The problem, was, and remains that we still have zero feedback/interaction from the developers. None. Nada. Nein. The 1.3 PTR was really the the epitome of silence regarding key player issues (tank nerfs, projection animation, broken skills, legacy costs, relic changes, etc) that went unanswered. We did calculations, gave rational arguments, and provided many good arguments on the problems associated with specific changes and how they could be reasonably fixed, new suggestions, etc.

We heard nothing.

Some people started getting concerned when there was only patch and many Q&A's that didn't address their questions. We still acted maturely and continued to add more discussions to the topics that had well over 500 replies. I personally gave them a benefit of the doubt because server transfers were underway.

We still heard nothing.

Suddenly there's a post saying that the patch 1.3 will be launched the next week with a big "thank you" for your hard work and suggestions on the PTR after only one patch.

That was it. No "we'll consider your recommendations", replies with specific reasoning behind changes, or that our input really matters throughout the entire PTR process.

We got told what we were getting in the patches note right off the bat and our input didn't matter one bit because nothing of substance was addressed or changed regarding important issues to YOUR PLAYERS that we had questions about. The lack of any interaction at ANY time before, during, and (I'm going to guess future) is really frustrating to your community.

Your community managers obviously aren't doing their job if they completely ignore the VAST MAJORITY of questions asked from players regarding class/balance issues.

So what do we want? We want community managers and developers that interact with the community. Through that interaction, we would be assured that, yes, they actually do read forum posts. Instead, we get complete and total silence. Maybe once in a while somebody will pop in and ask for comments (George) and never be heard from again and the majority of the Q&A's are full of "fluff." Stop avoiding the hard questions.

I mean, I hate to call you community managers out, but you guys are like the guy who says he's doing work, but you never see examples of their work, or proof that you're actually doing work.

YOUR PLAYERS want interaction. That's it. It could be the worst news in the world that your class is getting nerfed because you're overpowered in their eyes, but if a developer explained it, worked with the community, than we would most likely accept it.

I mean, your job is to read internet messages about a video game. How hard can that be? I don't see any real work being done to answer the questions that we want and still want answered. Your job is to maintain a connection between the developers who design the game and the players.

And we don't even get that.

That is why we are so very often angry. And justifiably so.

I usually say people overreact about the communication thing, but seeing all the bugs that were on PTR that ppl reported and it still made it to live? Unacceptable. It looks like not a single bit of any suggestions or feedback was taken into effect or even discussed about 1.3 changes.

But I don't blame the CM's, as there hands are tied. Even if they get feedback, they can't say anything without ok from others or any dev feedback.

Yep, like the warzone change in Voidstar with the door colours when armed. Who'd dump idea was that. Now it's difficult to see at a quick glance which door has been armed. Such an easy thing to change back to purple, but suggestion was ignored.

Also after a warzone, now getting dropped from queue instead of staying queued. Meaning having to re-queue each time.

Oh well. Just came out of game, went to check PTS out to see if it's on and my sub has run out. 1.3 hasn't convinced me to resub.

Not only what the previous players said but after the server transfers, I cannot get online!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand the need to consolidate your servers and get more people to play with each other...BUT...when I cannot get on because my server is FULL????? REALLY????

I pay $15 a month to WAIT 15 min??? I have limited times in which to play. I love this game BUT...if there is NOT a change happening OR that I can transfer to a active but not full server then maybe that will be a choice.

LISTEN UP to your players....You will lose many more with packed servers.....I would be one of them.

SOON......

The fact you guys are just NOW realizing how terrible Bioware is with communication is quite sad. I unsubbed 6 weeks ago because thats one of the major issues I had and as well a bunch of other things I had with this game. I have 14 days of playtime left and I probably won't never consider re-subbing again.

I've seen posts made by Bioware as to why they won't respond to players or threads and some of their posts and argument responses are ludicrous.

Now it's only a matter of time before that Shingara guy enters this thread trying to defend Bioware till the end of time.

I'm going to say this one time, and it might sting a little, but it's important to say it even though no one will listen to me and I'll likely get flamed to death.

This community, the one on the forums, is NOT worth listening to.

