Not only EA’s cloud sync is poorly implemented – their support sucks as well. The best way to resolve Origin’s synchronisation problems is to avoid the service.

I own Mass Effect 3 for maybe a month. Already finished my first playthrough on hardcore difficulty setting and now playing on insane. Also battled cooperatively in a lot of multiplayer matches (mostly on bronze difficulty, a few on silver, and none on gold or platinum) and so far I love it! Not being a fan of Origin client (yes, I know it’s still in beta), gave it a try – allowed it to keep my in-game advance synced on their cloud storage service. All was well until yesterday – after I closed the game Origin started syncing but suddenly stopped at 5% and ultimately failed. Tried again, restarted the client – same thing.

I still remember a stupid solution that Origin support offered once. I had this annoying visual issue with double cursor – the in-game and windows default both showed in Dead Space when the game was launched through origin client. The helper suggested I reinstall the chipset drivers!? Luckily for me when the game was started with it’s own executable file all was fine.

So armed with patience I contacted the support through live chat. The helper was incompetent and the result was zero – as expected. The full text (see below) may be read for two minutes but the real conversation lasted more than half an hour! As you can see the guy from EA / Origin did his best to get rid of me. Denied all responsibility and apart from some lame and senseless suggestion did nothing to help me.

Luckily Origin cloud syncing in Mass Effect 3 affects only single player advance and achievements. That is a good thing because if I want to play the game on other computers I may simply copy needed files/directories on a flash drive. Or make my own „cloud“ storage – manually uploading, downloading and updating them on the encrypted part of my ftp. The multiplayer status in-game is Origin/EA independent and works fine.

To be honest there are some guys in Origin/EA who actually work towards really helping the client. It’s a matter of pure luck to get a competent one who can do something to solve a problem. It usually takes no more than ten tries though. As far as I can tell, the only logical conclusion is that for a single real specialist/expert EA hires 9 random persons. Gives them a bunch of predefined answers and instructs them to politely discourage customers from contacting live chat support.

That is why Electronic Arts deserves some of the flame they get. Such support practice is bad – better stop it and and least try to be honest. If there is a problem sometimes it’s better to admit it and try to resolve it.

Or stick to the successfully build image of suckers.

Here is the full chat I had with Origin support (sorry for the typos; only my name is edited):

You are now ready to chat with Arjun K.
Arjun K:
Thanks for contacting EA Help! My name is Arjun K how may I help you?
you:
Hi. Is there a problem with mass effect 3 cloud storage?
you:
Hello there, do you understand my question?
Arjun K:
Hi
Arjun K:
(*My*name*) please elaborate your issue.
you:
I’ve been playing ME3 for several hours, and when I finished, the Origin client tried to automatically update my cloud storage – and failed
you:
After another try, I went offline, than back online adn tried again – and failed again
you:
Do you need any more information?
Arjun K:
Thank you for the information.
Arjun K:
Please right click on bf3 in origin and select repair.
you:
I’m sorry I do not own bf3
Arjun K:
Sorry I meant ME3
you:
Okay
you:
it said there are no missing or corrupt filed and the game is up to date
Arjun K:
Please click on the „i“ button which you see when you place the pointer on ME3.
you:
OK
Arjun K:
Do you see the cloud storage option there?
you:
yes
Arjun K:
It seems that you are away from the Keyboard, please let me know if we are still connected.
you:
I’m not away form the keyboard, I’m waiting on you to tell me how ot fix my issue
you:
So what do I do now?
Arjun K:
When you click on the „i“ what do you see in the cloud storage is it enabled?
you:
Yes it is enabled
you:
next?
Arjun K:
is your cloud storage able to update now?
you:
WHne I click Play, it starts by syncing cloud data, stops at 5%. When I click „restoer save“ – same result: it says cloud storage cannot be synced.
you:
I do not want to play wihtout syncing. I will lose all these hours of recent gameplay
Arjun K:
Please reinstall origin
you:
You’re kidding. please stop making jokes and tell me ho to use origin’s cloud storage
Arjun K:
Please reinstall origin and then see if the issue still persists
Arjun K:
Thank you for contacting EA. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
you:
Before doing that cne you please answer me these questions: is there a problem with mass effect 3 servers, or with origin servers, or with it’s cloud storage mechanism?
Arjun K:
No there is no problem at all however I would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused.
you:
IT took you 5 minutes to tell me „click the button“, but you’ve managed to check the servers, to diagnose network and verify clodu storage sync in just 5 seconds?
Arjun K:
If you need help with anything else, please feel free to contact us anytime!
you:
If I reinstall origin does it mean I will have to download and install all current EA games that I play?
you:
Wait, don’t reply – you answer probably will be wrong. Thank yuo for your time. good bye.