The REAL Statesman and Company

I've been accused by more than my share of... CoH critics... of being what they term a "Fanboi." Based on what I understand, that means that I'm supposedly someone that will come to the defense of Statesman and the other CoH powers that be, developers, and so on under any circumstances, without thought. A mind-numbed puppet of some kind, loyal to the game creators through thick and thin.

While that just isn't right, I believe I recognize the efforts and the intent behind the creation of this game and its development and I'm quite willing to give the benefit of the doubt and think the best because of that. If that makes me a Fanboi, fine by me.

That said, I just got back from the Wizard World Convention in Arlington, Texas. While there, I met "Statesman" and several of the other employees that bring us this game. I can tell you something right now. If I wasn't a Fanboi before, I am now.

Putting a face to the names would be a mind-changer for even the most die-hard critic, especially THESE faces. I spent a large part of the convention just hanging at their booth, talking, discussing, and even joining in some of the explanation to people that hadn't played the game.

These people are genuine, folks. They have nothing but the best interest of us, the CoH gamers, at heart, and they are "just good folks." They do pay attention, to us, these boards, and our thoughts, concerns and ideas. I was very surprised at just how much they knew about what's going on in these threads, and just how what some of what is said affects them.

I've read threads where people have accused Statesman and company of lying, deceiving, misleading, or worse, and I can say with much certainty that they don't lie to us. They don't deceive us. They don't deliberately mislead us. They do try to make this the best game, for the most people that they can. They may not always please everyone, but if they don't, it's not out of some evil malice, or any kind of corporate greed.

I've given my kudos before, and I'm giving kudos again. We're I not a believer, this convention would have made me one. I just wish more of you could have been there.

(Pushing any past static aside)

Hey, any notes from talking to the Cryptic folks? There were juicy pearls dropped during the summer conventions during panels and whatnot...

Sorry, I didn't take notes. We chatted, a lot, about the game as it stands, and where it's come from, but I didn't press for anything about what's coming. During the conversations I touched on things like the "Level 50 Endgame" hooplah and the server transfer thing, but not in any way that required a direct answer.

So all I can say is, they are committed to keeping their players happy (and I said "players" not "customers" - they very convincingly think of all of us as people they are serving, not numbers on a server), and I got the impression that meant everyone - Level one to level 50. And I also got the impression that server transfers were very much being looked at.

Neither of these are earth shattering, but I wasn't going for earth shattering. Maybe someone else will report back with that. I simply feel like I made some friends and built even more trust in the people that are providing me so much entertainment for so little bucks.

...Coming from the LineageII Beta, straight to this game, I had EXTREMELY LOW expectations of this Development team simply because their publisher was NCSoft.

Yeah, my bad and I'll Cop to it. I'll also cop to being very impressed by the dedication and communication this Team keeps in step with where the Gamer community is concerned. Nearly all of my negative expectations have vanished and been replaced with ones proudly stating that this is my new favorite Game Studio and I'll be fantasizing about finding employment under it for years to come.

But ONE negative has been reinforced... And that would be Cryptic's "faith in the boards". Basically, we're second/third class citizens here and their datamining PWNZ us. ...Not just most of us, but ALL of us equally. Even on the Blizzard boards, the Head Mod had an INSTA-BAN thing going with me, both ours' favorite RTS game was and probably still is WarII despite hundreds of flashier and addictive titles coming out but we hated eachother somehow. I was banned almost every week and the only thing that kept me posting was my wealth of CD Keys. But even there my ideas were being used, my bug/exploit reports saw priority for their next patches and most importantly I was free to talk about them at length, I asked for information and it usually found me even if only through subterfuge.

Here I've felt completely ignored, all of my questions passed over, and more importantly, the better ideas/requests I see other people post go 99% ignored and the most common reason I ever see a designer intervene is when we apparently misquoted them. I brought the biggest Exploit in months to the attention of a Mod but then found myself threatened with banning for even referring to it a week later like the effort I made for their benefit was instantly forgotten and a policy against it was errected in the middle of the night while we slept. The attitude I've felt presented with is that they're always right, even when they're wrong, and we're only to be talked to when we're wrong and our misinformation must be corrected before it spreads to mass rumor.

