Commando Archive
Thread: Commando Correspondent Resignation
I posted the following message in the Correspondent Discussion forum today. I'm not cancelling my SWG account yet, though I am considering it if something doesn't change soon. I'm grateful for all the input and support that you have given me and wish that I could have accomplished more. Ultimately, i just don't believe the DEVs care much about receiving input from the Correspondents or acting on the information they receive. I hope that Ivoni, or whoever the next Correspondent is, has better luck than either Garibaldi or I have had...
As of today, I am resigning my position as Commando Correspondent. I would like to recommend that the post be given to Ivoni as he has proven to be a dedicated, informed proponent of the profession and is well liked by his fellow commandos. Given the opportunity, he will carry out his duties as Correspondent with professionalism.
I wish I could say that I’m resigning due to lack of time or because of real life commitments but I can’t. I am resigning because I have come to believe that my efforts as Correspondent have been useless due to the way the Correspondent program is run.
Star Wars Galaxies is my first foray into massive multiplayer online games. Other MMORPGs held no appeal for me but as a die-hard Star Wars fan, I looked forward to SWG with great enthusiasm. After watching the films, reading over 30 SW novels, playing all of the computer games and reading many of the comic books, I couldn’t wait to step into a living, breathing Star Wars universe.
When the opportunity arose, I volunteered to serve as Commando Correspondent. I’d wanted to play a commando from day one and serving as correspondent would give me the opportunity to improve my profession and to help a game I had such high hopes for.
Since being appointed Commando Correspondent, I have donated over $3,000 worth of my time to SOE and SWG. This is based on the amount of time I have spent performing my duties as correspondent multiplied by my average hourly wage at work. All of the time correspondents give freely is valuable; I am just assigning a dollar figure to it. Again, I was happy to give of my time. Happy, that is, until I began to realize that my fellow commandos and I were getting nothing in return for all my hard work.
The Correspondent system is simply not working. Correspondents have been reliably performing their duties. We communicate with the members of our profession and pass on their concerns, requests, and questions in the Correspondent Discussion forum. Communication is a two-way street, however and the DEVs have been doing a very poor job in that regard. No matter what we submit or how often it’s submitted, we rarely get more than the standard answers a) we’re working on it, b) it’s a known issue, or c) no response at all.
In part, this is due to the way the Correspondent system is set up. You have DEV’s, like Lord_Pall, who are responsible for ELEVEN professions. Eleven! He simply can’t communicate in an effective way with any one of the Correspondents he’s responsible for or handle their individual issues. So, how did you fix this? You hired Thunderheart. He seems to be a good guy and I’m sure he’s doing his best but that doesn’t get results. To help DEVs who are responsible for too many professions, you hire someone who now oversees over 30 correspondents!
Aside from the system being set up so poorly, I feel like there is often an adversarial relationship between the DEVs and correspondents that shouldn’t be there. We, as Correspondents, are the experts when it comes to knowing what the members of our professions want. We spend hundreds of hours reading messages and communicating with others in our profession in order to give you a reliable report of what your customers want. When Correspondents pass on this information, though, we often get arguments or the information is simply dismissed. Instead of “thank you for the info, this is how we’ll fix it”, we get “I’m not going to change that”, “that’s a low priority”, or “I disagree with that”. Remember that when a DEV disagrees with what a correspondent has brought to the, they’re also disagreeing with hundreds or even thousands of others in their profession.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with my viewpoint. In the end, what matters are results. After over two months and hundreds of hours spent on correspondent duties, nothing has changed. I have done everything that was asked of me. I e-mailed DEVs, posted issues in the Correspondent Discussion forum, showed up to the meet-and-greet on TC and I repeatedly asked for direct, one-on-one communication with the DEVs, yet Commandos still have the same problems they had two months ago. Master Commando still isn’t worthwhile, the HAR is still useless, etc. Hell, we haven’t even been able to get something as simple as our skill tree titles changed.
I’m simply not willing to give another $3,000 worth of my time to accomplish nothing. The DEVs simply don’t treat Correspondents with the professionalism and respect I feel we deserve. They have not consistently respond in a timely, informative manner to my communications. The DEVs do not keep us informed and I certainly don’t feel like part of the team.
My predecessor, Garibaldi, quit in frustration. He said “I am disheartened and severely agitated at the lack of commitment on the part of the SOE developers to fix the commando profession”. Three months later and nothing has changed. How many correspondents will you go through before you realize that you’re doing something wrong?
It's a **edit** shame that they keep driving good people away from the game...it's worse when it's a correspondant. Wake up, Sony.....the correspondants are the most dedicated group you have...you'd think you could show them a little respect and courtesy.
Thanks for all the hard work, Synn...good luck, man
We'll all miss you, Synn 
Devs, it's time you take notice. How about hiring some more people to LISTEN to us for **edit** sake? This is rediculous. 
Another sad day for the SWG community.
Very sad to see you go Synn and your post says it all.
The DEVs better wake up soon, or this game and it's community will vanish in matter of a few months.
Sony. If you can hear me somewhere out there in your fancy "we rule and we don't care what anyone says" world. FK OFF, AND LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY PAYS YOUR SALARY!
I hated to read that, but I was somewhat expecting it. Good luck Synn.
And to whoever the next correspondent is even more luck to you, it looks like you'll need it.
I wonder if any other profession has gone through more then we have in losing correspondants, we're up to 2 now. =\
I support Ivoni for next correspondant. I'd sign up myself for correspondant but I'm about to lose much time to play plus I've been out of the loop in playing for the last 5-7 weeks.
Sends Ivoni to the plate.
Synn you served us well.
Can't say that I don't understand or feel your frustration. I do.
If I get picked I'll do my best. If not, good luck to whomever they choose.
Just wait for everyone to 1-star you for complaining that the commando profession is broken (except for 1 tree), I myself am a master commando. I was hunting for holocrons today and saw a tka do 9k of dmg in the time it took me to fire two normal shots. Its getting ridiculous, we dont get any dev attention because all they see is people complaining about themselves being so stupid to stand still long enough to get flamed.
Really sorry to see you go, but glad you aren't putting down your cards yet. Our community can still benefit from your presence, even if your most competent presence is no longer on the correspondent boards.
Two down, SONY, how many more correspondents do you think the commandos will lose before we all lose interest and go play World of Warcraft? Probably about as long as it takes until the WoW beta starts. I know thats exactly how long you have for me. Survey Says: Crack is Bad. Just look at SOE.
I've never been so bitter in a post before.... but damnit, COMMUNICATE. I've never seen worse management presence on any forum. Take a hint from Blizzard again, SOE.... just look at their forums.... their developers correspond many times daily, and *gasp*, joke with their players. To quote a great post from the dark days of the commando, regarding SOE:
"...and I mean sooo much offense when I say this: j00 = tEh st00p1d!!!!!!"
Take your game and shove it SOE, you have me through Dec. 4 because I paid for it.
I'm now so angry as to be speechless.
/tiphat
Good luck Synn. We all need it.
Athein
SOE is up for the third strike...
Sorry to see you go Mastersynn :/, as same as with our former correspondant
Typical and standard responses only get standard actions...like you quiting or us not getting fixed. Not to mention, this program is poorly devised...should be 1 dev to every 3-5 proffessions..not 11+...well you basically said it all, so theres nothing else i can say
anyways, gl to ya...and IVONI FOR CORRESPONDANT!
btw, have other proffessions suffered this rapid loss of correspondants? or a lack of one? remember that 1-2 weeks of having totally black cut off from the devs?! we're prolly going to get another after synn!