49 replies to this topic

[Senator_Ratbat]

King_Zacarias, on 11 April 2016 - 01:35 AM, said:

 

I'll take on Ratbat all day everyday 

 

i cri

 

I've listened through the second session and there is a lot to digest (what's up with team speak and the multiple user recording prompts???). We have a producer meeting to follow up on the topics discussed as well as the NA specific complaints about not being heard. While we do share the feedback to HQ in our weekly reports it's clear that we can do more. This is a failure on my part as the NA producer so I and the rest of the team will work harder to make sure NA is being heard loud and clear.

Edited by Senator_Ratbat, 11 April 2016 - 08:50 AM.

[gffcom]

Senator_Ratbat, on 11 April 2016 - 08:39 AM, said:

 

i cri

 

I've listened through the second session and there is a lot to digest (what's up with team speak and the multiple user recording prompts???). We have a producer meeting to follow up on the topics discussed as well as the NA specific complaints about not being heard. While we do share the feedback to HQ in our weekly reports it's clear that we can do more. This is a failure on my part as the NA producer so I and the rest of the team will work harder to make sure NA is being heard loud and clear.

Thanks. I have confidence in your sincerity and hope the issue is resolved soon.

[SkiFletch]

Senator_Ratbat, on 11 April 2016 - 03:39 AM, said:

 

i cri

 

I've listened through the second session and there is a lot to digest (what's up with team speak and the multiple user recording prompts???). We have a producer meeting to follow up on the topics discussed as well as the NA specific complaints about not being heard. While we do share the feedback to HQ in our weekly reports it's clear that we can do more. This is a failure on my part as the NA producer so I and the rest of the team will work harder to make sure NA is being heard loud and clear.

 

I really appreciate the humility and do hope you're right that you guys can do more.  I worry that your office is stretched beyond thin and lacks the manpower and resources to in fact do more without running you all into the ground.  I'm not sure how you guys could possibly transition from the level of engagement you currently have time for, to a level where every single thread in the feedback section gets an official response like it does in RU.  The gap is WIDE.  I could make phallic references to just how wide, but it's of epic proportions.  Short of hiring someone else that speaks Russian fluently, I don't see how it happens in a meaningful fashion.  I'd love to be proven wrong though, good luck.

[mike82198]

Senator_Ratbat, on 11 April 2016 - 03:39 AM, said:

 

i cri

 

I've listened through the second session and there is a lot to digest (what's up with team speak and the multiple user recording prompts???). We have a producer meeting to follow up on the topics discussed as well as the NA specific complaints about not being heard. While we do share the feedback to HQ in our weekly reports it's clear that we can do more. This is a failure on my part as the NA producer so I and the rest of the team will work harder to make sure NA is being heard loud and clear.

 

Simple step in the right direction: plug us in - http://forum.wotblit...щества/#topmost

 

Plenty of Russian speakers here. We want a direct path. It would require nothing more than a handful of us playing 5 battles on 400 ping. 

 

You can do it. 

[SGM_zorbaz]

Senator_Ratbat, on 11 April 2016 - 01:39 AM, said:

 

i cri

 

I've listened through the second session and there is a lot to digest (what's up with team speak and the multiple user recording prompts???). We have a producer meeting to follow up on the topics discussed as well as the NA specific complaints about not being heard. While we do share the feedback to HQ in our weekly reports it's clear that we can do more. This is a failure on my part as the NA producer so I and the rest of the team will work harder to make sure NA is being heard loud and clear.

 

Thank you for your response. I think that this is a really great game, and I want to offer my hopes that we can resolve these issues quickly and with mutual benefit for all of us. 

[furicle]

I think the focus of that letter is wrong.

 

It's not "we're all losing money now" that's the problem.

 

It's "provisions make the game pay to win because they are over powered and expensive"

 

Just dump the provisions, or make them two slots and camo takes one of them if you use it.  Or go back to 2.7 as far as provisions go.

[tlouie]

furicle, on 11 April 2016 - 10:51 AM, said:

I think the focus of that letter is wrong.

 

It's not "we're all losing money now" that's the problem.

 

It's "provisions make the game pay to win because they are over powered and expensive"

 

Just dump the provisions, or make them two slots and camo takes one of them if you use it.  Or go back to 2.7 as far as provisions go.

