We're here everyday, Dev's need to be too!

Alcast · April 2015

Huggernaut wrote: »

I hope this is the kick in the pants this dev team needs to push them out of their shells and come out and really interact with us on a personal level. There are multiple game studios that do this to great effect. You should learn from them. I understand this is your first foray into the big scary world of triple A MMOs. Which is all the more reason not to let yourself build up bad habits early on.

Players reading this, you guys and gals need to step up too. Show the devs that you need more interaction with them too!, besides the odd patch note or forum moderation post.

On to the real post....

So I was going through posts, and one of the comments from a dev made me stop for a second, they said "We're here all the time!, check the dev tracker"...so I did!

There are HUGE gaps, sometimes almost a month long. Most averaging 2 weeks or so though.

This is not acceptable. This is not how you build a community.

Also, a great deal of the responses are just dev replies to forum threads that have had a cleaning out ie "Too many hostile posts in this thread, we have deleted, blah blah blah". These replies don't even count in my eyes. As they are nothing more than forum moderation.

There needs to be real communication between the players and the devs in charge of ... everything. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we need a section on the forums for nothing but feedback & suggestions. Sure /feedback exists, but honestly there needs to be a place where players and devs alike can come and discuss things. A place they can return to after some amount of pondering upon the issues and make informed replies.

This should be a daily occurrence. Not a monthly one.

- The dev (or team) that is in charge of the crown store should be making weekly posts. Showcasing stuff that is added, stuff that is upcoming. You need to be running polls to find out how players are receiving new items that have been added to the store. How are they reacting to said items, why are they reacting that way (if negative), etc.

- Art dept members, can be coming to the forum to showcase new costumes, pet or mount skins, etc. This is an excellent way to hype up your community about patches still in the pipe. It also gives you a solid feel on what the community likes and dislikes. Saves you time and money down the road. Which is why we need a dev spoiler section on the forums, as I've suggested in the past.

- Gameplay mechanics devs should be here on a daily basis, without question. This team is arguably the most important. There are all sorts of things that can be iterated on a daily basis in regards to these systems. How a particular change (good or bad) has affected a class in pvp or dungeons for example. How certain classes might need updating, why this is, how this can happen, etc. There needs to be a place where hard data can be presented, refuted or accepted and tests continued.

- Map design team, also important. Have a boss fight in a cool looking locale, but all the fancy extras are actually hindering your ability to fight the boss properly? We need a place to tell you this and offer examples on how it can be fixed. Maybe your favorite locale has too much "immersion clutter" as I like to call it (tables, chairs, pots, bookcases, etc), again, there needs to be a 2 way street of communication about this as well.

- Events!, there needs to be some, even weekly or bi-weekly events. These are low cost / high reward systems that can easily be introduced to the game. By that I mean, they cost you (the studio) relatively nothing in regards to manpower, salary, etc, but gain you huge amounts traffic in game, player good will, possibly new players, which equals more cash streams, etc. These events don't need to be all that involved, they could be as simple as boosted weekends, increasing xp / gold / loot drop rates. They can be as complex and involved as you want really. More you put into it, the more you generally get out of them though.

- Lore & Rp fans, don't think I've forgotten you either!. I am sure there are oodles of players that would love to discuss the story so far, and where it's heading in the future with the writers that are responsible for this facet of the game. I'm sure they have questions in regards to RP that could use clearing up, and I'm most definitely sure they have suggestions on things they would like to see in the future as well as stuff they have disliked in the past.

This can go on and on.

The point is, that no matter what your job is, there are players that want to talk to you. Players that NEED to talk to you and by the extension, there needs to be devs that NEED to talk to the players as well. Without everyone, this doesn't work.

Cheers.

I agree with you BUT:
Devs dont have time to cope with PC players, too busy to finish Console, and I mean, they never cared anyway for PC Players

If they did care about PC players, then it was just all very bad resource management.

Also, to acutally post here in the forum it would require them to have an idea what they are working on

Olysja · April 2015

TNX GOD some1 made this thread.

skarvika · April 2015

I'm a big WWE fan, have been for years. I see a lot of similarity between how WWE and ZOS are being run. A huge complaint is that WWE is still being run by an extremely out of touch 69 year old man that wants to personally micro-manage everything to the finest detail to his liking with total disregard to the fans wishes. Fans are constantly blown off as "not getting it" if they ever want something that the company isn't giving them as the CEO says they listen to the fans when it's blatantly obvious that's not the case. Then we see fan signs like this at Wrestlemania while company stock plummets.

