Development Cycle Archive

You guy love to talk the talk... LETS SEE YOU WALK THE WALK.

as Nike says "Just Do It"

Thanks to Mr R2DADROID.

Rather than having someone post to every discussion about when, say, Bounty Hunters are being fixed, they will go and post to the Bounty Hunter forum. And hopefully someone will smack them. How does removing a forum improve communication? Well, conventionally, when trying to digest large amounts of information, the preferred method is not to dump it all in one spot and hope for the best, but to divide it and categorize it. And in general, smaller, more focused communities yield better information and have a better signal to noise ratio than large ones (as has been noted).

On the other hand, if people simply want a place to yell and vent, having to deal with a more protective community (look at the infamous Test Center community) might not make them happy. These people may just have to adjust.

And some additions:
The half-sarcastic solution is to leave open a board, but simply abandon it in terms of a development and feedback tool. The people who honestly wish to propose changes have plenty of other places to do it for 90% of the topics.

the general discusion forum needs to stay , implement the new forums but keep the general forum .

Perhaps an ingame suggestion tool (like bug report) would help if working like tickets (1 max each time every 24h per account). The categories would help to catalogue ideas and focalize efficiency.

I don't think we have seen the real reason why the general forum is being removed...nor will we ever see it. However, its not our game....so carry on, and we will decide if we want to stay with you.Let's hope you have chosen wisely for both of us.

I look at this as a potential positive change if, as the discussion goes on, some feedback from the DEVS and SOE is forthcoming to let the posters know how the company sees things. A forum like this with no or little feedback will be frustrating to many since the general discussion will be gone.

I see this as an attempt to focus on the possible rather than the improbable, which is a good thing. Hopefully everyone will use these new tools in the manner they were intended and thus get the most productivity from them that is possible.

Thunderheart et al,

First, thank you for the effort so far. It is apprecitated.

Next, I have to agree with the majority of community memebers that have posted so far. To do away with the Discussion forum, and limit us to the forums suggested, effectively cuts off the community's ability to communicate with each other and the dev team about topics THEY are concerend with, versus the dev drivin topics (although good/important).

I, like many others, have high hopes for the future of the game. Many "older"(I say this because we've only beenin the live game for 6 months or so)players are currently experiencing a stagnation in game enjoyment and are hanging on, with fingers crossed,hoping the changes to the GCW and additional future content will save the game.

Lastly, the devs and help may design and make the gam, but it is the players that take the game and bring it to life. The players do this because they enjoy the game. The Devs, like a good GM, must heed to the players' desires, creating and balacing a game the players want to play, experience, and propagate. If this is not done, the players simply won't play. So the Discussion forum, or some similar forum, are extremely important in this realtionship, to do away with them could be a the first of SWG dying groans.

Thanks, Peace, and Good Luck!

bah.. sorry for the blank post...

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We want to keep the best parts of the SWG discussion forum, so we encourage comments about what other types of forums would be a benefit to the community with the knowledge that they will not get developer attention.

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OK, with that said. Give TH some ammo to go to bat for us here. Obviously the SWG Discussion forum is a goner, but they are willing to give us "user forums" that are not galaxy specific but are not being read by the devs. So suggest some forums for our own player-based use and discussion and then we the player base will have to make sure that the good stuff in these forums makes its way to where the devs can see it. We could elect our own "correspondant" to these forums to make sure that this happens.

It would actually be kind of nice to have these forums that we know the devs aren't tracking - no hijaks, no whining, etc. - just a place where we can talk to each other from a game-wide perspective versus a galaxy-wide.

My two cents.

I don't like this at all.

You say that there is no clear channel.

Does that mean that you aren't getting enough input from posters? I don't think that is the case. Anytime any dev post a request for suggestion in development forum, it always generate thousands of replies.

We all get to say what is on our mind on SWG discussion, and if it is not constructive, it get locked or deleted. And when Dev want cleared more focus discussion about the cocept or development, they start a thread on development, we see it in Dev tracker and give out focused input.

Seem to worked fine so far.

Is there not enough clear and focus input during Testing?

Again after every patch we see that every problem that we face were first mentioned in test server forum. Several times a day.

So LACK of input from player is not an issue. nor it being focused.

