More transparency from ZOS

Vorcil

In my ESO launcher, there are still updates from 58 days ago...

I feel there needs to be more official open discourse from ZOS on the incoming changes to the game.

More often than not I am just surprised to the changes made to this game.

And even more so, I actually feel really unsure about the future and what is coming.

For Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood DLCs we had developer posts on the main website many months before hand, threads in the forums and dropping content on the PTS.

I feel like I speak for a large majority of the player base when I can say that ESO is more than just a game for us.

Yet I feel very very left in the dark about what is going to happen and what is currently being worked on.

What is the issue with telling us what is being worked on at this very moment?


Why can't the developers and artists actually post and be like:
'ZOS_emily: Hey, just to let you guys know, in 6 months we plan on introducing this XXXXX system; here is where we are on that so far...'

'ZOS_andrew: Hey players, during the One Tamriel update we released a bunch of new sets; and though we tested and tested all the various combinations for many weeks, we still didn't find all the exploitive proc set combinations. We will be making XXXXX adjustments, hoping to resolve the issue we brought to the game by XXXXX date. Thank you for your patience'

'ZOS_bob: Hey I've been tasked with overhauling the RNG system to better reward players for the effort they are putting into this game; here is what I'm going to do, how would you as the community feel if I implemented these changes?'

'ZOS_john: Hey I'm tasked with helping improve one of the biggest parts of our game, PVP; here are some ideas I have for giving you a good experience; please post your thoughts and ideas about this and I will investigate and consider the highest rated posts and incorporate that into our game'

'ZOS_sarah: Hey players, during our thieves guild expansion we had released a different version of the game in comparison to the PTS version. We would like to officially apologize for this and ensure players that this is not going to happen again (this was an oversight and bad software development practice on our part).'



This is not a complaint, a hate thread, a compliment thread or anything like that; just your average concerned player

tl;dr
I'm just trying to say we need to hear more from ZOS about the development of this game on a day to day basis.

---

There have been some very interesting and insightful posts in this thread, by players and ZOS; I recommended skimming through the next few pages and reading the replies from Gina;

Here is one of the detailed posts:

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

ColoursYouHave wrote: »

To me, more important than the amount of communication is the quality of communication. ZOS' primary form of communication seems to be keep everything a big secret with bits and pieces of information thrown in to keep us interested, release something new, then rarely talk about it again.

For instance, we've received bits and pieces of information about balance changes coming in the next major update. I can almost guarantee that ZOS is going to be fairly quiet until they eventually come out with a big announcement about the next update, have it on the PTS within a week or so, ignore most feedback about class balance, and then a couple weeks after it goes live, go back to focusing on releasing bits and pieces of information about the next update, with very little dialogue about the content they just released ever occurring. They will tell us what they are doing every couple months, but give nearly no explanation as to why they're doing it. And this makes it feel like the developers have no real vision or direction for the game's future.

What I would really like to see is more dialogue between major updates. This doesn't mean you need to tell us everything you're doing, but talking about what you would like to see moving forward would go a long way towards making the community feel like they share a common goal with the developers. For example, rather than simply telling us you're going to change some of the proc sets, you could have Eric Wrobel start a thread discussing his thoughts on proc sets, including things like why he thinks proc sets may need to be changed, what types of changes he is considering for proc sets (again, we don't need to hear exactly what you want to do with a specific set, but rather a more general statement like "We would like to see proc sets do less burst damage, but we are also considering making them proc less reliably"), what potential changes wouldn't be good for proc sets, etc. What this does is not only provide the community with the sense that the developers have a long term vision for the game's future that they are actively working towards, but it also opens up a channel of communication between the community and developers where both parties can express their thoughts and concerns about a specific topic. The developers don't always need to agree with the community's suggestions, and they shouldn't be expected too, but simply explaining why they don't think an idea will work effectively would go a very long way towards easing relations between the developers and the community.

