All good comments, really. I cannot argue with everyone who said $54K is a nice wage and and so on. I also happen to think that Teachers, Police officers, and Firefighters are underappreciated -- especially in states like Wisconsin where they have had cutbacks and screwed with their retirement. Further, having done a lot of work for healthcare companies, I can tell you that some developers and QA folks DO save lives and protect people. Even a button-pusher and accountant at a nuclear plant contributes to its smooth functioning and thus help to protect us from disaster. So, while some contributions may vary, everyone who goes out each day and works hard is contributing and deserves good management, respect, and a good wage -- be they a firefighter or someone who makes their coffee at Starbucks.
As for communicating, there are even companies out there who post their issues lists publicly and let users vote on the issues they want to see fixed first. Devs even post comments and fix ideas. Of course, their management makes the ultimate call on priorities, but the users get a pretty good picture of what is coming. There is no reason that BioWare has to be so closed-mouthed. Despite what apologists and fanbois may say -- and we have a few of those here,