Feedback Forum linked to your in game character.

ArchivedUser

So I feel like in every MMO I have played so far there was an issue with forum feedback in terms of mixed opinions from new players, casual and hardcore players. Obviously the game developers want to make their game appeal to wider market so all sorts of feedback should be considered and welcome.

The problems start when feedback from those 3 different player bases get mixed up. Reduced difficulties for content that meant to be challenging, nerfs and buffs to skills that were not needed just because inexperienced players had trouble dealing with them. List goes on Im sure you know what Im talking about. 

What are your guys thoughts on linking the forum accounts to ingame achievements like gear, level, arena ratings, pve clears, territory ownership.  

Example1 :  3 feedback forum channels,

1.New Players
You get access to this forum page when you make the account. You are free to complain about new player experience here and suggest changes. 
2. Casual/Normal Players
To access Casual Player page you would need a level cap and some gear tresh hold proving you are past the new player phase and got grasp of the game. 
3. HC players
To access this forum page you would need high end gear 

Example2: Sort feed back by in game achievements. 

Let's say you are a dev looking through feedback checking out ideas, if there is an option to sort forum posts by ingame achievement points, pvp rating or gear it would make it easier to filter out value less feedback from people that are not qualified to talk about experiences they don't fully understand.

BONUS: People would be less likely to shit post when their in game reputation is linked to what they say on forum. 

So.. what do you ppl think about this sort of system? It may sound a little elitists but its realistic and in my opinion healthy for the development after launch. 

ArchivedUser

In this system, would hardcore players also be able to post in the casual forums? That could cause problems. I'm not opposed per say, but I also understand that the audience isn't simply divided into new, casual, and hardcore.

There is also role players, older players, young players, and other sub minorities which have their various different gripes as to what they want the game to be. Having the system you suggest might filter some of the shit posts out, but it will still be there.

ArchivedUser

You know I'm usually opposed to this sort of segregation, but you do address an interesting point.

Forums are often overrun by the vocal minority.   

ArchivedUser

Nothing fosters a strong community more than arbitrarily segregating people and not letting them talk to each other.

ArchivedUser

I hate this. you want to discriminate based on gear of all things.

In my opinion the idea of separate forums should never see the light of day.

ArchivedUser

Pretty sure the OP isn't suggesting the whole forum be segregated.. Just 3 separated feedback channels dependent on player experience within the game. Everything else would stay the same.. and even maintain a group feedback channel. 

ArchivedUser

Santy182 said:

I hate this. you want to discriminate based on gear of all things.

In my opinion the idea of separate forums should never see the light of day.

Atama said:

Nothing fosters a strong community more than arbitrarily segregating people and not letting them talk to each other.

Ok so lets address your guys points. Which are;

-Its based on gear.
It could be based on whatever value that shows someone experience at the game. You can not argue that experienced players are able to provide feedback closer to the truth.  Everyone could view the threads obviously.

-Not letting community talk to each other.
Well only feedback part of the forum would be tied to this system. There will be tons of open channels for shitposters and maybe even mixed feedback. And most importantly in game chats right ?  

Example of what would happens if  you go with regular forum feedback

Thread: Shamans are underpowered

Blah blah blah blah low dmg blah blah out damaged by every other class/spec blah blah blah bad stat scaling blah ... etc etc 

Response: 

(lvl 14 shaman): It's fine I dont see any problems with the class)

(lvl 60 shaman with terrible gear): I agree shaman is just terrible cant kill people with similar gear and lvl. Tried to get better for a week now to no avail It may be a class issue.

(lvl 70 ninja that doesnt care coz he is not playing shaman): They are fine. No need for changes. 

(lvl 22 shaman) Not true

(lvl 41 warrior) Yeah cant see the issue I get consistently beaten by shamans.

Issue:
Now remember you as a feedback collecting person dont know the levels and experience of the people giving feedback and in this case 90% of the replies  are inexperienced players or ones that cannot experience the class balance properly talking just because they are able to filling the thread with useless feedback which in this scenario is majority overshadowing the real issue.  

You don't even have to lock the threads to be honest just make a system that let you know the value of someones feedback. 

ArchivedUser

Beolupus said:

In this system, would hardcore players also be able to post in the casual forums? That could cause problems. I'm not opposed per say, but I also understand that the audience isn't simply divided into new, casual, and hardcore.

There is also role players, older players, young players, and other sub minorities which have their various different gripes as to what they want the game to be. Having the system you suggest might filter some of the shit posts out, but it will still be there.

I think the segregation and locking ppl out from replying to thread may be too much but system that allows feedback collectors to filter out shitposts and simply bad players based on what they achieved in game would be nice. 

If someone is not high enough lvl to experience real pvp his post should be tagged as irrelevant when he talks in PvP section of the forum.  Idk maybe something like red dot next to post that can only be seen by gms cms devs etc. 