A great example of this is when Blizzard released a new Hearthstone expansion (for those who are unfamiliar with Hearthstone, I'll keep this simple enough that the only thing you need to know about Hearthstone is that it is a card game where players choose cards based on their class) that gave the worst class in the game nothing but bad cards, with one of them being arguably the worst card in the game. After players expressed their frustration with the decision, the lead developer, Ben Brode, made a video for his "Designer Insights" YouTube Series (another great PR idea for ZOS; developers periodically releasing brief 5-10 minute videos discussing popular topics within the community) talking about their decision to release those cards in that expansion. In the video he discussed that in hindsight they realized they made a mistake. He explained why they made that mistake, in that they had a poor read on the community's feelings towards balance, and while they were well aware that the cards they released weren't necessarily "good" cards, they did serve a purpose of being "fun" cards for people to make creative, though non-competitive decks. He also discussed what they are going to do to fix the mistake, where he explained that they have a larger plan to improve the class that couldn't be implemented immediately, but they were going to make some smaller short-term changes to improve things in the mean time. And while some people naturally still had their criticisms of the developer's decisions, it helped ease the tension between the developers and the community massively, where even many of those who remained critical of their decisions were still at least somewhat content that the developers acknowledged that there was an issue, explained why they made their decisions, and provided information on how they are going to improve things moving forward.

In short, what I really want to say is that ZOS needs to talk to us, not at us. Don't just tell us what you are going to do, tell us why you are going to do it. If you don't think our ideas will be effective, tell us why they won't be effective. Do something to give us some sort of indication that there is a bigger vision for the game's future than just taking it one patch at a time.

Wow, thanks for writing out your thoughts! All well said, and totally understand where you're coming from. As mentioned on an earlier page, we do have a much larger plan about when and how we release information when it comes to major updates; there are many internal and external parties involved.

For "smaller" things that aren't necessarily a major update - like balance changes - we typically prefer to wait until we have our plans squared away to share them with everyone for a number of reasons. First, it obviously takes a lot of time to figure out what exactly we're going to be changing and how it will impact the entire game; there's a ton of discussion that occurs across different departments. In figuring out how we're going to change something, we also look at different sources of data including hard numbers from our BI department, feedback from forums and in-game reports, internal playtests and discussions, and more. This is all a pretty fast moving train with things changing by the minute in cases where we're figuring out how to solve a problem, and requesting a developer keep a thread updated is time spent away from implementing the actual work. The time spent making a post may seem inconsequential, but it does take time to type out replies (hell, the time it's taken to write this one has been well over 15 minutes so far, but I also get interrupted a lot ).

In the past, we've tried to give more insight and information on ESO Live. We'll continue to try and do that when we pick the show back up next year. We'll also have some discussions internally about creating a "here's why we did this thing" either as a forum thread, or even a few lines in the patch notes. How's that sound?

quadraxis666

Would be so much better than the current


ZOS_Moderator: We have removed several comments from this thread for not being constructive or on-topic despite this very comment being neither constructive or on-topic yet it puts a green [Z] on the thread to mislead everyone into thinking an actual dev has been in here posting a constructive, on-topic comment

that we have now.

JimT722

I think they have left transparency behind. We used to have a road ahead I believe every month. Now it's every year. They ask us to leave feedback on the forums then choose to do nothing regardless of how negative that feedback is.

tinythinker

JimT722 wrote: »

I think they have left transparency behind. We used to have a road ahead I believe every month. Now it's every year. They ask us to leave feedback on the forums then choose to do nothing regardless of how negative that feedback is.

Yeah and the yearly thing isn't the The Road Ahead, it's more like The Road Behind. Previous discussions on this issue focused on fallout from their first QuakeCon a few months after the game launched. But saying little is also a safeguard in case something they might talk about us delayed or cancelled. Plus they seem to try to generate hype by mystery followed by unexpected announcementso. So don't look for this pattern to change any time soon.

Vanthras79

tinythinker wrote: »

Yeah and the yearly thing isn't the The Road Ahead, it's more like The Road Behind. Previous discussions on this issue focused on fallout from their first QuakeCon a few months after the game launched. But saying little is also a safeguard in case something they might talk about us delayed or cancelled. Plus they seem to try to generate hype by mystery followed by unexpected announcement so. So don't look for this pattern to change any time soon.

