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WAR to host official Forum!!!!

www.tentonhammer.com/node/62331

 

"Folks,

So, I’m pleased to announce that in the next few months Mythic will be hosting, for the first time, its own Official Forums for one of its games. Now, I expect that some (okay, a lot) of you are wondering what form these forums will take and why, after so many years of being rather vocal against OFs, are we doing them now. I hope to answer both of these questions here today.

First, as to the form the forums will take, I think it is safe to say that our Community Management team has the mandate to create and moderate the best game forums for any MMO. We have spent a lot of time both looking at other games’ support forums and talking about how we can do even better. Our forums will have all the expected niceties as well as our own twist on things. We will also have only full and part-time paid experienced moderators on the forums who will be part of the Mythic team. The forums will be laid out in an easy to access manner, low on the graphics/flash nonsense and we will not be running ads of any kind on the forums. We will have a code of conduct on the forums which the moderators will enforce but this code will not be there to stifle debate but to ensure that name-calling, insults, threats, etc. whether to Mythic, EA, other developers and other players will not be tolerated. This is a similar policy to the one we had with our beta forums and similar to that found on some other forums.

In addition, only players with an active WAR subscription will be allowed to post on the forums. There will be a number of different account “levels” on these forums and players who show that they can contribute to the ongoing improvement of WAR, whether through suggestions, critical evaluation, user-generated content, peer-to-peer (in other words, contribution has its privileges) will be given greater access to private areas of the boards where Mythic developers (including myself and strike team leads) will be posting extensively, in addition to our posting in the public forums, and talking to these players about key issues/concerns. As an FYI, simply praising Mythic will not get players this access, we’ll be looking for those people who have shown either through our beta program or post-launch that they are actively interested in engaging in the kind of critical thinking and/or bug reporting that can help us continue to improve WAR. Also, we plan over the long-term to give additional rewards, centered on the game, for those that have really helped us out. However, players who engage in behavior that violates our Code of Conduct will have their posting privileges restricted and they will be denied access to the forums.

We will be releasing much more information about the forums in the coming weeks and we hope to being inviting people into our forums in February to participate in upcoming Public Tests. What you see when you log into our forums will only be the first stage of our development of these forums. We’ve only been working on these forums since December, so we haven’t had a ton of time to work on them, but we think we’re off to a great start.

Now, as to why I have reversed my rather vocal stance on internal support forums for a game. Quite frankly, I still believe that OFs are not a panacea to cure all the ills of a game. I still also remain convinced that having OFs are not a guarantee of success for an MMO. However, I do think that right now we should have our own OFs because it will allow us to communicate with and better support the players of WAR. I spent a long time thinking about this and then talking about with this with Rob and senior leadership at Mythic. It wasn’t an easy decision to make due to a host of factors, including the cost of running these forums properly but in the end we decided that it was the right thing to do. And I want to emphasize that one of the most important factors in running these forums was that we were going to spend a significant amount of money in order to run these forums properly. While I don’t want to put too fine a point on it and say we are sparing no expense (two movie line quotes in one sentence, FTW!) excellent (and upgradeable) forum software, paid moderators, etc. in order to give our players a great place to post and interact with each other and with the Mythic community management team and developers. If we couldn’t have done that I would not have changed my mind.

We have had some great experiences on public forums over the last decade but the time is right to operate our own forums. I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to thank places like the IGN Vault and the Warhammer Alliance as well as the other sites that I and/or Mythic folks have posted to over the years. We hope to continue our relationship with such sites even as we move forward with our own forums as a thank you for the support (and the occasional rotten fruit and salad mixings) that have been thrown our way. I still believe that there is a major role that these sites, and others like them, can continue to play for WAR and other MMOs in the future. Our CM/marketing team will be happy to talk to you about that going forward.

So, every journey begins with a first step and we are in the process of taking our first step into the world of official forums. I expect we will make mistakes and encounter bumps and bruises along the way but in the end I hope we will have the best forums of any MMO. A bold statement to be sure but that is our intent.

Mark"

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Comments

  • MaryPopinJayMaryPopinJay Member Posts: 1

    Nice.  Finally a place for paying WAR customers to discuss the game, free from all the BS that garbage sites like this one encourage.

  • Capn23Capn23 Member Posts: 1,529

    Nice =)

     

    hopefully they will be able to get a better idea of what people want and how to fix the real problems.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Guys! I'm hopelessly lost in a mountain of mole hills! Them damn moles!

  • neller2000neller2000 Member Posts: 130
    Originally posted by *snip*


    *snip* - Mod




     

    You're kidding right? You do realize there's 11 million WoW players out there just HUNGERING to plague the WAR forums in the exact same ways the WAR fanatics spammed, infested, trolled and spewed garbage on the WoW forums? And having an active WAR account is by no means a safeguard against that at all.

