Nuclear Thunder event - Purchase window closed before advertised deadline (ticket #3462867)

Community Technical Support Gameplay Problems & Advice
1

Hello everyone,

I’m posting here after exhausting the standard support channels, hoping someone from the community or Gaijin staff can help or advise.

During the Nuclear Thunder event, I was unable to participate fully due to personal circumstances. When I became aware that the stages could be purchased with Golden Eagles, I planned to do so on April 17th, the advertised last day.

As you can see, the official event page stated “until April 17th” with absolutely no time, no server time, no GMT reference whatsoever.

When I logged in on April 17th at 7:59 PM CEST, the purchase option was already gone. I immediately opened a support ticket (#3462867) on April 17th, within the deadline, to report the issue and complete the purchase. Not asking for it free, just to pay for it. That is exactly what the support system is for. I did not come to Gaijin after the event asking for a favour. I came on April 17th, within the deadline, through the official channel, to complete a purchase I was entitled to make.

Over the following days, I exchanged several messages with support. Here is what happened:

  1. Gaijin’s own support team acknowledged TWICE that the deadline wording “may not have been clearly specified.”
  2. They gave contradictory explanations: first claiming the event ended according to server time due to time zone differences, then claiming the deadline was 00:01 on April 17th. Two completely different arguments, neither of which was ever communicated to players.
  3. Final response: “there’s nothing we can do for you.” Ticket marked as solved.

As shown above, Gaijin first acknowledged the deadline “may not have been clearly specified” while claiming it ended according to server time. Then, when I pointed out my ticket was timestamped at 7:59 PM on April 17th, they changed their argument to “the deadline was 00:01 on April 17th.” Two contradictory explanations from the same support specialist, neither communicated to players at any point.

I argued that there is a fundamental difference between a player who simply missed the event and a player who actively tried to purchase within the deadline and opened an official ticket on April 17th to prove it. That argument was never addressed directly.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there a higher escalation path I may have missed? Is there a community manager who can look into this?

The B-52H is my favourite aircraft and this is the first time it has been available in the game. It cannot be sold on the marketplace either, making this the only way to obtain it. I simply want to pay for it.

Thank you.

1 Like
3

Adding the remaining evidence for completeness:

First image: Gaijin acknowledging the deadline ‘may not have been clearly specified’ while claiming server time.

Second image: the same specialist then changing the argument to ‘00:01 on April 17th’. Two contradictory explanations in the same ticket.

1 Like
4

Support have final say in matters like this.

To me personally i understand the wording to be “up to but not including 17’th” which is sort of a standard for the usage of the word “until” in circumstances like these. Otherwise it would have said “through” , “not available after” or have a specified time.

What i don’t understand is why you would wait until the last possible day if you already planned to purchase the stages. The last stage started on the 11’th so you would have had from the 11’th and up to end date to purchase the stages (you also technically only needed 5 stages to get the vehicles so it’s actually from the 9’th and up to end date).

But yeah, there is sadly nothing anyone here on the forum can do for you.

5

Thank you for your response. I understand your personal interpretation of ‘until’, however Gaijin’s own support team never used that definition either. They stated the event ended ‘according to server time’ in one message, and ‘at 00:01 on April 17th’ in another - two contradictory explanations, neither of which was communicated to players beforehand.*

Regarding why I waited - I had personal circumstances that prevented me from both playing and purchasing earlier. April 17th was the first opportunity I had. I don’t think that should disqualify a legitimate purchase attempt made within what I reasonably understood to be the advertised deadline.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to respond.

6

Well Gajin has added event vics to gamble crates so best bet too is save SL until you get lucky when it does get added

7

Good to know, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you!

8

They are not really contradictory as i read them. Both statements can be true at the same time. In fact, all three statements can be true at the same time. “until 17’th” , “according to server time” and “at 00:01 on April 17th” can all hold true simultaneously. And my interpretation of the word “until” also fits into those statements. I don’t see how you interpret them to be contradictory given my interpretation of the word “until”.

If someone says to you: “You have until 5 o clock to finish this project” , do you understand that to mean that you have to be done before 5:00 or do you understand it as 5:59? Most people would likely understand it as 5:00.

9

I see your point, but your example illustrates my argument. 'You have until 5 o’clock works because there is a specific time stated - 5:00. In my case, the event page said ‘until April 17th’ with no time whatsoever. No hour, no GMT, no server time reference. If it had said ‘until April 17th at 00:01 GMT’ I would have had no argument at all.

Regarding the contradiction - my point is not that the three statements are logically incompatible, but that none of them were communicated to players beforehand. The first response from support mentioned server time and time zones, which implies the closing time varied by region. The second said 00:01 on April 17th, which is a fixed universal time. Those are different explanations for the same event, and neither appeared anywhere on the official page.

10

You won’t find a line that literally says “they don’t have to give an exact end hour” but it’s covered by the general clauses in Gaijin’s TOS/EULA. They state that they can change, suspend, or discontinue parts of the service at their discretion and that in-game content and availability aren’t guaranteed. That includes events and anything tied to them. So even if a date is given without a specific hour, its not a binding promise that it runs until the end of that day.

The actual cutoff is whatever their system is set to and generally the playerbase will always assume its 00:00 GMT. And realistically there was never any chance they’d allow purchases after the event ended anyway. Once it’s closed on their side it’s closed for everyone. The end date is there for a reason.

11

I understand the TOS argument, and you’re right that Gaijin has discretion over their service. However, the issue here is not whether they were legally obligated to run the event until midnight - it’s whether the communication was clear enough for a reasonable player to act accordingly.

You mention ‘the playerbase will always assume 00:00 GMT’ - but that assumption was never stated anywhere, and Gaijin’s own support didn’t even use that explanation. They said ‘server time and time zones’ first, then ‘00:01 on April 17th.’ If the playerbase universally assumes 00:00 GMT, why didn’t support simply say that from the start?

My ticket is timestamped at 7:59 PM CEST on April 17th. Whatever the correct interpretation of ‘until April 17th’ is, I acted in good faith based on the information available. Gaijin acknowledged that information was not clearly specified. That is the core of my case.