PTS Forum useless?

Wuuffyy

justaquickword wrote: »

If I were a developer and had to read some of the bile that gets coughed up on this forum, I'd probably ignore most of the playerbase too.

Supposedly grown up people either whining about inconsequential nonsense or using it to beg for stuff like they are writing a letter to santa..

Some of you people need to step away from ESO and take a long hard look at yourselves.

But congratulations to some of you on successfully living up to the "entitled gamer" stereotype.

Good job.

This isn’t hate. But I’m thinking that is part of the reason you aren’t one.

When developers ignore mass feedback so often and for so long, it gets to the point that we will be quick to call the devs out on this and response with a less-than-positive attitude when posting on various forums regarding that particular game.

Octopuss

My problem with PTS is that I beleive they should always do a few more patches on it before releasing to live. It won't kill them and would solve quite a few problems after each launch and it would give them the chance to focus on other stuff than critical fixes for the upcoming content

Wuuffyy

Octopuss wrote: »

My problem with PTS is that I beleive they should always do a few more patches on it before releasing to live. It won't kill them and would solve quite a few problems after each launch and it would give them the chance to focus on other stuff than critical fixes for the upcoming content

They don’t focus on that either man. Have a post on the top page about a gamebreaking WW bug since the first iteration of this patch.

SeaUnicorn

It's not just forums, it's all of the feedback. I submitted countless tickets about RO issues and vAS staff nerf and Necro syphon not borking, vamp toggle skill that widen skill gap rather than narrowing it which goes complete opposite direction from their stated strategy and vision since the week one - all ignored. Anything to do with combat design and balance is traditionally ignored, allowed to go live, infuriates players, results in un-sub waves and only after is being addressed by devs. When it's too late. Have been like that for years.

Elsonso

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

When developers ignore mass feedback so often and for so long, it gets to the point that we will be quick to call the devs out on this and response with a less-than-positive attitude when posting on various forums regarding that particular game.

I think you are pretty well dialed into what they were talking about.

I don't see a problem with calling the devs out, even with a less than positive attitude, and if that were the extent of what was happening in here, that would be a wonderful improvement.

We do get people who are fixated on something and hang onto it like a terrier with a new toy. ZOS has to fix this thing or they will quit. The world will end. Last one out, turn off the lights. This comes up every Update. This time... VMA weapons. Performance. Vampires. It is easy to get caught up in the passion. It is easy to take it too far. It gets taken too far every day in here. Then... Comments get deleted. Threads locked, or deleted. Users banned. People respond by blaming ZOS for censorship rather than stopping to think about whether things are simply being taken too far.

This thread is about how useful PTS forum is. It talks about how ZOS ignores us. The implication is that we are wasting our time. Raging against ZOS about how they "don't listen" isn't going to change anything for the better. ZOS hears you. Listening is not the problem. The problem is that ZOS might not want to do it. Maybe ZOS might decide to do it, but it will have to wait until later. If ZOS is interested in something that is said, and it is worth taking action, they will take action.

ZOS is doing what they want to do. We can suggest other ideas, point out mistakes, and warn them of problems, but this is their game, not ours. They are big boys and girls that get paid to decide those things. We do not.

TL DR: Don't try to make a career out of fixing ZOS and ESO from the forums. It is not very rewarding, and the pay sucks.

Olupajmibanan

Elsonso wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

When developers ignore mass feedback so often and for so long, it gets to the point that we will be quick to call the devs out on this and response with a less-than-positive attitude when posting on various forums regarding that particular game.

I think you are pretty well dialed into what they were talking about.

I don't see a problem with calling the devs out, even with a less than positive attitude, and if that were the extent of what was happening in here, that would be a wonderful improvement.

We do get people who are fixated on something and hang onto it like a terrier with a new toy. ZOS has to fix this thing or they will quit. The world will end. Last one out, turn off the lights. This comes up every Update. This time... VMA weapons. Performance. Vampires. It is easy to get caught up in the passion. It is easy to take it too far. It gets taken too far every day in here. Then... Comments get deleted. Threads locked, or deleted. Users banned. People respond by blaming ZOS for censorship rather than stopping to think about whether things are simply being taken too far.

This thread is about how useful PTS forum is. It talks about how ZOS ignores us. The implication is that we are wasting our time. Raging against ZOS about how they "don't listen" isn't going to change anything for the better. ZOS hears you. Listening is not the problem. The problem is that ZOS might not want to do it. Maybe ZOS might decide to do it, but it will have to wait until later. If ZOS is interested in something that is said, and it is worth taking action, they will take action.

