Keith - As the new producer........

[Icykill_]

Hey all,

 

I’m just back from Orlando and have been focused all day ensuring Game Update 5.2 was available for everyone. But, thank you for the congrats and the warm welcome. I’m trying to figure out how to respond to everything so I can have fun with you guys, but also be able to put on my Producer hat and sometimes be serious, too.

 

The foundation between us has to be based on communication and feedback. I won’t promise you something we can’t deliver, nor will I purposely hide things you need to know.

 

As I mentioned in my introduction, I’ll be providing a SWTOR 2017 Roadmap in the next few weeks. In the meantime, look for responses from me on the Forums throughout this week and beyond. I’ll do my very best to be available.

 

---Keith

 

Please start to respond to the tough questions/problems in a multitude of other threads.. there are many of them and they are being ignored... even just a response to them to say you've seen them would help.

[Soljin]

Please start to respond to the tough questions/problems in a multitude of other threads.. there are many of them and they are being ignored... even just a response to them to say you've seen them would help.

 

I think at this point responses need to have substance. Many are already assuming that any Dev post will be a "Not-answer" at this point.

 

Communication for the sake of communication is a nice way to placate the community but you can only do that for so long without players losing faith.

 

Faith in this Dev team is something many people need restored and are hanging around hoping for just that.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Soljin

[KeithKanneg]

Please start to respond to the tough questions/problems in a multitude of other threads.. there are many of them and they are being ignored... even just a response to them to say you've seen them would help.

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

[Soljin]

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

 

I'm crossing my fingers for you man... This "Roadmap" is going to have a huge impact for better or worse. I'm sure you don't need to be told but there you go regardless.

[mastersdr]

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

 

Thanks for the continued communication, I do have a question but maybe it would be better to ask in the actual Roadmap thread? Will we see more group content after Gods of the machine is fully released on a regular basis? I am not talking abut just operation content but PVP and Flashpoints.

[kodrac]

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

 

This road map better be the mother of all road maps as much as you keep talking it up. It's starting to sound like another SOON meme.

[wistarie]

As much as it is nice to have producer who is willing listen and communicate, I cannot help myself but a lot of people seem to be a bit naive. In such a corporate structure as Bioware/EA there is a big chain command above Keith and many factors he is really limited by.

[Soljin]

As much as it is nice to have producer who is willing listen and communicate, I cannot help myself but a lot of people seem to be a bit naive. In such a corporate structure as Bioware/EA there is a big chain command above Keith and many factors he is really limited by.

 

I think people are aware...He may have some influence and also with his predecessor gone that may be sign of a change in direction for this game directly from EAware...

 

That's what I am waiting to see...Is there a design direction change or is this going to be a bunch of fluff...

Edited April 26, 2017 by Soljin

[TUXs]

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

Thank you Keith. I know you've got your hands full, so we appreciate the time you took to address this. I'm looking very forward to your roadmap!!!

[t-darko]

As much as it is nice to have producer who is willing listen and communicate, I cannot help myself but a lot of people seem to be a bit naive. In such a corporate structure as Bioware/EA there is a big chain command above Keith and many factors he is really limited by.

 

True enough, but however, the bolstered confidence from xpac one lead to an super bolstered overconfidence so that xpac 2 turned into a backlash; which could lead to the conclusion that the "success" of xpac one really just was a fluke brought on by the release of TFA. And as such not really a calculated correct move, but rather a . . . Fluke!!

 

Which in turn would make the current situation to be a continuation on the non successful 180 turn this game has taken, to force it into a, well, if not a 360, so maybe a 300ish turn back and, if the almighty EA allows, some proper game development ...

 

Time to go and re glue my tinfoil hat . . . and don't ask me about the Freemasons, Illuminati or how the Roman Empire Secretly Rules the Earth

Edited April 26, 2017 by t-darko

[Kaizersan]

I think people are aware...He may have some influence and also with his predecessor gone that may be sign of a change in direction for this game directly from EAware...

