The nerf train is never gonna stop

"Abyss;171296" wrote:

"Telaan;171281" wrote:
It doesn't matter what is done. There will always be cries for nerf. At times, some toons legitimately need them. Often they don't. Devs are usually able to tell when something is legitimately in need of a nerf. They got many more tools at their disposal than the forums to base decisions.

Forming focus groups, test servers, all that stuff is great but has never stopped broken and bugged content or op toons from hitting live servers in any game I've ever played.

Ultimately that stuff only matters if the Dev team takes those things seriously. I'm not saying or implying this one wouldn't take those concepts seriously; but with finite resources and personnel as well as the fundamental truth that Devs and players are often on different wave lengths due to different understandings and perceptions based on their roles, I have rarely seen any of those things have any meaningful impact on development or balance.

I have played a game or 2 where i was actually part of one and it was great. As long as the devs care and take it seriously and the group cares an takes it seriously then its a great thing. The key is having knowledgeable players that look at the big picture, not what affects them directly. The "team" i was part of did this really well and and the devs and us discussed topics almost daily and made some great additions/changes to the game. It was amazing at sorting valuble feedback for discussion vs the venting, "crying", and general misinformation.

It can work as long as individual agenda is set aside and the big picture/impact always the focus.

Oh definitely. That's why I said rarely.

SWtOR is a perfect example of the uselessness of a focus group when they're not taken seriously. I beta tested that game from the second round of invites; so less than a month after beta opened. The whole point was for the Dev team and players to work together to find bugged, broken, missing, and op content. The relationship is designed to benefit everyone. However, we were virtually ignored. Our feedback was rarely taken into account and very little of what we said needed to be done was even considered. Communication was virtually nonexistent, except when they posted new build notes, which as you might guess included little if any of our suggestions.

As a result the game launched broken; especially at higher levels. PvP was complete garbage to the point where they scrapped an entire planet built around endgame PvP within a couple months of launch. Higher level instances and planets were severely bugged and broken due to it receiving limited playtime from overly short builds. Endgame PvE pretty much didn't exist. Within a year the game merged servers and went f2p. Considering it's pre-launch expectations, the IP, and development costs it is the single largest flop in MMO history.

Much, if not most, of it's post launch complications could have been avoided had the Dev team actually worked with us.