Eric and Courtney are (collectively) THE MAN!

[TheSeventhJedi]

I can't say enough how refreshing these past couple weeks have been with their newly stepped-up interaction here on the forums. Specific answers! Not a hint of soon! Even a well placed "no" here and there so we know not to get our hopes up! Next time either of you are in Vegas, I owe you a beer.

 

Let's all show our appreciation for all the yellow posts we've had and encourage these fine upstanding citizens to continue the good work.

 

And, maybe, if we're lucky, can we have a date on Cathar? (Or a hint that maybe they'll hit the CM with 2.0?)

[Keffeine]

I agree completely. The forums have been looking very, very positive lately, from Eric's announcement of Gree coming back in 1.7.2 and the tireless Philip typing out 1000-word essays in response to player concerns... this is a better community team for sure. I hope they stay strong.

 

Now I realise why Joveth had to go.

[Never_Hesitate]

I'd like to say that about our cm's (in the german forum) as well, but crap we don't have them anymore.

[Talon_strikes]

I'm glad the community team is deciding to be more communicative on the forums. Though some people are doubtful, as the past has clearly shown that the community team would stop posted after a few weeks. Still, I'm happy to see them interacting with us and I hope to get some answers for the future of PvP.

[Shwarzchild]

Courtney has always been absolutely great. It's nice to add names to that list. Eric has been absolutely awesome as well. I don't want to leave out the rest of the community team since they all are doing excellent jobs. It's very refreshing to see the level of care they show the forum goers.

[islander]

I'm glad the community team is deciding to be more communicative on the forums. Though some people are doubtful, as the past has clearly shown that the community team would stop posted after a few weeks. Still, I'm happy to see them interacting with us and I hope to get some answers for the future of PvP.

 

Remember, it's not just THEIR choice. They probably wanted to long before now, but understand they are directed what to say/not say. This has little to do with Joveth, and his leaving.

It looks to me like Bioware has decided to 'test' how giving future information to the community will go. It's up to the community to not pile on the staff when estimations don't come to fruition.

 

Open communication is a lot easier when the communicators aren't going to get unfairly hammered when partial information is given out and wrongfully extrapolated by a ravenous and relentless customer base - which in turns bites the communicators collective heads off.

[DarthTHC]

I agree completely. The forums have been looking very, very positive lately, from Eric's announcement of Gree coming back in 1.7.2 and the tireless Philip typing out 1000-word essays in response to player concerns... this is a better community team for sure. I hope they stay strong.

 

Now I realise why Joveth had to go.

 

This is extraordinarily unfair to Joveth.

 

First, you do not know the restrictions that may have been placed upon Joveth, or whether or not they may have been eased for the current team.

 

Second, Joveth several times, starting with his introduction to us as lead CM, had his team communicating at the levels the current team has, and they kept it up for a matter of weeks before trailing off to nothingness.

 

We are still within the same "honeymoon" timeframe for this new Eric-led team.

 

Don't get me wrong; I like what I've seen from the CM team over the past couple of weeks. And I hope they keep it up!

 

But it's far, far too early to suggest that in the long run it will actually be any better, and it's always going to be uncool to call Joveth out.

Edited March 8, 2013 by DarthTHC

[Keffeine]

This is extraordinarily unfair to Joveth.

...

But it's far, far too early to suggest that in the long run it will actually be any better, and it's always going to be uncool to call Joveth out.

 

Point taken, I guess I jumped to a hasty conclusion there. No offence intended.

 

I do hope it continues though.

[DarthGile]

Don't forget Amber. She's been just as active as Eric and Courtney. All three of them have been doing a killer job this past week. It's as if a switch was flipped by EA, saying "We removed your talking restrictions! Go nuts!"

[TUXs]

I agree completely. The forums have been looking very, very positive lately, from Eric's announcement of Gree coming back in 1.7.2 and the tireless Philip typing out 1000-word essays in response to player concerns... this is a better community team for sure. I hope they stay strong.

 

Now I realise why Joveth had to go.

ABSOLUTELY!!! And look at the posts recently...has anyone else noticed the uptick in positive posts? I gave Joveth the benefit of the doubt when he asked us to judge them by what they did going forward, not what they did in the past, and he failed to EVER live up to his promise of better communication. Eric has more posts in one week than Joveth did in his entire career...and Eric's posts contain REAL replies, not random gibberish.

 

This is extraordinarily unfair to Joveth.

 

First, you do not know the restrictions that may have been placed upon Joveth, or whether or not they may have been eased for the current team.

It's not unfair - he had a chance, he has a track record...he blew it imo. If he didn't have the freedom Eric has, what changed? Was Eric just more aggressive about what he wanted to be able to do? If that's the case, why the hell didn't Joveth do the same thing?

