This is kind of an odd discussion but it still kind of belongs in feedback i suppose. So i actually work in the game industry myself (this is going somewhere i promise) and i’m a little concerned about the separation from the forums and the in game community. Many will think “well they are the same” but this isn’t really the case.
The thing is from my own experience at work, these is often a separation between players who use the forums and those who do not. Generally speaking if someone is using the game forums they are much more engaged and attached to the game. They’ll generally be a significantly better player than what is the average and have more extreme opinions. While this is fine and i believe everyone should be allowed a voice it does bring concerns about how the developers use forum feedback.
I see a lot of threads and users who are simply ignoring aspects of human error as if all players are automatic robots. A game in my opinion should be designed around the aspect of human error, it’s unavoidable and part of how we ALL play. From delayed reactions to simply not noticing something on screen we all do make human errors at times. It’s just grown a little concerning when a lot of the feedback is becoming “get better” from some (this doesn’t mean it has to be you as a reader) on the forums. I’m fine with pushing people to get better but again my concern is developers looking at the forums as an accurate representation of the playerbase. Reality is, if you’re using this forum you’re most likely in the top 10% of the players within the game.
I just hope the developers do keep into account player concerns of those who are not actively posting on their own private forums. You can certainly see different mentality between the Steam and this private forum. Just to clarify i’m not stating that everyone here is wrong, i mean i myself am here to start with. I’m also not stating we should make the game completely for “casuals” just more that we should certainly consider feedback in other areas as well as here.
Actually from what I’ve seen in forum communities most are of average to below average skill level in game. The above average players will typically just silently adapt to any changes made to the game, and any remarks of “Get Good” are average players trying to sound tough. I’ve seen enough complaining about non-issues in all games i play to know that most people who go to forums are vocal but not necessarily the most qualified to provide in depth feedback. It’s why I find in game surveys with minor incentives to complete them, along with keeping track of play hours, and game progress of the accounts when reviewing the feedback from the survey to be the best option. Now these comments are of course all generalizations some newbies will come to the forums for guides and such. Some of the better players will be posting guides or trying to provide valuable feedback. The difficulty with forums that aren’t linked to in game accounts is mostly there is no way to track who is posting what, and if your not someone who is good at the game it can become difficult to parse what feedback is legitimate, and what is just well worded ranting.
The feedback has been pretty all over the place really. Here, on Reddit, and at the Bloog Moon Inn, it’s all pretty varied. I don’t think there’s much reason for concern. Fatshark did a great job with V1 (even if it took some time because of the size of their team), and I have full faith that they’re invested in making V2 even better (for vets, for newbies, for profit).
The beta is a perfect example. It’s a fix, not a nerf, and there are wildly polarized opinions on it. Still, it makes Recruit somewhat easier (see Ratherdone’s chart) and bumps up the Legend difficulty. Wins all around. Sure, everything isn’t perfect (audio issues, patrols spawning in your face, some bad talents, etc.) or balanced yet, but I don’t see how anyone could argue that Fatshark isn’t moving in the right direction.