Communicate!

Me again...with another suggestion.

I think one thing that I, personally, observe quite often as a huge complaint from the community is the lack of knowing what's going on. It's a tough thing to explain, because the team does communicate with the community quite often...but the communication is often vague at best...for example...

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Full combat system revision.

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So we know you're working on combat, but we have no idea what's really going on...or what we can expect... Because of that, it often *appears* to the community that no one has any idea what's happening until the patch hits the server...

Someone (Developer, Community Manager, etc.) taking 10-15 minutes to write up the basics of the new combat system and/or the agricultural system would be freakin' epic. (Think Darkfall's Developer Blog or SOE's individual game "Update Letters").

Anyway, thanks for listening. I appreciate the communication by the Developer Team of Xsyon. I'd just like to see a bit more substance or information communicated. :)

Hard to say what I want more.
Updates in game, or updated with how the updates will effect the game.

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Originally Posted by Aiden

... So we know you're working on combat, but we have no idea what's really going on...or what we can expect... Because of that, it often *appears* to the community that no one has any idea what's happening until the patch hits the server...

Someone (Developer, Community Manager, etc.) taking 10-15 minutes to write up the basics of the new combat system and/or the agricultural system would be freakin' epic. ...

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I'd assume that the developers and even Xsyon, the main developer and designer himself, doesn't know how the new systems will look like, it's still pretty much in the design phase I believe. Many things can change until the new systems hit the servers.

It's difficult for them, when they say "A" now and later deliver "B" or even "A-" they get people crying and complaining - perhaps they should just say "we don't know" at this moment, but that isn't really anything that will make you feel better too. :)

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Originally Posted by Larsa

I'd assume that the developers and even Xsyon, the main developer and designer himself, doesn't know how the new systems will look like, it's still pretty much in the design phase I believe. Many things can change until the new systems hit the servers.

It's difficult for them, when they say "A" now and later deliver "B" or even "A-" they get people crying and complaining - perhaps they should just say "we don't know" at this moment, but that isn't really anything that will make you feel better too. :)

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That's certainly a challenge when considering this type of communication, but, I believe, it's a necessary evil. While it may frustrate people if things don't turn out exactly as proposed, it's often much more frustrating to have little or no information to begin with.

There will be no easy answer to the challenge posed by ever-changing development decisions and, while there will certainly be changes in the specifics of a system, the general outline or mechanics of the system should be at the stage where they can be communicated to the community with accuracy and some detail. :)