Lack of communication during holidays

Lack of communication during holidays

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Posted by: PraetorMortis.8610

PraetorMortis.8610

Every forum of every type on this site has the same things: posts that support the game, posts that hate on the game, and posts that many times offer thoughtful or constructive ideas for improving the game. The one thing that is consistently absent on the forums is Arenanet. Official responses or really any feedback of any sort is so few and far between it begs the question: WHERE IS ARENANET???? 99% of the time a post with the Anet tag is simply a mod shutting down or moving a thread. When players come together to offer serious suggestions for improving the game – Arenanet ignores them. When players offer legitimate complaints about seriously broken aspects of the game – silence.

Arenanet, I am asking you to start communicating with players and the community at large in a more active and meaningful way. But I’m sure that instead of actually being responsive or addressing issues….you’ll just infract my account or delete this thread.

Thanks.

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Posted by: Ryltair.2857

Ryltair.2857

Although the devs are most certainly not ignoring us, I can understand that their relatively few posts would create a view like that.

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Posted by: Arsenic Touch.7960

Arsenic Touch.7960

That was one of my Christmas wishes, that anet would actually start communicating with it’s player base and interact with them on the forums. I should’ve asked for some coal, at least it would’ve kept me warm at night.

It’s nothing out of the ordinary, they have a stellar track record with communication ever since gw1, and gw2 isn’t any different/.

Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?

Dragonbrand – Level 80 – Human Ranger

(edited by Arsenic Touch.7960)

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Posted by: Artemis Noir.3804

Artemis Noir.3804

For the most part I become irritated by the non-constructive moan threads, but I agree with the OP.
One of the major causes of failed relationships is a lack of communication between the parties involved. Most marriage therapists will tell you this.
The relationship between a business (especially a game developer) and its customer base is very similar IMO. If people feel as though they are not being heard, even when they are polite and constructive, they become disheartened, and previously supportive customers start to feel disgruntled.

Even with something so simple as patch notes there is a distinct lack of communication on the part of Anet. I’m sure we all remember the recent temporary removal of armour previews outside of one’s class. Had Anet included a detailed explanation in the patch notes the ensuing kerfuffle and confusion could have been easily avoided. Instead, it took at least three threads on the topic before receiving an official response.

Further, without communication there is a far greater tendency for people to concoct absurd conspiracy theories. Is this really what Anet wants?

(edited by Artemis Noir.3804)

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Posted by: Hawkmoon.5849

Hawkmoon.5849

Clearly, they don’t care.

Now, looking at that statement, it’s easy to say, “sure they do, they are busy, etc.” but when you examine ANet Dev and staff responses and level of communication here on the forums to many other current MMOs (I like Rift as an example in this case), the difference is night and day.

Let’s look, shall we?

ANet’s dev tracker shows Jason King (Live Response Team), Gaile Gray (Support Liaison), and Ashley Segovia (technical support). These are the last 3 pages of the Dev tracker. Not a single developer posting (technically, I guess you can count Jason as a member of the development team, per the information we were given about what the “Live Response Team” is).

Let’s look at Rift’s Dev tracker:
today, 3:23 PM: Taticus, Senior Content Designer
12/27: Taticus
12/24: Zorba (player API developer)
12/23: Taticus…. 3 or 4 times.
12/19: Amary- Rift’s very own Patch Notary… you know, the person who posts patch notes AS THE PATCH GOES ONTO THE SERVER.
12/19: Dalgar, Lead Developer
…that’s only the first 5 notable postings. Not even half a page.

… shall I go on? This, right here ^ is called “communication”. It’s a neat trick to doing business. ANet should try it some time.

Hope is the carrot dangled before the draft horse that plods along in the vain attempt to reach it

(edited by Hawkmoon.5849)

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Posted by: Durian.5419

Durian.5419

They are on vacation, or did you miss those posts.

Takkek Twicechosen, bone-collecting ranger of Plague[SICK]

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Posted by: Conncept.7638

Conncept.7638

Enjoying their time off, it’s Christmas vacation.

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Posted by: Artemis Noir.3804

Artemis Noir.3804

@Hawkmoon,
The Rift communication looks very good.

Equally, though I have never played the game, I have seen WoW’s patch notes and they are extremely detailed as well.

There is much I truly love about GW2, despite the need for fixes in various places, but were I to give Anet a grade on their communication it would be no higher than a C+, and that is only if I were in a generous mood.
I’ve worked in marketing… regular and informative communication with your customers or client base is KEY.

