Brainstorm: Key Discussion Points

#1 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:08 p.m.

I’ve been brainstorming since getting home last night and discussed a bit with Chris this morning I wanted to throw out an idea on communication we could try that might help a bit ->

What if every major thread offered a dev sticky at the top that summarized the key discussion points around that area we’re aware of as a dev team? We’d track the last major update(s) to those areas that shipped live in the sticky thread, and each time a new update is made update that thread accordingly.

Some ground rules we’d have to follow:

• Per company policy (see Mike O’Brien’s post for his summary of ArenaNet’s dev communcation policy) we wouldn’t be able to discuss what is currently in development, or what progress we’re making on it. It would purely be a list of core high level topics we are aware of and think are important in Gw2.

• This would not be a discussion thread – we’ll be using the CDI for those developer and player discussions. This would be a closed sticky that simply provides a list of what high level areas we’re aware of and what we’ve last done in those areas to help provide a road map for players of things we’d like them to discuss and brainstorm. This post would be in an effort to help drive, and help create discussion.

• These lists would have no definitive time frame when they would be updated. Iterative development can be fast, it can be slow (hi precursors!) and sometimes priority’s can change over night based on player feedback, company needs, or even things that occur due to staffing changes from illness, vacation, etc.

• If we decided something that was a key discussion point has either been completed, changed, or removed from our list – we’d update the sticky thread and also leave an open discussion thread in that forum with a summary of that change of status. If it hasn’t been removed from the list, you know it’s still a core discussion point for the Gw2 development team.

• There are way, way too many discussion points in a game as big as Gw2 for us to cover all the things everyone wants to talk about. We’d simply be focusing on a handful of the very top biggest discussion points we’re concerned with. It doesn’t mean we aren’t working on other stuff, but it can at least help provide a discussion road map to the bigger picture.

• These sticky threads, and the updates when they change would be localized into all languages on all forums, to ensure we’re clearly communicating to all our fans rather than just in English.

Please keep discussion points around the policies of communication over in Mo’s “communicating with you” thread. This thread is purely for discussing the concept of these key topic point stickies.

#2 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:09 p.m.

I’ll separate out the idea now into a practical application of what this could look like for one existing thread:

Structured PvP Forum Thread

Key Discussion Point: New Game Mode for PvP

High Level Focus Points:

- What kind of game mode(s) would be best in PvP for Gw2 on top of the current conquest game mode type given the games fast past action combat style?

- How should players be able to decide which game mode, or even which map within a game mode to play each round? Can a solution to this also solve issues with bias towards certain existing conquest maps?

- What key moments can a strong game mode have to help make it feel strategic and exciting when a key moment occurs? Can they happen every frequently enough to make each match exciting, and help provide comeback mechanics? Can these key moments provide teams multiple options to ensure different strategies for playing that can stand out and be identified?

- Can viewers clearly see and understand key moments when watching a stream and feel they are exciting without needing to understand the nuance of the combat occurring?

- Matches should be short, compelling, and easy to jump in and out of to keep the game approachable – but have layers of depth and strategy that experienced players can master.

Last Update:

- Demo versions of some potential new PvP game modes were given on an episode of Ready Up. [link goes here]

Edited or better formatting!

#6 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:20 p.m.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

What do you mean exactly with “summarized the key discussion points around that area we’re aware of as a dev team”?

Also, you should use the Question/Answer thread thingie, so the dev post can be seen on all pages of the thread.

So by key discussion points, I gave an example for PvP of something folks know we’re aware of above, but helped provide some more specifics for discussion. The PvP one is more detailed than maybe we could go on all topics, but helps give an idea. Other examples of things we’d provide summaries of things we’re aware of, and help provide some more details for discussion could be things like:

- Challenging content to overcome with groups.
- Character development pre and post level 80.
- Reasons to play dynamic events in the open world.
- Population imbalance and keeping match ups fun in WvW.
- Rewards for content vs. earning gold the fastest way to earn rewards.
- Why do I login every day?

etc.

Good call on Q&A, done, thank you

#8 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:26 p.m.

tigirius.9014:

Kool I appreciate it but will we be seeing these types of threads turned into stickies on essential topics like?:

#Condition damage stacking issues in open world
#Rewards system revamp and the removal of systems like DR/RNG
#Diversity in PVE (which includes weapon choices, locations/types of traits)

I think that’d certainly be one potential option, this thread is brainstorm exactly those kind of ideas if we do indeed think this concept would be useful.

#18 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:46 p.m.

Hey folks just to be clear, this isn’t a thread where you list all the stuff you’d like to see in the game (we have plenty of those!)

This is a thread to discuss the idea of adding a sticky to the top of each of the big forum threads (PvP, dungeons, WvW, General discussions, etc.) where we help provide a very high level list of stuff the Gw2 Dev team is aware of with the game, and what questions/thoughts we’re giving those areas to help guide your discussions – and provide visibility into the very top tier stuff we’re aware of.

Feedback on just the idea itself as a concept please, thank you!

#20 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:48 p.m.

Hybarf Tics.2048:

You know Colin there is such a thing as giving people hope, without giving any specifics or dates or talk of new continents, that thing is called a pic.
You devs used to do this very thing a lot before launch. Artist like Daniel Dociu for example who has been missing in action since March 11th 2011.
Simply post future in game pics from time to time and let the player base speculate on it. It can even be a painting that has been included in the future development of the game which would give us only a vague look into the future. Don’t do it so much for me but for the rest of the player base since the silence treatment has already killed the game for me. The last L.S chapter I did Divinity’s Reach and didn’t bother finishing the rest. Since then all I do is only daily then I log out. I got all professions at 80 and all fully mapped but now the motivation to stay online is all but gone. Even for me pics would give me something to look forward to besides the usual rumor of a 2015 expansion which I simply do not believe in anymore.
Best regards an ex full time player and supporter who’s already contributed to more than 10 expansions which we have yet to hear about. I don’t regret my gems contribution they added to my enjoyment, but it’s all water under the bridge.
Make no mistake about this silence can also kill a game it has for me.

Just wanted to take a moment and say thank you for supporting Guild Wars for so long. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to tell you about things that re-ignite that excitement for you! Pictures say a thousand words, certainly an interesting idea indeed.

#23 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:54 p.m.

fadeaway.2807:

Too many times have these ‘CDIs’ or developer discussion threads turned into us talking to a brick wall. In fact, the majority of the people who would probably have incredible input to give you have either been banned from the forums or simply don’t bother anymore. If you want us to put the effort in and engage in the sorts of discussions you’re proposing, you need to show us you can acknowledge public sentiment and comment on it, even if you don’t bend to it.

Thanks fadeaway, I want to be clear this isn’t a discussion initiative. As stated back in my first post, the concept here is to simply provide more visibility by providing a list of top tier game areas we’re aware of or concerned about so it’s visible to players.

CDI is intended to be a discussion initiative, if you have feedback on that or how it (or other discussion initiatives) work please make sure to put those in the CDI thread. If your feedback is something like what I’ve proposed isn’t useful and you’d prefer more discussion initiatives, that’d be totally valid in this thread as well.

#122 - Aug. 25, 2014, 7:44 p.m.

Very much appreciate the feedback, suggestions and ideas from those who are staying on topic. I’ll continue to monitor this thread and discuss options and your feedback with the community team.

Keep it up!