The Devs need a much needed thanks!

[Kes13a]

No one is disputing how hard they work. The issue is whether the developers are working hard on the correct feature or investing time wisely to help soothe current pain points or mitigate players' frustration. As a developer they should have a mindset where they can take the feedback on board no matter the tone and understand where the player is coming from and what is causing their frustration. Acknowledge what is causing the frustration and give players a solution with a feasible timescale, i.e. 1-2 patches. Not we plan to continue support, and nothing happens for 3 - 6 yrs. If the players are not complaining, something is wrong, but you must remember that people pay for the product to work as intended.

I hate to point this out.. but "as a developer" they do not have free license to do what they feel or wish. they are told what to implement or design. they could read every thread on this board, but its not their job to decide what to work on. thats higher up the food chain, a developer is told what to code. period. they are told what systems to come up with and then to fit it into the existing framework.

it is not their place, if they want to continue getting a paycheque, to implement things or change things other than what they are told to do. not to mention that they usually lack the bandwidth to implement their own ideas without prior authorization.

that job is higher up the foodchain. you want to see people lounging around the office doing "minimal effort" that would be better directed at the STF.

[Kes13a]

I am not a developer; I wouldn't know what they can and cannot do. However, I appreciate that they could read everything on the forum and that it would still need to be signed off by a higher-up, as with everything in business, for example, a CFO, CTO or CIO.

I imagine the person making these decisions is the director and producer. However, I would say that customers expect specific standards for products they pay for continuously.


How long do the developers want to wait to fix these issues?

the developers wait until they are TOLD TO FIX THEM. its that simple. the developers do not have the time generally to peruse the forums looking for issues, they have a job to do, thats coding, they get told what to do, its that plain and simple. they are going to be told by their team lead what to work on. usually that team lead would get direction from the person above them, who is likely going to be some unit supervisor but I have no clue since I am not privy to how SE sets up its development area.

But given Yoshida's "promotion", is it in his place to decide that sort of stuff? Or is he just the guy in charge of collecting all the ideas he, the devs and we propose and offer it to those above him?

Yoshi would be the person, I assume, that decides the direction of the game. likely someone under him who is supposed to get a list of issues from the non-existent community managers, he passes those along to the development side and they would assign priorities based on amount of time it will take to fix or implement something. developers, the ones coding, that no one here must figure do much, are generally going to be the hardest working people there because they have to make the game work. they are always going to be working to deadlines and if they dont meet those enough without a darn fine reason, I imagine they are not coding at SE any more.

I just work for a software company and not a gaming company.. so I have no idea on all of the moving parts, but overall, I would say Yoshi (as a "product manager") makes a majority of the calls on proposals brought forth to make improvements or changes. I doubt the actual developers have the time to read customer feedback. which based on these forums is likely a good thing from a morale side. if people want to throw shade.. throw it at Yoshi. the devs do deserve some credit for managing to code this monster

[Midareyukki]

I hate to point this out.. but "as a developer" they do not have free license to do what they feel or wish. they are told what to implement or design. they could read every thread on this board, but its not their job to decide what to work on. thats higher up the food chain, a developer is told what to code. period. they are told what systems to come up with and then to fit it into the existing framework.

it is not their place, if they want to continue getting a paycheque, to implement things or change things other than what they are told to do. not to mention that they usually lack the bandwidth to implement their own ideas without prior authorization.

that job is higher up the foodchain. you want to see people lounging around the office doing "minimal effort" that would be better directed at the STF.

But given Yoshida's "promotion", is it in his place to decide that sort of stuff? Or is he just the guy in charge of collecting all the ideas he, the devs and we propose and offer it to those above him?

[Atelier-Bagur]

despite the beautiful argument, I must warn you not to pay much attention to these "thank the devs, please" posts. It's just people wanting to farm likes.

As well as those who love to spew out negativity for the sake of drama. Two sides of an extreme

[Adamantini]

As well as those who love to spew out negativity for the sake of drama. Two sides of an extreme

then you will have to complain to them.

[AwesomeJr44]

No one is disputing how hard they work. The issue is whether the developers are working hard on the correct feature or investing time wisely to help soothe current pain points or mitigate players' frustration. As a developer they should have a mindset where they can take the feedback on board no matter the tone and understand where the player is coming from and what is causing their frustration. Acknowledge what is causing the frustration and give players a solution with a feasible timescale, i.e. 1-2 patches. Not we plan to continue support, and nothing happens for 3 - 6 yrs. If the players are not complaining, something is wrong, but you must remember that people pay for the product to work as intended.

Regarding class balance, people are upset not because they think their class doesn't do enough damage or the developers have not solved a utility or functionality issue with their favoured class. If people feel the need to scream, this is usually a symptom of people feeling that the development team has not acknowledged their concerns. Players need more transparency and communication from the class designer to think their time, effort, and emotional investment are worth it. Leaving players in a state of anxiety, anger, or emotional distress due to an in-game feature or company solution is disgusting and should be called out.

On your point about how it's only 1-2%, you don't know that, and you don't have the resources to qualify that data. This is you just trying to dismiss these people, which doesn't help the situation. If people are voicing these concerns on the forums, and these are the most engaged players, you can be sure more players with these concerns are silent. So leaving these issues to rot will make players feel abandoned they will leave the game.

No one is disputing that they are human or make mistakes. That's clear to see on many layers in the game. Identifying the issues takes time and experience. However, their failures at the end of the day are still their failures. For example, suppose they are not meeting the expectations of the player base. In that case, they need to change their way of developing and communicating or how Square invests its time into features across an expansion. I have seen a massive case in this expansion of the developers giving people things they didn't ask for or care about while leaving the game's core features to stagnate. In a sense, it feels like the team is more interested in providing bread and circuses to distract players than fixing that actual issue in the game, i.e. glamour, housing, reward structure, class balance etc.

A very good post. I think you've hit the metaphorical nail directly on the head. The devs aren't gods, they are only humans and they make mistakes, but it's also fair to upset and voice concerns when those mistakes are made. That's the most fair way to look at it.

despite the beautiful argument, I must warn you not to pay much attention to these "thank the devs, please" posts. It's just people wanting to farm likes.

Half of the OP it was devoted to snide remarks about people who are supposedly too 'negative', so that was most likely the purpose of the thread. I believe it was made in response other threads that were more critical of SE's recent failures. The OP definitely didn't post this thread in good faith, but I don't think it was just to farm likes. It's possible that they just wanted likes though, seeing as they posted this and just abandoned the thread, but who knows.

As well as those who love to spew out negativity for the sake of drama. Two sides of an extreme

How much negativity is being too negative and thus 'spewing negativity'? Personally, (as I can't speak for anyone else) I am negative when I feel SE has failed and positive when I feel that SE has succeeded. I gave SE credit when 6.2 was better than I expected, but I have been critical of their failures in recent job balancing. If SE fails more than it succeeds (or at least it does from my perspective), would me being critical more often than being positive be spewing negativity? I personally think not as I see that as being fair, but I'm curious to see where you think the line is.

[Lustre]

Simping for people you dont know is gross. You pay twice to access the game, that's thanks enough

[Stormpeaks]

Simping for people you dont know is gross. You pay twice to access the game, that's thanks enough

Basically this, especially considering they do the bare minimum for the game to stay afloat so it keeps racking in mog station purchases