Just what are you hiding Bioware?

[DOHboy]

This is really the problem all MMOs have now.

 

pretty much yes. People so accustomed to having years worth of content at the ready that when a new game is released and they blow through it and wonder why there isn't more to do, they get bored and go back to one that's long established or move on to the next game to consume.

[TUXs]

I don't think Eric is to blame for the lack of details but I do think he deserves a lot of the blame for the way the community ends up as a whole.

 

Posts like today were great but only go half the distance required imo.

 

What I would have liked to see also is "I'm currently trying to chase up when we'll all get more updates on crafting and companions and will get back to you all in the next few days as I know this is heavily requested".

 

I also find it hard to believe that if he was actually proactive and tried to chase an update on when they can release said information "officially" that he wouldn't get an answer.

It's almost as though he isn't proactive at all and only really pushes information to us when it's given to him as opposed to him trying to chase it for us.

 

Heck even some really general updates on the plan going forward from now would be great in regards to if there will be a private/public PTS for example.

I agree in the sense that I 100% believe that the forums are a direct reflection of the Dev (CM team) interaction. The forums reflect how much they (seemingly) care and how much they're involved and just a few posts can entirely change the mood and feel of the forums...it's shocking how little it actually takes to turn things around.

 

I don't agree that Eric is at fault though...maybe he is, maybe he isn't, I simply don't know enough to say either way. His hands are very likely far more tied than either of us know. There's a situation that stands out in my mind as a defining moment for these forums...the whole PvP "NO gate" fiasco. Prior to that incident, there was far more interaction on the forums, but that one Q&A that Eric posted, seems like it changed the entire dynamics of how much they're allowed to post. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I absolutely believe that that entire Q&A, was intentional and the blow back was predicted by at least one person at Bioware. I think "no gate" was his way of getting the PvP players the information they were desperately seeking, without having the ability to flat out say "You got nothing coming". Maybe it wasn't...I don't know anything more than you do.

[asbalana]

 

And SWTOR died after launch for a number of different reasons.

The main being content locusts who burned through all the content BW thought they would play before getting to the endgame

 

LOL, guess we were playing different games at launch and reading different posts on the forum at that time. If you really think that most people who left the game were content locusts, so be it..

[Aries_cz]

LOL, guess we were playing different games at launch and reading different posts on the forum at that time. If you really think that most people who left the game were content locusts, so be it..

 

People were putting in 40+ hours per week on average. Math says that for that to be true, there needed to be a good deal of people who spent much more than that. If that is not a definition of content locust, I don't know what is. Especially if the said someone skipped good part of the work done in the game (a good deal of people were skipping all convos, just wanting to roll on with killing to get to the endgame).

 

And from what I know (from here and around the web, on which I have been keeping a very close eye after the launch), people were leaving because there was "nothing to do" at the end, completely ignoring the fact they skipped through the entire content prior to that.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I am honestly amazed how you managed to find that in there, because nothing could be further from what I meant.

 

The tinfoil is strong with you...

 

You literally said "He cannot do anything without at least one of these two okay-ing what he and his team (Tait, etc) are allowed to post.".

 

That basically means his position is utterly redundant. You don't need a manager who manages nothing.

 

"Hey Tait I got permission to post something please go post it" is just stupid management.

 

I'm not actually agreeing with you at all, you're the one who seemingly invented some imaginary structure and rules for Eric.

 

Whilst I believe he can't post game relevant data without permission, to say he cannot do anything at all ... well funny you think I'm the one wearing the tin foil hat.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

And SWTOR died after launch for a number of different reasons.

 

Died ... lol. Nice one

 

 

The main being content locusts who burned through all the content BW thought they would play before getting to the endgame, which was very lacking on launch (again, because the game was promised to be out of 20th December, so it had to be out, any delay would be extremely costly), and who then started the internet snowball of "whaaaa, this game is so bad and has no content, whaaaa" (because for some arcane reason, people expected endgame the size of decade of WoW's lifecycle on launch). From a poll among readers of my website, those who got to the endgame after Update 1.2 were much happier with the game, as the majority of the issues with endgame was already gone.

