Early Access Discussion
Osprey1
Posts: 610 ✭✭✭✭✭
Wizards,
TL;DR: keep comments nice and in one place
Two issues are appearing regarding early access here in the forums. First we are seeing posts in a variety of threads, second the tone of the posts, and this is not universal, is tending to be a little uncivil, please play hard and speak softly.
Please redirect all discussion to a single thread (this one?)
Expectations:
What can you expect from Niantic?
Niantic has always attempted to be reasonable and fair with their community. In return the community needs to recognize what is and what is not possible.
Take a look at weather policies for airlines, cruises and professional sports. They basically state that weather, being beyond their control, is not a reason for a refund. This is the purpose of travel insurance.
MLB will give rain checks if the event is not official. That is a significant part of the game could not be played. I think we can agree, since the dragon goals were met, that the event officially occurred.
I would expect, if technically possible, that Saturday early attendees might receive an in game gift equivalent to all or part of the extra cost of early attendance. I would also expect that Niantic will wait until they are certain how Sunday progresses to see what happens before announcing any recompense.
What do you think is fair? How did it impact you? Was there something you wanted to do or see that you couldn't?
Comments
I’m very upset that I didn’t go. Someone should have pulled up to my home in a groovy bus and said, “Get in, loser. We’re going to hunt dragons!” Did that happen? No, it didn’t. I blame all of you.
We were excited to have early pass admission. Losing that hour was disappointing and frustrating. It was mostly because there was nothing to see..I first thought I had been locked out, but later found others were having the same problem as me. When the event took off at 10:00 it began with a bang... everything just popped in and we were off to hunt some dragons. The park is beautiful and the people were courteous and the overall atmosphere became very relaxed and "do your quest" attitude. Overall, yes we did pay extra. But it was weather related. Its just part of the game, sometimes you catch that elusive trace and sometimes you lose. That is my attitude. I loved the whole event. The food was great and staff were helpful. I would definitely go to another one.
In case you missed it in our blog last night, we're looking to provide players who were impacted a gift as a token of our appreciation for their understanding during the delay. We don't have details on what exactly this gift will entail, but stay tuned for more information. Once the event has concluded and the team has had enough time to discuss, we'll be sure to notify these players.
@HPWUArcosu I don't understand why a event like this wouldn't be held in a place like Central Park in NYC, instead of Indianapolis? Not saying Indianapolis probably wasn't great. But I think NYC would have drawn a better crowd.
@EYEOFANUBIS1 when the event sold out more or less, and they caught over 500,000 dragons (I think I read that), why do you think attendance needed to be better?
@Dogoutlaw They likely just wanted a more convenient and highly regarded location for their own reasons. As you seem to know lol. Can’t please everyone!
Sounds like the event was awesome 😎 Hope to be able to attend a future one and I’m glad so many people were able to attend and hunt those dragons 🐉
@Dogoutlaw because I had a ticket but couldn't go because of weather which just wasn't me it was a lot of people from other forms that said they couldn't go or had to leave early. Plus if you look at the pictures that they posted of those two days you could see the turn out wasn't that greatest compared to Pokemon Go.
As for the dragon event they could have made up the number (like big corporations do) or the fact that they didn't have to hand out some kind of refund.
@EYEOFANUBIS1 just spitballing here, but since Niantic learned from the first Pokemon Go Fest about the problems of unexpected large crowds they may choose somewhere less populous just so that the size of the unticketed attendees is minimal. It is very difficult to get exclusive access to an area large enough to play so as to exclude passerby and the mobile network problems created are a safety issue. Not something you want in Central Park.
Niantic has struggled with events at Comic-Con because of these issues. The HPWU after panel walk around was apparently very rough.
@EYEOFANUBIS1 weather is an unforeseen complication. Imagine if it had been scheduled in Florida at the HP park?! How many people would have made it with the hurricane warning? That kind of thing can happen anywhere. Otherwise, I agree with @Osprey1 . There were probably a few things that factored into the location choice.
@Dogoutlaw @Osprey1 But the Harry Potter Park would have much better procedures if that ever happened. But the problem was the way they went about it. They offered no real no payback for the tickets. I get that is why people have travel insurance but that doesn't cover the ticket. People just want a refund for the ticket that's it!
As an early access attendee on Saturday, I thought the lengthening to 8:00 was enough to keep me happy. Like others, when 9:00 came and nothing was appearing, I was afraid that somehow my ticket didn’t get applied to my account. However, once I saw others were having issues and it was due to the weather, it made more sense.
I spent that hour going around getting some GREAT pictures of the Foundables before having to fight others to get a good clean picture. I also was able to orient myself to the park so that the rest of the day was much easier to get around. (Plus those seats in the lounges were SO COMFORTABLE).
so I missed an hour and they added that missed hour to the end. It just meant I got an extra hour to walk around and explore. So personally, I felt I was already reimbursed...but I won’t say no to whatever gift @HPWUMicah has planned either, haha!!