Omega Shockwave

Problem Identification/Root Cause Analysis/Potential Solutions:

Common Problem Areas:

People Leaving

• PROBLEM: Panic that Guardian is losing players/dying; Chicken Little's; doom-criers
  • ROOT CAUSE: Lack of patience when forming/looking for teams, misinformed and/or negative players
  • SOLUTION: Understand that players will come and go. Some may even come back after a break.
• PROBLEM: Perception of population/activity
  • ROOT CAUSE: Hiding, anti-social tendencies
  • SOLUTION: Effort to more appropriately use hide, being more vocal/friendly/social

Trials

• PROBLEM: Leader Requirements for some iTrials (level shifts, powers, ATs, etc.)
  • ROOT CAUSE: Players don't like to fail. Failing usually deflates the league and it breaks apart.
  • SOLUTION: Get players to understand the leaders are trying to put the group in a position where they can succeed.
• PROBLEM: Lack of willingness to do trials other than Lambda/BAF
  • ROOT CAUSE: These yield the highest risk/reward ratio. Almost always are succeeded at. Players are most familiar with them.
  • SOLUTION: Work to familiarize players with all the trials.
• PROBLEM: Driven by results. Little/no tolerance of failure. Afraid to take chances.
  • ROOT CAUSE: A trial with no end reward table is generally considered a waste of time.

Balance

• PROBLEM: Dislike for low level content
  • ROOT CAUSE: Giving up powers; have done the arcs/content before
• PROBLEM: Unbalanced running of content (low, mid, high, end-game, red, blue, yellow, co-op, pvp)
  • ROOT CAUSE: Personal preference, character concepts, ease of finding teams
  • SOLUTION: Schedule events for different factions/levels within the game.

New/Premium Players

• PROBLEM: Isolation of, and lack of interaction with non-VIP players
  • ROOT CAUSE: Players already have established friends/groups. Content that isn't accessible to non-VIPs.
  • SOLUTION: Reach out to non-VIP players when running free content.
• PROBLEM: Poor interaction with new players
  • ROOT CAUSE: Some players are children and don't know better. Some players are jerks.
  • SOLUTION: Be patient with all players. Let them know what is acceptable and what is not.
• PROBLEM: The game does a poor job pointing new players to different content
  • ROOT CAUSE: Too easy to get stuck in the DFB/AE rut one loading into Atlas Park/Mercy Island. Lack of continued visual pointers to check out other contacts.
  • SOLUTION: Recruit for other events in low-level zones. Also use the "Looking For Team" channel.
• PROBLEM: Patience with new players regarding names/costumes (some may be kids and just don't know any better)
  • SOLUTION: Be patient, don't publicly chastise them.
• PROBLEM: Lack of good mentoring for new players
  • ROOT CAUSE: People are busy; don't want to take the time to really help new players get caught up to speed.
  • SOLUTION: 'Life After DFB' program
• PROBLEM: If new players aren't leveling "fast enough" they'll drift to "easy" areas
  • SOLUTION: Make other content sound interesting to them. In the end, if they don't want to do more, be ok with that.
• PROBLEM: Players not wanting to expand their comfort zone. (DFB, DIB)
  • ROOT CAUSE: It's easy and gives a buff until level 22. Some don't know about any other content.
  • SOLUTION: Make other content sound interesting to them. In the end, if they don't want to do more, be ok with that.

Communication

• PROBLEM: Setting expectations; how things will be run (speed/normal/xp runs), time commitment involved
• PROBLEM: Awareness/promotion of the different mediums of communication (word of mouth/global channels/forums/FB/voice programs) used. Know that not everyone uses every medium.
  • SOLUTION: Create a centralized list/directory for all channels/mediums used.
• PROBLEM: Premium/F2P players not being able to participate on channels/FB/forums
• PROBLEM: Social vs. Business channels? How to advertise/maintain that list
  • SOLUTION: Do we even want to separate the two from each other? Being social is a strength of the server, so it seems odd to cut it out.
• PROBLEM: No response when tells are sent. Should respond even if it's a simple no.
  • ROOT CAUSE: Players may be afk/alting/logging off. Some may have chat closed & the sound off. Sometimes the chat window has too much activity and tells get missed.
  • SOLUTION: Be patient. Wait a few minutes, and if still no response try again.
• PROBLEM: Lot of garbage in the 'Looking For Group' and 'Help' channels
  • ROOT CAUSE: Players don't understand the intended usage for the channels.
  • SOLUTION: Reminder players to keep Help chat related to questions/help, and Looking For Group to recruit/find a team.
• PROBLEM: Players not playing with the chat window open
  • SOLUTION: Explain to them how important this is to use during difficult/complex missions/etc.
• PROBLEM: Voice programs distracting from players paying attention to chat
  • SOLUTION: If you can get everyone in on the same voice channel/call, chat can be forgotten about.

