Gelious Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Your bitterness is anything but warranted as it makes you come across as incredibly spoiled. You just received an expansion for the game, whether you consider it one is irrelevant, which the devs poured in time and resources. Frankly you're being thankless in this case, because the team that Bioware has is much smaller than it used to be and their resources are fewer than they used to be. They could have also released nothing, nada, no new story, no new content. And yet, they did, for people who can't even appreciate the small stuff apparently. You say it as if they just gave this expansion to me. They didn't. I paid for it by subbing for 2 months. And I appreciate it just fine but I also remember times when there was a lot more content to appreciate then 2 short quest chains and an unremarkable FP. Edited November 9, 2019 by Gelious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ylliarus Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) You say it as if they just gave this expansion to me. They didn't. I paid for it by subbing for 2 months. And I appreciate it just fine but I also remember times when there was a lot more content to appreciate then 2 short quest chains and an unremarkable FP. Newsflash: so do I. I have been playing this game since 2012 and remember those days too. But you know what I also know? I know that the dev team is much smaller than it used to be, I know they have to do the same amount of tasks with fewer people. I know that they have fewer resources than they used to have as EA keeps taking stuff from SWTOR and puts it into other projects. Bioware has to produce new content for the game being half of what they were when they released Rise of the Hutt Cartel or Shadow of Revan. How can you expect them to release content of that size when their team and resources have been cut in half at least? It's unreasonable to expect that. You have to adjust your expectations here or otherwise you'll always be disappointed. I wish Onslaught was bigger, I wish SWTOR was in its prime days again, but I am happy with what we got and what we're getting and I simply appreciate the stuff we have, because SWTOR could also have been shut down a long time ago and that's something I absolutely do not want. Edited November 9, 2019 by Ylliarus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trobon Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Newsflash: so do I. I have been playing this game since 2012 and remember those days too. But you know what I also know? I know that the dev team is much smaller than it used to be, I know they have to do the same amount of tasks with fewer people. I know that they have fewer resources than they used to have as EA keeps taking stuff from SWTOR and puts it into other projects. Bioware has to produce new content for the game being half of what they were when they released Rise of the Hutt Cartel or Shadow of Revan. How can you expect them to release content of that size when their team and resources have been cut in half at least? It's unreasonable to expect that. You have to shift your expectations here or otherwise you'll always be disappointed. I wish Onslaught was bigger but I am happy with what we got, because SWTOR could also have been shut down a long time ago and that's something I absolutely do not want. Its pointless to argue. Some people were never going to be happy with any news. Releasing early 2020 only makes sense since the Christmas holiday is coming up and they weren't going to do major development then. The fact that they are releasing new heroics and a new alliance alert during that time is already the most we could have expected. Some people will moan no matter what Bioware says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ylliarus Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Its pointless to argue. Some people were never going to be happy with any news. Releasing early 2020 only makes sense since the Christmas holiday is coming up and they weren't going to do major development then. The fact that they are releasing new heroics and a new alliance alert during that time is already the most we could have expected. Some people will moan no matter what Bioware says. Sadly, you're absolutely right. Even if Bioware turned the world upside down and went three times to the galaxy's core and back in order to please their playerbase, people would keep complaining and moaning. It's ludicrous how unsatisfied with everything some people are. Sure, there's stuff that is bad and needs to change with criticism of it being valid. Crafting and gearing for example, those need changes. But what tires me endlessly is when people keep expecting SWTOR to produce the same amount of content it did when it was in its prime and don't adjust their expectations to the new reality that SWTOR doesn't have the manpower or resources to do that anymore. What people also seem to fail to realise, is that Rise of Skywalker is coming in December. It's logical Disney doesn't want anything big happening around the realise of Episode 9. Edited November 9, 2019 by Ylliarus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nee-Elder Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Hey everyone, It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team. Keith Keith, nice to hear from you (of course) . Be sure to link your 'producer's note' to the game LAUNCHER though, if possible, since only a fraction of the playerbase ever bothers to post on the Forums much less read them. Also, if u guys haven't already, please see the following posts/issues/bugs from 6.0... 1) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=970642 2) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9788478#post9788478 3) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9785569#post9785569 4) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9781583#post9781583 5) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9781240#post9781240 (and that ^ entire thread too, obviously) Lastly, as an on & off 'vet' (mostly on) of this flawed but GREAT game since early beta 2011 , i'd like to THANK you for allowing everyone to access HK-55 questline again. It is, imho, 1 of the Top 5 BEST missions & storylines in the history of SWTOR. Z0-OM literally has me lol'ing everyday i'm in combat with it. If EA/Disney allows more $$$ for your budget in 2020 , please please encourage them to hire those same writers. (the entire 'Shroud' series is superb, imo ....as was the team behind KOTFE & KOTET ) . While i enjoyed 'Onslaught' story, i felt like it wasn't quite up to par with the writing & development as HK-55/Shroud type stuff is. (nor up to par with KOTFE or KOTET writing) . Anyways, just 1 longtime subcriber's opinion. p.s. Does most of the coolest stuff really have to always come from 'Cartel Market' ?!? Example: i personally love having my KOTFE/KOTET 'attuned' lightsabers equipped, since i played hard to earn those on master-mode....and i like the extra buff icons as a memory reminder. But this also means i cannot ever equip any of the cooler lightsabers with better animations & such (like 'Gree' saber, or 'Tulak Horde' saber, etc. ) . Why not allow those 'attuned' memory buffs be placed on the player regardless of the saber being equipped? Just a thought. Edited November 9, 2019 by Nee-Elder words and p.s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damask_Rose Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Don't make me laugh. Since when playing anything in a game is to be considered special? It's a standard service. Benefiting from the gearing system? Sure, unless you play warzones or want to craft. Furthermore, praising this gear system is quite irritating considering it is inferior in every aspect compared to the 4.x era. Creating something better than 5.x is not an achivement. Or do quests. Or dailies and weeklies. Or events. Or heroics. Oh, pretty much anything other than flashpoints... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandoras_Jar Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Thanks for the Update, Keith! Really been enjoying the majority of Game Update 6.0 myself. Kudos to the team on a great story, incredible planets and lots of nice QoL changes. Really glad to hear there are adjustments coming to crafting (and possible gearing adjustments as well)? Both of these areas could really use some work/adjustments cause neither are enjoyable at all in their current state. Looking forward to what's to come in 6.1 and can't wait to get on the PTS again! Edited November 9, 2019 by Pandoras_Jar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ylliarus Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Thanks for the Update, Keith! Really been enjoying the majority of Game Update 6.0 myself. Kudos to the team on a great story, incredible planets and lots of nice QoL changes. Really glad to hear there are adjustments coming to crafting (and possible gearing adjustments as well)? Both of these areas could really use some work/adjustments cause neither are enjoyable at all in their current state. Looking forward to what's to come in 6.1 and can't wait to get on the PTS again! It's nice to see reason and positivity haven't been abandoned on these forums entirely! I agree, I am incredibly fond of the story in Onslaught as I absolutely loved it! It gave me exactly what I hoped for and even more, I'd say. It finally went back to what used to give me the SWTOR feeling back in the good ol' days. Quality-wise I felt playing Onslaught was like playing the class stories and I consider the latter to be the best story content ingame! Hopefully the changes to gearing and crafting will improve the system and ease people's complaints about them. I'm very eager to see where the story will head in the future so I hope we'll learn some more soon! Maybe another State of the Galaxy article? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolodome Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Sadly, you're absolutely right. Even if Bioware turned the world upside down and went three times to the galaxy's core and back in order to please their playerbase, people would keep complaining and moaning. It's ludicrous how unsatisfied with everything some people are. This is technically true. Some other things that are technically true: - h2o is a chemical with some nasty side effects and can be very dangerous - Lord of the Rings movies are about a group spending 9 hours returning jewelry In reality, if Bioware "turned the world upside down and went three times to the galaxy's core and back in order to please their playerbase," there would technically still be complaining and moaning, but it's also obvious that there would likely be significantly less of it. However, there's an important distinction to be had between "going above and beyond" and "giving someone what they ask for." If I go to a restaurant and order a simple peanut butter sandwich, and I'm given a 3 course