Now, ZOS obviously isn't at that point yet, but it's clear that tension among the playerbase and ZOS is reaching a breaking point and it's starting to feel like our words are falling on deaf ears and that will result in nothing good. I really think keeping a legitimate ear open to what players want (as opposed to saying it while proving otherwise) and interacting with players as much as possible to create an environment where players feel comfortable expressing their wishes to the dev team and feeling like their ideas and opinions matter is the best possible way to avoid it getting to that point. We need solid community managers whose sole job it is to gather general consensuses and popular opinions from the players on forums, reddit, eso fansites etc and report them back to the higher ups (heck, I'd volunteer to do it for free!) and we need those higher ups to take these things very seriously. I would still really like this game to be the best it can be. It's sad that it's crumbled down to B2P in under a year and it's sad that I cancelled my subscription last year and didn't even play the last play my last month; I had rather just lost the 15 bucks than spend more time playing ESO. Despite this, I never hated ESO at all...I'd even had many nights where I'd forgone dinner just to play...but in the end, I still cancelled and wanted to avoid the game as much as possible because between the plethora of bugs and balance issues, the headaches just weren't worth it to me, and it's a damn shame that I felt that way. I really see a lot of potential in this game still, but as things are going I'm unsure of how far it will go. I mean all throughout last year, Matt Firor was touting "We will NEVER drop the subscription plan because we're confident that we'll never need to." Now here we are.
Come on guys, let's get on the ball. I'm the kind of guy who will sub to a game even if I don't need to simply because I enjoy it. I subbed to SWTOR for a while after it was F2P because I genuinely enjoyed the content. And bought the expansions. And hundreds of dollars worth of cash shop items. ZOS, I know I QQ constantly (check my sig), but at the end of the day, I'd love to feel that way about ESO too, and so would many other frustrated players.

Titansteele · April 2015

The first step is to admit that you have a problem with the second step is having the courage to ask for help.

Looks like the playerbase is willing to put the effort in, time will tell of ZOS matches that effort.

Merlin13KAGL · April 2015

Good comments from most. Reiteration from some. Great start, OP.

I think we could split the difference. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other.

As a general rule, the Mod's should be the town cryer for the devs. Let the Dev's dev, let the Mod's relay information.

To that end, from the player side, some things that would greatly assist in this:

Stop making duplicate posts.
- Unless you have some significant addition to the issue at hand, add your commentary to another post (after using the search feature) and they will have less to wade through.
  I get that "my" issue is the most important one (at least in the top 10) and that's why so many posts end up looking much like the other 15 most important one's too. Less duplicate information, less to sort through/moderate, more time to interact, both with Dev's and with players.
Stop trying to get maximum attention for your thread by tagging Mod's 50 times within it. This goes right along with the one above.
- If it's gamebreaking, by all means, tag Gina or another Mod. If it's not, remember that half of their job is to sort through these forums, if for no other reasons than to make sure we're playing nice and not overfilling the swear jar.
  It's like the idea of the antenna ball... You know those clever little things you put on your vehicle radio antenna to make it easier to spot when you're in the parking lot filled with a thousand cars? Tagging the Mod's in almost every thread is like walking outside to find out everyone else thought it was a great idea too, and consequently bought and installed the same antenna ball you did. Can you see how it kinda defeats the purpose? Tagging them in every post has the same effect as never tagging them at all (and that doesn't count the 1000's of messages they likely get each day.)
Dev tracker's great. Most of the suggetions are great. It would be nice to have some way of interaction/updates/player assistance (to ZoS, not from Zos) somewhere between hired contractor and beta tester. Somewhere along the lines, I'd lilke to see something like that be able to be figured out and implemented.
- It's similar in a lot of ways to the ability to Mod(ify) the standalones. In some cases, it could be as simple as a counter tied to your account that shows (only you) that X number of /bug reports has been submitted. There are some great ideas coming from a lot of the players - we want to be here to help.
Package the content, cut the fluff. Keep 'feelings' threads (or portions thereof) separate from the factual parts. A list, etc goes a long way. Package the information so it's easier for the Mod's/Dev's to find, it helps the find it faster.
Split the difference. ESO Live is great and all, but a once a month post from a (different) Dev, even a little 'state of the union/road ahead (with construction alerts) can go miles toward quelling the masses and player interaction. We want the Dev's to dev, but a once-in-a-while direct interaction this way would help. Easier to see the king once a month than to continually be assured the king is behind the throne room door.
Come out and play. While we're sure you do (though maybe not announced), more events like Battle the Dev's, etc bring in tons of people and feedback. It can be any staff member, and honestly, what can be cooler than getting paid to play the game? (It would also give staff a chance to see some of the issues directly with the players as well - call them small panels, etc, similar to what took place in Beta (you can even include the NDA).

