Announcing The Old Republic Guild Summit

(Preface: Long reply incoming.)

With all due respect, I must point out that this feels like a complete disaster. There are better ways to gather player feedback, and far better ways to choose the game's direction.

First, you're only inviting guild leaders. Guild leaders don't necessarily represent or even know what players want from the game. In fact, having played 8 MMOs, and been a guild leader in one, I'll posit that you're *extremely* unlikely to get a statistical sample of what players want just by surveying leaders.

The reality is, such a conference will be dominated by one group: Hardcore guild leaders. By definition, casual guild leaders take games less seriously, and are thus unlikely to even hold strong opinions on the endgame. In fact they're unlikely to even attend, as most casual players (including guild leaders) have other things to think about, and can't (or won't) plan gaming-related trips on only a month's notice.

So what you're actually doing is calling out for hardcore neckbeards to show up and seethe with nerd rage about why the game isn't micromanaged in their favor.

That's exactly what's going to happen, and exactly what you're going to hear.

I can even predict what they'll tell you. The reality is, hardcore guilds, and hardcore guild leaders, want exactly one thing: Raids, raids raids. If you listen to their guild leaders, that's all you'll ever wind up making. They really think that gaming is about gathering a huge number of people and standing around dodging ground effects, and many are so detached from reality that they think this grants them a sort of real-life prestige.

There's no evidence that *most* players even *want* a raid-focused endgame in a Star Wars themed MMO. If you think that a majority of your player base sees Star Wars as "group up tightly on the Rancor's arse while dodging acid pools", you're sorely mistaken. You will hear that at your conference, certainly -- but that doesn't make it true.

To be blunt, Bioware, this idea completely ignores human nature. Casual players don't have time to go to a guild conference, most players don't have the resources, and the players who have both time, resources, and interest are exactly the sort of grognards designers shouldn't listen to. Expect precisely this: a bunch of Mongos with trust funds and personality disorders who live in mom's basement, demanding more raids, more tiers of gear accessible only to them, and possibly arena systems.

If you want meaningful input on game direction, don't ask the Mongos. Ask ALL the players. Look at what other MMOs are doing RIGHT. Find out what people want SPECIFICALLY from a Star Wars game. There's no shame in asking your player base for suggestions via. surveys, or even putting such requests in Account Management. An optional survey on "what would you like to see?" is a great idea.

But don't do a "Guild Summit". It'll lead to exactly the same mistake that Blizzard made with Cataclysm -- thinking a few noisy neckbeards speak for the whole of the player base. They don't. Listening to them means creating stinking turds of content that most people never see, and then players simply get frustrated and leave. And that costs millions of players -- a mistake you can't afford to make with a game two months old.

I don't mean to sound like such a pessimist, but consider this fair warning given. This won't have the result you think it will. There are great ways to go about asking what players want. This is the opposite.

This will just be some PR nonsense.

(Preface: Long reply incoming.)

With all due respect, I must point out that this feels like a complete disaster. There are better ways to gather player feedback, and far better ways to choose the game's direction.

First, you're only inviting guild leaders. Guild leaders don't necessarily represent or even know what players want from the game. In fact, having played 8 MMOs, and been a guild leader in one, I'll posit that you're *extremely* unlikely to get a statistical sample of what players want just by surveying leaders.

The reality is, such a conference will be dominated by one group: Hardcore guild leaders. By definition, casual guild leaders take games less seriously, and are thus unlikely to even hold strong opinions on the endgame. In fact they're unlikely to even attend, as most casual players (including guild leaders) have other things to think about, and can't (or won't) plan gaming-related trips on only a month's notice.

So what you're actually doing is calling out for hardcore neckbeards to show up and seethe with nerd rage about why the game isn't micromanaged in their favor.

That's exactly what's going to happen, and exactly what you're going to hear.

I can even predict what they'll tell you. The reality is, hardcore guilds, and hardcore guild leaders, want exactly one thing: Raids, raids raids. If you listen to their guild leaders, that's all you'll ever wind up making. They really think that gaming is about gathering a huge number of people and standing around dodging ground effects, and many are so detached from reality that they think this grants them a sort of real-life prestige.

There's no evidence that *most* players even *want* a raid-focused endgame in a Star Wars themed MMO. If you think that a majority of your player base sees Star Wars as "group up tightly on the Rancor's arse while dodging acid pools", you're sorely mistaken. You will hear that at your conference, certainly -- but that doesn't make it true.

To be blunt, Bioware, this idea completely ignores human nature. Casual players don't have time to go to a guild conference, most players don't have the resources, and the players who have both time, resources, and interest are exactly the sort of grognards designers shouldn't listen to. Expect precisely this: a bunch of Mongos with trust funds and personality disorders who live in mom's basement, demanding more raids, more tiers of gear accessible only to them, and possibly arena systems.

If you want meaningful input on game direction, don't ask the Mongos. Ask ALL the players. Look at what other MMOs are doing RIGHT. Find out what people want SPECIFICALLY from a Star Wars game. There's no shame in asking your player base for suggestions via. surveys, or even putting such requests in Account Management. An optional survey on "what would you like to see?" is a great idea.

But don't do a "Guild Summit". It'll lead to exactly the same mistake that Blizzard made with Cataclysm -- thinking a few noisy neckbeards speak for the whole of the player base. They don't. Listening to them means creating stinking turds of content that most people never see, and then players simply get frustrated and leave. And that costs millions of players -- a mistake you can't afford to make with a game two months old.

I don't mean to sound like such a pessimist, but consider this fair warning given. This won't have the result you think it will. There are great ways to go about asking what players want. This is the opposite.

Well said i agree 100%

I second that and don't want a raid focused game...

While i agree raid focused game would suck ... hard mode flashpoints are a drag if you dont have the gear to play them. I think that there needs to be other ways to get tinonesse gear .... they need to add more dalies and dalies that are heroic 2 or higher should be dropping tionese crystals and there should be a place to trade in tionese crystals for comendations 10 to 1 trade value ... just like the pvp tokens.

Wow, time to close this thing down. I've played many games, to top level, getting nice perks, but have rarely seen guilds doing anything together. For games to boast hundreds + guilds, there seems to be little activity besides people taking advantage of guild banks and exploiting items. Guild Leader summit to explore the direction of the game as a whole, going on the assumption that guilds represent a huge player base--don't forget all those alts in the guilds. Reckon some dialog must have a form of focus, but it does alienate others who do quite well Pugging without guilds. It is also funny--as when playing I am often on 12+ hours at a time--to see so many guilded people soloing everything, or spamming LFG.

Perhaps in the future you can "figure" out a way to hear the voices of those who actually play the game--I mean the entire game and content. Good luck with that summit; I'm sure it will be productive. Just remember how CU (Combat downgrades) and NGEs have destroyed the fun for most games in the past.