And why would there be need to close the SWG discussion forum? what would be the problem with opening In Concept, In development and In test forum and still leave the discussion forum open?

I think we all know why.

I think someone believe the game will be more successful not if there is In Concept, In development and In test forum, but it would be more successful if there is no Discussion Forum.

Apparently what not got said is not true I guess.

I though that was the job of TH. He focus what what we are saying about certain topic and bring it to Dev's attention. And he is the clear channel of communication between players and Dev.

And from what I read so far he is to be doing wonderful job. I personally though he was doing wonderful job.

But then I guess we were told lot of things. And I guess Dev don't see it that way.

Oh well to Jedi forum or GCW forum we go I suppose until they close that forum too.

Sounds like ..putting make-up on a pig.

Underneath ..its still a pig.

Repost from the "other" thread:

I have given this a bit of thought and the thing that keeps popping up to me, the thing that most of the folks that were saying "You will rue the day you removed the SWG Discussion Forum" is missing is that...

The devs CANNOT respond to every thought we users have of their product. They simply can't do it. To attempt to do it would be insane as well as bad buisness.

So... From that, what do they do? They care about this game, I refuse to believe anything else. Anyone that pours the time and energy into creating something like this has to care about what they do. Just what I believe. That being said... What they should do, is EXACTLY what they are doing. Filtering information and discussion to a manageable level.

The folks that think their ideas arefor naught because the SWG General Discussion Forum is disappearing, you are probably right. Your ideas are for naught. This is simply because there isn't enough hours in the day to filter the good from the w00ts, the fix the game's, the fix the (insert profession here)'s, the inane PA battles, the where is the Star Warsyness?.... They need to do EXACTLY what they are doing. Forcing the forum users to filter their own information using the outlinedboards (Galaxies, Trade, GCW, that sort of thing.) Let the inane blather deteriorate and the cream rise, and then focus on turning that cream into things that benefit ALL of us.

Look... I agree with alot of what is posted on these boards. Some of it I categorically and vehemently do NOT agree with. But I think the thing we ALL can agree with is how much blather gets bantered around. Personally, I think when they do implement some of the forum changes, I think they should delete all of the posts that are not on topic to the thread. Just take them out. Only in the two forums TH described above, mind you... Maybe then we would get to a positive state of discussing the actual issue. I don't know if this could be done on a daily basis, or an ongoing basis, but it certainly will be constructive.

One other thing... I am a chosen Sqaud Leader. Not a Holo SL. So I have a right to complain about all of the things that people of other professions complain about. I know this. The Devs know this. They are trying to fix this in a way that benefits ALL of us in an efficient manner. I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt. I read TH's posts. I know he is trying. You might be surprised at the results if we give them a chance toFOCUS on problems and apply the resources they have in an efficient manner.

This is the best step towards that I have seen, imho.

Droid's been busy. He saved my initial response, as well...

TH,

You've stated that the SWG Discussion forum is being closed. You're then telling us not to argue for why the forum should remain open, rather you're telling us to provide a forum change in which critical information can reach the developers.

How is it going to help the developers to have information from one forum shunted into 26 differentforums? More importantly, how is it going to help the players when they have to search 26 forums to find a pertinent piece of player-initiated information? Your new forums -- In Concept, In Development and In Testing -- aren't accessible to players unless we're responding to a thread you've started. In other words, SOE-Approved Topics.

If I see a message in the Kettemoor forum, I expect said information to be Kettemoor-specific. A topic about a specific person, a specific guild, a specific event, etc.

What use is it going to be to ALL players when somebody is trying to share a piece of game-specific information, or ask a game-specific question, not of the Devs, but of the other players?

For example, Anybody been able to access SWGCraft.com? Anybody been able to shuttle into Daeric? Hey, did you all see this great review of SWG on IGN? The Devs might consider these worthless topics, but I strongly suspect you're missing the point of the general Discussion forum if you think it's for Development use. I see more player discussion going on in the Discussion forum, than I see Developer discussion. You'd take that away from us, because you don't think the Discussion forum is beneficial to you?

General discussion does not belong in the Galaxy forums. General discussion does not belong in the GCW forum. General discussion does not belong in the Game Guides forum. If you close the SWG Discussion forum, the one place where players from ALL galaxies can discuss and share information, you're going to quickly find the GG forum become the new general discussion forums.