Though this may be the trend, a little transparency for the players would be ideal. I wonder if they leave their investors in such a shroud of mystery? Wait... are most of us players who subscribe to ESO plus kind of like investors? A little transparency ZOS would go leaps and bounds above your hype-building shrouds of mystery.

I mean most of us care about this game, do not leave us out of the loop!

That being said, I wonder if the collective bargaining issue surrounding the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) is what is delaying new content? If that is the case that may explain why they are hesitant to release any information.

tinythinker

Vanthras79 wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Yeah and the yearly thing isn't the The Road Ahead, it's more like The Road Behind. Previous discussions on this issue focused on fallout from their first QuakeCon a few months after the game launched. But saying little is also a safeguard in case something they might talk about us delayed or cancelled. Plus they seem to try to generate hype by mystery followed by unexpected announcement so. So don't look for this pattern to change any time soon.

Though this may be the trend, a little transparency for the players would be ideal. I wonder if they leave their investors in such a shroud of mystery? Wait... are most of us players who subscribe to ESO plus kind of like investors? A little transparency ZOS would go leaps and bounds above your hype-building shrouds of mystery.

I mean most of us care about this game, do not leave us out of the loop!

That being said, I wonder if the collective bargaining issue surrounding the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) is what is delaying new content? If that is the case that may explain why they are hesitant to release any information.

It isn't a trend, it's how ZOS has operated since QuakeCon 2014. Players out of the loop = standard operating procedure. Players have been raising this issue for a couple of years.

SAG issues may be making things worse but they aren't the core cause.

idk

@Vorcil

Zos does communicate with us through several means. It is how we have known for awhile housing is coming early next year and that we can all get a free small house by completing a quest.

Here is one link with information on housing and is representative on their communicating what is in the pipeline.
https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/51f5zh/eso_tamriel_one_new_houses_in_patch_260/

ESO AMA is just one means Zos uses to communicate with us.

Mettaricana

I agree to this thwir silence makes me not wanna spend money or effort on the game as I have no idea if my characters or gear are gonna become and I just sit in a dead lock of wanting to progress but unsure what crap suprise we gonna get

Doctordarkspawn

A nice thought and I support it, but it will never happen.

ZOS has too little faith in their decisions and too little want to interact with their customers.

Vorcil

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Vorcil

Zos does communicate with us through several means. It is how we have known for awhile housing is coming early next year and that we can all get a free small house by completing a quest.

Here is one link with information on housing and is representative on their communicating what is in the pipeline.
https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/51f5zh/eso_tamriel_one_new_houses_in_patch_260/

ESO AMA is just one means Zos uses to communicate with us.

But how many question threads must be asked before ZOS decide to answer one; and how is it a good practice to rely on sifting through hundreds of threads to find any answer from ZOS.

Most thread posts are just speculation

They have been talking about releasing housing since 2014; it's almost 2017 now and there still isn't an official post from ZOS.

Sure there are threads out there that speculate on the details and even try to prove what content is coming (and many time in the past this has been the same case for many updates; where even in the end ZOS change what gets released compared to what they said they were going to release;)

In my eso launcher, there are still news updates from '58 days ago'....

Thealteregoroman

They are silent because the mobs on here are bi-polar. If I was ZOS all I would see coming on this forum is mobs full of pitchforks and fire.

I do understand the annoyance with the game most are experiencing but I feel its hard to have that open communication like some other MMO's do............that are on PS4......cause they are like/loved.

A majority of people on here are extremely snobbish.......how can you talk to a snobbish person? Ignore them.

I feel as a community to be taken seriously we should be adults about things......especially when we don't get our way.

Vorcil

Thealteregoroman wrote: »

They are silent because the mobs on here are bi-polar. If I was ZOS all I would see coming on this forum is mobs full of pitchforks and fire.

I do understand the annoyance with the game most are experiencing but I feel its hard to have that open communication like some other MMO's do............that are on PS4......cause they are like/loved.

A majority of people on here are extremely snobbish.......how can you talk to a snobbish person? Ignore them.

I feel as a community to be taken seriously we should be adults about things......especially when we don't get our way.

That just highlights the inability to take criticism positively, even negatively portrayed criticism.

If there are fundamental flaws in the game, and thousands of players are infuriated by it; probably best not to ignore it...

