I think we should all take a moment to consider that everything that has been released over the last 24 hours isn't Eric's doing or fault. We often forget that he is constrained by what he is allowed to tell us. He is also only telling us what others have done with the game. Eric is not a developer and as such can only pass info back and forth.

 

Let's take a minute to acknowledge that Eric has an extremely difficult job and is often the brunt of our rage and dissatisfaction towards Bioware as a company. He must have an exceptionally thick skin and resolve to try and not let that get to him personally, but even the best of us can only filter so much. I think he is doing a great job under those circumstances.

 

I'm guilty myself at seemingly raging at Eric. I would like to apologise to Eric for some of my posts that name him or I've indirectely put the blame on him, when in reality they are directed at the developers and creative teams who make the decisions.

 

Keep up the good work and we look forward to any answers you can provide to our multitude of questions and concerns regarding the expansion.

I dont blame Eric, I blame whatever people that have their heads so far up their butts they are having poop induced hallucinations where they think some of the terrible things they are (and have been) doing are good ideas... Edited October 18, 2016 by XiamaraSimi

/signed

 

don't shoot the messenger....but ok to rough up a little. but if he's smiling, then just stop and walk away really fast

I do indeed not think bad (or good!) game design choices are community reps' fault. Hell I'm sure a lot of annoying/bad things (unfixed bugs, abandoned systems, CM focus, etc...) aren't even the developers' fault; there's people holding their leash. It's not odd people go yelling at Eric or Tait though, as it's hard to yell at all the unnamed devs who's behind the scenes. Luckily people who work in PR, like Eric, usually have a thick skin. It's kinda part of the job description.

I love the SW MMO they are making. I've been podcasting about ti and now I get to join the team? What could be the downside in all of this?

This is a very interesting article that gives an insight to what a community manager has to put up with from both sides.

"What's it like to manage a gaming community on fire"

Someone else posted this awhile ago, but it would definitely fit this situation too. It's an interesting read of an interview of 2 CMS who looked after the 2 biggest MMOs to date. WoW and EvE Online.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/what-its-like-to-manage-a-gaming-community-on-fire/

Well Bioware doesn't have good communication. Whether he is responsible for that or not is unknown but when they do communicate part of that responsibility is on him. For all the questions he has answered so far there are about 100 more really important things we still don't know about the galactic command system that didn't get answered in the stream/blog.

 

How is the rank system set up how many points per level, is the gear scaling linearly on command rank or on a tier system, how many points per fp/op, how many points for disintegrating items, what other items drop in a command pack, how many items total per pack, is the stash per account or per character.

 

None of these have been answered so far and that isn't even getting into other questions about WHY the devs are doing the changes which I also feel it is part of his job to communicate the reasoning behind dev decisions if the devs themselves don't want to explain it. Making tank/dps gear both drop from crates for example seems without logic and I would like to get an explanation about why they did that or if they will change it.

 

They shouldn't unveil a system or plan this expansion if there is like a month before launch and they only half way even explain how it works.

I disagree. To make a monumental decision like this; to revert 180% degrees from the good changes to PVP (reducing the coms requirements on gear & increasing com rewards from dailies and wz's) means that there is a fundamental disconnect between the community and the devs.

 

Combined with the fact that Eric routinely goes AWOL from class discussion forums, PVP forums and add in all the other decisions that have been made despite strong protest from the paying customers (think increased transfer cost for no reason just as a recent example).

 

It's pretty clear to me that Eric is happy doing the bare minimum just to do the job. Name me something that he has fought for us? If you add in the downward spiral this game has gone in the past few years it's clear that information isn't getting to the devs and nothing but the least possible bit of information gets to us.

I think we should all take a moment to consider that everything that has been released over the last 24 hours isn't Eric's doing or fault. We often forget that he is constrained by what he is allowed to tell us. He is also only telling us what others have done with the game. Eric is not a developer and as such can only pass info back and forth.

 

Don't be silly, he is paid to be the front person for the company...

 

If he had any self-respect, he would have resigned a year ago... no self-respecting person would work there at this point.

Don't be silly, he is paid to be the front person for the company...

 

If he had any self-respect, he would have resigned a year ago... no self-respecting person would work there at this point.

 

Have you ever had a job that pays the bills and puts food on the table? What a ridiculous statement. Grow up.

I was going to say I think most people understand that and then I saw some of the responses in this thread.

I was going to say I think most people understand that and then I saw some of the responses in this thread.

"Don't shoot the messenger!"

 

"Yeah, shooting's too good for him!"

"Don't shoot the messenger!"

 

"Yeah, shooting's too good for him!"

Lol.

 

In all seriousness though, it's crazy how much some people overestimate the power of a CM.

 

That said, if Eric ever leaves, or the game dies, whichever comes first, it'd be interesting to hear a tell-all interview on just where his power began and ended.

I think it almost goes without saying that poor Eric is just a corporate pawn whose hands are tied by his corporate overlords at EA and Disney/LucasArts.

 

"How do we maximize profits for our shareholders." Because, you know, quality comes 2nd. Or 3rd, or 4th.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Rion_Starkiller

I think it almost goes without saying that poor Eric is just a corporate pawn whose hands are tied by his corporate overlords at EA and Disney/LucasArts.

 

"How do we maximize profits for our shareholders." Because, you know, quality comes 2nd. Or 3rd, or 4th.

 

Wow the excuses in this thread. Having has hands tied has nothing to do with telling lies to customers. For example, by saying "not enough people play ranked 8's to bring it back" even though there was never a season 1 with announced rewards, leaderboards, etc. to actually see how many played?