There is still incredible potential in this game. Let's help both sides see it continue.

Cuyler · April 2015

Xjcon wrote: »

The last time I seen a dev post anything it was in regards to the experience gained after vet 14. People used that statement to chastise the crap out of them after something changed. Why would they want to risk something like that again?

A gameplay dev just commented on the Dragonknight talons bug thread about a horse glitch two days ago. For what it's worth. They're here....they're watching........

Nermy · April 2015

I played LoTRO for a long time and one of their Devs, (The Mighty...) Sapience was ALWAYS commenting on the forums and engaging with the players by organising silly games etc. Sadly he left a year or so ago and so did I...

Would be awesome if the ZoS ones did the same...

Cuyler · April 2015

Personally I don't want the devs trolling the forums, I'd prefer them spending their time developing. Yes maybe once a month to come and take an hour to reply to a couple things would be nice, but @ZOS_GinaBruno and the other community mods do a great job bringing the issues up to them...and I think that's just fine.

bellanca6561n · April 2015

The essential conflict is that the developer is still at work trying to finish launching the game.
Meanwhile the rest of us have been here a year.

Hearing that "the studio is buzzing!" while we're left with the Crown Store as the only thing not in maintenance mode is a poor prescription for harmony.

Not that there ever is such a thing really in online games....

Psychobunni · April 2015

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

To give the devs some credit, please take a look at this post made by @Merlin13KAGL on April 1st:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/162399/mephalia-seems-to-be-the-new-praxin

There were no ZOS comments on that thread. Heck, there were barely any comments on that thread! But 12 days later, Spawn of Mephala was fixed. And the patch notes are an almost 1-to-1 mapping of the issues mentioned in his post.

It could just be coincidence. Devs could have independently realized that boss encounter was buggy and decided they were going to work on it. But it sure seems like that post made its way directly to the devs. Either because one read it directly, or because a forum manager forwarded it to them.

or it had nothing at all to with forum and players bugged it in game

SantieClaws · April 2015

Nermy wrote: »

I played LoTRO for a long time and one of their Devs, (The Mighty...) Sapience was ALWAYS commenting on the forums and engaging with the players by organising silly games etc. Sadly he left a year or so ago and so did I...

Would be awesome if the ZoS ones did the same...

Sap was the community manager not a dev. I played LOTRO for six years. Can't say I saw much positive player interaction from Sap during that time either ...

But that's another story.

I would rather the devs were working on the game. The community team can keep an eye on the forums and pass on information to the devs.

Or would you rather the community team sat down and wrote the game code??!!!

Jaxsun · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, wanted to pop in and address a few topics mentioned in this thread.

First, thanks for your suggestions and feedback. We care very deeply for this game, as you all do, and want to continually improve how we communicate with you all to keep you in the loop as much as we can.

That said, as we've stated before, the team is currently very focused on console launch and supporting the PC/Mac version. We're releasing the game on two new platforms in just a few weeks, and the studio is buzzing! It's definitely an exciting time, but also very busy.

Without getting into all the hairy details of day-to-day activities amongst different teams, we can tell you that we do gather your feedback and issues straight from the forums to bring to the developers' attention. There are many reports that go out, and please trust that we keep a close eye on all topics (even though we may not always respond in each thread).

One thing we'd like to continue doing, and perhaps even expand on, is getting your opinion about current and upcoming content or features. For example, we have a thread currently stickied asking what you'd like to see in the Crown Store. We've gotten some really good ideas from that thread, and it also gives us a good idea of the things you'd like to see (and what you don't necessarily want to see, too!) Yes, we have been reading it.