Okay to some claims (and I've made a few mistakes too for sure), the poster was way off the mark and nothing justifies their observations, so its a good thing that the devs step in with the semi-hard numbers. But they aren't doing that often enough anymore and the other times it just feels like we're in the GOP spin room and the chorus is blissfully singing denial.

GUYS, if there's a better way to do something, it's going to come from spontaneous inspiration forged by real compramise...which is pretty much the only thing these boards are good for to a developer who realizes that most ppl who come here are Powerleveling whining dorks or blind fanboys following the blind fansites. ..But atleast they're good for something, right? So stop the redicule, yeah, "we know that we ain't s#%t"-NOFX; but atleast see us as more than bug-finding automotons. Quit feigning interest in us with this "PCC" thing that's only been 'all for show' up to this point and include us in the Balance issues because that's exactly why a lot of us are here. ...And SOME of us are even unbiased about the balance issues and just want to contribute any degree of improvement we can possibly help muster, unconditionally, yes definitely a disturbing thought, I agree, but it would sure make us all feel a lot better if Cryptic climbed off that high horse and acted a little more confident in our views on balance too.

OK, I'm totally lost. Maybe, if I try real hard, I can see where your rather lengthy... post... ties in to my original, but just barely. In an attempt to see how it fits, and to re-direct the post back where it was intended, let's look at a couple of things.

First, there is a difference between being ignored and not being replied to. NCSoft does not use volunteer board monitors. Everyone that reads these boards is paid. They do not use volunteers for liability reasons that I won't go into here, but perhaps you'll take my word for the fact they're very valid.

That said, while some employees are paid to monitor and direct, like Cuppajo, most of the one you talk about are paid to develop the content that some people on these boards so frequently complain about. Taking time to respond to every legitimate post, let alone every whine and complaint, would demand that they do nothing but read these boards and reply. They do read these boards, and they take many of the comments to heart and try to incorporate them, or at least look into the feasibility of doing so. Others simply don't work in the grand scheme.

They are NOT feigning interest. They are simply NOT wasting valuable time answering a gazillion posts and are directing their resources where everyone that whines calims to want the resources directed. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

The fact that you admit to having been repeatedly banned in another game should tell you something. Obviously, it doesn't. There are far too many people posting on these boards that believe that they were created on the eighth day and that the universe revolves around them. Hijacking a thread with a rant that has little to do with the OP is typical of these people... and probably explains a lot.

I had time to respond, so I did. If it had been a choice of doing that or developing more and better content and playability for CoH and CoV, I probably wouldn't have.

But unlike the developers, who do consider everything you say, I would have chosen to really ignore you afterward.

Now, can we have the thread back?

OK, now that we've dealt with forced digression, let's get back to square one. Anyone else out there go to Wizard, or have any other personal contact that sheds light on the real folks behind our favorite game... or at least many of our favorite game?

Well Mondays at 7:15am Statesman arrives at work and parks in the same spot each day.

At 7:30 he has tea (he doesn't like coffee) It is Earl Grey and one bag. He takes it with honey.

7:40am he reads his email and replies to them till the box is read.

9:30am The weekly meeting starts...I have yet to get listening devices in that room.

12:00 they break for lunch...Statesman enjoys a sit down lunch at the near by Thai restraunt.

2:00 They work on the internal Test server getting ready for Issue #3

And lastly...Boxers.

This was all made up

I guess I'm just not seeing the point of this post. I doubt very many players or posters ever really believed the CoH team was a pack of greedy liars. As well, I'm quite certain we're all convinced these guys want the best for everyone: company and customers alike.