gourmet meal, with no peanut butter or sandwich in sight, that could qualify as the restaurant going "above and beyond," but I think it's fair to say that I'm under no obligation to be pleased with not being brought what I asked for. So it's not always enough, or the sensible thing, to go above and beyond in the first place. Sometimes one just needs to listen and give people what they ask for, which may require going above and beyond, or it may require letting the air escape an inflated ego so that one can hear things that aren't filtered through one's reinterpretation of something that a person plainly said. Bioware austin has some apparent problems with the whole reinterpreting thing, though it's anyone's guess as to whether it's an ego issue, a money/profits-related issue, a communications team issue, or something else entirely, such as them simply having little interest in listening to what people have to say and only pretending to care when the communication deficit reaches a boiling point. (Frankly, bioware austin communication feels a lot like when you get an email, forget to reply for a while, and then every time you remember, you think "oh it's too late to answer now, it'd be too awkward", but you gotta reply at some point or you're really having problems, so eventually you write a reply and you can't help apologizing because on the inside, you feel very strongly that you neglected it. Then you repeat this over and over on a regular basis.) You can't please a large crowd of people into pure praise or silence, but you sure can reduce it and you sure can foster loyalty among those who believe in what you're doing. But it's kind of impossible to do the latter if it's clear as mud what you're doing and how you intend to go about it. Not to be confused with things like roadmaps, which are only a tiny part of explaining what you're doing and how you intend to go about it, and don't really get into the things that build trust, like being consistent on things that are important to you, taking time to go back and forth with people in some public context, and (perhaps most importantly) keeping to your word; something bioware austin doesn't seem to know the meaning of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiftrav Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 What did you expect, they just released an entire expansion and you're behaving as if we haven't had new content for ages. Seriously, don't be this impatient. New content will come in due time, but they just released a really big thing that took them a lot of resources and time to develop. The devs are only people, just like you and me. While I agree with temperment of being patient about so this to a degree. Haven't we be patient for the last 6 year? On the other hand of your point this was an update not an expansion. I like a lot of what they did to make people run content again I do but go look at anyother MMO that has recently put out an expansion and compair it to what we just got I think you notice the difference. The backlash while some of it is over the top it to be expected with the history of content and development release cycle that we keep going through if stuff not being fully work and still put out that feels have finished. I understand the the dev's are people and they are trying but to me there really need to be more effort behind the trying part. One thing I like to point at is the story of FF14 and it fail to redemption arc. That more companies should heed in what could be if you reinvest in your products. I love star wars and think in the end we all want the same thing better treat of the game by the powers that be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robtadams Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Hey everyone, Snip - - - 8< - - - We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. Snip - - - 8< - - - Can we please -- please -- get some acknowledgment of the stronghold invite bug and some assurance that there's a fix forthcoming? https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=970111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ylliarus Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 This is technically true. Some other things that are technically true: - h2o is a chemical with some nasty side effects and can be very dangerous - Lord of the Rings movies are about a group spending 9 hours returning jewelry In reality, if Bioware "turned the world upside down and went three times to the galaxy's core and back in order to please their playerbase," there would technically still be complaining and moaning, but it's also obvious that there would likely be significantly less of it. However, there's an important distinction to be had between "going above and beyond" and "giving someone what they ask for." If I go to a restaurant and order a simple peanut butter sandwich, and I'm given a 3 course gourmet meal, with no peanut butter or sandwich in sight, that could qualify as the restaurant going "above and beyond," but I think it's fair to say that I'm under no obligation to be pleased with not being brought what I asked for. So it's not always enough, or the sensible thing, to go above and beyond in the first place. Sometimes one just needs to listen and give people what they ask for, which may require going above and beyond, or it may require letting the air escape an inflated ego so that one can hear things that aren't filtered through one's reinterpretation of something that a person