Some people are all right, but for the most part what we've got are howler monkeys. For every one useful post on these forums, there are about a thousand that are useless, vindictive, angry, rude, sarcastic, or just /spit on Bioware in general. I'm not exaggerating. Just have a look around at the bile getting spewed here, and then ask yourself: If you were Bioware, would you listen to that mess? Would you value anything they have to say?

The general response to a post like this goes along the lines of, "Well, if they would just *listen to us* the game would be better," but unfortunately this community has traded the right to be heard for the right to scream into the wind. They've packaged and advertised themselves as a group of people that have a big red stamp on the lot of them. That red stamp reads: "DO NOT OPEN - CANNOT BE PLEASED".

So, if you ever wonder why it seems each patch is being designed for people other than the forum community? In the words of V, "If you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror." They are not designing for the people on the forums, and I don't blame them at all.

The 1.3 PTR was really the the epitome of silence regarding key player issues (tank nerfs, broken skills, legacy costs, relic changes, etc) that went unanswered.

Really? I barely follow the forums and I saw feedback from BW on the tank "nerfs" - they said that the shadow tanks were overperforming based upon their expectations for a light armor tank compared to a heavy armor tank, legacy costs - they said that they went on a per character basis to keep costs down rather than paying a bigger fee for an across the board unlock when many alts wouldn't be able to make use of the unlock, relic changes - they said that there was too much burst damage coming from the relics so they changed them to have a lower burst but over a longer time. Just because you didn't get the answer you wanted or they didn't change something to be the way you wanted it to be, does not mean they didn't provide feedback as to the reasons for the changes.

Not only what the previous players said but after the server transfers, I cannot get online!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand the need to consolidate your servers and get more people to play with each other...BUT...when I cannot get on because my server is FULL????? REALLY????

I pay $15 a month to WAIT 15 min??? I have limited times in which to play. I love this game BUT...if there is NOT a change happening OR that I can transfer to a active but not full server then maybe that will be a choice.

 

LISTEN UP to your players....You will lose many more with packed servers.....I would be one of them.

 

 

SOON......

I do not understand why I was asked to transfer my character and then instead you fill up the server I was already on! With as many choices for servers, even if you consolidate the lowest used servers, we should not have to wait to get into the game. Why are we paying to sit here and wait? There can only be 4 players in a group so how many people do you really need on a server? I play regularly with two other people, if we could be guaranteed to be moved together to a server that is not so busy, we would do so. From my game play perspective you fixed something that was not broken and now it is truly screwed up!

I'm going to say this one time, and it might sting a little, but it's important to say it even though no one will listen to me and I'll likely get flamed to death.

 

This community, the one on the forums, is NOT worth listening to.

 

Some people are all right, but for the most part what we've got are howler monkeys. For every one useful post on these forums, there are about a thousand that are useless, vindictive, angry, rude, sarcastic, or just /spit on Bioware in general. I'm not exaggerating. Just have a look around at the bile getting spewed here, and then ask yourself: If you were Bioware, would you listen to that mess? Would you value anything they have to say?

 

The general response to a post like this goes along the lines of, "Well, if they would just *listen to us* the game would be better," but unfortunately this community has traded the right to be heard for the right to scream into the wind. They've packaged and advertised themselves as a group of people that have a big red stamp on the lot of them. That red stamp reads: "DO NOT OPEN - CANNOT BE PLEASED".

 

So, if you ever wonder why it seems each patch is being designed for people other than the forum community? In the words of V, "If you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror." They are not designing for the people on the forums, and I don't blame them at all.

You're absolutely right. I would not listen to the people paying me a monthly fee either. Who cares if they bring up valid points.

LOL..Same ol' same ol'...We are all playing a Beta test game. They dont listen to us when we point out the issues, they never have. This group finder is dumb...fail already. Bugs are still rampant. ....THIS IS A BETA TEST.

Why are you paying for a Beta Test? Even if you liked the game and dont mind paying for a Beta Test....remember they dont listen when you point out bugs weeks before they go live and dont fix them..yet they thank you for your suggestions and contributions. They dont care.

The problem, was, and remains that we still have zero feedback/interaction from the developers.

Could you be more wrong?

Probably not.