We absolutely want to work with you to continue strengthening the community; tell us what you'd like to see, and we'll do our best to make it happen. Within reason, of course.

Talk is cheap, fix the lag in cyrodiil and we'll love you long time. Start by rolling back the lighting and botting "fix" from last summer.

Gandrhulf_Harbard · April 2015

Nermy wrote: »

I played LoTRO for a long time and one of their Devs, (The Mighty...) Sapience was ALWAYS commenting on the forums and engaging with the players by organising silly games etc. Sadly he left a year or so ago and so did I...

Would be awesome if the ZoS ones did the same...

Sapience wasn't a DEV.

He was a Community Manager.

And his leaving was, arguably, the best thing to happen to the Forums and the Community in years.

All The Best

Arthur_Spoonfondle · April 2015

deathpandax_ESO wrote: »

There are some good ideas in this forum ZoS, listen to them!

There are great deal more bad ideas, or worse.

ZOS_GinaBruno · April 2015

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

SG_Celerrimus · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

I would LOVE to see this, please make an announcement if and when you do something like this, would definately watch (even if I had to pull out my laptop in class or work :P )

Merlin13KAGL · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

@ZOS_GinaBruno, make it spontaneous and I can see this leading up to some potentially awkward moments...

*Soon followed by the ESO Live "WTF are you doing?" segment* or the ever popular "Scare the heck out of the Dev's" segment.

Keep 'em on their toes.

Cuyler · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

That's an awesome idea

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

@ZOS_GinaBruno, make it spontaneous and I can see this leading up to some potentially awkward moments...

*Soon followed by the ESO Live "WTF are you doing?" segment* or the ever popular "Scare the heck out of the Dev's" segment.

Keep 'em on their toes.

This I could get into....*gets popcorn*

MornaBaine · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, wanted to pop in and address a few topics mentioned in this thread.

First, thanks for your suggestions and feedback. We care very deeply for this game, as you all do, and want to continually improve how we communicate with you all to keep you in the loop as much as we can.

That said, as we've stated before, the team is currently very focused on console launch and supporting the PC/Mac version. We're releasing the game on two new platforms in just a few weeks, and the studio is buzzing! It's definitely an exciting time, but also very busy.

Without getting into all the hairy details of day-to-day activities amongst different teams, we can tell you that we do gather your feedback and issues straight from the forums to bring to the developers' attention. There are many reports that go out, and please trust that we keep a close eye on all topics (even though we may not always respond in each thread).

One thing we'd like to continue doing, and perhaps even expand on, is getting your opinion about current and upcoming content or features. For example, we have a thread currently stickied asking what you'd like to see in the Crown Store. We've gotten some really good ideas from that thread, and it also gives us a good idea of the things you'd like to see (and what you don't necessarily want to see, too!) Yes, we have been reading it.

We absolutely want to work with you to continue strengthening the community; tell us what you'd like to see, and we'll do our best to make it happen. Within reason, of course.

I have seen almost nothing that has been posted in that crown store request thread actually get implemented. You may be reading it but there's been precious little action as of yet. And forgive me if I sound bitter but those of us who play this game on PCs and have been financially supporting this game since before launch without a break and CONTINUE to keep a subscription in order to support this game...yeah we're not too happy to be told we get NOTHING because you are now focusing all your attention (and presumably our money) on your console release. Throw us a bone for the sake of the Divines!

Gidorick · April 2015

You have some great thoughts there @Merlin13KAGL. The community team is doing a good job with ESO live, The Tamriel Chronicles, Orienteering Challenges, and tales of the dead. The thing with those is that they function like player created events. The tales of the dead should result in the winning entry being added to the game & the orienting challenges should be more like an "amazing race" in ESO with waypoints.

Those of us still here are here because we still believe, and I am trusting that once ZOS finishes the console version, the game will finally get updates and content. Afterall, they were likely told last August or September to transition to buy to play and console MUST be out June 2015. So they had 10 like months to make that happen. Couple that with the rebalancing, Champion System, and lag issues they were dealing with at the time (and still are) and you kind of get a big picture of what ZOS has been trying to handle.

