I used to feel that way but after all the years they have "claimed" they want to communicate better this time I don't believe it. As I said in my post they have to prove it. They have "cried wolf" too many times for me to take them at their word. Been here since launch and normally supported them, not this time. This time it is on them to prove it and until then I am not believing a word they wrote.

Little boy that cried wolf eh? I do remember them saying this same thing a couple times before. I'm sure if someone wanted to dig through the dev tracker they'll find it.

I rarely type anything anymore. Keep digg'in for that fool's gold. It is fun to watch the gullible.

I haven't seen where anyone in this entire thread said they believe anything will happen. At best people are hopeful that things will improve, that's not being "gullible."

#MakeVanguardTankViableAgain

Ok...fine we don't need to be viable. Just give us another cool down please!!!!

I don't disagree with your sentiment I am just saying I don't think it benefits anyone or anything by trying to predict what will happen in a negative light before it happens.

 

I realize people view me as being fairly negative (I think I am just critical when applicable) but I try to keep my negative/critical thoughts on what is present reality not what bad things may happen.

 

I am critical when it comes to this new gearing system for instance, or how I can't gear my alts like I used to, but I don't bother spinning my wheels about how things might get worse in the future.

 

I just try to worry about things that are going on now not all the bad things that can or might happen is what I am trying to say lol. If I stressed about all the potential bad things I would be in a state of negative perpetuity!

For me, I don't expect anything negative before it happens, I'm just basing my expectations on their previous behavior with regard to this topic, which has been a problem from near the very beginning. See, the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior, and just basing my expectations on their past behavior means that I think this is just talk.

Now, your point stands. We are asking for more talk and it's rude to bash him when he gives us something that we are asking for... I agree. But what will make this time different is when they actually FOLLOW UP on their promises of what they WANT to do vs. what they WILL do.

This is fixable. But not by us. We've been trying that for too long. It's up to them now. ACT, don't just talk. Be present on the forums, in the discussions, here with those of us who still bother to read this stuff once in awhile. Most of us are very long-term players with a passionate interest in the game succeeding and continuing. Engage with us. Talk to us more than to just promise how things are going to be instead of how they ARE right now. Answer simple, repeated concerns and questions about the game's development. Don't make us feel like second class citizens because we don't stream or blog about your game.

None of this can be done by us. We've done what we can. It's Bioware's turn to stop talking about it and make it so. That we do not expect this to happen isn't negativity: it's experience.

.

I love how so many are writing books in this thread, and how so many aren't reading them, including the devs.

 

I rarely type anything anymore. Keep digg'in for that fool's gold. It is fun to watch the gullible.

 

NEXT BOOK.....

It's known as venting. I don't think very many people actually think it will be read, but it can be good for our sanity.

For me, I don't expect anything negative before it happens, I'm just basing my expectations on their previous behavior with regard to this topic, which has been a problem from near the very beginning. See, the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior, and just basing my expectations on their past behavior means that I think this is just talk.

 

Now, your point stands. We are asking for more talk and it's rude to bash him when he gives us something that we are asking for... I agree. But what will make this time different is when they actually FOLLOW UP on their promises of what they WANT to do vs. what they WILL do.

 

This is fixable. But not by us. We've been trying that for too long. It's up to them now. ACT, don't just talk. Be present on the forums, in the discussions, here with those of us who still bother to read this stuff once in awhile. Most of us are very long-term players with a passionate interest in the game succeeding and continuing. Engage with us. Talk to us more than to just promise how things are going to be instead of how they ARE right now. Answer simple, repeated concerns and questions about the game's development. Don't make us feel like second class citizens because we don't stream or blog about your game.

 

None of this can be done by us. We've done what we can. It's Bioware's turn to stop talking about it and make it so. That we do not expect this to happen isn't negativity: it's experience.

 

.

I have to agree--this is the third time since Keith took over where we've gone over with them how to make or give more effective feedback, and even doing it the way Keith wanted (tell us the "why" in your posts) didn't bear all that much fruit. I agree that that is the better way to make posts rather than using insults/rage to get a point across but it has become apparent it didn't really matter because both ways are treated the same from our vantage point. I started a post in this thread that ended up looking nearly identical to a post I made in the last feedback on feedback thread. I'm not doing it again.

