Whichistrue-Blizzardwilloccasionallygiveoutafreedaytofolksaffectedbymajorunexpecteddowntimeorserverissues.Butwhiletheyusedtodoitfairlyoften,bymyrecollection,theyseemmuchlessinclinedtopullthetriggeronarefundlately.Ontheonehand,sure,Blizzarddoesabetterjobthantheyusedto-lastTuesday'smaintenancelastedquiteawhile,butitwasn'tanythingcomparedtothedaystheserversusedtobeofflineafewyearsago.Ontheotherhand,though,there'snoquestionplayersarebeingaffected-byqueues,byproblemsloggingin,andbylagontheinstanceserversandelsewhere.
Ofcourse,wehavenoideaifBlizzardhasanactualruleforwhentheygiveoutfreegametimeandwhentheydon't-atthispoint,thecriteriaforgivingplayersarefundhappenstobe"whentheyfeellikeit."Whichisallright,weguess-it'stheircompany,ofcourse.Butitdoesseemlikethecriteriahaschanged-weusedtogetrefundsallthetime,andevenwithalltheproblemslately,Blizzardhasn'tdecidedtogivecustomersanygametimeback.IsitjustmeorhasitbeenalongtimesinceBlizzardpassedoutsomefreegametime?ReaderJimT.emailedmeaboutaconversationherecentlyhadwithBlizzard'scustomerservice-hewasdisappointedwiththelag,thequeues,andthedowntimeonhisserverlately,andcheckinginabouthowhemightgetarefundorcredit.Thecustomerreptoldhimthatwhiletheydidn'tgiveoutindividualcredit,theyoccasionallydogiveoutgame-widecreditfordowntimemistakes.