Guild Wars 2

while its good that the initiative continues and you hopefully learn things from it, one of the major issues is that you wont talk about future plans, this creates the issue of having you go off and develop things and have no direct feedback on them till they are ready to launch and cannot be changed, do you really want another 200+ page thread of wild speculation and distress because you announce a new feature/ direction days before its patched in?

we need to know about things at a point where our feedback can still make a difference in how its implemented or have it scrapped and reiterated. We also need to have an idea of long term plans ie what are you doing once all the ascended gear is out? should we expect a level cap increase, will achievements ever be meaningful? etc.

So that we can in good time contribute to the development of the systems/ design
otherwise the feedback is meaningless as you will thank us for it say you have taken it on board and we will likely not see any indication of how it has been integrated into the decision making process

for this to be successful the last part is really important, we need to see it making a difference, otherwise whats the point, you may as well continue saying “thanks for feedback we will ignore it and are doing X anyway”

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

Chris

Yes. I still think this is the better option.

I believe if this initiative is to succeed: Then better take one topic at a time and don’t divide your focus until both players and developers have settled in and found some sort of balance in this type of communication.

I could use a cliché and say that I prefer quality to quantity, but then I would most likely shoot myself in the foot, as I do like quantity when it comes to dev responses and number of devs posting.

Personally, I would rather have a quality discussion in section of the game, where I don’t know much, because that would mean that the quality discussion eventually would reach a section of the game where I do feel I can provide input.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

StriderShinryu.6923:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

Chris

Personally, I’m not a fan.

I can understand that it would allow the higher ups who have their hands in a number of areas to participate in each as they became active. I think one issue that the CDI faces right now, however, is momentum. The current threads have already been something of a wasteland for meaningful interaction. Perhaps I’m not the normal player, but I play PvE nearly exclusively (I’ve popped into WvW a few times and haven’t touched PvP at all). I’d imagine many players are in the same boat as me, except maybe they focus on WvW or PvP instead. By alternating areas of focus you’re basically going to be leaving the players not interested in that area of the game in the lurch for two weeks at a time.

There’s already a problem with a lack of interaction, and not really addressing entire subsets of players at all for certain periods is just going to make that worse.

Yep this is definitely the major con in the proposal.

Chris

Perhaps a compromise. Establish a schedule ahead of time. Maybe state ahead of time the focus will move in a 3 day rotation. Not to say the devs wouldn’t continue to read all the threads but the community can expect more interaction within the thread on these days, much like you are doing now.

The result would be a micro cycle within the thread of the devs coming in and commenting and asking question new questions expanding the current discussion and then the community has the next 2 days to discuss amongst themselves before the devs come back to talk about where the discussion has gone into the last couple days. This staggering would give all involved time to interact across as many threads as they like. Plus those interested in only taking part in one or two sections wouldn’t have to wait weeks.

When are we going to find out what’s being done to fix condition damage in PvE? Or the mass exodus of players from some server, turning them into ghost towns that cannot complete PvE events?

Also, I do not want to have to wait through WvW and PvP feedback to get to another round of PvE feedback. I couldn’t care less what goes on in those other threads, the PvE side is what needs fixing.

Any chance at commenting on the use of community managers in something like the CDI to help manage the discussion?

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Wouldn’t there be an issue then with the team keeping up with the flow of discussions? I found it very hard to keep up even though i was reading all of the posts.
…..

This said by focusing the thread topic this issue would be mitigated to an extent.

Chris

Sounds to me like that would cause issues, but in all honesty: You are the better judge of that. You are the one that knows exactly much time it takes to keep up.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

I think you’ll end up hamstringing yourself as badly as the Living Story thread demonstrated – every time a Dev suggested a topic it multiplied the cacophony. Even this thread – by shifting from general discussion to “How do you think we should select topics?” started showing a little bit of mixed responses making it harder to follow. While its great you had a 40+ page thread come out of it, it was brutal to try and sift through that for anybody, Dev, reader, or interested poster.

Just the comments you said about the wvw team being busier than you had realized. A scheduled rotation for dedicated interacting might make it easier for them.

