Do devs actually read the forums any more?

generalTsobot

The Viceroy Returns wrote:

The dev that let's slip mention about a vague feature everyone takes as gospel because a dev said it.

Agreed, one of the more visible and egregious examples of a seemingly innocuous comment that blew up was Ice's answer to whether rostering 5* characters would affect scaling. I think his answer to the question was literally just "No". Much digital ink has been spilled on this topic and it continues to be a sore point.

It becomes a vicious cycle that we are looking for open interaction and feedback with devs on the forums; yet, we will jump all over them for any real or perceived slight. It's a treacherous tightrope, one that needs to be navigated carefully.

The Viceroy Returns wrote:

It almost feels like the Drew Rosenhaus / Terrell Owens press conference from back in the day where he answered every question with "no comment".

Or, more recently, "I'm just here so I won't get fined". AKA we will post the minimum here to convey the most important information but we can't/won't treat this like a Reddit AMA.

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

Yes, the devs read the forums. Demiurge_Anthony was just commenting and asking questions in the bugs thread last week and D3 Go! and Demiurge chat about various community concerns often.

I also send round weekly reports on community likes, dislikes and major concerns. Your thoughts are being read, discussed and taken into consideration.

Linkster79

"David wrote:

Moore"]Yes, the devs read the forums. Demiurge_Anthony was just commenting and asking questions in the bugs thread last week and D3 Go! and Demiurge chat about various community concerns often.

I also send round weekly reports on community likes, dislikes and major concerns. Your thoughts are being read, discussed and taken into consideration.

Despite all my whinging and moaning I do have every faith that representatives from Dr Go! reads these forums daily, in fact I would be shocked if they weren't being read even in your spare time as a guest. What would be nice is if some acknowledgement was given. Communication goes both ways and it really would help to foster better relations and a greater sense of community spirit.

madok

We have pretty good proof that someone does read the forums. Look at the last minute changes before V1 Galactus was released.

IFORANI

Disclaimer. The following is ONLY my opinion. It's based on my experiences and level of knowledge gained. It's not a proven theory in no manner and is just my opinions. I also know some might and some might not see it plausible so if you differ in opinion then please just express yours wholely and not just disect flaws you have with mine. Thank you.

They obviously read some of the post due to them posting. These post therefore at least reassure us that the forums existance has not been forgotten completely. They are most likely receiving information and updates by the Mods regularly also. The forums are for pleasing it's fan base not for the benefit of the publishers goals.

Unfortunately they are under staffed to handle fan base traffic. We as F2P players are flawed in our thinking about publishers. Specifically player's are thinking 100% as a gamers when we are giving suggestions. We are trying to give them the information to create a product that has a happy fan base by deleting problems we have with product. Were flawed that the idea of "they care" actually exist.

However, We are unfortunate as gamers affected by a new age of publishers in gaming culture. The example I like to use is a large portion of gamers are use to a product being closer to IOS. Unfortunately it's actually now becoming closer to Windows. Unfinished and unpolished product that is attempting to update and create the game as it's being played.

One side effect of this model is what causes a unnecessary amount of post on this forum is bugs or gameplay flaws.

Another side effect is it allows things such as the current updates "balancing" or "buff" issue a bug. Unless the issue was introduced in code after pre-testing the update was completed and final version of update was approved then it's not a bug. It's covering up lack of thoroughly and properly pre-testing in house and allows us to become their testers. By designEdited: or not it will Edited:possible increase sales in health packs. Lol. They know we won't leave and will be there afterwards.

This model is MPQ model according to published interview from the CEO in 2014 I happen to find online. According to him F2P should focus on gameplay and keeping players engaged with gameplay. Not other services. So model allows them to do this in that business sense.

Also they saw its more PROFITABLE! The console gaming gave the industry the model with DLC. Once console and PC gamers accepted that as the DLC was an option, the next step in evolution naturally took place. Here we are witnessing the method being perfected and refined. Because It's mixing this model with bringing back the Arcade's profitably to the publishers directly.

Our suggestions only matter in its worth by it's profitably to publishers. It's the RABBIT HOLE!

Malcrof

"David wrote:

Moore"] Your thoughts are being read

Raffoon

Linkster79 wrote:

chamber44 wrote:

Honestly, if you were them, would you read the forums?

It's a bunch of nerds on the internet **** about their hard work.

(not that I think they're doing a good job. I'm just not surprised they're not here).

If I were a community manager for a company that specialises in mobile gaming that had its own forums I would. Something tells me it would be part of the job description.

Yeah, they actually have TWO people with that job description.

Whenever anything important happens, they always both seem to be absent, though.

Raffoon

SnowcaTT wrote:

Did they ever? Seemed like one would pop in once a month, not much anymore though.

They would communicate multiple times per day for a while. Then it all stopped.

Raffoon

"David wrote:

Moore"]Yes, the devs read the forums. Demiurge_Anthony was just commenting and asking questions in the bugs thread last week and D3 Go! and Demiurge chat about various community concerns often.

I also send round weekly reports on community likes, dislikes and major concerns. Your thoughts are being read, discussed and taken into consideration.

Yeah.... I wish I could believe you.

Or perhaps I'm just not distinguishing enough between "reading" and "doing anything at all about it" or even "acknowledging that issues exist".

There used to actually be a dialog between the community and the developers. The thing about a dialog is that it goes two ways.