I have very few negatives about the game. I've detailed them all in another post on the bboards here, so see no reason to rehash them in this thread. I will note, however, that these negatives are starting to loom larger than the positives, for me.

That's neither here nor there. I realize the game may be changing into one I simply cannot tolerate. I hope not. I hope things will realign the opposite way, soon. In any case, I'm not going to fall for BS character assassination attempts on the Dev Team from anyone---least of all some of the flamers on this bboard.

So, FWIW, I think we already knew these folks were sincere and honestly devoted to making CoH better. And, of course, I know they appreciate my business I'm just not certain I want to continue my patronage, atm.

Cal2

Met them at Comicon earlier this year... great group of guys. Statesman has a small bit a ego that comes from genius... but I can forgive that because I have it too.

When I hear about people who don't like "where the game is going", it's about things that THEY don't like... but the playerbase as a whole will. They cannot possibly please everyone all the time... all they can do is try to make a fun and balanced game.

There are a couple hundred thousand people who believe these guys are right on the money... and I'm one of them.

Had the chance to chat with Jack at GenCon, and it was an extremely pleasant experience. Very nice guy, very genuine.

Capt. Impervious lvl 41 invul/ss tank

Pinnacle

[ QUOTE ]
I guess I'm just not seeing the point of this post. I doubt very many players or posters ever really believed the CoH team was a pack of greedy liars. As well, I'm quite certain we're all convinced these guys want the best for everyone: company and customers alike...

[/ QUOTE ]Maybe your 292 posts haven't been in the same kind of threads I've been reading. I'm constantly seeing posts where players are disrespectfully criticizing the game, or worse, Statesman and the staff, developers and all.

I'm not talking about constructive criticism - though in my opinion if people would be more realistic and have a greater understanding of the whole there might be less of that - I'm talking about mean spirited or personal attacks and criticism.

The majority of players probably aren't that way, but spend much time on the boards, and you'll see there are many that are. So do Statesman and his team, though they don't bring it up here. And whether the whiners care or not, some of the unwarranted or uncaring attacks, comments and criticisms hurt.

The point of this thread is to point out to those people out there that might think otherwise that there are real people behind the names, real people that you'd be likely to hang with if you knew them, and the real people care.

I don't think I understand the purpose of your post, or this thread.

Are you using it to justify shooting down alternate viewpoints if they're not complimentary to CoH? (when you said that if you weren't a fanboi before, you are now)

Are you using it to say that because you met these people, they must necessarily be a) telling the truth, and b) completely trustworthy in future? (Using only the fact that you talked to them and they didn't tell you anything you didn't already know)

Or are you just trying to say that anyone who has a less-than-perfect view of CoH must think that it's because Statesman et al are doing it out of 'some evil malice' (is there any other kind? a nice malice?) or 'corporate greed'?

It seems to me that you're just crowing about having gone to a conference?

Karon

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think I understand the purpose of your post, or this thread.

Are you using it to justify shooting down alternate viewpoints if they're not complimentary to CoH? (when you said that if you weren't a fanboi before, you are now)

Are you using it to say that because you met these people, they must necessarily be a) telling the truth, and b) completely trustworthy in future? (Using only the fact that you talked to them and they didn't tell you anything you didn't already know)

Or are you just trying to say that anyone who has a less-than-perfect view of CoH must think that it's because Statesman et al are doing it out of 'some evil malice' (is there any other kind? a nice malice?) or 'corporate greed'?

It seems to me that you're just crowing about having gone to a conference?

Karon

[/ QUOTE ]You know, I wonder if you're a griefer in-game. Seems like you're just following me around and attacking every opinion I hold. Fine by me, Karon, I'm always for giving out a little happiness, and if taking a stance against me does that, bring it on.

I'm certainly not using it to justify shooting down alternate viewpoints. If you'd read my last post... excuse me.. comprehended it... since that seems to be your thing, you'd have understood that I was making reference to criticism that is leveled without consideration for the person on the other end, and typically without any attempt or ability to understand a bigger picture.