Even if you go one week schedule having designated high focus days would help all involved but especially on your coworkers side allowing them to work the time into their work loads

Chris Whiteside.6102:

And on that note i am going to spend some time with the family. I will get back to the discussion either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Heehee. One of the parts of the process proven to work: The ‘catch you later’ note.

My concern with a 3-part rotation to the CDI is similar to that already voiced: alienation of 1/3 of the playerbase at a time, and I fear that PvE-related discussion would be relegated to LS-content and power-creep complaints.

So much of the balancing and game-development efforts already favors PvP, often to the harm of PvE players. Two-week content is nice—it’s something to do. But there are fundamental issues in PvE that remain neglected month after month. It’s these I’d like to see addressed.

Now I’m not in any way claiming that PvP and WvW are “okay” and all effort and discussion needs to focus on PvE. I’d just like to see PvE become an important part of future development discussions beyond the LS/LW content. It doesn’t matter if we get more stuff to do if how we do it remains broken.

All that to say, I’m more in favor of dedicated discussions. I realize that the WvW peeps we “left out” this time ‘round, but rather than spreading efforts too thin, I’d argue it wise to focus more manpower and attention on one thing at a time.

Do one thing well rather than several things poorly. A weekly rotation borders too closely on “several things.”

On a purely cosmetic note, I’d like to see a dedicated subforum for the CDI—possibly divided into the three game areas. This would allow devs (and probably only devs) to open multiple, more focused threads on “offshoot” discussions that pop up, rather than having to sift through 50+ pages of a mega-thread.

If your going to split it by weeks – so one week is pvp, one is wvw etc, make it to each week two topics are discussed. So you have two threads, each for a seperate topic. One thread could be based on player vote, the others based on something the devs would like to discuss.

That would make it far more meaningful – having 1 topic rotate on a three week basis is slow. Two topics could cover more ground and make it more meaningful to the player base as it’s more likely to bring about a topic players want to discuss.

For example, if you did your current system, the next topic for wvw would be skill lag. This is a pointless topic, as there is nothing players can really do or say to change it. So having a topic on skill lag and a topic on rewards would allow for far more discussion instead of the ‘oh, this weeks is not relavent to me, now I have to wait three weeks before something comes up. Anet really doesn’t care about wvw’ opinion and posts that may occur.

Asuka Shikinami.5462:

If your going to split it by weeks – so one week is pvp, one is wvw etc, make it to each week two topics are discussed. So you have two threads, each for a seperate topic. One thread could be based on player vote, the others based on something the devs would like to discuss.

That would make it far more meaningful – having 1 topic rotate on a three week basis is slow. Two topics could cover more ground and make it more meaningful to the player base as it’s more likely to bring about a topic players want to discuss.

For example, if you did your current system, the next topic for wvw would be skill lag. This is a pointless topic, as there is nothing players can really do or say to change it. So having a topic on skill lag and a topic on rewards would allow for far more discussion instead of the ‘oh, this weeks is not relavent to me, now I have to wait three weeks before something comes up. Anet really doesn’t care about wvw’ opinion and posts that may occur.

I agree with this, but would like to add that 2 new topics don’t necessarily have to be added at the same time. A staggered release of topics could be beneficial. The end result will still be that two topics are always up, but by introducing the topics one at a time by staggering their start date, you create a period of greater focus for the new topic while allowing trailing discussion to be wrapped up on the older topic.
Sticking with the “topics last 1 week” example: topic A is started Monday, topic B is started Thursday, the following monday Topic A ends and C starts, the following Thursday Topic B ends and D starts.
The draw back being that this is more convoluted, and could be a minor pain to keep track of instead of just evenly splitting your focus between two topics.

I think all threads should go simultaneously because they regard different a parts of community which can be explained better by the picture below.
Only a very few of all players are interested in all aspects of the game

Arewn.2368:

StriderShinryu.6923:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

Chris

Personally, I’m not a fan.

