I swear all the time in my raid chat and indeed in my Twitch streams and indeed in this video, but I probably wouldn't go into Cathedral

[17:15] Square and start slashyelling it. Partly because I think I'd probably be likely to get a ban in that instance, but mostly because it's a bit cringe. Yeah, I'm sorry, but I'm going to end on this very subjective and personal opinion.

[17:29] Okay, because seeing grown ass men, many of whom are probably in their 30s and 40s, arguing passionately about their right to say and also slurs, around 15% of the replies on this post feature an abbleist or homophobic slur of some sort

[17:43] in the public chat of a video game is the cringiest [\h__\h] I have ever heard in my life. Swear all you like. I don't care. I can hardly talk, can I? But the thought of being so indignant about it, about making it your thing that you're

[17:58] going to fight for, it's so cringe. To summarize, yes, customer service sucks sucks. And the trillion dollar company should put their big boy pants on and employees who are valued and paid well for their time. No, it is not a free

[18:14] people is not the same as a character in-game swearing or fighting a war. Yes, I think swearing is acceptable in WoW in many contexts. And yes, I think the inclusion of the profanity filter

[18:27] tactically suggests this. And no, I don't think you can get banned for typing the word [\h__\h] to your buddies in chat. Oh, sorry, I ran out of bleeps. very passionate feelings and opinions around this topic, and I think that's

[18:40] fair enough, really. So, let us know your views in the comments below. >> Hi guys, one last thing. With Blizzcon just under four months away, we are delighted to announce the return of the weekly reset live. Yay! This will be the

[18:56] weekly reset live. Yay! This will be the third time we perform our show live for you, the live audience, and we ride it in a haze of fear and panic through the early hours of the morning after all the Blizzcon announcements wrap up. It is a

[19:09] great time. This year's show will be on Monday, September 14th at around 12:00 convention center. If you would like further details and to get tickets, all

[19:21] of that information will be shared on our Patreon and socials in the coming weeks. Hope to see you there. And thanks for joining us today. If you like this video, don't thank us. Thank our patrons who still give us their actual real life

[19:33] money to make all of our work happen. And seriously, patrons, thank you. because without you there would be a whole lot less Talasan and Never Tell. If you didn't like it, downvote the [\h__\h] out of it and remember my name is

[19:47] No, my name is Talas and from me and Evie. Until next time, Cheerio.