 

I feel like Eric represents US, the players. Joveth was nothing but EA/Bioware. Eric brings HOPE to this forum, something that has been missing since launch. I'll stand behind Eric and his approach 110% because the way he's doing things, is how "I" would do things.

[Thufir_Hawat]

Couldn't Agree more and recently they really helped our guild out with a big event we had, responsive helpful and really nice to work with.

 

Big thanks from DILIH

[DarthTHC]

It's not unfair - he had a chance, he has a track record...he blew it imo. If he didn't have the freedom Eric has, what changed? Was Eric just more aggressive about what he wanted to be able to do? If that's the case, why the hell didn't Joveth do the same thing?

 

I feel like Eric represents US, the players. Joveth was nothing but EA/Bioware. Eric brings HOPE to this forum, something that has been missing since launch. I'll stand behind Eric and his approach 110% because the way he's doing things, is how "I" would do things.

 

Hey, I never knocked Eric. I've told him directly that I love what he's doing.

 

My point was we don't know and we'll never know the internal dynamics. What if Joveth resigned in frustration (it does happen!) and Eric said he'd only take the position if the suits would ease certain restrictions?

 

I have seen something in the communication from Eric that I never, ever saw out of any of the CM's here all the way back to Stephen Reid. Something I doubt I've even seen from BioWare as an entity. It is that difference that leads me to suggest something in the "rules" might have changed with this changing of the guard.

 

But we're never going to know, because it would be completely unprofessional for anyone to let us know and this team has never been that.

 

That's why calling Joveth out is uncool.

 

So let's enjoy this round of communication improvement for what it is - awesome - and leave the bashing of people we don't know need to be bashed to the side.

Edited March 8, 2013 by DarthTHC

[TUXs]

My point was we don't know and we'll never know the internal dynamics. What if Joveth resigned in frustration (it does happen!) and Eric said he'd only take the position if the suits would ease certain restrictions?

 

So let's enjoy this round of communication improvement for what it is - awesome - and leave the bashing of people we don't know need to be bashed to the side.

 

I can agree with that. I didn't mean to be unfair to Joveth.

 

This thread is about what's going on now...and right now, they're absolutely blowing me away.

[Urael]

Remember, it's not just THEIR choice. They probably wanted to long before now, but understand they are directed what to say/not say. This has little to do with Joveth, and his leaving.

It looks to me like Bioware has decided to 'test' how giving future information to the community will go. It's up to the community to not pile on the staff when estimations don't come to fruition.

 

Open communication is a lot easier when the communicators aren't going to get unfairly hammered when partial information is given out and wrongfully extrapolated by a ravenous and relentless customer base - which in turns bites the communicators collective heads off.

 

*bzzzzt*

 

No.

 

All you have to do is look at the cess pool that is the WoW Forums and look at the steller and heroic job of the Mods, Devs, and Admins that fence with that crowd regularly, no holds barred. SWTOR forums are a kiddy pool compared to the WoW forums and the Mods that run these forums don't hold a candle to the Bliz Mods. Bashiok, Daxxari, and Nethaera for the freaking win. Those three know how to mix it up and deal with forum posters. SWTOR could learn a lot from emulating their style.

[Hyfy]

Remember, it's not just THEIR choice. They probably wanted to long before now, but understand they are directed what to say/not say. This has little to do with Joveth, and his leaving.

It looks to me like Bioware has decided to 'test' how giving future information to the community will go. It's up to the community to not pile on the staff when estimations don't come to fruition.

 

Open communication is a lot easier when the communicators aren't going to get unfairly hammered when partial information is given out and wrongfully extrapolated by a ravenous and relentless customer base - which in turns bites the communicators collective heads off.

 

While I can't answer as to whether or not Joveth could answer certain questions specifically or not the way he conducted his business on the forums was lack luster. And my specific dealings with him, showed an inability to be professional. From what I have seen so far from Eric and company has been a far cry from the poor quality of service I was seeing before.

[VarKoE]

Agree with OP but expanded to include all the interaction currently ongoing. I hope it continues. There seems to be a gradual shift in the forums making them more constructive overall. This includes player feedback as well as mod responses. Edited March 8, 2013 by VarKoE

[TheSeventhJedi]

Agree with OP but expanded to include all the interaction currently ongoing. I hope it continues. There seems to be a gradual shift in the forums making them more constructive overall. This includes player feedback as well as mod responses.

 

I've always said that people will use the type of criticism that works. When constructive criticism doesn't work, people get downright mean. Now that the yellows are giving real responses, and frequently, the whole community just seems much happier and nicer. I apologize and extend equal kudos to the other reps I neglected to mention - it really is turning this place around for the better.