I can understand that it would allow the higher ups who have their hands in a number of areas to participate in each as they became active. I think one issue that the CDI faces right now, however, is momentum. The current threads have already been something of a wasteland for meaningful interaction. Perhaps I’m not the normal player, but I play PvE nearly exclusively (I’ve popped into WvW a few times and haven’t touched PvP at all). I’d imagine many players are in the same boat as me, except maybe they focus on WvW or PvP instead. By alternating areas of focus you’re basically going to be leaving the players not interested in that area of the game in the lurch for two weeks at a time.

There’s already a problem with a lack of interaction, and not really addressing entire subsets of players at all for certain periods is just going to make that worse.

On the other hand, it means they can focus entirely on your issues when it comes to your turn. By ‘your’ I of course mean the area of the game you’re interested in.

The real draw back I see is the potential that, with the 2week release schedule of the living story, some of the PvE CDIs could miss entire patches. Alternatively a WvW CDI or PvP CDI might not match up well with the timing of a patch that focuses on one of those aspects if they adhere to a strict rotation of topics.

I don’t really see that as much of a drawback personally as the CDI doesn’t seem tied to the regular patches anyway. We already have individual forum sections relating to each content patch and those, honestly, receive some of the most common Dev response anyway. The CDI, as I understand it, is something that is supposed to address the game on a larger perspective. We’ve already been told in the previous CDI threads that due to how the devs are approaching the CDI in relation to their chosen development process any real major changes we see from it are going to be appearing months down the line at the earliest.

It’s not so much that I feel certain issues need to be addressed, be they mine or those belonging to anyone. It’s more that the CDI as a whole is lacking in momentum and results right now, amongst other issues. Once the process has proven useful to the players and not just the developers, and once many of the big topics have been tackled, I can see slowing things down. Right now, however, it needs to be established that the CDI is important to the development team and if that means they need to spend more time and attention on it, then I don’t see that as being a bad thing for the game in the long run. If they go to a three week rotation, then players are just going to forget about it even existing as anything more than a tri weekly poll.

Shadow Blade.1324:

while its good that the initiative continues and you hopefully learn things from it, one of the major issues is that you wont talk about future plans, this creates the issue of having you go off and develop things and have no direct feedback on them till they are ready to launch and cannot be changed, do you really want another 200+ page thread of wild speculation and distress because you announce a new feature/ direction days before its patched in?

we need to know about things at a point where our feedback can still make a difference in how its implemented or have it scrapped and reiterated. We also need to have an idea of long term plans ie what are you doing once all the ascended gear is out? should we expect a level cap increase, will achievements ever be meaningful? etc.

So that we can in good time contribute to the development of the systems/ design
otherwise the feedback is meaningless as you will thank us for it say you have taken it on board and we will likely not see any indication of how it has been integrated into the decision making process

for this to be successful the last part is really important, we need to see it making a difference, otherwise whats the point, you may as well continue saying “thanks for feedback we will ignore it and are doing X anyway”

Absolutely.

I honestly have no issues with the developers saying “Thanks for your feedback but we’re going with X” as long as it’s followed up by “And this is why we’re going with X.”

Without getting a deeper insight into the development process and being shown what the bigger picture is, the CDI is going to continue to feel like smoke and mirrors at best, and totally disingenuous at worst. I can respect when a developer has a vision and a plan, and can then articulate that to me even if I don’t agree with what they are going for. A developer just saying “Thanks, but we know what we’re doing” and leaving it at that makes me feel as if the input I am giving, and input that was directly asked for, is falling on deaf ears. It leaves me feeling patronized as if I’m being patted on the head and told to go sit back down in the corner. The CDI should be about collaboration and collaboration requires discussion; a real back and forth even if one side is ultimately in charge of making all the final decisions.

Ronah.2869:

I think all threads should go simultaneously because they regard different a parts of community which can be explained better by the picture below.
Only a very few of all players are interested in all aspects of the game

A note on that though: I’m sure that the PvP section of the game would love for more PvE-ers to join in. For that to work the PvE-ers would have to tell them what would need to happen in PvP to make it interesting.

The same goes for WvW on lower tier servers. With Edge of the Mists coming up there would be room for everyone in WvW. So the more people that play it, the merrier. At the moment I’m not interested in it at all, but I might regain interest if some things changed. And CDI seems to me to be the best place to tell the devs what changes would pull me back in.