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Posted by: Hawkmoon.5849

Hawkmoon.5849

@Hawkmoon,
The Rift communication looks very good.

Equally, though I have never played the game, I have seen WoW’s patch notes and they are extremely detailed as well.

There is much I truly love about GW2, despite the need for fixes in various places, but were I to give Anet a grade on their communication it would be no higher than a C+, and that is only if I were in a generous mood.
I’ve worked in marketing… regular and informative communication with your customers or client base is KEY.

Yes, and the things I posted don’t even touch the regularly scheduled live feeds in which the Dev team sits down and takes player questions- MINUS the “PR speak” ANet is famous for…

For those of you saying “they’re on vacation”, that’s great. But it doesn’t excuse the terrible level of communication we’ve had prior to the holidays.

Communication is critical these days. Social media, Twitch.tv and YouTube, fansites, and yes, especially the official forums… there are so many options for ANet to give players the feeling like they’re in the loop and know what’s going on with the game they love, and they fall abysmally short in this regard.

For the new year, I’d love to see a new strategy from ANet on their level of player communication.

Hope is the carrot dangled before the draft horse that plods along in the vain attempt to reach it

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Posted by: Peets.8529

Peets.8529

I find they actually communicate a lot. Patience is something we have lost long ago.
If they have to communicate at the rate you want then they won’t have any time to actually do something…

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

Well they’re obviously not ignoring us because they have made changes to the game based on player feedback, much of it on this forum. For example the wintersday jump puzzle was obviously an attempt to improve on the halloween one – splitting players into smaller groups, making the platforms clearer, getting rid of the glitched animation at the start etc.

They could potentially reply to the forum more, but bear in mind they’re not going to do it in their spare time so all the time they spend tracking down the threads that they want to reply to, typing replies, explaining their replies, explaining the explaination (you know they’d have to) and then explaining why they aren’t replying to other threads or using those ideas is time they’re not actually working on the game.

And IMO it’d be for relatively little benefit to us. We can see when they’ve listened when the changes appear in-game. All we’d gain from them posting it on the forum is well is even more people with a sense of entitlement demanding that Anet respond to their thread.

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: Artemis Noir.3804

Artemis Noir.3804

I find they actually communicate a lot. Patience is something we have lost long ago.
If they have to communicate at the rate you want then they won’t have any time to actually do something…

Except that usually the people working the communications lines are not the same as those doing the actual programming.
Also, as mentioned, other MMOs (and yes, they do have their own set of faults) do a much better job with communication.

But anyway… Here’s to hoping that it will all improve in the new year.

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Posted by: Ponendus.4987

Ponendus.4987

Creating an expansion for us.

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Posted by: Firegoth.6427

Firegoth.6427

They might be replying in a normal account defending the game without you realizing.

1+1 = potato

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Posted by: Rainu.6871

Rainu.6871

@Hawkmoon: their communication is lackin, no doubt about it. The example with the dev tracker is a bit faulty though considering that those 3 pages might have posts only by a few people but it’s 3 pages of posts made during the last 5 days which is the holidays. In other words, these people deserve kudos for posting as much as they do (Gaile even mentiond that she came to work on Christmas day on her own time to answer people’s questions)

IIRC Chris Whiteside said in the reddit AMA that he agrees on there being too little communication and he’d try to improve on it after the holidays. Hopefully he/they will follow up on this and have a more open communication with their players. I can understand not wanting to say too much about future changes due to how it can blow up in their faces if they change their mind but things like adressing where they stand on issues that are often brought up (stealth&culling, drop rates, etc) would be good both for them and for the player base’s trust in them.

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Posted by: Iris.5918

Iris.5918

I agree with the OP, there is such a lack of communication it’s hard to believe. It’s time they realise it has a negative impact on how players feel about the game.

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Posted by: Alice.8694

Alice.8694

Clearly, they don’t care.

Yes because betting the lively hoods of 250 developers on a risky and high maintenance product is totally not worth caring about.

They have said on numerous occasions during the latest AMA they had on reddit that developer/player communication is lacking severely. These things take time to implement and while important, shouldn’t take precedent over other things they are working on.