Edited October 18, 2016 by FourPawnBenoni

I dont blame Eric, I blame whatever people that have their heads so far up their butts they are having poop induced hallucinations where they think some of the terrible things they are (and have been) doing are good ideas...

Exactly lol. Eric has no blame in this...management does.

Wow the excuses in this thread. Having has hands tied has nothing to do with telling lies to customers. For example, by saying "not enough people play ranked 8's to bring it back" even though there was never a season 1 with announced rewards, leaderboards, etc. to actually see how many played?

 

Oh yeah, like that's an excuse. How do you blame the pawn? Are you simpleminded? He does what he's told to do. Why would you think he has any decision making power?

Wow the excuses in this thread. Having has hands tied has nothing to do with telling lies to customers. For example, by saying "not enough people play ranked 8's to bring it back" even though there was never a season 1 with announced rewards, leaderboards, etc. to actually see how many played?

Pretending that he has lied (I don't know if he actually has) it's easily possible (and pretty likely) he's just saying what he's told to say. I'm sure most of what he says has to go through an approval process.

Pretending that he has lied (I don't know if he actually has) it's easily possible (and pretty likely) he's just saying what he's told to say. I'm sure most of what he says has to go through an approval process.

 

Hey... Hey... now I know you're trying to make sense and all, but this is the internet. There's no room for that here.

Well Bioware doesn't have good communication. Whether he is responsible for that or not is unknown but when they do communicate part of that responsibility is on him. For all the questions he has answered so far there are about 100 more really important things we still don't know about the galactic command system that didn't get answered in the stream/blog.

 

How is the rank system set up how many points per level, is the gear scaling linearly on command rank or on a tier system, how many points per fp/op, how many points for disintegrating items, what other items drop in a command pack, how many items total per pack, is the stash per account or per character.

 

None of these have been answered so far and that isn't even getting into other questions about WHY the devs are doing the changes which I also feel it is part of his job to communicate the reasoning behind dev decisions if the devs themselves don't want to explain it. Making tank/dps gear both drop from crates for example seems without logic and I would like to get an explanation about why they did that or if they will change it.

 

They shouldn't unveil a system or plan this expansion if there is like a month before launch and they only half way even explain how it works.

 

You have to consider that he may be restrained from answering those questions on his side. He may also have to confirm some of these questions with the developers who may say we still aren't 100% on that, so don't say anything. He cops just as much flak, if not more if he gives information that is changed or he makes a mistake with, probably from garbled internal communication. Code writers and Devs aren't always known for their personal communication skills, it's why we have people like Eric. It maybe a reason he doesn't answer as often as we like.

It's also not his job to give us insight or reasoning behind decisions unless directed to by Bioware. All of that is internal.

Could it be more transparent, sure it could, I'd like it to be as much as you would. But you'll find that is a management decision, not Eric's.

By all means ask him tough questions, even demand them (politely if you can), I often ask hard or demanding questions, I also vent a lot (lol), just understand that he may be restrained from answering what you ask.

I'll add one last thing. How many posts just in this forum are there? Have you read everyone? I'm pretty sure it would take hours just for this thread. Add all the other threads with questions and it's understandable why he might miss "some". Hopefully he can get back to us soon with some answers to the questions he is allowed to answer at this time.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Icykill_

Don't be silly, he is paid to be the front person for the company...

 

If he had any self-respect, he would have resigned a year ago... no self-respecting person would work there at this point.

 

i'm shocked. I would expect you to be one of the last people to make a statement like this.

Eric has no fault -

Oh yeah, like that's an excuse. How do you blame the pawn? Are you simpleminded? He does what he's told to do. Why would you think he has any decision making power?

 

So you are saying EA forces Eric Musco to tell lies?

Hey... Hey... now I know you're trying to make sense and all, but this is the internet. There's no room for that here.

Oh, you.

I disagree. To make a monumental decision like this; to revert 180% degrees from the good changes to PVP (reducing the coms requirements on gear & increasing com rewards from dailies and wz's) means that there is a fundamental disconnect between the community and the devs.

 

Combined with the fact that Eric routinely goes AWOL from class discussion forums, PVP forums and add in all the other decisions that have been made despite strong protest from the paying customers (think increased transfer cost for no reason just as a recent example).

 

It's pretty clear to me that Eric is happy doing the bare minimum just to do the job. Name me something that he has fought for us? If you add in the downward spiral this game has gone in the past few years it's clear that information isn't getting to the devs and nothing but the least possible bit of information gets to us.

 

How can you say that. You don't know what the situation is at Bioware or wether Eric is gimped by them. I'm sure Eric passes on all relevant info, especially stuff that causes major up roar in the forums. If management or the Devs choose to ignore it, then it's not Eric's fault and he is under no obligation to tell you if they have listened or not. Remember Eric is an employee, he has a boss the same as most of us. You can't just go to your boss and demand they do things. You can pass a message or information. In my experience, bosses then they basically dismiss you and have to wait on their please to get back to you. You certainly can't keep badgering them or it's a good way to get fired.

I do agree that communication is lacking and infrequent, but once again, how can you be 100% sure this is Eric. He might seem AOL, but who is to say they haven't assigned him to do something else we don't know about and he can't get back on here.

I'm not sure if you read that article I linked, but one thing the interviewees said, was that were often constrained by what they were allowed to say and that they are only employees who answer to management.

I think it truely unfair that you can 100% be sure and blame Eric for everything in your post. Try putting yourself in his shoes and then imagine being severely constrained by Bioware on what you could do.