Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Team Comments Community Manager/AP Kevin O'Hara
)". 'Daily basis' is the keyaspect there. One read through the Jedi Revamp thread, noticing only 1 response from your supposed "face man" Thunderheart, and you'll see that the community (especially the hardcore players, who usually have 2+ accounts) are being ignored.The fanbase is very loyal, even in the face of sheer apathy. It's worth restating that we understand that it is tough work, but at least let us know where you are. If we areworried or confusedabout upcoming change, give us details that could calm our fears. Keep us in the loop. We don't ask for all that much, we really don't. It's the least we deserve, for spending the time (and money) to play a game that is a more than a year away from being the polished title it should have been, upon release. We've accepted that, and have moved on. How about you guys do something to show us that you actually care? Let's make daily communication a reality. Do something to show us that you actually care about our concerns, not just SAY you care, and then ignore us.
PeteyBoy23 wrote:
Kevin,
Understand that I say the following withall due respect to you, and your team. It cannot be an easy job to do what you guys do. That being said, there are a few items in your message that are between a stretch of the truth, and being completely false.
- I've personallybug reported many typos in the game. In fact, once in a while (say every 2 weeks or so) I'll bug report the same thing again, so it doesn't fall off someone's radar. You said, "it doesn't take much skill to open the text tool and change "%ST" to "%PT" or "it's" to "its". I'm not trying to be the spelling police here, but it's a typo, how difficult can it be to fix? How many can exist at this point, that someone can't just spend a day to fix them all? How many times must someone bug report something, before it actually gets taken care of?
- Communication is sorely lacking. You said, "We needed to hire someone specifically to talk with the community on a daily basis. So now that Thunderheart is front and center (or the most visible target depending on your point of view
- Customer service is awful. And I mean pitifully awful, that is no exaggeration. I've had MANY conversations via tickets (as there is no way to contact a support person over the phone - God forbid!) that were not only NOT resolved, but were closed without the issue being acknowledged as a bug. I've even been threatened to close a ticket, otherwise I would get a warning on my account. So, let me get this straight. I report a bug to you, and you tell me it's not a bug, or blame it on some end-user issue or 'lag', as was my most recent experience. Then when I don't accept your answer, I get threatened with a warning being placed on my account? As for the 'lag' issue, I was actually told to logout, wait an hour, and log back in. I could only laugh, because as I had already explained, I've been experiencing the issue for days. We are gamers, and that is to say that most of us are savvy with computers. We are people too, so let's remember that. Please stop insulting our intelligence when you try to explain away a bug, by scapegoating something else. I've yet to speak to someone who has had a good experience with a CSR. Not exactly what I would expect based on your statement of "I can say that we had one of the best pre-launch MMO communities out there and we are now starting to have one of the best post-launch MMO communities." How do you figure? Was there a vote I was unaware of? I'd love to know.
What about former beta testers Q?
I can't seem to get on TC, some wierd install error. Im glad to see that Veterans get priority too.
Thanks everyone. Just to hit a couple of points.
I'm sorry some of you do not like the decision to allow Fan Fest attendeesinto the Space Beta. They are not the only ones getting in. We will be looking at our forum community, especially those who have helped us on Test Center and selecting from there as well. I do believe that people going to fan fest do respresent long term players and usually good testers. I know that may not seem fair to those who live far away. Beta is not about being fair. It is about selecting quality testers AND it is also a tool for the P.R. department. I'm just being honest with you here. I feel comfortable with the PR team using it as a added-value promotion for Fan Fest admission onlybecause it is not the only way into Beta. Most of our Beta people will be you guys and gals.
PeteyBoy, typos are not hard to fix, they are hard to find. We have many many text files and tracking down a specifc one can take a while. As for how many times someone must bug report something... every bug reported gets put on a priority list. Text bugs are alomst always "polish" level. That pretty much means they are on the bottom. Priority comes from what is most important to the game and players and not what gets reported most.
As for communication, you are welcome to your opinion. I've been on the other end and I agree that there are always more questions to answer. What we promise and deliver is someone to be on the forums every day and bring top concerns to the devs. That person also replies to as many issues as he can get the answers to. While this isn't perfect, we seem to be doingbetter than most other MMOs of this caliber. We're also commited to exploring ways of improvingthe communication.
While I do feel it is biased for the PR team to do this with the Fan-Fest peeps, I also understand PR and how it works.
If I was able to have time off from my busy schedule I would be at the fanfest in a heartbeat. I already have Celebration 3 (Star Wars fan-fest)on the calander for all of is in <DR> in the Lowca Server.
Great the people who have the most money and can affort to go to the fan fest get dibs and the rest get left behind, all i wait for now is the SE and i wont even be alowed to play it untill when? 12-30-2005?
<--- pissed
And the link you gave is a empty page with no text on it at all, it just says:
Pre Release Archives
*allot of empty space*
I
Q-3PO wrote:
As for communication, you are welcome to your opinion. I've been on the other end and I agree that there are always more questions to answer. What we promise and deliver is someone to be on the forums every day and bring top concerns to the devs. That person also replies to as many issues as he can get the answers to. While this isn't perfect, we seem to be doingbetter than most other MMOs of this caliber. We're also commited to exploring ways of improvingthe communication.
Q-3PO wrote:
As for communication, you are welcome to your opinion. I've been on the other end and I agree that there are always more questions to answer. What we promise and deliver is someone to be on the forums every day and bring top concerns to the devs. That person also replies to as many issues as he can get the answers to. While this isn't perfect, we seem to be doingbetter than most other MMOs of this caliber. We're also commited to exploring ways of improvingthe communication.
I have NEVER seen a company delete all its outstanding customer service tickets. How in the name of all that is holy can you say you're "Doing better than most other MMOs of this caliber"?!?!?!?!
-Phal
As for communication, you are welcome to your opinion. I've been on the other end and I agree that there are always more questions to answer. What we promise and deliver is someone to be on the forums every day and bring top concerns to the devs. That person also replies to as many issues as he can get the answers to. While this isn't perfect, we seem to be doingbetter than most other MMOs of this caliber. We're also commited to exploring ways of improvingthe communication.
I think every adult I've spoken to who pays (or used to pay) for this game considers the standard you've set in this area to be incredibly low ... calling it 'better than most' is simply self-serving, unsubstantiated marketing-speak. I don't know anyone with a professional customer service background who thinks you grade well in this area.
Haven't been over to the EQ forums or CSR's lately then have you. And that's the biggest game around still.
KzinKiller wrote:
As for communication, you are welcome to your opinion. I've been on the other end and I agree that there are always more questions to answer. What we promise and deliver is someone to be on the forums every day and bring top concerns to the devs. That person also replies to as many issues as he can get the answers to. While this isn't perfect, we seem to be doingbetter than most other MMOs of this caliber. We're also commited to exploring ways of improvingthe communication.
I think every adult I've spoken to who pays (or used to pay) for this game considers the standard you've set in this area to be incredibly low ... calling it 'better than most' is simply self-serving, unsubstantiated marketing-speak. I don't know anyone with a professional customer service background who thinks you grade well in this area.