 

Right, people voted on your website, it must be true then.

 

 

 

 

I

[Xemak]

i coulda swore people left because the game was anything but decently made.

 

but maybe i am just mad i decided to download the game again because ea makes drugs

[SelinaH]

I also find it hard to believe that if he was actually proactive and tried to chase an update on when they can release said information "officially" that he wouldn't get an answer.

I find it entirely believable that he wouldn't get an answer. If the information isn't ready for release (because some decisions are still up in the air, or features are being heavily tweaked), it isn't ready -- and unless the devs are capable of close adherence to a tight timetable, they themselves may not know just when those details will be solid enough to be disseminated to the general public.

[Icestar]

They tell us when they are finished with the expansion Edited September 5, 2015 by Icestar

[Bugattiboy]

So what ARE you hiding? Whats the game changer that will really upset the community?

 

That it's a filthy cash grab with no content? No it can't be that. Can it? They've done that twice already. Would they really do it a third time?

Edited September 5, 2015 by Bugattiboy

[Aries_cz]

You literally said "He cannot do anything without at least one of these two okay-ing what he and his team (Tait, etc) are allowed to post.".

 

That basically means his position is utterly redundant. You don't need a manager who manages nothing.

 

"Hey Tait I got permission to post something please go post it" is just stupid management.

 

I'm not actually agreeing with you at all, you're the one who seemingly invented some imaginary structure and rules for Eric.

 

Whilst I believe he can't post game relevant data without permission, to say he cannot do anything at all ... well funny you think I'm the one wearing the tin foil hat.

 

I never said he manages nothing.

 

You know exactly what I meant. You even hinted at it yourself in the last paragraph.

 

I was of course talking about stuff regarding to features and stuff regarding to future content updates. Those are things that simply cannot be posted without being absolutely sure they will not change, which means someone has to okay those.

 

Died ... lol. Nice one

 

Right, people voted on your website, it must be true then.

 

I

 

I never claimed it is absolute data, but it is a data regardless.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Aries_cz

[DogMeat]

This is Story driven expansion.

No group content this time around, and Ops gets NiM cut.

The big deal is the Solo Story and the first 9 chapters at this point.

 

Ok..fine...

I just hope that the first 9 chapters take time to finish and not end up lie SoR..fast and easy.

 

I just hope they work on group content and PvP while working on chapter 10+.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I never said he manages nothing.

 

You know exactly what I meant. You even hinted at it yourself in the last paragraph.

 

I was of course talking about stuff regarding to features and stuff regarding to future content updates. Those are things that simply cannot be posted without being absolutely sure they will not change, which means someone has to okay those.

 

 

Well if you follow the conversation flow to which you originally quoted DarthMaulUK, who was responding to me, you are basically coming across in defense of Eric saying it's not his fault because he can't do anything without someone else's say so.

 

If you reference the discussion he and I were having you'll see my post was directed at his flawed management of the community as a whole for the reasons I outlined.

 

Adding in "tin foil" statements because someone responded to your post directly to how you literally posted ( and in the content of the discussion you replied to ) does nothing but inflame a debate which seemed to be your goal so I replied in kind to your rather outlandish statements of "how it is @ Bioware".

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I agree in the sense that I 100% believe that the forums are a direct reflection of the Dev (CM team) interaction. The forums reflect how much they (seemingly) care and how much they're involved and just a few posts can entirely change the mood and feel of the forums...it's shocking how little it actually takes to turn things around.

 

I don't agree that Eric is at fault though...maybe he is, maybe he isn't, I simply don't know enough to say either way. His hands are very likely far more tied than either of us know. There's a situation that stands out in my mind as a defining moment for these forums...the whole PvP "NO gate" fiasco. Prior to that incident, there was far more interaction on the forums, but that one Q&A that Eric posted, seems like it changed the entire dynamics of how much they're allowed to post. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I absolutely believe that that entire Q&A, was intentional and the blow back was predicted by at least one person at Bioware. I think "no gate" was his way of getting the PvP players the information they were desperately seeking, without having the ability to flat out say "You got nothing coming". Maybe it wasn't...I don't know anything more than you do.

