A Message from the Community Manager

[nakoda]

the truth

 

you think any of the devs are willing to show their faces right now? especially at a convention where they have to meet REAL sw fans, and not internet kiddies?

[nakoda]

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.

 

thank you for supporting what I have said.

[JovethGonzalez]

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

 

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.

 

Simply put, I am not going to post a reply to every tweet I get on here, much in the same way that I won't publish every email or PM that I get on here. If you have a question, feel free to ask me directly. I'll do my best to respond. The forums are a large place and even though I will do my best, I can't answer everything.

 

To answer your other concern, this was a reply on Twitter from today. Yes, they are still here with us.

Edited August 8, 2012 by JovethGonzalez

[Gaxar]

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.

 

Thats the point. If there is not interaction on the games forums/dev tracker between the community and the devs then there is nothing to report, 3rd party site or not.

 

swtor is hugely lacking in communication so i dont even bother looking at 3rd party sites because if there isnt anything in the dev tracker, then what can a 3rd party site possibly tell me?

[Gavanar]

Hi everyone,

 

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.

 

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.

 

.... One of our primary goals with this is to ensure that new information about the game is communicated as quickly and effectively as possible.

 

We're all excited about the future of this game and with the new focus on more frequent content updates ...

 

Thank you, sincerely, for participating and being a part of our community over the past few months. We look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

 

Sorry, gotta throw the BS Flag on this. Read it before a few months ago, and in a nearly identical form in previous MMOs, some of which no longer exist, including another MMO using the IP from "A Galaxy, far, far away..."

 

Been here since late beta, read a lot of promises, plans and outlooks. Then things take a downward turn and communication abruptly stops. Then starts up again only to once again stop again.

 

There is a clear disconnect between what the Devs think the players would like and what the players actually would like. You ask for questions and get a ton, but cherry-pick softball questions or include questions already answered on the Q&A. Insulting the intelligence of your playerbase is never a wise thing to do. The ball is clearly in your court and the remaining players are watching and waiting.

[DarthMord]

 

Simply put, I am not going to post a reply to every tweet I get on here, much in the same way that I won't publish every email or PM that I get on here. If you have a question, feel free to ask me directly. I'll do my best to respond. The forums are a large place and even though I will do my best, I can't answer to everything.

 

To answer your other concern, this was a reply on Twitter from today. Yes, they are still here with us.

 

I'm directly asking you about the following things:

 

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

 

[/Quote]

 

You can keep it simple but give us info on each of these points.

[Emeda]

 

Simply put, I am not going to post a reply to every tweet I get on here, much in the same way that I won't publish every email or PM that I get on here. If you have a question, feel free to ask me directly. I'll do my best to respond. The forums are a large place and even though I will do my best, I can't answer to everything.

 

To answer your other concern, this was a reply on Twitter from today. Yes, they are still here with us.

 

Thanks for answering.

 

I also never asked you to reply to every little post. Just when you answer make it a answer that doesnt leave more questions .

 

From your answer too I detect a tone as you think we should be honored to talk to you. Its not a honor its your job.

 

But its good to know you will answer questions and not just pop in give your 2 cents and disappear. So thanks for that.

[nakoda]

There is a clear disconnect between what the Devs think the players would like and what the players actually would like.

 

QFT. This is the most concise wording of the problem I've seen.

[Fornix]

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.

 

A convention with hardly any people attending, and an even smaller fraction of them being gamers, and an even less smaller fraction of them interested in MMO gaming? And thát is the worst marketing idea in history? It'd be the worst marketing idea to actually waste money on attending that convention.

[JovethGonzalez]

 

I'm directly asking you about the following things:

 

 

 

You can keep it simple but give us info on each of these points.

 

I personally do not have new information for you at this time. However, I'd recommending checking our Q&A archive, as some of your questions seem to have already been addressed. I'll also check with our devs to see if we have an update.

Edited August 8, 2012 by EricMusco

[Revan-the-knight]

How are you coping since the layoffs?

[Felioats]

Is part of the plan going forward that the developers are kept locked in their cages, but they are allowed to scribble notes that you bring to us?

 

In other words, no more episodes like Georg Zoeller used to go on, spamming the forums all day instead of working.