What would be nice is if Eric/et al stopped letting the more insult/rage filled posts and posters cause them to cut back on feedback "because those forum dwellers will never be happy, so it's easier for us to just not engage at all." This is largely the way I've felt about their feedback to us ever since Keith had to step in on one of Charles' posts to defend him. After that happened there was a very, very distinct drop off of communication. This was even shortly after Keith acknowledged a thread about what a developer from another failed game learned too late and how he could use it to avoid similar traps. It didn't seem to take.

Some people are proving them right when they continue to criticize them for lack of communication in the same day that there are multiple new gold posts on things they would never seem to communicate on in the past--But it really is up to Bioware to ignore those things and just break through that wall and prove everyone wrong by actually following through this time, and for more than two weeks at a time until the next catastrophe next year.

I dare Keith to come into this thread and tell us he's not producing content solely for his raid group. That's a ridiculous accusation but the longer it's met with silence the more people believe it and repeat it and it becomes "fact"

You can't blame the lack of communication on the community being mean. I can only think that unemployed people could possible dictate whether they do their job efficiently and effectively only if the community are nice to them; which would also be why they are unemployed.

You can't offer very very little content, what is offered is often broken and buggy, story with massive plot holes or just bad, ignore cheating/exploits and make sweeping changes to the gearing system. And then say the reason we don't tell you about or discuss these aspects is because you would only say they aren't very good. Even Anthem and Fallout 76, who are generally getting poor reviews have put out roadmap, cause the only way they will turn around the community calling for blood is to show they are listening and improving.

But if you do want to blame the community, take it a step further, blame the millions of people that have quit. Hell it is their fault that they stopped playing and paying for a game they didn't enjoy and didn't see it as worth supporting while nothing got better. If they hadn't quit there would still be 200 servers! The game would be doing amazingly. How dare they go to WoW, ESO, FF or GW2 when those games offer more. While I'm sure that arguments are made that the forum community is only a small number of subscribers compared to those that play, it is also a fare argument that the number of subscribers is only a small number compared to the number that used to play and the number that play other MMO's. So ignore the forums if you must but don't think everything is amazing aside from a few malcontents that you are ignoring.

As for negativity over this post, I want to be positive. However this is basically Eric's version of a new years resolution. We get them most years in one form or other, when Keith took over there would be more communication and transparency, we got something similar last year with January being a busy month with meetings etc. Funnily the most communication we got was when they did a monthly live show talking about the next months content. We get told more communication, we then may see some posts asking what we want from GSF or some such and then its all ignored. Do I hope this will be different of course I do, but anyone think we will learn anything new before April Cantina? Even if we look at the Yellow posts, most are in a response to things, mails not working properly, a secret dev post showing up on dev tracker, maintenance windows etc. Hopefully today will buck the trend and we will see some meaningful dialogue but as others have said, Eric has used the 'better communication' line too many times with no follow through in the past. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 6 times shame on me.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 6 times shame on me.

I think this simple saying sums up the whole thread.

I think we are all too aware of the situation for that to happen a 7th time.

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Thank you!!! This is all we can ask for. I think it will go a long way towards improving the tone around here.

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Not trying to be rude but I will wait and see. I hope this is true this time but I am still very cautious about trusting you with this comment.

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

/thumbsup

Happy Monday everyone! Getting fully caught up on the thread I think there is some great feedback in here and they are things I will take into account in trying to improve our communication more.

 

The one I want to highlight especially is what Sarova put so succinctly above. Acknowledgement in some cases is something I have always been hesitant about, if I don't have a real update to provide I have always shied away from just simple acknowledgement. Mainly because I don't want the forums to turn into a bunch of "we are aware" or "good feedback" when there may be a number of situations where I wont have a follow-up.

 

However, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. I think I need to abandon my own caution around acknowledging issues where I don't have larger updates. It is clear that a strong starting point is better awareness by all of you that we are in fact reading your feedback, aware of your bugs, etc. and that situation is where we are lacking.

