Is this lack of communication normal?

[merovejec]

that's not even remotely accurate. players in this thread and many others have asked repeatedly about areas of the game that have nothing to do with kotet. things like pvp balance, and if there are going to be new ops or new gsf. people ask about the thousands of bugs that have infested the game since launch. instead of answering any of those questions we get a condescending response about how were all so eager for kotet. responding to that with derision is not out of line, it is the only correct response.

 

That is true indeed. The fact that we have several threads complaining about the large quantity of credit seller spams on fleet for example has nothing to do with KOTET and they should provide some insites on that. Also bugs that have nothing to do with KOTET, like the 16M instance bug etc.

 

However, I can imagine they dont want to talk about PVP class balancing as KOTET MAY have something new, which will require class changes and these cannot be discussed. BUT I would welcome comments on NON-KOTET related bugs.

[DarthWoad]

Sure, but what if you really really like the game but its becoming something bad and you dont want to quit, but dont want it to become what it is becoming (sounds confusing I know), what do you do? The only thing you can do is whiine on the forums

 

"whine" to you is "criticism" to others, and criticism is good. But not all criticism is whining, believe it or not.

[merovejec]

Actually what i see most here on the forums is alot of people that are tonedeaf. Not the Devs or anything. It is alot of the community that is tonedeaf. Devs stay quiet cause if and when they do talk. They get slammed by the community for whatever the Dev brought up.

 

Yes, its partially true, even now Eric posted a comment and already people slammed him with many things that need resolving. However, that is cause of the lack of communication in general. Finnaly someone spoke up so everyone just went in on him. If Devs divide the threads in forums and start being active and people will get their answers it will be a much calmer society. Of course there will always be people that will never be satisfied, yet that cannot be avoided, but in general more communication will bring more piece into the forums.

[americanaussie]

 

However, I can imagine they dont want to talk about PVP class balancing as KOTET MAY have something new, which will require class changes and these cannot be discussed. BUT I would welcome comments on NON-KOTET related bugs.

 

I'm totally with you on this. I was trying to help them resolve a bug and asked for a possible eta and they just said gee hopen it gets fixed for you sometime. We can't do anything here. I know the bug isn't game breaking so it's probably low on the totem pole but an honest answer on whether they intend to fix it would be nice. Since it's existed for a year I'll say they don't care.

 

The only thing that bothers me are people declaring what Kotet will and won't have. Those people have convinced themselves that thry must hate it so they will and thry will be the first to complain about it upon its release. Give them a full 60 seconds to find something they hate and we won't hear the end of it.

[JattaGin]

I stopped reading after page 6 and decided to now quickly pop in to say thanks to Eric. While not really saying much, his mere presence in this thread is appreciated by me.

 

I think if people read between his lines, you can get quite a clear picture about the situation in general and his situation in particular. I also think that he actually revealed quite much without saying anything. If this was intended, then: well played.

 

BW works on KotET. That's their new game. Before it was KotFE. That's what they inform about. That's what they have in mind. Swtor, as in vanilla state for example, is not a game they work on anymore. Partially, they can (or have to) touch things there, because they are connected to the new games they added and add.

 

If you see it that way, then one big part of the communication issues here is that most of the forumers here are Swtor players, but the devs are KotET-devs. They are simply on another level. I don't know if what I try to say here makes much sense to you (not so easy to put my complex thoughts about this to english words), but maybe some of you understand what I mean.

[merovejec]

I stopped reading after page 6 and decided to now quickly pop in to say thanks to Eric. While not really saying much, his mere presence in this thread is appreciated by me.

 

yeah thats what i said too. I was to be expected that when a BW person finnaly makes an appearance he will be slammed with questions and hate. That ofc happened. A lot of it is really legit, but i guess we can only wait to see what happens in October.

[idnewton]

• Your last question I cannot answer since you are asking about content/gearing in Eternal Throne. More coming on that later.
  

"We're not ready to disappoint you yet. We like to spread it out so people don't give up on our thinly-veiled milking effort of this game".

[merovejec]

I'm totally with you on this. I was trying to help them resolve a bug and asked for a possible eta and they just said gee hopen it gets fixed for you sometime. We can't do anything here. I know the bug isn't game breaking so it's probably low on the totem pole but an honest answer on whether they intend to fix it would be nice. Since it's existed for a year I'll say they don't care.

 

The only thing that bothers me are people declaring what Kotet will and won't have. Those people have convinced themselves that thry must hate it so they will and thry will be the first to complain about it upon its release. Give them a full 60 seconds to find something they hate and we won't hear the end of it.

