This is
NOT a troll thread. I just want an answer and clarification of what I and others have done, and what we should do.
PLEASE do not make this thread into another troll CCP thread. If you do not have anything constructive to write, please do not write at all. Please read the
entire post before responding. Thank you.
tl;dr
Read the whole post. There is no tl;dr
Uprising is disappointing, but the posts made by many players make Uprising even more disappointing. It feels as though all of the feedback and data players posted on forums was ignored. All the time spent testing and reporting data was a complete waste. All the threads made by players were pointless.
I read Heinrich Jagerblitzen's
post here. Heinrich wrote that the, "community's concerns are being heard at the highest levels thanks to your representatives on the CPM." I interpret this to mean that the community's concerns are
now heard by CCP because the CPM is able to bring it up with them. Am I misinterpreting this post? Does this mean that our concerns were not heard before the CPM brought them to CCP?
I was further disheartened when I read, "everything from general dissatisfaction with item balancing, to input issues, to the frustrations we've all shared with the new skill tree were discussed extensively." All of this was already discussed extensively on forums before Uprising was released.
A few players spent
millions of ISK testing specific things about how certain vehicles, mods and skills worked, if they were working as stated and intended, and if not what they actually did. None of them have complained about the ISK and time spent testing and submitting feedback to CCP that I know of. All of those players were
happy to test everything, even if it meant that they would lose ISK and time that could be spent on and doing other things. These players, a number from the "top" corps, willingly gave information obtained at their own expense not only to CCP, but to the
entire community too.
Numbers are nice, and I know that CCP is going to give the players lots of data, but this is not a game of spreadsheets. There are also skills, mods and vehicles that do not work the way the devs wanted. The PG skill has been a big problem for many vehicle drivers. ItGÇÖs the wording which confused them. A vehicle tester would have quickly seen that the wording needed to be changed, but someone looking at the skill without playing the game would not. Aiming, sensitivity and movement also cannot be found in a data dump. Logi LAVGÇÖs repair tool problems need someone testing it to find out that it does not work.
The list of things is much longer, I just mentioned a few things, but the point is simple. Get a few people who have given CCP lots of data for the tests, and specialize in the role. If they find out something that they do not like, perhaps weapon ranges and the like, they can tell CCP and CCP can decide what to do with that information.
For some reason CCP does not want to make a test server public, so my suggestion is to have some of the players who tested and posted information before go onto a test server. I feel like getting some player opinions will make the game better. Even just doing it, ie pulling a few people out, give them the new build to test, and give you private feedback would be fine too. It's not about self-gain, popularity, power or anything other than making the game better.
The players who test out new stuff are not getting power or replacing anyone. All they do is test and provide feedback and suggestions to the devs. It's the same thing they were doing on forums. The devs can listen to them or not, it's just simple feedback. They will not replace QA. QA is paid and does multiple things. Player testers are just giving an opinion of the new build from their perspective.
Getting some players who can give detailed feedback about the new builds is not taking any power away from the CPM. CPM still gives devs feedback about community issues, their role does not change in any way. Testers do nothing more than their opinion of the build, and problems they might have found. Many of the problems that came out in Uprising could have been found had there been players playing on a test server.
It's going to be hard finding people who want to put time into testing who are good. Many of the ones who did feel like CCP ignored all of their feedback. I'm sure many of the players who gave evidence, numbers and detailed feedback will not be doing that again anytime soon. Uprising is a disappointing build on many levels.
And about the role of CPMs, can one of you please get this to CCP? I would like CCP to see this feedback from me =]