Quote Originally Posted by Azurymber View Post
whereas SE should be communicating like this:
"We have decided to implement x. Here are some key details. We know you may have concerns about x, y, z. This is how we will address them. We apologize to anyone who is being negatively effected by this.. Heres a list of reasons why we have decided to go this route. We have a team focusing on this aspect. Please post any concerns you have in this thread and like any concerns you agree with and we will take them into consideration, thank you"
edit: this would create one topic that focuses on the debate, remove speculation, and take a lot of the negativity and drama off the general board making the game look less like a failure.
This doesn't work for a number of reasons.

First, if they gave you full details of their plans, they may need to recant due to adjustments based on the results of play-testing their creation. Exploits may be discovered, or there may be a more balanced approach discovered later on. If they keep changing their tune about what you can expect, it will just upset the playerbase even more than if they'd held back the specifics to begin with.

Second, even if when they provide all the details (in the days leading up to the patch), it still doesn't prevent some players from complaining that it wasn't what they expected. You can't please everyone. Not everyone has the same ideas about what would be enjoyable in the diverse activities an MMO offers.

Third, you can't make a good game by committee. Player feedback is valuable, but you can't design your whole game based on polling. It would end up being an incoherent mess. A good game designer has to have the courage to lead and give players an experience they didn't know they wanted.

Finally, you won't ever stop discussions about how things could have been done differently as long as there's any interest in the game. You see it as a bad thing, but really, it's a sign that people care about playing.