Teaming/Soloing

• PROBLEM: Not effectively recruiting/including F2P players
  • ROOT CAUSE: Not used to recruiting on channels that they can see.
  • SOLUTION: Being conscious of what communication venues that varying kinds of players have access to.
• PROBLEM: Exclusion from teams (normal content)
  • SOLUTION: Most things in game are not hard enough to require a specialized team. Some things, such as a Masters Badge run, or some of the advanced end-game content, may require a team to be a little more specific with how it is constructed.
• PROBLEM: Some players just prefer to solo
  • ROOT CAUSE: Preference, PC performance; gives them time to read the background story
• PROBLEM: Forming teams is hard for Villains/Praetorians
  • ROOT CAUSE: Lower population on these areas of the game.
  • SOLUTION: Promoting server wide events for red/yellow teams.

Respect

• PROBLEM: Not being understanding if others do not want to participate in something.
• PROBLEM: People need to loosen up & relax. Just because someone doesn't want to run with you right now doesn't mean they don't like you.
• PROBLEM: Respecting the time of other players. Not spending unnecessary time to fill a team/league until it's full when you've had enough to start (and be successful) for quite a while.
  • ROOT CAUSE: Habit of running a full group.
  • SOLUTION: Send a tell to the leader if recruiting has slowed down and you have enough to start.
• PROBLEM: Respecting other player's desire to have fun. Most things do not need an all business attitude.
  • ROOT CAUSE: Taking the game too seriously.
• PROBLEM: Hiding (Inappropriate/Appropriate usage)
  • ROOT CAUSE: Keeping events private; outdated reasons (spammers)
  • SOLUTION: Try to remain unhidden whenever possible. Get your friends/globals to do the same.

Scheduled Events

• PROBLEM: Events being delayed by other events
  • ROOT CAUSE: Too many events for the population to handle at once. Players that want to be involved in everything.
  • SOLUTION: Try to compromise with the timing of events that have adjacent/overlapping times.
• PROBLEM: Designing more events (eg. adapting Tanker Tuesday, new event ideas); run different levels simultaneously
  • SOLUTION: Setting a weekly TF/SF/accolade runs/safeguard or mayhem mission

Leadership

• PROBLEM: Not enough leaders on Guardian
  • ROOT CAUSE: see Leadership post below
  • SOLUTION: Good leaders mentoring players that would like to become better leaders.
• PROBLEM: Leaders that have bad attitudes/are abusive make people not want to run with them.
  • ROOT CAUSE: Ego's, severe lack of patience.
  • SOLUTION: Do not tolerate these type of leaders.

Performance

• PROBLEM: Some players are running on less than optimal computers that don't handle running some content very well

Strenght/Weakness/Opportunity/Threat Analysis of Guardian:
*denotes points added after the meeting

Strengths

• A Welcoming Community Environment
• Family/Children friendly
• Generally calm, laid-back, easygoing; relatively little drama
• Respectful players
• A social and friendly player base
• General wilingness to help others
• Friendship outside of CoH/Sense of Family
• Communication & Networking
• Knowledge of CoH (gameplay, build design, strategy, etc.)
• Players willing to learn new content, and then teach others
• Many experienced and well-respected players
• Publicly Hosted Events (open raids, Night of the Damned, W.A.V.E., FNFN, etc.)
• Good Supergroups
• Creativity/Sense of Humor/ability to have fun

