Class representatives

[MoroMurasaki]

I've been playing only this game for quite some time now. Recently I've started an alt because all the classes I have an interest in are leveled on my main. That being said it's occured to me that maybe I should play something else sometimes, one of the games I've enjoyed in the past is ESO.

I went back to the ESO forums to read about things/see if this was more than a spur-of-the-moment impulse.

First things first - dear god those forums function better. You have a PM system, you can @ people by username and there are even staff members who monitor the forums and will respond to questions/direct @s.

But then I saw the thread I'm going to link which pushed me to write this post - class representatives. If you would like to read the post it isn't too long and there isn't much game-specific lingo so even if you've never played ESO I think you'll get the gist of things.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.co...ive-program/p1

In summary they are starting a player feedback program for experienced players to offer balancing advice on a quarterly basis.

My immediate thought was "oh my god, no one could use this more than SE!"

FFXIV has some extremely dedicated players with vast knowledge and understanding of this game which comes from not only time spent but genuine interest. I think if there is any suggestion I can offer SE it is to impliment some sort of similar initiative - the extremely loyal playerbase here could give really helpful feedback and would be more than happy to do so.

We've said time and time again it's clear the dev team doesn't play the game but we do and there are undoubtably people who could give that unique insight that only players can have which seems to be missing from a lot of adjustments/attempts at balancing.

[Sylvina]

Hasn't Xeno been offering warrior advice? I don't know if they listen but he has been.

[Vivi_Bushido]

They do collect feedback but the way they go about getting that feedback is less publicly and more privately. More or less, they have their chosen candidates that pretty much represent the rest of us. These would be their game testers, their game reviewers/interviewers, and our community reps who deliver feedback they personally deem important enough to collect. And on some occasions, that lucky individual who get's selected to have their questions answered at PAX shows, Live Letters, ect.

[Shouko]

I think it works for ESO because they're in a category of their own, Zenimax is not a game maker and Bethesda is a new player into the MMO market.

I'm fairly sure SE would just choose from Jp players instead of anyone on the NA forums if done so. I mean they don't even listen to most of our feedback or at least that's the way it seems, compared to the Jp side of things.

[Zojha]

In summary they are starting a player feedback program for experienced players to offer balancing advice on a quarterly basis.

My immediate thought was "oh my god, no one could use this more than SE!"

And my immediate thought is:
"Oh nice, so experienced players can coax the unwitting devs into overbuffing their favorite class."

I'd take wider surveys in order to prevent bias.

[DreadRabbit]

I actually think it would be a good idea if it was expanded on. It's no different than a controlled beta testing group. But I think it's also key to keep in mind that the purpose of that program is to provide detailed feedback. In no way is the team from ESO obligated to follow that feedback (nor do we have proof yet that they will). It would also have to be made public like ESO's will be so that the rest of the community has a chance to comment on said feedback (which then brings up the question of where said feedback gets posted).

I also share a similar concern that post #20 on that page comments:

While I do welcome some open discussion, I feel that one point needs some clarification. Should these representatives just collect and compile the concerns of the community posted here on the forum or via other channels and discuss these with the devs so you don't have to read every single post, or is this an invite for people with in-depth knowledge to bring up points they think are an issue with that class?

If it is the first, I have to say that's actually a bit lazy and insincere since that should be a job for someone working at ZOS and not for unpaid volunteers, if it's the latter, it might easily turn out to be a bad idea since every one of them will have their own agenda and they likely won't provide objective feedback. In either case it could easily happen that a huge part of the player base and play styles gets underrepresented - especially since people with in-depth knowledge don't think or play like more casual players which should make up the larger part of the community.

Maybe it would be better to instead start using some platform like uservoice so everyone can participate and you can easily keep track of what's been requested?

The post introducing the program is very vague about what you're expected to do. Not to mention throughout that thread alone there's already disputes within that community over who is actually qualified to apply and who isn't. I can't imagine this forum would escape that as well.

If SE were to do this for FFXIV, then they would have to get more specific regarding what they want from such representatives and then be open about it. Not exactly fair to expect even loyal fans to sign up for something without telling them what that something actually is.