Being a former support staff, I know that first priority is information to the user/customer. It even has higher priority than solving the issue at hand.
Information must be given quick and regular, even if the only information that can be provided is "we are still working on this".
Users/Customs are more forgiving if they get information.
I don't see why the support system can't include a message system, to inform the users/customs. This is not something that can wait until certain staff is available.
I worked in the support for the largest shipping company in the world. And we, in the global helpdesk, was the ones sending out information to the customer on issues 24/7, not some custom management that only worked business hours. We would even get "fined" if we did not.
We users can't "fine" NQ, but we can stop paying for the game. Many players already left, where one of the reasons has been lack of communication from NQ.