Spiral Knights - Asked where my Crystal Recipies were and was told I can't have them!

Asked where my Crystal Recipies were and was told I can't have them!

17 replies [Last post]

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 11:58

Urbanskaters

I've not played this game for a couple of years and coming back to it has left me feeling a little shell shocked by the changes. I was never really happy with the old system of upgrading gear, but this new one is even worse imho. But that's just a little gripe compared to this next one.

So apparently I'm supposed to have recieved emails with recipies for the Crystals. Now considering I've paid real world cash for in-game items, I'd expect a little more than the reply I got when I emailed SK support telling them that I didn't get those emails and I'd like the recipies please... Here's what they said:

"Endymion - Today at 10:40am:
I'm afraid that the mails that delivered recipes to players who already had completed the missions when we converted them to reward the recipes expired long ago, and there really is no alternative path to acquire those. I'm sorry, but I don't have a solution to offer to you."

So in short, tough luck, this game is broken. They'll happily take your cash, but give you the middle finger when you want your recipies! This company are rapidly losing customers, I for one won't be spending another penny on this rubbish. If they can't be arsed to sort out a few simple recipies , then they can sod off. I'm done with SK.. Back one week and already fedup with the rubbish support and poorly developed features!

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 12:13

Skepticraven

↓

You are aware that you can only craft fire crystals down.
I only used them once while heating some 0* gear, then realized I was losing crowns compared to buying them from Vatel.

Also, consider editing your post because cursing on the forums is in violation of the ToS. Wouldn't want to get banned for being angry.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 12:32

Vohtarak-Forum

im vohtarak, call me by that name

The recipes themselves are pretty much useless because you can only craft down and you lose crowns along the way
You're not missing out, and its really your fault for being inactive to the point where mail expires

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 13:16

Bopp

or just run low missions

You want low-star fire crystals? Then run some low-rank missions (or Tier 1 of the Clockworks). You'll find a few, which is all you need to heat low-star items.

As others have pointed out, the recipes don't help you get higher-star fire crystals.

Mon, 12/29/2014 - 18:08

Fehzor

The recipes are kind of junk. If you have too many radiant fire crystals and need them to craft downwards, then I'm jealous of you and you'd be foolish to get rid of them for shinning fire crystals.

That being said, the principle of the thing is bad, and I'm really surprised that you weren't helped out there. Most of the time, the support people are more than capable of generating things of that nature and handing them to you. At least it's almost entirely inconsequential to you I guess.

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 13:08

Klipik-Forum

I'm surprised they couldn't easily spawn some in and mail them to you again.

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 15:23

Vohtarak-Forum

im vohtarak, call me by that name

Why am I the only one to address the fact that mail expires?

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 15:37

Holy-Nightmare

@ Vohtarak

When Mail expires it gets sent back to the sender. Less data floating about is the only reason I can think of. What I don't understand is why SK just doesn't sent this guy the recipes. Seriously how long would it take to conjure up some recipes and mail it to him?

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 20:09

Bopp

agreed, but

You're right that Three Rings could easily send him these recipes. It's a very small "cost" to them, in terms of work. On the other hand, these recipes are nearly useless. They would be a very small "benefit" to the user. So I'm not sure which is bigger --- the cost or the benefit.

In other words, the stakes in this "argument" are extremely low.

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 20:28

Holy-Nightmare

@ Bopp

Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to companies (it is the reason why Sam Walton's chain of stores took off so well) and even trivial matters should be handled. This isn't about profit it's about a name, if this person asked for help in a matter such as this and did not receive a satisfactory response then what is to keep him or her from leaving SK?

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 20:41

#10

Bopp

agree, but

Yes, if I were Three Rings, I would certainly send this customer his recipes.

However, if I were this customer, I would certainly not complain about the situation in the first place. "I was logged off the game for two years, and during that time some worthless recipes appeared, and I missed them? Oh well, no big deal."

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 22:22

#11

Skepticraven

↓

Keep in mind - these are the patch notes.

Anyone who didn't log in between Aug 21, 2013 and Sept 21, 2013 did not receive these [worthless] recipes.

Similarly, homecoming celebration and Gift of Autumn occurred where players that logged in received more worthwhile gifts.

Should all accounts made prior to those dates receive the gifts? Should the gifts retroactively upgrade?
I'm siding with OOO's response on this one. There was time given for the recipes to be obtained. This player didn't log in during the time frame to obtain the in-game items.