You can see something similar on WoW forums you see the level next to the forum name and you can open their armory to inspect their achievements to see if they know what they are talking about which more often than not is not true someone is crying about high end arena imbalance you check his armory and his arena rating is 1.6k which is really low he probably started playing 1-2 weeks ago.  The imperfection of this system is that you can easily make alt accounts on the forums and people like this being the majority of posters. Which locking them out of typing in specific threads would fix :P It is complicated. Really hard to get useful forum going. 

 Jahlon said:

You know I'm usually opposed to this sort of segregation, but you do address an interesting point.

Forums are often overrun by the vocal minority.   

Often? More like always, People invested into the game are in game playing not on forums for most of the time. 

MMO Forums are always filled with misinformation and shit posts to the point actual feedback is like needle in a stack of hay.

ArchivedUser

I don’t mind allowing people to self-select forums.  Like when you have forums for each class and a player can talk to others who play that class, and you get a representation of concerns and opinions from people who play that class.

Have a forum devoted to asking for feedback from new players and maybe let them ask for help there.  Another for “standard” feedback and another one for end-game feedback.  Players decide themselves where to leave their opinions.

What if someone has trouble starting out then gets the hang of it, does well and gets to a high level.  They want to leave feedback for their experience, focusing on their initial experience as s new player.  But since they are no longer low level they’re cut out of the new player feedback?  That doesn’t make sense.

What if a player has a main they level up and play hardcore and get maxed out in gear and power, and an alt that they play casually and socialize with and just chill out with.  They can’t post in the non-hardcore forum because one of their characters is maxed?

There’s a reason why games don’t do this.  You don't want to discourage people from providing the feedback they want to give by preventing them from doing so.  And herding people into certain pens, even just for feedback, causes bad feelings.  It’s not done because it’s a bad idea and counter-productive.

ArchivedUser

Atama said:

I don’t mind allowing people to self-select forums.  Like when you have forums for each class and a player can talk to others who play that class, and you get a representation of concerns and opinions from people who play that class.

How would you take any information from the regular forum then. Lets say you are working for the company that makes the game your job is to look through feedback daily and compiling a list of player concerns now you enter a feedback forum which consists of 200 shitposts 500 straight out lies 1500 inexperienced players not knowing what they are talking about and 73 actual posts made by people who experienced what they are talking about. 

Have a forum devoted to asking for feedback from new players and maybe let them ask for help there.  Another for “standard” feedback and another one for end-game feedback.  Players decide themselves where to leave their opinions.

Single channel would become oversaturated and become 'THE' feedback channel everyone would go to. It also doesn't solve the issue with trolls and misinformation. 

What if someone has trouble starting out then gets the hang of it, does well and gets to a high level.  They want to leave feedback for their experience, focusing on their initial experience as s new player.  But since they are no longer low level they’re cut out of the new player feedback?  That doesn’t make sense.

General feedback accessible to everyone. 

What if a player has a main they level up and play hardcore and get maxed out in gear and power, and an alt that they play casually and socialize with and just chill out with.  They can’t post in the non-hardcore forum because one of their characters is maxed?

It could work as progressive unlocks rather then 'current state' of your character so high end players could access new players and normal players threads since they experienced the new player and normal player content while normal and new players did not experience hc content.

Think about it as you would allow a university teacher to teach at high school and middle school but you wouldn't allow middle school teacher to work at uni. 

There’s a reason why games don’t do this.  You don't want to discourage people from providing the feedback they want to give by preventing them from doing so.  And herding people into certain pens, even just for feedback, causes bad feelings.  It’s not done because it’s a bad idea and counter-productive.

Yeah and how did it turn out for all the games that didn't try it ? Unwanted changes, complete disconnection between players and dev team. Only way feedback is communicated in most mmos are QAs that happen 2-3 times a year and when devs answer the question players just bang their heads at their desk not able to believe how far from what they asked for is being addressed. 

ArchivedUser

Separating the community like that is just plain weird ? never mind that some people can't play with others due to regional difference, now they would be divided in the forums based on their in-game achievements The forums are open to everybody who wants to join.

ArchivedUser

Yeah the idea of providing feedback being tied to your class, level, accomplishment, etc would let developers get some actual feedback from the relevant classes.  What Merre detailed above with the different classes and level ranges giving feedback, the problem is now is that there isn't a max level & well geared class in that discussion.

And why?   Because people who are having fun with their class aren't usually on the forums giving feedback.   So then what happens, the nerf bat gets swung and suddenly you break a class in all sorts of ways and then and only then do the high level geared people come to the forums to throw down the WTF.

I think seeing who is posting what feedback isn't a bad thing.   Not necessarily restricting the feedback, or potentially setting restrictions for who can post in *certain* threads when the developer wants to reach out to those classes isn't a bad thing.

Separating the entire forum along those lines would be.   

ArchivedUser

The ideas expressed in the OP of this thread seem to assume that developers take subjective player feedback over their own objective, fact based data.

In MMO's, as with any industry, the bulk of client feedback is of little real use.