any tool that allows players to enjoy most or all of the content is a win win. Jerks will be jerks in any setting, tools don't create a bad attitude, it already exists.

Is there anything that you wouldn't defend when it comes to this game and its developer?

Because that helps game play... And here I thought they ignored the forums... learn something new every day!

^^this

If they don't have dates associated with their projects, this game and its developer are in more serious trouble than originally thought. Every project, that is successful, has milestones, target dates, etc... associated with it. And they aren't pulled from thin air either, they are valid dates based upon experts who know development cycles and the level of effort it will take to code, test, implement, go live. Anyone good project manager knows these things and would have it in black and white too (gantt chart anyone?) but, maybe there in lies the issues...

Indeed! You may have hit on the root of the problem. Some times the fire retardant clothing we start with in one fire, doesn't quite cut it in a more intense one. However, I think he created some of this himself, and he was probably put in situations where he no longer even trusted his internal team to deliver what he was supposed to talk about to the community. Those jobs are certainly challenging and it does take a special breed to handle them.

I agree that some/many threads were certainly overly redundant and useless, but they (forum managers) seemed to be indiscriminate about what threads were actually thriving conversations/debates that are closed and redirected to older threads where the conversation had died days before and those that were just one of 10 that needed to be shut down and redirected to control the influx of redundant topics. That to me is poor management and not enough discretion is applied to know what is and is not good policy.

Does the word "boring" mean anything to you? After my first lvl 50, I even changed factions to try and level a different class and story.. still got boring 30 levels in, never finished her because I could never get a group to run FP's with. I quit trying.

I would submit that some of the "blind hate, vicious and non-constructive rants, and vicious rants(which seems somewhat redundant, btw)" were of his own making. If you don't communicate, leave too much to conjecture, ignore the feedback that is constructive, people start to lose their patience and turn up their volume to try and get your attention. Some certainly do it because they are just immature or mean spirited, but not all. He could have done so much more to help the community understand what was going on behind the curtain or engage in more dialogue with the official community here on the forums. My guess is that BW or EA or both, felt the same way.

So, from your perspective, as community manager, he couldn't manage the community because they just wouldn't let him? I believe his job was to do just that, manage the community. If the community is out of control or "not civil" it would appear that he wasn't doing his job very well. I have only ever seen people asking for clarifications, more communications, post first on official forums, etc... He did none of that. His favorite word was "soon". I was less than impressed by his job performance from a consumer's perspective.

He may have used the word, "soon" just one too many times.

I am amazed at the allegiance... er, sorry, wrong discussion! I like the idea, its been suggested many many times by many many posters, but it doesn't appear to be a consideration at this point...

Apparently not from you (nor was this directed at you, thus no quote)... but that is the impression I get from some posters with regards to BW.

Actually, yes, but that doesn't mean I understand how a gaming company builds theirs. Mine were, and currently are, in vastly different industries ($24M budget in a $2B company). It just means that I can understand the complexity of what it takes and how many line items have to be considered. Sounds like you are off to a good start on your career, where ever that may take you. I have been in corporate business for over 23 years, so I do know a thing or two about business, but again, certainly not an expert in every industry or field.

LOL'd precious!

I also don't understand a lot of people's allegiance to Bioware at this point. They clearly got swallowed up by EA and are now under their financial and visionary thumb. EA holds all the cards, pulls all the strings, and BW can do nothing about it. I wouldn't be surprised to see the good DR's retire and start their own development company again after their non-compete agreement expires (2-years usually, could be longer for them).

There is soooo much more that goes in to a budget than what you have listed, unless you are grossly over simplifying for argument sake?!? Have you ever built and managed a multimillion dollar corporate budget before?

Many of us waited a long time for SW to hit the shelves, preordered on day 1, got in to early access on day 1, but were not met with the "Best thing in life" when we logged on for the first time. Far from it. How long is the wait for the "best"?

Click the link in my sig, you will find that I share your sentiment. I was hoping for the hallmark of this MMO to be more than level through story, play "typical end content grind" afterward, with no updates to the part of the game that matters most, story, for a long time. But, now, that's the least of their concerns.

Not impossible, but if I am opening a coffee shop with only pots of coffee and no customization in my brew (and only dry bagels as a pastry), then you can bet that if the coffee isn't the best tasting coffee on the planet, I may get a few new customers to try it, but very few repeat customers because they can go to the next street over and get whatever cup o' Joe they want customized to their liking with all kinds of pastries and hot items to boot. You can't go half way and expect your customers to just hang out long enough for you to provide things they can already get elsewhere (for the same price). Oh, you will get your "starbucks haters" who will go anywhere and support anyone who will try to compete with the big boys, but they may not be enough to carry you to profitability or sustainability.

If you are competing with Panera Bread or The Corner Bakery, I would suggest you wait until you have enough product to attract plenty of customers... otherwise, you will go bankrupt trying to convince your customers that not having all the products those other stores have is worth it, cause you have VO's... er, I mean, good bread (but is it better?). No, wait until you can actually compete with established businesses.

Those poor poor devs, sweet and innocent lil bystanders that are just so cute and unprotected. I can understand why they don't come out of their lil rooms and interact with their customers... they might get negative feedback which is likely to hurt their lil feelings and make em cry! /sarcasm off I have never worked for a company that hides from their customers as much as this one does. Unbelievable really.

My free 30 days (don't even ask why or how I got this, was unsubbed and it ran out before this was even awarded, but that's another story) is up on Friday of this week. I will not resub, if that was their hope when they gave me the freebie. You can see my signature as to why I believe this game only held my interest through one story. Total disconnect from leveling to end game. Kinda like ME3, if I have seen the ending cutscenes, why would I go back and search the galaxy for more stuff, knowing the end? I didn't. I also won't be back for several reasons: 1. Very poor communication from developers (coy and arrogant most of the time when we do hear from them) 2. Rabid fan base that is irrational and blind to any room for improvement (suggestions for change) 3. Engine that can't handle basics 4. Misplaced priorities (i.e., Legacy) 5. Broken promises (i.e., Illum, ranked WZ's) 6. Impossible to group for FP's while leveling (same server LFG won't do it) 7. Direction of game is not trend setting (VO's are great the first time through, end game is rinse-repeat tired ol' MMO formula) I don't leave with any ill will toward EA/BW or the folks that enjoy the game, I have no vendetta to see this game fail, it is just not for me.

Won't it be great that the remaining 2 players in TOR can group together and enjoy their same server lfg tool and build their community? Oh, crap, the last two will probably be on different servers...

Which may be the case with today's gamer society, however, if that is the case, then a gaming company better be prepared for that reality and create a quality product that doesn't demand so much patience and very low expectations to succeed. You can't force the gaming community to change to meet your product's needs, you have to change the product to meet the customer's needs. BW has it backwards in today's MMO marketplace, thus declining subs and interest.