The forums rules actually say do not make threads calling arenanet out. There are better ways to present things than trying to cause sensationalism.
That you seem to think that Arenanet should be answering all the player call outs WHILE developing and working on the game is absurd. There is only so much time in a work day. Would you rather they were answering many of the sensationalist rants repeatedly posted all over the forum or actively working to fix the problems that are within the game while improving and adding new content.

It’s either/or… take your pick.

In development you are forced to make harsh choices with your time. Choosing to work on one thing may permanently prevent you from working on another.

Feedback is being fed to those who need to know, we know this because things mentioned here have been worked on actively and some ideas given by the player base have turned up within the game.

Better communication from the developers would be nice, but constant babysitting of peoples feedback is totally unnecessary and needless. Most developers who do it either do it within their own personal time or sacrifice dev time for it. Many questions and requests require answers from several different teams and would likely be a lot of work to compile.

It’s never gonna be 1:1.

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Posted by: Firegoth.6427

Firegoth.6427

In my guild, anyone hardly ever checks the forums.
As much as I agree with everyone, the forums are a complete minority of the population and does not even represent 1%.

1+1 = potato

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Posted by: PraetorMortis.8610

PraetorMortis.8610

Anyone familiar with MMO-champion.com can see the dev notes Blizzard puts out. Often these notes detail changes the devs are working on/trying out as well as their thinking behind them. i.e “Class X isn’t performing as strongly as we’d like and we are examining some possible fixes” or “we’ve noticed skill X is hitting a little too hard in most encounters and we’d like to tone it down.”

I think that’s all many of would like. To hear that our concerns are being heard and to know what possible fixes are on the table. I’m patient enough to wait for content/patches/fixes IF I know they are coming. The vaguery that Arenanet puts forth is so cloudy that they might as well just say, “We’re gonna do something sometime” and leave it at that.

Communication is key in any business and the level of communication Arenanet has put forth displays either an utter lack of understanding the basics of business or a toal disregard for the concerns of the players. Either one is unacceptable IMO.

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Posted by: MistyMountains.3751

MistyMountains.3751

How many games do u play where developers actively post on the forums? …Cause honestly ive never played one where it was “actively” …LoL’s developers will post here and there, and a few other mmos i see active GM’s…You do realize the developers have better things to do then respond to every post on the forums

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Posted by: Graill.8596

Graill.8596

With my time at my job before i retired constant communication with customers and subcontractors (ours being military) was a must. 24 hour communication everyday, no matter how small the update.

A quote from Anet, i cannot post the email or i will get trashed by the billy club bully that runs this forum, stated that “We do not feel there is a need to communicate daily or often” words to that effect, changed slightly to not be in violation but 99% sums it up.

I stated i disagree, the dev felt otherwise. Again, you see an unregulated industry with no fines or consequence do as they want, the only pressure customers can bring to bear is not to spend real cash, but targeted demographics ensure a solid cash flow.

These Anet folks know what they can get away with and these forums will do little to influence them unless they see it threaten their gemstore game mechanic wise, and lack of constant communication is not something they want to do.

This next fact is also not opinion, people need to remember, customers of an MMO game or any video game are not considered in the same way customers of say Home Depot (Example), or a large automobile manufacturing firm are considered upon purchase of an item. Something we as consumers must take into consideration when demanding changes to the product. Without stiff penalties hanging over their heads alot of these phd programmers simply laugh at regulation and the masses of complaints, i know, i have had them do it to my face, right before i had them canned.

Things to think about.

There is no worse feeling than that during an argument, you realize you are wrong.

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Posted by: Torvic.8256

Torvic.8256

Where is Arenanet????

In Bellevue, Washington.

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Posted by: Hawkmoon.5849

Hawkmoon.5849

Clearly, they don’t care.

The forums rules actually say do not make threads calling arenanet out. There are better ways to present things than trying to cause sensationalism.

Never claimed or intended to “cause sensationalism”.

That you seem to think that Arenanet should be answering all the player call outs WHILE developing and working on the game is absurd.

Never said that, or implied it, either.

Would you rather they were answering many of the sensationalist rants repeatedly posted all over the forum or actively working to fix the problems that are within the game while improving and adding new content.

I believe I stated my opinion of what I wanted quite clearly. In case I didn’t, let me give you a summation:
I would like to see increased communication from the Development Team. This would include interaction on a semi-regular basis, via forum, live stream, AMA (although I personally believe that Reddit is horrible…), or even an in-game Q&A like we used to see in GW1. I did not, however, suggest that they answer sensationalist posts; I would agree that there are many. However, there are also several legitimate issues and problems presented that are ignored until eventually swept under the rug. This is where “increased communication” comes into play.