Without crowing, I've been in a business for 21 years that offers a unique perspective on people, and has taught me more skills on reading people than most people gather in a lifetime. I am not so naive as to believe that anyone is an angel simply because they act like one. However, I do have enough ability to get a good feel. You can take that or leave it. I have a funny feeling you'll prefer to leave it.

Under most circumstances, I tend to trust in a person's good intentions. My having met some of the people that work for this game only reinforced that.

It's easy to be disrespectful and rude when you're on the other end of a monitor. I find that many people tend to be more open-minded and understanding of people that have a face. If someone proves themself unworthy of respect, then I'll typically support whatever they deserve. I just tend to think many people on this board attack simply because they're anonymous and feel safe tossing respect out the tubes.

And, no, I wasn't crowing at all. But you're welcome to see it as such.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think I understand the purpose of your post, or this thread.

Are you using it to justify shooting down alternate viewpoints if they're not complimentary to CoH? (when you said that if you weren't a fanboi before, you are now)

Are you using it to say that because you met these people, they must necessarily be a) telling the truth, and b) completely trustworthy in future? (Using only the fact that you talked to them and they didn't tell you anything you didn't already know)

Or are you just trying to say that anyone who has a less-than-perfect view of CoH must think that it's because Statesman et al are doing it out of 'some evil malice' (is there any other kind? a nice malice?) or 'corporate greed'?

It seems to me that you're just crowing about having gone to a conference?

Karon

[/ QUOTE ]

The purpose of the post is fairly obvious. You simply decided to be contrary.

Capt. Impervious lvl 41 invul/ss tank

Pinnacle

[ QUOTE ]
Well Mondays at 7:15am Statesman arrives at work and parks in the same spot each day.

At 7:30 he has tea (he doesn't like coffee) It is Earl Grey and one bag. He takes it with honey.

7:40am he reads his email and replies to them till the box is read.

9:30am The weekly meeting starts...I have yet to get listening devices in that room.

12:00 they break for lunch...Statesman enjoys a sit down lunch at the near by Thai restraunt.

2:00 They work on the internal Test server getting ready for Issue #3

And lastly...Boxers.

[/ QUOTE ]
Fleo's a stalker!!!

LOL good stuff Fleo.

Paranoid and defensive much, Karon?

(They should warn people about tin-foil poisoning.)

I think the OP's point can be summed up pretty neatly in one sentence.

The devs are real human beings who actually care about this game.

No fooling. Really. They aren't out to sacrifice your first born, steal your lunch money or even stealth nerf accuracy. They do listen to what people tell them. They do care about making CoH and CoV great games that people want to play.

Not all of their decisions are going to be popular. Not everything they do will be the right choice. But they do try hard and mean well. They haven't been afraid to fess up to mistakes in the past, and that trend will continue into the future.

It's very tiring to see the attacks by some folks on these boards against the developers. It's unnecessary, and it's innacurate as hell. Attack the product, fine. Attack the people? Not cool.

::clutches his tin foil hat:: Don't worry, baby, he wasn't talking about you. No..shhhh, it's ok, baby.

[ QUOTE ]
(They should warn people about tin-foil poisoning.)

[/ QUOTE ]

"T-Tin... foil is... poisonous??"

Rushes up from her chair and dashes over to her kitty-cat playing on the couch and rips the crumpled foil-ball out from within its jaws. "Bad Kitty! No..No..No!"

In other news, Temple-Inland Inc. (NYSE symbol: TIN) declared a new dividend of $1 per share, payable to shareholders of record Dec. 1, despite concerns over reports of tin foil poisoning.
Link

The CEO stated today, "Tin is safe. I eat a little tin everyday for my colon. Anyone who says tin is unhealthy is crazy."

"All your base belong to us," he added.

OK, I'm totally lost. Maybe, if I try real hard, I can see where your rather lengthy... post... ties in to my original, but just barely. In an attempt to see how it fits, and to re-direct the post back where it was intended, let's look at a couple of things.