I'm sure they WANT to be more involved in the community. I'm sure they WANT to release Imperial City and new zones but the reality of the situation is that they have had some unexpected work added to them by both the and by listening to community feedback.

We need to be patient and hope that after the console releases, we get the quake con 2014 ZOS back.

If our comments on the forum do indeed get to the development team, please let them know that there are many of us on the forum, I would go so far to say most of us, that believe in ESO and we believe the team at ZOS has the skill and vision to make ESO the definitive MMO and the definitive TES game. If we didn't believe that we would have left long before now.

We are in this for the long haul.

MornaBaine · April 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

You have some great thoughts there @Merlin13KAGL. The community team is doing a good job with ESO live, The Tamriel Chronicles, Orienteering Challenges, and tales of the dead. The thing with those is that they function like player created events. The tales of the dead should result in the winning entry being added to the game & the orienting challenges should be more like an "amazing race" in ESO with waypoints.

Those of us still here are here because we still believe, and I am trusting that once ZOS finishes the console version, the game will finally get updates and content. Afterall, they were likely told last August or September to transition to buy to play and console MUST be out June 2015. So they had 10 like months to make that happen. Couple that with the rebalancing, Champion System, and lag issues they were dealing with at the time (and still are) and you kind of get a big picture of what ZOS has been trying to handle.

I'm sure they WANT to be more involved in the community. I'm sure they WANT to release Imperial City and new zones but the reality of the situation is that they have had some unexpected work added to them by both the and by listening to community feedback.

We need to be patient and hope that after the console releases, we get the quake con 2014 ZOS back.

If our comments on the forum do indeed get to the development team, please let them know that there are many of us on the forum, I would go so far to say most of us, that believe in ESO and we believe the team at ZOS has the skill and vision to make ESO the definitive MMO and the definitive TES game. If we didn't believe that we would have left long before now.

We are in this for the long haul.

I'm planning to keep my sub for 2 to 3 months after console release. ZOS had better make this up to us BIG TIME. It's getting kind of hard to keep the faith at this point.

ZOS_GinaBruno · April 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

The tales of the dead should result in the winning entry being added to the game

This is a really interesting idea...

SantieClaws · April 2015

"So Dev at the desk just behind the copier what are you working on right NOW! - You're on Dev Cam Live!"

"Um well actually it's a bacon, chicken and mayo sandwich, sprinking of arugla, some roasted tomatoes, few onions, poppy seeds on a vienna style crispy roll. I'm washing it all down with a tall latte with soy milk. Trying hard not to get the mayo on my mouse. This is a really technical operation with a lot of potential pitfalls. Strong possibility of getting poppy seeds stuck in my teeth. The ETA on completion of the sandwich is sometime in the third quarter of the day but things could get delayed if I feel the need to stop for a cookie mid way through."

Elsonso · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

Followed by the "Which restroom are the devs hiding in" segment.

Gidorick · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

The tales of the dead should result in the winning entry being added to the game

This is a really interesting idea...

It could be as simple as just placing a note beside the Scene. I don't know what that would involve development wise, but I can't imagine it would be much work.

And the added participation and community involvement would be spectacular!

Oh, and thanks for reading.

skarvika · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

DO IT
It would be interesting to see what's going on behind the scenes. I always like seeing how my favorite games are developed.

Gidorick · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

Lol. Do it all gorilla surprise style. You'd catch people on Facebook and messing with their phones. We obviously wouldn't see THOSE instances but it would be fun for you guys, catching people goofing off.

Vaerth · April 2015

Huggernaut wrote: »

I hope this is the kick in the pants this dev team needs to push them out of their shells and come out and really interact with us on a personal level. There are multiple game studios that do this to great effect. You should learn from them. I understand this is your first foray into the big scary world of triple A MMOs. Which is all the more reason not to let yourself build up bad habits early on.

Players reading this, you guys and gals need to step up too. Show the devs that you need more interaction with them too!, besides the odd patch note or forum moderation post.

On to the real post....

So I was going through posts, and one of the comments from a dev made me stop for a second, they said "We're here all the time!, check the dev tracker"...so I did!

There are HUGE gaps, sometimes almost a month long. Most averaging 2 weeks or so though.

This is not acceptable. This is not how you build a community.