It’s either/or… take your pick.

I disagree, as I think most players would.

Better communication from the developers would be nice, but constant babysitting of peoples feedback is totally unnecessary and needless. Most developers who do it either do it within their own personal time or sacrifice dev time for it. Many questions and requests require answers from several different teams and would likely be a lot of work to compile.

It’s never gonna be 1:1.

I wouldn’t expect it to be 1:1, and didn’t imply that it should be. I did, however, show another example of a game in the same market, in which Developer communication is considerably better, and far more consistent. Rift manages to release major content updates on a regular basis (just released a major expansion pack called Storm Legion, if you didn’t know), and yet maintains a level of communication that is far and above what we’ve seen from ANet. If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to check out their forums- you don’t even need the game to read their boards.

All I’m saying, is that the communication here has been terrible, and there’s really no good reason for it that we’ve seen or heard (I’m all ears if someone would like to correct me on that). You cite things like hours in the day; then explain why Trion publishes such an amazing product in Rift and yet manages to maintain a solid and open line of communication with their playerbase? I’m not making it up. As I said, you can go right to their site, and see who has what job title, and how often they’ve been posting. It’s not a “specialized team” of people who interface with the community (although they have those, too- their CM James “Elrar” is awesome); it’s the actual class leads and content designers and developers.

Hope is the carrot dangled before the draft horse that plods along in the vain attempt to reach it

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Posted by: Szitler.4802

Szitler.4802

I partially agree with you here, but as stated above, no doubt they WILL be checking the forums… They dont have to respond to every single thread because as their job titles state they are “developers” – meaning they have much more important things to do like designing new aspects of the game, and they will also have their own projects within their teams to work on…

Compared to a lot of other MMO’s, these guys respond a lot! Just because RIFT’s developers post more often, doesnt mean Anet are slacking behind..

You have to put yourself in their shoes. They go to work everyday like me or you, go to the office, loads up their PC , checks all the work they have for the day. They will certainly not have a lot of time dedicated to debating with a lot of the loose end characters you get mumbling on on the forums!!

Just think back to GW1 where it could take months and months for a ticket to be responded too, i had to wait nearly half a year for an account recover, by that time i had lost interest.

be patient………..

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Posted by: kiba.2768

kiba.2768

thing with communication is….anet has to be careful with the wording and the exact meaning behind each statement they make, because they are considered OFFICIAL posts.

if something was said that wasn’t completely true and someone(probably a ton) of players found out(which has happened) imagine the amount of flak the devs come under.

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Posted by: nofo.8469

nofo.8469

thing with communication is….anet has to be careful with the wording and the exact meaning behind each statement they make, because they are considered OFFICIAL posts.

if something was said that wasn’t completely true and someone(probably a ton) of players found out(which has happened) imagine the amount of flak the devs come under.

ahaha yeah, we gotta “imagine” that.

Yes there is a reason they are quiet, because almost anything they say will be met with a lot of cynicism and spite, not that its unwarranted mind you.

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Posted by: Essence Snow.3194

Essence Snow.3194

Going with the benefit of the doubt and saying holiday vacation…it’s not exactly a working man’s job thus actually having time off. lol How nice would it be to say it’ll be done when it’s done to your boss? Must be nice…ofc I am the pot!

Serenity now~Insanity later

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Posted by: Narkosys.5173

Narkosys.5173

Well after how well the ama went I wouldnt hold my breath. After the 15 of Nov and the ama it has been silent save Robert in the dungeon directory asking about bugs.

As far as I know 1 person works there with 50 mods for the forums and it explains the dire state the game is in.
All joking Aside I would rather not hear what they have to say since it is all condescending you dont know ….. crap they tell us.

Or it is well we didnt mean like that you arent interpreting it correctly. (ascend,DR bots,Wvw,TPVP).
Open world loot is 0 as in I get porous bones anets response over a month later is well nothing wrong but if you perceive. I and many others perceive nothing we know and see it. Just have the gonads to tell people to run facs all day.

NO I dont want them to communicate. I prefer they not say a thing and leave things alone. I would prefer to never hear from Mike O, Colin J, Chris W, Eric F again. They cant keep their word and will throw anything under the bus like GW1 without hesitation.