 

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Thank you for this. For me it is the thing that matters the most. I understand some bugs can take long to fix and not every wish can be granted, but just knowing we are heard is enough for me. Then i know you guys are doing what you can and that is all we can fairly ask for.

Happy Monday everyone! Getting fully caught up on the thread I think there is some great feedback in here and they are things I will take into account in trying to improve our communication more.

 

The one I want to highlight especially is what Sarova put so succinctly above. Acknowledgement in some cases is something I have always been hesitant about, if I don't have a real update to provide I have always shied away from just simple acknowledgement. Mainly because I don't want the forums to turn into a bunch of "we are aware" or "good feedback" when there may be a number of situations where I wont have a follow-up.

 

However, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. I think I need to abandon my own caution around acknowledging issues where I don't have larger updates. It is clear that a strong starting point is better awareness by all of you that we are in fact reading your feedback, aware of your bugs, etc. and that situation is where we are lacking.

 

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Thank you, Eric. I hope you guys can keep the trend of proper communication this time, there are times where you and even other devs are active in the forums and I think the community would benefit from more interaction with you guys. Your reasoning behind X, or even just some small talk just to show you guys pay attention to the forums.

Fact of the matter is: People are always going to complain. Don't over extend yourself Musco. Yes, its nice to have the interaction and acknowledgment but ultimately, at the end of the day, all we care about is

#1 Content

#2 Roadmap

#3 patches/bug fixes in a timely fashion

#4 Content

Produce an expansion/update that takes longer than an hour to finish.

Give us an operation that brings the community back together.

Get rid of/reduce the win trading in ranked pvp.

Simple, straight forward, to the point. This game has the potential and the community to be something great and long lasting. Help us..help you..help us...help you <3

Stay classy San Diego

The one I want to highlight especially is what Sarova put so succinctly above. Acknowledgement in some cases is something I have always been hesitant about, if I don't have a real update to provide I have always shied away from just simple acknowledgement. Mainly because I don't want the forums to turn into a bunch of "we are aware" or "good feedback" when there may be a number of situations where I wont have a follow-up.

 

However, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. I think I need to abandon my own caution around acknowledging issues where I don't have larger updates. It is clear that a strong starting point is better awareness by all of you that we are in fact reading your feedback, aware of your bugs, etc. and that situation is where we are lacking.

 

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

Thanks for the explanation of why you hesitate to acknowledge topics on the forums and I appreciate you touching on ways to improve the communication with us, particularly with more yellow posts.

As so many have pointed out, just the simple act of you or your teammates from BW recognizing what we write will go a long way, it's far more important to us than you realize it seems.

Update information is important of course, but a simple response from you or one of your team members acknowledging a concern early on is in my mind the first step to the process of a proper follow-up.

I think this will work wonders for you as far as alleviating some of the built up resentment players have when they feel like they are being ignored.

Also, more interaction will make you and your team seem more like people to us, not just automaton droids dutifully reporting large updates when they are available for report.

Acknowledgement sounds great! For the record, I don't doubt that you mean what you write. It's never too late to improve a situation, or in this case communication. Thank you.

Happy Monday everyone! Getting fully caught up on the thread I think there is some great feedback in here and they are things I will take into account in trying to improve our communication more.

 

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Thank You Eric.

I'm sure you appreciate that many of us have seen this before, promises of better communication, more communication, more Transparency.

Equally you are right, finding a question you have already answered elsewhere and then Posting Great Question! Is equally annoying, not because its not nice to see you acknowledging questions but because of the pointlessness of the ones you do answer. I can only imagine how many great questions there will be asking when the Cantina Event is or if its really in Chicago, or if you need tickets to get it, or if its going to be in a bar will be asked. While questions that effect the game and pretty much the entire community, never seem so great.

However I digress, inline with the Transparency promise of two years ago. I notice Keith hasn't been on the forums for a while. Is he aware of the bad state the game is in after his two years as Producer (soon coming up anyway)? There appears a general (I only say general as http://www.massivelyop.com mention it so not just the forum goers) feeling of a lack of content and what is on offer is either geared at progression raiders or isn't overly well done. Take companion returns, many have waited years to get a LI back and the entire thing is 5 lines and often very underwhelming. I was gone, I'm back, lets possibly kiss or something.

