Weekly Deveoper Activities blues

[Cerebris]

I liked to read the WDA updates and the dev tracker posts. Many of the dev tracker posts were fueled by comments in the WDA. I understand that DDO is moving towards some sort of other marketing scheme, but I think dropping the WDA was a mistake. Checking the WDA and reviewing it kept me in touch with the game during the day. It was a touchstone that kept me thinking about the game, even when I wasn't playing. Not having that anymore is disappointing. I still check the dev tracker out of habit on Mondays, but I know that desire will fade soon. Dropping the WDA has made me feel less attached to the game.

Results of not having the WDA:
- I'm less attached to the forums, and the game
- less dev feedback makes me less likely to check the forums
- no reason to check the site on Mondays
- feels like less connection overall to the devs

Posting about ramping up marketing, but then dropping the WDA before that marketing was up and running just leaves a vacuum of news.
My 2 cents.

[gemineye]

/signed

[sigtrent]

I feel the same way.

[Aspenor]

Quarion left, Tolero and Patience have a lot on their plates. I, too, want some feedback. Give it some time :)

[CSFurious]

it was a really bad decision to scrap the WDA IMO

anyway, that bad decision could be remedied by releasing a comprehensive state-of-the-game address that maps out the upcoming year for DDO

[Impaqt]

ya know, I couldn't care less about the actual WDA.......

THe thing that gets me is the lack of COntact and Communication. Codogs and Silthes threads get abandoned for weeks at a time, Major bug threads get completely Ignored, THe Known Issues List doesnt contain half the known issues in the game.

Our weekly Questions from Tolero tend to focus onthe Role Playing aspect of the game as of late rather than the Mechanics of the game.... and we have never really seen ANYTHING come out of that thread information wise....

I understand we had a Major release a few weeks ago.... but quite frankly it was a Dissapointment...... The Raid Loot in the new raids doesnt seem well thought out.. These are l18 quests and about 3 items realy make sense. The rest are just rehash of what we already have.

Bah... I'm just depressing myself now......

[Deragoth]

/Signed

It made my decision to take a break from the game much easier to make.

[Ransacked]

So it basically takes the "Oooh shiney" effect out of the game.

I'm not really interested in hunting for news for DDO. I like the game but I'm not going to waste my time surfing the web trying to find bits of information. I'll play the game until I get bored and at that point I'll quit as there is nothing obvious to look forward to.

[Cecilia]

I miss the hokey sarcastic player created WDA's...we could still do those ones!

[Borror0]

It's not only the lack of WDAs, but the lack of communication overall.

[llevenbaxx]

Quarion left, Tolero and Patience have a lot on their plates. I, too, want some feedback. Give it some time :)

Has it been long enough yet?:)


They were a nice kick-off to "discussion" on a Monday. Forums feel very blah today(lately)... Im sure its completely unrelated though.;)

[Drider]

I dont know why you are all surprised.. ok so we don't have a WDA anymore...

But the devs are ALWAYS quiet for like 2-3 weeks after a Mod hits. This is nothing new.

[Coldin]

Yep, it's been kinda quiet overall. I wonder what Eladrin and Codog are up to right now. Haven't really seen Codog post anything for quite a while now.

[Karrai]

Even though it has been said the Dev teams for DDO and LoTRO are separate I think DDO has been put in the back burner while they concentrate on development on The Mines of Moria expansion for LoTRO.


As for the thier wont be no walls of silence been a bit to quiet around here.

[Vizzini]

Did Quarion leave turbine to go do technical work for AOC? Or is he just on a permanent vacation?


Quarion left, Tolero and Patience have a lot on their plates. I, too, want some feedback. Give it some time :)

[geoffhanna]

http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/funny-dog-pictures-quiet-too-quiet.jpg


p.s. I'd like to at least see some activity on DevTracker.

[Dark_Helmet]

It's not only the lack of WDAs, but the lack of communication overall.

Yep, without any official communications happening and lack of developers posting, I have no real reason to talk about DDO with anyone (especially with those who are playing other games until stuff gets implemented that they want).

Without the communication, I also have no real desire to renew after the 6 month period is up since it is one of the first signs of the death of a game.

...what a shame...

[ArkoHighStar]

Did Quarion leave turbine to go do technical work for AOC? Or is he just on a permanent vacation?

he went to work for Cryptic

[emsteiner]

/signed

[Borror0]

I'd like to at least see some activity on DevTracker.

I'll make my fanboish comment of the day: Hopefuly, that means they are coding.

[darthmaul121783]

/signed

[Vizzini]

** Nevermind Googled and Resolved** Who's that?


he went to work for Cryptic

[ArkoHighStar]

Yep, without any official communications happening and lack of developers posting, I have no real reason to talk about DDO with anyone (especially with those who are playing other games until stuff gets implemented that they want).

Without the communication, I also have no real desire to renew after the 6 month period is up since it is one of the first signs of the death of a game.

...what a shame...

show me another game that has a a WDA. Understand this is not a defence of Turbine, they still have to deliver on their promise of increased exposure and marketing, but the WDA was a special DDO only beast, and really only came about as an effort by Turbine to give us some info in the face of zero website coverage.

At this time after every other mod the WDA had so little info as to be useless anyway for anything other than bug fixes, or items we already knew. Where it will really start to hurt is about a month at which point the WDA woudl have at leats 2 or 3 really interesting things to talk about. It is at this point Turbine has to start dleivering these exclusives to keep us interested and talking about the game.

