Road Map for the server

To help the staff generate transparency and engage better with present and future players, I believe outlining a public generalized road map of implementations would be great. Probably goes without saying that trading has been one of the most redundant items asked about, but it's not alone.

Gamez staff should not be held to strict timeline - we all know that becomes a rope for players to try to hang staff from. However, setting broad/non-committal goal dates for certain items would be welcome. Maybe open these open to an official vote to gauge support for the importance of one item over another.

A road map would give us players an inside look at what bugs and new implementations are being looked at actively by staff and their relative importance to player population. Most of us, when not shitposting do understand that not every bug and not every feature are equally easy to fix or add into the game, and such features may have to take a back burner to more important items in the queue/arise as it happens.

This method of bullet pointing items and sharing them with those affected does help to establish trust with the intended audience. Be open, even if what you decide to share with players is vague, it is still better than no communication about what to expect.

This would also establish a stark contrast between the staff at Gamez, and the staff over there at Cuckao.

 

I have already made this suggestion to them (or at least one similar) publicly and in DM.
It is now up to them to decide what to do and for us to wait.

As for a strict timeline, that is not realistic in any development environment especially not with such a small team.

Below is my message

"Beyond any changes to the game itself the most beneficial task you could take on is much more open communication with the userbase. We have had a few patches over the last few weeks that have significantly changed the game and we did not receive much if any explanation as to why it would happen or any warning that it would occur in the first place. These kinds of uncommunicated changes have adverse effects on users whether or not they appreciate the changes. It harkens back to what occurred on retail NA/EU BDO where massive game-changing patches would drop without warning and ruin people's previous weeks of work. No reasoning why, no warning to consider what actions we should be taking as users. Just a sudden paradigm shift that some benefitted massively from and others did not. This will sow the seeds of doubt into the userbase and lead to rumors and other unhealthy attitudes becoming more rampant. The best way to battle this is to have open and transparent developmental processes, let us know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Give us an idea of what your current challenges are and how things are going with overcoming them. As we have seen through different models(Patreon, Gofundme etc...) people are happy to throw money and services at those who are providing value to them. You clearly understand this as you have your "donations" setup and you've been running the Aion server for 8 years.

My suggestion is to take 3 easy steps.

1) Create an in development section under sever info and update it as things progress (do not give specific time frames as people online hold you to them zealously)
2) Add a development direction to the server info page as well. In this you'll let us know what you're working on, what changes you are making and planning on making and the reasoning behind it.
3) Update it weekly or bi-weekly

Doing that will quell a lot of the discontent as well as decrease suggestions that are counter to what your stated intentions are.
I have created a quick mock-up of what this simple yet powerful change could look like."

 

Somehow I missed your suggestion. Solid!

 

Well you didn't, I didn't put it in suggestions I messaged it to them privately for discretionary purposes. Then after the fiasco a few days ago I shared it publicly on that post. With great timing, you shared yours so I figured might as well throw it up here too for more visibility. You and I are on the same page though and I hope they decide to make these changes.

 

I understand that communication is important to our players (I am a player as well), and these are some honestly good suggestions. Please keep in mind this is a small team though and needs patience as they work through the many issues they are facing. I have asked about the trade issue before, when it will be implemented, and the answer (from two different staff members) was "not any time soon", which simply means it is not priority. The team is indeed communicating more than they used to, as is evidenced by Kolka speaking in discord chat often, as well as the progress of siege wars being included in patch notes. I am also open to questions and issues that I am able to help with, so don't hesitate to ask if needed.