Rebuild the Trust, Restart the WDA

[Riorik]

My perception is (no idea if others share the same opinion) that the WDA ceased right about the time the decision was likely made to rebuild the business model into the hybrid VIP/F2P approach.

One possible reason is, Turbine was afraid of the truth and/or pre-releasing their intent. In many ways, it's exactly like a lie by omission. Sure, you don't want to tell business competitors about your plans...but the more important part is that pact with the players. We had a level of trust that progress was being made AND where the game was heading.

Today, with a module 9 release (no, I won't call it DDO:EU) that's likely 7-12 months late largely due to a business model change... I just don't understand how you expect us to be excited that it's finally here.

Restart the WDA - the need for secrecy is over, isn't it?

[Nyvn]

It would be good to have the WDA back.

[BlackRage]

/signed

It would be good to have the WDA back.

agreed... unfortunately not likely

[Samadhi]

I think the issue is even larger then the points you touched upon Rio.

When were we first start given information about this MOD? Last summer we knew that the level cap was going to 20 as well as a lot of what was planned for that MOD (going to Shavarath, more PrE's, etc). What do we know about upcoming MOD's post-EU? Will there even BE a MOD 11 or is this just a final push for $$$ before the doors shut? Do they maybe have a decision based upon the success of F2P (i.e. we need to make a 20% increase over first&second quarter revenues before there is enough financial incentive to begin working on new content at all, at all). IMO, it is very telling on the DOOOM scale the fact that although we first started hearing about the upcoming MOD over a year ago, we haven't heard any real information about game direction past that. It makes it all too likely that maybe there hasn't really been any thought in that direction as they try to whip the hamsters into shape for this long overdue bump.

I agree, the WDA would be an excellent way to rebuild trust with their customer's, just for even more reasons than you mentioned. I highly recommend they look into something this direction quickly to keep people interested for two months from now. If nothing else, I first start reading these boards purely because even during slow content, the WDA was always a great way to stay excited about upcoming materials.

[Angelus_dead]

My perception is (no idea if others share the same opinion) that the WDA ceased right about the time the decision was likely made to rebuild the business model into the hybrid VIP/F2P approach.

I believe the WDA was stopped well before that.

One possible reason is, Turbine was afraid of the truth

It looks like the truth that they're afraid of is that their development is slow, and when viewed on a weekly basis it would appear they make no progress at all.

I expect they might restart periodic progress announcements if the altered business model allows DDO to get more funding so that they have something to be proud of.

[Memnir]

We won't see the WDA come back, as much as many people around here (myself included) would like to see it return. It's the kind of feature that once cut, most companies won't restart... the habit of non-communication is simply too hard to break. After all, just look at how often our senior producer has spoken to us ever. Look at how often we need to rely on third-party sites for our information - hell, the announcement of EU going gold was posted on another site before this one.

It's my honest belief that the higher-level Devs of this game don't want to talk to us. They killed the WDA at the first opportunity, and seeing the return of weekly updates would take a total replacement of the shot-callers for the game.

[lostdrow]

I think the old Dev love the WDA. they even new they will be nailed when miss a date for a update.
The new Dev hate for us to complaint. so they stop the WDA. think if they told us mod 9 would be out in May/June and now it September what we the foam look like now.

[baddax]

/signed

[Riorik]

I believe the WDA was stopped well before that.

How would we know when the decision was made anyways? I do see the WDA as a way for the developers to hold their own feet to the fire. Deadlines are a great motivator for procrastinators or those prone to excuses.

How often do these WDA threads pop up anyways? Weekly? Is mine the 50th? 100th?

[sirgog]

It would be good to have the WDA back.

/signed

[Pyromaniac]

/signed but I think you have as much a chance of getting mod 10 in the next 4 months.

[JakLee7]

Well I seem to remember when we first began hearing that mod 9 was completed but delayed for (then)unknown reasons that the team had begun working on mod 10 - so I would assume that we will get at least 1 more mod before any door closings. Can't promise we would get it, nor that it has been completed, but if it was actually completed or even close to completed it would make more business sense to release or finish & then release it even if initial interest in the new model was close to current interest as it gives people that much more "new" content to talk about/advertise with.....