 

Well, we still dont know what stuff Kotet will bring, I can use the example of the bug of the Raghoul Overlord not respawning on Taris, I was an achievment hunter and was missing this one. In the end i waited for a server reset and killed it right after reset when it was spawned, but after a really long time, like a few years they really did fix the respawn, so it really does work to report stuff. However the response time varies a lot

 

Anyway, like now i am angry that the PVP achievments on Ilum dont count since they require bolster, which you dont get now cause of level sync. Now theoretically they maybe considering some stuff with level sync in KOTET so they dont wanna comment on this one. Could be...... So we just have to wait and whine on the forums in the mean time

[OneHit]

I appreciate the link. After watching i once again reminded that eric is a very likable person and does a very good job answering direct questions. I think where he went wrong is not being more proactive in the forums and the streams being very one sided. Maybe they just need more of these interviews with streamers or players to relive some of our concerns. And i say this after having a very low opinion and being very critical of eric

[CasperAndersen]

Guild Management is something that we are always looking to improve. Guild quality of life is important and although I have nothing specific to announce, this is always a place we are looking for opportunities.

 

Gotta call ******** on this! it took you guys VERY long time to actually bump up the number of players in guild to a mere 1000 and then you also created the very nice guild panel that is just buggy as hell and looks and feels very unfinished and not tested in anyway. So dont tell us it is something you are always looking in to when. If you look at the last patch notes 3/4 was for cartel **** instead of actually fixing ingame stuff

[merovejec]

DO YOU GET THAT PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING TO DO FOR WEEKS!!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? And NY cantina is only ANNOUCMENT FOR NEW EXPAC...THEN WAIT TILL EARLY DECEMBER OR SOMETHING...so it's like another 2 months of nothing...DO YOU FKING GET THIS BW!?!?!?!??!!

 

lol yeah, nicely put. its true that we have to wait 3 weeks only for the annoucement and then we might wait 2+ months for the actually expansion, but I hope they make some big changes, like maybe even remove NiM ops like on EV and KP or something like that which will make you wanna do the stuff before it gets put out of the game.

[lilathrone]

FKING SHARE INFO ON WHAT U WANNA CHANGE AND SEE HOW COMMUNITY RESPINDS. YOU FKING DO **** ON UR OWN AND THEN NO CHANGE TILL NEXT EXPAC.

 

And while it's weeks away for NY cantina and info "dump", DO YOU GET THAT PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING TO DO FOR WEEKS!!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? And NY cantina is only ANNOUCMENT FOR NEW EXPAC...THEN WAIT TILL EARLY DECEMBER OR SOMETHING...so it's like another 2 months of nothing...DO YOU FKING GET THIS BW!?!?!?!??!!

 

Isn't there an age restriction to this game or something?

[Torvai]

However, it's a long interview and it is a lot more communication about the game there then there ever has been here on the forums. It's not all bad for sure, but I just find it painful to watch how Eric seems to have at least one hand tied behind his back and there just are a lot of fair critical questions that he really doesn't come up with a good answer for.

 

Well, imo they should just post this here when they do something like that. This would also go a long way.

 

Just something like "Hey guys, last week I did an Interview with Person X, you can watch it here". Simply because not everybody follows every streamer, twitterer, blogger, podcast, whatever else there is. It's simply too much. So if Eric does some interview or something similar, he should just come here to the forums and tell us he did and where we can see it.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[jauvtus]

BW works on KotET. That's their new game. Before it was KotFE. That's what they inform about. That's what they have in mind. Swtor, as in vanilla state for example, is not a game they work on anymore. Partially, they can (or have to) touch things there, because they are connected to the new games they added and add.

 

If you see it that way, then one big part of the communication issues here is that most of the forumers here are Swtor players, but the devs are KotET-devs. They are simply on another level. I don't know if what I try to say here makes much sense to you (not so easy to put my complex thoughts about this to english words), but maybe some of you understand what I mean.

 

If we should be KotFE and soon KotET players, not SWTOR players, then why do we need to pay for SWTOR? Meaning like operations access, PvP, operations access, GSF or operations access. Did I mention operations access? These features are clearly NOT part of KotFE, so why did raiders had to maintain subscription to do overdated raids, if they aren't part of the game anymore as you suggest? Are the devs not supposed to fix the bugs just because there's a new expansion coming? (See this: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=9055429&postcount=56 Most of them are YEARS old)

You suggest we are a level below the mighty devs, just because we expect value for our money.

[LordSkyKnight]

I'm sure it has been said tons of times but I will say it again. I get it they can't release the super secret info about upcoming content but Eric and crew needs to stop being tone deaf. You guys need to mingle more with the forum community and talk about the little things. We want a community team not a town crier team.