 

I agree that provisions are overpowered. But I would argue that the fix is to make them even more expensive than they are today.

 

This way, they would be priced too high for many people to use.  And WG still gets revenue from those wallet warriors who are willing to get provisions at any costs.

Edited by tlouie, 11 April 2016 - 03:55 PM.

[ahredstealth]

furicle, on 11 April 2016 - 09:51 AM, said:

I think the focus of that letter is wrong.

 

Agreed.  Multiple things in that letter that I feel are just... not what represents what I think is wrong/needs to be changed...

[ruggs225]

furicle, on 11 April 2016 - 03:51 PM, said:

I think the focus of that letter is wrong.

 

It's not "we're all losing money now" that's the problem.

 

It's "provisions make the game pay to win because they are over powered and expensive"

 

Just dump the provisions, or make them two slots and camo takes one of them if you use it.  Or go back to 2.7 as far as provisions go.

 

agreed as well. I don't agree with some of the letter, especially making provisions more expensive. I think he letter misses on some key points as well. 

[Senator_Ratbat]

SkiFletch, on 11 April 2016 - 02:05 PM, said:

 

I really appreciate the humility and do hope you're right that you guys can do more.  I worry that your office is stretched beyond thin and lacks the manpower and resources to in fact do more without running you all into the ground.  I'm not sure how you guys could possibly transition from the level of engagement you currently have time for, to a level where every single thread in the feedback section gets an official response like it does in RU.  The gap is WIDE.  I could make phallic references to just how wide, but it's of epic proportions.  Short of hiring someone else that speaks Russian fluently, I don't see how it happens in a meaningful fashion.  I'd love to be proven wrong though, good luck.

 

This is something we're going to work on. NA team was on a transitional period when Alo continued his career outside of WG but with Niko on board we can start to ramp up. I've been looking at how other smaller/indie teams handle community engagement. One game i'm particularly interested in is Fractured Space. They use Trello to show some level of transparency to what the team is working on. I think this initiative is FANTASTIC and i'm trying to champion something similar here at WG. It's a long-term project but this is how small teams scale their engagement. 

 

I am a huge fan of transparent development. This is our game (players and WG) so if there is a reasonable way we can lift up our skirts without giving out the whole kit and caboodle we will try to pursue this. We're experimenting with the Blitz to Meet You series to engage with folks. Response has been good so far so we will do more of these in the future. 

Edited by Senator_Ratbat, 11 April 2016 - 08:51 PM.

[Woody36327]

Ohhhhhhhh, I really like THAT RatBat! This would be an excellent addition to the "conversation"

[ruggs225]

Nice ratbat. Good to hear, and something I Hope will be implemented.

[reluctanttheist]

Not sure how those guys get around Sarbanes-Oxley when developing in this manner.

 

I really like the idea - helps you customers say, Don't waste your time on that, or, We'd Love That, Please Do It.

 

Total pandering to the masses

[Senator_Ratbat]

reluctanttheist, on 11 April 2016 - 09:09 PM, said:

Not sure how those guys get around Sarbanes-Oxley when developing in this manner.

 

I really like the idea - helps you customers say, Don't waste your time on that, or, We'd Love That, Please Do It.

 

Total pandering to the masses

 

Design by committee = death. I've watch many games crash and burn this way. We can agree to disagree when we are able to articulate why certain things are being prioritized. I think the Fractured Space team has a vision for their game and they are sharing it with the community. They are still the stewards of the vision but being inclusive means they can share the ride with players. 

[zerquetch]

WareJC, on 10 April 2016 - 07:08 PM, said:

Good letter.
WG has a new coke old coke problem here which they need to address.

 

oh ain't that the truth, lol

[_DragonKRIEG]

mike82198, on 11 April 2016 - 09:19 AM, said:

 

Simple step in the right direction: plug us in - http://forum.wotblit...щества/#topmost

 

Plenty of Russian speakers here. We want a direct path. It would require nothing more than a handful of us playing 5 battles on 400 ping. 

 

You can do it. 

 

Plan is we yolo 5 battles at 400 ping and get on the Russian forum to get official responses and bring the fixing of this economic disaster faster?