When ESO was a subscription based model, we had attentiveness tot he point where support were 'roleplaying' everything they were saying. I just don't see the same community involvement anymore.

tinythinker

Vorcil wrote: »

Thealteregoroman wrote: »

They are silent because the mobs on here are bi-polar. If I was ZOS all I would see coming on this forum is mobs full of pitchforks and fire.

I do understand the annoyance with the game most are experiencing but I feel its hard to have that open communication like some other MMO's do............that are on PS4......cause they are like/loved.

A majority of people on here are extremely snobbish.......how can you talk to a snobbish person? Ignore them.

I feel as a community to be taken seriously we should be adults about things......especially when we don't get our way.

That just highlights the inability to take criticism positively, even negatively portrayed criticism.

If there are fundamental flaws in the game, and thousands of players are infuriated by it; probably best not to ignore it...

When ESO was a subscription based model, we had attentiveness tot he point where support were 'roleplaying' everything they were saying. I just don't see the same community involvement anymore.

Yeah, the engagement went from 8/10 to 2/10. Oh well, just fix Eclipse and we can call it even, ZOS

Thealteregoroman

Vorcil wrote: »

Thealteregoroman wrote: »

They are silent because the mobs on here are bi-polar. If I was ZOS all I would see coming on this forum is mobs full of pitchforks and fire.

I do understand the annoyance with the game most are experiencing but I feel its hard to have that open communication like some other MMO's do............that are on PS4......cause they are like/loved.

A majority of people on here are extremely snobbish.......how can you talk to a snobbish person? Ignore them.

I feel as a community to be taken seriously we should be adults about things......especially when we don't get our way.

That just highlights the inability to take criticism positively, even negatively portrayed criticism.

If there are fundamental flaws in the game, and thousands of players are infuriated by it; probably best not to ignore it...

When ESO was a subscription based model, we had attentiveness tot he point where support were 'roleplaying' everything they were saying. I just don't see the same community involvement anymore.

I can't combat that statement.....Well its a couple weeks to a new year maybe everything will change for the better. They might be waiting for december to come and go.

alexkdd99

With all the crying and always criticizing everything, it is no wonder we don't see any meaningful post. From what I have seen if they say x is coming but something happens to prevent x from happening, people go off. Calling them liars and not keeping their word.

I know I wouldn't want to post anything with all the negativity currently going around. Players in the loop cause unnecessary negativity.

BlackSparrow

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Zos does communicate with us through several means. It is how we have known for awhile housing is coming early next year and that we can all get a free small house by completing a quest.

This is what I was going to say. I would say that when it comes to big announcements (e.g., new DLCs, One Tamriel, Player Housing), ZOS is excellent at communicating. It's pretty much the only thing they communicate on, in carefully worded, marketing-heavy press releases and interviews. They're very good at hyping up the Next Big Thing. One Tamriel had several months' worth of lead-up, and Housing was announced as "in the works" since pretty early this year.

The problem is the little things that are never acknowledged, or the people who send in support tickets and all they get is an auto-response. ZOS is great at big, press-worthy communication, but their PR falls apart in the fine details, like answering legitimate questions about the game.

Of course they can't be expected to answer every "I found another thing I hate about this game!" thread, but the issues that come up again and again? It would be good to get some official word on those, even if it's a simple "We're seeing a lot of feedback about proc sets being overpowered in pvp. We're looking into solutions." Just some acknowledgement of the big issues would do wonders.

No, it's not going to stop the forums from having negative threads, but it will help cut down on the number of players who genuinely love the game but have become frustrated and disillusioned with ZOS as a company.

Nerouyn

Vorcil wrote: »

What is the issue with telling us what is being worked on at this very moment?

Uncertainty.

Look at the history. Spellcrafting and lots of other shiny goodies were unveiled years ago as stuff they were working on - presumably to entice more people to play - but it didn't work. The game didn't perform well enough to warrant those development costs and all those shiny promises were binned / incredibly delayed. Of course players weren't happy about that.

