Is having an Official Forums good for FFXIV?

[Sovereign]

I think official forums just help to centralize the community. If we didn't have these forums, I assume that many of us would just end up picking our preferred fan site and using their forums. It also provides the community team with a way to distribute information and answer questions without either having to coordinate with multiple fan sites, or having to post a whole news post on the main site just to address relatively minor bits of information.

TLDR: The forums are a great tool to collect feedback and distribute information. While many posts are rather useless, I like being able to get direct feedback from the community team in an official context.

[darkstarpoet1]

The thing about the poll is that it actually, just like the forum, does not reflect the playerbase will. Its just the same people that post here but, this time, voting annonymously...sometimes using mules too to inflate results and stuff.

IMO poll would only be valid if they were made ingame. Like placing an NPC, you answer his survey, receive a prize (prize to stimulate participation) and gogo...but a poll here, like last 2, have no real value.

And about what you said regarding AA, i agree completely...so much i'm one of those that just don't fight anymore...now i only craft and do gathering...and what you said is what i'm afraid that will happen...over time people might just leave because they are not pleased to the game...and right now i see this game collapsing the moment they decide charging...not because they're doing the wrong things, but because they're basing the decisions on a minority opinion.

I REALLY wanted to see how many players answered the first and second polls.

my post about the polls was the original one that they actually linked while in game. every player that i knew of actually filled out the poll. it actually gave a good representation on the people that were playing and not the small vocal minority that plays on the forums.

to me the polls should be in game and leave them up for a few weeks, but ask more specific questions before they take the time to do major changes to the system. it would save them putting alot of time into something that people do not like. the reason i say leave them up for a few weeks is that it gives more of a chance for the people that don't play daily a chance to get on and actually have their opinions heard or get people that have taken breaks to get their voices heard.

i am like you in that i am not a fan of the polls being on the forums when i know alot of people that won't even take the time to visit the forum because they are actually in game, but they would do the poll if it was in game.

[Alexis_Arteme]

It's here because we voted for it.

And, it should get better after the re-launch. I'm glad it's already firmly in place.

[Coglin]

I have had the oppertunity to to communicate with the dev team, ask questions, and have my oice heard by them, as many of you have as well.

Doesn't matter if its official or unofficial, you would have similar issues.

[Gath]

I like them, only because I can recollect on how awesome I really am when i look at my posts.

My 1 gil is worth more than your 1 gil.

[Anonymoose]

Sure, there's a lot of worthlessness floating around the forums, but that's why we have community reps that dig through it all. It's not just about looking for good ideas and solid reactions, it's about getting into the minds of players. Did anything even remotely tangible come out of our arguing about the bow-harp for 50 pages? Maybe not for us, but SE knows quite a bit about how we might react, what we're expecting, and what they should adjust to make it a bigger hit and a smoother transition.

Combined with the localization forums, which are probably the most useful and fun area of the site imho, I think the forums are working out just fine.

It's not SE's fault that MMORPG populations are mostly children and people with a lot of free-time, social awkwardness, and confrontation issues. That's who they're selling to, that's who they have to deal with. It's business.

[Lienn]

my post about the polls was the original one that they actually linked while in game. every player that i knew of actually filled out the poll. it actually gave a good representation on the people that were playing and not the small vocal minority that plays on the forums.

to me the polls should be in game and leave them up for a few weeks, but ask more specific questions before they take the time to do major changes to the system. it would save them putting alot of time into something that people do not like. the reason i say leave them up for a few weeks is that it gives more of a chance for the people that don't play daily a chance to get on and actually have their opinions heard or get people that have taken breaks to get their voices heard.

i am like you in that i am not a fan of the polls being on the forums when i know alot of people that won't even take the time to visit the forum because they are actually in game, but they would do the poll if it was in game.

Indeed! I'd surely support they having the polls ingame. Maybe making the 3 tribunes ingame and once every 2~4 weeks we have a brand new poll there. This would be way better because, while here you only find a minimal portion of players, ingame you will give access to polls to nearly the entire playerbase.

I know many people that didn't answer any of the polls, that don't take part in this forum and, still, are active players of FFXIV and, just like me, aren't very pleased with the changes...but not everyone has the time/will to come here toss their 2 cents regarding every aspect of the game...its much easier just quit and find another game that pleases him more...and when all decisions are taken based on a such restricted group of players, like the forum active ones, they have a potential risk of losing these unpleased players...because even if they come here and say (as example-ish) "Hey! GTFO Casuals! It's under new management and the new boss like e-peens!" there are people that bought the game based on the original proposal of it and never ever even came to lodestone...some didn't even read that "An important announcement to all FFXIV fans" that still appears when we log in...they just log in, play the game and log out.

So, after all this random QQ, yep...i do agree polls should be taken ingame instead of here.

[Betelgeuzah]

Getting player feedback is crucial, as long as you can distill the good from the bad. That's a part of being a good developer.

It's not like the forums are mandatory feature though, you can achieve the same results with third party websites too. But obviously this is more centralized and focused, which can undoubtedly help.

[Vesper]

Games need official forums it provides the easiest two way communication between the developers and their consumers. Of course the forums are a mixed bag, with mostly people coming in to piss and moan about things, the people who have no issues with the game have no reason to pop in here as much, they just play the game. Those with issues raise the issues on the forum. THAT is the point of the forum.

If you see no benefit to official forums why would you even bother posting here at all? Just pop in read the dev tracker and leave since this place is apparently pointless.

[Neptune]

The forums are neutral towards the game.. it is just a place for people to post their thoughts.

Is it a good thing for the game that the devs are listening to people on the boards? I would say 9 out of 10 times no, it isn't. Imagine if you drained an Olympic size swimming pool down to the last inch of water. All that would be there is the scum clinging for dear life to the bottom.