Self-defeating playerbase

[kodrac]

This makes it easy to see the ones who won’t listen to reasonable discussion and result to name calling. Thanks for making it clear who you are.

 

Works both ways, Sir. BW is not a damsel in distress that needs saving. They're a business that we are all customers of and we all have a right to speak up on their forum about the product we pay for. And like any business they want feedback. You don't have to like it, but it's not up to you.

Edited December 29, 2018 by kodrac

[PennyAnn]

I understand where you're coming form, but it would really help if Bioware actually responded to calmly-worded, well-written posts bringing up issues.

 

Case in point, on the PTS, a number of gearing issues (that all made it to live by the way) were noticed. Many reasonably-worded threads and calm questions asked for clarification and understanding. Are enhancements supposed to be slot bound? Are 252/258 armorings not suppose to be compatible with 248? Are the drop rates of MWC and 252 gear in command packs supposed to be that low?

 

In the PTS subforum, there were a number of posts from MattPucevich, EricMusco, even one or two from JackieCao giving information and responding to other questions.

 

But there was a dramatic absence of communication to the concerns on gearing. No matter how nicely (or not) they were worded.

 

Then, when 5.10 dropped, completely absent from the patch notes were any comments about slot-locked Enhancements (which Musco later conformed was actually intended). This is a significant change -- something that hasn't existed in the 7 years of gearing in this game! Surely that deserved an explanation? Or at the very least a MENTION in the patch notes?

 

How easy would it have been for Musco & co to respond to some of the well-written posts? Wouldn't that have engaged the community with a higher level of discourse?

 

When many people try bringing up issues calmly and are ignored, is it so surprising that the tone starts to go downhill?

 

This is the best, most reasonable, least toxic response to the OP in the thread, IMHO. It explains in a perfectly rational way exactly why you see so much negativity on the forums.

 

All of this boils down to an utter LACK of communication on the part of the developers, generally speaking... and Eric Musco, specifically speaking. Musco is the "Community Relations" person, yet he is often absent from the forums for a week or more, and will respond to the first 8 or 10 posts in a thread, but once it goes beyond that he is silent.

 

Responses to important questions, like one of the most major changes to gearing in the game's history (locking mods/enhancements) came after the fact, despite lots of reasonable posts on the forums for PTS, with plenty of time to discuss/change before this went live. They were silent. Then the only response we got was "this was intended".

 

Sorry, but the player base here is not self-defeating. This is not a one way street of blame. It is true that people should be mindful to be constructive and not toxic when they post here, but not everybody will play by those rules. Those are not the majority here anyway. Bioware developers get paid whether they like our feedback or not, and hurt feelings resulting in not working on the game is grounds for being fired outright. I'm pretty sure that's not at all what is happening. But I am pretty certain that the deaf ear is turned in many cases when it comes to feedback the developers do not want to hear. Even if they asked for it.

 

.

[Lhancelot]

Sorry, but the player base here is not self-defeating. Bioware developers get paid whether they like our feedback or not, and hurt feelings resulting in not working on the game is grounds for being fired outright. I'm pretty sure that's not at all what is happening. But I am pretty certain that the deaf ear is turned in many cases when it comes to feedback the developers do not want to hear. Even if they asked for it..

 

This is reality. ^

 

And I agree. There's something to be said for the cherry picked posts that actually get responded to by the community manager, (usually ones that revolve around something quite irrelevant) instead of facing tough questions.

 

Anyway. Fact is they don't communicate properly. They ask for feedback, then either don't respond, or don't bother implementing said feedback, and the worst is when they do communicate the information they give makes no sense... Like explaining how the conquest changes were made to give smaller guilds a better chance to compete. Clearly, the changes did no such thing in fact the changes did the opposite!

 

When there is a lapse in communication, or illogical communication, just as in any relationship resent grows and it grows fast. By not transparently and consistently communicating game-altering changes before or even after they are applied makes the playerbase even angrier as time goes by. It's not complicated why some people are "toxic."

 

Aside that major point, they have made changes to the game that have not made it more enjoyable and that's a downright fact. That's my biggest issue now. Used to be their crappy communication, now it's just the way they have stripped the fun out of the game when it comes to gearing, progression, and PVP in general.

Edited December 29, 2018 by Lhancelot

[denavin]

Then why are you still here, still posting?

You have been complaining about the game for years...