JimT722

The problem is the game is no longer focused about keeping the majority happy so they spend money. It's to give the minority something to dump hundreds of dollars into regularly. I thought ZOS would be different with buy 2 play but it's all about where they get the most money. This game would be the opposite focus with a subscription.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/2012/05/17/the-perfect-ten-the-truth-about-lockboxes/

JD2013

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

Callous2208

alexkdd99 wrote: »

With all the crying and always criticizing everything, it is no wonder we don't see any meaningful post. From what I have seen if they say x is coming but something happens to prevent x from happening, people go off. Calling them liars and not keeping their word.

I know I wouldn't want to post anything with all the negativity currently going around. Players in the loop cause unnecessary negativity.

This statement is worthless. They are developing a game, selling us a product. This is not an individual person who can just clam up and shut down because people were upset with them. If they say X is coming, and X doesn't come when its supposed to, customers have every right to be mad. Feelings have no place when it comes to customer relations and communication. The official forums and other media outlets aren't safe spaces for corporate execs and liaisons.

Callous2208

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

JD2013

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

Actually no. I am merely pointing out the average forum goer's interactions with the staff at ZOS.

I certainly would like more interaction from the devs. However, maybe they will communicate more when some people around here stop screeching at the top of their lungs and show a little decorum.

Callous2208

JD2013 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

Actually no. I am merely pointing out the average forum goer's interactions with the staff at ZOS.

I certainly would like more interaction from the devs. However, maybe they will communicate more when some people around here stop screeching at the top of their lungs and show a little decorum.

I would assume you and I are both old enough to know that's not how it works. No one is reading individual remarks and letting that have any affect on them. They drop the details, they disappear. Now they've just disappeared without leaving any information behind.

JD2013

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

Actually no. I am merely pointing out the average forum goer's interactions with the staff at ZOS.

I certainly would like more interaction from the devs. However, maybe they will communicate more when some people around here stop screeching at the top of their lungs and show a little decorum.

I would assume you and I are both old enough to know that's not how it works. No one is reading individual remarks and letting that have any affect on them. They drop the details, they disappear. Now they've just disappeared without leaving any information behind.

Let's imagine, for a second, that you work in a shop. (I say imagine, of course, because I do not presume to know what you do for a living.)

Imagine that for every day you work for the past 3 years, you have lines of people queuing up at your cash desk to shout at you and screech how terrible your company is. Every day for nearly three years.

Would that make you wish to interact with people?

Now, of course, I absolutely agree that nobody is likely reading individual remarks and taking it to heart. Maybe they are. I certainly know that when I personally create something, if people were just to bash it non stop, I would be rather disheartened. Because I would have worked on that for a long while, and to some people, their work is very important to them.

We, I assume, certainly are old enough to know how things work. But also, I would imagine they are very busy. We had 1T not two months ago, a Witches Festival, New Life Festival is almost upon us, there's holidays, they are likely working on Housing as that can't be too far off.

I am sure they are working on Update 14 as well, as they can't just work on Update 13, as it has been stated that new zones etc take at least 9 months to do. As do dungeons, as do Trials, everything takes time to build.

In the past, when they released info and it did not come to pass, it got nasty around here. Imagine if they announced everything about housing now, and a feature did not make it in.

We know housing is next, and we know a little bit about it. We will likely know more after Christmas and New Year.

Rohamad_Ali

Good luck .

tinythinker

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

Good luck .

Yeah, good point and good summation

Thealteregoroman

JD2013 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

Actually no. I am merely pointing out the average forum goer's interactions with the staff at ZOS.

I certainly would like more interaction from the devs. However, maybe they will communicate more when some people around here stop screeching at the top of their lungs and show a little decorum.

sirston

JD2013 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

And how does an average response go on any ZOS dev post?

"So, here's our next DLC ...."

_ Wow that's cool!
- Hyped!
- Fix old stuff before introducing new stuff!
- Fix PVP!
- Balance Classes!
- OMG ZOS FIX YOUR ****
- I don't want this as a DLC. I am unsubbing.
- Lol I don't even play anymore. Lost all faith in ZOS. Just waiting round here for no reason.
- OMG we waited for this as a DLC??
- FIX PVP!
- You're killing your game, ZOS!
- You'll kill the game with this Update ZOS. GJ.