 

(this is all tongue-in-cheek)

 

I mean, I like you guys. We haven't really gotten to see much of you aside from locking threads and whatnot before. I'm just wondering what to expect.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Felioats

[ScarletBlaze]

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, please feel free to send us an email at community@swtor.com. You can also send me a PM here on the forums or reach me on Twitter @joveth. These are three different ways for you to get in touch. We will limit important announcements to only occur on our site, forums, our Facebook page, and/or the official SWTOR Twitter account.

 

Thank you, sincerely, for participating and being a part of our community over the past few months. We look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

 

Thank you.

[JovethGonzalez]

 

Thanks for answering.

 

I also never asked you to reply to every little post. Just when you answer make it a answer that doesnt leave more questions .

 

From your answer too I detect a tone as you think we should be honored to talk to you. Its not a honor its your job.

 

But its good to know you will answer questions and not just pop in give your 2 cents and disappear. So thanks for that.

 

I must have read the question wrong I thought that the answer was pretty straightforward, but I can see your POV. Glad to have helped.

 

As for tone: no no, not at all. Tone is hard to convey over the internet sometimes. Of course, folks can ask questions here on our forums. I meant to say that for me, personally, it's easier to answer questions that I can see easily.

 

Granted, even then, I won't realistically be able to answer every single question that comes my way

Edited August 8, 2012 by EricMusco

[Goldenstar]

Hey Joveth, thanks for taking the time to communicate with us on a more personal basis. I've noticed you directing players to the Q&A archives, but I don't think many people are satisfied with the answers provided in the Q&A. That's why we're asking YOU. The Q&A always gives incredibly vague and non-specific answers to questions, which is NOT what the playerbase is looking for. We like details. We know you can't give specific dates or information, but the development team MUST have an internal timeline for GOALS at least. Something along the lines of "we're aiming to get this feature out within the next 6 weeks, but there's no promises on that" would go a LONG way. Edited August 8, 2012 by Goldenstar

[Gaxar]

Is part of the plan going forward that the developers are kept locked in their cages, but they are allowed to scribble notes that you bring to us?

 

In other words, no more episodes like Georg Zoeller used to go on, spamming the forums all day instead of working.

 

(this is all tongue-in-cheek)

 

Thing is tho, when Georg posted, it was at length and he posted his thoughts and views. People agreed or disagreed, but there was communication.

 

Having devs like georg showed that BW had people who were passionate about what they were doing, and gave us as customers an insight into why they were doing what they were doing.

 

Thats whats been missing, and likely to stay missing as Georg has jumped ship.

[Emeda]

 

I must have read the question wrong I thought that the answer was pretty straightforward, but I can see your POV. Glad to have helped.

 

As for tone: no no, not at all. Tone is hard to convey over the internet sometimes. Of course, folks can ask questions here on our forums. I meant to say that for me, personally, it's easier to answer questions that I can see easily.

 

Granted, even then, I won't realistically be able to answer every single question that comes my way

 

Well this is a start . And I think everyone can agree with that.

 

Dont need to answer this anymore answer other posts now

Edited August 8, 2012 by Emeda

[ScarletBlaze]

Gavanar;5000886].

 

There is a clear disconnect between what the Devs think the players would like and what the players actually would like.]

 

 

There is another problem not all the players would like the same thing. Some want one thing and still others want something else. There is always going to be a difference between what players want. Not all the players want the same thing so trying to find a balance between them is what they have to do.

[ChazDoit]

I must have read the question wrong I thought that the answer was pretty straightforward, but I can see your POV. Glad to have helped.

 

As for tone: no no, not at all. Tone is hard to convey over the internet sometimes. Of course, folks can ask questions here on our forums. I meant to say that for me, personally, it's easier to answer questions that I can see easily.

 

Granted, even then, I won't realistically be able to answer every single question that comes my way

 

Im just glad to see you guys will be more active on the forums from now on

[nakoda]

There is another problem not all the players would like the same thing. Some want one thing and still others want something else. There is always going to be a difference between what players want. Not all the players want the same thing so trying to find a balance between them is what they have to do.

 

fair, but do you think that BW/EA are actually thinking like you are? their first concern is their shareholders, not their fans/subscribers.

 

I've half a mind to start a subscriber's rights protection lobby to begin instituting disclosure and communication protocols that we as paying customers ought to have access to.