Going with a three-week schedule has the downside of being slower to those that are happy with their life on an island. But the upside of perhaps being able to build bridges between these islands.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Chidori.9483:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

Chris

To be sure I understand

Week one: PvE thread
Week two: PvP thread
Week three Wvw thread?

My thoughts are that there are different devs on different teams responding to feedback on each of these three areas. Would you be able to respond to WvW feedback? If my understanding is right and different devs would respond to the different areas, I think that we should have three threads open for each area at a time.

Unless the lead time would allow you to set aside more time when your week comes around? Then I’d be all for it.

Yep it means i would be able to contribute both the WvW and PvP threads.

Chris

I would hope with a single thread to focus on that it would work better in engaging in a more interactive discussion. And, if you have a good interactive discussion, then you would provide more reason for people to believe they can make a difference. If this CDI is to work on all three areas, the next topic has to go so much better and the number one issue seems to be more dev interaction. If this is the only way to do that, then it sounds like a reasonable solution.

Also, to me, I think that you would need to be careful with alienating WvW and PvP since they can easily see (and have made comments) on how much better the interaction with PvE went. I would suggest starting with WvW then PvP then back to PvE again, if you choose to go this route.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

FYI if we go with the next topics from the initial call for topics threads (Global) then they are as follows:

PVE: Ascended Gear
PvP: Rewards and Progression
WvW: Skill Lag

These are all pretty focused topics which means we will be able to enter into the discussions more readily in terms of time. The bigger the topic the more divergent the discussions and this makes it harder for us to give them our full attention.

Chris

I agree that these seem pretty focused and also sound interesting to discuss.

I think Uttar is right about the WvW topic though. I think that skill lag is a huge hot button for WvW, but if they can’t provide meaningful discussion and vice versa, is it really a good topic for CDI? If you do not go with the topic, you could indicate that it was the second topic and link to the post mentioned so that they at least know it isn’t being ignored.

Can you post the next topic for WvW? That might give a better indication as to whether this one should be discussed anyway or if the third could create a better dynamic.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

FYI if we go with the next topics from the initial call for topics threads (Global) then they are as follows:

PVE: Ascended Gear
PvP: Rewards and Progression
WvW: Skill Lag

These are all pretty focused topics which means we will be able to enter into the discussions more readily in terms of time. The bigger the topic the more divergent the discussions and this makes it harder for us to give them our full attention.

Chris

I like these and looking forward to discuss them. Especialy ascended gear. I am very happy we can talk about it with you.

I got the impression that skill-lag is more of a technical thing, is there much to be discussed? Commander tag, however, could give some constructive feedback, I think

Upon consideration, I think the CDI threads should go into the forums that relate to the topic – so players see them there who aren’t already committed to CDI discussions, but perhaps after they’re locked they could go into an archive sub-forum specifically for them?

While at first I thought a CDI sub-forum might be useful, I’m now suspicious that it would not reach the broader range of player-posters. Perhaps one reason the Living Storyline thread is longer than the others is that its in a more widely viewed venue…

I read many of the Dev posts, being a fan of the Dev Posts sub-forum. I often see them remark that some question or topic is out of their area of expertise and thus, have little or nothing to respond with.

My impression, also, was that the three CDI threads were attended by Devs whose area of game or content concerned that particular CDI thread. I’m not saying other Devs couldn’t post their opinions, but it seemed as though, mostly, the threads were answered by Devs who were associated with the development of that thread’s main topic.

So…I question why there would need to be only one CDI thread active at a time, giving the reason for this mode to be so Devs would not be split between threads. I can understand Chris and Colin having input for each thread as Game Directors, etc., but not so much the other Devs.

Perhaps, the Leads for each area could be the ones to summarize in the threads, and send those that may be spread too thin their synopses, and those game-wide Devs could then follow-up where they felt the need or desire to do so.

Maybe I don’t understand how it all works, though….

