Hmm, maybe a word or two on how pain points of the community are treated on entry and exit?
For example:
Community / Testers / Other source reports A,
CM gathers intel on point A (what is gathered?),
CM sends neat report on A,
FatShark Magic,
4a) Response: “A” is not within the scope at this time,
but you’re not allowed to disclose that,
4b) Working on A will take time, please send “this” out,
4c) Instructions not clear, ogryn stuck in celling fan (gather more intel),
Any insight or lines of communication are a good thing.
I’d be curious which sources; forums are taken for game direction and input. You can’t respond to everything but would be nice to know inputs and discussions are under consideration and or where.
A Survey would be nice too…maybe release results of launch survey?
Future plans, short term roadmap or general future ideas without too much commitment -.^ that is how VT2 PvP started as a fun side project if i recall.
Whats your classes, favorite character names (Kerrillian), skin setup, build ect… =)
Yes, I am interested in knowing more about what you do.
How many CMs are currently active? Are you the lone ranger here peacemaking between us and FS?
Are there any other unseen aspects of your job outside of facilitating communication and gathering/aggregating/distilling feedback? Any unappreciated labors you’d like acknowledged?
Lastly, as far as gathering feedback here specifically, do you keep tabs on all the subforums or just the “Gameplay Feedback”, “Performance Feedback” and “Bugs” ones? Do you ascertain feedback from indirect methods? (Such as Metrics, Discussions, tea-leaves, etc). I am very keen to know how in-depth you’re able to go considering the large quantity of feedback you get directly.
Only if you drop subtle hints between the lines as to why some things take so damn much time. Use memes your boomer bosses won’t understand to communicate the truth.
I also accept you hating on SCRUM, because SCRUM hate is 99% justified.
Edit:
Also, I’m finishing my CompSci degree online through Tuition Reimbursement from my job and just took a course on SCRUM Basics, I have no idea what the hell that course was actually about lol
it would be very interesting to learn what it actually takes for information releases to get greenlit, since one of the common points often speculated about in communities are stuff like “fatshark is always staying quiet”, “but they literally can’t say anything because of GW”, “but their management structure makes it hard to release info” etc. it’s probably not easy to write something about this but the rough pipeline would nonetheless be interesting
I’d rather have you communicate about error code 2014 a lot of players have and it’s something that is acknowledged for years, or just the servers crapping themselves these days but if you have the time for that no problem. I say that without animosity against you, I’m sure a lot of people are interested. Meanwhile my friends and I totally abandonned Havocs after being disconnected 5 times in a row (3 people at the same time once, when the twins appeared)
I’d be down! I know it would be one of those ‘padding’ posts as nothing concrete can be addressed, but it would be nice to hear say, the process in ‘collecting our whining’ /s and turning it into something tangible, walking in front of the team with it, as much of the ‘return feedback’ as can be discussed, and the continual cycle of that process.
Because it’s clear something’s been working, and it’s been appreciated. Ogryn getting the biggest face lift with like so many changes that have been seen here in the forums, Havoc even recently getting a touch up that while not perfect, at least makes 40 a proper pursuit again (even if the seasonal reset still isn’t the greatest thing to me).
But the initial havoc update this ‘season’ was still just nothing but misses, and Mortis, while amusing, is also something that’s more a ‘drop in the bucket’ more than something to heavily engage with, just by the nature of the wave design and the lack of mixed hordes, on top of the bonus effects, making it a pretty simple walk in the park for anyone that isn’t currently in the process of leveling. It’s cool, but something ‘hardly asked for’, along with the power creep spikes making it clear things are being designed around Havoc, and the community heavily questioning if that’s the right decision given it’s barrier to entry verses the arguably strictly funner Auric Playlists.
SO, all that to say, getting to know ‘the process’ would be neat! More Strawhat always good.
CM devblog would be great. Anything to shine a light on why comms from FS are so slow, and it’s also just interesting information to know. How do you choose what information to use? Which kinds of players do you use feedback from for balancing? Is rude feedback (e.g. salty, profanity-filled rants) considered? How many hours a day do you scroll through the forums?
I’m really hoping for a deeper dive than what we usually see behind the wheel. I see many dev blogs from Fatshark talking about the parts that look fun or are relatively inoffensive, and nothing really about how difficult it might be to communicate between different departments, trying to swat that one bug that somehow cropped up, or just running into walls to make sure players don’t clip through them. I like nitty-gritty - really getting a sense of scale of the project.
Also, do you work alone currently? I haven’t seen Catfish around for a while, and I don’t know if she silently left Fatshark or is taking extra-extended leave. Adding another CM to the team may go a long way towards keeping proper contact with the playerbase.
