Unfair key distribution and accessability | Forums

[feralfeather]

So before getting this here off, here I did my homeworks, there you find my very detailed feedback and rewiev thread + I voted on all polls, and did the full basic and advanced email survey!

So basically I am a fresh twitch-streamer now (https://www.twitch.tv/feralfeather) and payed a pre-order for the gold-edition for PC, but did not get a key for the closed alpha, and probably wont either get one for closed beta. Tho many other streamers on twitch had a key without pre-ordering and also had more keys to do give-aways. I had to go scavange the forums, begging for an invite until Kakku was so kind to invite me.And here are my detailed problems with that:

As a paying customer:
So I was one of those people that pre-ordered the PC game as soon as it was possible. I even only took gold edition at that time, cause the order of the collectors edition was buggy at first. Ans I thought it might influence my chances to get into Alpha/Beta so I wanted to do it as fast as possible. Also this is my personal most anticipated game for the last 10 years so I wanted to show my support. So there I was, filled with determination. Paying it of the bat with paypal. Way back before that pre-order, I was one of the first to sign up on the for honor website, as soon as it waas accessible for register. And also the registration foor alpha nad beta. But still... in the bitter end, I did not get a key. Thats abyssal imo, and really made me sad tbh. Is this the way to treat a paying customer? One that showed by all means that he WANTS to play that game? I played the closed alpha more then 10 hours per day, on two days even 14 hours. And yet you prefer giving casuals that just wanna "have a look" and "check out" the game for 2-3 hours a key over giving me one? Abyssal...

As a streamer:
I started and wanna build up my channel only for "for honor" exklusively (https://www.twitch.tv/feralfeather). But how could I even compete with streamers that got like ten keys for giveaways? I demand more fairness for every streamer to even out chances. Its already hard enough to compete with people that have a channel going for a year or two. Twitch got hard nowadays, not easy to get followers or constant viewers at all... I managed to get around 130 followers and like 6+ k views, I wonder how much it had been id I would have had the same chances from the start, also having my own key and being able to start stream from beginning like everyone else. I had to wait for the invite and for its delayed activation, so basically when I started to stream, there were already 50 others streaming for quite some time. Also those streamers that got all those keys are all streamers that do variety... they stream many different games. I wanna stream "for honor" only, and dont get a chance... aint fair!

Conclusion, each key gets 3 invites:
What a stupid system is this, like every keyholder can invite 3 of his friends... that may or may not happen, and those friends might not be that interested in the game... Why not give out 4 keys in the first place and no invites, so 75% more people of those registered for a key get one. Those that really want it and wait for it? Also the issue that people get keys for the wrong platforms... like giving pc keys to xbox gamers and stuff... This could have been done far better.

[FredEx919]

Hello Feralfeather,

Let me start by saying i'm sorry to hear you didn't receive an invite to the event until a bit later. Unfortunately there is no perfect system. While we would love to see everyone playing, it's just not possible to cover everyone that signs up for these smaller events. The Closed Alpha was not tied to pre-orders. So doing so would not have increased your odds to gaining access. Keep in mind, we also invite different types of player profiles. In some cases we are looking for those that are very familiar with the brand. We also like to receive feedback from those that are newer to the game, so there may be some players that only recently signed up. We'll have more events in the future, so hopefully you will be able to join in.

I can totally understand your goals for livestreaming and wanting to play the game on stream. However, there will always be situations where you just don't have access to certain games before others (especially when starting out). At this point, we're not just talking For Honor, but with any game out there. Remember that lots of those broadcasters have built relationships over many years with different publishers and developers. If you're hoping to compete with them, the road to growing your channel wont be an easy one. Back on the topic of For Honor, you are always welcome to contact myself or anyone else on the community team. We love working with the community, so we try to help where we can. A good place to start is ForHonorCommunity@ubisoft.com.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hopefully this helps to answer some of your questions.

[MrMcPunchy]

Rated thread 5 for the calm and respectful Community Manager response.

[NephthysIV]

Conclusion, each key gets 3 invites:

I like his system. If you really want to take part in the alpha you will get in. I never get invited but there are always some players who have some invites left. My first invite I get from a friendly reddit user and the one from the last alpha from a nice guy from the chat of the twitter For Honor Revelation Stream.
For the next alpha take some time and check the forum of the gaming communities and you will get an invite.

[feralfeather]

I can take that as a fair answer, I at least feel heard, and can also take your arguments into fair consideration, probably there is no perfect solution that is fair for everyone.

But I like how and what you said, thanks for that detailed kind answer.

Just my 2 cents on the key distribution, mayb instead of going 1 key for random signups with 3 invites, spread th 4 slots like this:

1key for paying customers, 1 key for signup, let each of them have 1 invite... ofc not more perfect but maybe also fair without having anyone feel mistreated.

Also maybe streamers even tho some have a better relation maybe be treated more eual.. I mean those big streamers had apart from their own key with 3 invites, like at least 5 other keys to give away, I saw even two streamers giving away 10 keys each... I mean they probably deserve it and have build up their relationships with effort, but at least give small streamers and newcomers that can proove they have a working channel with some followers and views at least that one key so they have a fair start.

In that way the big ones still have their privileges with their give aways and stuff