plainly said. Bioware austin has some apparent problems with the whole reinterpreting thing, though it's anyone's guess as to whether it's an ego issue, a money/profits-related issue, a communications team issue, or something else entirely, such as them simply having little interest in listening to what people have to say and only pretending to care when the communication deficit reaches a boiling point. (Frankly, bioware austin communication feels a lot like when you get an email, forget to reply for a while, and then every time you remember, you think "oh it's too late to answer now, it'd be too awkward", but you gotta reply at some point or you're really having problems, so eventually you write a reply and you can't help apologizing because on the inside, you feel very strongly that you neglected it. Then you repeat this over and over on a regular basis.) You can't please a large crowd of people into pure praise or silence, but you sure can reduce it and you sure can foster loyalty among those who believe in what you're doing. But it's kind of impossible to do the latter if it's clear as mud what you're doing and how you intend to go about it. Not to be confused with things like roadmaps, which are only a tiny part of explaining what you're doing and how you intend to go about it, and don't really get into the things that build trust, like being consistent on things that are important to you, taking time to go back and forth with people in some public context, and (perhaps most importantly) keeping to your word; something bioware austin doesn't seem to know the meaning of. There is truth in what you say, but there's also truth in the fact that people can ask too much. If I go to a restaurant that serves fish and suddenly start demanding a medium rare, big meaty steak, then I'm asking for the impossible at that restaurant and will never get what I want there. The same goes for SWTOR. Yes, there is a lack of communication that has been present in this game for ages. I can't even remember when someone didn't complain about this and most of the times, the criticism directed at communication was warranted. But in light of SWTOR's resources and manpower, I feel like people are too often demanding big bloody steaks at a restaurant serving fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toraak Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 What kind of statistics are you referring to? I would like to see percentages. Don't make me laugh. Since when playing anything in a game is to be considered special? It's a standard service. Benefiting from the gearing system? Sure, unless you play warzones or want to craft. Furthermore, praising this gear system is quite irritating considering it is inferior in every aspect compared to the 4.x era. Creating something better than 5.x is not an achivement. It is almost amusing how you ignore Darth Malgus being unplayable on high-end computers in certain countries/ISP in prime time. What exactly had you been looking at hard in the PTS phase then? Hadn't there be anyone to tell you how absurd it was? Don't bother, we already know the answer. lol this is funny. the 4.x era of gearing was a lot worse then this. 1) you can get to 306 in only a few days of effort, 2) you can get all 7 set pieces easily in 1 week for a character (including tactical) 3) you can get gear from ANY activity in the game easily. 4) the 4.x era of gearing was HORRIBLE!!! Yes some ways are faster then others, but this is going to happen no matter what the gearing system looks like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trobon Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) While I agree with temperment of being patient about so this to a degree. Haven't we be patient for the last 6 year? On the other hand of your point this was an update not an expansion. I like a lot of what they did to make people run content again I do but go look at anyother MMO that has recently put out an expansion and compair it to what we just got I think you notice the difference. The backlash while some of it is over the top it to be expected with the history of content and development release cycle that we keep going through if stuff not being fully work and still put out that feels have finished. I understand the the dev's are people and they are trying but to me there really need to be more effort behind the trying part. One thing I like to point at is the story of FF14 and it fail to redemption arc. That more companies should heed in what could be if you reinvest in your products. I love star wars and think in the end we all want the same thing better treat of the game by the powers that be. Showing disdain at the idea of a 3-4 month period between a large content patch and the next content patch (over Christmas) isn't going to make EA any more or less likely to reinvest in the game. Do you think the Devs are like "well I think our budget is enough, more would only make things worse"? They obviously want to deliver the most content they can and would like as big a budget as possible. So when Keith comes on here and describes a plan to deliver a small dose of content in a month and a larger does in 3-4 that seems like a pretty big step. They can't snap their fingers and deliver 6.1 next month and no amount of whining is going to change that. What it may change is their interest in making these kinds of announcements in the future. Again, that's not saying people shouldn't post criticism. Someone posted about how there is no