The damage has been done and all over the fan forums this game is taking a kicking. Those PO’d Nov 15th people have been going to work just like SWG did to TOR.

Now if they actually wanted a dialogue instead of wizzing on my shoe and telling me it is raining then I would be stunned. I think they really should listen to the community before it is too late. Many people have great ideas on here and care a lot – talking with them would be a good start.

(edited by Narkosys.5173)

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Posted by: Alice.8694

Alice.8694

All I’m saying, is that the communication here has been terrible, and there’s really no good reason for it that we’ve seen or heard (I’m all ears if someone would like to correct me on that). You cite things like hours in the day; then explain why Trion publishes such an amazing product in Rift and yet manages to maintain a solid and open line of communication with their playerbase? I’m not making it up. As I said, you can go right to their site, and see who has what job title, and how often they’ve been posting. It’s not a “specialized team” of people who interface with the community (although they have those, too- their CM James “Elrar” is awesome); it’s the actual class leads and content designers and developers.

Firstly I wasn’t directly addressing you with my post, I was addressing the whole thread. Sorry if that quote seemed to imply I was directly critiquing you, I just found that quote to be particularly ridiculous.

Secondly you seemed to ignore half of this point… The point made was you either cut into the developers development time or their personal time.

Personally I already think the arenanet devs go above and beyond with the work they put out for us. Cutting into their personal time to answer many of the sensationalist player grievances would be detrimental to their well being. I’m sure they already do work over time at times to try and fit as much as they can into each patch. This is their creation and they clearly take pride in their work.

This is a true dichotomy… You can either cut into development time or you cut into their personal time. Either one is detrimental to the game as a whole and the net benefits are debatable.
Rift puts out content at a much slower rate than arenanet have been doing and personally I’d say its lower quality. However that is merely my opinion, what is not is that you cannot compare these two situations as equal as they are not.

Rifts player communication wasn’t always as it is today and it has been out considerably longer than gw2. The development team obviously had to make time in their work schedule to do these things, which means time they are not working on the game.

In time I am sure better communication will be achieved, the expectation that its there from the start of an mmorpgs release is basically expecting far too much.

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Posted by: nofo.8469

nofo.8469

All I’m saying, is that the communication here has been terrible, and there’s really no good reason for it that we’ve seen or heard (I’m all ears if someone would like to correct me on that). You cite things like hours in the day; then explain why Trion publishes such an amazing product in Rift and yet manages to maintain a solid and open line of communication with their playerbase? I’m not making it up. As I said, you can go right to their site, and see who has what job title, and how often they’ve been posting. It’s not a “specialized team” of people who interface with the community (although they have those, too- their CM James “Elrar” is awesome); it’s the actual class leads and content designers and developers.

Firstly I wasn’t directly addressing you with my post, I was addressing the whole thread. Sorry if that quote seemed to imply I was directly critiquing you, I just found that quote to be particularly ridiculous.

Secondly you seemed to ignore half of this point… The point made was you either cut into the developers development time or their personal time.

Personally I already think the arenanet devs go above and beyond with the work they put out for us. Cutting into their personal time to answer many of the sensationalist player grievances would be detrimental to their well being. I’m sure they already do work over time at times to try and fit as much as they can into each patch. This is their creation and they clearly take pride in their work.

This is a true dichotomy… You can either cut into development time or you cut into their personal time. Either one is detrimental to the game as a whole and the net benefits are debatable.
Rift puts out content at a much slower rate than arenanet have been doing and personally I’d say its lower quality. However that is merely my opinion, what is not is that you cannot compare these two situations as equal as they are not.

Rifts player communication wasn’t always as it is today and it has been out considerably longer than gw2. The development team obviously had to make time in their work schedule to do these things, which means time they are not working on the game.

In time I am sure better communication will be achieved, the expectation that its there from the start of an mmorpgs release is basically expecting far too much.

Expecting communication when the developers make drastic changes seemingly at random isn’t asking too much imho.

If this game was static, I would understand the lack of communication, but the devs are clearly making great efforts to evolve the game which is admirable.

Some players often have a lot of investment in the content of the game or their class, seeing it change so drastically without even a “hey, this is our goal with this content, if you have any suggestions or feedback we would love to hear it.” Something like that, even if it was shallow and they had no intention of listening to feedback would go a long way.