 

I'm in

[koop123]

Senator, thanks for responding. I am not sure if you are aware of all the drama around Rita and her Status Report calling out NA over what appears to be a fake "summit." Nano is great, although I wished he had told the CEO the truth--we want Training Rooms to practice clan warfare and to create our our 7v7 Clan Battles, i.e., our own Clan Wars. And not sure if I believe all the questions were simply put in a hat and Junkers, Nolan, Nano and the others picked a question and asked and were not aloud to ask their own. Anyway, I do feel WGNA Blitz has tried to be involved in the community. We shall see if WG really only wants "Happy Players" and this is not in a Cash Grab because they feel we are on the down slope of all of their title's popularity and profitability.

 

Things have been interesting since 2.8, to say the least.

 

I have played on NA and had a blast platooning with a few people. I platooned with someone for the first time who is not in my clan or a forumer. Think we connected watching Lokeen's stream. Anyway, the first thing he said in chat was, "can we play in Tier V because of coin." This should give you another window into your players. I had fun in my Hydro, made some, lost some--but it is sad this player felt they could not afford to play higher tiers. 

 

This change has caused me to play rarely, when I used to be a daily player. I often took breaks, played bots or was so engrossed with work or family life I would skip many days in a row. But if a break went for too long, when I got back to Blitz I would play a lot, for someone like me. Hours and hours every day. This pattern was broken by 2.8. Even after enjoying running my Hype in Boost mode and making some money (do not do well in the tank, but enjoy it nontheless) I have not become obsessed with Blitz and fallen back in love like I used too. Taking breaks has become easier over time and now it is simply second nature. 

 

I think it is best to let HQ know they need to walk this back and make the game economy fair for people who do not want to spend money. I have been fine with spending money as being a wallet warrior was a choice. I am not fine with knowing it is now a matter of necessity to spend money on this game.

 

I feel this all has to do with Training Rooms. If WG knows what many of us plan on doing with them, then it seems like they want to tax those who wish to use Training Rooms for clan based 7v7 battle. If not, then it just seems like a good old fashioned cash grab. Feels like we are viewed as stupid mobile gamers addicted to a bastard child of the PC title. 

 

We are not.

 

Many of us are players who have lifestyles that do not fit with dedicated console or PC play. Many are college students who no longer can spend 7 hours gaming on PC, but can fit 1-2 hours of mobile play--business owners and firemen who want something more then Candy Crush. If WG fails to nurture a game that has defined a new space in mobile gaming, then another company will. If WG wishes to be MySpace to another companies Facebook, then so be it.....I hope everyone at WG updates their resume every few months. A few years may seem like a long time, but you may look up and realize a company that owns a majority stake in a Cypriot bank is now bankrupt.

[koop123]

mike82198, on 11 April 2016 - 06:19 AM, said:

 

Simple step in the right direction: plug us in - http://forum.wotblit...щества/#topmost

 

Plenty of Russian speakers here. We want a direct path. It would require nothing more than a handful of us playing 5 battles on 400 ping. 

 

You can do it. 

Mike,

 

Have you played on RU server yet? You are saying the Russian speakers should play over there and then post on the RU forum? If so, I hope many of you do as the server is really fun to play on.  I had followed your link and spent some time using Google Translate to read what I could. Then I just decide to use the horrid translator and make a post. I thought I would get ignored or mocked, but surpringly was upvoted. I just thought it was important to speak over there. On RU I am like a kid who plays and can not spend money on the game. I could, but just felt it was too much. Also felt it would help the "test" more if I ran my Dragon with no prem and ground credits. I have spent maybe $25-$35 on my RU account (converted XP to get my SP1C). After 2.8 I essentialy have to abandone the account, an account that really kept me into the game. I enjoyed the challenge and enjoyed grinding crew skills. The lack of end game is one reason I was burned out on NA and played less and less, but opening my RU account and learning to deal with the challenging Ping, often insane level of purple player's skill and lack of crew skills kept the game fresh. I am not sure if not playing on my RU (__grist__) account will be one of the reasons I walk away. If the promise (empty?) for the May release of Training Rooms had not been announced I may have deleted and never looked back. But it is hard to walk away from my clan, from a community that I have enjoyed since late 2014.

[SkiFletch]

TheFluffyPinkDragon, on 11 April 2016 - 05:22 PM, said:

 

Plan is we yolo 5 battles at 400 ping and get on the Russian forum to get official responses and bring the fixing of this economic disaster faster?