 

it's our money, we have every right to be involved in how it is spent.

 

edit: the irony arises when this sentiment puts me in favour of F2P, from a certain point of view.

Edited August 8, 2012 by nakoda

[DarthMord]

 

I personally do not have new information for you at this time. However, I'd recommending checking our Q&A archive, as some of your questions seem to have already been addressed. I'll also check with our devs to see if we have an update.

 

Well see this is my point. As a community manager who is trying to tell us that you are now 'authorized' to give us more and frequent updates you really aren't giving us anything. Instead you're telling us to check the Q and A. And that's after you just said that if we had a direct question you would answer it. The reason we are asking these questions is because the Q and A isn't sufficient. To be perfectly honest it seems a little staged since none of the really 'hard' questions are answered. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that you are actually here and answering questions and I'm not trying to harp on you but if we're being honest, brutally honest, we (the consumer) have been promised a lot but have seen little to no follow through. I don't expect an immediate response but if it were me I'd be going to the dev's and saying "hey look guys I've got a about x number of community members asking me about x issue/promise what's the development cycle on this?" and then I'd post what they said.

 

As a community most of us are mature adults who can handle something being in development for several more weeks or months as long as we know it's being worked on and we are updated about the cycle regularly. Think of it this way, EA is your major investor they want frequent updates from Bioware on the game so they can see where their money is going and how it is spent so they can figure out their next financial move. We as the consumer want and need just as many updates without the fluff or false promises. I really don't understand why most game developers think they need to "protect" the consumer... give us more credit than that. In fact I'd suspect if you guys started being brutally honest about your development cycles and features you'd get a lot more positive responses from people. We don't have to agree on how the game is balanced or made if we know what the hell is going on and feel like we are at least somewhat part of the equation.

[kroto]

Given our recent transition, our circumstances changed, which included our plans for events. This was a recent change, and unfortunately, we will not be going to Star Wars: Celebrations this year. Stay tuned for updates about future events.

 

 

Soooo, part of your new plan is to distance yourselves from Star Wars fans?? Really??? What are you guys thinking???? How can you think Star Wars Celebrations VI is not worth your time??? Why would you not want to market a Star Wars game at a freaking Star Wars Convention????? In a nutshell, this is whats going wrong with your game and marketing strategy. As always , the guys in charge are out of touch with the people who matter. Talk about falling to the darkside. At this point this game has begun to resemble something quite less than a Star Wars game.

Ive been down the F2P road with Turbine so the F2P announcement hasnt phased me cause I know what to expect. But really?? No Celebration VI?? That is where you guys coulda shined, instead go to gamescon in another country to show off your game and share new info with general gamers that A) dont get star wars and B) hate MMO's.

Catering to the wrong crowd I tell ya. Remember, its not the press that is gonna sell the game, its word of mouth from your players( the ones currently being shafted).

IMO Bioware only has to layoff one more person ever.... the person responsible for decisions like these.

No Star Wars Celebration VI????? Really????????

[Alexi_son]

I personally do not have new information for you at this time. However, I'd recommending checking our Q&A archive, as some of your questions seem to have already been addressed. I'll also check with our devs to see if we have an update.

 

Then GO and find it, and be an advocate for the player community and an agent for improved relations instead of just more of the same tired shell game trick.

 

The community wants and needs an advocate - someone who we feel will take some initiative to find out the things we're asking for instead of explaining how they're really not much use after all when the chips are down.

[Agarwaenn]

Then GO and find it, and be an advocate for the player community and an agent for improved relations instead of just more of the same tired shell game trick.

 

The community wants and needs an advocate - someone who we feel will take some initiative to find out the things we're asking for instead of explaining how they're really not much use after all when the chips are down.

 

This, Yes. Going to find the answers. We don't want just an "anchorman" reading us the "news" handed to him by the devs. We need a "reporter" who will go dig up the answers. Someone who can get the devs to open up more.

This game is missing the amount of communication and incite that blizzard devs give their player base.

[Theninjafuzz]

The Ops that you mentioned is currently being looked at and will be fixed as soon as we can.

How about we revert the servers back to pre-patch so my guild and I can actually raid the content? As it stands with the "fix" to the droids we can't do anything. This is pathetic.