Where does the mentioned feedback actually come from?

[LilimoLimomo]

If CBU3 actually intends to get feedback that represents the overall player base, then it is unsurprising that the collected feedback would differ from what we commonly see on the forums. This is for a few reasons:

1. Most of the game's players don't use the English forums. Part of this is because English is only one of many languages, and part of it is because most players are casual to the point where they wouldn't spend much if any time here. To get the voices of all players, feedback must be sought from other sources as well.
   
   
2. Generally speaking, the forums create a skewed view of player opinions because it's a bit of a bubble. There are some topics where folks have constructive and respectful debates about their differing opinions, but it's far more common to see mud-slinging and bad faith arguments. (And to be clear, I don't blame the players for this: I blame CBU3 for not doing a better job funding and organizing their moderation team.) And in that sort of environment, there's a feedback loop where people who are getting yelled at less are more likely to stay, and people who are getting yelled at more are more likely to leave the forums behind...so over time the louder opinions will tend to get even louder and more monolithic, regardless of whether that opinion is or isn't representative of a majority of the player base's views.
   
   To illustrate one aspect of this phenomena, imagine that there are 100 Users who posts variations of their pro-Buttstomp opinion 365 times each over the course of an expansion. Also imagine that there are 100 users who post their anti-Buttstomp opinion only a single time throughout the expansion. In this scenario, to your average user it's going to look like there's a lot more pro-Buttstomp sentiment because that's what they're regularly being exposed to...even though in actuality, there's a 50/50 split of users who posted pro-Buttstomp versus anti-Buttstomp. To be clear, I'm not saying the forums are actually 50/50 on any given matter, but rather that a person's experience of the forums is an inaccurate tool to use in an attempt to understand the spread of player opinions.

All of that said, I would also be curious to hear what sources were used for this feedback! Not only would it be nice to see that manner of transparency, but it would give players a better understanding of what to do to get their voices heard. I'm guessing that the FanFest survey was at least one source of this feedback, but I would hope there are others as well.