Possibility of a community Q&A?

Imbalanxd

<div class="IPBDescription">Show the community what the devs are thinking</div>So a lot of the animosity I see (and indeed my own) seems to be caused by a lack of understanding. When you think something is obviously broken, and you can't see any reason for making it the way it is, its easy to get a little hot under the collar. But of course, there are carefully thought out reasons behind every change and addition, we just don't always know what they are. UWE try there best (and indeed do better than any other development group I've ever seen) to answer all the questions going around on the forums, but there are far too many threads and topics going around for them to address them all during this busy and stressful time.

On the blizzard class forums, they often create Q&A events, where players pose questions that they are particularly interested in the answers to. The devs then gather the particularly good ones, or the community votes on which questions they like the best, and a long list of questions and answers is posted. This often gives players a much better insight into the reasons behind changes, and alleviates a lot of anger in the process.

Do you think this kind of thing would be useful for NS2, giving the devs an opportunity to share the design choices behind the changes that confused us the most? Or would it be redundant given the amount of developer input on the forums?

Koruyo

I would love to see that happening... thought of the same thing many times, tho more like an irc event.

But i guess, the way you suggested it would work way better. (you know trolls and spammer love irc)

Imbalanxd

<!--quoteo(post=1934258:date=May 8 2012, 02:23 AM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ May 8 2012, 02:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934258"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I would love to see that happening... thought of the same thing many times, tho more like an irc event.

But i guess, the way you suggested it would work way better. (you know trolls and spammer love irc)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Ye.
You get people who want answers, and you get people who just want to argue. If the answering of the questions isn't "live", I'm sure it would lead to less trolling and well thought out answers.

internetexplorer

I would love it if this is what the forums were like, instead of being an echo chamber for kids who lost at a video game

Champlo0

They should really hire a community manager if they don't have one for things like this IMO.

_{<i>Edit: Stupid typos</i>}

DJPenguin

<!--quoteo(post=1934268:date=May 7 2012, 08:38 PM:name=Champlo0)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Champlo0 @ May 7 2012, 08:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934268"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->They should really hire a community manage if they don't have one for things like this IMO.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

*raises hand* just lost my current job too!

Albe23

<!--quoteo(post=1934265:date=May 7 2012, 08:30 PM:name=internetexplorer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (internetexplorer @ May 7 2012, 08:30 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934265"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I would love it if this is what the forums were like, instead of being an echo chamber for kids who lost at a video game<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

You are my favorite......mom can I keep him?

Asraniel

I can't guarantee anything, but i think if you start a project, you can do that under the squad5 banner, that collects some questions, lets say 5-10 (max), that dont require 2 pages to answer each, there is probably some way to get that submitted to a developer and perhaps posted as a newspost.
It has been done in the past, i dont see why it cant be done again. But somebody has to organise it (create a thread) and collect/redact a good set of questions.

Imbalanxd

Considering the number of changes planned for build 208, I think its best to put this idea on hold until after its release.

Hugh

You guys aren't going to believe me, but we have been planning this for AGES and out first one will actually be today! Tune in 1130 US-PST, 1430 US-EST, 1930 GMT for a show with Charlie.

DJPenguin

<!--quoteo(post=1934480:date=May 8 2012, 12:44 PM:name=Strayan (NS2HD))--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Strayan (NS2HD) @ May 8 2012, 12:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934480"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You guys aren't going to believe me, but we have been planning this for AGES and out first one will actually be today! Tune in 1130 US-PST, 1430 US-EST, 1930 GMT for a show with Charlie.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

tune in where exactly? link?

Champlo0

Where exactly will this be Q&A be, and how will we submit questions; or will it be revealed in time?

Koruyo

Twitter:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Tune in to <a href="http://t.co/iq6ctDji" target="_blank">http://t.co/iq6ctDji</a> at 1130 US-PST, 1430 US-EST, 1930 GMT (in 1.5 hours) for a live developer chat! Bring your questions!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

So its a live chat.

Xarius

Awesome!

culprit

Damn, I'll be working during this chat. Really wish I could tune in and ask some questions. I hope everyone has some good questions. I'll have to read the log or synopsis later.

PS: Anyone want to ask about Energy scaling with player counts? You can see my ideas in this <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118331" target="_blank">thread</a>. I'd be very grateful =D

Xarius

Well, they're thinking about putting medpacks and ammo on Armory/CC energy, which of course begs the question of how they will scale that with the amount of players. But p.res didn't scale either, so maybe it's not something they intend to address directly? (I.e whether I have 5 marines or 10 marines on my team, the amount of meds and ammo I can drop doesn't change, since it's tied to either building energy, which is tied to T.res itself, or P.res derived from T.res)

Sounds like a good question, I'll see if I can sneak it in

DJPenguin

was the Q&A recorded? totally lost track of time and missed it.

Docan

<!--quoteo(post=1934527:date=May 8 2012, 03:33 PM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ May 8 2012, 03:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934527"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->was the Q&A recorded? totally lost track of time and missed it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yea should be on the twitch channel video section.

*edit*
Its up <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/naturalselection2/b/317550192" target="_blank">http://www.twitch.tv/naturalselection2/b/317550192</a>

DJPenguin

thank you good sir.

Hugh

We will be uploading each one on YouTube as well - They will occur every Tuesday at 1130 PST, 1430 EST, 1930 GMT

ssjsonic1

<!--quoteo(post=1934549:date=May 8 2012, 04:54 PM:name=Strayan (NS2HD))--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Strayan (NS2HD) @ May 8 2012, 04:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934549"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We will be uploading each one on YouTube as well - They will occur every Tuesday at 1130 PST, 1430 EST, 1930 GMT<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

A Q&A every Tuesday? Isn't this a bit overkill on the feedback? I'd rather you guys continue your great work on developing the game! Feedback is important, but we already have the forums for flaming.

peregrinus

It's only 30 minutes, and one dev not the whole team.

Really enjoyed it. Refreshing to see developers talk honestly without robotic PR scripts.

Scrajm

I enjoyed this

Wilson

I though that red light came on every time someone requests a refund. :P

culprit

<!--quoteo(post=1934502:date=May 8 2012, 11:15 AM:name=Xarius)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Xarius @ May 8 2012, 11:15 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934502"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, they're thinking about putting medpacks and ammo on Armory/CC energy, which of course begs the question of how they will scale that with the amount of players. But p.res didn't scale either, so maybe it's not something they intend to address directly? (I.e whether I have 5 marines or 10 marines on my team, the amount of meds and ammo I can drop doesn't change, since it's tied to either building energy, which is tied to T.res itself, or P.res derived from T.res)

Sounds like a good question, I'll see if I can sneak it in<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Thanks for asking my question, Xarius!
Too bad Charlie said "NO" with basically no hesitation.

I understand that he see's Energy as being derived from Tres. The problem is that many energy abilities aren't really scale-able like team-wide upgrades are. So when there are more players, there is less energy available per player. It's not much of a problem on even the biggest servers currently (18-20 max). The main issue is that most of the alien energy abilities are AoE, while most of the marine energy abilities are single-target. As the player count increases, it could start to hamper marines with less nano and meds to go around while aliens can still group up for umbra/cloak (basically the reverse of NS1 res-balance issues regarding player count).

Glad it was asked though!

fmpone

<!--quoteo(post=1934578:date=May 8 2012, 06:47 PM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ May 8 2012, 06:47 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1934578"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I though that red light came on every time someone requests a refund. :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

haha...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiu2p2xrrwU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiu2p2xrrwU</a>