[Angelus_dead]

- I'm less attached to the forums, and the game
- less dev feedback makes me less likely to check the forums
Yep. The first then web-publisher newbies should learn is that you update on a schedule if you want your website to be popular. There has to be some reason for viewers to check back- they need a solid expectation there will be something new to read.

And if Turbine doesn't think that it helps to have a popular DDO website, then need to learn their business.

[4elements]

In response to Arko, City of Heroes forums have a sort of WDA and there's a LOT communication between the developors and
the community. There's a real contrast between this forum and that one and I spend a lot of time at both. I miss the WDA
here. It was something to look forward to on mondays at work :p

[Turial]

show me another game that has a a WDA. Understand this is not a defence of Turbine, they still have to deliver on their promise of increased exposure and marketing, but the WDA was a special DDO only beast, and really only came about as an effort by Turbine to give us some info in the face of zero website coverage.

At this time after every other mod the WDA had so little info as to be useless anyway for anything other than bug fixes, or items we already knew. Where it will really start to hurt is about a month at which point the WDA woudl have at leats 2 or 3 really interesting things to talk about. It is at this point Turbine has to start dleivering these exclusives to keep us interested and talking about the game.

Kingdom of loathing has two weekly radio shows to answer questions from the players and talk about whatever happens to come up. KOL may not be an MMO but its one heck of a game.

[Aesop]

I miss my WDA as well


just feels too slow around here


Aesop

[ArkoHighStar]

Kingdom of loathing has two weekly radio shows to answer questions from the players and talk about whatever happens to come up. KOL may not be an MMO but its one heck of a game.

that is a free browser based game, not exactly a high profile game

[ArkoHighStar]

In response to Arko, City of Heroes forums have a sort of WDA and there's a LOT communication between the developors and
the community. There's a real contrast between this forum and that one and I spend a lot of time at both. I miss the WDA
here. It was something to look forward to on mondays at work :p

Are you referring to City Scoop newsletter? Again this was not a defence of Turbine but the format of the WDA is not something you see often especially with weekly updates, LOTR, WOW, AoC, Guild Wars etc none of them have a weekly dev update like the WDA. The reason is simple they use the model that Turbine is going to for DDO, get info out on 3rd party web sites like MMORPG and TenTonHammer. Will it work who knows?

And in reality as I said before in another thread the WDA is pretty useless for the first 3-4 weeks after a mod anyway, so the real effort from turbine needs to start by then

[4elements]

No, the city scoop is player made and nothing like the WDA. Though I can't say the developer activities are posted
every single week they do keep updates pretty regular (usually updates to the test server are the first look). The
best way to see what I mean really is to look under the developers corner and check the developers digest. They post
sometimes several times in a single day and just reading them you can see the kind of interraction they have with the
players. It's pretty fresh compared to viewing many other forums. I like it a lot. Anyway I think it's a good example of
the way things could be. I do with there were more interraction and more information here.

Edit: I do 'wish' there were more interraction..

[ArkoHighStar]

No, the city scoop is player made and nothing like the WDA. Though I can't say the developer activities are posted
every single week they do keep updates pretty regular (usually updates to the test server are the first look). The
best way to see what I mean really is to look under the developers corner and check the developers digest. They post
sometimes several times in a single day and just reading them you can see the kind of interraction they have with the
players. It's pretty fresh compared to viewing many other forums. I like it a lot. Anyway I think it's a good example of
the way things could be. I do with there were more interraction and more information here.

Only time will tell if Turbine has done the right thing with the dumping of the WDA in favor of the exclusive release to web site method of info delivery. They have about another 2 weks of grace before expect to see something new

[Ganak]

The Dev Tracker seems sparse lately, much to my sadness as I always enjoy a new dev post (non-cube/kobald).

As much as I greatly miss the WDA's, I'll stand by the DDO team in the hopes the decision benefits DDO.

I will caution the DDO team to consider against too much silence. You would be surprised the power of one sentence. Small hints as to what shall be may go a long way. Idle silence employs active tounges in the service of The Dark Six...

[DasLurch]

I think that we are getting off topic here. The reason people (myself incuded) seem to be missing the WDA's more right now than after the past releases is because this last update was so woefully incomplete. There's nothing to do already because all of the high level "quests" added have timers. The only way to really play around and see what's new for about 1/2 to 2/3's of the playerbase is to delete an existing character, and then there's still nothing new to take that character through after level 7.

I am really missing the communication part of this as well. I used to want to go to the forums to find out about something new each week. I also know that because of the recent update that there is a certain amount of planning going on right now about what to include in the next one or 2 as well, and they really do not have anything to report as of yet. I am just finding the long wait for any news at all a bit depressing is all. At this rate, we'll hear about the next update from tentonhammer about 3 days before it goes live. (I know, totally overblown point, but...)

So in lieu of the WDA being posted today, I'd like to see what all of you think about a movement to have the "Way of the Monk" reclassified as an update ranther than a module. There was just not enough added into "way of the monk" to make it into something to be considered a module. At this rate we'll get a level increase with no new quests and spells in the next "mod". Maybe if we huff and puff enough the dev's will at least come back to the boards once and a while to see what the fuss is about. I know that's not the way they like us to behave, but what else are we gunna talk/debate/complain/beg/cry/whine/cheer about in the absence of our now dearly departed WDA's?

[Pyromaniac]

/signed (for the original OP)