Go read their daily twitter feeds, weekly blogs, usually an interview once every 2 weeks, and dev tracker.

i'm trying to help Bioware craft a better game

Really the TLDR of my post.

The fact you guys are just NOW realizing how terrible Bioware is with communication is quite sad. I unsubbed 6 weeks ago because thats one of the major issues I had and as well a bunch of other things I had with this game. I have 14 days of playtime left and I probably won't never consider re-subbing again.

 

I've seen posts made by Bioware as to why they won't respond to players or threads and some of their posts and argument responses are ludicrous.

 

Now it's only a matter of time before that Shingara guy enters this thread trying to defend Bioware till the end of time.

I always wondered what is the reasoning behind the people that unsubscribe, but stick around pretty much taking a dump on general discussion every day. If I ever stop playing this game it's gonna be to go play something else, not to linger around like a mindless drone chanting "bioware sucks, bioware sucks, bioware sucks"

I think I'll be a bit more self-respecting than that.

I always wondered what is the reasoning behind the people that unsubscribe, but stick around pretty much taking a dump on general discussion every day. If I ever stop playing this game it's gonna be to go play something else, not to linger around like a mindless drone chanting "bioware sucks, bioware sucks, bioware sucks"

 

I think I'll be a bit more self-respecting than that.

To quote Aric Jorgan, "There's gotta be a better way of wasting our time sir"

I always wondered what is the reasoning behind the people that unsubscribe, but stick around pretty much taking a dump on general discussion every day. If I ever stop playing this game it's gonna be to go play something else, not to linger around like a mindless drone chanting "bioware sucks, bioware sucks, bioware sucks"

 

I think I'll be a bit more self-respecting than that.

I'm sorry that you dislike how i'm trying to save SWTOR from crashing and burning. Taking a dump works, people like you actually quote and hear me out.

Could you be more wrong?

 

Probably not.

 

Go read their daily twitter feeds, weekly blogs, usually an interview once every 2 weeks, and dev tracker.

My complaint is addressing this.

- PTR 1.3 is launched. Notes are posted.

- Those lucky to get copied get about their business. Topics start appearing with questions regarding specific changes (new threat, nerfs, buffs, etc etc).

- Patch 1 is launched. Contains bug fixes. Nothing new.

- Players still post in the topics which now have over 500 replies. None of them have any replies. Developers post primarily in blogs to highlight new features and partially address issues. They talk vaguely about formulas and stuff.

- 2 weeks later patch is launched.

What is the point of the PTR if what's on the patch notes isn't subject to change.

I'm going to say this one time, and it might sting a little, but it's important to say it even though no one will listen to me and I'll likely get flamed to death.

 

This community, the one on the forums, is NOT worth listening to.

 

Some people are all right, but for the most part what we've got are howler monkeys. For every one useful post on these forums, there are about a thousand that are useless, vindictive, angry, rude, sarcastic, or just /spit on Bioware in general. I'm not exaggerating. Just have a look around at the bile getting spewed here, and then ask yourself: If you were Bioware, would you listen to that mess? Would you value anything they have to say?

Sadly this is so very true. I would be willing to lay a bet most developers stay well away from this schizophrenic forum.

By the sounds of things this was them meeting a deadline and.nothing more. They probably won't address tank changes any further, but they did respond to people's questions about it early on, I saw them myself.

The actual bugs will get ironed out each week I guess. Which yes is silly, it should have been held back, but my guess is that they had to get 1.3 out by the end of June or something (orders from EA or whatever) so they did what they could and will address the small bugs over the next weeks.

My complaint is addressing this.

 

- PTR 1.3 is launched. Notes are posted.

- Those lucky to get copied get about their business. Topics start appearing with questions regarding specific changes (new threat, nerfs, buffs, etc etc).

- Patch 1 is launched. Contains bug fixes. Nothing new.

- Players still post in the topics which now have over 500 replies. None of them have any replies. Developers post primarily in blogs to highlight new features and partially address issues. They talk vaguely about formulas and stuff.

- 2 weeks later patch is launched.

 

What is the point of the PTR if what's on the patch notes isn't subject to change.