 

^^ This Oh SO This

 

Players have been complaining for YEARS not just a couple. Since I have started playing some 5+ years ago players have been saying that "SWToR is going to die". Or that "the expansion sucks and SWToR is going to die". Or "If I don't get what I want I'm going to quit and SWToR is going to die".

 

This has been a common theme for years. Nothing has changed.

 

How would you like to work under those conditions. Would you want to put your best forward just to have it torn down, even before it is even released? I understand what the OP is saying. For years the Dev's have had to put up with nothing but hate and disgust from a small portion of the player base but also the loudest.

 

Before you ask where the people that don't complain are. They are here but every time they try to voice their opinion the hatred fan base calls them "White Knights" or other derogatory names just like they do with the game and the Dev's. So, like the Dev's they stay quiet for fear of retribution form the whiners and compilers.

 

As far as the speed in which they fix bugs and the amount of bugs. Unless you have first hand knowledge or are an expert in Game Programing then you have NO concept of what it takes to put this game out and keep it running and try to make it TOTALY compatible with every computer in the WORLD reguardless of Hardware or Software being run on every conputer in the world. Then you have No Idea how or what it takes to write, trouble shoot, fix or even understand what is needed to create a game of this complexitity. SWToR is way more complex and complicated than GW2 and is no way a comparison to how long or what it takes to fix bugs

 

Every time a major update, or expansion, is introduced, a plethora of bugs are also introduced.

 

Do you really thing that they "introduce" bugs on purpose? Just to upset you....

 

- they put out a major update/expansion and then go on vacation for weeks while the bugs run rampant.

 

Again do you really think that everybody at BW is on vacation?

No only Management ie Charles, Eric, Keith.... the people that write the code are still there trouble shooting your complaints and trying to fix the game. You think that they do NOTHING till January? Really?

 

No no no... I am not going to bend myself around a product just to make the company feel good. If they fail to put out quality material that I personally enjoy, then they lose my support AKA money/sub.

 

It is funny though if you disliked the game so much then why are you still paying for your subscription to the game. Is it just so you can complain here in the forums? That seems very counter productive to me. But hey like you said to each his own....

 

Players are raising their voices to all the AAA gaming companies because players don't like the direction the companies have gone and the situation they have led us to. The shape of the gaming industry has changed a lot in the last decade.

 

A lot of times the outrage is understandable, but yes, there are indeed plenty of loudmouths on the internet who just want to see a big company burn to ashes for the kicks.

 

Gamers are a highly reactive lot. There's a lot of factors that go into that, but I do believe that both players and gaming companies could do better to sustain the industry we've all come to be so connected with.

 

Thank you, finally a word of intelligence and reason here in the forums. We need to work with the Dev's not always find fault with EVERYTHING they do and many times even before the content is released ie... KOTFE/ET. For months NOBODY was going to like the expansion. After it's release, the whiners still complained to justify their months of complaining, but after playing MANY, (to the dismay of the whiners to which they called them White Knights, FanBoys and other names) found the story very good and enjoyable.. Funny how that works huh.

 

I am not absolving BW for everything bad that they have done, but constantly complaining and whining about EVERYTHING will Never get ANYTHING Done....

 

There is an old saying that still applies.....

"You Can Get More Done with a Carrot than with a Stick"

[kodrac]

It is funny though if you disliked the game so much then why are you still paying for your subscription to the game. Is it just so you can complain here in the forums? That seems very counter productive to me. But hey like you said to each his own....

 

You do understand how subscriptions work right? When you hit cancel it only doesn't renew. It doesn't stop immediately. You still have access to everything the subscription gives you until that end date, including forum access. And if he doesn't like something that the subscription pays for he has every right to say so as many times as he wants for as long as he has access. You don't like it? Too bad. It's not up to you.

[AshenK]

This is reality. ^

 

And I agree. There's something to be said for the cherry picked posts that actually get responded to by the community manager, (usually ones that revolve around something quite irrelevant) instead of facing tough questions.

 

Anyway. Fact is they don't communicate properly. They ask for feedback, then either don't respond, or don't bother implementing said feedback, and the worst is when they do communicate the information they give makes no sense... Like explaining how the conquest changes were made to give smaller guilds a better chance to compete. Clearly, the changes did no such thing in fact the changes did the opposite!

 

When there is a lapse in communication, or illogical communication, just as in any relationship resent grows and it grows fast. By not transparently and consistently communicating game-altering changes before or even after they are applied makes the playerbase even angrier as time goes by. It's not complicated why some people are "toxic."

