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EVE Vegas 2014: Getting players involved in EVE's development
Back in 2011, EVE Online developer CCP Games was rocked by controversy when players outraged over the Incarna expansion's microtransactions and CCP's indifference to player feedback spoke with their wallets and quit the game. In what became known as the monoclegate scandal, an estimated 8% of players quit, and CCP eventually laid off 20% of its staff worldwide. Some tough lessons were learned about keeping players looped into the development process, and CCP began involving players more closely in the development process. At EVE Vegas 2014 today, developer CCP Fozzie looked at the ways that CCP gathers ideas and feedback from the community. As a sandbox MMO with a very dedicated community, EVE is in the interesting position that many of the players know more about the game than the developers themselves and can identify problems with ideas very early in the development process. Plans are now announced earlier in development to gather feedback, some new features are now made optional on release to gauge usage, and failed ideas will even be rolled back if necessary. During the talk, Fozzie confirmed that each SCRUM team within CCP focuses on one particular area of gameplay and that player ideas are often brought into internal meetings for discussion. A new rig named the Higgs Anchor is even being introduced based on player suggestions; it will decrease movement speed by 75% but increase agility to make it easier to align to warp out if hostiles approach the player's location. If this level of player participation keeps up, hopefully disasters like monoclegate will never happen again.
ArenaNet takes its first step toward Guild Wars 2 collaborative development with a call for topics
Last week, Guild Wars 2 studio design director Chris Whiteside announced a new community initiative designed to better filter and address player feedback regarding the future and current state of the game. Today, Whiteside followed up by posting the first set of instructions for participating in the process ArenaNet is referring to as "collaborative development." The Guild Wars 2 team is asking players to begin by choosing three priorities from each area of gameplay and listing them in a response to the initial post. For example, a player's PvE priorities might be ascended items, world events, and roleplaying. ArenaNet will then take the top item in each section and start a separate thread in which players and the team will share opinions, brainstorm, and converse. Our own Anatoli Ingram tackled the initial announcement in this week's Flameseeker Chronicles. As for this first round of feedback, players have "a couple" of days to add their thoughts before ArenaNet compiles the list. [Thanks to Mikey Moo for the tip!]
The Tattered Notebook: EverQuest Next Round Table roundup
Back when EverQuest Next and EverQuest Landmark were announced, SOE President John Smedley made it clear that the two games were henceforth in "open development." That meant that the company would be soliciting feedback and opinions from players about myriad design decisions for the two games. Since then, EQ Next devs have thrown out new questions each week for players to vote on and discuss. Utilizing polls and forum discussions in a special section of the main site labeled Round Table, important topics like bearded female dwarves and armor appearance customization are delved into and player desires and feedback are gathered. After collecting the data, the devs respond, sometimes in video form. Today, The Tattered Notebook is going to round up all those roundtables, giving you a summary of which way the community is leaning on these different topics as well as the dev input. I'll even throw in snippets of their opinions as well! Of course, if you haven't added your thoughts to the mix and you'd like to, you still have time to do so as all the polls are still active.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Jeff Hickman encourages player feedback on F2P changes
Star Wars: The Old Republic's community has had plenty to say about the game's recent addition of its free-to-play option, and BioWare wants players to keep the opinions coming. In a new post on the official site, the game's executive producer Jeff Hickman speaks on the importance of player feedback of the new F2P model and announces a few upcoming changes based on said feedback. For starters, the ridiculous practice of requiring players to purchase additional hotbars seems to be on its way out. "Starting today," Hickman writes, "Preferred Status Players will see an increase to their default quickbars from two (2) to four (4)" while any players who have already shelled out for additional bars will have their Cartel Coins refunded. On top of that, an upcoming patch (exact date to-be-determined) will increase the number of character slots available to preferred players from two to six. In that same patch, BioWare will be substantially increasing the global 50-character limit for subscribers, in case anyone really wants an army of their own. In closing, Hickman reminds players that "even if [the developers] can't respond to every post, know that [they're] listening and looking to enhance The Old Republic gameplay based on player feedback." For the full details, click on over to the SWTOR official site.
EA COO maintains confidence in BioWare
Some gamers claim that EA has lost confidence in BioWare, citing the studio's difficult year that included the less-than-hoped-for performance of Star Wars: The Old Republic and that the move to free-to-play later this fall is a sign of failure. EA COO Peter Moore, however, directly refutes that, saying, "They're doing great." Moore gave EA's take on why SWTOR didn't do as well as expected, explaining that the world of gaming changed between the time that project started and now, making a shift from subscription-based to F2P. He pointed out that changing business models was directly related to the desires of the playerbase, stating, "We do exit interviews. When people say I'm churning out, I'm going to step away for a while, we ask them why. Forty percent of people said, I just don't want to pay $15 a month. I love the game, but I'm just not into the subscription business." EA President Frank Gibeau first revealed the 40% sub-related departure rate in a previous investor call.
