40 replies to this topic

[Wolf Ender]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 02:42 PM, said:

shift all resources to content production.

yes we need moar mechs!
moar mech packs!
and dekkals, i need at least 400 more dekkal options...based on emojis!

[dervishx5]

It basically just comes down to a management problem. Human resources is a very difficult thing to handle and I don't envy PGI. But they probably should take a look at themselves and compare to similar companies making similar games. See what works and what doesn't and make the necessary changes.

That's how successful businesses run anyway.

[Deathlike]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 04:00 PM, said:

It basically just comes down to a management problem. Human resources is a very difficult thing to handle and I don't envy PGI. But they probably should take a look at themselves and compare to similar companies making similar games. See what works and what doesn't and make the necessary changes.

That's how successful businesses run anyway.

No.

Somewhere in Vancouver said:

We're going to do it, and do it our way.
We're not going listen to this Dervish guy. He's an arse!

[dervishx5]

Davers, on 23 August 2016 - 03:30 PM, said:

What are you talking about? Everything in the update looks like it is pulled directly from the forum. Laser vs PPFLD, viability of brawling (with AC20/SRM in particular), PPCs, Gauss...these are all things that people have discussed. Players may not like the changes or the direction of the test, but they can't claim that PGI isn't listening to what people are saying.

Which is also a problem.

The issue isn't that PGI doesn't listen. In some cases they do.

But they often listen too much for the wrong reasons and too little to the right ones. Because they keep listening to the complaining (not invalidating anyone's complaints, just the process in general) they're stuck constantly plugging leaks rather than building a better boat.

[Davers]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 04:03 PM, said:

Which is also a problem.

The issue isn't that PGI doesn't listen. In some cases they do.

But they often listen too much for the wrong reasons and too little to the right ones. Because they keep listening to the complaining (not invalidating anyone's complaints, just the process in general) they're stuck constantly plugging leaks rather than building a better boat.

I offer no opinions on the quality of the update, just pointing out that the changes DO seem directly pulled from forum discussions.

And damn all of you guys for making me defend PGI.

[dervishx5]

Davers, on 23 August 2016 - 04:10 PM, said:

I offer no opinions on the quality of the update, just pointing out that the changes DO seem directly pulled from forum discussions.

And damn all of you guys for making me defend PGI.

Which is what the thread is about. Ignore the balance threads PGI.

[Lyoto Machida]

Mcgral18, on 23 August 2016 - 02:45 PM, said:

...how about Weapons.XML adjustments?

Super Simple Stuff

Not that simple...4 hours at a minimum as a PGI staff member put it.

[El Bandito]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 02:42 PM, said:

How about just stop balancing the game for now and put all those resources into other projects?

I hope this is what they plan to do after Energy Draw and the mech rescale. Just give balance the finger for a while and shift all resources to content production.

Here's the game as it is now:

I dunno, KDK-3 is still killing mechs better than any other, yet PGI is not taking away the rest of its quirks, the +15 structure to CT in particular. Mech like the KDK-3 does not need any positive quirks.

[dervishx5]

It's in the 'Still being used' phase.

[MauttyKoray]

ScarecrowES, on 23 August 2016 - 03:08 PM, said:

Thankfully the longer people play ED, the worst the opinion of the community is. Not sure whose feedback inspired this week's PTS changes, but almost none of that came out of any discussion I saw on the forums. If this system tanks any harder, we can expect the team back on useful projects soon.

Still... not sure the folks who might work balance and who might build content are the same people, depending on what you mean by content.

Not sure where you were looking but lots of the changes were parts of the discussions. The only actual issues I see are the PPC changes. Yes they need a tweak but, its a bit off.

[smokytehbear]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 04:03 PM, said:

Which is also a problem.

The issue isn't that PGI doesn't listen. In some cases they do.

But they often listen too much for the wrong reasons and too little to the right ones. Because they keep listening to the complaining (not invalidating anyone's complaints, just the process in general) they're stuck constantly plugging leaks rather than building a better boat.

This is my complaint. It's like that scene from I think the Running Man where all the people on the street are throwing cash at the bookies, who are throwing back betting tickets to the angry mob as quick as possible to get as much cash as they can.

This is not an intelligent way of gathering feedback, and it's not representative of the community's actual wishes. Tons of people that don't even go to these forums, much less Twitter, won't be heard from at all, and plenty that do will have their voices drowned out by loudmouths. This is irrespective of which side of the fence they're on by the way, so it's not necessarily pro-ED or anti-ED bias, it's biased for how much time and effort people are willing to spend specifically here in this one place to campaign for their side. And that's just bad science.

Before anyone says "If you don't vote, don't *****." That's not relevant here, because plenty of those people who don't/aren't responding to changes in the game still retain their full choice to continue/begin spending money.

