5.9.3 Timing

[exfell]

Beyond announcements being made on social, we typically try to place them on the forums as well.

 

I really hope you would consider reversing this policy. Please post on your official forum first and then try to post on other social media if you have the time.

[DarthDymond]

I really hope you would consider reversing this policy. Please post on your official forum first and then try to post on other social media if you have the time.

Their Twitter feed has 278,000 followers and their Facebook page has 2,25 million followers. How many hits do you think the forums get?

 

Prioritizing the social media accounts makes perfect sense, IMO. It's just that there should be a near-zero cost to them also updating the forums each time, so by all rights it seem like they should be consistently repeating all their update posts (and announcements of livestreams, interviews, etc.) here as well. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing some of the posts where they're just signal boosting community events (like the SWTOR Unite announcement they retweeted a few days ago) copied here.

Edited September 19, 2018 by DarthDymond

[casirabit]

Hey folks,

 

I just wanted to ensure that all of you saw our announcement yesterday on Twitter. Game Update 5.9.3 will be going live next Wednesday, Sep 26. One additional timing of note is double XP. The event will not be starting right away on launch day. Instead it will start one week later and run for a week. The dates are:

• 9/26: Game Update 5.9.3
  
• 10/2 - 10/9: Double XP
  

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

Thanks Eric.

[casirabit]

Yeah, weird. Glad it got posted here, but, why is this not the first place lol. The actual SWTOR forums is prioritized behind Twitter and other social media outlets? I avoid social media like it's a plague. But. I am probably a rare one.

 

I tend to pay more attention to the Twitter and the other social media than the forums. 80% of the time on the forums is just a constant arguing back and forth about things.

[TUXs]

I, for one, want to thank you for delaying the Double XP for a week. The alts we want to test out new content with may not be the ones who need the Double XP. This way works much, much better. Thanks!

Agreed!!! I play the new content on my main toons - I seldom have any time to take advantage of the double XP/CXP on the toons that need it, so this is a brilliant solution!

[Andryah]

Their Twitter feed has 278,000 followers and their Facebook page has 2,25 million followers. How many hits do you think the forums get?

 

Prioritizing the social media accounts makes perfect sense, IMO. It's just that there should be a near-zero cost to them also updating the forums each time, so by all rights it seem like they should be consistently repeating all their update posts (and announcements of livestreams, interviews, etc.) here as well. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing some of the posts where they're just signal boosting community events (like the SWTOR Unite announcement they retweeted a few days ago) copied here.

 

I agree.... even though I refuse to use social media, even for keeping up with what a company is doing or not doing. But companies will go where the audience is.. both in terms of things like game development (hence the proliferation of flexible access models vs sub only in MMOs) as well as communications.

 

Unless/until social media becomes passe down the road... companies are going to use it as primary outreach channels rather then website based outreach. Most will point you over to their website/forums anyway. For diehard forumites.... we need to adapt to the changing reality of consumer preference.. and in the sound bite world of social media..... forums make little sense to the audience in many cases because they don't really want to have a discussion.. they just want to consume some soundbite and then regurgitate it back all over the social media channels.

 

I detest the superficiality of social media .... but it is what it is. Society as a whole has become more and more superficial. I also detest seeing a family seated at a restaurant eating... and all of them poking and enthralled with their smart phones to the point that none of them actually talk to one another at all during the meal.... but again.. it is what it is. In my house... when you visit you check your smart phone at the door, or you don't bother visiting. We have a table at the entry way for this.. and we encourage you to set your ring tone for a phone call if need be to ensure you do not miss an emergency call ... but otherwise ignore your phone. I have no interest in your preoccupation with your cell phone, and if you don't want to talk and discuss live face to face with other people.. then why are you visiting to being with?

Edited September 19, 2018 by Andryah

[Exly]

Beyond announcements being made on social, we typically try to place them on the forums as well. If you don't follow us on social remember that announcements and info can also be found in the news section and on the game updates page: http://www.swtor.com/eternal-throne/updates.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

You say that you "typically try to place them on the forums as well", but is that really the best that you can do. Why not make it a practice to always place them on the forums.

 

I think more than anything, the idea that you guys show no interest in striving to be the best or even doing your best, but are instead satisfied with being just barely good enough is why you fail as often as you do.

[Rion_Starkiller]

You say that you "typically try to place them on the forums as well", but is that really the best that you can do. Why not make it a practice to always place them on the forums.

