That is incorrect. vBulletin DOES have that option available. I have been using vBulletin for quite a few years and believe me.... It IS there.

Just as the option to upload/link avatars is there, or using BBCode in signatures... It's all there.

And the FAQ confirms what I am not happy to hear. What I feared would happen the moment I saw this.

Non-Optional. I do not like that. Why can't I keep my original account? Why do I 'HAVE' to become part of the Perfect World system? Honestly, I don't want to (and haven't, thanks to the ease of creating extra accounts. Didn't even have to confirm I was using a real email).

I'm likely to put it off UNTIL it is non-optional. I'm a Lifer, so I don't plan on quitting, but I get VERY LITTLE benefit from converting now.

The "Special Item" is not special at all. I believe the only thing they're referring to with it is the "Extra 2,500 XP," which really isn't that much, given it's only claimable once. If it was account-wide, I might be tempted.

No, no you haven't, you've just removed all references to the forum name in the hopes people won't notice. You have "Added" nothing to the FAQ.

It's not even "There's no way to do this YET, we're working on it", just "There's no way to do this, even though we explicitly referred to that functionality, so you can all suck it with the forum names you never wanted, and you can't transfer characters between PWE accounts so you can't even reregister. Have fun, mindless consumers!"

You referred not-too-long ago to using data to back up your decisions. What, pray tell, was the data supporting the decision to take away almost all user options, lumber them with a name that they never wanted to use on the forums, take away even the basics like custom avatars and do all this with no warning whatsoever? You made this decision, ergo you must have had data to support it.

Save your breath, Charon.

PWE_BranFlakes won't be responding to any LOGICAL questions, and fails quite miserably at trying to hide the truth. Such a thing as changing the "Display Name" is clearly a feature of vBulletin (which this forum is based on), and yet he tries to hide it by saying the functionality doesn't even exist. I don't know who is most clueless, BranFlakes, or the PWE web-team.

In any case, we as the community members end up suffering for their inept decisions.

Well, sadly, it's not exactly PWE_BranFlakes fault either. He's got superiors who won't let him say certain things. That explains why we haven't seen much in the way of employees responding to the 'rage' on the forums. PWE has told them not to, since the rage will likely die down in short time, and things will 'return to normal.'

Fittlewa, I agree. This was a terrible decision, and lying to the community won't get them anywhere. But they see no consequence...

what he meant to say was "We don't want to allow you to do so"

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, the other PWE games haven't had to put up with this. Not Champions, Not Rusty Hearts, Not Neverwinter or RaiderZ

Just us.

Well, I have bad news for you, since I have the perfect explanation for that.

We are the Beta Test.

Well, why not, US?

We are after all the guinea pigs in most situations. The Foundry for example, while "pioneered" for STO back in Season 3, has seen very little updates (yes, updates are promised, but they aren't here YET). It is a flawed system, which has badly needed reworking on certain areas for over a year. The more "perfected" version of The Foundry, is sitting in the Neverwinter development build, and will be released when the game is released later this year. Meanwhile, we sit with the BETA version of the tool in STO.

And yes, I understand PWE_BranFlakes isn't solely to blame for this ridiculous blunder of PWE/Cryptic. But he is the most visible and most active of the PWE/Cryptic staff at current, so i'm sorry to say, he'll have to be the focus of most "rage" for the next few days.

Unless things get significantly improved on the forums, I have no intention of letting this "die down", and will make sure to keep the forums reminded about the fiasco, until things ARE improved.

..yet.
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