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A Message from the Community Manager


JovethGonzalez

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This is great news to hear from you again.

But, may i ask you what is to come for us french and german players ? is Courtney our new CM, can we ask her in french (for example ?) or do we'll have to come back here ?

 

Thank you for your time.

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Uh huh. You do realise that we've heard this before, right? Like, the last time you had a "our team has gone through a shakeup" route? Do you remember this?

 

 

 

That was back in May. And in that entire time, you've had even less communication with us. So, we're to believe you now? Too little, too late. You had one job: listen to what we were telling you, then tell the developers, and once the developers gave you an answer, you tell us. You didn't do that. And then you wonder why over one million of your customers went away?

 

Sorry, mate. But I don't believe you, or anyone at Bioware/EA, anymore. The fact that many of you still have jobs is nothing short of miraculous. Somewhere in the Bioware structure, a major disconnect happened. And yet, we haven't had any announcements of how this disconnect was fixed, or who paid the price for it. You no longer have the confidence of your customers, and it should not have come to this.

 

This.

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As a community team, we are here to help get answers from developers when they are available. Sometimes, we simply don't have new information or the answers to certain things. The weekly developer Q&A is currently the best place to ask questions related to the development of the game. As I mentioned before, we're going to push for more interactions as part of our new plan.

 

Thanks for the response. I understand where you're coming from so maybe the solution is you guys ought to put much more pressure on devs to set targets, communicate them, and then meet delivery expectations...

 

Bottom line is, and plenty of other people here are saying the same thing so I hope you get the message: until we see some actual results and progress, we're not convinced. You've used up all of the benefit of the doubt that we're willing to give on this.

 

Look forward to seeing what comes round the corner.

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As a community team, we are here to help get answers from developers when they are available. Sometimes, we simply don't have new information or the answers to certain things. The weekly developer Q&A is currently the best place to ask questions related to the development of the game. As I mentioned before, we're going to push for more interactions as part of our new plan.

 

I thought about it some more - and I'd like your help to get answers from developers to my original list, all of which are familiar to anyone reading the boards, none of which have been even remotely referred to in Q&A. Please go to the developers and ask them point blank:

 

"On the following issues, are you working on this [Yes / No]. If you are working on it, when have you set a deadline for it to be done by [Timeframe / Date / Month]?"

 

 

  • New content expectation, HK, v1.4
  • PUG RWZ
  • Choosing specific WZs when queuing
  • Server transfers and legacy merges
  • Fixing identified bugs
  • Ilum
  • Dual spec
  • Longer GTN postings
  • Character customizations (both gear and character model)
  • Companion customizations
  • Minigames

 

Answering Yes or No really should be straightforward - is it on the issues board we once heard so much about or isn't it? If it's on the board, who's working on it and when are they targeting it for? Quite simply, if these questions on these issues cannot be answered with straight responses, then I will have learned all I need to know about the future of this game.

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I guess I'm of two minds about this.

 

In my job, I can't afford to not tell my client what they want to know when they ask me for information. I have to have an answer for them. Right, wrong or indifferent. And in this aspect, I can see why some of the people in the community are so upset. The weekly...or biweekly...Q&A's are ok at best. But the questions that get picked are...how do I put this nicely...useless questions? As another poster said earlier, there were eight or more pages of hard hitting questions such as: "When are Paid Transfers coming out now that the Free ones are over?" or "When will SGRA's be put into the game that Bioware promised at launch?". And there were many more great questions about bug fixes et all. People just want answers to the information. Right, wrong or indifferent. They may not be happy with the answers, but they'll at least have them if nothing else.

 

Now on the other side of the coin, if there is nothing to report, then...there isn't much that can be done. And it sucks, no doubt about it. So why say anything if there's nothing to report? And you feel bad if you have to keep hush hush about something and in turn it torques off the people of the community more because they think you're ignoring them. When in truth, it couldn't be further from the truth.

 

So on one side, I understand the frustrations of the community. And on the other, I know the turmoils of the people reporting to the community. Sometimes...Customer Service just sucks big time.

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Of course not! This just means that we will be sure to spread out our communication when WE have new information for you. This does not affect fan sites or any interviews conducted :)

 

Would it be possible to put section on the website that agrigates all the 3rd party media. I am not asking for a recompile of the information here but, a page that links interviews, twitter feeds etc. Right now either I have to dig for it, or wait until someone reposts the information on the forums. It would be helpful if you know you are doing interviews and such to do the next step and link them. You could even go so far has have a PoC for people to send you Stories/Interviews on SWTOR so you can agrigate them and publish the links. Something like this would be helpful.