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Posted by: Alice.8694

Alice.8694

Expecting communication when the developers make drastic changes seemingly at random isn’t asking too much imho.

If this game was static, I would understand the lack of communication, but the devs are clearly making great efforts to evolve the game which is admirable.

Some players often have a lot of investment in the content of the game or their class, seeing it change so drastically without even a “hey, this is our goal with this content, if you have any suggestions or feedback we would love to hear it.” Something like that, even if it was shallow and they had no intention of listening to feedback would go a long way.

And yet there has been communication regarding major changes. They certainly seem to prefer only communicating about certain changes rather than ambiguous promises which might not be achievable.

Can you blame them when there are players willing to scour the dev blogs for contradictions to make demands and sensationalism?

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Posted by: lagrangeify.5641

lagrangeify.5641

Isn’t it pretty much business as usual though? In all my years of playing these games I’m struggling to think of one company that really had any significant presence on their own forums.

Maybe it’s considered a best practice thing, knowing how hard to please and often out and out hostile MMO forum communities can be, it wouldn’t surprised me if it was a policy. I recall when the Tera EU blood patch business blew up, their community managers got a very rough time of it, it seemed the more they tried to engage the more heated everybody got.

Trion are pretty hands on if I recall.

Actually, on balance I think ANet are pretty good at posting news items and such. Where they really fall down is with these stealth nerfs. I’m also not too keen on getting patch notes after the patch, it’d be nice to see some discussion on the reasoning for what are often pretty broad sweeping changes.

(edited by lagrangeify.5641)

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Posted by: Ponendus.4987

Ponendus.4987

Maybe they are enjoying the holiday season with their families?

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Posted by: Nurse.1085

Nurse.1085

I honestly think it’s easier for them to stay quiet.

Think about it. Everything an Anet Dev says is picked apart and talked about and it’s as if everything they say is set in stone. For example, if an Anet Dev said “Oh, that’s a good idea” it could easily be blown into “WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT!!!??!?!?” by the community. When in reality, there are no plans for such an idea to be made, the Dev was simply stating that it was a good idea and maybe in the future.

In addition, the community holds the Anet Dev’s words as the Golden Rule. Set in Stone. Never to be changed. It’s easier for them to stay quiet about something and decide among themselves the best plan of action. If they decide on something, share it with the community, and then decide it was a bad idea and take it back, the community would throw a fit one way or another. Example: “You promised me this. You went back on your word. I can’t trust you.” As past patterns have demonstrated.

Just as another example, Jon promised certain Ranger changes but the Dev team couldn’t meet the “deadline” the Ranger community expected of them. What happened? The Ranger community exploded. How could it have been avoided? If he didn’t say anything to begin with.

However, I do wish Anet would communicate more with things they plan to do in the close future. For example, I’d love to know some of the ideas and plans they have for the Jan/Feb patch that they know they can deliver. It’d also be nice if they acknowledged faults in the game that they’re confident needs to be addressed. But again, it’s just easier and safer to stay quiet.

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Posted by: Zeldain.5710

Zeldain.5710

This is not a sub-based game, they don’t have the resources.

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Posted by: Grunties.6841

Grunties.6841

They might still be posting on Reddit

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Posted by: Xolo.3580

Xolo.3580

I should have made a bet on someone creating a thread with this topic. It’s Wintersday in real life guys, many people working at Anet will have time off for the holidays.

Lack of communication during holidays

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Posted by: Four Jacks Twice.2537

Four Jacks Twice.2537

This seems to happen with most MMOs, at least the one’s I’ve experienced, where devs might be relatively chatty and communicative during beta but as soon as the game is launched the shutters come down. I get the impression it’s some sort of corporate policy, that employees mustn’t be allowed to engage with customers unless they’re on some sort of approved PR list. Maybe it’s to prevent them accidentally making promises they can’t keep etc. Sometimes they give the impression that they don’t want to interfere with the “community”, as if they’re making some sort of nature documentary.

Either way it’s a bad call. If they want to give the impression they don’t care about the game, outside of churning out worthless holiday content transparently designed to drive gem sales, then they’re doing a great job.

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Posted by: tigirius.9014

tigirius.9014

Enjoying their time off, it’s Christmas vacation.

I’m all for having a holiday vacation but What’s the excuse for the other 3.5 months?

Balance Team: Please Fix Mine Toolbelt Positioning!