    Not to mention the hordes of people extremely disappointed when comparing the hyped up dev video logs in the years up to the release of WAR. Most people don't like constantly being told they're getting the Ferrari of PvP only to discover it's a Lada with a burnt engine and 5 flat tires (counting the spare in the trunk).

  • ZebladeZeblade Member UncommonPosts: 931

    To funny. Its always the other people. Like the BS is from NON playing players.. HUH? A day late and  a dollar short. The game will not change for the better lol like Myth has no clue who to listen to now.

    All your going to see is MYTH making sure you ONLY hear the good about the game not what is still in since BETA! lmao that they said would be changed before launch.. anyway..  It will be THEIR forum. Like AoC was then look now just like War.. merge servers.. less people, promises still broken..

    I mean look.. Mark Jaocbs was being heard everywhere when War launched and how they are #2 and how he keeps his word unlike the other MMO's. A where is he now?..

    In the end its MYTH that makes EVERY .. ALL changes to the game. If they DONT want it they WONT do it. So think before you type by passing the buck. Myth goofed up War not you nor I. We told them about leveling (how fast) about unbalanced servers were blah blah and still.. its THEIR game, their fault.

  • Ngeldu5tNgeldu5t Member UncommonPosts: 608

    There was a time when I took what Mark Jacobs said seriously.But since WAR has gone public,he has been so full of himself always looking the others from above.End results we have a game where T4 players can't do what's the game was meant for.

    When players asked for an Official forums he was...check it yourself  www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php

     

    In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...

  • daelnordaelnor Member UncommonPosts: 1,556
    Originally posted by neller2000

    Originally posted by MaryPopinJay


    Nice.  Finally a place for paying WAR customers to discuss the game, free from all the BS that garbage sites like this one encourage.



     

    You're kidding right? You do realize there's 11 million WoW players out there just HUNGERING to plague the WAR forums in the exact same ways the WAR fanatics spammed, infested, trolled and spewed garbage on the WoW forums? And having an active WAR account is by no means a safeguard against that at all.

    Not to mention the hordes of people extremely disappointed when comparing the hyped up dev video logs in the years up to the release of WAR. Most people don't like constantly being told they're getting the Ferrari of PvP only to discover it's a Lada with a burnt engine and 5 flat tires (counting the spare in the trunk).

    You know what...if 11 million WoW players want to buy subs just so they can spam the forums, they are more than welcome, lol!

     

    I don't think any of this was MBJ's idea though, he has always been against it.  I think he was "convinced" by other parties and wasn't given that much of an option.  Either that, or enough people railed for it that he caved in.  I'm under the impression that he still isn't all that thrilled about it though, and I can't blame him.

    Will be interesting to see how they implement it though.

    image

  • MajorleagueMajorleague Member Posts: 24

    I don't fully understand how mmo communitys work yet but to me it's always seemed like a good idea to have Official forums. LOTRO has them, doesnt WOW have them? either way both games seem to be doing fine. (OFP: Operation Flash point, has official forums but the community for that game was huge and there was countless fansites. i know its not a mmorpg game but still)

    i for one am happy about the new forums. just got this game 2 days ago and i'm loving it so far.

  • LivettLivett Member Posts: 126

    Wonder when forums would be implemented for Europe.

     

  • DuraheLLDuraheLL Member Posts: 2,951

    Lol @ official forum.

    Just another obnoxious parasite spot for fanboy extremists to preach into oblivion. Yuck

    image
    $OE lies list
    http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=424&start=0
    "
    And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is ******* vampires! "

  • impulsebooksimpulsebooks Member Posts: 561
    Originally posted by Livett


    Wonder when forums would be implemented for Europe.

     



     

    Hmmm, well far be it from me to praise GOA for anything (the thought makes me quite ill) but <gulp, turns green> GOA announced official forums for EU paying customers quite a while back. Mythic is trailing them in this aspect. Of course we all know GOA will screw up--its a given. Probably will be a forums written in flash that most of the time displays blank pages

     

     



    Edit spelling

    ______________

    Mark E. Cooper
    AKA Tohrment
    Proud member of Damned Souls since 2007.
    http://www.damnedsouls.eu

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,372

    Seems like a good idea to me, especially since their purpose is to increase dialogue between the players of the game and the developer team.

    The flaw I see in the approach is that they are preaching to the choir.  All feedback will come from people mostly happy with the game, or willing to accept it in its current form.

    But by totally shutting out the people who aren't playing it for one reason or another means they may never consider addressing the concerns that keep those folks from playing.

    That might not matter much either though. In my case the core gameplay is so far not what I was hoping for there is no way for them to change the game to suit me, w/o allienating a large number of their current playerbase who enjoy the gameplay mechanics.

