AshenK Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 All the best at this but its been clear in the last couple of years nothing the community says means anything to the folk at Bioware Austin. People ask for more class story. 3.2 has no class story and one story for the two factions. Marauders asked for changes and increased DPS they got a 10m snare that costs 2 points and some minor changes to defensive abilities. PvPers have been asking for more maps etc. They get another season of ranked warzones with some new rewards. People asked for more information and communication. They get cantina tours (viable for only a few and mostly American players) getting pets and mounts. General calls for balance. They get nerfs. Calls for more content. They get after 6 months an expansion that lasts an hour and exactly the same for all 8 classes. While GSF, Conquest, Space PvE, Companion interaction, non humanoid species etc etc are completely ignored. But there are more reskined or moth eatern costumes in gambling packs sold from the cartel market. So it seems a little unlikely that anyone at Bioware cares what the player base wanted. this right here more so you dont even put in things people want in the p2w gambling packs. we have made it crystal clear from the start what we want and well the huge loss of players this game has is showing what people think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menofhorror Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 You like Witcher? Geralt approves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oofalong Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome, Nick. What did you say your favorite class was again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerba Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome, Nick. What did you say your favorite class was again? You can find it on his Twitter, he mains a Jugger tank. I was hoping for a Republic player on the Community Team but the dark side is too strong. Also, it's nice to hear that he is not just focused on the US but has been working on international issues, so hopefully players in Europe and other continents will also get some more representation in the future. It's just not fun having SWTOR/Cartel Market events around St Patrick's Day or Halloween when it's not celebrated in one's homecountry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dev Post EricMusco Posted March 25, 2015 Dev Post Share Posted March 25, 2015 If I could make a suggestion, since you are saying that you are consolidating all the things that you read on the forums you could make a post every say two weeks to one month letting players know what information you are passing on to the other devs This is really good feedback Adovir. With Nick on board it will definitely act as a catalyst for us to communicate more. I like this idea, a lot. I will talk with Nick and Tait and figure out how best we can do this. We'll let you know the type of feedback we have been passing on, and then I can relay what their status looks like. Bi-weekly // monthly sounds realistic to me as well (probably closer to monthly). I'll get back to all of you with a plan around this! -eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarfux Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) Hello Nick! Welcome to the community and to the game! Always good to see things like this. I am glad you are here and to start your journey on Star Wars The Old Republic. Pay no attention to trolls, they still like the game they are just frustrated This is a great day and seeming more people who play games and mmos are coming onto the team at SWTOR. This can only mean good things. It is good you are a competitive gamer to so you understand more of what people mean. I'm very glad you will be a door to more communication which is always a good thing. I like it a lot! Thank you for taking this time to introduce yourself and I hope you enjoy your stay here at SWTOR and BioWare Have a great day!! Edited March 25, 2015 by Sarfux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAvola Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome and good luck. As a starting point on community sentiment, I know that in the 3.1.2 PTS testing, there were requests for feedback with a lot of feedback given but no response at all from Bioware. From my own personal interest in Sorcs/Sages (my preferred main), the single-target proposed changes seemed to make little to no sense to the player-base, particularly in light of where the class stands in PvE. There was significant feedback concerning this apparent disconnect. Unfortunately without any feedback from the Developers, Sage/Sorc players are left wondering what the role of this class is supposed to be going forward in progression PvE. While I would love a response on this, more importantly, if Bioware asks for specific feedback, this should be a two-way thing. Certainly, every minor point of feedback can't be addressed, but at a minimum, I believe the players would like a final wrap-up post by the Developers explaining briefly how the feedback was useful, or not as the case may be, and where things are headed. Without at least some form of response to the feedback, players are left wondering whether this feedback is actually meaningful (particularly where there seems to be a disconnect between the changes and previous stated goals and/or where the class/role fits in currently). I don't have any information on the Sage/Sorc balance matter at the moment, unfortunately. But I can tell you that Tait and I have been constantly reading and rereading your PTS threads, and have passed along the more salient points to the Dev team, amongst others. Make sure you keep an eye on the Dev Tracker, as Tait recently sent out a few important replies. For example, you'll see that the outpouring of support for removing armor/weight restrictions in Outfit Designer was received well by the Dev team. At the moment, they are looking into the possibility of including this change in 3.2. In terms of class balance feedback and response, we've spoken to the combat team about increasing transparency while making incremental changes on the PTS. When new changes are added/adjusted/reverted, the combat team is going to be making an effort to explain their reactions to your feedback, and why they are arriving at the conclusions they have. You'll see this more visibly the next time we send out a PTS update. More generally, a new hand on the community team will hopefully free up some bandwidth for more feedback projects along the lines you mentioned. As I correlate incoming information, Tait and Eric will be your primary outlets in the coming months to let you know of any new plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashogy_reborn Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Hey all! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team. My name is Nick Avola, and I have the daunting (yet exciting) task of playing third fiddle on a team directly involved in all areas of our games – from player feedback, to design considerations, to promotions, to communications, you name it. Much of my time will be spent scouring the forums, blogisphere, and social media platforms to track community sentiment on a day-to-day basis. I’ll be consolidating your comments and concerns into detailed reports, which will be disseminated regularly amongst the Community, Development, Leadership, and other key teams here at BioWare Austin. The sooner your feedback reaches the eyes and ears of senior staffers, the more accurately and effectively we can respond in kind, and I will be working overtime to fine-tune this process. I will also take the lead in conducting a general makeover of the community team’s internal mechanisms, which should allow Eric, Tait, and I to more efficiently address the needs of SWTOR’s player base. In the meantime I will do my best to keep up a regular physical presence on the boards, but due to the general behind-the-scenes nature of my work (and the sheer quantity of incoming data I’ll be managing) you may see lengthier intervals between my visible forum posts. Nevertheless, I do encourage you to PM me anytime with more direct questions or thoughts. On a more personal note, I am a fiercely competitive gamer, and I’ll be regularly online playing my preferred tanking role (although my identity will remain anonymous for the moment – bit of a buzzkill, I know). I am also a big fan of PVP (queue the inevitable gasps of shock), and I am quite looking forward to publicly taking down Tait’s precious toons in Warzone. Outside of SWTOR, I play mainly RPGs along the lines of the Witcher and Mass Effect (and yes, I absolutely romanced Tali throughout the games before accidentally wiping out her entire species in a series of fiery explosions.. She never quite forgave me for that for some odd reason). I still have yet to experience anything which competes with the epic-ness of Chrono Cross or Final Fantasy VIII, however. I am also a giant nerd when it comes to historical grand strategy games, particularly Paradox’s Europa Universalis and the Total War series. But then again, my experience so far here in Austin shows me that I’ve only just scratched the surface of SWTOR. Challenge accepted. Outside of the gaming world, I’m a sucker for live music and recreational sporting leagues. I graduated from Wake Forest University (North Carolina) in 2008, before working in D.C. for a stint. Strangely enough, prior to joining BioWare Austin, I was trained as an intelligence analyst handling the Middle East and North Africa. I’m an avid reader – just finishing up my reread of ADWD before the new HBO season (go team Stannis), and am mid-way through the Darth Bane trilogy. And as a native Bostonian, I bleed Red Sox and Patriots pride. I look forward to interacting with many of you in the coming months. I’m honored to play a role amongst one of the industry’s most talented development teams, not to mention serving as a primary outlet for such a thriving and passionate Community. Look for me on the forums. Follow me on Twitter -- @avola_swtor. Get excited. Heck, from what I’ve seen in just a few days, I can assure you that great things are in store for the game in 2015, and I can’t wait to hear all about your chosen Path. Best, Nick Im in love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_Hosa_Phat Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome to the team, Nick! I'm excited to see a fresh, new face added to the Community Team - especially one who apparently makes communication a priority. As I'm sure you can tell already, there is a general feeling by many players on these forums that communication has been severely lacking, and the communication that we do get is little more than "fluff". Now, I'm not saying that I'm one of those players, but I will say that I am hopeful that we see a lot of good and meaningful information posted on these forums now that you're here. If I could make a suggestion, since you are saying that you are consolidating all the things that you read on the forums you could make a post every say two weeks to one month letting players know what information you are passing on to the other devs This is really good feedback Adovir. With Nick on board it will definitely act as a catalyst for us to communicate more. I like this idea, a lot. I will talk with Nick and Tait and figure out how best we can do this. We'll let you know the type of feedback we have been passing on, and then I can relay what their status looks like. Bi-weekly // monthly sounds realistic to me as well (probably closer to monthly). I'll get back to all of you with a plan around this! -eric I agree with Adovir's sentiment here wholeheartedly. I think even monthly updates to the player base that really lets us know that our voices are being heard would certainly help the perception that permeates these forums. Thank you, Eric, for addressing a really good suggestion and taking action (even if it's just "we'll see what we can do to make that happen"). Nick, I'm sure you can tell that you have your work cut out for you here. The players of SWTOR are a vocal and passionate group. But, I think you will find that we are all (players and Devs) just wanting to make this game the best it can possibly be. Thank you for taking on this daunting task, and I look forward to hearing much more from you in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianDavion Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 . I am also a giant nerd when it comes to historical grand strategy games, particularly Paradox’s Europa Universalis I always perfered crusader kings 2 myself. nice to meetcha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icestar Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Hey all! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team. My name is Nick Avola, and I have the daunting (yet exciting) task of playing third fiddle on a team directly involved in all areas of our games – from player feedback, to design considerations, to promotions, to communications, you name it. Hello and welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthZaul Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) 1) Genuinely fix Coratanni. Seriously, for real this time. 2) Nerf Underlurker SM 3) New PVP content And for a wall of crazy idea fix the god awful itemisation of all the 3.0 gear. Edited March 25, 2015 by DarthZaul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crubel Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 But I can tell you that Tait and I have been constantly reading and rereading your PTS threads, and have passed along the more salient points to the Dev team, amongst others. Make sure you keep an eye on the Dev Tracker, as Tait recently sent out a few important replies. Hi Nick, Welcome to the forums. Sorry, this is a long post. I'll start with something positive. First, I think a lot of people, myself included, are happy with more yellow posts today and that you guys took our feedback and are attempting to make the requested change to the outfit designer. Please ensure that communication keeps up. It is important to us, and we appreciate it. Second, there are some topics that have been on the forums forever that other forums posters would like to stop seeing threads created and brought up, and they keep getting brought up because of lack of communication on the Bioware side. We either do not get any replies, or replies have little to no information. Since I take you guys at your word, I know you have read about them, but as a community we need more feedback. I can think of two examples off hand, but of course they are just examples. The first example is regarding forum poster Alec_Fortescue. He has been the champion of "traditional jedi robes" for so long that others are either annoyed by his posts or have sympathy. Maybe you guys think we have traditional jedi robes, maybe we just can't get them for X reason, or something else, but at some point will you respond to the guy and his topic and say something? Anything? You have to give the guy credit for being persistent, so please address that. I think he has more forum posts on that one topic than I have on l of my posts. The second example is hood toggle. I know we are not getting it. We have more or less been told that. We want/need a couple things though. It would be great to be given a technical "why" reason as to why you guys can't do it. Is it just too much work because it involves changing every art asset? Your answer here might not change that we are not getting it, but it would make us feel warm and fuzzy inside and feel like we are listened to. Also, if we can't have hood toggle, how do we get the look that we want if we have a chest piece that either has the hood up or down and we want the opposite? I feel like we have never been given a good answer, so these posts keep coming up over and over again. Thank you and again, welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSeventhJedi Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys! Oh, and go Pats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlrikFassbauer Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 and I will be working overtime to fine-tune this process. Please be careful with your health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattjurado Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome. However, I'm fairly certain you aren't as cute as Courtney. Therefore, the slightest lack of, or first ill received communication, will result in your immediate branding as 'Musco the sequel.' Hmm, sounds like I may have just found the name of that marauder I never got around to making? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JattaGin Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Welcome, Nick. If you read Costello's post on page 3, you already got a good overview of the hyperbole and toxicness of this forum. Be prepared. About overtime: New guys always claim that they are willing to do overtime. Give it some time, then you will be counting down the 8 hours, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Wicked Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) MORE MEAT TO THE GRINDER! We shall use you, exhaust you and eventually, further down the road, dispose of you. That aside, welcome. TO THE MADHOUSE!!! HAHA!!! SUSTENANCE!!! Edited March 25, 2015 by Darth_Wicked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboath Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Native bostonian.. Guess ill have to forgive him for being the wrong kind of sports fan.. Which will be a lotto easier to do if maybe he gets all the 186/192 gear stats fixed. I have 6 186 crafted items in inventory with stats worse than 160 ratings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayneneverwind Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 A whole-hearted welcome, Nick! As most have already stated, but I'll just say it again anyway: Glad to see another person on the team. Thanks for the introduction and I'm sure we all look forward to seeing you around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalnarDegana Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) For example, you'll see that the outpouring of support for removing armor/weight restrictions in Outfit Designer was received well by the Dev team. At the moment, they are looking into the possibility of including this change in 3.2. In terms of class balance feedback and response, we've spoken to the combat team about increasing transparency while making incremental changes on the PTS. When new changes are added/adjusted/reverted, the combat team is going to be making an effort to explain their reactions to your feedback, and why they are arriving at the conclusions they have. You'll see this more visibly the next time we send out a PTS update. I truly hope so, because some of us have been waiting a long time to see our class come up in the balancing rotation (I'm a Gunslinger). We want to help you get this right before we have to wait another 3 months for changes to our class (worst case scenario). Two-way communication can only help us do this. The Gunslinger/Sniper community has some of the most avid theorycrafters (IMHO), and I have been impressed with the discussion going on in the PTS thread. It would be a shame if at the end of this update, we felt all of the wonderful, quite salient points were falling on deaf ears because no one would respond. Communication assuages dissatisfaction. EDIT: Forgot to say, welcome to the team! As an avid PvPer and long-time Red Sox fan (despite living in Texas), I share some of your passions! Edited March 25, 2015 by GalnarDegana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daewan Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 *wave* Hello! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FerkWork Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) Welcome aboard! I have only one question: Do the portents suggest that the return of Kephess is nigh? Edited March 25, 2015 by FerkWork Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximusRex Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Nice to meet you Nick, welcome to the 5th Circle of Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaineOs Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Congrats and welcome Although....I do have one question. How do we know you're actually holding a thermal detonator? I want proof!!!! I think you're bluffing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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