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Good to read you again, wellcome back, how went the summer holidays?

 

Hi everyone,

 

For those of you that don’t know, I’m Joveth Gonzalez, Community Manager for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

 

As most of you know, over the past few months, our team, our studio, and our game have undergone quite a few changes. Through it all, we’ve remained committed to the community and have worked with the development team to make sure that your voices were heard.

Old news for most of us.

 

I wanted to take some time to reassure you all that my team, the community team, is still committed to you folks. As part of this commitment, we’re excited to let you know that we have been developing a brand new strategy for our team that focuses on developing new ways to bring you more information about the game and the people involved with SWTOR's development.

Dont want to seem disrespectful, but this looks like the same old blah blah blah we have been reading for months, im way too tired of promises that are never acomplished, i could bet my right i have already seen this same words or very similar coming from you 1 or 2 months ago

 

As we progress towards the recently announced Free-to-Play experience, you can expect more frequent updates to the game (which means more information coming to you) and more developer interactions.

 

After patch 1.2 we were told exactly same thing: "from now on expect more frequent content updates, better communication and world events coming on a regular basis"

 

We know what came, 1 single world event and 1 update that is not really a content update but an utility update.

 

The Star Wars: The Old Republic community is large and spread across many outlets, but rest assured that our team is scouring the forums, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, fan sites, and anywhere that SWTOR is being discussed to make sure that we get your thoughts, comments, questions, and general feedback. Know that we are listening you, no matter where you choose to participate in the SWTOR community.

 

In the upcoming weeks, you’ll be seeing elements of our new community strategy as they appear on our site. One of our primary goals with this is to ensure that new information about the game is communicated as quickly and effectively as possible.

Community round up posts, extremly filtered Q&A blogs and such is not the way to go, its not what makes a community feel that Developers care about our thughts and feeling on the game.

 

Quickly adressing issues, making polls and really translating them to game, answering to posts on a daily basis with other than "we cant say anyhting else yet", .... those are things that matter, remember dialogue not monologue.

 

Also this new strategy of ninja-force-closing threads doesnt help much, im sure you dont like what is being said on your own forums, but closing threads is not the way to turn sides, start acting like a company devoted to your game and im sure the forums will be a much better place.

 

Last but not least, I will be re-introducing the rest of community team along with this new strategy. You may have already seen them here on the forums or on the website, but you will learn more about Allison Berryman, Eric Musco, Courtney Woods, Amber Green, Lars Malcharek, and Antonio Moreno.

 

We're all excited about the future of this game and with the new focus on more frequent content updates and the introduction of the Free-to-Play experience, you can expect more communication opportunities overall.

 

This said, im all for second or third or was it fourth? oportunities, i really hope this "new" policy in community management and the change to F2P (which i dont like) becames the cornerstone for this game and makes it succed and last years, because i like it, it has some nice elements (not story ofc, not VO ofc, im talking about real gaming elemnents) and want to be able to keep playing for as long as possible, come on, we have Lightsabers!!!

 

BEST WISHES!!

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I miss the days when websites were places to go to for information and not for advertisements. This problem isn't just here, it is endemic of 21st century internet politics. Even most college websites (as an example) have more information for prospective parents than for enrolled students. It is appalling.

 

I just want to be able to open a web site, find the information I need, and leave.

 

The very design/interface of this website does NOT facilitate information, it facilitates advertisements.

 

If you are sincere about revamping your communications procedures, I would recommend redesigning the web page to put information BEFORE the buy it now button, and not the way it is now. That is to say, I already own the game, and am logged in to my paid account, but I still am bombarded with BUY IT NOW on every page. I don't need to BUY IT NOW, and in three weeks, NO ONE WILL.

 

Frankly, it feels to me like the developers and community reps are listening to focus groups, marketing tests, and shareholders, not actual feed back from people actually using your product.

 

Your post reeks of placation and soothing, and has no actual content in it. But thank you for putting your foot forward, best foot or not.

Edited by nakoda
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Uh huh. You do realise that we've heard this before, right? Like, the last time you had a "our team has gone through a shakeup" route? Do you remember this?

 

 

 

That was back in May. And in that entire time, you've had even less communication with us. So, we're to believe you now? Too little, too late. You had one job: listen to what we were telling you, then tell the developers, and once the developers gave you an answer, you tell us. You didn't do that. And then you wonder why over one million of your customers went away?