    Its just not the game for me is all, and it doesn't matter to me really if I can't share my opinions with them.

     

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

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    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • Originally posted by Kyleran


    Seems like a good idea to me, especially since their purpose is to increase dialogue between the players of the game and the developer team.
    The flaw I see in the approach is that they are preaching to the choir.  All feedback will come from people mostly happy with the game, or willing to accept it in its current form.
    But by totally shutting out the people who aren't playing it for one reason or another means they may never consider addressing the concerns that keep those folks from playing.
    That might not matter much either though. In my case the core gameplay is so far not what I was hoping for there is no way for them to change the game to suit me, w/o allienating a large number of their current playerbase who enjoy the gameplay mechanics.
    Its just not the game for me is all, and it doesn't matter to me really if I can't share my opinions with them.
     

    My sentiments exactly.

     

  • Marypopnjay9Marypopnjay9 Member Posts: 15
    Originally posted by Kyleran


    Seems like a good idea to me, especially since their purpose is to increase dialogue between the players of the game and the developer team.
    The flaw I see in the approach is that they are preaching to the choir.  All feedback will come from people mostly happy with the game, or willing to accept it in its current form.
    But by totally shutting out the people who aren't playing it for one reason or another means they may never consider addressing the concerns that keep those folks from playing.
    That might not matter much either though. In my case the core gameplay is so far not what I was hoping for there is no way for them to change the game to suit me, w/o allienating a large number of their current playerbase who enjoy the gameplay mechanics.
    Its just not the game for me is all, and it doesn't matter to me really if I can't share my opinions with them.
     

    If the WAR devs ever feel the need to find out what people think who dont play and/or like WAR, I am sure this site will prove to be the haven it has always been for those types of folks.  And I am sure the devs can easily find a few others as well.  The point is, an official WAR forums will serve as a place where people who play the game can get together as a community and discuss the game barring all the haters.  I think that is the point and idea for an official forums -- something so painfully obvious I find it ridiculous it even needs to be explained to you.

     

  • damian7damian7 Member Posts: 4,449
    Originally posted by Kyleran


    Seems like a good idea to me, especially since their purpose is to increase dialogue between the players of the game and the developer team.
    The flaw I see in the approach is that they are preaching to the choir.  All feedback will come from people mostly happy with the game, or willing to accept it in its current form.
    But by totally shutting out the people who aren't playing it for one reason or another means they may never consider addressing the concerns that keep those folks from playing.
    That might not matter much either though. In my case the core gameplay is so far not what I was hoping for there is no way for them to change the game to suit me, w/o allienating a large number of their current playerbase who enjoy the gameplay mechanics.
    Its just not the game for me is all, and it doesn't matter to me really if I can't share my opinions with them.
     



     

     

    didn't you fill out the "why are you leaving" form when you cancelled your WAR account?

     

    oh wait, they have that just like they had official forums...

     

    i don't see official forums FINALLY being released (even though we know mark jacobs still fears all the death threats that the mods and devs will receive), will make WAR better.   oooo if i contribute a lot and make suggestions and fix the game for the devs, then i can get access to all their poastings! 

    yeah um, no thanks.

     

    could we please get correspondent writers and moderators, on the eve forum at mmorpg.com, who are well-versed on eve-online and aren't just passersby pushing buttons? pretty please?

  • damian7damian7 Member Posts: 4,449
    Originally posted by Marypopnjay9

    Originally posted by Kyleran


    Seems like a good idea to me, especially since their purpose is to increase dialogue between the players of the game and the developer team.
    The flaw I see in the approach is that they are preaching to the choir.  All feedback will come from people mostly happy with the game, or willing to accept it in its current form.
    But by totally shutting out the people who aren't playing it for one reason or another means they may never consider addressing the concerns that keep those folks from playing.
    That might not matter much either though. In my case the core gameplay is so far not what I was hoping for there is no way for them to change the game to suit me, w/o allienating a large number of their current playerbase who enjoy the gameplay mechanics.
    Its just not the game for me is all, and it doesn't matter to me really if I can't share my opinions with them.
     

    If the WAR devs ever feel the need to find out what people think who dont play and/or like WAR, I am sure this site will prove to be the haven it has always been for those types of folks.  And I am sure the devs can easily find a few others as well.  The point is, an official WAR forums will serve as a place where people who play the game can get together as a community and discuss the game barring all the haters.  I think that is the point and idea for an official forums -- something so painfully obvious I find it ridiculous it even needs to be explained to you.

     



     

     

    it needed to be explained to marc jacobs for how long now?  or did you not realize his firm stance against those death threat haven official forums has been a hardline of NO all these years?

     

    could we please get correspondent writers and moderators, on the eve forum at mmorpg.com, who are well-versed on eve-online and aren't just passersby pushing buttons? pretty please?

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