The only difference is that if you start a new character, you can obtain these recipes as well as new things like a skelly armor set, which players that were above mission 5.1 at the time of the update didnt get.

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 22:28

#12

Flowchart

So am I the only one who uses them?
Sometimes I run out of 3* crystals when heating/looking for 4* orbs and just make a few from the tons of shinings I have.

I did used to make shinings too way back when radiants were plentiful and shinings weren't (for those who don't run S5 as frequently)

But yeah, they should be available in-game, even if you have to buy them.

Tue, 12/30/2014 - 22:39

#13

Hmmlol

@Skepticraven: I'm pretty

@Skepticraven: I'm pretty sure he doesn't care if he gets banned. I just wonder how you couldn't figure that out yourself.

Wed, 12/31/2014 - 04:57

#14

Urbanskaters

Thanks so much for all the

Thanks so much for all the replies , even the negative ones (I'm not expecting everyone to side with me). I've edited my post and apologies if the bad words caused offence, I'm aware this community is more about TOS than it is customer service though, so with that said, thanks again for your feedback.

Whether I log in or not is irrelevant (does it say that in the TOS?, am I obliged to log in on a regular basis? Is this my parents, complaining that I don't visit often enough?). I was offline from Facebook too, should they have deleted all those PM's and wall posts that people sent me during that time? Had the offer been due to a special event, then sure I wouldn't have complained about not getting it. But this was due to a system alteration, something they changed that is required for me to have should I wish to make those recipes (whether I use them or not, I'm entitled to them). But hey, it's about profit and space saving with SK, I think the smart people can see that.

Over a dozen of my friends (including my son, who absolutely loves this type of game) have quit SK for good and if I so much as mention it to them, they laugh at me now. They call it all kinds of things, but fair, isn't one of them ;)

Happy New Year everyone.

FYI: I work in IT , I'm a freelance developer myself, I work mostly with mods for Arma2 and even WordPress plugins on occassion. Not saying I'm nearly as amazing as the guys that made this game (it really is a good game when you ignore the broken parts) but I can tell you from experience that adding stuff to peoples inventories is simple enough and is always an option. So either they've got sloppy programmers or they're just being lazy. Oh and I was offline so long because of medical reasons, so please don't make an issue about me being in IT and being offline for so long, it happens!!

Wed, 12/31/2014 - 04:39

#15

Urbanskaters

@Flowchart: That's exactly

@Flowchart: That's exactly what I need them for btw. It's easier to find higher grade crystals than it is to find lower grade ones. Go figure :p

Wed, 12/31/2014 - 05:15

#16

Urbanskaters

I worked for a company many

I worked for a company many many many years ago that sacked me for being too honest with customers and for actually trying to help them, even if it meant me hanging behind at work until late in the evening. This company had a simple saying that the boss would bark at me everytime he was giving me another pet talk, "For every customer that leaves, there'll always be another two or three idiots to take their place. No refunds, remember. It's a numbers game and the sooner you get that into your head the sooner we'll stop having these meetings" , I've removed the swearing for TOS purposes :p

I've not joined a company since that doesn't in some way work by this principle. So that's why I work on my own now and make less money, but its always great to hear customers say "you're too nice, I can't believe you stayed up all night to get that done for me, thank you!". I do it because I know how it feels when a company doesn't take you for granted and goes that extra mile to make you feel appreciated. My ideal job is charity work though, so if anyone knows any good charity jobs working in the humanitarian sector, let me know please :)

PS: I've paid real world money with SK. So I consider myself an investor. Without customers (idiots) like me, this company would go bust.

Wed, 12/31/2014 - 08:09

#17

Bopp

thoughtful

Your recent posts are quite thoughtful and sensible. Thanks.

So your issue is that you're low on 3-star fire crystals? And you have a surplus of 4-star, so you want to downgrade them? That's reasonable. And it means that the recipes are not useless to you.

But can't you find many 3-star crystals very quickly anyway? You need only 174 to heat a 3-star item to heat level 10, or just 33 to reach heat level 5. And that's at 100% chances, which is probably not the most efficient strategy. At medium chances only 116 or 22 are needed. Finding 22 3-star fire crystals would take me less time than I've already spent on this thread.

This is a small injustice, and I don't see why Three Rings doesn't just give you the recipes. But let me emphasize the word "small".

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Asked where my Crystal Recipies were and was told I can't have them!