Weaknesses

• Patience of some with forming teams/leagues
• Tolerance of other players (new players, players we disagree with, refusing to do anything with a PUG)
• Attitudes, Egos, & Elitism (know-it-alls, braggers, 'better than everyone else', doomsayers, etc.)
• Direction Following (intentional ignoring; players closing chat windows)
• Small number of players that will consistently take initiative/lead
• Separation of groups within the server (day-time & night-time players; VIP & non-VIP; cliques)
• Inability of some to compromise (what they want vs. what the group wants)
• Selfishness of some players
• Laziness (only going after low hanging fruit; DFBs, WSTs; begging for Power-leveling/influence)
• Not attempting things because of fear of failing
• Many players are hidden
• Unintended usage of 'Help' & 'Looking for Group' channels; the ignoring of those channels
• Unable to take advantage of LFG Queue because of habit of preforming/closing the event
• *Sense of entitlement from some players (shouldn't have to work for anything, items on the market should be free, etc.)
• *Ability to follow through with ideas/projects.
• *Players that are overly critical. About EVERYTHING.

Opportunities

• Guardian is one of the more active servers. We could attract more players without introducing queue wait times to get in.
• Get people who have played the game in the past to return to Guardian.
• Find good players in the Free To Play/Premium crowd (possibly people who will be motivated enough to lead events)
• Advertise/Promote Guardian & CoH out of game (websites, blogs, FB, friends, school, etc.)
• Become friends with other players, especially new players. Players will play where their friends are. You never know where & when you'll find that next great friend/player.
• Make friends on other servers and invite them to give Guardian a look.
• Create a centralized place to display/list Guardian events & information (could be a website, or page on the Oroborous Portal)
• Find out what caused some players to leave. Is there anything we can do to fix any of the reasons?
• Develop/train more leaders (lieutenant leaders, start them off with leading simple/entry-level TFs, build confidence/reputation)
• Create/Host/Schedule new and or unique events, sponsored by SGs or individuals (leagues running same/different TFs; themed events; events/areas that don't normally draw much attention; new content)
• Use supplementary methods of in-game communication with players (Ventrillo, Skype, etc.)
• Expand your comfort zone. Try new things. Team with players you don't know.
• Learn from the successes/downfalls of the MENTOR project. Build a new one that is comprehensive and sustainable.
• Temporary growth/spike in population during summer (many of them will be children)
• Help players improve their characters (build workshops, accolade runs, etc.)
• Increase the size of the major Guardian networks (get everyone on a major global channel)
• Hang out in Atlas more. Be an role model for new players. Show them things (powers/abilities) they can look forward to as they advance further in the game.
• Show new players that there is more to the game than just DFB (join/lead a DFB then suggest another mission/TF/SF after it; try recruiting for other TFs/SFs in low-level zones or by using Looking For Team)
• Educate new players about the game (take time to explain missions/TFs, strategy, tips, how to use the user interface, generally accepted behavior, etc.)
• Take back the 'Help' & 'Looking For Group' channels (Just because F2P can use them, it does not mean we should avoid them. We should not only use them, but set the example for how they should be used.)
• Give the players that wish to participate in PvP a chance to do so (Intro to PvP, non-hardcore fights, PvP Boot Camps, Friday Night Fight Nights)
• If the game were to ever downsize/merge servers, we'd want Guardian to remain one of the strong servers so that we are one of the surviving servers. (a longshot, but worth thinking about)
• Encourage others to have characters that are flexible (or have alts) so that all sides of the game (blue/red/yellow) can be run with them.
• Promote non-farm Mission Architect arcs that are well done and fun or challenging to play.
• Use AFK-Radio to advertise events happening on Guardian?

Threats

• Players leaving for other games. Some do come back. (understand that this is normal and has been going on for quite a while)
• Players leaving for other servers (happens on EVERY server)
• Frustration with the game or other players
• Players getting burned out (from doing the same thing too much/lack of variety; leading too much; etc.)
• Pay to Win mechanic from Paragon Market devaluing effort and time put in
• Server population growing too much (culture change, possible introduction of queuing/wait times to get on the server)
• If there are too many events going on at the same time (or close to the same time) and the server population can't support all of them, it may effect attendance and cause delays with some events being started on time.
• On the flip side if the game were to ever downsize/merge servers, Guardian could be one of the ones absorbed by the surviving servers.
• If players don't make friends with others or feel like they are at home with Guardian, they are likely to gravitate toward the most populated server(s).
• *It could get to the point where event/TFs are "too" scheduled. It's important to maintain flexibility and not have this become robotic.

