Sunday, February 1st, 2009
Issue: 111   Editor: NyxxieIn3D


Help Desk Revamped! MisterSquidee
Earlier this week, yet further additions were made to the frame of the game with the Help Desk, receiving a revamp. With the forums playing such a big part in the game, the help desk update was overshadowed but people gradually noticed and topics began to pop up about the new version.

The Help Desk now displays the various Staff members down the right-hand side with the Ticket choice on the left.

Other additions include the ability to see all your tickets that you have sent in. Once a ticket is open, it looks more like a ban appeal with the choice of interaction with the Staff that reply to the ticket. Any Staff member can look into a ticket that has been set for them to answer so if one of the Staff cannot explain an answer, another person who can, can post the answer afterward.

There is also another choice you can choose and this is the option to close the ticket. Once you have found the answer you were looking for you can close the ticket. Upon closing your ticket, you get a page with sliding scales on it.

How helpful was this conversation?
(Sliding scale from 1-5)
How completely was the matter addressed?
(Sliding scale from 1-5)
How quickly was the matter addressed?
(Sliding scale from 1-5)
How professional were the Help Desk Operators?
(Sliding scale from 1-5)
Which Help Desk Operator was the MOST helpful?
(Drop down options of the Help Desk Operators that have helped you)


If you or a Help Desk Operator has closed a ticket, you have the option to re-open the ticket, making it available for yourself and more Help Desk operators to help you gather some more useful information or answer and more questions on the matter.

Fortunately, I had time to catch up with 5litre and ask him a few questions.
Firstly, I asked him ‘How much easier is the new Help Desk for Help Desk operators like yourself and others?’ 5litre then replied “It's no more easier or difficult. As with most things, it takes a while to get use to new things. The new help desk does have the added benefit for users to use the same ticket to inquire further about their issue rather than having to make a new ticket.”

I then asked 5litre ‘Do you have any idea what sparked the idea in revamping the Help Desk?’ but 5litre didn’t have the answer so he then asked BSF2000 and BSF2000 said, “The old Help Desk coding was pretty poorly written. An ex-member from the Elite Guard wrote it. There were some additional features we wanted to be added to the Help Desk (such as a ticket remaining open until it's been answered), and rewriting the script properly made more sense than trying to edit it in.”

The last question I asked 5litre, he had to turn to BSF2000 to answer it again and I asked ‘Why were ticket closed number counts next to each Help Desk operators name was removed?’ BSF2000 then stated, “We thought some operators were becoming more concerned solely with number of tickets closed instead of the quality of tickets closed. We felt it was becoming too competitive and in such a way that didn't benefit the players. We have since moved to a rating system which will hopefully replace the old ticket count (operator rating vs. number of closed tickets).”

What more can we expect from Elite Guard with the new updates? Only time will tell.

Stay Safe,
Wesley.