Yo Dawg, I heard you like suggestions. So here’s a suggestion that’ll help you make suggestions while reading this suggestion to make suggestions
More for the community that anything, this topic is on how to make and layout a suggestion that makes it easier for people and the Devs to read.
1. Clear and Concise Title
GW2 Needs Improvements doesn’t really tell people where the improvements are needed. Improvements where? PvP? PvE? Profession Skills? A vague title might attract more views, but telling people the content of your post is going to attract more people who have an opinion on it.
So, say you’re making a post on increasing BoH drops in WvW, write Increase Badge of Honour Drops in WvW
2. What Is Your Suggestion? In Detail
This will be the chunk of your post. Outline what your suggestion is in detail. After this, give examples if appropriate. A few tips:
- Keep In Line With The Manifesto – Making suggestions that go against what ANet marketed this game as is counter-productive. “We Want End-Game Gear Treadmill That Leads To Raids”, for example. They marketed their game as a game with no treadmill, and no required grind. However, “Non-Statted Gear Progression That Benefits A Specific Area” is different, since it doesn’t affect other parts of the game, and doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to grind for the gear.
- Keep It Concise – Don’t ramble on. Get straight to the point. Having two paragraphs of how x game does this and y game does that before even getting to the suggestion is less likely to get people to read your suggestion and makes it easier for the Devs to see your point.
- Specific Numbers – The Devs have access to much more data than us. When you make a suggestion, specific numbers aren’t needed.
3. What Is The Issue You Are Addressing, And How Will Your Suggestion Solve It?
Why are you making this suggestion? What issue are you addressing? Even if it’s just extra things to do, it’s addressing an issue of ‘wanting more things to do’.
Some Extra Tips
- Layout – A nicely presented layout makes things easier to read. Bold for headings, paragraphs and bullet points all help to stop your post becoming a wall of text that crits for over 9000, is super effective and makes people’s eyes bleed.
- Spoiler Tags and TL;DR – If your post is somewhat on the long side, chuck it between spoiler tags, and add a TL;DR at the end. This not only saves room, but helps people decide whether or not they want to read the entirety of the text. A good TL;DR will summarise your entire post in about 3 lines, keeping all the important points of your post and leaving little details out.
- Thank You – Just a small sentence thanking people for taking the time to read your suggestion, and inviting them to critique it. Politeness goes a long way
Time is a river.
The door is ajar.
(edited by TheDaiBish.9735)