 

I think more than anything, the idea that you guys show no interest in striving to be the best or even doing your best, but are instead satisfied with being just barely good enough is why you fail as often as you do.

 

Eat a snickers. Everything is going to be ok, bae.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Rion_Starkiller

[Lunafox]

Hey folks,

 

I just wanted to ensure that all of you saw our announcement yesterday on Twitter. Game Update 5.9.3 will be going live next Wednesday, Sep 26. One additional timing of note is double XP. The event will not be starting right away on launch day. Instead it will start one week later and run for a week. The dates are:

• 9/26: Game Update 5.9.3
  
• 10/2 - 10/9: Double XP
  

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

No, as a matter of fact I didn't see it on Twitter. I don't understand, why you all choose to go make announcments on Twitter and Reddit and such, when you have a forum right here. Your forum should be the priority for where you make announcements of all things pertaining to the game. Twitter and Reddit etc should be after thoughts, back ups to the official forum.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Lunafox

[IoNonSoEVero]

Even if a person has social media, the algorithms result in situations where not every post reaches every user. The average social media user also follows a lot of people, and posts can get buried very quickly. If I'm not on my social media for a few days I'm surely not going to be scrolling back to see hundreds of posts that were missed. There are also plenty of people who have social media accounts they barely touch or log into. So it's all fine and good to tell people to get with it and use social media, but the point remains that even with social media this might easily be missed.

 

Most businesses announce things in multiple places with this in mind, to reach the largest audience possible.

[Exly]

Even if a person has social media, the algorithms result in situations where not every post reaches every user. The average social media user also follows a lot of people, and posts can get buried very quickly. If I'm not on my social media for a few days I'm surely not going to be scrolling back to see hundreds of posts that were missed. There are also plenty of people who have social media accounts they barely touch or log into. So it's all fine and good to tell people to get with it and use social media, but the point remains that even with social media this might easily be missed.

 

Most businesses announce things in multiple places with this in mind, to reach the largest audience possible.

 

Exactly. I don't think anyone here has a problem with them using social media.

 

The problem is when they do not use the forums.

 

If using social media helps them to attract new or returning players, then it's an excellent idea for them to do that, but they shouldn't neglect current customers who are interested in the game, and read the forums as a main source of official information about the game.

 

The forums are not a place where they tend to post information about the game, it should be a place where we can depend on them to post information.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Exly

[exfell]

Their Twitter feed has 278,000 followers and their Facebook page has 2,25 million followers. How many hits do you think the forums get?

Prioritizing the social media accounts makes perfect sense, IMO. It's just that there should be a near-zero cost to them also updating the forums each time, so by all rights it seem like they should be consistently repeating all their update posts (and announcements of livestreams, interviews, etc.) here as well. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing some of the posts where they're just signal boosting community events (like the SWTOR Unite announcement they retweeted a few days ago) copied here.

 

Other social media does indeed reach far more people but are they the relevant people? This game does not even have 2,25 million players let alone subscribers or people who are interested in swtor's maintenance schedule. On the other hand this forum reaches the most active core players and 100% of the posters here are paying subscribers. Here the information is also not lost amidst the million updates one gets from all kinds of sources on other platforms.

 

Of course we are not talking about swtor's advertisement posts or "It's bounty contract week now" type tings rather than the actually relevant announcement like the one of this thread. One should priorities ones core customers and not think of them as a side thought. Same information can naturally be posted on other platforms, and we do not disagree on sharing it everywhere, but this is where it at the very least should be.

 

In practical terms I do not think it has been much of a problem, they have posted here just fine. This is more about the philosophical perspective.

[Andryah]

Hey folks,

 

I just wanted to ensure that all of you saw our announcement yesterday on Twitter. Game Update 5.9.3 will be going live next Wednesday, Sep 26. One additional timing of note is double XP. The event will not be starting right away on launch day. Instead it will start one week later and run for a week. The dates are:

• 9/26: Game Update 5.9.3
  
• 10/2 - 10/9: Double XP
  

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

Notice that the studio solution to bugs from a patch interfering with Double XP ---> delay the start date of Double XP by one week.

 

An effective work around... and does show that they can learn and adapt....but I would still prefer they fix the coding such that they have a switch on the server side where they can simply turn it on/off rather then hard coding in the start/end date (which clearly is what they currently do).

Edited September 20, 2018 by Andryah