nat3s wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 3:28 pm
GamesBond wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 8:48 am
[...] in order to understand how crucial it is to coordinate with the community.
Are the rumours true Zarbix was talking about on stream about [name redacted] who loves ranked and hates NB, directing devs to remove NB and spend so much effort on a niche playstyle (ranked) purely because that's what he wants? I hope it's just bs drama, but it would explain some of the design decisions that are seemingly directed at a minority of players against the wishes of the majority.
I look at the pop and it worries me, at some point I feel like you need to disregard this whole "but removing NB is good for the integrity of competitive play"... And just focus on what players want to keep them happy and playing.
Meant with respect
I'll start my response by explaining proposals and feedback, and how we consider these two:
There are always some changes fueled by players. Proper studios have game designers: Dedicated people to shape games, and while they sometimes fail to release appealing content or positive changes, it's still a position that takes care of new content, changes and anything related to the game. Here, it's different; We don't have this luxury, and instead, we rely on internal proposals as well as community ones: Players who share feedback and write extensive unbiased proposals will be heard, whereas players who remain silent won't be heard - this is logical as you need to express yourself to have your views received by others. When we say extensive unbiased proposals, we mean pitching your idea to the development team and tackling all sorts of questions that may pop. Pitching your idea is your responsibility as a player who wants to propose something and I'll assure you that there are less than 5 people on the whole server who are willing to do that.
Moving forward with proposals, it's a fact that not all proposals are implemented. Whether they aren't feasible or do not align with the overall approach of the game, many proposals could simply be turned down and this happens in any game development, imagine the amount of proposals and feedback that are turned down at Blizzard or ArenaNet for example, considering their huge playerbase.
Many other proposals could be turned down because we lack the capabilities or manpower to do them, even though they may be extremely good and for the best of the community. Bombling is one of the few players who extensively write proposals, I wish we had the right number of developers to implement some of his proposals as they are generally good and neutral. But we don't. This is the bitter reality, and this is why Bombling sometimes feels devalued or is wasting time writing these pitches.
Going back to your original question:
The reason why you believe one single player could be pushing changes, is because they've been excessively vocal about their own proposals. Except that nobody knows how many proposals have been turned down or how many have been rectified to suit the team's approach. You could right now suggest something and if it gets implemented, tell everyone you know that you pushed your proposal and got it implemented. Good for you, but that's where it ends.
If your proposal wasn't good, it wouldn't have been implemented. Same thing applies for the player you're giving way much more credit than deserved; If the proposals were bad, they would have been completely opposed or changed to suit our vision. At the end of the day, it's the developer executing these changes and they're well aware they will have to answer to player feedback or questions if they implement something unwelcomed.
It's also important to note that some proposals have been well received by, let's call them archrivals of the player in question. I don't personally like or engage in personal feuds but it's a good indicator to judge in this case. It's also important to note that the recent changes were disliked by that same person. So you be the judge, I really hate to discuss these topics like that but I also wanted to give you a transparent answer.
lastly, while Zarbix and many of you, have argued correctly about the recent changes, there were many things that were taken from some forum posts without fact-checking. We do not go out and hunt down every inaccurate detail, we rely on people to discuss their concerns with Community Managers. We also did not want to fight off assumptions while there was mass discontent, as in my opinion, it was the rightful time for players to vent and release everything they had.