Things people complain about now will probably be addressed in 1.3.X or 1.4.0

As for the PTR?

That just them making sure it works well enough to launch it.

My complaint is addressing this.

 

- PTR 1.3 is launched. Notes are posted.

- Those lucky to get copied get about their business. Topics start appearing with questions regarding specific changes (new threat, nerfs, buffs, etc etc).

- Patch 1 is launched. Contains bug fixes. Nothing new.

- Players still post in the topics which now have over 500 replies. None of them have any replies. Developers post primarily in blogs to highlight new features and partially address issues. They talk vaguely about formulas and stuff.

- 2 weeks later patch is launched.

 

What is the point of the PTR if what's on the patch notes isn't subject to change.

Yeah it seems the focus of the PTS was to iron out some bugs, not really take any kind of player feedback, which really sucks, but then again, Im happy that 1.3 came out as fast as it did, they can tweak the project animation later.

I'm sorry that you dislike how i'm trying to save SWTOR from crashing and burning. Taking a dump works, people like you actually quote and hear me out.

Crashing and burning is your opinion. I think the game rocks, I don't know what your complaining about.

Sadly this is so very true. I would be willing to lay a bet most developers stay well away from this schizophrenic forum.

It's like that in any mmorpg, then people wonder why developers don't post as often. The truth is that people only want feedback that is in their best interest. It's like the shadow tank thread in the beta forums. Almost all of the thread was about people complaining about the nerf. The fact is developers though shadow tanks were op and the nerf is supposed to bring the shadow tanks inline with the other tanks. Most of feedback isn't useful for the developers since people's solution is superficial as to not nerf their class.

I can give you a good idea what I mean. If shadow tanks or any class is getting nerf the usual responds people make is why don't the developers improve other classes. The problem with that idea is it uses more resources and time to accomplished. The fact is that developers want feedback on how to nerf said class/spec and people don't want to deal with that. Instead people propose ideas that won't nerf their class/spec. Thus, the problem isn't that players are providing feedback, but aren't providing the kinda of feedback that is useful for the developers because she/he doesn't want to get nerf. The same applies to changes people don't like.

As for bugs there isn't much a player can do, but just report bugs. You also have other feedback on like rewards for pvp or pve. Obvious, people won't provide useful feedback when the amount of warzone tokens is decreased per warzone or increasing the cost of items. However, the decision to increase/decrease rewards is purely a developer decision based on their data.

I don't have a lot of MMO experience, so I don't know if this level of communication is "standard". It does bug me though when they change small things that aren't of great importance, yet they offer little or no explanation and don't listen when players say "leave it alone/put it back!" For example, adding text to legacy emotes, completely disabling most headgear showing for certain races (I can check the "hide head slot" box just fine, thanks!), and removing the giggle from Scoundrels.

I must say, it kinda makes me miss the FFXIV community reps and dev team. [Developer reply] [Can I have it?]

It's like that in any mmorpg, then people wonder why developers don't post as often. The truth is that people only want feedback that is in their best interest. It's like the shadow tank thread in the beta forums. Almost all of the thread was about people complaining about the nerf. The fact is developers though shadow tanks were op and the nerf is supposed to bring the shadow tanks inline with the other tanks. Most of feedback isn't useful for the developers since people's solution is superficial as to not nerf their class.

 

I can give you a good idea what I mean. If shadow tanks or any class is getting nerf the usual responds people make is why don't the developers improve other classes. The problem with that idea is it uses more resources and time to accomplished. The fact is that developers want feedback on how to nerf said class/spec and people don't want to deal with that. Instead people propose ideas that won't nerf their class/spec. Thus, the problem isn't that players are providing feedback, but aren't providing the kinda of feedback that is useful for the developers because she/he doesn't want to get nerf. The same applies to changes people don't like.

 

As for bugs there isn't much a player can do, but just report bugs. You also have other feedback on like rewards for pvp or pve. Obvious, people won't provide useful feedback when the amount of warzone tokens is decreased per warzone or increasing the cost of items. However, the decision to increase/decrease rewards is purely a developer decision based on their data.

You also have to keep in mind that with a team of a hundred or so, it's going to be hard reading and answering over a million individual posts.