PierreBondurant Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Hi there, I bought SWTOR because I like the MMO genre and I had faith in Bioware regarding the work they did on games like Baldur's Gate or Mass Effect. I was like "hey, this company clearly puts quality before greed, let's encourage them". I'm not a MMO expert, I don't have any bragging rights, I'm just a plebeian who wants to know something about the product he bought. The question is simple : "How in 2011, with so much money, people, companies and ressources involved, did you happen to release a unfinished game lacking major features, having poor performance with such terrible communication with your customers ?" We all know from the past that MMOs releases can be rocky, some might even say "bugs and lags are mandatory, it's part of the game". While I'm not gonna debate about that, I do think your communication is terrible in every point, and I'm gonna explain why I think it is. First of all, your community staff use their personal Twitter accounts and they sometimes release important information. It's very painful having to check each Bioware senior employee Twitter account to check if we didn't miss some useful information. Another problem is, who is really answering out there ? The individual, or the Bioware employee ? It's so mixed we don't even know what to think. You have official forums, use them to offficially communicate with your playerbase, or at least define proper communication guidelines. Second, while we had a major crisis (Ilum 1.1), for hours after server went live we didn't see any community rep answering any of the hundred of threads about Ilum. At some point, some of your employees made a thread about Ilum and used "potential issues" hours after almost everyone was able to check Ilum by themselves. What's the point of insulting every suscriber by typing "potential" hours after servers went live ? Community reps aren't allowed to log in and check by themselves ? It would take like 5 minutes of their time, is that a big deal ? Empire players are slideshowing on Ilum while grinding Valor like hell, while Republic players can't do anything about it, it happens on your servers and you take hours to figure it ? You know how some people might call that ; it's the ivory tower syndrom, community representatives not knowing what's going on with their playerbase, on servers and thinking their opinions are peoples opinions. Hours of 1.1 Ilum, hundred of Youtube links showing how Ilum is, thousands of posts on your forums, yet not a single post or tweet from SWTOR Senior Community Manager, Stephen Reid ? Instead, we had to wait until Gabe Amatangelo answered Ilum current concerns almost 10 hours after servers went live. I don't want senior executives taking their time to post some "it's gonna be all right" post hours after, I just want current statements and quick updates, I mean come on it's Internet, you don't have to get a horse and a courier anymore to inform someone. Therefore, I have something to say to you : I frown upon that. I don't like being treated like some ignorant sheep going to the slaughterhouse, having no idea of what's actually going on. I want information, I don't wanna have a Berlin Wall like communication team, not saying anything for hours while people having awful game experience. Communication is about trust and credibility, and today, because of your communication team you just lost almost everything. You've obviously lost some peoples trust, and it will takes time to get it back, but you're gonna need to have better people than now to do the job. Yes I'm talking about you Stephen Reid, and your team. Sometimes you should actually listen of what people say, we're customers and suscribers, most of us are human, polite and kind, so there is no point treating all of us like angry impatient kids. There is no need being condescending when people actually tell you about games issues, or go hiding under a rock when you're on communication crisis like today. There is no need being on the defensive and evasive everytime someone tries to bring your attention to a potential gamebreaking exploit. You see, some of us customers can use the "potential" word without insulting all of Bioware employees, you should learn about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikox Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 +1 like this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesTheName Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) -1 Sick of seeing the same old crap. Edited January 19, 2012 by DavesTheName Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asuka Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) No MMO is "finished" and combat log and LFD tool are not major features. Also Twitter reaches far more people than the forums and faster and easier. Don't be lazy. Edited January 19, 2012 by Asuka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POPsi Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Though I'm not Stephen Reid, I approve this post. I have to agree with every word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnie Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 uh.... I don't miss any 'major features' I guess I play this game wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imtrick Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) TL;DR: I though MMO's were 100% perfect and complete at launch, and didn't realize there's a dev tracker and patch notes. Edited January 19, 2012 by imtrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelkin Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 QQ. The same old BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scan Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 +1 Well constructed, but it will be ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenshire Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Not missing any major features here! Also, you can't expect them to act on an hour's worth of gameplay. Believe it or not, there may be sides of the system that you don't see that needs to be figured out! *gasp* Just chill the eff out. It's a videogame, for crying out loud. Stop acting like this is some world-shattering issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlict Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 TL;DR: I though MMO's were 100% perfect and complete at launch, and didn't realize there's a dev tracker and patch notes. wow had one fith the budget, and it actually worked checkmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falkelord Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 The question is simple : "How in 2011, with so much money, people, companies and ressources involved, did you happen to release a unfinished game lacking major features, having poor performance with such terrible communication with your customers ?" "I have never played a MMO from launch before and have never had to deal with the risks associated with doing so. I've never experienced wait times on tickets in any other MMO and every other MMO i've ever played has been complete and has never been patched ever, especially using trial and error in the first few months" -Your post tl;dr edit: This post is constructive criticism because I identify the problem (the OP's attitude and lack of experience) and identify a solution (don't play a MMO from launch if you can't handle it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanen Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 No MMO is "finished" and combat log and LFD tool are not major features. Also Twitter reaches far more people than the forums and faster and easier. Don't be lazy. if u didnt see it the first time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcburly Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 +1 Well constructed, but it will be ignored. and it should be ignored. nothing new here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CygnusMX Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 -1 Sick of seeing the same old crap. No S*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imtrick Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 wow had one fith the budget, and it actually worked checkmate At launch? Right. How about you talk about something you actually experienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcburly Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 wow had one fith the budget, and it actually worked checkmate wow was terrible at launch. barely worked half the time. this has been one of the best launches ever. now we can say, CHECKMATE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerloZosi Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 +1 like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabbadaphat Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Try twitter lol:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesTheName Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 wow had one fith the budget, and it actually worked checkmate Played SWTOR in BETA, 5 days of early access and every day since launch. Not had a single crash, not a big of lag, no FPS problems, no "missing features" whatever they may be. Shove your checkmate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poogination Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 and it should be ignored. nothing new here You're opinion is jaded by fanboyism, cut it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poogination Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Played SWTOR in BETA, 5 days of early access and every day since launch. Not had a single crash, not a big of lag, no FPS problems, no "missing features" whatever they may be. Shove your checkmate. The fanboyism is flowing through you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesTheName Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 You're opinion is jaded by fanboyism, cut it out. You sure? It's the same opinion as me and I'm not a fanboy. Not even a big fan of Star Wars. See you at your GW2 launch for epic credit card action from the moment the game launches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yumi-Ann Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 "OMG... Seriously the SW:TOR community is worse than FoM's has ever been; I bought the game a few hours ago and already want to quit before patching is over just becuase of the whiny unplease-able community; 13 year olds on a never-ending rage-quit ... its deplorable; is this the fate of MMOs?" This about sums up the entirety of the TOR forums. This is a message I put on my skype... If the entire dame is just full of QQ'ers and raging 13 year olds its honestly not worth my time and was a waste of my money. I mean seriously; do you guys think new players look at this cr** and think this game will be worth their time... This is truly pointless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoggel Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Hello! We ask that threads on the General Discussion forum be related to Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Since this one is off-topic, we're going to close it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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