You're not reaching for understanding in this statement, you're reaching to label me as incoherrant while what I stated was double-proof read to ensure clarity. Karon is right, you're selling others short as soon as you notice they don't agree with you.

First, there is a difference between being ignored and not being replied to. NCSoft does not use volunteer board monitors. Everyone that reads these boards is paid. They do not use volunteers for liability reasons that I won't go into here, but perhaps you'll take my word for the fact they're very valid.

That's nothing like what I said. I referrenced Blizzard because they would almost NEVER reply on their boards. Yet I could track the nuances and suggestion on the boards that later made it into the game. IE: you could see player feedback was being used even if there was no signs or thumbs-up about it on the boards from the Devs.

They do read these boards, and they take many of the comments to heart and try to incorporate them, or at least look into the feasibility of doing so. Others simply don't work in the grand scheme.

And THIS is exactly how I disagree with your original post. You talked to them about stuff that all of us already know, but you drew from that some foundation that they are listening to us a lot more than we think they are while my observations say the complete opposite. As I said, they're doing every just great except for this. And I'll be glad to elaborate on it again as you seem to have skimmed over it the first time...


They are NOT feigning interest. They are simply NOT wasting valuable time answering a gazillion posts and are directing their resources where everyone that whines calims to want the resources directed. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

..Wasn't saying they should answer everything. At one point they were answering TOO MUCH as I too believe they shouldn't direct that level of Resources towards responding on the boards. But Responding to the boards at all isn't what I'm asking for either. I clearly said that Balance Feedback from the players is being ignored, especially when compared to the volumn of activity and progress in all other areas that Cryptic has with all of their fans and this game.

Everyone can watch huge known Balance issues take a back seat to everything from marketing to unnessesary effects/Aesthetic rewards. Especially on the Test Server where player feedback about difficulty and balance has always been ignored and the patch flys right onto the Live servers complete with borked and underpowered/overpowered gameplay alterations, almost as if no one had said anything at all about it at all. ...But quick perusal of not just the Test Server forum, but AT forums too reveals dozens of threads from concerned players that give a very good picture at where the community stands on them. And then many Imbalances remain on live for an astounding duration even after the few small voices grow into a louder majority of the opinions expressed. And that's exactly why I discredit this "PCC", it deals with everything BUT Balance and Fairness diverting resources away from these issues that the Majority of forum regulars and General/AT-Board posters are more concerned with.


The fact that you admit to having been repeatedly banned in another game should tell you something. Obviously, it doesn't. There are far too many people posting on these boards that believe that they were created on the eighth day and that the universe revolves around them. Hijacking a thread with a rant that has little to do with the OP is typical of these people... and probably explains a lot.

Pot Kettle Black... You talked to the man for a very short time and suddenly you have more insight than all of us? If not, then why did you make this thread?

But unlike the developers, who do consider everything you say, I would have chosen to really ignore you afterward.
Now, can we have the thread back?

No they aren't considering everything and that's exactly why red herring about me hijacking your thread is threatenign to make this into a flame thread. Please tone the arrogance down a notch and face the fact that not everyone finds them as infallible as you. They are great, but they've also earned criticism repeatedly on their Balance Policies.

Hiya..

I had a great time at the Con in Arlington. It is the first one I have worked at as part of the computer game industry. I'm pretty sure I met the author of this thread...

Next one is GenCon in Anaheim, I believe. I'll be there, too. I love talking directly to the players of any of our games.

As for the boards, let me just take a moment to say that we watch these forums very carefully and consider them an extremely valuable resource in improving the game and gauging player reaction. We have gone to great lengths to provide the CoH communiity a constructive forum to voice concerns, interact with other players and even, on occasion, tell us what we may be doing right.

So, anyone who feels that we just threw the forums up and ignore the content posted here is grieviously mistaken.