mention of PvP rewards being altered to work with the gearing system better. That's a legitimate criticism. Being upset that the next content update isn't coming out before Christmas really isn't. Edited November 9, 2019 by Trobon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ylliarus Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Showing disdain at the idea of a 3-4 month period between a large content patch and the next content patch (over Christmas) isn't going to make EA any more or less likely to reinvest in the game. Do you think the Devs are like "well I think our budget is enough, more would only make things worse"? They obviously want to deliver the most content they can and would like as big a budget as possible. So when Keith comes on here and describes a plan to deliver a small dose of content in a month and a larger does in 3-4 that seems like a pretty big step. They can't snap their fingers and deliver 6.1 next month and no amount of whining is going to change that. What it may change is their interest in making these kinds of announcements in the future. Again, that's not saying people shouldn't post criticism. Someone posted about how there is no mention of PvP rewards being altered to work with the gearing system better. That's a legitimate criticism. Being upset that the next content update isn't coming out before Christmas really isn't. Frankly, people complain about a lack of communication from Bioware, not realising that most of the time they're the reason why the devs avoid the forums. I remember all the times that Charles Boyd or others came to the forums and were outright attacked by posters for the most ludicrous of things. There's a reason why I keep hearing most players are avoiding these forums like the plague, because people here are constantly malcontent and hostile to anything that disagrees with them. So are we surprised the devs stay away from communicating with us here? Edited November 9, 2019 by Ylliarus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trobon Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Frankly, people complain about a lack of communication from Bioware, not realising that most of the time they're the reason why the devs avoid the forums. I remember all the times that Charles Boyd or others came to the forums and were outright attacked by posters for the most ludicrous of things. There's a reason why I keep hearing most players keep avoiding these forums, because people here are constantly malcontent and hostile to anything that disagrees with them. So are we surprised the devs stay away from communicating with us here? I've been avoiding saying anything like "we should be grateful they made this post at all" because the truth is we shouldn't. This is the kind of communication we should expect. However, that also means people should at least have the baseline amount of respect about it because, as someone who has worked in community management of a game studio, I can genuinely say devs and community managers want to communicate more with and will work harder to communicate with people who (even when unhappy) are respectful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolodome Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 There is truth in what you say, but there's also truth in the fact that people can ask too much. If I go to a restaurant that serves fish and suddenly start demanding a medium rare, big meaty steak, then I'm asking for the impossible at that restaurant and will never get what I want there. The same goes for SWTOR. Yes, there is a lack of communication that has been present in this game for ages. I can't even remember when someone didn't complain about this and most of the times, the criticism directed at communication was warranted. But in light of SWTOR's resources and manpower, I feel like people are too often demanding big bloody steaks at a restaurant serving fish. And I think there's truth in what you say, but there's also truth in the fact that this expansion changed and/or broke a number of things that either didn't need fixing, or probably should have been left alone if they weren't going to have the competency to fix it in a way that is aware of what people grow used to and how they play the game. It's a beginner's lesson in making changes to an existing game to be sensitive to what people grow used to and I'm flabbergasted they seemingly haven't learned it after 8 some years. For example, the way they plow through iterations of controversial gearing with wild abandon, in spite of persistent and loud backlash, along with specific and detailed feedback as to what people would like to see, boggles the mind. Or the way they largely ignored specific, detailed, and thankless crafting feedback on PTS with this expansion, and instead proceeded with wrecking crafting that was, if not stupendous, relatively fine before. That's the kind of stuff I mean when I talk about just giving people what they ask for. Some of the stuff people want is just for stuff that isn't broke to be left alone, or handled with care if it's going to be tweaked. I could understand them making this kind of mistake a few times on minor systems. You can't be perfectly accommodating, without stagnating entirely, if you're going to make ongoing adjustments. But the least they could do is actually consult people who use these systems in a big way before diving in headfirst with their brainchildren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemmar Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Thank