 

Aside that major point, they have made changes to the game that have not made it more enjoyable and that's a downright fact. That's my biggest issue now. Used to be their crappy communication, now it's just the way they have stripped the fun out of the game when it comes to gearing, progression, and PVP in general.

Dev's are growing to a point where they think they don't have to talk to the community anymore. Look at Bethesda everyone told them Failout 76 was a pile of garbage and not to come out with it. Now they are dying off. We've told EA I don't know how many times to change things in everything from SWTOR to Mass Effect to Battlefield to Battlefront and we get ignored. Even Blizzard is now ignoring their player base, WoW is down to about 500k players now. Lets not forget Microsoft and the slap in the face with the Xbone that's still on going.

 

Am I angry yes and we should all be angry. For too long this has gone on all due to the fact that the Dev's now like to think they are rock stars who can do no wrong.

 

Know what? Me and a couple of million gamers are not happy. Fix it or burn it down.

[AlaricSevGirl]

I care because 90% of the Hypocrites stirring up this crap with their statements re-sub or are lying about the sub running out anyway because they are still here.

 

Absolutely, like the one who says well I'm here because I still have sub but the only way he still has sub is because he resubbed. Complaints, complaints, complaints. You don't like it, take your money elsewhere....but they don't. They resub and complain all the while they are still playing the game.

[TalleraLane]

you should be aware that this expansion has run on for 2 and a half years. thats a year and a half longer than any other. there is a reason for this and it is these reasons that the playerbase is so tired of biowares approach

 

Are we?

[TalleraLane]

Absolutely, like the one who says well I'm here because I still have sub but the only way he still has sub is because he resubbed. Complaints, complaints, complaints. You don't like it, take your money elsewhere....but they don't. They resub and complain all the while they are still playing the game.

 

Some do end there sub though. Very often if you pay monthly as I dare say a lot do, you can end your sub but still have anything up to 30 days already paid in advance. Well more if you pay 3 monthly So that poster can still have up to 89 days to post here on the forums. Also after 90 days after last day of sub ends, can use a free referral link and then gets 7 days in which to post (I have done that in the past)

 

However I do take your point, if a player has gotten to the stage they are ending there sub there really is zero point in posting for those remaining days. The amount of forum posters who post a comment and say only "vote with your wallet" but never do so themselves, despite that virtually every post by that player is negative beyond reason for someone continuing to pay there sub, or hang around to post there none stop negativity. There are issues with the game even for me, personally the issues I have don't yet out way the positive.

 

 

As for this

"

Know what? Me and a couple of million gamers are not happy. Fix it or burn it down."

 

You know what? there's just as many happy. Don't like you should leave and let the rest of us carry on enjoying our time here. The world doe's not evolve around you, and the game is not going to burn down because you have an issue with it,

Edited December 30, 2018 by TalleraLane

[PorsaLindahl]

 

Do you really thing that they "introduce" bugs on purpose? Just to upset you....

 

 

 

Again do you really think that everybody at BW is on vacation?

No only Management ie Charles, Eric, Keith.... the people that write the code are still there trouble shooting your complaints and trying to fix the game. You think that they do NOTHING till January? Really?

 

Just to upset me? I'm not that vain. Are you? They know about a lot of bugs when they push out new content, hence the "known issues" threads they put out. They're also informed by players on PTS about other bugs. Yet they still push the update to the live servers. Which is typical EA.

 

I never said "everybody at BW was on vacation." I know CS is still working. All one of them. Then there's the guy that's chowing down on 2 day old pizza while monitoring the server status.... Anyway...

 

Let's look at their track record: If you've been around during the holiday season for any of the past few years, you would know that they push out an expansion/update 2 weeks before Christmas, that's riddled with bugs (game breaking in some cases for some players). Then we're lucky to get a hotfix on a few things before they go on vacation. Most bugs won't get fixed and those that do won't be fixed until late Jan/early Feb. They lack the manpower. That's the main problem.

 

And look...

Just to reiterate, we know there are some other remaining issues following 5.10. We will continue to address those issues in future updates. Stay tuned for more info on those as we get into 2019.

 

-eric

Meaning, they CBF to fix things until after the holidays. It's the norm. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Edited December 30, 2018 by PorsaLindahl

[Batwer]

Certain other problems could have been previously made. Especially if you listen to the people in the PTS. Had enough time.

