I'm curious, what's it like being part of the ZoS staff when the community is constantly...

GrimCyclone

tearing you a new @#%@#%@.

I mean I imagine some forum admin with their mocha java and their old IBM hand-me-down company terminal clicking through posts and doing their quota or whatever. They probably hardly care. Hell, they probably even laugh at half theses posts.

But seriously, what's is like for the developers when so much of the community has pitchforks at your door and are screaming at you? Bots running rampant. Famous gaming personalities completely roasting the game causing mini-exoduses due to poor public opinion.

Do you guys have round table meetings where some exec. screams at you? Is it hectic at the offices with all this chaos going on? Or is it just a floor or two in some megaplex with cubical partitions and you're average Sally and Steve quietly typing and clicking away at their endless list of coding assignments for the day that will probably take them 3 hours after the work day ends to finish due to low funding?

I mean, at this point, regardless of what you do to fix known issues or bots or whatever people are constantly crucifying you about, isn't it a little too late? The public interest in this game has dropped quite a lot and from this point on you'd really have to get some positive word-of-mouth out there to revitalize your content.

Not to mention your funders aren't going to be very liberal with you on future content considering this less-than-stellar launch. I'd say you got your work cut out for you guys. Hell, I like the game a lot... but I won't lie... it's got a bad reputation.

But you know what really kinda bugs me the most? Bugs. One thing ES was known for since Morrowind was bugs, bugs, bugs. Hell, Beth and bugs were synonymous. I would've thought that since a different company coded this or whatever people say, that this problem would've been drastically eliminated. And yet not only do we see the same kinda bugs, but I can't recall another mmo that's been this littered with them like this at launch.

ciannait

Is that Maru? I Maru.

(... That is all.)

DLaren

I imagine they have become quite adept at filtering out all of the noise...as most of the complaining is, "Why isn't ESO more like 'Generic MMO X'?!".

So far the crew behind ESO has done a great job of sticking to their vision despite the 'gaming-media' pressuring them to conform; and as long as they continue to tune-out the noise, they will continue to have me as a subscriber.

GrimCyclone

I like the game too. I just wanted it to be super popular, kill WoW and every other MMO. News coverage of it's raving success, etc. You know... is that asking for too much? The ES games are mostly my favorite games. I'm just kinda let down is all. This is my game... I don't want it to die. I don't want people to hate it. At least not like this.

Phantax

Zeni staff - "look guys it's another complaint thread"...

(Hands workmate a tissue)

lol

Phantax

Or the other obvious one -

Complaint, what complaint???

Induron

The delay in the launch of the console versions, and the way it was announced, deleted then confirmed again, is the main reason behind the recently attracted negative media coverage.

These will fade.

As for the views of the community - this is a mass opinion not so easily influenced but when and if eso finds the currently missing umpf factor in game - all shall be dandy.

Brittany_Joy

Well the negative attitude from the community is everywhere and not just ESO. WoW, Minecraft, GTA, and Halo are full of people hating on their game. It really seems like kids believe it is cool to be a mean.

The main reason why WoW is so popular is because of their Asia audience but that is dwindling because of the competitive MOBA games.

I think they already know that the world is filled with people with negative opinions. But ESO will succeed because their saving grace is the Elder Scrolls series; all they have to do is make the game more like an Elder Scrolls game which is what most of the complainers want. They say ESO is an okay game but if it actually represented what Elder Scrolls games are all about then it would be a masterpiece.

GrimCyclone

Brittany_Joy wrote: »

Well the negative attitude from the community is everywhere and not just ESO.

I'd agree with that. Lots of bitterbeards and just negative people out there. Seems like it's the "in thing" to be an ass to the topic creator or anyone these days. It's almost as if the trolls won and now the internet is more trolls than normal people. Now the trolls call the normal people trolls for wanting them to act nice.

With all the leftists online, you'd think it wouldn't be trending this way. We're suppose to all be good carebears now and spread love. Not divide each other and create animosity.

Crumpy

Yeah must be quite naff but for £50 a game plus subs they can take it

LIQUID741

Someone with technical skills needs to parody the GM's with Office Space movie..

"What would you say you do here?"

Lazarus_Long

GrimCyclone wrote: »

QQ Bad Reviews! QQ Bots! QQ Bad Reviews! QQ Going F2P! QQ Bugs! QQ Bad Coding! QQ Bugs!

I shortened your post for you.

GrimCyclone

Lazarus_Long wrote: »

GrimCyclone wrote: »

QQ Bad Reviews! QQ Bots! QQ Bad Reviews! QQ Going F2P! QQ Bugs! QQ Bad Coding! QQ Bugs!

I shortened your post for you.

We meet again, Trebek. I noticed that you couldn't sit down during the break. What's wrong sweetie? Did you have a date last night?

Pewpie

I imagine they are not really aware of what happens on the forums or in the actual game. I guess they do play some, but probably with themselves (not that!). Group with their buddies etc.

I think they believe the game is pretty good, and really miss out a lot of the fuzz people are doing on forums and similar regarding stuff that is broken.

With this big "community" people would be happy to get stories from the actual workplace.

Show us some flicks of what is going on in your studio? Give us a flick of the meeting where you discuss the current state of NB or PvP. Share to the community what you are working on.

It would have been great. Being a developer myself i would have enjoyed watching some stuff about what is going on "behind the scene" in the development.

Buy a GoPro and start sharing!

You don't need to be so secret about everything. You're not working at CIA. Its a silly game... sharing some about what is going on isn't going to hurt you.