(edited by tigirius.9014)

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Posted by: Ace.1726

Ace.1726

I don’t know what you are talking about. Arenanet devs are always communicating with us. Look at the numerous interviews and podcast appearances they do.

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Posted by: Death Reincarnated.3570

Death Reincarnated.3570

What I noticed with the replies from ANet representatives is that they reply to simple and direct topics where there is little to none trolling and off-topic discussions.

There is definitely some bias towards what and when they anwser to. Why? Perhaps becasue they know what to write in those cases.

In any case, lack of long term communication between the parties is never a good sign.

Proud member of Legion of Honour XIII

Do not click this link!

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Posted by: HawkMeister.4758

HawkMeister.4758

Let´s see what the Devs of Firefall are doing on their Vacation.

CEO: 10+ posts
Various Community Devs: 10+ posts
Other Devs: 10+ posts

If you´re not posting on your very own boards then there are only two reasons.

You´re done caring and have “better things to do”.
You´re scared kittenpoop-less of your forum-userbase.

Both things are less than ideal, so my wallet will care much less too. And what´s actually even more important:
I will start caring less too, that means my support of your product by investing my life-time into it is going downwards too.

As I am not alone this means empty areas, empty guilds, dead servers -> dead company.

I think it can´t be explained any simpler.

Oh and simply throwing fluffy content at “the problem” (us), isn´t helping any either.
The old media is experiencing that conundrum in their bottom-line too.

Polish > hype

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Posted by: Rainu.6871

Rainu.6871

Red5 (Firefall devs) are indeed excellent in their communication and I’ve mentioned them before in similar discussions as this. It is not however really contributing much to the discussion by pointing out some studios that are comunicatung more (Firefall is also still in beta and as mentioned before, Anet were also quite active in commnications during their beta).

Is there a lack of communication? Yes and no. Support seems to be quite active but very few questions regarding the game itself are answered by designers. Hopefully it will improve once the holidays are over.

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Posted by: maddoctor.2738

maddoctor.2738

Wait for January 3rd
I expect both a “return to action” and a major patch announcement. Have some faith!

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Posted by: Bastion.2457

Bastion.2457

I could care less if a company talks to me or not. I play their game, I don’t want to speak to them about it, I just want to play it. I don’t buy games to enter into discussion with their support staff, if anything that’s the last thing I want as it means something is broken and needs fixing.

What happened to gamers that made them so needy for attention all the time?

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Posted by: Erasculio.2914

Erasculio.2914

What happened to gamers that made them so needy for attention all the time?

This. Most of the time, feedback given is extremely poor, suggestions are extremely bad, and the kind of player who uses the official forums the most is the vocal minority who matters the least in the game.

I hope that, right now, ArenaNet is enjoying their holidays with their families. When they come back, between using their time to work improving the game or talking with the forum community, I definitely hope they use their time improving the game.

“I think that players are starting to mature past the point of wanting to be on that
treadmill, of being in that obvious pattern of every time I catch up you are going to
put another carrot in front of me” – Mike O’Brien right before Ascended weapons

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Posted by: Red Falcon.8257

Red Falcon.8257

Anet employees are usually quite active in the forums, but not these days.
It’s holyday for them too. I don’t work at holydays, nor should them.

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Posted by: JJBigs.8456

JJBigs.8456

well im not sure but from what i knew, your not supposed to use any staff names or company in the title, so if you break CoC, ofc they are going to delete/edit/move your post. common sense

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Posted by: Nay of the Ether.8913

Nay of the Ether.8913

I hope they do delete this thread, it’s nonsense. It’s the holidays, I’m sure they’re just now starting to filter back into their offices, and yes I know we all wish they would get on the forums more, but honestly, if they’re busy working on patches and content instead of filtering through all the garbage on these forums then I’m happy with it. I’d much prefer fixes and updates over a Red sticker on threads.

http://almunns.wix.com/elitedeathsociety
~Surrender fiend and you will get an easy death
~I could promise you the same…but it would be a lie…

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Posted by: CC Charles.3675

CC Charles.3675

Community Coordinator

Next

Hello everyone,

It’s true that our team is a bit reduced due to this end of the year/celebration time.

However, I just wanted to tell you that we are still reading and forwarding all you concerns and requests to the appropriate teams. So no one has forgotten you.

I let this thread open, but please stay constructive and always write your posts according to the rules written in our code of conduct.

Thanks!