 

That's what I am waiting to see...Is there a design direction change or is this going to be a bunch of fluff...

 

More likely them just saving money by shifting him into the position.

[Soljin]

More likely them just saving money by shifting him into the position.

 

That is indeed a possibility but would also be telling. If your statement were true it would mean the coming "Road Map" will likely detail maintenance mode for SWToR.

[Icykill_]

I've seen many of them! I realize the clock is ticking and information never comes fast enough. In the meantime, I'm ensuring the Roadmap is solid and expect it will address many questions, but not everything. Yet, hopefully, we can have additional dialog to provide clarity for areas of concern.

 

Hi Keith, thank you for the response, it is refreshing to see and much appreciated. It is starting to restore some faith that not all is lost with the game.

I know I speak for many of the community in saying we look forward to seeing the road map soon to address a lot of the issues that are of concern to us. For those things the road map can't resolve or address, how long should we expect till we can have some information and hopefully open communication between us.

 

I refer to things like (lots of these are pvp based and may not affect everyone)

- Low population and possibly too many servers. (Associated problem of people unable to do group content on certain servers)

- Gearing for pvp, Bolster needs to be increased so we have skill vs skill pvp. (I expect the road map can address this)

- Queue system not popping people into arena matches when there only 12 of us in the queue. Making us wait an hour to get enough people to do one 8 man when we could have done eight arenas while waiting for more people.

- PvP Bots (I don't expect much communication here except to say they are on it and are adding more systems to combat it and possibly easier ways to report it)

- People hacking in PVP (ongoing issue since launch, but the current strategy to deter doesn't work and there is no real punishment to fit the crime). A change in this policy and some public communication about it would help. (Also easier ways to report it and send proof)

- Class balance (which was referred to in a previous communication and will probably be addressed in the Road map)

- Queue balance, especially when it is same faction vs faction and there shouldn't be a major hurdle to balancing those matches. (Getting 3 healers on one team and none on the other is bad)

- Cross faction (like Odessen) for all pvp maps and prossibly FPs and OPs (could be in the road map and would especially help low pop servers)

 

Obviously there are many others and I hope you can address all with open dialogue with the community and I hope this sort of communication continues as it restores some faith that we are being listened to. 😊

You've just stopped me from unsubbing this month. Kudos and thanks again 😉

[stoopicus]

Yeah, I'd follow up Icy's post summarizing as "please read the PvP forum" myself. There's a number of threads there with reasonable suggestions for improvement.

[Jamtas]

If you want people more interested n various weapons and spending credits/cartel coins, rather than reskins...

 

"Weapon Designer, the missing piece to the outfit designer"

 

Can still limit it to a weapon type - cannon, sniper rifle, blaster rifle - but I guarantee, much like outfit designer got people interested in doing lots of customizations over their legacy gear, this would open people up to caring about lot of different weapons.

 

Other than that- so far I think Keith is on the right road. Have to see that roadmap to feel really comfortable, but so far, the right things are being said, and an appropriate increase in communication between producer and players has been occurring.

 

Can't say how happy I was to see a difference from "great things are coming, I can't talk about them, but trust me" to "I won’t promise you something we can’t deliver, nor will I purposely hide things you need to know... I’ll be providing a SWTOR 2017 Roadmap in the next few weeks...II’ll do my very best to be available."

[casirabit]

Keith,

 

Can you guys look at improving the command menu. Can we please have a drop down menu so we are able to choose which mission/fp/operation, etc we want to do without having to go through them and reject them until we get the one we want.

 

This would be easier for those of us who do this in groups so we can all find the same mission without having to spend time hunting for the specific mission.

 

Thanks.

Edited April 28, 2017 by casirabit

[Andryah]

That is indeed a possibility but would also be telling. If your statement were true it would mean the coming "Road Map" will likely detail maintenance mode for SWToR.