Behind the scenes with a Blizzard forums MVP "green"
Who are the "greens," the shining emerald jewels of the posting community on the official World of Warcraft community forums? How does one go from being, say, Eldacar the PvP enthusiast to Eldacar the forums MVP, who recently unleashed a volley of questions on the current state of WoW PvP that gathered a virtual storm of opinions and insights on the official PvP forums? Who is this guy, and why is everything he posts on the forums in bright green letters? Here's your answer -- the scoop on a green straight from one of the blues, Blizzard Community Manager Jonathan "Zarhym" Brown: "Eldacar's posting style and contributions to the community first crossed my radar during Cataclysm beta," Zarhym explains. "He had created some very useful guides on the beta forums detailing good feedback and bug reporting etiquette. I stickied his information and had brief contact with him via email and in the beta around that time. "In the fall of 2011, once the community team solidified plans for expanding the MVP program, his name popped back up in part because of some PvP-related posts he was working on," he continues. "I really make an effort to try and hang onto the names of constructive, eloquent posters -- whether or not they're critical of some of Blizzard's decisions. The MVP program is really meant to be a reflection of the diversity within our community. Its members are just a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition. I think Eldacar's a damn fine example of this." A "damn fine example"? Frankly, we're with Zarhym -- Eldacar's thoughtful approach and obvious passion for his subject matter made trumpeting his recent call to arms for player feedback a no-brainer. So who is this guy? And how'd he get so damn fine, anyway?
Final Fantasy XIV rings in the new year with a producer's letter
It's the start of the brand new year, and Final Fantasy XIV's new producer, Naoki Yoshida, wants to start it off on the right foot. That's the message conveyed by the new producer's letter that was sent out to all players, explaining in broad strokes what Yoshida hopes to accomplish at the helm of the game. It also includes a poll for players specifically addressing feedback, giving players an avenue to directly state what they like, what they dislike, and what needs work first. Yoshida explains that he wants to adopt a core policy with the new team centered around rebooting and rebuilding the game in a way that players can enjoy. He also teases that further storyline content is already in the works for the game -- a welcome addition for players. Final Fantasy XIV has a long road ahead of it, but the new poll and the new development team seem poised to address the challenges.
TERA FGT2 gameplay feedback detailed
TERA's official website has updated with the first in a series of 'postmortem' articles featuring player feedback and developer responses to the recently concluded second round of focus group testing. En Masse has collated a mountain of information from the 60-hour testing period and organized it into three broad categories (gameplay, Westernization, and technology), each of which will feature a postmortem article. The first article, focused on gameplay, expounds on everything from race/class combinations, to gear and itemization, to progression rewards. "Feedback regarding progression fell into four categories: equipment, items, skills, and gold acquisition. We asked testers whether they felt they received real and tangible rewards for their efforts, and feedback followed many of the same trends for each of the three categories. Gear was a hot topic: moving forward, TERA will feature more equipment items per level, new visuals for these items, and a wider assortment of item statistics. Gold seemed to be just about right, although testers noted that it was hard to tell for sure without a live, in-game economy," the article states. Check out the full write-up over at the official site.
Bluehole CM addresses TERA player feedback
Bluehole Studio Community Manager Mr. Blue has responded to tester feedback regarding the Korean beta version of the upcoming TERA MMORPG. The question and answer session, translated by Meiellink and Locien of TeraFans, touches on a lengthy list of player concerns including a lack of character and skill differentiation, a reliance on repeatable quests, difficult solo play, and a lack of unique hunting zones. "A complete renewal of the hunting zones, including the ones in Arun continent which players have visited is already planned. This doesn't just encompass the variety of monsters, placement, paths, topography and buildings, but also things such as quest types, quest lines and the placement of solo and party quests. We're going to take these factors and others into account as we measure the level of completion of the renewed zones one at a time," Mr. Blue says. Check out the full article over at TeraFans.
Darkfall's Tasos addresses player feedback
Players often complain that development teams rarely address their feedback, or even listen at all. Aventurine's Tasos does both in a lengthy post over on the official Darkfall forums. He touches on a number of planned improvements for the PvP-focused fantasy MMORPG, including faster skill progression, diminishing stat returns, and improvements to the game's PvE options. "We agree that skill progression needs to be made more interesting, that special quests need to be introduced; unique mobs, unique items and many of your suggestions in this area are being looked at already. Furthermore as we mentioned, quests and dungeons are being revamped, the entire system is being made as to connect the dots and give more meaning to adventuring in the game," Tasos says. Check out the post and as well as player response at the Darkfall official forums.
Champions devs looking for player feedback on melee powers
Cryptic is looking for constructive player feedback on the melee powers in Champions Online. You can post your thoughts over on this thread created by Daeke on the official forums. With power sets being such an integral part of what makes this game tick the way it does, this is a prime opportunity to have your voices heard. You'll need a forum account, but besides that it's open to anyone looking to respond. Now, we know some of you harbor an unfettered distaste for the brand of MMO superherodom found in Champions Online, and that's wholly your prerogative. If you find yourself wanting to let the developers have a piece of your mind, just make sure you do it in a manner that's both organized and constructive. Red-faced yelling -- or its online equivalent -- won't get your feedback taken seriously by anyone with the authority to actually do something about it.
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Breakfast Topic: Daily Quest design
I've been doing the daily quests a lot lately (for time invested vs. reward received, they are great), but I kind of agree with a comment one of you readers made earlier this week-- sooner or later, they just feel like a job you're doing. I'm still glad Blizzard is down with the idea-- patch 2.3 is going to bring cooking and PvP daily quests to do.But I still the idea is missing something. So this morning, we're giving the mic to you-- what would your perfect Daily Quest be? It has to be interesting enough and varied enough to keep doing day after day, and yet it has to be simple enough to do in a short amount of time. A good daily quest can't be anything that epic, either-- a daily quest to kill just one guy over and over would be a little strange, but it has to be epic enough that you want to keep doing it every 24 hours. Taking out the trash is too boring for us adventurers to call a "quest."So if you were designing the perfect daily quest, what would it be? What day-to-day jobs in Azeroth would make for a good task for players to do for a reward every day?