 

Sorry, mate. But I don't believe you, or anyone at Bioware/EA, anymore. The fact that many of you still have jobs is nothing short of miraculous. Somewhere in the Bioware structure, a major disconnect happened. And yet, we haven't had any announcements of how this disconnect was fixed, or who paid the price for it. You no longer have the confidence of your customers, and it should not have come to this.

 

QFT. This guy gets it. At a time when the game was already on shaky ground, there was this new hope, when the team came out saying 'we're gonna do things different, we got a new plan, a new team, we gonna tell you all about them and they gonna be here to interact with you loads more than before'

 

tumbleweed.

 

F2p announcement.

 

tumbleweed.

 

'hi guys! we're back! and we got a NEW new plan. we gonna communicate more, tell you about us more, and be here to interact with you!'

 

wait wot. wasnt that the old new plan? the plan that then went on to deliver even less comms than before?

 

As the above guy said, sorry mate, but i simply have stopped caring now, so while you may profess to having this grand li'l scheme to communicate with me, i cancelled my sub a minute ago, as GW2 is coming out and i have lost patience with swtor's lack of content, lack of communication and lack of direction other than to nickle and dime me by introducing a cash shop that i highly suspect will make the game pay2win after the first few months to make up for the million subs you lost.

 

I guess this post also falls into the new ban hammer remit as i havent posted any constructive ways you can improve, but hell, if you need me to tell you how to improve then thats an even bigger problem you got there mate.

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:eek::eek:

 

Its me. :D

 

I dont recall anyone saying you were dead. But there is a rumor that Daniel and James are now longer working at Bioware/Austin.

 

Is this true? Is this the real reason that you backed out of the SW celebration?

 

Answer those 2 questions with a yes or no answer only please.

 

I actually answered this recently over on Twitter. I'll copy what I responded with: James and Daniel are definitely still part of the BioWare Austin team. Everyone here is working towards our future plans :)

 

This is great news to hear from you again.

But, may i ask you what is to come for us french and german players ? is Courtney our new CM, can we ask her in french (for example ?) or do we'll have to come back here ?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Lars Malcharek is your German community lead and Antonio Moreno (who has been on vacation) is your French community lead :) They will both be at Gamescom next week!

 

 

Would it be possible to put section on the website that agrigates all the 3rd party media. I am not asking for a recompile of the information here but, a page that links interviews, twitter feeds etc. Right now either I have to dig for it, or wait until someone reposts the information on the forums. It would be helpful if you know you are doing interviews and such to do the next step and link them. You could even go so far has have a PoC for people to send you Stories/Interviews on SWTOR so you can agrigate them and publish the links. Something like this would be helpful.

 

The Community Round-Up will try to include this. Keep in mind that we can only post news from officially recognized outlets and fan sites. If you're interested in becoming an official fan site, please send Eric Musco a PM!

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I miss the days when websites were places to go to for information and not for advertisements. This problem isn't just here, it is endemic of 21st century internet politics. Even most college websites (as an example) have more information for prospective parents than for enrolled students. It is appalling..

 

i'll give you an example. yes it involves wow, but stick with me.

 

i want to know whats going on? i go to MMO Champion. forget that its a third party site. Realise that the front page is covered in blue posts from devs answering questions from the community - and lets be clear, its not crap questions about why cant we have pink hair, a lot of it are direct questions that people may not like the answers to, but the devs answer anyway, bluntly if they have to and directly opposing to the poster if needs be.

 

i walk away after having read it, and while i may not agree with that dev's viewpoint, at least i a) know they are not afraid to answer relevant difficult questions b) know that while they may not agree with my viewpoint, i now know theirs and have an idea of what to expect going forward on that issue.

 

The fact MMO champion is even in business is because there is always stuff to report, always blue posts to copy paste for my reading pleasure. If the devs didnt communicate, then MMO champion would simply be like torhead - a data mining site that tells me something once in a blue moon when i want to know where an item drops.

 

I was hoping the dev tracker for swtor would be an in house version of mmo champ, where each day at work i could log in and read what topics people had been discussing with the devs/community spokespeople. No joy.

 

edit- its laughable to even call it a dev tracker - there is barely anything to track. it should be called weekly and ad hoc maintenance tracker.

Edited by Gaxar
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Uh huh. You do realise that we've heard this before, right? Like, the last time you had a "our team has gone through a shakeup" route? Do you remember this?

 

I hate to say it, but this ^.