Also, a great deal of the responses are just dev replies to forum threads that have had a cleaning out ie "Too many hostile posts in this thread, we have deleted, blah blah blah". These replies don't even count in my eyes. As they are nothing more than forum moderation.

There needs to be real communication between the players and the devs in charge of ... everything. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we need a section on the forums for nothing but feedback & suggestions. Sure /feedback exists, but honestly there needs to be a place where players and devs alike can come and discuss things. A place they can return to after some amount of pondering upon the issues and make informed replies.

This should be a daily occurrence. Not a monthly one.

- The dev (or team) that is in charge of the crown store should be making weekly posts. Showcasing stuff that is added, stuff that is upcoming. You need to be running polls to find out how players are receiving new items that have been added to the store. How are they reacting to said items, why are they reacting that way (if negative), etc.

- Art dept members, can be coming to the forum to showcase new costumes, pet or mount skins, etc. This is an excellent way to hype up your community about patches still in the pipe. It also gives you a solid feel on what the community likes and dislikes. Saves you time and money down the road. Which is why we need a dev spoiler section on the forums, as I've suggested in the past.

- Gameplay mechanics devs should be here on a daily basis, without question. This team is arguably the most important. There are all sorts of things that can be iterated on a daily basis in regards to these systems. How a particular change (good or bad) has affected a class in pvp or dungeons for example. How certain classes might need updating, why this is, how this can happen, etc. There needs to be a place where hard data can be presented, refuted or accepted and tests continued.

- Map design team, also important. Have a boss fight in a cool looking locale, but all the fancy extras are actually hindering your ability to fight the boss properly? We need a place to tell you this and offer examples on how it can be fixed. Maybe your favorite locale has too much "immersion clutter" as I like to call it (tables, chairs, pots, bookcases, etc), again, there needs to be a 2 way street of communication about this as well.

- Events!, there needs to be some, even weekly or bi-weekly events. These are low cost / high reward systems that can easily be introduced to the game. By that I mean, they cost you (the studio) relatively nothing in regards to manpower, salary, etc, but gain you huge amounts traffic in game, player good will, possibly new players, which equals more cash streams, etc. These events don't need to be all that involved, they could be as simple as boosted weekends, increasing xp / gold / loot drop rates. They can be as complex and involved as you want really. More you put into it, the more you generally get out of them though.

- Lore & Rp fans, don't think I've forgotten you either!. I am sure there are oodles of players that would love to discuss the story so far, and where it's heading in the future with the writers that are responsible for this facet of the game. I'm sure they have questions in regards to RP that could use clearing up, and I'm most definitely sure they have suggestions on things they would like to see in the future as well as stuff they have disliked in the past.

This can go on and on.

The point is, that no matter what your job is, there are players that want to talk to you. Players that NEED to talk to you and by the extension, there needs to be devs that NEED to talk to the players as well. Without everyone, this doesn't work.

Cheers.

+1 the @ZoS team needs to listen to the people lining their pockets, without us the game dies and they lose LOADS of money.

Destai · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

This would be great. Maybe also a somewhat regular AMA (once a month or so).

Attorneyatlawl · April 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

While I understand it would be great to hear from the devs directly more frequently, I also understand that they have different obligations and can't talk as freely as they might like to anyway. The community team, especially Gina who posts quite often in the forums, are doing a tremendous job in relaying our feedbacks to the developers, and the bi-weekly ESO live is something I wouldn't have expected to happen from a big studio.

That said, I believe there is room for a little more information coming from the developers - as has been suggested, maybe just a short video each week where a dev can show a little piece he has been working on during that week: A piece of artwork, a sound effect, some UI elements, anything that doesn't reveal or promise too much, but gives a little insight into the development process and keeps us in touch with the developers themselves. Before launch, we at least saw the developers every week for the Question of the Week.

Something we're toying around with internally is a "What are you working on?" video segment for ESO Live where we would, quite literally, go to the desks of developers and ask them what they're working on right that second. Could be fun.

I like that idea a lot...

. I don't really have much to add to what's already been said by others in this thread, but definitely would highlight the updates on whether something's being worked on, or decided against being implemented. There are a few times that activity's been around a subject for month(s), mostly agreed upon by posters, and then eventually shows up in a patch note as having been done (which is awesome, of course, ultimately). It would be great to see a remark on those kinds of things in the interim

.