A couple of weeks ago, I sent a short message to Webzen asking if they could at least make a video showcasing the cosmetics, mounts, and pets in-game for the Frontier pack. I was not the first person to make such a request either.
I normally do these type of short inquiries pre-launch to gauge the level of responsiveness of the publisher during their marketing phase since it’s in their best interest to try to appeal to their potential customers before heading into the actual launch (where often times, all the earlier talk turns into just that, talk where they end up becoming overwhelmed with actual game related issues).
I personally do not have issues with the pricing (this is one of the lowest priced founders packs at the top end where it is customary to see them in the $100+ USD range). Plus as I mentioned before, they are trying to avoid the perception of the cash grab by not tying any sort of head start to these packs. What I am looking for is some level of responsiveness to the above kind of inquiries.
To date, there has been no response nor any attempt to at least better highlight the cosmetics, mounts, and pets the way most other publishers tend to do. Just as the game generally feels generic, bland, flat, lacking in immersion/visceral combat, the same goes for their marketing approach. That does little to change my gut instinct that their future customer support will be any better.
Publishers normally have one shot to make a good initial impression and I’ve mentioned it before with this particular game; that I don’t know what to make of Webzen when it comes to how they engage with their community (hard to tell during this lengthy CBT and OBT soft launch). My gut tells me they aren’t going to be extraordinary nor better than most other publishers that release F2P games backed by microtransaction.
The ball is in their court to prove my instincts wrong.