I bet if the cartel market broke down now, they would put all levers in motion to fix it immediately.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Batwer

[Baraxis]

I understand where you're coming form, but it would really help if Bioware actually responded to calmly-worded, well-written posts bringing up issues.

 

Case in point, on the PTS, a number of gearing issues (that all made it to live by the way) were noticed. Many reasonably-worded threads and calm questions asked for clarification and understanding. Are enhancements supposed to be slot bound? Are 252/258 armorings not suppose to be compatible with 248? Are the drop rates of MWC and 252 gear in command packs supposed to be that low?

 

In the PTS subforum, there were a number of posts from MattPucevich, EricMusco, even one or two from JackieCao giving information and responding to other questions.

 

But there was a dramatic absence of communication to the concerns on gearing. No matter how nicely (or not) they were worded.

 

Then, when 5.10 dropped, completely absent from the patch notes were any comments about slot-locked Enhancements (which Musco later conformed was actually intended). This is a significant change -- something that hasn't existed in the 7 years of gearing in this game! Surely that deserved an explanation? Or at the very least a MENTION in the patch notes?

 

How easy would it have been for Musco & co to respond to some of the well-written posts? Wouldn't that have engaged the community with a higher level of discourse?

 

When many people try bringing up issues calmly and are ignored, is it so surprising that the tone starts to go downhill?

 

This is why Eric and the others cant be trusted. Things like this, they withheld info they knew would be upsetting. Why it would be upsetting was obvious. They were changing something that would negatively impact us. Not bringing it up would be okay, but ignoring questions directed at the situation is being deceptive. Thus they lost any good will from honest people.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Specifially, the level of pure hatred for EA and BioWare, especially the devs of his game

 

EA just bought and then shut down so many developers,

and then there's Mass Effect and Dragon Age, with their own stories.

 

This is why Eric and the others cant be trusted.

 

About "trust" : Eric is the messenger, NOT the decider. His task is to communicate, NOT to do game decisions.

 

As the saying goes, in earlier times, the messenger was killed for bringing basd news - not the ones who were responsible for the bad news.

 

People far too often mix (and mistake) the role of a messenger aka communications employee witzh the role of the decider.

 

That's why I believe the word "trust" is completely wrong for describing a messenger.

 

People just don't look at the sources anymore. Instead, they look at the surface and then beat that surface.

 

They were changing something that would negatively impact us.

 

Again, Eric was never changing a thing, I believe. S9imply, because his role isn't to do decisions within the team.

Edited December 30, 2018 by AlrikFassbauer

[Lhancelot]

This is why Eric and the others cant be trusted. Things like this, they withheld info they knew would be upsetting. Why it would be upsetting was obvious. They were changing something that would negatively impact us. Not bringing it up would be okay, but ignoring questions directed at the situation is being deceptive. Thus they lost any good will from honest people.

 

One of their biggest faults is the lack of an actual community manager that passes on relevant and concise information. Sure, the community is told about some changes, but the community manager chooses to not be transparent and cherry picks what information is disseminated.

 

As I always point out, of course this causes not only confusion, but intense resentment. Then, ignoring the blowback from players only snowballs the situation. Just really poorly done when concerning communication.

 

Ironically we had the best communication between community and game when the community manager was on vacation. We had the Rishi SH project altered over and over via feedback given by the players during this time and that worked out to be one of the larger successes in recent memory.

 

It just goes to show communication really does make a difference. Honest communication.

[Ardrossan]

Ironically we had the best communication between community and game when the community manager was on vacation. We had the Rishi SH project altered over and over via feedback given by the players during this time and that worked out to be one of the larger successes in recent memory.

 

It just goes to show communication really does make a difference. Honest communication.

 

That's interesting. I knew the community had made changes for the SH during that time, but I didn't know that Eric was on vacation. That goes a long way towards proving your initial criticism of him, and breaking down the argument that is most often used to defend him, ie. that he passively disseminates whatever he's told to.

[kodrac]

Again, Eric was never changing a thing, I believe. S9imply, because his role isn't to do decisions within the team.

 

If you actually believe that you're naive. You've been here long enough to know better. Oh boo hoo poor Eric. Bull... It's his job. He's the messenger, yes, and it's precisely his job to communicate these things but he routinely leaves things out or dances around them.

