The community has been giving ample constructive feedback for the past two weeks, notably on upcoming patches and announced changes.

 

These community feedback threads exist both in the PTR forum, here on the General forum, and the PVP forum. The two threads in my signature (down below) are good examples of threads that are 2 weeks old and address the following: faction population, ilum, republic pve grouping during off-peak hours, republic economies, mirror class differences, etc.

 

-Exceptional Community Feedback-

 

It's perfectly understandable that a patch be disappointing. But not if the sole reason it is disappointing is because of reasons we all saw coming two weeks ago. Drastic faction imbalance is an issue we've all been aware of as soon as marketing began for the game; Bioware has not been receptive to any constructive feedback from the community on the subject, nor have they made any comments.

 

It's alright that this patch is kind of messed up. What is NOT alright is that the community has been working hard trying to make Bioware avoid these problems. When the community's feedback is ignored, and the community can only say "we told you so", there is something wrong.

 

-The Past-

 

Constructive feedback has existed since beta launched. The community has been very helpful, cooperative, and detailed with their design feedback and bug reporting. More importantly, we've been providing consistent feedback on erroneous design choices that cause snowballing problems, such as mirror class inconsistencies and heavy faction imbalance warnings.

But a majority of these issues still exist without being acknowledged by Bioware. Which leave us to believe these issues, which are large, are being overlooked.

 

-Patch 1.1-

 

Regarding patch 1.1, we've provided all of the necessary feedback needed to prevent today's problems from occurring. Everything that has happened today has been a topic of discussion for the past two weeks. How could Bioware let such constructive and on-the-mark community feedback fly over their heads? This feedback was given as far as two weeks ago, which gives the developers ample time to reconsider their design choices.

 

-The Role of Good Feedback-

 

The community's feedback on issues does not seem to play a role in the developmental process when it comes to SWTOR. Consistent and constructive feedback does not seem to do any good, as can be seen with patch 1.1 and the announced March update. So why join the PTR? Why provide constructive feedback? The release of the game proved they hadn't been listening to the community's constructive voice regarding factions, and 1.1 shows they haven't been listening to the community's constructive voice either.

 

-Take it or Leave it-

 

If our feedback is not to play a role in helping avoid problems and make SWTOR the best game it can be, then I don't know what to say. Bioware has to prove they can develop and patch this game without needing feedback from the community. I hope they can do this, but surely SWTOR can only be a great game when the community is valued as a source of testing and feedback.

 

 

The community's feedback has been readily available for a long time, especially mature and consistently constructive feedback. Hopefully from now on the community's helpful feedback will more valued and considered.

 

We're here for you, Bioware. If you want us.

Thank you for reading.

 

edit:

Let's look at why the deck is stacked against this game:

 

EA's Track Record

 

Warhammer was left to die. They didn't have the expertise to fix that game and when it became apparent that it couldn't be salvaged, they diverted its development team to SWTOR. The fate of SWTOR is in the same hands of the people who tried to save Warhammer, but ultimately couldn't.

 

James Ohlen's Attitude

 

James is incredibly smug and passive-aggressive. Look at the Eurogamer article that's been referenced many times on these forums.

 

Gabe Amatangelo Doesn't Get PvP

 

It's not that Ilum was poorly implemented; it was poorly designed. There's a difference. A good idea can have a poor implementation. A poor idea, regardless of its implementation, can never turn out well. Ilum's flaws demonstrate that Gabe simply doesn't understand the dynamic among player behavior, faction imbalances, and incentives.

 

Broken/Missing Game Systems

 

The fact that things like (but not limited to) unresponsive combat, static UI, and low frame rate exist post-release are horrifying. These are things that should have been identified during the game's early design phase. Since they weren't addressed in the distant past, we can only assume that James Ohlen and his team of designers didn't view them as a priority. Furthermore, it demonstrates that they simply don't "get it." And this is worrying because any fixes being implemented by a team that doesn't "get it" is likely to fail again.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Auxili
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Great post, it's a shame it'll probably get locked.

i agree with this post and the only way i can get my feedback to them is for me to be extreme and not subscribe, and if a large mass does the same it may have a possitive effect. But in my opinion i think its a lossing battle for the consumer. I get the feeling that they arnt taking anything real serious about custumer feedback at this point. not a very good idea. Edited January 18, 2012 by Hingster

Hopefully Bioware sees this. Some great discussion can be had. Sure the PTR forum feels the pain

bump, I know this thread is 'boring' compared to the rage going on But Bioware needs to see this

I agree the Dev are trying to do their jobs, and from my life experiences i have learned to listen alot to peoples concerns even if it may seem trivial. I think their is a big disconect from a group of above average players that know without much thought that certain game changes are going to be no good. These players that set themselfs to a higher standard of gameplay and will not exploit the game and would rather be in the forums telling Dev or anyone else for that matter that a bad choice has been made. everyone makes mistakes I know i run my own buisness and some of the calls i have made me cost quit a bit to fix. BW must be reminded that without players the game is finished and will not reach its full poetential, whatever that might be. thanks Edited January 19, 2012 by Hingster

bump i think Bw needs to read this too Thanks

I think everyone at Bioware needs to read this post and read it good.