Before we get to the summary & transcript, this was the agenda planned for the meeting.

1. SWOT Analysis of Guardian (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
2. Identify Common Problems
3. Examine Root Causes
4. Brainstorm Ideas of how to Solve Common Problems & How to Begin Implementing Solutions
5. Other Ideas

Parts 2-4 kind of got mixed together during the discussion, but I figured they would since they are all very related. It even worked out better to fully look at a problem from it's root cause all the way to it's potential solution, and then move on to the next issue.

The meeting did go on for quite a while. I was prepared to stick it out to the end, but I could tell that it was getting to be too long for a lot of people, so it was cut short a little bit. We weren't able to go over quite as many other ideas at the end as I had hoped for. This is not to say people did not have plenty of opportunity to share their input. Lots of input was received for each section. Improvement is a continuing process anyway, so just because the meeting is over does not mean that any ideas that were not brought up can not be addressed.

The summary will be displayed in the following posts. Here is the transcript from the meeting. I have two versions available (a PDF, and a .txt file). There were very few edits made to this (3-4 minor word changes that were made after speaking to the person who made the statement, 1 censored email address so a player doesn't get spammed, 1 change[was requested] to a player's name). Any re-posted lines in league/global channel were removed (kept the one made by the original person whenever possible). Tells were NOT included in the transcript. Only League Chat and chat from the Guardian Round Table channel are available in the transcript. Other than those small/minor changes, this is exactly what went down and how it went down.

PDF Link
Guardian Round Table (chatlog).pdf (450 kb)

Text File Link
GRT logfile.txt (179 kb)

Thank you to all of the players that have been patiently waiting for me to publish the summary and transcript of the Guardian Round Table discussion. As many of you can probably guess, getting this ready was a good deal of work and was put together during a very busy time in my life, both with work and a rapidly approaching wedding.

Overall, this was a tremendous success. I don't know exactly how many people (my best guess is around 70) were following this as it happened, but we did have 64 players contribute to the discussion at some point during the two hours. Keep in mind that this is just the beginning though. We took a good, long, hard look at ourselves and thought of a lot of good ideas to help start making things better. This ends all ends up as just a bunch of talk though if we don't follow through on some of these ideas. Be patient though, not all of the ideas discussed can be accomplished overnight.

It saddened me to see some of the responses to this thread. When someone decides to start up a project, they don't need everyone to agree with what, or how the project is planned. They don't owe you an explanation either. Just because someone disagrees with something does not mean it is not worth doing.

I did want to address a few of the lines in the above posts though. I put a lot of time and effort into the planning of this and carefully thought about how to best promote the event and what the content of the discussion should include.

1. I did not post this to the forums for a few reasons. One, my original intent was to post about it a few (2-3) days before the day the event took place. In the past few months there has been little to no activity on this area of the forums. I saw that CC had posted about this about a week before the event, so there was no longer a need for me to post about it. (note that NOTHING was added to this thread until 8 days after the original post) The second reason that I waited to include this on the forums was the tendency of people to troll topics. The third reason was that getting something like this out too early will take the steam out of the actual event. This was going to work best if players came into it fresh and have not already spent weeks going back an forth over topics.
2. Why I decided against posting an agenda ahead of time: This was done intentionally, not because of laziness. For one, I gave everyone a chance to contribute to this ahead of time by asking for topics that players wanted to have discussed. A few players came forward with ideas, but not many. Secondly, a posted agenda was more likely to stifle the ability of people to come up with ideas than it was to help them think of additional things. I had let it be known that this was going to be an effort to help make Guardian a better place, and know that is a rather broad scope, but it was intended that way. This wasn't ever going to be the end-all, be-all discussion to fix everything.
3. Choice of communication method: I entered the discussion with two options over what to use for communication: League or the global channel I created in the event more people would show up than a zone could accommodate. We had over a full league worth of players involved in the discussion, not all of which were in Pocket D. One of which I believe was a F2P player (or low enough premium to not have access to a global channel). So my options: League (nope, too many); Broadcast (nope, some players were following the discussion from out of zone); Local (nope, out of zone players, plus the fact that if I was a foot too far away, I'd miss the responses and they'd not get included in the transcript I was making); Global Channel (not perfect but only effected one player). I had made it known earlier that a transcript was being made and sent a tell to the player who was not able to/having difficulty joining the global channel, letting them know a transcript will be made. A member of the league was copying the main discussion points from the channel into the league, so the majority of the discussion was seen. Was it perfect? No. Was it the right choice? Absolutely.