 

There's these things called patch notes and the messenger himself has said if it's not in the patch notes it's a bug. Well, mods and enhancements being locked were not in the patch notes. When asked about it on the PTS forums... silence. When asked about it after it went live... silence. That was deliberate. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew it wouldn't be received well and they kept it quiet purposely. They made the change on purpose and left it out of communications on purpose. That's deliberate deception by omission.

 

And it's not the first time it's happened. West Coast data center closed without communicating it to us before hand or in patch notes, remember that? Remaining silent until people started posting their trace routes across the country publicly, remember? But you think we should still trust anything they say? Yeah, good luck with that. Believe them at your own risk. They've always had a problem with honesty and transparency and it's only gotten worse over the last year.

[Lhancelot]

If you actually believe that you're naive. You've been here long enough to know better. Oh boo hoo poor Eric. Bull... It's his job. He's the messenger, yes, and it's precisely his job to communicate these things but he routinely leaves things out or dances around them.

 

There's these things called patch notes and the messenger himself has said if it's not in the patch notes it's a bug. Well, mods and enhancements being locked were not in the patch notes. When asked about it on the PTS forums... silence. When asked about it after it went live... silence. That was deliberate. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew it wouldn't be received well and they kept it quiet purposely. They made the change on purpose and left it out of communications on purpose. That's deliberate deception by omission.

 

And it's not the first time it's happened. West Coast data center closed without communicating it to us before hand or in patch notes, remember that? Remaining silent until people started posting their trace routes across the country publicly, remember? But you think we should still trust anything they say? Yeah, good luck with that. Believe them at your own risk. They've always had a problem with honesty and transparency and it's only gotten worse over the last year.

 

Although we share a similar opinion, to Alrik's defense he said Eric didn't make changes within the team, regarding gameplay I assume.

 

However, to your point, Eric DOES choose what information to disseminate, he also chooses when to communicate, and when not to communicate.

 

The failure of communication rests predominantly in his lap imo. Being the "community manager" and all.

 

But hey! Maybe someone has him on a leash and forces him to remain mum on certain things and only allows him to communicate what they wish him to pass on.

 

Maybe he's released only when needed, like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans, or the gimp in Pulp Fiction.

[Baraxis]

EA just bought and then shut down so many developers,

and then there's Mass Effect and Dragon Age, with their own stories.

 

 

 

About "trust" : Eric is the messenger, NOT the decider. His task is to communicate, NOT to do game decisions.

 

As the saying goes, in earlier times, the messenger was killed for bringing basd news - not the ones who were responsible for the bad news.

 

People far too often mix (and mistake) the role of a messenger aka communications employee witzh the role of the decider.

 

That's why I believe the word "trust" is completely wrong for describing a messenger.

 

People just don't look at the sources anymore. Instead, they look at the surface and then beat that surface.

 

 

 

Again, Eric was never changing a thing, I believe. S9imply, because his role isn't to do decisions within the team.

 

I was going to reply to this twisting of what was said but others have already done so....

 

The bottom line is we were not told what was going on until they were one foot out the door for vacation. if that is not proof of the disregard and contempt they hold for the player base I don't know what would qualify.

 

I still enjoy the base game and played up through Rishi with my girl. It gets really weird gearing after that. I will see what her reaction is to the game soon. I have been very careful not to give her a bias.

[TrixxieTriss]

The failure of communication rests predominantly in his lap imo. Being the "community manager" and all.

 

But hey! Maybe someone has him on a leash and forces him to remain mum on certain things and only allows him to communicate what they wish him to pass on.

 

Maybe he's released only when needed, like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans, or the gimp in Pulp Fiction.

 

I have always wondered, what is Eric’s actually role?

 

I know his title says community manager, but what else does he do outside of that? Because if he is “only” the community manager, he does no work all week. I could literally do what he does from my bed an hour a week (if that).

So he must have another role or other responsibilities.

It would be very interesting to know what they are. He’s not a coder, he’s not a developer, he’s not a story writer and as far as I know he’s not a marketer. So what does Eric do when he’s not on the forums or doing podcasts or writing on twitter?

Do we even need a community manager anymore? We seem to get more reliable information from other Bioware staff than we get from him.

My theory is Eric is actually working on Anthem as well or he has some other mundane job he does at Bioware that takes precedence over being the “community manager”.

The word manager means to manage. Therefore community manager should mean to manage the community, which would require more interaction and two way discussions. This doesn’t happen, so what or who is he managing?