[GythralSWTOR]

I'm sure it has been said tons of times but I will say it again. I get it they can't release the super secret info about upcoming content but Eric and crew needs to stop being tone deaf. You guys need to mingle more with the forum community and talk about the little things. We want a community team not a town crier team Fire Brigade.

 

 

The marketing suite do the Town Crier bit

and almost as badly - too little, way way to late, and then abandon it (take a look at the events calendar - last update July)

 

The CMs only turn up to stomp on the flames

Edited September 15, 2016 by GythralSWTOR

[Grieverheart]

Obviously they do. We have another year of EPIC Bioware storytelling coming, where our choices matter.

 

You mean another 16 chapters of don't piss off Koth or he'll take your ****? Right...

[therecanonlybeon]

BW games -> yes we always hear out what community have to say! our games are made into image of their fantasies!

 

reallity -> communication levels reached critical level of -9000, please send help!

[Knockerz]

So... 3 weeks from now, they have committed to release KoTFE info. By the way... they committed to this earlier, so even this is not new news.

 

Are you all really so impatient that you are unwilling or incapable of waiting for 3 weeks? Or are we going to be treated to 3 more weeks of complaints/tantrums?

 

The 90 days leading up to an SWTOR expac = always the nastiest and darkest of days on the forums. It was like this last year as well, and the year before that too. Some people have short memories and zero patience, IMO.

 

I am the most patient player in swtor!

 

You can't say everything is peachy. Swtor for me doesn't have the old magic it had back in 2011-2013. The story is great, but the rest of the game seems to be stagnant. This next expansion will probably be the patch that makes or breaks swtor for many players. Story driven content is fine, but I expect more from the developers. There is so much they can add besides more raids like pazaak.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Knockerz

[gabigool]

I stopped reading after page 6 and decided to now quickly pop in to say thanks to Eric. While not really saying much, his mere presence in this thread is appreciated by me.

 

I think if people read between his lines, you can get quite a clear picture about the situation in general and his situation in particular. I also think that he actually revealed quite much without saying anything. If this was intended, then: well played.

 

BW works on KotET. That's their new game. Before it was KotFE. That's what they inform about. That's what they have in mind. Swtor, as in vanilla state for example, is not a game they work on anymore. Partially, they can (or have to) touch things there, because they are connected to the new games they added and add.

 

If you see it that way, then one big part of the communication issues here is that most of the forumers here are Swtor players, but the devs are KotET-devs. They are simply on another level. I don't know if what I try to say here makes much sense to you (not so easy to put my complex thoughts about this to english words), but maybe some of you understand what I mean.

 

While you are correct, it's sad that the studio can't spend 5 minutes to air it all out in front of the community. Just say you're done supporting Operations. Just *********** say it. If you're that sure you're doing the right thing, have the balls to own it.

 

 

What's heartbreaking is,that this game is in it's 5th year. And it lives of it's STAR WARS name and ip + Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic,which BW always reminds us,how this game is nothing like that masterpiece.

 

.....

 

I read some stuff about KOTET and IT'S SO HEARTBREAKING that nothing new is coming. Please change people in charge or someone start petition for change and i sign it in a heartbeat. If I had Musco's job,I'd off myself long ago.

 

How many times does he say " Oh i wanted to tell you this,but couldn't because of people working on new expac and you wait for 1.5 year for it...but "hope" you understand,ty gg..." repeat process. And his classic bs "we get stuff aren't balanced,we see that,bla,bla,bla" and again nothing changes for a year.

FKING SHARE INFO ON WHAT U WANNA CHANGE AND SEE HOW COMMUNITY RESPINDS. YOU FKING DO **** ON UR OWN AND THEN NO CHANGE TILL NEXT EXPAC.

 

 

While I wish this post was written a bit more clearly, it's spot on.

 

I was thinking the other day about what would happen if I had Musco's job, and I realized I would have been fired. Many times over.

 

This game used to have something for everyone. Now, it only has something for some. Sometimes. And only people in a building in Austin know why. Fine - but can they honestly look in the mirror and say they have a great track record so far? Why are they certain enough to bet the farm that this is the right course to chart?

 

No one is asking what we want. No one is saying "Hey, what do you think of this?" No one is saying "Hey guys, this is what our metrics show - can you help us understand them?" No one is saying "This is our vision, help us shape it"

 

Resources do not seem to be finding their way into our content development budget. BW has to pick the right horse. So I can't understand why the above isn't happening. Why isn't the community involved in helping to shape the future of this game?

[TUXs]

And while it's weeks away for NY cantina and info "dump", DO YOU GET THAT PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING TO DO FOR WEEKS!!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? And NY cantina is only ANNOUCMENT FOR NEW EXPAC...THEN WAIT TILL EARLY DECEMBER OR SOMETHING...so it's like another 2 months of nothing...DO YOU FKING GET THIS BW!?!?!?!??!!