Agree, very good post.

Very nice post, but i'm not sure that BW is aware that a MMO is built with its community and not against it...

 

It's only a proof that they don't know how difficult is to manage a MMO...

 

(sorry french frog posting )

Edited January 19, 2012 by vydoll

BioWare has made it relatively clear at this point: they don't care what the community thinks or wants.

 

As every day goes by this game feels more and more like a pump-&-dump.

An oasis of reason in a storm of trolls. It is nice to see that somewhere these forums were being used to make this game better.

 

You sir, get my +1.

Keep your eye on this thread, hopefully it is read and commented on, rather than closed. I believe Bioware is capable to being a great developer, so long as it develops and embraces the community-close qualities they need.

There was a constructive thread like this floating somewhere a few minutes ago, but was closed. Would not suprise me if this one is getting closed aswell.

 

So far for being constructive. Anyways good OP, i hope they will listen.

Heads up to the mods - this thread most certainly is about Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's about it in the most important way.

Excellent post. I'm sure it's hard to find useful feedback in this sea of reactionary raging, but this thread deserves to be noticed by Bioware.

Are some of you guys now seeing why some of us learned long ago not to bother being "constructive (aka diplomatic)" in our feedback?

 

MMO Devs do not understand anything except "subs are dropping." That's it. Why do you think so many MMO's fail? Game designers have a confirmation bias just like fans and haters do, they tend to listen to the feedback that confirms why they think their game is great and try to rationalize why negative feedback is not true or important. This leads them to continually focus on the parts of their game that really don't need improving and failing to focus on the parts of their game that are lacking until they start to see subs dropping, then they panic and say, "okay, let's reassess."

Too much time wasted in the general forum, not enough time noticing dev feedback in the dev tracker forum.

 

And really? Some of the issues listed aren't getting feedback because they're not issues.

 

"republic pve grouping during off-peak hours, republic economies, mirror class differences"

 

None of those are bugs or issues that deserve discussion. Make your comments (like you say you did in threads you say you link) and Bioware will read it. Discussing mirror class differences when the forums are going nuclear over PvP problems in a patch?

 

Yeah, Bioware's totally ignoring you.

Because Bioware needs your help developing a game?

 

I'm sure they view your drivel in the same manner as experts in every profession consider the input from their customers. Get over yourself and cough up $15 a month, or don't.

Good post except I think you go too easy on them with regards to this patch. These problems were reported on the PTR and Bioware did nothing.

Because Bioware needs your help developing a game?

 

Today's problems could have been avoided by listening to feedback given 2 weeks ago. So yes, they could benefit greatly from valuing their community.

It is always better to have a plan. To me this may be the first part off a many expansions. for me hopefully the make the expansions more open world, ect and this part of the game will give people a nice straight forward way to level up. get a feel for the game and then hit a new and even more impressive part of the Star Wars MMO. Alot of this first part of this game i didn't care for that much but i could see myself trying an expansion of the Star Wars saga Edited January 19, 2012 by Hingster

Great post...

 

Bioware needs to read this.

 

SWTOR is dying already, I fear

Disappointingly, in the statement made by Gary 30 minutes ago, he states that the Ilum situation included Republic players farming Empire players.

 

Which is a flat out lie. The issue is how greatly the Empire outnumbers the Republic. The Republic was never farming the Empire.

Gary, an Empire player himself, is ignoring the true problem - faction imbalance.

This is a huge problem that we should all be aware of. I won't tolerate any future evades or lies.

 

I'm sorry to slip into a passion-fueled post right now, but being lied to gets to me. Gary needs to be held accountable both for the patch and for the evade.

Today's problems could have been avoided by listening to feedback given 2 weeks ago. So yes, they could benefit greatly from valuing their community.

 

You mean the feedback of the game is horrible I am cancelling my subscription?? That feed back?? Because that is most of what they see on the forums..

 

Or is the feedback of complaints about the bugs, and the further complaints about them fixing them?? When they want to fix them, how long it takes to fix them??

 

You mean that feedback?? Becaused even this thread is guilty of that feedback..

 

I am sure they do value community.. But when have we given them something worthwile to listen to.. As far as they know, everyone here has cancelled their subscriptions and won't be able to post here in a day or two.. Isn't that what most of the threads say??

 

We all are entitled to our opinions.. But can't we find a more constructive way to present it and respond to others??