Maybe his title should be changed to community messenger.

Edited December 31, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

[AlrikFassbauer]

Communication might not only be the forum, but also twitter, face book, analog press ...

[DavidAtkinson]

I have always wondered, what is Eric’s actually role?

 

I know his title says community manager, but what else does he do outside of that? Because if he is “only” the community manager, he does no work all week. I could literally do what he does from my bed an hour a week (if that).

So he must have another role or other responsibilities.

It would be very interesting to know what they are. He’s not a coder, he’s not a developer, he’s not a story writer and as far as I know he’s not a marketer. So what does Eric do when he’s not on the forums or doing podcasts or writing on twitter?

Do we even need a community manager anymore? We seem to get more reliable information from other Bioware staff than we get from him.

My theory is Eric is actually working on Anthem as well or he has some other mundane job he does at Bioware that takes precedence over being the “community manager”.

The word manager means to manage. Therefore community manager should mean to manage the community, which would require more interaction and two way discussions. This doesn’t happen, so what or who is he managing?

Maybe his title should be changed to community messenger.

 

Community manager means that he is the link between developer team and community on the forums and social media... He sends back the feedback to the team and vice versa.

 

Does his job imply any more ? Maybe and it's not our business to know frankly. Does he have other roles within the company ? Most likely, but again... that is irrelevant I guess.

 

To the OP.

 

The internet is filled with a lot of people. Some give constructive criticism some are hateful, but overall people are angry because this game hasn't got much since KOTET... There is a huge shadow over it with an uncertain future...

 

Also, on the PTS they've been told to make changes to gearing in 5.10 and they seem to have ignored it all. which again... didn't get a very positive reaction from the community.

 

We don't even know how many are working on this game, but we can guess that not many and we have to accept the fact that this game has no future anymore and other projects like Anthem are more important right now.. and this game will go on until it will slowly fade away.

 

I don't see any direction the story could go in for our characters.... It would be time for SWTOR 2, a brand new mmo.. with improved engine, and quality and with a Bioware that has learned from SWTOR's shortcomings. It woudl make money ? Most likely.... Will it happen ? No.

 

So enjoy what's left of this game is my opinion.

[Lhancelot]

I don't see any direction the story could go in for our characters.... It would be time for SWTOR 2, a brand new mmo.. with improved engine, and quality and with a Bioware that has learned from SWTOR's shortcomings. It woudl make money ? Most likely.... Will it happen ? No.

 

So enjoy what's left of this game is my opinion.

 

Agree with this. ^

 

If you enjoy the game still, then awesome, continue playing it by all means. Thing is, from my perspective of a long time vet, this game has easily seen it's brightest moments. In other words, it's all downhill from here.

 

Plus what they do add only detracts from the game's earlier charms. I mean they have just taken the game in the opposite direction of from when it was at it's most successful times.

 

The game offers tons to a new person, but for many people who have been here for 6+ years not so much.

[Batwer]

 

I don't see any direction the story could go in for our characters.... It would be time for SWTOR 2, a brand new mmo.. with improved engine, and quality and with a Bioware that has learned from SWTOR's shortcomings. It woudl make money ? Most likely.... Will it happen ? No.

But I'm for it. 😭

[Ardrossan]

I have always wondered, what is Eric’s actually role?

 

I know his title says community manager, but what else does he do outside of that? Because if he is “only” the community manager, he does no work all week. I could literally do what he does from my bed an hour a week (if that).

So he must have another role or other responsibilities.

It would be very interesting to know what they are. He’s not a coder, he’s not a developer, he’s not a story writer and as far as I know he’s not a marketer. So what does Eric do when he’s not on the forums or doing podcasts or writing on twitter?

Do we even need a community manager anymore? We seem to get more reliable information from other Bioware staff than we get from him.

My theory is Eric is actually working on Anthem as well or he has some other mundane job he does at Bioware that takes precedence over being the “community manager”.

The word manager means to manage. Therefore community manager should mean to manage the community, which would require more interaction and two way discussions. This doesn’t happen, so what or who is he managing?

Maybe his title should be changed to community messenger.

 

Or maybe EA only hires him for part-time hours.

[HuaRya]

What happens now is the devs get hated on so much by the players that they get discouraged and work less on the game.

 

Not to pop your surreality bubble but you realize developers get paid to develop this game and quite well actually. They are not being paid by feelings or heart shaped cookies with panda bear kisses on them.