[MariaD]

Question: was there an internal review of the company's practices after the Disney takeover? Or some other event?

 

The forum changes have been following a pretty logical progression. Here is what the goals seem to be:

1. Make the game stable (frequent updates, F2P, Cartel Market, events)
   
2. Clean up the forums: ban trolls, take an aggressive stance against player and game bashing
   
3. Ramp up CM participation in the clean forums of the stable game
   

 

(1) is necessary for the success of (2), and (2) is necessary for the success of (3).

 

Retrospectively, it all seems like a logical progression. I mean, would any active CM survive the forums circa September 2012?

 

So, who decided on that course and who authorized it?

[Talon_strikes]

Question: was there an internal review of the company's practices after the Disney takeover? Or some other event?

 

The forum changes have been following a pretty logical progression. Here is what the goals seem to be:

1. Make the game stable (frequent updates, F2P, Cartel Market, events)
   
2. Clean up the forums: ban trolls, take an aggressive stance against player and game bashing
   
3. Ramp up CM participation in the clean forums of the stable game
   

 

(1) is necessary for the success of (2), and (2) is necessary for the success of (3).

 

Retrospectively, it all seems like a logical progression. I mean, would any active CM survive the forums circa September 2012?

 

So, who decided on that course and who authorized it?

In response to your second bulleted goal:

 

So glad the last two hoohaas left the Community team. Sure, you can clean up the forums, but my biggest issue was that they were making the forums extremely censored. That just discourages players from posting stuff that have some form of high criticism in it. I mean, a game certainly needs some of those players who can highly criticize it so it can improve in areas where it completely sucks.

 

I'm glad we have Eric. Eric and his team are far more lenient and easier to talk to.

Edited March 8, 2013 by HomicidalWhales

[BadOrb]

Agreed , they are doing a fine job and it's greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

BadOrb.

[chuixupu]

My guess would be that there was some internal restructuring. I don't believe it was a matter of getting rid of CMs because they weren't doing a good enough job, or even resigning due to frustration.

 

Probably some restrictions/red tape in the communication process was lifted. It could be a simple policy change about what kind of information that CMs could attain or post publicly.

 

As for why CMs were let go in the first place, possibly allocating the budget towards other areas of production. Maybe wishful thinking.

[Hyfy]

In response to your second bulleted goal:

 

So glad the last two hoohaas left the Community team. Sure, you can clean up the forums, but my biggest issue was that they were making the forums extremely censored. That just discourages players from posting stuff that have some form of high criticism in it. I mean, a game certainly needs some of those players who can highly criticize it so it can improve in areas where it completely sucks.

 

I'm glad we have Eric. Eric and his team are far more lenient and easier to talk to.

 

 

I wouldn't say lenient. I think even keel and not just jumping the gun and not arbitrarily ruling based off of bias and emotions. All things Joveth from what I saw and in my personal dealings with was very much so guilty of. He was unprofessional and did not know how to effectively deal with people. Eric so far seems like a breath of fresh air, and his leadership style already seems to be positively effecting the rest of his CS staff.

[Talon_strikes]

I wouldn't say lenient. I think even keel and not just jumping the gun and not arbitrarily ruling based off of bias and emotions. All things Joveth from what I saw and in my personal dealings with was very much so guilty of. He was unprofessional and did not know how to effectively deal with people. Eric so far seems like a breath of fresh air, and his leadership style already seems to be positively effecting the rest of his CS staff.

Allison was full of bias and it was always her way. Severity with her was increased x2, while Joveth increased it x4 right around the time she left.

 

I agree. I hope things stay as they are and continue to improve from here on out because Eric and his team really seem to know what they're doing.

[Rafaman]

I can't say enough how refreshing these past couple weeks have been with their newly stepped-up interaction here on the forums. Specific answers! Not a hint of soon! Even a well placed "no" here and there so we know not to get our hopes up! Next time either of you are in Vegas, I owe you a beer.

 

Let's all show our appreciation for all the yellow posts we've had and encourage these fine upstanding citizens to continue the good work.

 

And, maybe, if we're lucky, can we have a date on Cathar? (Or a hint that maybe they'll hit the CM with 2.0?)

 

Agreed. Whatever the circumstances, honeymoon or not, Eric and Courtney's dedication is evident. I'll even throw Phillip in that lot of those having to deal with the crazy. Lol!

 

Thanks guys. Your grind is much more than ours, but keep it up!

[dscount]

I would say it's not fair to POINT the finger at Joveth on the volume of communications. Might have been a gag order or might have been the team approach (Change) was going to need more communication authority in order to make an impact in the community.

 

That said! THANK YOU for the Change! It's appreciated getting MORE information than ever before. The less EA/BW scrubbed comm's the better.