See ya in Anaheim!

Tisirin

[ QUOTE ]
Hiya..

I had a great time at the Con in Arlington. It is the first one I have worked at as part of the computer game industry. I'm pretty sure I met the author of this thread...

Next one is GenCon in Anaheim, I believe. I'll be there, too. I love talking directly to the players of any of our games.

As for the boards, let me just take a moment to say that we watch these forums very carefully and consider them an extremely valuable resource in improving the game and gauging player reaction. We have gone to great lengths to provide the CoH communiity a constructive forum to voice concerns, interact with other players and even, on occasion, tell us what we may be doing right.

So, anyone who feels that we just threw the forums up and ignore the content posted here is greviously mistaken.

See ya in Anaheim!

Tisirin

[/ QUOTE ]
OMG!! Tisirin is alive!!!

OK, I'm totally lost. Maybe, if I try real hard, I can see where your rather lengthy... post... ties in to my original, but just barely. In an attempt to see how it fits, and to re-direct the post back where it was intended, let's look at a couple of things.

You're not reaching for understanding in this statement, you're reaching to label me as incoherrant while what I stated was double-proof read to ensure clarity. Karon is right, you're selling others short as soon as you notice they don't agree with you.

With all due respect, while incoherant wasn't exacly the word I would have used, "confusing" would work solidly enough. You can proof read until doomsday, and it can make perfect sense to you without making the same sense to a reader. Aside from the fact that you took my thread way off topic, what you said was confusing at best.

First, there is a difference between being ignored and not being replied to. NCSoft does not use volunteer board monitors. Everyone that reads these boards is paid. They do not use volunteers for liability reasons that I won't go into here, but perhaps you'll take my word for the fact they're very valid.

That's nothing like what I said. I referrenced Blizzard because they would almost NEVER reply on their boards. Yet I could track the nuances and suggestion on the boards that later made it into the game. IE: you could see player feedback was being used even if there was no signs or thumbs-up about it on the boards from the Devs.

Player feedback is being used by the developers all the time. You can find examples of it all over the boards. If your feedback is being "ignored", I'd suggest that there's a bigger reason, and maybe.. just maybe... they're actually looking at it. My guess is that, whatever your feedback, the idea has been presented elsewhere. In any case, a lack of reply doesn't mean your idea's being ignored. It means they didn't reply. It's that easy.

They do read these boards, and they take many of the comments to heart and try to incorporate them, or at least look into the feasibility of doing so. Others simply don't work in the grand scheme.

And THIS is exactly how I disagree with your original post. You talked to them about stuff that all of us already know, but you drew from that some foundation that they are listening to us a lot more than we think they are while my observations say the complete opposite. As I said, they're doing every just great except for this. And I'll be glad to elaborate on it again as you seem to have skimmed over it the first time...

Let me clarify, then. I talked to them about the boards. They assured me that every post is read, and gave me several examles of specifics that proved tom me that they were very likely telling the truth. As I told Karon, you can either choose to believe I have the ability to discern the difference between someone that's being honest and someone that isn't as you like. I have no intention of rehashing every nuance of my friendly chats. I didn't go to the convention to take notes. I went to enjoy myself.

They are NOT feigning interest. They are simply NOT wasting valuable time answering a gazillion posts and are directing their resources where everyone that whines calims to want the resources directed. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

..Wasn't saying they should answer everything. At one point they were answering TOO MUCH as I too believe they shouldn't direct that level of Resources towards responding on the boards. But Responding to the boards at all isn't what I'm asking for either. I clearly said that Balance Feedback from the players is being ignored, especially when compared to the volumn of activity and progress in all other areas that Cryptic has with all of their fans and this game.

