Communication and Bioware...why this continues to be a problem

I'm a huge fan of this game and have been enjoying it... even though there are a ton of bugs that remain, that I'm hoping will get addressed.

But we haven't heard a peep. Last post from a dev was 10/29 (that's forever in the lifecycle of a new expansion pack).

I read the Dulfy site every day. Have you noticed that, while Guild Wars 2 released its expansion and has put out tons of information... it's been a week since anything of relevance came out of Bioware for this game?

We still have plenty of stuff we need clarification on. Why should we get our Alliance leaders past level 10? Where is the fix for the respec issues that require a relog to sort out? What's going on with the brick wall everyone's coming across with crafting skills (slicing needed, mats no longer used for anything, non-raiders being unable to craft items)? What about the difficulty issues people keep reporting with tactical flashpoints? How about bugs like the Vrbither heroic requiring auto-loot disabling, or the Contain and Control mission not being able to be finished? How about the massive lag spikes people are reporting inside Star Fortresses? Missing companions like SCORPIO or Qyzen?

I love this game and I love the expansion, but I'm really tired of the lack of communication.

It feels like to me every time I want to give Eric the benefit of that doubt, he does something unbecoming of a Community Manager in my eyes. Not necessarily always something large, but more of a "I am above you" type of tone rather than "I am one of you" that a community manager strives for.

And to be honest, I don't even know if I am wording it fairly. I just have found in general he lacks that "down to earth" quality found in the better community managers when times of crisis or heated contention arise - he's to quick to go into "snark" mode and that just reads poorly when you in essence represent a business.

Not that I hadn't had a good email chain with him once myself - I did and for a time it did change my opinion of him.

Not that my opinion of him is the be all end all - I know full well it isn't. But I can only offer my own perspective, and then suggest if there are others that feel as I do, then that sort of thing tends to build up, and suddenly its not one person, its a bunch of people.


The other thing is though, at least for me, I "forgive" easy. That's not to denote eric needs to personally apologize or anything like that - I'll be honest the word I am looking for escapes me and that is the best I have to go with.

Anyway, I think gamers are the same - you can wrong them, but you are only as good or as bad as your latest release or interaction. Meaning even if things are contentious, a person in his position can always turn around perception, and if he were so inclined, gamers being the fickle people we are, would likely embrace it if it was shown to be something long term, and not instance to instance.

At the very least, I would hope that time and perspective, and a new start to the game would allow Eric to take a step back and see that those upset with the Community Management team aren't mad at him personally - its that we are passionate about the game and want that team to help foster a better community, which we believe can be done because we have seen it in other MMOs.

Welcome Back and good to see you again.

I agree with you to a point. I know he has limitations by mothership, but at the same time he could be inserting himself a whole lot more into conversations. I think the Cartel Market thread was an AWESOME example of positive communications back/forth with the community. We need to see MORE of that (Even if it's not Eric doing that communication).

EA/BW have a FUBAR way of doing marketing/communication and I've not exactly been polite in that view point. I point out WOW's announcement of its newest Xpac as a clear example. MONTHS.. months before Xpac release and WOW users got more information on the day it was announced than we got over a 2-3 month period for KoTFE and chunk of ours was very last minute. I'm sorry, but I don't count the draft class patch notes cut/paste and information of quality.

That was a major source of outrage. What exacerbated it was that I we inquired about the usual status quo of BioWare, seeing a golden marketing opportunity, and were told they would be more open with the communication the week following the announcement, and almost seemed to start to follow through that week after - until dead silence other than "Outlander, Outlander OUTLANNNDEEERR!!!!" for several months straight until the usual BioWare reveal time of a month to a month and a half before release.

It would have been sad and still worth criticism had they just done what they always did and didn't say something they then didn't follow up on, but that would have been better than the alternative. And even if you and I agree with the stance, I think we both would at least respect BioWare more if they were just upfront and stated "Look, we won't be saying poop about any major updates until a month, month and a half before they are released due to our policies."

Sure, we can still complain about the policies, but at least this then frees the Community Management team to be able to earn back some credibility, rather than having the communication boat anchor tied firmly around their neck.

I think that's the most unsettling thing - just how poor overall BioWare/EA's marketing department really is, not just in performance, but in how short-sighted and narrow-minded they are, in a position where you normally would want visionaries trying to sell the vision of the game to us, the customers.

No one on either side of that question has ANY reason beyond their own biases to make a claim.

Why don't you play the game instead of obsessing over what everyone else posts?


And by that little ad hom diatribe, our little self-appointed forum-moderator here means "anyone posting anything he doesn't agree with is a poo-poo head"

/plonk

I actually do not like this expansion, how is this bias making me claim that it is a success?

Just because I have an opinion it doesn't mean I can't see reality for what it is.

Frankly, I have no idea why else someone would make a claim as to its success or failure only a week or so after launch...

Personally, I think it is very obvious that better communication from the team simply wouldn't make one bit of a difference.

EA/BW has their business model and will follow through on that model regardless of what anyone here says. Sure, they've thrown a bone to the forum denizens every now and then...thanking us for our feedback in the same way a pre-school teacher praises a cute comment from a precocious student...but for the most part they just trundle on with whatever changes they've decided to make and damn the customers.

For what it is, KotFE isn't bad. It's relatively bug free (by degrees of relatively...after 3.0 anything would look good) and the effort put into the narrative is superb. But it isn't a MMO any longer. It's a Single-player Online Role Playing Game. None of the H2's require two people and you simply can not group up during the story leveling process. The only group action comes at end game where we rehash old content that has been "leveled up" but which isn't a challenge at all.

And for a game that encourages massive amounts of alts, it has made playing those alts difficult. After going through the story once, it's hard for me to do it a second time. I can't re-watch a movie I've just seen or re-read a book I've just read and find re-running the same story to be in the same vein, regardless of whether or not I can make minor changes to the story with my dialog decisions.

Of course, there are some that are just fine with all of this. Good for them. I hope EA/BW profits from them but I play MMO's for the multi-player aspect, for the grouping and the camaraderie and it just isn't there for me.

Increased communication isn't going to change any of this. Why should I care if they tell me what they are going to do when I know that A: what they are going to do is whatever they want to do, and B: it will probably be something I don't like?

I re-subbed for 6 months when KotFE was announced, just in case it was worth it. I wish I would have waited a couple more weeks when we started getting an idea of where the game was going but that's money gone and I've blown more on worse. No amount of communication can change the fact that this game has become something I don't want and I simply do not feel it is worth the effort to put up a fight because, in the long run, it simply will not matter.

For those who find this exactly what they want, congrats. Enjoy it. I'll keep an eye on the forums to see how that's going for you but I've pretty much washed my hands of the entire affair.

Frankly I am disappointed in how silent the Devs have been since the release of KOTFE. Nary a word from them other than the obligatory "<Server Name> is offline" posts and such.

Either they have seen the discontent over the past week or week and a half (since early access) and have decided turning a blind eye is best

-or-

They are so completely out of touch that they believe everyone loves what they are doing.

Smart money is on the first option.