Edit: Also, aren’t there CDI Process Evolution threads in each of the 3 sub-forums? Why do we discuss WvW’s thread or PvP’s thread here? Is there no one there to discuss their threads and upcoming topics?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Edit: Also, aren’t there CDI Process Evolution threads in each of the 3 sub-forums? Why do we discuss WvW’s thread or PvP’s thread here? Is there no one there to discuss their threads and upcoming topics?

you should check out the wvw cdi and then the wvw cdi discusion thread and you would easily see why wvw players would come here to discuss things with dev’s.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

The next topic for WvW after skill lag is: Commander mechanics and Commander tag functionality.

Chris

Allow me to use my powers of true prophecy to sum up the “CDI – WvW Skill Lag” thread in its entirety before it even happens:

Players: We hate skill lag. It makes us look like incompetents.
ANet: We hate it too. We’re working on it right now.

Now its possible that on this side of the fence there are some amazing network coders who have torn apart your engine in far more detail than the EULA allows and can offer some amazingly detailed and cogent suggestions for managing your packet handling and who would risk bans for revealing they know that much about your engine architecture… And your coders might love to meet and chat with them on a level 99% of us reading will never understand… But I’m not sure its a bet I’d be willing to take, investing your single CDI WvW ‘slot’ for the week or two it would require to bear fruit or prove fruitless.

Commander functionality seems far more interesting. Especially because it can also contribute a lot to other areas of the game (PvE). Sure, so does skill lag, but that one seems way too technical.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

While i agree that the topic may not be suitable as a CDI topic, it is worth noting that there is a lot more to this topic than performance optimization. Opportunities and evolution on this area are also impacted by Game Design quite heavily.

Ok, now this is interesting. From just that little snippet I realize I’d like to know more about it ((“Impacted by Game Design” you say? Hmm…)). I accept that my initial understanding of WvW skill lag issues is simplistic, and that such a thread might actually be very informative… which suggests something that applies to CDIs in general: It might be VERY useful for the one of the Devs associated with the nuts and bolts of each topic to~

A) Write a strong opening post for the CDI topic that lays the groundwork – sort of a primer so that readers have a little more grounding in the topic being addressed – put this right up front, either as post 1 (followed by the rules in post 2) or post 2 (following the rules in post 1). If you put it in post 1, you can also use the Q/A toggle to ensure this primer appears at the top of every page when viewing the topic .

B) Have time freed up on the their schedule to host the topic for the week/10 days/whatever fixed length you want it to run. Give them 45 minutes each day they’re expected by ANet to read and comment during the thread’s run. You’ve been the voice of several of these and might be again in the future, but for some of these more tightly themed topics ANet needs a spokesman who literally knows it better than anyone AND is clear that they are being pushed forward to listen and consider ideas that might be outside their comfort zone.

I will probably be swatted down, and infracted, but….

It’s almost always Nike. Even if someone else proposed nearly the same ideas…..it’s Nike.
I give up. =(

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I will probably be swatted down, and infracted, but….

It’s almost always Nike. Even if someone else proposed nearly the same ideas…..it’s Nike.
I give up. =(

((Looks embarrassed))

I know I eat up a lot of the dialogue, but I’m not laying claim to the ideas. A lot of what I do is just synthesize and summarize other posts. If I usurped your thoughts I’m sorry and do apologize .

Nike.2631:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I will probably be swatted down, and infracted, but….

It’s almost always Nike. Even if someone else proposed nearly the same ideas…..it’s Nike.
I give up. =(

((Looks embarrassed))

I know I eat up a lot of the dialogue, but I’m not laying claim to the ideas. A lot of what I do is just synthesize and summarize other posts. If I usurped your thoughts I’m sorry and do apologize .

I don’t think the issue is that anyone feels like you’re “stealing” or “usurping” ideas, I think it’s more that- agree or disagree, you’re the one getting the direct interaction. EDIT: Which is in no way your doing, I feel compelled to add!

Nike.2631:

B) Have time freed up on the their schedule to host the topic for the week/10 days/whatever fixed length you want it to run. Give them 45 minutes each day their expected by ANet to read and comment during the thread’s run. You’ve been the voice of several of these and might be again in the future, but for some of these more tightly themed topics ANet needs a spokesman who literally knows it better than anyone AND is clear that they are being pushed forward to listen and consider ideas that might be outside their comfort zone.