If you're going to make sweeping, non-optional changes to a significant portion of a service that relies on ongoing profits, it's smart to have the slightest clue what kind of results you can project. This isn't done by listening to a townhall rabble comprised of the people who bothered to show up, and that's an extremely dangerous business move.

Really it means one or more of a few possibilities:

• PGI has data and they are in fact ignoring the forums, because somehow, somewhere, they're getting something more accurate.
  
• PGI has no clue how to manage community expectations.
  
• PGI is so arrogant that they feel they can't screw this up, and if anyone disagrees they're just dumb or will come around eventually.

It's probably some combination of the three, with my money resting more on the last two.

[Mycrus]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 06:13 PM, said:

It's in the 'Still being used' phase.

Isnt it still in the paywall phase?

[dervishx5]

Mycrus, on 24 August 2016 - 05:18 AM, said:

Isnt it still in the paywall phase?

I thought it came out for cbills.

If not, you can have mine. I'm not using it.

Speaking of which, selling accounts is a no-no, right?

Edited by dervishx5, 24 August 2016 - 05:19 AM.

[adamts01]

A few weapons aside I think weapon balance is pretty good, it's mech balance that sucks. Why no love for my MLX? But more than that, it's the complete lack of any depth of strategy in the game that kills it. No roles, no real CW, no reason not to take a heavy. It just sucks.

[DrxAbstract]

dervishx5, on 23 August 2016 - 04:00 PM, said:

It basically just comes down to a management problem. Human resources is a very difficult thing to handle and I don't envy PGI. But they probably should take a look at themselves and compare to similar companies making similar games. See what works and what doesn't and make the necessary changes.

That's how successful businesses run anyway.

In my experience it's often the management/senior staff that's the issue... I'd say with a frequency of around 4 out of 5 times.

[Kirkland Langue]

Mcgral18, on 23 August 2016 - 02:45 PM, said:

...how about Weapons.XML adjustments?

Super Simple Stuff

Super simple Stuff means that it doesn't give them the argument "we can't work on these new systems because we've been busy doing XYZ".

At least with this new heatscale, they believe they can make the argument that it takes all of their time so they don't have time to create new maps, or rebuild the UI, or build a PVE campaign, or build a co-op vs AI mode, or integrate QP into FW towards creating a living MWO universe.

[dervishx5]

DrxAbstract, on 24 August 2016 - 05:29 AM, said:

In my experience it's often the management/senior staff that's the issue... I'd say with a frequency of around 4 out of 5 times.

Yeah. If you've ever worked any job you know the type. But in this case that inept middle management might be running the show.

[DrxAbstract]

dervishx5, on 24 August 2016 - 05:32 AM, said:

Yeah. If you've ever worked any job you know the type. But in this case that inept middle management might be running the show.

Sure... I've worked a few places where the 'top brass' had literally no idea what was going on, how anything worked and was sparingly on site, some of them small businesses like PGI, 1 that was a Multi-billion dollar company. I can't imagine Russ is part of that crowd though, which leads me to believe he's involved in the nonsense going on there.

And I'm sure we all know what the workload and atmosphere is like when the commander-in-chief actively participating is a complete moron.

[dervishx5]

DrxAbstract, on 24 August 2016 - 05:41 AM, said:

Sure... I've worked a few places where the 'top brass' had literally no idea what was going on, how anything worked and was sparingly on site, some of them small businesses like PGI, 1 that was a Multi-billion dollar company. I can't imagine Russ is part of that crowd though, which leads me to believe he's involved in the nonsense going on there.

And I'm sure we all know what the workload and atmosphere is like when the commander-in-chief actively participating is a complete moron.

When I started out working I was a salesman at Verizon. My store manager was a cokecane (wow really I can't say that here?) addict who was constantly coming up with new and pointless tasks to improve productivity and constantly interfering in everyone's projects. As a result the store's sales were badly affected as was morale. I see a lot of parallels regarding attitude and progress here.

So yeah you're probably right.

Edited by dervishx5, 24 August 2016 - 05:48 AM.

[ZMAN INFANTRY]

Love this game but balanced or not it just gets old playing the same game modes on the same maps. ED or whatever next year's balance thing is it don't matter. That is not content that will keep me entertained. Mech packs don't feel like content just different looking mechs shooting the same boring weapons.

I don't design games but I do play games. You wanna keep me here spending money along with the rest of the silent majority. New maps, all the time. New game modes every 3 months just throw them out there and get rid of any that no one likes. New weapons....please New weapons that is content. New weapons make me curious, makes me want to play, makes me reevaluate my old mechs and builds.

TLDR -New content all the times keeps players playing and paying