 

I think you are still referencing the posting of information which I agree with, he can't be held responsible for that.

 

I personally am talking about he and Tait's lack of community interaction and allowing to community to become quite toxic ( and one could argue exasperating it by not participating in the community what so ever ).

 

If all they are going to do is pass on updates as they come along and nothing else ... do you really need a "community manager" for that? It seems like it's just bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy.

 

Heck look at @ PVP now, Alex basically does all the updating himself and does a fine job of it imo. That's a prime example of showing the community team as it is now to be redundant.

Also recall Ziostgate as a positive, in favour, example of the community team. Fairly good communication for that situation ( which was pretty minor ) yet here we are with a major expansion ( borderline swtor 2.0 ) with almost less participation than we got there.

 

I would think with whatever information is now "official" they should have team members daily, actively participating in as many of the discussions on that information as possible.

Forget the conspiracy theory topics, focus on the topics where people actually just want to discuss the information and might want some clarification.

 

Example the topic about the companion updates - go look at how many questions are in that thread and some/most should be sooo easy to answer as it's just slightly clarifying what was seen//heard/read officially so far ( some are more complex and can't be answered yet, I get that ) - instead we get not even handful of replies to answer maybe half a dozen questions.

To be honest I find that quite pathetic and it's got to the point now where communication in general is sooo poor on these forums from Eric n co. that people will actually defend the information we do get because it seems like a lot compared to what they've become accustomed to.

 

I see no reason why there shouldn't be a dozen+ answers a day in that thread as well as general banter from the community team as it's generally one of the more less "trolly" threads you happen across.

It would go a long way to making people think BW actually care about their thoughts etc. if they actually had more of a presence amongst the community and the reason they don't imo has to fall solely on Eric because he is the community manager and he should be able to decide how his team participates in the forums ( as well as himself ).

For whatever reason he's chosen the more or less "not at all" stance unless posting updates/answers from other teams.

 

If it truly is that it's not his choice even on how he is allowed to PARTICIPATE in the forums then again, the position is utterly redundant and we go back to the bureaucracy point.

[PavSalco]

Now you know what they were hiding

[DarthMaulUK]

Now you know what they were hiding

 

There just had to be a few things.

[LegionAlpha]

What do you want to know?

 

They told us a few things:

 

1) New Companions

2) More story, some background

3) A new trailer

4) Companions are going to be discussed probably this week or next

5) New planet

6) New pvp rewards

 

What more do you want? Are you hoping they spoil everything now story wise? Do you want the full breakdown of mechanics now?

 

Just be patient, it will come, you will still be unhappy, and you will still stay subbed just like everyone else who demands information.

 

This is your idea of note worthy information to dish out on expansion of you had to choose for all the plethora of things to talk about? Wow, easily amused is a phrase that comes to mind for the swtor community

[DarthMaulUK]

To all those who flamed in this thread - 'Told you so'

 

With just 2 weeks until the expansion launch, the information is coming in thick and fast and very late. From the changes to Level Sync, to crafting changes - changes to combat, no actual new game content for vanilla SWTOR and the one of the biggest changes - the moment you embark on KoFTE you are no longer able to complete your class story if you haven't already.

 

Lots of unhappy people out there right now. Rightly so? I guess it all depends on what you get/expect from this game.

[Teladis]

To all those who flamed in this thread - 'Told you so'

 

With just 2 weeks until the expansion launch, the information is coming in thick and fast and very late. From the changes to Level Sync, to crafting changes - changes to combat, no actual new game content for vanilla SWTOR and the one of the biggest changes - the moment you embark on KoFTE you are no longer able to complete your class story if you haven't already.

 

Lots of unhappy people out there right now. Rightly so? I guess it all depends on what you get/expect from this game.

 

Lots of happy people as well. ^_^