Fo’ real.

Chris!
Put those Project Managers/Production Managers to use!!!!
Get them to factor in time for the CDI without fail. The main thing here, is you should be treating the CDI as a must-have component of your working day. You clock in, you start work on project X, break for lunch, come back from lunch and do your short CDI time (or do the CDI during lunch if you’re that eager!), have a meeting/status update etc, then continue with your projects till closing.

The sooner you take it on board as a factor of your timetable, the less “sorry, don’t have much time” situations will arise.

Guhracie.3419:

I don’t think the issue is that anyone feels like you’re “stealing” or “usurping” ideas, I think it’s more that- agree or disagree, you’re the one getting the direct interaction. EDIT: Which is in no way your doing, I feel compelled to add!

Believe me, I’m aware. While its nice to get direct feedback, I’m a bit edgy that I’m inadvertently hogging the stage.

One strategy that may help my fellow posters is to open with small quotes from the Dev posting you are responding to – structure your thoughts so they are conversational rather than stand-alone essays, and arrange them so that Devs reading it see your comments as a fluid extension of what they just said – it lends context and makes it easier for them to respond as if it were a steady and ongoing discussion.

And be concise. I’ve noticed Chris never trims a post he’s responding to, which means the shorter yours is, the more space he has for answering .

Chris, when you return could you comment on the response and implimentation trnaround for some of the ideas we have put forth? Im not talking about exact timeframes but for things like adjusting the amount of achievement grind, for example…is that something that could happen relatively quickly like a mon or two…or are we looking at many months before we see and result of these discussions.

I know internal discussions need to happen, coding, etc… But on some of the topics we talked about for living story, the amount of my playtime may be determined by how quickly some of thisgetsput in. Thanks

Nike.2631:

Guhracie.3419:

I don’t think the issue is that anyone feels like you’re “stealing” or “usurping” ideas, I think it’s more that- agree or disagree, you’re the one getting the direct interaction. EDIT: Which is in no way your doing, I feel compelled to add!

Believe me, I’m aware. While its nice to get direct feedback, I’m a bit edgy that I’m inadvertently hogging the stage.

One strategy that may help my fellow posters is to open with small quotes from the Dev posting you are responding to – structure your thoughts so they are conversational rather than stand-alone essays, and arrange them so that Devs reading it see your comments as a fluid extension of what they just said – it lends context and makes it easier for them to respond as if it were a steady and ongoing discussion.

And be concise. I’ve noticed Chris never trims a post he’s responding to, which means the shorter yours is, the more space he has for answering .

I think it also ties into the feeling of being on a similar wavelength. We all like to communicate with people who are receptive to how we communicate; that’s pretty much just human nature. And once that rapport has been established, it’s comfortable to go back. I don’t believe it’s intentional, and I don’t think it’s anything to feel bad about (especially not you, Nike), but I do think it’s something Chris should be mindful of now that it’s been mentioned.

Nike.2631:

Guhracie.3419:

I don’t think the issue is that anyone feels like you’re “stealing” or “usurping” ideas, I think it’s more that- agree or disagree, you’re the one getting the direct interaction. EDIT: Which is in no way your doing, I feel compelled to add!

Believe me, I’m aware. While its nice to get direct feedback, I’m a bit edgy that I’m inadvertently hogging the stage.

One strategy that may help my fellow posters is to open with small quotes from the Dev posting you are responding to – structure your thoughts so they are conversational rather than stand-alone essays, and arrange them so that Devs reading it see your comments as a fluid extension of what they just said – it lends context and makes it easier for them to respond as if it were a steady and ongoing discussion.

And be concise. I’ve noticed Chris never trims a post he’s responding to, which means the shorter yours is, the more space he has for answering .

yeah pretty much this i got responded too alot before i got cranky about how chris and the wvw dev’s completely dropped the ball on the wvw cdi and are continuing to drop the ball on the wvw cdi. Try to understand it is a large group conversation and build upon other people comments or try to make sure people who summarize your idead better than you get the attention they deserve. It is easier for them to respond to directly questions that are easily answerable. Also changing your name to nike might help.