you very much for the update Keith. This is what we like to see! If you permit me some feedback, i would like to say that operatives might have one too many rolls now. Huttball is becoming ridiculous when an operative can roll from the initial ramp to the goal line. Of course, the fact that the server fizzles them out and makes them un-targetable for the duration does not help. I think it might be a tad too OP. Ideally though, having the fizzle about fixed would be awesome, but i know it's easier said than done. Edited November 9, 2019 by Nemmar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nee-Elder Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) I just sent you a PM but you posted after i had already sent it lol , so if you don't mind i'll reply here to a couple things you just said.... most of the time they're the reason why the devs avoid the forums. As a former "dev" myself (more QA work than actual "coding" , but still) on another Star Wars related game, i can speak from experience & observation that the main reason has to do with 1 simple fact: Devs are busy, developing lol . Devs are busy, coding. Devs are....busy. It's got little to nothing to do with the playerbase or customer base. Players always like to make up paranoid theories and conspiracies about "omg the devs must hate us!!!!" , but any rational person knows thats just plain silly. And even if it were true, they still have a JOB to do. --- . There's a reason why I keep hearing most players are avoiding these forums like the plague, because people here are constantly malcontent and hostile to anything that disagrees with them. Again, you're making sweeping generalizations imo to promote your own need for strict positivity. Which is fine, i hear ya, so np. But honestly, most players are either busy enjoying & playing the GAME...or....they just aren't as consumed by Forum fodder as other types of players are. So, they become ignorant or indifferent (to the forums and/or any forum news) . Which is why the COMMUNITY-at-large ends up doing most of the work IN-GAME to educate and articulate info/updates about the game. (in Fleet 'gentchat' or guild greenchat or whatever ) --- So are we surprised the devs stay away from communicating with us here? Again, don't assume just cuz Devs (who are number crunchers & coders by nature) aren't posting every week on the forums that they either a) aren't aware of forum sentiments ...or... b) aren't actually reading most of the "complaint" threads anyway. Typically, it's MMO Dev policy to try their best not to post nor respond to forum threads (unless it''s about a technical issue that the 'Community Manager' doesn't quite undestand enough to write about in detail) . So, imo, you---as a subscriber---have to ask yourself: Do we want the Devs posting on forums more often or using that time to code content more often? Ideally, both...but if not, then i prefer the latter. Edited November 9, 2019 by Nee-Elder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trobon Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Again, don't assume just cuz Devs (who are number crunchers & coders by nature) don't post every week on the forums that they either a) aren't aware of forum sentiments ...or... b) aren't actually reading most of the "complaint" threads anyway. Typically, it's MMO Dev policy to try their best not to post nor respond to forum threads (unless it''s about a technical issue that the 'Community Manager' doesn't quite undestand enough to write about in detail) . So, imo, you---as a subscriber---have to ask yourself: Do we want the Devs posting on forums more often or using that time to code content more often? When most people talk about devs posting its shorthand for hearing from anyone in the pipeline, including the producer and community manager. Devs, while short for developers, often encompasses more than just the actual developers. Most MMOs don't have the developers communicate directly with the public, partially for the reason you describe (they are working on the game) and partially because people in community management don't want them putting their feet in their mouth. However, they do communicate through the community manager(s) which is what has been often lacking here at various points in the game's history. I don't know the Bioware internal hierarchy, but based on my experience Keith isn't exactly a dev in the developer sense either. He's a producer which, based on where I worked, means he wears a lot of hats that include external communication of big picture stuff, internal coordination and logistics, etc. Edited November 9, 2019 by Trobon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameYOL Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Glad to hear from you again Keith, good to hear changes are being planned by crafting though I hope they are very significant otherwise the problem will remain just in a lesser manner. Looking forward to whatever you folks have planned as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixxieTriss Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Frankly, people complain about a lack of communication from Bioware, not realising that most of the time they're the reason why the devs avoid the forums. I remember all the times that Charles Boyd or others came to the forums and were outright attacked by posters for the most ludicrous of things. There's a reason why I keep hearing most players are avoiding these forums