So is he aware of the state of the game and is anything being done to improve it, or is the game done, nothing can be done because of engine, graphics, coding, staffing level, no one playing any more?

The one I want to highlight especially is what Sarova put so succinctly above. Acknowledgement in some cases is something I have always been hesitant about, if I don't have a real update to provide I have always shied away from just simple acknowledgement. Mainly because I don't want the forums to turn into a bunch of "we are aware" or "good feedback" when there may be a number of situations where I wont have a follow-up.

 

However, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. I think I need to abandon my own caution around acknowledging issues where I don't have larger updates. It is clear that a strong starting point is better awareness by all of you that we are in fact reading your feedback, aware of your bugs, etc. and that situation is where we are lacking.

 

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

I more than understand that hesitance to speak when you either don't have much information to say or when your gut's telling you what you do have to say's not going to go over well. I remember when the Bioware forums were around that at times it seemed like any of the community team couldn't even comment on the weather without getting raged at. But just letting us know anything whether it's a 'we're looking at it' or something more detailed is always going to be better than silence. Case in point, a couple of years ago I bought a Meditation Chamber from the Cartel Market that ended up bugged where it would bind to the character but not show up in collections. I checked the forums and saw a lot of others having the same issue. I filed a ticket and customer service directed me to file a bug report with tech. I heard nothing since then and would occasionally check if the issue got resolved by seeing if it would eventually unlock to collections. It wasn't until last month it finally did so I could unlock it for account. While I'm happy it did eventually get fixed, it would've been nice at any point to've gotten some notice or email letting me know that my bug report was still open or that they were still working on it.

I do like the idea of sending everyone a survey for a full out feedback response to get an idea of the state of the game and what people are wanting. I'd say even make sure people who've cancelled and not come back even get one since for all we know might be enough for them to return and see what changes happen. I'd also like to see once surveys go out, another infostats post or graphic so we can see the state of the game as well like the one that was posted some years back with what classes get played, what content's played and so forth.

The one I want to highlight especially is what Sarova put so succinctly above. Acknowledgement in some cases is something I have always been hesitant about, if I don't have a real update to provide I have always shied away from just simple acknowledgement. Mainly because I don't want the forums to turn into a bunch of "we are aware" or "good feedback" when there may be a number of situations where I wont have a follow-up.

Yay me!

Here's something that's been reported but never acknowledged - the Asylum crew are still appearing on the Gravestone in KofFE chapter V before before we get to Asylum - playing it again now and it's so irritating It's very silly and ruins the cut scenes in that chapter.

For other things lacking acknowledgement, see my signature (875 pages of Quinn appreciation & the requests made /issues raised within deserves acknowledgement )

Acknowledgement is the first part, the foundation. Acknowledgement without results leads to cynicism and resentment.

Results or fixes for all the issues would be great, but it's not only about results; it's about being heard. I want to see recognition of issues by the Devs. This currently does not happen with few exceptions which has led to the main conspiracy theories:

• Companion story is only to be about Lana because she's the Devs favourite
  
• The game will focus on Ops because of Keith's raid group
  
• The Devs hate Quinn so all things Quinn related are off the table
  
• The game will focus on ranked PvP because the Devs have a secret ranked guild
  
• The game will never have more immersive story because the influencers don't like it & neither do the Devs
  

Acknowledgement is not the same as making a promise of offering up a fix. If the outcome is that there will be no fix or no change then tell us - Example: making Iokath replayable (like a chapter) with Dorne & Quinn's player choice for their customisations intact comes immediately to mind. Repeatedly requested, never acknowledged publicly. If this can't happen tell us. It's being ignored that is frustrating players. It would not be an issue to say "we are aware of X but it may take months/weeks to sort X or we aren't going to change X". People will know and can stay and live with that outcome or move on.

I don't know who all the influencers are. But I'm concerned that the female playership isn't being adequately represented, because desirable male companions like Theron and Quinn and others have been made killable...while Lana survives everything (and it's always with more females...LS/DS event female reward comps, new story, mostly female NPCs). I hope you realize, that not all of us want Lana. Some of us want Theron or our vanilla romance partner in scenes that are relevant to our missions in the future.