And so on.

So in your opinion it's better that they leave us in the dark, because saying anything will lead to various reactions from different people? Because...the team is reading each of those remarks and weeping in the corner about it?

Actually no. I am merely pointing out the average forum goer's interactions with the staff at ZOS.

I certainly would like more interaction from the devs. However, maybe they will communicate more when some people around here stop screeching at the top of their lungs and show a little decorum.

I would assume you and I are both old enough to know that's not how it works. No one is reading individual remarks and letting that have any affect on them. They drop the details, they disappear. Now they've just disappeared without leaving any information behind.

Let's imagine, for a second, that you work in a shop. (I say imagine, of course, because I do not presume to know what you do for a living.)

Imagine that for every day you work for the past 3 years, you have lines of people queuing up at your cash desk to shout at you and screech how terrible your company is. Every day for nearly three years.

Would that make you wish to interact with people?

Now, of course, I absolutely agree that nobody is likely reading individual remarks and taking it to heart. Maybe they are. I certainly know that when I personally create something, if people were just to bash it non stop, I would be rather disheartened. Because I would have worked on that for a long while, and to some people, their work is very important to them.

We, I assume, certainly are old enough to know how things work. But also, I would imagine they are very busy. We had 1T not two months ago, a Witches Festival, New Life Festival is almost upon us, there's holidays, they are likely working on Housing as that can't be too far off.

I am sure they are working on Update 14 as well, as they can't just work on Update 13, as it has been stated that new zones etc take at least 9 months to do. As do dungeons, as do Trials, everything takes time to build.

In the past, when they released info and it did not come to pass, it got nasty around here. Imagine if they announced everything about housing now, and a feature did not make it in.

We know housing is next, and we know a little bit about it. We will likely know more after Christmas and New Year.

that bold part is how every day work is for most people that play that game, and no one crys about it someone yelling about how the shirts at walmart are too pricey. If they can't handle 3 years on a first MMO and just stop talking to everyone; they should just shut the game down and dissolve the company if they can't take the heat.

Go ask Steam or EA or Blizzard about them wanting to getting yelled at.

Wifeaggro13

JimT722 wrote: »

I think they have left transparency behind. We used to have a road ahead I believe every month. Now it's every year. They ask us to leave feedback on the forums then choose to do nothing regardless of how negative that feedback is.

all the road aheads were vapor anyhow it took them 2 years to implement the removal VR ranks that they said would be a 6 month process in 4 stages 18 months later lol. just take a long gander at the DLC's the last one with any meat in it was actually IC. Orsinium was DLC for the mysterious large population of pure soloist's that never existed and the Guilds were literaly the worst implemented game features ive ever witnessed in a MMO. you can literally play the whole game with out them and never know they existed

Pallmor

What's the upside for ZOS on being more transparent, when they know that everything they do will just draw the ire of some vocal minority or another? This is especially true when the decision has already been made and will likely inflame the game's hardcore players at the expense of making money or serving the much larger casual player base.

For example, what good would it have done them to tell everyone about Crown Crates sooner? It would have just given complainers more time to complain and moan about it. And it's unlikely that any changes they might have made would have helped appease anyone anyway.

Vorcil

Pallmor wrote: »

What's the upside for ZOS on being more transparent, when they know that everything they do will just draw the ire of some vocal minority or another? This is especially true when the decision has already been made and will likely inflame the game's hardcore players at the expense of making money or serving the much larger casual player base.

For example, what good would it have done them to tell everyone about Crown Crates sooner? It would have just given complainers more time to complain and moan about it. And it's unlikely that any changes they might have made would have helped appease anyone anyway.

You fail to understand the crux of the issue here.

ZOS isn't communicating with it's player base about the development of the game.

Crown crates were first tested on the PTS.

What should have been done was several iterations of the SAME test with adjustments until the majority of the bugs, issues with drop rates, prices and general player satisfaction was at a level everyone could agree with.

What happened was ZOS made an arbitrary stab in the dark, let players experiment with them; then ignored every thread about crown crates, gave no feedback and no information until a few days before releasing crates, they drop an announcement

This is no way to interact with a customer base and is just extremely poor software development.