like the plague, because people here are constantly malcontent and hostile to anything that disagrees with them. So are we surprised the devs stay away from communicating with us here? I disagree, sort of. I can understand people like Charles or the the actual dev team avoiding the forums. But the community manager and team should be here all the time. Regardless of what’s said. The reason? Because that’s their job. Managing the community and community expectations. Otherwise, what’s the point in even having someone in that position? Part of their job is to make sure the forums are in good order. If things are getting out of hand, then they have the ability to step in to squelch the abusive behaviour you mentioned. Plus, more than half of the complaints against them surround lack of communication from Bioware on important issue the community has concerns or questions about. It’s not right (IMO) that the community manager goes AFK for weeks or even months when things get difficult or they have legitimate negative feed back. He doesn’t need to be here every day, but didn’t he hire some other people to do that for him? How hard would it be to keep in touch and say we know about this, thanks for the feed back, we are looking into this, we have no answers at the moment but are working on it, I’ll check with the team and get back to you, or we expect something in the next few weeks. But we rarely get that on the difficult to swallow topics or controversial ones or ones important to the community. And if we do, it’s weeks of festering on the forums, so if we do get a response, it’s often not enough substance to address the issue. If an important topic has been left to fester into infighting or Bioware abuse (from lack of communication) for weeks and weeks, people rightly expect they’ve been discussing and working on a course of action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolodome Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 I've been avoiding saying anything like "we should be grateful they made this post at all" because the truth is we shouldn't. This is the kind of communication we should expect. However, that also means people should at least have the baseline amount of respect about it because, as someone who has worked in community management of a game studio, I can genuinely say devs and community managers want to communicate more with and will work harder to communicate with people who (even when unhappy) are respectful. I've personally never seen this make any discernible difference with bioware austin (at least, not on the forums). Rude feedback and respectful feedback are both greeted with the same lack of prejudice: dead silence, almost always. Naturally, this means some people are going to give up on going out of their way to be respectful, since it's radio silence either way and your only discernible audience is other forummers, some of whom are equally frustrated as you are and aren't going to be offended if you take some shots. If the presiding belief is that there's a 0.01% chance anything you post will be read by anyone at bioware austin, much less replied to, it makes far more sense to talk as if your primary audience is other forummers, doesn't it? Personally, I try to be reasonable and clear, so there's something they could potentially learn of interest if they did read, but beyond that, it's a crapshoot, isn't it? They can claim they read things in a broad sense every now and then if they want, but nobody really has reason to believe they do more than skim the occasional megathread of controversy and pop in to read a title post of feedback threads now and then. I'm not saying this, thinking they will read it and change, mind. Just saying it to other forummers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagerbane Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Hey everyone, It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort. Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team. We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday. Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following: Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch. We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team. Happy Holidays, Keith Keith, Do you realize the 306 gear you have is pose to be the status stronger than other lower rating gear available. If your toon is level 75 and wear the 306 gear on a mission on the lower level planets visiting is losing your best 306 gear status becomes a lower status on planets are 10 to 50 level. Your not getting your best status out your gear for the mission as well in flashpoints, Heroics and Op mission. Where getting SCAM on our best gear status. Goal is looking for a best gear for any missions to try again later. 75 level character drop down to level 20 planets is find as long don't bothering our gear status and HP what we are wearing. I know our great product had modify gear bonus for our companions inside the game system before is what we known bought it for a reason without lose any part of our products. Enable companions modify gear bonus please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrphstar Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Hey everyone, It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort. thanks for scheduling maintenance at night for europe! seriously, much appreciated! hope you finaly got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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