 

When I see a new name in a new position, I take some time to check them out on LinkedIn to see what they have been doing in their career over the years, and also who they are strongly linked with via the LinkedIn AI. That helps give some insight and context as to what may come from said person(s).

 

If you look at staff moves historically inside Bioware, they very much tend to staff the higher level positions by moving lower level incumbents up. This has been particular true for the senior members of the organization. In the context of EA, which is huge, this includes some moves from outside of Bioware but within the EA family.

 

In other words, they very seldom fill a slot like producer or creative director or senior leads from outside. They promote from within, which is great as long as the person is actually qualified to step up.

 

What I do not see much of at Bioware is the more classic series of events.. where they recruit an outsider for one of the very top positions (exec producer, general manager, etc) and then let that person revamps the organization and brings in a bunch of lower level staff that they know and trust and are familiar with. This is how real change of direction is generally created (along with a lot of social chaos) in an organization and is quite common in Silicon Valley, but it appears to be largely absent in the gaming industry.

Edited April 28, 2017 by Andryah

[Soljin]

When I see a new name in a new position, I take some time to check them out on LinkedIn to see what they have been doing in their career over the years, and also who they are strongly linked with via the LinkedIn AI. That helps give some insight and context as to what may come from said person(s).

 

If you look at staff moves historically inside Bioware, they very much tend to staff the higher level positions by moving lower level incumbents up. This has been particular true for the senior members of the organization. In the context of EA, which is huge, this includes some moves from outside of Bioware but within the EA family.

 

In other words, they very seldom fill a slot like producer or creative director or senior leads from outside. They promote from within, which is great as long as the person is actually qualified to step up.

 

What I do not see much of at Bioware is the more classic series of events.. where they recruit an outsider for one of the very top positions (exec producer, general manager, etc) and then let that person revamps the organization and brings in a bunch of lower level staff that they know and trust and are familiar with. This is how real change of direction is generally created (along with a lot of social chaos) in an organization and is quite common in Silicon Valley, but it appears to be largely absent in the gaming industry.

 

 

If we were to rely solely on trends and past precedent given your research then the outlook seems rather bleak...

 

That said just out of love for the Star Wars IP I will watch for the Road Map and hope for the best.

 

Over the past week or so I have logged in and tried different aspects of the game in an attempt to find an activity that engages my interest and I will continue to do so until my recent one month Resub runs out...

 

So far the lack of depth in all systems has resulted in no real reason to hunt, explore, craft or interact with any of the many awesome planets in the game.

 

Standing on fleet or in my stronghold loading into instances from my interface just doesn't do it for me

Edited April 28, 2017 by Soljin

[saberscreen]

Good evening Keith!

 

I keep hearing and reading you have actually been playing this game. Good. I think that means I don't have to explain to you why you should get into the server room and just reset the whole damn thing. Default settings? Any back ups made in 2011? Forget it, just hit any switch you can find!

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Someone who played Bioware games when you were still in primary school. (For real!)

 

Just messing with you. Good luck and all the best! I really hope you can do something for us and this game, because we do love it.

[KeithKanneg]

....Just messing with you. Good luck and all the best! I really hope you can do something for us and this game, because we do love it.

Uhhh! Good thing I read your whole post and didn't reset anything!

[Korenus]

Uhhh! Good thing I read your whole post and didn't reset anything!

 

Well I mean you could hit a switch or two, just for science....

[LtGeneralGezlin]

Well I mean you could hit a switch or two, just for science....

 

and maybe one or two... or fifty new hamsters for the Harbinger?

[LordTurin]

Uhhh! Good thing I read your whole post and didn't reset anything!

 

I really like the fact that our new producer is hanging on the forums at 10pm on a Friday night. The fact he loves the game enough to do that says something to me.

[Icykill_]

I really like the fact that our new producer is hanging on the forums at 10pm on a Friday night. The fact he loves the game enough to do that says something to me.

 

Way to go Keith, leading by example 😊

[saberscreen]

Uhhh! Good thing I read your whole post and didn't reset anything!

 

You know you 1-2.