Trenchfoot

I should imagine they take everything with a healthy pinch of salt and oodles of professionalism.

Assuming they're being paid to do a job then they should just do it.

If the forums are being flooded with threads regarding an element of the game then chances are there's something wrong with it, or at the very least not quite right. So you calmly take a sip of your tea and summarise the issue for inclusion in your next meeting. Simple as.

Doubt there's much drama in the office to be honest, not concerning the forums at least.

RazzPitazz

If it is like most other forums they probably habe different devs for different sections and some of them might not have anything else to do with the game. I imagine once the "new kid on the block" blues are taken care of we will see a lot more interaction.

Blackwidow

DLaren wrote: »

I imagine they have become quite adept at filtering out all of the noise...as most of the complaining is, "Why isn't ESO more like 'Generic MMO X'?!".

It's funny that I have never ever seen one person say that.

RianaTheBosmer

Brittany_Joy wrote: »

Well the negative attitude from the community is everywhere and not just ESO. WoW, Minecraft, GTA, and Halo are full of people hating on their game. It really seems like kids believe it is cool to be a mean.

The main reason why WoW is so popular is because of their Asia audience but that is dwindling because of the competitive MOBA games.

I think they already know that the world is filled with people with negative opinions. But ESO will succeed because their saving grace is the Elder Scrolls series; all they have to do is make the game more like an Elder Scrolls game which is what most of the complainers want. They say ESO is an okay game but if it actually represented what Elder Scrolls games are all about then it would be a masterpiece.

I agree with this. I am really enjoying the game. I do think it's too much on rails but it is an MMO. I don't complain about the game. I do tell them what they must work on to make this a spectacular game. I was playing it for hours with my friends last night. If it can keep our attention for hours when we've played many of the MMOs on the market, then it's a very good game.

Kyle_Roberts

Blackwidow wrote: »

DLaren wrote: »

I imagine they have become quite adept at filtering out all of the noise...as most of the complaining is, "Why isn't ESO more like 'Generic MMO X'?!".

It's funny that I have never ever seen one person say that.

Not sure if trolling or blind.

Nox_Aeterna

Yeah , i also wonder about that OP , still , they are professionals , so i expect them to do able to deal with this.

I do think they made some poor design choices , that to me were quite silly , if they just added a little bit more of effort and if they were not so linked to their vision , maybe the game would not be what it is now.

Note , im a player that prefers to play solo , so this does not even affect me , but for example , who thought it was a good idea to make bosses that you are forced to solo on the main course of the game? No really, who had this brilliant idea?

If they had made this like the world bosses , something aside that you can decide to do or not , it would have been fine , but why force this on the player so that they can progress the story line?

I got to vr9 , mostly by myself , while it is true i work with others on anchors/dungeons/some wb, and even if i understand it is possible , i cant see the need to grief players over this.

There are other many silly things , but if i began to talk about every minor thing they could just have made a little bit different and get a better reaction , i would be here all day.

Blackwidow

Kyle_Roberts wrote: »

Blackwidow wrote: »

DLaren wrote: »

I imagine they have become quite adept at filtering out all of the noise...as most of the complaining is, "Why isn't ESO more like 'Generic MMO X'?!".

It's funny that I have never ever seen one person say that.

Not sure if trolling or blind.

Please, find me a quote. I'd love to see it.

Nermy

I'm sure it must be depressing at times being part of the ZOS team but they must have a vision for the game and so know what they're working towards. Just a pity that they didn't make sure it was 'fit for purpose' on release. I don't think I would have minded a months delay for a better game.

Still, when all's said and done, I still love the game and so do most of my guild. I'm pretty sure that they will resolve all the bugs/bots/gold sellers and make it a better game.

One thing that does bring it down for me is the phasing and how hard it can be to group with friends. They must have taken a 'story over grouping' decision at some point and ran with it. While it works in some areas, it's a bit annoying when my mate disappears and all I can see is a hovering arrow!

(Is there any way to turn that arrow off? It spoils screenies... )

rawne1980b16_ESO

People that work in the gaming industry know what the forums of any game they work on will be like.

Listen to some dev interviews, they do read forums but don;t pay the greatest of attention to them.

BioWare's forums are incredibly toxic. Can't remember what site had the interview (it was just after ME3 release) but a couple of the devs said they don;t bother with the forums at all anymore.

What happens most of the time is those community folks you see answering posts will take relevant information back to the developers ... or at least another go between. And that's about as much use as the forums are.

It's incredibly rare to actually see a dev respond. Some of them will never read the forums.

All the whining and ranting and raging probably won't make it to a developer.

They are screaming at a community relations worker who has nothing to do with the games design.

DLaren

Blackwidow wrote: »

Kyle_Roberts wrote: »

Blackwidow wrote: »

DLaren wrote: »

I imagine they have become quite adept at filtering out all of the noise...as most of the complaining is, "Why isn't ESO more like 'Generic MMO X'?!".

It's funny that I have never ever seen one person say that.

Not sure if trolling or blind.

Please, find me a quote. I'd love to see it.

So you haven't seen all the posts asking for server-wide Auction Houses, open-world PVP, meters all over the UI, 50 slots on the skill-bar, less questing/more mob-grinding, etc?

Maybe this is your first week in the ESO community so I'll take you at your word, but I've been reading a variety of ESO forums & blogs since last October and nearly every complaint is in regards to people wanting something that 'Random MMO X' did and they simply can't accept that ESO is trying to do something different.

Simply put, not everyone is ESO material...and it looks like the developers get that.