I feel like the female players in this game are treated like a joke and I'd appreciate it if the aspects that many of us like would be addressed. For me, I'm concerned that we won't get more scenes with Theron or Quinn or others like them ever again, that it will be always Lana or some new people we don't care about. In JUS, Balkar was a great addition, but only for Republic sympathizers...Imperials should have a better contact than a droid. We want to flirt and have fun too, with someone awesome. Also, you give the guys a cute Twi'lek and a powerful Jedi to deal with and flirt with and we get a dinosaur guy? And a droid? <.< Is that funny to you?

I'm also curious to know if there will be more companions and romances with them for Theron and original LI comps? Anyone new? Who and When? Will there be more decorating and strongholds? Will Quinn get a commemorative statue? (Seriously, I'm still salty about how you guys acted when Iokath came out and it was told that people would get to kill Quinn--you guys seemed practically jubilant about it, giggling, hurr-hurring about it.) Also more male force user romances? (Meaning force using males that female and gay male players can flirt with or romance?) The one you gave doesn't appeal to everyone despite what your influencers or temp writers whisper in your ears.

I'm sorry if I seem harsh, the resentment has been building for a while and I'm tired of my concerns and the aspects of this game that I enjoy being kicked aside.

I don't know who all the influencers are. But I'm concerned that the female playership isn't being adequately represented, because desirable male companions like Theron and Quinn and others have been made killable...while Lana survives everything (and it's always with more females...LS/DS event female reward comps, new story, mostly female NPCs). I hope you realize, that not all of us want Lana. Some of us want Theron or our vanilla romance partner in scenes that are relevant to our missions in the future.

 

I feel like the female players in this game are treated like a joke and I'd appreciate it if the aspects that many of us like would be addressed. For me, I'm concerned that we won't get more scenes with Theron or Quinn or others like them ever again, that it will be always Lana or some new people we don't care about. In JUS, Balkar was a great addition, but only for Republic sympathizers...Imperials should have a better contact than a droid. We want to flirt and have fun too, with someone awesome. Also, you give the guys a cute Twi'lek and a powerful Jedi to deal with and flirt with and we get a dinosaur guy? And a droid? <.< Is that funny to you?

 

I'm also curious to know if there will be more companions and romances with them for Theron and original LI comps? Anyone new? Who and When? Will there be more decorating and strongholds? Will Quinn get a commemorative statue? (Seriously, I'm still salty about how you guys acted when Iokath came out and it was told that people would get to kill Quinn--you guys seemed practically jubilant about it, giggling, hurr-hurring about it.) Also more male force user romances? (Meaning force using males that female and gay male players can flirt with or romance?) The one you gave doesn't appeal to everyone despite what your influencers or temp writers whisper in your ears.

 

I'm sorry if I seem harsh, the resentment has been building for a while and I'm tired of my concerns and the aspects of this game that I enjoy being kicked aside.

Eric Musco, I'd encourage you to read and take in what Lunafox wrote. Many of us lady gamers don't appreciate having the husbands and partners of our female characters 'bricked' away. A companion killed-off by some players should not mean killed off for all players. The 'vanilla' and SoR companions should - especially if romanced - be active and ongoing participants in our characters' stories. This issue has been a big one on the forums, and BioWare has given us no clear indication as to their intention towards companions from older content. I'll repeat again the salient point - a companion killed-off by some players should not mean killed off for all players.

As for decorations and strongholds - yes please, Odessen for me and I'll ask yet again, make the Alliance a proper third faction in the game (if you want to see the relevant details, this post will give you ideas: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=953725&highlight=faction).

Expect to see more yellow posts around the forums from myself and others (as I highlighted in my other post). And I don't doubt that you wouldn't do it, but call out when we are lacking.

 

-eric

Well, This'll be a very good thing if it happens I'm sure it would clear up a lot of issues; *However...... at this point I will say the Same thing I did before when Keith said the Same thing "I hope so, we'll wait and see".