ZOS is doing what they want to do. We can suggest other ideas, point out mistakes, and warn them of problems, but this is their game, not ours. They are big boys and girls that get paid to decide those things. We do not.

TL DR: Don't try to make a career out of fixing ZOS and ESO from the forums. It is not very rewarding, and the pay sucks.

The point still stands - extreme lack of communication. If they simply don't want to make community proposals happen, they ABSOLUTELY SHOULD write down that they are not accepting our proposal while providing understandable reasoning. Even if the reasoning is poor, it's still better and would be much more accepted than absolute silence.

And "We decided to completely destroy an arena weapon sending it stright to the decon pile despite overhwelmingly negative feedback. This will be a buff if you needed bag space." is not a reasoning.

Elsonso

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

The point still stands - extreme lack of communication.

Yes. They have been rather tongue-tied in that respect for a little more than 6 years, now. That is my button, and I have to constantly remind myself that they are not going to change, and it is not my job to make them change. If they want to hire me to fix that, we can talk, but chances are they can't afford me.

idk

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

DarcyMardin wrote: »

I’ve rarely seen them make anything more than minor adjustments to the first PTS cycle patch. It seems that by the time content hits the PTS, the only thing they are looking for is bugs (which they might or might not have time to fix).

PTS is just marketing for ZOS.

Considering the PTS allows us to see most, if not all, of the storyline for free it seems to not be a very wise marketing tool.

justaquickword wrote: »

If I were a developer and had to read some of the bile that gets coughed up on this forum, I'd probably ignore most of the playerbase too.

Supposedly grown up people either whining about inconsequential nonsense or using it to beg for stuff like they are writing a letter to santa..

Some of you people need to step away from ESO and take a long hard look at yourselves.

But congratulations to some of you on successfully living up to the "entitled gamer" stereotype.

Good job.

I must agree with this comment. We have been informed before that well thought constructive feedback is what Zos is looking for. They are looking for quality feedback vs rants.

JinMori

It depends on how strongly the devs feel about a certain change.

If the devs really like a change but the player does not, then it will not change.

Honestly, i don't think they actually test stuff that much, they would have already reverted the necro siphon otherwise.

x48rph

Most of the forums is useless other then for us to discuss things among ourselves. Granted , occasionally they might look at a feedback thread, or one that catches their eye, but for the most part, I highly doubt devs are sitting around looking over all the comments in these threads. Lets face it , most are negative and hostile (not saying people aren't justified in feeling that way), pertain to things they don't care about, won't change, don't want to acknowledge, or already did what they pleased and aren't going back on it now. At most they probably skim through to gauge the communities sediment if it's a change they haven't fully committed to or are unsure about yet.

Oh yeah, they do look at feedback right away if you report a crown store bug though (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist)

Vaoh

For playing new content such as quests and trials, it’s great. Also free housing.

For giving combat balance feedback? Not really. They ignore the vast majority of it.

Berek_Bloodfang

Shanan wrote: »

Anyone with me that the PTS forum seems to be useless? There are so many good/useful changes/wishes from the community which should have been implemented. Unfortunately the community gets completly ignored? 4 PTS cycles and i do only see changes mostly to the furnishings? What kind of communication is that?

greetings

I no longer have a valid point to respond with due to the ToS.

MLGProPlayer

justaquickword wrote: »

If I were a developer and had to read some of the bile that gets coughed up on this forum, I'd probably ignore most of the playerbase too.

Supposedly grown up people either whining about inconsequential nonsense or using it to beg for stuff like they are writing a letter to santa..

Some of you people need to step away from ESO and take a long hard look at yourselves.

But congratulations to some of you on successfully living up to the "entitled gamer" stereotype.

Good job.

There is nothing entitled about spending hundreds/thousands of dollars/hours on a product and expecting some measure of competence from the company selling the product.

Tessitura

The feedback isn't being ignored here. People went up in arms about the vampire ability cost, and it got reduced. You might not like what they did or the way they did it, but feedback was heard and something was done. PTS is mostly used to find bugs and make sure things work, balance passes are typically only done with numbers and not mechanic changes.

The purpose of these PTS is not to get our opinions about what abilities we want to see, it's about seeing how well what they already designed works before it goes live. Also, a lot of those 'good' changes the community wants would take a lot more focused work then a few weeks of PTS to get done. Most of them will require their own testing cycle. These guys are not wizards conjuring up games, they actually have to put time and effort into these things. It isn't always a good result for the effort, but it can't just be changed on the whim of everyone to see if it will work out. They have to be sure that a change is needed before they invest the time and energy into something.

I'd like to see a gap closer put in the vampire skill line, but I understand I won't get that before live. I'll have to wait a long time for it if I even get it at all.