Customer communications

I want to start this stating that this is not a rage post, with me threatening to quit. I don't use twitter, discord, or even post my pics here basically because I do not trust all the third party platforms. I am not interested in persuading others to see my points on the issue. However, I am a customer albeit a third rate one.. apparently because I have extremely limited access to game development news, new content, and etc. I will struggle on, but wanted to go on record that yes, my feelings are hurt. I am a daily player through these years, play solo, get most of my game info off these forums. Now that the forums are slowly dying, apparently abandoned by the game designers to an increasing extent, my enjoyment has suffered.

 

If you got any question about the game or searchin for advise feel free to ask here on forum player will help out we got a good community!!

Bjorn Dyonisys

 

Every single week Elgarion posts a Weekly Update. You can find this information every week here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=29385

That way you can stay current with what is going on every week.

Also a link to every weekly update is also posted on the Announcement forum here as well.

 

I think the issue is, at least partly, the comments, after thoughts, and other "throw-away" comments that are missing from the official "printed" channels.

Example: As far as I can remember, that has never been a summary of the Q&A segments listed in the weekly updates. How else would Chris' answer to a question about player trade data? What about his comments on mounts or bard skills?


Each of us is going to have our own list of information we consider "vital" to our experience in game. The issue is the feeling that some players have that "vital" information is being excluded from the forums and weekly updates.

 

It doesn't help that none of the Twitch streams are being archived to YouTube anymore, so there is no way to get a transcript of them. The last one was from five months ago.

 

Greetings all
I am in agreement with Browncoat Jayson. The weekly updates are a summary of new content and changes, bug Fixes, and community events. What about new problems, thoughts on upcoming items and new things recommended during the Livestream? If you look at any of the Livestreams and read the chats you will see there is lots of ideas, questions, and comments. These things do not make it into the Weekly Updates. They actually on live in the Livestream. Same thing is evident in the Discord chats, and forums. Unless you spend the time with all three you are only getting a part of what is really going on. Please pick 1 format to distribute ALL information relevant to the game there.

What we need to be informed and feel we are part of the game and not just a player. Ideas are contagious, think how much we could all do if we had the information on what was being considered and created.

1.Suggestions for new ideas and content and was current content can be improved (Wishlist)
2 Bugs and Bug status (Feedback and Bug reporting)
3 New content and changes (Weekly Updates)
4 How can players help other players (Player Created Resources and New Player Welcome)
5 Upcoming events (Weekly Updates and Player in-game events)

The structure is there already it just needs to have ALL the information added to it and be the one place to look to find it. @Elgarion is doing a great jobb with his https://sotahelp.org/
but we need that for all the info. I love the game and think that the more players are informed and feel part of the game the better it will do.

 

I agree that the Twitch streams need to be archived on YouTube.

Another thing that would help is:
Please copy Chris's Tweets to the forums the same way they are copied on Discord.

I think a lot of the developers grew tired of the negativity and information overload on the forums.
But lots of player feedback means that lots of people care about the game.
And Elgarion has been doing a great job of keeping the forums positive lately.

If the forums are silent, that means nobody cares anymore,
So silent forums are much worse than a little drama.

So developers, please come back and interact with players on the forums.

 

A gift we inherited long ago... communication

You would think by 2020 we would have mastered it.

 

Yes, I was a little harsh with the inclusive "game designers" line. Elgarion's work is exceptional and most every one else pops up with good info from time to time. Our bug brigaders have a good start going. So my apologies for insulting anyone who is working hard. A little more organization, patch notes on each patch ready to read during the update, and please, some acknowledgement that the audience for a one minute design statement buried in an hour long twitch stream is not adequate would go a long way to assuage my damaged feelings

 

Point well taken, Aldo... You want our SotA to be successful, it shows in your words.

 

The choice of communication platform has long been a point of contention.
We do see a lot of streams and tweets - which is great for people who have the time to watch hours of streams for nuggets of relevant information, or who subscribe to the twitter feed for occasional nuggets of information. These are the 'nice to haves' but we seem to be mentioning the core essential communications, such as timely patch notes on the official website/forum, significant game / balance changes on the official website/forum, etc. I know it is time consuming to actually write stuff up (or get the appropriate people to provide the information so that others can write it up) but this is kinda non-negotiable.

I get most of my Shroud news from " a friend who heard from someone that Chris tweeted/streamed about it " and if I want more information I have to go sift through hours of video of Chris's character stood in town not moving. And while I know some community members have taken it upon themselves to summarize such updates, I've yet to find a consistent, reliably repository for such without spending ample time rummaging around.

Some suggestions:

When we launch the game, there are several screens we have to go through, one just to click play, another to type in credentials and click play, etc.
This is a good place to put a news / update feed where people who are actually logging in to play the game will see it.
Many games utilize a "launcher" for this purpose, too, but I don't think we need to add additional timesinks to just logging into the game, it already takes a while lol

I know it seems easier to just tweet about it 'cause it only takes a second, but a handful of people will see what, or will be watching one of the mid week streams at the appropriate time to pick up on bits of doled out info. Actually posting something in writing on the forum (or in game) is accessible to everyone, referenceable later, and prevents rumormongering, gossip, panic, etc.

There's never really been any emphasis on consistent, reliable comms regarding game changes, roadmap, etc.
I know some of the devs are active on the forums about their particular areas of expertise, but often don't have the information needed to create the kind of info we're after (patch notes, changes, plans, etc) , which is unfortunate.

 

Whilst it would clearly take way too much time for them to post summaries of every little passing comment said in livestreams (those little extra nuggets of info are one of the benefits of using that platform to communicate for those that choose to invest the time watching them), the core comms have been neglected for some time now. To the point where its lucky dip whether or not you even get patch notes it seems.

 

I don't think anyone wants them to post about "every little passing comment". I think what most people want is a post about upcoming changes.

 

The auto-transcripts are notoriously bad and, because of that, a potential source of misinformation.

 

Bad, yes. But better than the *nothing* we have now. Bad transcripts can be cleaned up; missing ones can't.