Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Weekly Rountdable Discussion (Week Ending 1-18-04)
Group Tefs = bad
Broken Hero Badge series) = bad
Poofing bike when I hop off to check my harvesters = bad
Lack of any idea if the dozens of /bug reports I submit even get read = bad
Non-repairable ATST's that get killed in 10 seconds by a commando = bad
No fire extinguishers for flame damage = bad
AoE mind damage without an AoE mind cure = bad
"Damage over Time" damage that kills you faster than an actual attack would = bad
Increased Imperial presence = good
Cracking down on exploiters = good
Resetting Theme parks = good
GCW heating up = good
Badges = good (Caveat- need way to display them in some kind of order though)
Thread where actual issues are consolidated, read, and responded to = (Well, 2 of 3 ain't bad...)
Why are you posting a General Discussion thread every week? What was accomplished by this same thread last week? Nada.
This weekly thread does NOT make up for the now destroyed SWG Discussion forum. In fact, I'd say only more confusion and frustration is coming from this poor excuse of a thread.
BTW, if all the ideas and comments are in a single thread, where are all the Devs? Wasn't the SWG Discussion forum taken away because you wanted everything in one place for your Dev buddies? Or was that just a lame attempt at a cover story for just taking down a thread that you didn't like?
*shakehead*
- Give us back our SWG Discussion forum.
- Remove decay on death. Let us play the game and have FUN. That is your promise, after all, isn't it? That we should have FUN?
- Having to make my house public before I can call my crafting droid is absurd.
- Creature harvests are still reduced by 60% when grouped with a pet.
- Bothans lost their +15 Mask Scent bonus when you split Mask Scent into Mask Scent and Camouflage. While we still have a +15 Camouflage bonus, this is utterly useless unless we're Rangers. Give us a +15 Mask Scent bonus instead.
- Allow Image Designers to ID vendors. The default vendors are not aesthetically pleasing.
- Provide the Bio-Engineers with some documentation explaining how our new, complex cloning system is supposed to work. Several BEs have dropped the profession since the patch, give the complexity.
- Fix the Aqualish badge.
- Those of us who lost our Tusken King's Rifle to Huff's guard before the patch (when the mission was broken)are now unable to complete the mission to get our krayt skull. Give us the ability to complete this mission.
- The shuttle wait is wearing thin.
- Having to triple-click on the Ticket Taker is also wearing thin.
- The text on Waypoints still disappears from the Datapad when the WP is activated.
- Options are still not saved. Every time I log in, I have to reset my option to use the Window Key in full-screen mode, and I still have to select my language and title.
- The forum login still doesn't work properly, sometimes requiring us to log in multiple times a day.
- ID is still broken, such that when changing somebody's hair style, the ID can't see the change. Further, Twi'leks still can't have their freckles changed. See the ID forum for further details.
- Give crafters the ability to show their customers their options. In other words, let the customer see and select their own hair style, clothing color, clone color, etc.
- Give us the ability to place items on our balconies and porches. I run a Zoo on Kettemoor, and have all the clones inside when I'd love to be able to place the large clones on the roof of my guild hall.
- Give us the ability to drop vehicles as we can BE pets, i.e. showing the vehicle in place.
- I understand we're getting the ability to /move up and down. When?
- See Item 1.
Rubberbanding every single time getting off a speeder is annoying
10 minute wait time is too long, try 6 minutes
And about 10,000 other things that are very annoying that I won't list because I'm sure they've been said in this megathread that no Dev bothers reading.
Hmm... At the bazaars when ye want to unfold, let's sayClothing, it starts to load everything in that category. Doesn't stop loading til it's done, even if ye click onPants or Headwear.
Shouldn't it be better/faster if there was a Show All-option inside every category? I would like it, coz it's annoying as hell to wait for everything to pop up before ye can see the stuffye're lookin for...
-Clothing -
- Show All
- Headwear
- Shirts
- Pants
- Boots
- Whatever
SacredNemesis wrote:
Thunderheart:
The removal of the SWG Discussion Forum has effectively reduced your communications between the player community and the devs. Let's take a look at what has happened -- and for the sake of presentation, let's surmise what SOE perceived to be their issues with the SWG Discussion Forum.
SOE's Perceived Issues from a Company's Perspective
From a company's perspective, the issues prevalent in the SWG Discussion Forum is viewed as negatively impacting company resources, costing them time and man hours devoted to managing the forums. This management was necessary to preserve/impart the image of a community that is supportive of the game.
