Posted by bathtubhippo on 6/26/2016 10:49:00 AM (view original):
disclaimer--i'm not in the beta. this is a general comment.
decisions have to be made in a broad scope. it's not seble's job to cater to the loudest 20 people who have played the longest. if this is part of a serious move to invest in HD, then....well, i think we all could look at this differently and try to steer the ship. but if the update is rolled out and there is no intention to seriously advertise/market/recruit new players, it is a poor, poor decision.
the loss of coaches is only a big deal because we all know how depopulated the worlds are already. if they actually market the game, the loss of coaches could potentially be overcome. you have to think that it's not much of a viable long-term plan for a game to have a tiny pool of dedicated users each with 7+ teams or something like that. my guess is that some of the most vocal people against this update aren't paying users anyway--they've been playing for free (or maybe just at deep discount) for years. how is it a viable business model to have a tiny user base and then have them playing for free or near-free? as an aside, i know there have been forum posts complaining about playing the same people in every world.
anyway, if they're not going to market this, this update is the final blow. the question i would be asking is--what's the next play here? are you rolling this out and forcing it on the existing user base or is there is a serious play to invest in and expand this game? for me, that's everything as to how to look at this.
tl;dr: it's not about you but maybe it is
This is a pretty good post. For what it's worth, I have been one of the loud ones in the forums complaining. The reason why is because I have been through a couple of these "updates" before and they were both nightmares. Horribly implemented, tons and tons of bugs still in the program, little to no feedback from the programmers, and rushed out far too soon. A HUGE amount of coaches were lost. I hate to go "back to the good old days" but I have to so I can give an example of how rabid the fan base used to be about this game.
When it was announced that Tark World would be opening up AND that it would be a 2x world, coaches went nuts. The shift I was working at the time had me getting to work at noon. Tark was supposed to open at noon. I figured by the time I gathered all my equipment, keys, radio, etc. that I'd be at my office and able to log in at about 12:15. Well, I was correct and at 12:15 I went to sign up for any D3 team I could get. Didn't matter who, what, or where because I was going to be in the race to the elite D1 schools. Back to my example. At 12:15 I logged into HD and EVERY SINGLE D3 TEAM WAS TAKEN!!!! You read that correctly, in 15 minutes all 384 teams were gone! I actually had to get on a waiting list for season 2 to ensure I could get a team when season 2 rolled around.
Now? Now there are ALWAYS A+/A/A- teams ready to be picked up every time jobs open up. The forums used to be so nice to go to. Coaches actually discussing strategies, running numbers for others, explaining things to the new coaches instead of burying them under a mountain of insults and expletives (again, guilty as charged once or twice unfortunately). The game has never had good marketing. I happened to find the site while I surfing the net and happened upon Fox Sports and saw the tiny, tiny link. Conferences were generally at least 3/4 full, if not more.
Now? Now it sucks. The lack of attention for such a long period of time was appalling. Coaches got bored and quit. I myself have had many cycles of "really into the game" followed by "burned out and don't even look at my teams for 3 or 4 days". The Admin would always take suggestions, and good ones at that, and reply that it was something that they were looking at for a later period of time. Customer service is absolutely horrible. When you can even GET a response it's either rude and condescending or just flat out wrong.
The game used to "feel" like a kind of close knit family in a little corner of the internet if that makes sense. Sure, there were arguments here and there, trolls from time to time, but in general everyone seemed to at least tolerate everyone else and the game was more than fun, it was addicting. More than once I had to find an internet cafe in Germany and hit a recruiting cycle or two but I didn't ,mind because I loved the game. Now it feels "cold", corporate, empty. Ask a question or give a suggestion and it's tumbleweeds and crickets. The people in charge just disappear for months at a time, pop in for a minute (just to prove they're still employed I guess), and then "Poof", gone again. The smart coaches in this game (of which I am not) identify problems in the game that the vast majority of the people in the forums agree are issues and submit problems and solutions to the people in charge and hit a wall of silence.
Then, out of nowhere, we get news that we're getting an update. Yes!!!! Only...........but..........wait........huh? It's an update that is fixing something that isn't even broke. Far more pressing issues are completely avoided or worse yet, put on the "we'll look at it later" list. New coaches, who really haven't experienced the catastrophes of the past think that the update is great. Yay, something new! Bright and shiny, derp, derp, derp...... Something to draw attention AWAY from the actual issues the game has by applying a band-aid to your right foot pinky toe while your left leg has been amputated at the knee and the life blood (coaches) are being quickly lost. Get a tourniquet and not one that has anything to do with a recruiting update. I heard someone else say it better than me. WiS is worried about what color to paint the den while in the meantime the whole rest of the house is burning down.
I understand it's hard to swallow your pride and admit that an error has been made. Believe me, after 22 years employed by the Feds, I've made my share of errors. But sometimes it's best to just say, well it looked like a great idea on paper but in reality......it sucks. And that's what has happened here. It looked great on paper but once it started to be implemented it became obvious that it was just a bad idea. Hey, it sucks and it stings really badly for whose ever idea it was
but sometimes you just have to admit that you were wrong, scrap the idea, and go back to square one and try again. Especially when the mistake is legitimately threatening the very survival of the game.
I applaud Seble for the effort and I applaud him for at least listening and attempting to implement some of the suggestions he's got but enough is enough. Seble, you're about to put this game on life support and a hand is on the plug. Grab those huevos, tell your supers that after a thorough initial test, that it has come to be your opinion that although you worked your *** of on this update it is simply not going over well, too many coaches are dropping teams or leaving altogether and that in your humble opinion, fully implementing this update would effectively kill the game. And that in you humble opinion, this update should be either shelved or scrapped altogether and that the time and money spent on the update would be much more effective if it were used in an effective marketing push.
Thank you, drive safe, and have a nice day.
If it's tl;dr, then you've got ADD and can't concentrate for more than a couple of minutes. Quitting being a damn baby and just read the damn thing.