Community Relations Archive
Thread: Why I have little faith in the Forums, Devs, and Sony CS process.
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Plagues7
Wed May 04, 2005 11:48 am
#1
First I'd like to say that I have waited patiently for the past year and a half for the CU to be completed and implemented. Even with all the "nay" sayers I have kept my hopes up and I am willing to see what the Devs do to make the game better. (but my patience is beginning to ware thin)
I understand the Devs need for the CU. What I do not understand was their need to make such drastic changes to every profession. Even worse there was the little or no warning given to the existing player base. It is my belief that if the forums were actually being used by the Dev and CS teams then the profession correspondants would have been utilized in the CU process. If only to inform each profession on what they could expect in the CU. The forums could have been used to pass the information to the players on how to play in the new CU. Instead players were forced to fumble around what for them seemed to be a completely new game. Only to have little tips posted by CS and the Devs regarding the simplest issues such as, "how to set an auto-attack" as an after thought after server irrate player posts regarding the issue.
This seems to be the main issue I currently have with the Devs and CS, and why I am losing faith. The past example of the "auto-attack" is a prime example. The Dev team knew that they had made changes to the system, they knew how that system worked, they implemented changes, and then were shocked that they had to devote time to help people learn the new system. This may sound silly but simple, but why weren't little issues such as this posted to the forums? One post to each of the forums (professions and galaxy) and sticky'd up top that explained some of the BIG changes by profession and simple tips to navigate in the new system, and include simple tips such as "Ctrl+Icon to set an auto-attack." Things such as this shows proactive customer service not the "put the fire out" method of service. I can tell you the "put the fire out" method only seems to be feed the flames of discontent with the current game. Now this was only a small example... a larger example would be how the changes to schematics and resources for crafting really hurt a vast community of the game in a much larger way. Again a change made with little or no warning to the community. This does not show much concern on the companies part regarding their customer base.
Now onto the next point... (Since SOE has decided that the "put the fires out" method is their way of dealing with customer service)
You have the president of SOE states:
What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns.
Thanks a lot,
John Smedley
President, Sony Online Entertainment
Now this leads me to believe that they are going to make an effort to address our concerns. SO each correspondant was asked to submit three questions regarding their professions. Here is an example of the reponses to such questions:
SonGouki Jedi Correspondent:
Recently the Devs requested that we (the correspondents) submit three questions to them about our profession in the Combat Upgrade for them to respond to. The following is the three questions I asked and the Devs' responses (in red text)...
1) More details on the FRS please... When will it be coming back? What's changing? Will people have to re-do the Knight Trials? Will it "remember" the Force Rank that people held beforehand? Will Force Rank XP be reset or not? And so on...
We can't make any comments on scheduling/future revamp issues, unfortunately.
2) Are there any plans to change the Visibility system? Will grouping be allowed now without gaining Visibility, since that's what seems to be needed to effectively level in the CU?
Yes, we will be adjusting the visibility system, but can't make any promises on the timing.
3) Are there any plans to change the Jedi Bounty Mission system? The five-on-one system does not seem to "fit" well in the CU...
We do recognize the problem with the Bounty System in its current state and will be implementing fixes as soon as possible.
Is there any effort being made here? Now I know correspondent made a real effort to ask questions that could have been answered in some broad terms that could have given the player base an idea of the direction the changes the Devs are planning... even if those plans are only in the development stage! (And players understand things can change in development) Yet the answers returned were:
No comment.
No promises.
We will fix it when we get to it.
John Smedley asked us to "bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns." I am sorry John this is kind of response is unacceptable. If I, or any other player, is going to give you SOE time (my 3 accounts = $45 a month) we expect more for our money.
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