Imagine, if you will, a hardware store. This store is kind of unique because it will let you use most of their tools in the store and not charge you a dime for it. They hope you'll like some of the tools enough to buy some though. The store even has a tool of the month where they bring in new tools and offer them for a limited time to buyers only. Eventually the tool is available for everyone to use, but for awhile you only get the tool if you pay for it.
Now these tools come with an instruction manual. At first you had to buy a few different versions of the tool to get the whole manual. Buy one screwdriver get the first 10 pages, buy a second and third screwdriver and you can get the rest of the manual. The business doesn't really like this plan because people don't want to buy three different types of hammers.
The store decides they will provide a manual with every tool now. There is a table of contents but when you go to each chapter the pages are all jumbled. The store engineers decided they want people reading the manual based on the way the engineers look at the tool. So instead of an ordered, sequential, easy to read manual you end up with a bloated book full of numbers and calculations that require you to skip around like a nightmarish "choose your own adventure" book.
The store showed the customers different versions of the manual and the customers told them over and over they didn't like the way it was organized and there were too many pages. The store kept making excuses about why their method was clearly the superior option, but the customers just don't like it.
Eventually the store releases the manual and many customers are unhappy. Sure they can figure their way through the clutter, but the entire time they are flipping pages they are asking themselves why it has to be this way. Going to one manual for one tool is a great idea, but then they put out such a disappointing document.
This causes many customers to decide they still like going to the store and using the tools, but they aren't going to spend money at a store which blatantly ignores what the customers wanted. It's no big deal when the store decides tool X should be the tool of the month instead of tool Y. That's just an opinion thing and in the end eventually more tools will be brought in.
No, this is a case of choosing a bad way of doing something even though the customers pointed out much better solutions over and over again.
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The Skill Tree- An Analogy Why Some Don't Like It
Started by Ruar, May 17 2017 03:58 PM
4 replies to this topic
#2
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- 1,271 posts
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Posted 17 May 2017 - 05:40 PM
I bought and enjoyed several 'Choose your own Adventure' books back in the day.
Also, you lost me when you switched from screwdrivers to hammers. I was just getting to like the screwdrivers and thought they needed more backstory, and boom! Off you go on a hammer tangent.
Also, I dropped by the store, and it turned out that half the customers were asking for a better manual someday, and the other half were saying 'I can use this manual, just give me the rest of it now, please!'.
Also, you lost me when you switched from screwdrivers to hammers. I was just getting to like the screwdrivers and thought they needed more backstory, and boom! Off you go on a hammer tangent.
Also, I dropped by the store, and it turned out that half the customers were asking for a better manual someday, and the other half were saying 'I can use this manual, just give me the rest of it now, please!'.
#3
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- Urban Commando
- 779 posts
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Posted 17 May 2017 - 06:10 PM
Ruar, on 17 May 2017 - 03:58 PM, said:
Imagine, if you will, a hardware store. This store is kind of unique because it will let you use most of their tools in the store and not charge you a dime for it. They hope you'll like some of the tools enough to buy some though. The store even has a tool of the month where they bring in new tools and offer them for a limited time to buyers only. Eventually the tool is available for everyone to use, but for awhile you only get the tool if you pay for it.
Now these tools come with an instruction manual. At first you had to buy a few different versions of the tool to get the whole manual. Buy one screwdriver get the first 10 pages, buy a second and third screwdriver and you can get the rest of the manual. The business doesn't really like this plan because people don't want to buy three different types of hammers.
The store decides they will provide a manual with every tool now. There is a table of contents but when you go to each chapter the pages are all jumbled. The store engineers decided they want people reading the manual based on the way the engineers look at the tool. So instead of an ordered, sequential, easy to read manual you end up with a bloated book full of numbers and calculations that require you to skip around like a nightmarish "choose your own adventure" book.
The store showed the customers different versions of the manual and the customers told them over and over they didn't like the way it was organized and there were too many pages. The store kept making excuses about why their method was clearly the superior option, but the customers just don't like it.
Eventually the store releases the manual and many customers are unhappy. Sure they can figure their way through the clutter, but the entire time they are flipping pages they are asking themselves why it has to be this way. Going to one manual for one tool is a great idea, but then they put out such a disappointing document.
This causes many customers to decide they still like going to the store and using the tools, but they aren't going to spend money at a store which blatantly ignores what the customers wanted. It's no big deal when the store decides tool X should be the tool of the month instead of tool Y. That's just an opinion thing and in the end eventually more tools will be brought in.
No, this is a case of choosing a bad way of doing something even though the customers pointed out much better solutions over and over again.
Now these tools come with an instruction manual. At first you had to buy a few different versions of the tool to get the whole manual. Buy one screwdriver get the first 10 pages, buy a second and third screwdriver and you can get the rest of the manual. The business doesn't really like this plan because people don't want to buy three different types of hammers.
The store decides they will provide a manual with every tool now. There is a table of contents but when you go to each chapter the pages are all jumbled. The store engineers decided they want people reading the manual based on the way the engineers look at the tool. So instead of an ordered, sequential, easy to read manual you end up with a bloated book full of numbers and calculations that require you to skip around like a nightmarish "choose your own adventure" book.
The store showed the customers different versions of the manual and the customers told them over and over they didn't like the way it was organized and there were too many pages. The store kept making excuses about why their method was clearly the superior option, but the customers just don't like it.
Eventually the store releases the manual and many customers are unhappy. Sure they can figure their way through the clutter, but the entire time they are flipping pages they are asking themselves why it has to be this way. Going to one manual for one tool is a great idea, but then they put out such a disappointing document.
This causes many customers to decide they still like going to the store and using the tools, but they aren't going to spend money at a store which blatantly ignores what the customers wanted. It's no big deal when the store decides tool X should be the tool of the month instead of tool Y. That's just an opinion thing and in the end eventually more tools will be brought in.
No, this is a case of choosing a bad way of doing something even though the customers pointed out much better solutions over and over again.
Yep 1st world problems at their finest.....everyone has a different idea of what they would have liked as an ideal skill tree. That's human nature. However if you you find it too disorganized that it confuses you........well that sounds like a you problem.
#4
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- Elite Founder
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Posted 17 May 2017 - 06:13 PM
Quote
everyone has a different idea of what they would have liked as an ideal skill tree
but everyone agrees this skill tree is not ideal.
#5
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- Ace Of Spades
- 1,378 posts
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Posted 17 May 2017 - 06:19 PM
Cementi, on 17 May 2017 - 06:10 PM, said:
Yep 1st world problems at their finest.....everyone has a different idea of what they would have liked as an ideal skill tree. That's human nature. However if you you find it too disorganized that it confuses you........well that sounds like a you problem.
It's a video game... of course it's a first world problem. It's still a valid problem within the context of the game.
I can figure out the skill tree, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
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