 

I'm in

 

Yeah, we just want to be included in that round table.  At least the Russians have a direct path to development.  They don't have to wait for corporate gears of slowness to churn through the NA team intermediaries.

[SkiFletch]

Senator_Ratbat, on 11 April 2016 - 03:45 PM, said:

 

This is something we're going to work on. NA team was on a transitional period when Alo continued his career outside of WG but with Niko on board we can start to ramp up. I've been looking at how other smaller/indie teams handle community engagement. One game i'm particularly interested in is Fractured Space. They use Trello to show some level of transparency to what the team is working on. I think this initiative is FANTASTIC and i'm trying to champion something similar here at WG. It's a long-term project but this is how small teams scale their engagement. 

 

I am a huge fan of transparent development. This is our game (players and WG) so if there is a reasonable way we can lift up our skirts without giving out the whole kit and caboodle we will try to pursue this. We're experimenting with the Blitz to Meet You series to engage with folks. Response has been good so far so we will do more of these in the future. 

 

The Blitz to Meet You series is very nice, we enjoy it and honestly those videos and reading between the lines there tell us more about the direction of the game than just about anything.  It's one of the only places where I see truly honest non-canned answers from WG officials of some kind in English.  They come out once a month though, and people want more than that.  However awesome they are, I don't think that more video content is the best way to introduce transparency because it takes so long to produce.

 

Irregular Apocalypse is referring to another video, an hour long interview and Q/A with Victor Kislyi with a bunch of folks from north america.  I'm not sure if you've watched this and it is an hour of your time if you haven't.  Most of it is focused on WoT PC but does have one little snippet about Blitz, yey.  Victor is full of canned responses here, though you can tell he goes off-script a few times and reveals a few interesting things about himself and his intended direction for the flagship franchise. Regardless, we learn from this video that the CEO wants happy players and he says he wants to listen to us.  If that's true we've got some serious work to do.  You're right Ratbat when you say "Design by committee = death. I've watch many games crash and burn this way."  WG's own World of Warplanes crashed and burned in this manner.  Though there is a happy medium between the extremes of the current lack of engagement and resulting lack of player happiness and design by committee = death.  If we find that middle ground, all is not lost.

 

Trello is a unique concept, and might just work long-term, but you don't need to do all that work to help us feel heard right now.  Mike linked this already but I'll share it again because this is the kind of thing we want.  Now we realize, conversations had there will be in Russian and there's a language barrier there.  Well guess what, we have many folks here who speak Fluent Russian that are chomping at the bit for the opportunity to engage with the development team directly in any fashion.  Mike himself is quite fluent in Russian, and my fellow SRT officer Static2k is native of Russia, only emigrating here within the past 5 years.  These two specifically are members of clans that fit right within the requirements listed and would be wholly unfettered by a language barrier.  There may be more folks here in clan leadership who are fully fluent in Russian that might want to join that conversation as well.  If you want to really do something in the short term that will help us feel involved, heard, and connected, get these folks in that door.

 

I'm going to circle back briefly and discuss one other thing from Victor Kislyi's interview that I linked before.  In it, he answered a question of "How are you going to fix Arty?" with a very fitting and reasonable response.  He said that the game is like a biological ecosystem, with countless species depending on one another for their survival and role in it.  Like an ecosystem you can't just remove something (Arty in this case) because it will cause the collapse of an ecosystem.  Remove an insect, and things that prey on it will die, things that prey on that will die, and you may have a full on crash of the thing.  As a result he advocates moving slowly to make such drastic type changes to not unbalance the entire system.  He's 1000% right, making changes quickly and harshly is asking for trouble.  As such, he needs to tell the Blitz development team, their recent economic adjustments were not in line with his own vision to move slowly.  By adjusting earning potentials, repair costs, AND introducing provisions all in one single update, massive and harsh changes were made on the economy.  Too much, too fast.  This has led to the collapse and uproar we are experiencing which has caused an organization of global players.  Too many things were adjusted all at once and the ecosystem isn't working.  I'm hopeful you guys can get it back on track, but remember this lesson when too many things are changed too fast.

Edited by SkiFletch, 12 April 2016 - 01:41 PM.