GC, the Spriest Q&A is what we're looking for

I understand that, but that was still one set of long questions from one player on one spec of one class and I have a day job. :)

I do want to point out that while many priest replied graciously with something like "Even if I didn't like all of the answers, thanks for stopping by," you also get the following kind of responses, which are the kinds of things that make blues reluctant to respond. Stop doing that and you will probably see more questions answered over time.

1) I can't believe you answered these dumb questions.

2) You guys clearly have no idea how our class works.

3) I can't believe they find X acceptable and aren't buffing us.

4) Well, you finally answered, but that doesn't erase the massive debt you owe us.

As to the Q&As, we tried to answer broad topics rather than select say 20 questions out of the hundreds we got, but if the community is happier with narrower, more specific questions, maybe that's the direction we'll take future Q&As. It just may mean none of the specific things you're interested in get addressed.

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Q u o t e:
My opinion is that you should take a heavy handed approach with these types of responses. It's a shame that every time you take the time to communicate with players like the Spriest Q and A that you end up having to spend a lot of time moderating afterwards. Please don't let the bad apples discourage you from communicating with us.

We don't want to punish the community at large for the behavior of a few bad apples. It's more of a perception thing.

Imagine you're relatively new to WoW and decide you want to learn more about your class. You come to the official forums to try and learn how to handle a certain boss or enemy class or whatever. Then what you see is post after post of "I feel neglected! You don't understand my class! You said X was a good ability when I think X is a bad ability, ergo you are a dumb man!" Your reaction is likely to be "Yuck, what a mess. Why would I want to subject myself to that in order to enjoy a game? Then you leave the forums, perhaps never to return." That's a big failure in our book.

We can ban our way to a kinder, gentler forum, but really it's in everyone's best interest if they just post with that intent in the first place. We want our players to enjoy these forums, which seems less likely if the environment here is draconian or even Orwellian, yanno?

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Q u o t e:
It should be obvious to even the most casual observer that you'd be doing the community at large a favor by ridding the forums of the incessant trolls and those who refuse to speak in a respectful manner simply because they're not looking someone in th eye.

The true incessant trolls do get banned, often permanently. Other players may post something inflammatory, get a short ban, and then realize they need to approach the conversation as a civil discussion not a drunken brawl. We actually see that happen quite a bit. Regardless, I'm an optimist. Players originally laughed at the idea of having role forums, but months later, they're doing pretty well.

Q u o t e:
I don't mean to be a jerk, and I respect what you do, but the way I see it, we're paying customers. Whether or not our concerns get addressed should not turn on how gracious the least gracious players are. I can just imagine someone saying "You know what? You weren't nice enough, so I'm NOT going to answer your question. Thank you for calling Verizon."

If you cursed the Verizon employee out or threatened to set their house on fire, I don't think they would be that understanding. Regardless, talk to anyone in retail service and they are much more likely to go the extra mile for you if you treat them civilly. You can still disagree with someone without attempting to destroy them. Some people here just don't understand the difference.

In any case, this is not a customer service nor a developer feedback forum. It's a discussion of class mechanics, which is a topic I can contribute to. But if you act like a jerk, I'm not going to feel much like contributing. It's not that hard to understand. :)

Q u o t e:
It sounds like you're asking dissatisfied customers to shut up so people won't be scared off. I'm sorry, but I pay to play and enjoy myself, not to sell more WoW subscriptions. There are some very simple overarching problems with each class. Quit making it sound like it's impossible to please us. The vast majority of the feedback you get from the forum is positive, well written and is backed with real numbers and facts. The only reason I would like to see the negative posts go away is so that you lose your number one excuse for not coming through for your customers. But it takes two to tango. You and the other devs are half of the problem. If you want to focus on the negative feedback and poorly written posts to avoid making much needed and deserved changes, then that's your call. Enjoy.

It's may not be impossible to please everyone, but it's pretty improbable. We learned long ago to make the changes we think are right for the game and not the ones that make the forum posters the happiest.

I also strongly disagree about the majority of the feedback being positive, well written and backed by numbers and facts. Some are backed by numbers, and we appreciate those. Many are not well-written, but we can usually understand the point. That's cool -- eloquence is not mandatory. The hostile flames though, frankly, we just ignore. If you want someone to read your post, especially us, I would word it in a different way.

We value your subscription, absolutely. But that is a subscription to play WoW, not to be able to act however you want on our public forums.

Smart players understand and appreciate that if they point out a problem or limitation in the game that it can lead to an eventual change in the game, assuming we see their point of view and agree with it. The "not a deli" rule still applies. You can't order up whatever changes you want and get upset when you don't get them. You can provide feedback on your experience and make suggestions to improve the game, and we greatly value those.

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