Everyone can watch huge known Balance issues take a back seat to everything from marketing to unnessesary effects/Aesthetic rewards. Especially on the Test Server where player feedback about difficulty and balance has always been ignored and the patch flys right onto the Live servers complete with borked and underpowered/overpowered gameplay alterations, almost as if no one had said anything at all about it at all. ...But quick perusal of not just the Test Server forum, but AT forums too reveals dozens of threads from concerned players that give a very good picture at where the community stands on them. And then many Imbalances remain on live for an astounding duration even after the few small voices grow into a louder majority of the opinions expressed. And that's exactly why I discredit this "PCC", it deals with everything BUT Balance and Fairness diverting resources away from these issues that the Majority of forum regulars and General/AT-Board posters are more concerned with.

For every one of these "dozens of threads" that you mention, there are as many that discuss ideas that have been incorporated, are already acknowledged as being looked into, or are likely being looked into. And balance is in the eye of the beholder. What may seem a balance issue to you - and prehaps some others - will probably not be a balance issue to just as many others. Without looking at each thread you've been involved with, I hesitate to suggest specifics, but I'd tend to think your "majorities" become much less so when compared with a total review of the boards. I know I've been involved in several threads where there have been marked differences as to what one side thought was a balance issue and the otehr didn't. Most every "issue" has an opposite. Why are yours necessarily right? And even if they are on their face, there could be any number of reasons what they can't be changed at any given time. They have no reason not to fix a real balance problem. It's their job.

The fact that you admit to having been repeatedly banned in another game should tell you something. Obviously, it doesn't. There are far too many people posting on these boards that believe that they were created on the eighth day and that the universe revolves around them. Hijacking a thread with a rant that has little to do with the OP is typical of these people... and probably explains a lot.

Pot Kettle Black... You talked to the man for a very short time and suddenly you have more insight than all of us? If not, then why did you make this thread?

How often have you talked to them face to face? Seen their enthusiasm, their commitment? Watched them as they talked or explained some nuance of the game to a newcomer. These weren't sales people. These were people that believed what they were doing. My point in starting this thread was to put a face to the names, so some people that tended toward griping first might think a little longer, or in the very least remember some things like common courtesy. I don't claim that they're perfect. Neither would they. But there are far too many people on these boards that couldn't develop their way out of a paper bag that think they have every answer, and treat the people that do the work like lower life. I simply hoped that I could convey some sense of the reality of the people we're alwsy talking about.

I obviously failed with you and Karon, as I'd likely fail with others like you. Such is life.

But unlike the developers, who do consider everything you say, I would have chosen to really ignore you afterward.
Now, can we have the thread back?

No they aren't considering everything and that's exactly why red herring about me hijacking your thread is threatenign to make this into a flame thread. Please tone the arrogance down a notch and face the fact that not everyone finds them as infallible as you. They are great, but they've also earned criticism repeatedly on their Balance Policies.

[color=yellow] I choose to believe based on my observations that they are considering everything people say. Just because they don't act on it, or haven't appeared to act on it, or bowed at the feet of someone who feels the need to tell them how to do a job that is much more complicated than most of the complainers can comprehend, does not mean it isn't considered. I don't find them infallible. I find that they've done an overall superb job. I find that their job is much more complicated than I can imagine. I find that, again, because of what I've read, and seen, I'll give them far more trust before I voice a concern than many folks do. If you find me arrogant, such is life. Many other people don't. Like the many issues you believe are balance failures that others have no problem with, it's a matter of perspective.

The bottom line for this thread is, all these points have been cussed and discussed dozens of times. If you wanted to disagree with me, wonderful, it's a free country, but in my opinion it becomes a hijack when you fall into a diatribe about specifics that completely obscure the focus of the original post.

I agree very much with Tsirin. They have gone to great lengths and I find all of the Forums to be very constructive. And I even believe this Thread is constructive too despite my one nitpick.

He also brings up Positive feedback which is one thing I've never seen in any other company, and by that I mean the Devs being very quick to jump in and accept their Kudos or give credit where it's due. The prospect of game improvement through positive reinforcement is one I admit I totally overlooked despite this unique quality seen in our Devs. ...Intriguing...