Development Cycle Archive

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Riis wrote:
Psychologically, this will reduce feedback, as no one will want to slog through a monster thread daily. We'll see repeat posts from folks who are not reading the thread, and likely, we'll see even more evidence that the people in charge are just "skimming" and not reading. I know this new shift has eliminted me from participating in this aspect of the community.

And don't get me started on the damage to our community with this divide and conquer routine. If they would stop treating us like an enemy to contain, and if they would stop making questionable decisions and then not face the challenge of answering the questions they create, we would be able to work togather.

RbT

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Riis,

The task of trying to comb through thousands of unrelated new threads each day was taking up an inordinate amount of Corr and Dev time.

Would you rather they spent their time collecting useful information and making positive changes to the game, or wasting it reading so many of the useless threads in the old Discussion forum?

I think that focusing peoples' attention (and theirs) on pure development topics will enable all of us to get our ideas into the right hands and reduce all the noise.

But as you, and many other people, have pointed out, if the topic is TOO broad, all you will end up with is a huge discussion on several different subtopics. Even if they are all on-topic.

Just look at the forums ID thread. It listed at least 7 or 8 separate changes that we're supposed to comment on. And as we all can see, most of the responses are on the removal just one forum.

If the topic(s) of discussion are very broad, the discussions themselves will still be fragmented, and trying to keep up on all the individual changes proposed will still be a large task.

But at least all of them will be in one place for the Corr's and Dev's to find them.

The unfortunate fact that they felt it necessary to remove the only spot that we all could get together to discuss OTHER SWG topics leaves everyone no place else to go.

I suggest we choose a non-server, non-profession forum to have general SWG discussions.

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BlueOx wrote:

I'm glad to see the forums returning to the concept of focus threads. It worked really well on the old Beta boards, and I'm excited to see it again. I wish that everyone complaining about having their voice stifled would realize that the focus threads ensure that every single response WILL be read by the devs. If anything, players have even more exposure for their ideas now then they had in the old cesspool of the Discussion forum.

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Focus threads are a good idea.

And specific forums for development are a good idea.

But unless they maintain general In Concept threads for players ideas - which will be a royal mess trying to discuss unfocused ideas in one thread - there is no place for general player ideas.

Only for dev ideas.

OK,I have about the In Development threads.

But see, I have no where to post it.....

In the In Development announcement section, which is not the same as the In Development forum, the 2 In Development topics that were announced for discuss in the In Development forum were:

#1) Forum Changes
#2) Droid Invasion.

But in the In Development forum there's a new thread started by TH on 01-08-2004 07:28AM with the title ID#2: Two Changes to Bazaars and Vendors.

Meaning In Development #2, which as we all can see is NOT Droid Invasion.

There is no topic in the In Development announcement section about Bazaars or Vendors.

Confused yet?

At the end of each topic in the In Development announcement section there's a request for comments from users on each topic.

This is the request for In Development #2: Droid Invasionin the In Development announcement section.

"The community is invited to make comments and suggestions about the proposed changes from Monday, January 5th through Wednesday, January 21st. (Thread will be posted during week of January 5-9 with more details)"

OK, OK, here's my question(s):

1) What IS In Development #2 ?

Bazaars and Vendors?
or Droid Invasion?

2) The Droid Invasion request for comments said
the thread would be posted during the week of January 5-9.

As I look at my watch, todays date is January 12.

I was just wondering when the Droid Invasion thread was going to be posted since I don't see it in the In Development forum. And we've already lost a whole week of discussion on the topic.

And in my next thread I'll post a few ideas that could reduce confusion and allow people to find what they need so that we can make better use of the new development system.

Because I despartately want it to work.

I think that adding the new forums is a good idea, but the removal of the swg discussion a bad one. With the new forums, swg discussion could be used for general stuff and a bit of ranting. The Devs could focus more on the new forums.

Take your example from the Camelot Vault, where the Development round table was renamed fans round table, and there were rants and flames. But on the other new forums there where constructive posts and good debate.

This is some good advice, take it or leave it.

Greetings,

CyberGhost.

We getting Space expansion when?

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...

Current stock of the Side Menu off the main starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com site page and Forums / Message Board page at forums.station.sony.com.

Here is an abridged listing of current selections on the Side Menu:

Updates

Monthly Story
- title inside as Monthly Story
- no purpose statement
- displays one item
- The Cries of Alderaan Act 2: Loyalties

Recent Updates
- title inside as Recent Updates
- no purpose statement
- displays one item
- "Update Notes" January 8th

Dev Cycle

In Live
- title inside as In Live
- purpose statement
"This is where we will list issues that may affect your immediate gameplay experience."
- displays four items
- no heading
- Chat Server Stability
- Current Status heading with one item
- server status 01/11/2004
- Server Status heading with one item
- "All servers are up (except)"
- Scheduled Down Time heading with one item
- Scheduled Maintenance January 12

In Testing
- title inside as Recent Test Center Updates
- purpose statement
"The below update notes are applicable to the Test Center galaxy only."
- displays one item
- Test Center Update Dec 4, Update Notes Dec 4

In Development
- title inside as In Development
- no purpose statement
- displays two items
- In Development #1: Changes to Official Forums
- In Development #2: Droid Invasion

In Concept
- title inside as In Concept
- purpose statement
"This page contains ideas and designs that we are currently considering. Nothing here should be considered a promise for delivery. We post things here to gather feedback from the community before dedicating resources to the item. Please give your feedback to the appropriate Correspondent in the Forums."
- displays one item
- Galactic Civil War

Forums

Dev Tracker
Announcements
Game Guides
Development
Events
Galaxies
Professions
Trade
Other
Tech Support