The Issues:
- Rampant and consistent negative feedback
- Lack of control over topics
- Lack of staff to moderate
- Community bandwagoning on issues
SOE's Solution
An open discussion forum requires moderating and a sifting through of the various topics and issues presented by the community. In addition, controlling what the community posts is dependent on enforcing forum policies and rules. Moderators who are volunteers do not feel compelled to devote the required time to manage this, as their reward does not equate to any assets earned. The community manipulates the issues further by bandwagoning together on hot topics that demand attention. The lack of attention andor responses from the developers tends to ignite further negative feedback.
Line Items:
- Close the open discussion forum
- Manage the change with substituting a closed forum(s)
- Reduce the mass population into smaller groups
The Community's Perception
Managing change with a gaming community is not an easy task. Given theanonymity of the internet and the forums, individuals are fearless in their attempts to be heard and acknowledged. However, it is human nature to rebel when your voice is lost or removed. There is no substitute for a customer's freedom of speech, and offering a controlled environment that many perceive to be an attempt at muzzling the community is not a solution. Communications is a two-way avenue. Closing the SWG Discussion Forum has effectively reduced the avenue to a one-way street.
From the Community's View:
- Continued lack of acknowledgment regarding issues
- A single thread that attempts to replace an entire forum's voice
- Bloating of a weekly thread that derails and strays from important issues
- An additional loss of communications between the customer and the company
- Customer frustrations at this loss resulting in the promotion negative feedback
An Alternate Resolution
A compromise between the community and SOE can be reached. While the closing of the SWG Discussion Forum is not a solution to SOE's percieved issues with the forum, reopening it up would not constitute a value-added effort at customer relations.
At the same time, the community needs to have it's voice restored. A system which allows the freedom to contribute to the ongoing development of the game and resolution of issues would enhance both customer relations and feedback to the developers. You have a system already in place that could be harnessed to expand on a new system that effectively would satisfy both the developers and the customer base.
This system would have two compartments:
- The forums
- Your in game bug reporting/knowledge base expanded to the web site
The Forums
The Live Forumis the only 'free speech' forum the community has now at it's disposal to reach a wide cross-server audience. The 'free speech' is not entirely free, as only a Dev can start a thread. However, if you used the concept that you have initiated with the correspondent program to discuss top issues, you would steer the community to remain focused on topics while at the same time give them the freedom to voice an opinion.
Let the community continue to pour into one weekly thread their issues and concerns. At the end of the week, pick 3 of the most popular issues, and start a separate thread on each of these issues to be continued in the following week. This would benefit both the community and the developers for further pin-pointing and allowing a two-way avenue of communications that is constructive and controlled. The Forums should be regarded as a free style way of collecting information, giving statements, and updating the community.
Moderate these threads. Remove flames, rants, and unproductive/unconstructive posts. Clearly have your rules and policies in place as guidelines for the community.
The Website
The Knowledge Base within the game is an excellent resource for the community. However, most players never use the Knowledge Base and I would take a stab at the reason for this is because it receives very little promotion and is not accessable off-line. Many community members visit these forums or the website during times when they are not actively playing the game. They come to the forums with their issues or looking for answers to their quesitons. Many of these issues are/have been posted in hundreds of threads over and over again. Would it not be more productive if the Knowledge Base had a home on the website where the community could search for their issues and or submit new ones? You already have categories identified in the Knowledge Base which would help to control how the information is added to this database.
You could further enhance the Knowledge Base with a weekly page that posted the tops issues and or information/tips thatwould benefit the community.
Finally and perhaps most important,why not post atop bug listing that you already collect in game with a developers response?
Concluding Remarks
Clearly the system now in place is not enough to satisfy the community's hunger for communications. Recognizing that the previous system was a monster that needed to be harnessed and tamed, we need to come up with a communications solution that goes beyond a "band-aid" fix. I submit that the current system is too little to sustain customer satisfaction and a re-evaluation of the tools and systems that you already have in place be harnessed to promote better communications between the player base and the developers.
Nothing really important to say other than I am holding a large picket sign with this written on it.
Not allowing your fee-paying customers to raise our own individual questions and viewpoints, around which the idea's of the majority may have a chance to coaless, seems purposely geared to be less responsive overall.
This 'One-Thread-Fits-All' is a good way of stopping members from being able to think co-operatively in the quest for a rounded and workable solution to any SWG problem.
I therefore have no faith that anything I post to page 10 of an ever expanding thread will have any chance of being seen or responded to.
This is a farcical situation that need your urgent attention...
I implore all of you. Only enter one reply to this thread....and let that reply be
"Bring back player created centralisedgeneral discussion threads".
You SoE folks dont need to read them, we the public can direct folks to the latest tidbit on test centre or wherever.
So please fellow denziens of the SWG forums repeatadly reply here :
"Bring back player created centralisedgeneral discussion threads".
On further investigation, there have been 2 replies from TH against the 220+ posts to this thread so far.
Please feel free to explain to us how this in anyway improves two-way communication...?