In response to Capa:

• <removed because we discussed this in-game for a rather lengthy amount of time>

In response to SuperFerret:

• How did you miss that this was going on? The short answer is, I don't know. This was first put on Facebook about 3 or 4 weeks before the event took place. 2 weeks ahead of time, I had put this in the Level 50 channel as the message of the day. I also spent quite a bit of time broadcasting this in the large global channels and in teams/leagues that I was on for 2 weeks prior to the event. A week before, this thread on the forums was created. There were many opportunities to find out. It certainly wasn't missed because of lack of effort to promote/publicize the event.
• When you asked what was going on in Pocket D, why did no one answer? Please accept my sincerest apology for this. I feel bad that your question went unseen. I'm not sure when you arrived, but if we had already started, the chat was moving so quick your question probably got buried as soon as it was asked. It's unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do about it now. At least you can take a look at the summary and transcript.
• Why was it so hard to get this info posted? Part of it was real life obligations on my end, part of it was the amount of work to take all the raw data and put it into something organized and easier to digest. When I started going through the chat log (the 9pt font transcript is 38 pages long), it became apparent rather quickly that it wasn't going to be an ideal way for players to get a good understanding of what went on. So I started working on combing through it to gather points to make a summary. I wanted the summary to be concise and useful too, which also added to the amount of time that was spent on this.

... when you've spent time working on getting the sound file used when salvage/recipes drop so you can put it as your tone when you receive a text message. Because you know it'll make you jump to check to see what you got.

This will be similar to a normal Keyes run.

I've got the badges prioritized... we are going for the hard ones first. I'm isolating the two hard ones. In order, our targets are...

1. Avoids the Green Stuff
2. Loves a Challenge
3. Bunker Buster
4. Anti-Antimatter

I know you can technically do #1 and #2 at the same time. We're not doing that. I'm not getting talked into it. These badges are hard enough individually and we're going with the higher percentage strategy for them.

For Avoids the Green Stuff (no one gets caught in the beam), I'll be calling out ahead of time over Vetrillo (why I want EVERYONE plugged into it) when the beam is about to fire. That should give everyone enough warning to finish their attack and get out of the line of fire. I'll also be trying to control when the time freezes happen so they coordinate well with the obliteration beam being fired. If someone gets caught in the beam, say so, but we continue to play out the round as if it was still clear.

For Loves A Challenge (no one dies during final stage; none of the terminals are destroyed during final stage) we'll fight in the middle. If you cannot control your pets, DO NOT SUMMON THEM. The important rule, know how disintegration works. Carry greens, lots of them. If you are tagged with disintegration, disengage from combat and make sure you stay above 80% health. Call out using the disintegration macro too. Healers, keep an eye out for those disintegrating... you'll see a small green bubble.

The other two I'm not real worried about and can direct on the fly if we get to them. These two are easy enough to get without too much of an organized effort.

I'll need people to keep quiet on Vent for the most part during the final stage. The rest of the trial... go nuts, just make sure your game face is on during this part.

When you've taken more notes on City of Heroes than ALL of your subjects from a four year college... combined.

Looking for serious participants only. Repeat. Serious participants only.

Required:

• Ventrillo (Ravenwolf Manor connection)
• Greens
• Ability to Listen/Follow directions (I don't need a backseat driver for this)

Next attempt will be on Tuesday, December 27th at 9pm Eastern Time. Please show up ahead of time so we can be ready to go at 9pm. We will meet in First Ward.

I'll work with what we get to show up.

If you think a candy cane in a box is a perfectly good Christmas gift.

We should really start a new thread for this. Title is not even applicable for this anymore.

I got the same response too. However, I followed it up with a few more questions for them and here's what I learned.

1) The GM verified that it was not a pet that was caught in the beam.

