NaturalHazard wrote on Feb 19
th, 2014 at 3:51am:
I am aware of that, but hes so well liked, probably comes with the job, maybe might see more action on the forums, also might make some people feel better about DDO...feel better about the game log in.
As for their systems..........they just trying to monetize stuff, bring new system hope its got enough store work arounds built in, hope they can make good on the astral shard system.
Crafting systems I don't know someone comes up with some idea and it gets pulled half arsed half done. They probably feeling the pressure to milk that cow for all its worth. If they could get away with charging for an in game bug report say 10 astral shards? we might have a working one. Hey it will sell more gargantuan bags right? So even if we stuff up half finish this system it all helps.........
Hey Natural,
I don't think Cordo's presence makes much difference to DDO's success directly.
I do agree that he is having a progressively more negative impact on the forums though, and they are a support network for the game itself.
But I think Turbine as an entity is having a more profound effect through their poor decision making, perceived arrogance toward their customers and the lack of coherent and sustained communication.
What happened to Rowan's comms? Turned up, made a big entrance and then vamoosh - gone. And he did not get the normal flaming - people were willing to give him a shot, so what happened?
Turbine are apparently run by ignorant fools. Hiding behind, "it's Turbine policy not to comment on......" just about anything. Has been since day 1 - stone wall everything.
Geez guys - you comment professionally, honestly and succinctly when it is appropriate. If your forums are running out of control on speculation or up in arms about a change, what dickwad would ignore it and hope it goes away?
They really need a competent PR person to advise them (to keep Glin away from any form of communication would be a good start!).
MajMal comes on with his pithy one liners - which are beginning to wreak of smarminess. Fact is, on his watch the bugs and exploits are getting worse and the critical tool they should have (online bug reporting) never works. Why?
How can they be taken seriously about QA when they don't make it as easy as possible to report bugs?
Instead they want you to drop out of your game and go fill out forms. Most people would say why bother?
I don't care how many bugs MajMal claims they do catch - they will be measured on how many they miss and how serious they are.
Instead of accepting the fact that they have bugs and encourage peeps to report them, they try to hide forum posts and witch hunt those most capable of finding them. Turbine have the wrong person(s) directing them. They're a control freak (like Cordo) and they don't like people like us who don't always blindly follow the rules. That ain't going to change and it will always be there Achilles heel.
Crafting systems - now this is a confounding one. I don't believe that Turbine literally try to monetize everything, but they are about generating revenues when possible. I acknowledge that.
The problem with the crafting system, and more broadly within Turbine, is that features in general appear to be pet projects of individuals. So when that individual leaves, moves or loses interest, that feature dies on the vine.
You cannot run a service orgn like that. You need to have redundancy for core features. You need to have commitment to core features and make them sustainable.
And having something as critical as the loot system at the whim of an individual's flamboyance is not a good idea. The loot is an important element of game motivation and player participation, and it should reflect an agreed theme/strategy and system that is coherent and consistent. Individual's might put their stamp on it with quirky names etc, but overall there should be consistency.
That's my ten cents worth.