Here is a listing of current forums on the Forums / Message Board page:

Dev Tracker
- no purpose statement
- intro post - none
- Mod stickies - no
- player stickies - no
- posts - Devonly
- threads locked - some
- pages - 126

Announcements
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for any announcements by the developers. Only developers can post on this board."
- intro post - one Admin
- "Read This First" - SOE Forums Usage Guidelines
- Mod stickies - yes
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev, Admin, Mod only
- threads locked - all
- pages - 1

Events
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is to update the community on any events. Only developers can post on this board."
- intro post - one Dev
- "Player Event Listings" - Please go to this link
- Mod stickies - yes
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev only
- threads locked - most
- pages - 2

Game Guides
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for all game guides and tips regarding Star Wars Galaxies."
- intro post - one Admin
- "Guide to the Game Guide Forum"
- Mod stickies - no
- player stickies - no
- posts - Dev, Admin, Mod, Corr, player
- threads locked - few
- pages - 541

Galactic Civil War
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is to discuss all aspects of the Galactic Civil War including PvP, faction perks, and battlefields."
- intro post - one Dev
- "Purpose of the GCW forum"
- Mod stickies - yes
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev, Corr, Player
- threads locked - few
- pages - 313

In Live
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for discussion of issues current on live servers. Developers can start threads and the community can respond to those threads. Community members cannot start threads on this forum."
- intro post - none
- Mod stickies - yes, none present
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev only
- threads locked - few
- pages - 1

In Testing
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for discussion of issues current to update notes on Test Center. Developers can start threads and the community can respond to those threads. Community members cannot start threads on this forum."
- intro post - one
- "In Testing Forum Purpose"
- Mod stickies - yes, none present
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev only
- threads locked - some
- pages - 1

In Development
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for Development discussion. Developers can start threads and the community can respond to those threads. Community members cannot start threads on this forum."
- intro post - none
- Mod stickies - yes, none present
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev, Admin only
- threads locked - few
- pages - 3

In Concept
- purpose statement
- "During the dates listed in the post, the development team and the correspondents will keep track of all the great ideas and suggestions, catalogue them and send them to the game designers in a neat package so that they might be properly considered for the game."
- intro post - one
- "Welcome to the In Concept Forum"
- Mod stickies - yes, none present
- player stickies - yes
- posts - Dev only
- threads locked - all (only one post
- pages - 1

SWG Discussion
- purpose statement
- "The purpose of this board is for all discussion regarding design issues and ideas in Star Wars Galaxies."
- intro post - one
- "Purpose of SWG Discussion forum"
- Mod stickies - yes
- player stickies - yes
- posts - ALL
- threads locked - ALL
- pages - 3470

Professions - link, listing of Profession forums

Galaxy Trades - link, listing of Trade forums

Galaxies
- 26 galaxy forums listed on this page including Test Center

Other
- General Any Topic (Non SWG)
- General Star Wars (Non SWG)
- Role Playing

Support
- Tech Support forum

I am absolutely flabbergasted that people are taking this so hard.

This is SWG, same people who deleted all outstanding customer service ticket to "improve" customer service.

Why are everyone so surprised that they have shut down discussion forum to "improve" communication?

Somebody at SOE is making a hefty paycheck rearranging community forums.

Pathetic.

Where do I apply? I have an even more grand vision of just one forum called "Leave complaints/comments/suggestions here".

Please bring back the SWG Discussion forum because it is theONLY forum to talk across all servers aboutany SWG subjects. The new forum organization is very developement oriented and that isn't a bad thing, but I sometimes want to be able to post something that can seen by the whole community, or read what the community as a whole thinks about an issue.

There are still two general forums for non-SWG discussion and one for roleplaying, but none for global SWG discussion

OK, gang. I'm as annoyed about the loss of the Discussion forum as you are, but it's time to just let it go.

However... I do have a constructive suggestion:create a General Discussion forum that is closed off to new threads by Community Members, but allows new threads to be created by Community Leaders, whowould be player/forum members who have demonstrated an ability and willingness to offer new ideas and to discuss general game aspects in a positive way.

Thiswould allowplayersa limited ability to discuss topics that are relevant to SWG but that don't fall into a specific category -- in other words subjects thataren't specific to a particular galaxy or profession, but that do relate specifically to SWG features. Community Leaders would have rights (within the General Discussion forum) to create new threads and lock old threads.

The advantage to players is that there would again be a central location for discussing overallfeatures of the game. The advantage to SOE is that this forum would not be swamped by single-post rants/complaints/whines. Furthemore, if a Community Leader doesn't work out, he or she can be reset back to Community Member and replaced by someone who does a better job of keeping discussion constructive.

Comments?

--Flatfingers

Hmm. Does an anonymous one-star count as a "comment," or does it merely say something about the person who couldn't be bothered to actually post a response?

No "Community Leader" title for you, Mr. One-Star.

--Flatfingers

Hmm, okay so what this all comes down to is that we can not post any new ideas, or any problems we have with the game.

The only thing we can do ( and that is a good thing ) is reply to the ideas from the devs and what they think are problems.

I feel this new communication thing is abit 1 sided.

You should have kept the Discussion forum, and just added the 3 new forums as well. Get feedback on the topics SOE wants feedback, but at the same time get new ideas and discuss old and new problems in the discussion forum.

This will not work. Trust me.

Instead people will just find other forums to talk about this game, but hey, if that is what you want np.

And if you then do not make the changes everyone wants ( cause you wont know ). And everyone leaves, well then you will have what you want I guess.

Greetings,

CyberGhost.