2) The GM did not say which member was caught. And I think that's the way it should be... no need casting that kind of attention on someone.

...your dog has learned the best time to beg you to take him outside is during the BAF cutscene. (worse if he gets upset when everyone's done the trial and it gets skipped)

... when doing a follow up post on the CoH forums for a TF or trial you hear the ending music to "Doogie Howser" in your head.

Neph, this is what I got back from them for the petition.

Response Via Email (Harris)07/24/2011 12:20 AM Hello **************,

We appreciate your act of petitioning on behalf of your friend. However, we will need to hear from them directly. This is necessary to ensure that we can obtain any internal information that we may need to resolve their issue. Please have your friend email support for assistance.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Regards,
GM Harris
City of Heroes Support Team

So this might be a little tricky, but you should be able to contact them through the support center or support@ncsoft.com using the email that your account is tied to.

In a word... WOW.

When I woke up yesterday I was NOT planning on running any MoKeyes attempts again just out of pure frustration from the night before. However, I knew that Nephila had this Saturday and then he'd be without an account so I felt that if we hit critical mass with the team we've been running with, I'd pull the trigger and organize a couple of short attempts.

Didn't get the first one, or the second one, but something felt good about the attempts then... wasn't out of whack like it had been the night before; we were in a zone. The attempts were going by quickly too, which is always nice when you do more than one.

Then as we had 2 terminals left on the final reactor, one of our members (Nephila) who had been on EVERY attempt I've lead crashed and said he'd need to restart. I called for us to stall (standard operating procedure for us by now) so he could get back in. Then he tries logging in and cannot. It tells him that his account has expired. (Neph, I know you might not be able to post to the forums at the moment, but you can read them so I'll put what I've received for my reply in the post below this and will keep you posted.)

So after that we had to move on... wasn't going to do any good waiting when he couldn't get on. Then we earned the Avoids the Green Stuff badge. I felt terrible and filed a petition immediately. 3 of us got the Master of Keyes badge.

We weren't done. As promised I'd run the Anti-AntiMatter badge for those with us that were still missing it to complete the MO. We added a little more firepower and took that down. Piece of cake. Another group got their MO badges.

And now it is time a take a short break from these badges. It's been an intense badging journey and I had a really great time teaming with you guys.

So... I know there are a few out there that are still missing these badges that have actually put good work into getting them. I WILL still help those who need it, but I want to keep it at a reasonable level. Really that means three things: 1) Someone else will need to take the initiative to organize and set these attempts up; Azure Lightstar has volunteered to take the torch for this. 2) I'll set my limit to 2 consecutive attempts. I can't and don't want to do 7 in a row ever again. 3) The team needs to have a realistic shot. This is the most frustrating thing with MO's to me. Groups that are going for a MO that have no shot at getting it. That's just an exercise in frustration.

I'm sorry if those 3 points seem unfair, but keep in mind I've spent well over 40 hours organizing what's been done so far. It can't always fall on my shoulders.

Ending on a positive note... MISSION SUCCESSFUL! MASTER OF KEYES ISLAND!!!

Are these the first MO Keyes badge holders on Guardian? Can someone verify?

...you make 9 consecutive posts to the "You might be a CoH addict if..." thread.

...if creating a new character on your home server means you'll have to say goodbye to a level 50 because it needs to be deleted or exiled to another server to make room.

I've got one for Double XP Weekend too.

If you've ever used a day of vacation for the Monday after a Double XP Weekend as a "recovery" day... and ended up leveling another character to 50 that you didn't quite get done that weekend, you might be a CoH addict.

We're getting the band back together!

Next attempt... Friday, 7/22/2011 @ 8pm EST.

We'll start with "Avoids the Green Stuff", then once we've earned that we'll finish it off with "Anti Anti-Matter" and possibly "Bunker Buster".

I'm not planning on running "Loves A Challenge" at this point... don't want to add another 5+ hours to this again.

I'll go first...

Ahem.
<in slightly high pitched redneck voice>

If you've ever set your alarm early on a Saturday morning so you woke up in time to do a task force... you might be a CoH addict.

So a while back I was watching a rerun of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and was thinking it would be hilarious if there was a City of Heroes version of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" bit.

So "You might be a CoH addict" was born.