yawn




DKDC

Hag Master wrote on Apr 24^th, 2015 at 1:25pm:


Yeah, ignoring our input is bad enough, insulting our intelligence while ignoring our input is infuriating.

Every time he comes up with crap like this I hear the Crystal Cove Kobold voice saying "Players still hate you"

It's a very simple PR deflection/sales technique.
They have some unspecified testing that shows results that support their agenda.  And they're not prepared to reveal or discuss it.

It's exactly the same as all those tv ads trying to sell you something.
"Our testing shows that in 98% of cases it works...."
"Our surveys show that 9 out of 10 people would use this product ....."
The unrevealed detail/context behind those statements makes all the difference.
"Our surveys show that 9 out of 10 people would use this product if it were given to them free, or if their favorite brand went out of business..."

Even if they were testing, who really believes any of the devs play enough to know what end game toons look like and are handled?

Two frackin interns playing for a few hours is not "testing".  They don't have the time or resources to do thorough testing - why would you believe otherwise.
The team is small (4 devs) and their need to develop saleable content is urgent, lag is rampant and one of their servers keeps going down more than a $20 hooker on Hugh Grant, and they have no clue as to why.  Who really believes they spent time extensively testing rogue changes that they shipped Live with unfixed bugs?
For those of you who like the changes - awesome.  But please don't believe it is the result of player feedback and testing.

From a Turdbine perspective - why not engage with your cadre of players to collect much more data under controlled conditions.  Open Lammania, choose some specific content and record the performance data.  Get data from 100-1000 builds at different levels and gear.  Have an open discussion and forum during testing - learn something from your players. 
Put aside the invalid assumption "I happen to be able to write code, so I know everything there is about this game."

TL: CR
The reality:
Sev has an agenda.
Player feedback is neither desired nor heeded.
The rest is just PR and illusion.

DropBear wrote on Apr 24^th, 2015 at 6:25pm:


LMAO, nice analogy!

DropBear wrote on Apr 24^th, 2015 at 6:25pm:


Can they even do that? I thought the Engineers (who took an even bigger hit than the developers on the last layoffs?) know how to write code, sort of, and the Devs just know how to use specialized tools?

But yeah, somebody who already knows everything can't learn anything

DropBear wrote on Apr 24^th, 2015 at 6:25pm:



Not a bad TL; DR at the end.

Though I'll ammend it a bit : if the whole PC piles up against an idea it gets shelved until the following year.
But in the selection they try to choose people in such a way that they are almost certain it's not going to happen.