 

I'm glad to see yellow posts and I still like the game, but at this point you're on a "I'll believe it when I see it" level of trust for me, both the communication team and the devs. For goodness sake, could we get some stability around here??? Change is necessary, but at this point it feels like the company (and therefore the game) is flailing around aimlessly and lord only knows what they're going to throw at us next. Clear communication about the direction we're going in and PROMISES KEPT would go a hell of a long way to alieviate the chaos.

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I actually answered this recently over on Twitter. I'll copy what I responded with: James and Daniel are definitely still part of the BioWare Austin team. Everyone here is working towards our future plans :)

 

Thank you for this, I don't check twitter so this is good to know! :)

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I actually answered this recently over on Twitter. I'll copy what I responded with: James and Daniel are definitely still part of the BioWare Austin team. Everyone here is working towards our future plans :)/QUOTE]

 

I hope for you guys this is true but still why not a YES or NO answer.

 

The answer you gave is that recently over on twiiter (first off it should have been on these forums and not twitter and second how long was recently? Is it the same as soon but in the past? So that could of been after the first wave). Then no link to your comment on twitter(if linking its possible and also no date when you said this :rolleyes:

 

You want a better relationship with your players but all you do is leave holes.

 

If you wanted to add to the yes then "Yes, those 2 men are still currently working on SWTOR as of today" That answer wouldnt leave any holes and answers the question.

 

Honestly only takes a few words.

Edited by Emeda
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In my mind it breaks down like this. We are paying for a premium service so give us premium service. As another poster mentioned you've told us that you can tell us more about updates...but you aren't exactly telling us details. It's like telling a hungry fat man that you can make this awesome sandwich and you get him excited about it but then you don't tell him how you're going to make that sandwich or anything more about it. If you want people to keep paying that premium for your service you should probably start giving them the service they feel they deserve and are paying for, and that first and foremost begins with information. Not empty promises, cause actions definitely speak louder than words.
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i'll give you an example. yes it involves wow, but stick with me.

 

i want to know whats going on? i go to MMO Champion. forget that its a third party site. Realise that the front page is covered in blue posts from devs answering questions from the community - and lets be clear, its not crap questions about why cant we have pink hair, a lot of it are direct questions that people may not like the answers to, but the devs answer anyway, bluntly if they have to and directly opposing to the poster if needs be.

 

No, you are right, third party sites (fan sites) are one of the BEST resources on the web for information you need. But this also goes along with the whole problem of not being listened to. Third party sites are not given the credit they deserve.

 

Until "community representatives" actually give us proof that third party sites and fan complaints are given full consideration, I will not believe it. Third party sites are given as much credit as the notion "well, let's be fair, the people who like the game don't post on the forums because they are busy playing" kind of attitude.

 

We shouldn't have to fend for ourselves, BW should be shoveling information down our throats and then listening to our responses. Instead, we have to go on archeological surveys of web sites, and Google caches, and inadequate dev trackers to piece together information relevant to us. Like one poster already commented, BW/EA didn't even tell us about F2P first, we found it through external sources.

 

It is retarded, in the clinical sense of the word.

Edited by nakoda
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You want a better relationship with your players but all you do is leave holes.

 

If you wanted to add to the yes then "Yes, those 2 men are still currently working on SWTOR as of today" That answer wouldnt leave any holes and answers the question.

 

Honestly only takes a few words.

 

This. +47 ninja points. prime ninja points are hard to come buy.

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I said this once and I will say it again.

 

There is no valid reason this company could ever give this community for skipping Celebration VI. just to remind our so called DEVs over there.. There has only been 6 of these. there have only been 6 official star wars conventions since 1977. That is 6 in 35 year. You must have absolutely no idea about Star Wars community if your choosing to skip this. We are not like Trekkies we do not get multiple conventions across the world every year. If you have anything to do with Star Wars and you are not at this then you might as well just end the game now.

 

WORST MARKETING IDEA IN HISTORY!!!!!

 

This is the gathering where you would hope to get the interest of the star wars fans and bring them back into the fold. the whole game is on the verge of collapsing and your going to choose to skip this. there was a 4 year gap between celebration V. While these look like they may still continue to happen No one has an idea when or if we will even get another one. So the idea that one of the biggest games in franchise history is CHOOSING to take a pass on this event is flabbergasting.

Edited by AllisonBerryman
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No, you are right, third party sites (fan sites) are one of the BEST resources on the web for information you need. But this also goes along with the whole problem of not being listened to. Third party sites are not given the credit they deserve.

 

The third party sites get 95% or more of the blue posts from the WoW forums. They just organize it for their readers.

 

SWTOR info is maybe 5% from the forums and the rest from some other place.

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