This is a GREAT point!!! It's a little on the brash side, but it's still full of truth.

[Wayshuba]

Story driven content is fine, but I expect more from the developers. There is so much they can add besides more raids like pazaak.

 

I have to admit, I am still having fun in SWTOR but mainly because I took a couple years off and came back a year ago so there is still a lot of content to consume. That being said, while I enjoyed the story of KotFE, I didn't like how it broke players from an MMO into a single-player story driven desktop game. The next expansion NEEDS to have more group content - a lot more.

 

I agree that they should be focusing on things like Pazaak, where players can play a mini game together and collecting cards can be scattered as rewards throughout the game and in the cartel market. Dejarik where two players can again fight in a mini-game. Would be great if it was like the old Archon game and, again, pieces could be scattered as rewards through the game and CM. Finally, a new PvP game in swoop racing, that offers it's own commendations for customization and rewards.

 

In addition, I hope to all hope that the new expansion has new FPs and OPs. There has been a tremendous dry spell in any kind of meaningful group content.

 

I sub to the game because of the group content I run on a regular basis with my guild. I will continue to sub as long as there is meaningful group content to do because I consider the $15/month worth it for an experience I cannot get in a single player desktop game. However, I will not continue to sub, and pay $180/year for single-player content that, for the same money, I can get 3-4 desktop games (and many more hours of entertainment from) for.

 

I hope BW realizes that the more they move the game to a single player RPG, the more they are going to compete with desktop games offering much more value for the money. The introduction of the mini-games and more focus on regular group content would continue to make this game unique versus other desktop RPGS.

 

To be honest, everything I am hearing about the latest expansion is not giving me much hope that BW really understands this. This game still holds so much potential but I am losing faith (I am not disgruntled yet, though) that BW knows how to focus resources on what really matters to realize that potential or will continue to go back to their tried-and-true knowledge of desktop RPGs - or which SWTOR is not, nor will ever be, to the player base.

 

As an aside, specifically to BW, I want to mention something. Our guild leader is a regular Twitch streamer and is now #1 on Twitch for streaming SWTOR - which he does five nights a week. As a result, we have pulled in almost 40 NEW subscribers and players to the game. If you follow his stream on Twitch, you will notice he is always streaming group events (heroics, FPs, Ops, PvP WZs, and our own Hot Potato Huttball game). He will do the KotFE story when he is not streaming because his viewers didn't care for the story content. However, he gets quite a few that enjoy watching the group events. Considering he has almost 5,000 followers on Twitch, he gives his viewers what they want - and what they want is the same as what SWTOR players want from an MMO - group contents.

 

Here is link for reference. https://www.twitch.tv/kismet_ringofdestiny

Edited September 15, 2016 by Wayshuba

[azudelphi]

This is a GREAT point!!! It's a little on the brash side, but it's still full of truth.

There's plenty to do... World quests, dungeons, reputation grinds, order hall missions... oh wait? In SWTOR? Oh... ohhh

[Andryah]

You can't say everything is peachy. Swtor for me doesn't have the old magic it had back in 2011-2013. The story is great, but the rest of the game seems to be stagnant. This next expansion will probably be the patch that makes or breaks swtor for many players. Story driven content is fine, but I expect more from the developers. There is so much they can add besides more raids like pazaak.

 

Well, peachy is not a term I would use for any MMO. They all have warts.

 

Personally, I take each MMO expansion at face value (regardless of the MMO). Until I see it and play it, there is little point in getting worked up over it. Some I like, some not so much. If I like it, I play it. If not, I play something else. No amount of getting worked up about it has ever made an MMO more playable, nor changed the studios direction. So.. I have walked away from just about every MMO at least once during my tenure of play... and likely will continue to do so.

 

Which is why I have at least 2 or 3 MMOs active at any given time. Just like so many things in real life, diversification of one's game time is healthy IMO. I noted from another post of yours that you are essentially doing the same right now, keeping your toes in SWTOR while focusing on another MMO. That's a healthy approach as far as I am concerned, so kudos to you on that.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Andryah

[Tsillah]

I appreciate your point of view. And if you told me this last year I'd be a lil less salty. But after two years I'm tired of the excuses. Some of us run guilds and they leave us nothing to work with. People get tired of running the same ops. The same conquest weeks. I don't know how they expect us to keep guilds going with single player content.

Thanx for the link. Ill check it out now. Hopefully it isn't something ive already watched

 

I think you misunderstood my post. Although I acknowledge a few positives, my general point is that BW is underperforming in both communication and development momentum. This interview underlines both.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Tsillah