<div id="post_message_548872"> Quote:
Originally Posted by Utnayan
I posted this in the other thread by mistake.

My reply Brad.



Sounds good. I just wanted to gauge where this was at. If it was now at a stand still from beta 2, or what was happening. Hopefully you can see the confusion when I see new tech unveiled in beta 3 when I knew new tech was unveiled in beta 2. Thanks for the clear up. What I hope happens next is you find some animators that really know what they are doing so they can use that tech to full advantages. I know how hard it is to find good animators in this business.



That's perfect - as long as you are always upfront and honest about it. But that also means turning a new leaf on community management. If something is not in the game later on down the road, and players are wondering if they should spend time on that or move on, that you have communication open to let those players know so they don't waste time chasing something that doesn't exist. And if a high end zone isn't complete, or a key quest is broken, just come out and say it so players know. This is all I have ever asked. But I am also going to ask that you do not listen to Rich Vogel anymore. You should not deflect concerns by players and guide them to something else - because all it will do is create more frustration. It is a piss poor way of doing things, and his way should never be taken into consideration ever again.



Completely understood here as well. I know that MMORPG's are always a work in progress. What gets me though is when zones are supposed to be in a game, players question what is going on, and those questions fall on deaf ears. Don't let that happen and I have no problem. I also know at some point you have to release a game. As long as everyone knows upfront what will and what won't make it, I am fine with it. I would suggest an entire web page link that would detail what will make it and what won't. Just a simple "Things that are not going to make our launch: But may be added in the near or far future" and list those features.



Right now the only thing that is leading me to believe that, other than NDA breakers, is the lack of information this close to release. Which is why I have always recommended you lift the NDA. If it's a work in progress, you stand to gain much more from being open about it. I understand the need to keep things from competing product, but right now you have divulged most everything that you hope to have in the game anyway short of some key revamps. Little things that would help in my opinion would be this example: If someone asks what is up with diplomacy? I would say, "Guys, we are completely redoing diplomacy - it wasn't fun as it stood. I'll have more information for you after we take a hard look at what we can do to make this system fun" instead of, "We'll give you more info later - for now, secret sauce". Hopefully you understand what I am saying there.



This is what I have always asked for. I hope you know, contrary to my anti fan base here, that I do not hate you. I do not hate Sigil. I do not hate SOE. We have known each other via the e-waves for a long time now, ever since I did one of your first interviews since leaving SOE for Guru3d.com.

What I want to see are changes to the genre so it can evolve passed a play now patch later concept where all too often the live patching process is a scapegoat for publishers to launch a game before it's ready. And I would love nothing more than to love playing your game. That's why I care so much in the first place.



Perfect. This is the information I am wanting to hear about.



Perfect. And if the NDA is in place at this point to grab exclusives in press releases via major and minor affiliates, that's fine. Again, no problems at all when you have an NDA for those reasons as long as the funding you receive will benefit the game before it launches. I only have a problem with an NDA if I am under the impression that it holds back the negative information only, while no one cares about positive NDA breakers. I know you can see my point of view here and admit that was happening. But that is why I dislike NDA's when used for that purpose - because it holds back other crucial information that the public should know about as well.



Again, this is all I ever needed to hear. And please take a hard look at my suggestion above, and time it out right when you have a content lock. I am guessing you should know about a month ahead of time.



To put it out there, here is what bugged me the most. And if you respond to nothing but this, I would be happy.

1> Watching players love your game (EQ) and see them get lied to. Ester the Tester saying that Cloth Caps dropping on Warders was working as intended. Who told her to say that? If she was directed to by someone else, why was that done? Why not just tell everyone that the loot table was not finished for that zone yet? I, others, and everyone else would have just been happy at that point in the game that they were not being lied too. Yes this is old hat and I am over it. But it concerns me as to why it was done in the first place.

2> The same as above when it came to Plane of Mischief. Yes, I know this happened a long time ago. But things like this burn in a person's mind when they see some of the same people behind the product. For 3 months players kept trying to figure out quests that didn't exist and no one tried to stop them and say hey, guys, you know what? Please work on something else and have fun in other zones - this area is not complete yet and we apologize for it, but we don't want you wasting time there.

This goes beyond just normal bugs out of thousands of quests that would be impossible to keep track of. This goes into cutting into months of people's playtimes exploring something that was not physically able to be completed. And when you drive that into players, you drive a sense of rigidness into them while they play your game. Is this quest finished? Am I wasting my time on nothing? I cannot tell you how many times people were more relieved to get a reward than be excited for it because it was just so bugged.

My question in all of this is why did this happen? (The lies) Why was it allowed to happen? And why did it persist? What changes will you make to make sure this type of behavior doesn't happen again in Vanguard? What types of discipline action may you have set up for bad apples? This also goes to seeing employees at SOE making items for themselves or using their status as an employee as levwerage to gain over other normal players. One name comes to mind here specifically. We both know who that is. So I will not say it here, but I have said his name before. What will happen in these instances?

If you never lie, try to cover up anything, and just be flat out honest - and that goes for pre and post launch, I have no beefs with your company, your employees, you, or Vanguard. That is someone I will gladly give my $50 bucks to and try their game.


Thanks, and I really appreciate your response. You are right we made mistakes in the past, and people said things they shouldn't have. I hope we have structured things differently and learned from our mistakes here at Sigil and that our up front and forward approach is a good indicator of that. That said, much of what occured that you brought up was on my watch, and while I didn't approve it, it was still my watch and I take responsibility.

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