The Head of SOE really doesn't know.....

[kickmyd0g]

<p>A quote from the head of SOE, John Smedley;</p><p><b><i><span style="color: #ff0000;">John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. </span></i></b></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #ffffff;">I would say that it's a lesson that SOE still has to learn</span>.</span></p>

[Norrsken]

<cite>Kirgen@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>A quote from the head of SOE, John Smedley;</p><p><b><i><span style="color: #ff0000;">John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. </span></i></b></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #ffffff;">I would say that it's a lesson that SOE still has to learn</span>.</span></p></blockquote>there are actually two devs that started to interact with the community. Dominodev and fyreflyte.Lets just hope more follows. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Hamervelder]

The funny thing is, three and four years ago, a whole lot of us were saying the same thing:  Listen to your customers.  Listen to your customers.  The unabashed arrogance of SOE has always amazed me.  How any company can hope to succeed and profit, when they don't listen to their customers, is beyond me.  I think they've gotten better, mind you.  I can remember Moorguard and Blackguard both locking down my posts and calling me on the carpet for basically saying "When are you guys going to start listening to your customers?".  The level of arrogance between those two guys was just mind-blowing.

[Nole]

Let's be honest though. Although SKs didn't get much in the way of help, there have been sweeping changes to the game in response to widespread complaints. As an SK I haven't gotten much lately, but as a weaponsmith... 161 discoveries and I still have about 12 levels' worth of recipes to make for first time pristine bonus exp, not to mention the weapons don't suck anymore. (I kind of wish the Katana was the str/int weapon so I could use it, but hey, nothing's perfect.)

[baddog]

<cite>Ulvhamne@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kirgen@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>A quote from the head of SOE, John Smedley;</p><p><b><i><span style="color: #ff0000;">John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. </span></i></b></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #ffffff;">I would say that it's a lesson that SOE still has to learn</span>.</span></p></blockquote>there are actually two devs that started to interact with the community. Dominodev and fyreflyte.Lets just hope more follows. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></blockquote>Domino epitomizes , even more so considering the state of the neglected backwater she landed in <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Jurmoon]

<p>Yeah, I'm gonna be honest here.  Despite the neglect show to the shadowknight class (and to a lesser extent the other non-guardian tanks)  SoE has done a much better job of late in listening to their customers and actually implementing some suggested changes.   It is easy to overlook a lot of the positive things going on in the community as a whole when your own segment is suffering, but the big picture looks pretty good.</p><p>I'm not going to go so far as to praise the company as a whole.  I've been in these forums for quite some time while issues were raised, discussed and analyzed in a calm and constructive matter with ZERO response.  When things started getting ugly and negative, we got attention in the form of a few warnings.   When constructive threads reappeared it went right back to ZERO response.   </p><p>What is needed is a single developer (or intern for that matter) who is in charge of dealing with class balance issues, who can interact with the various class communities for constructive feedback.  Even if the response is as simple as "I am acknowledging your concerns and opinions.  Thank you for your feedback."   Speaking as a customer service specialist, the absolute worst thing you can ever do a customer is to make them feel that their business is unappreciated.</p>

[Tiberuis]

<p>The good news is, Gnorbin (moderator), did come on these forums, and informed us that he would bring DarkC's excellent thread to the appropriate Dev's attention (titled "What Do Raiding SK's Need).  I still feel this was helpful, and showed some customer focus.</p><p>I am assuming the appropriate Dev would be Aeralik, whom was responsible for the Coercer and Ranger class revamps.  Aeralik also posted on these forums recently to address the SK community - to inform us there was no major class revamp in the plans - but that if time becomes available to him, anything can happen.  And he did say that more minor class changes could possibly be in the works.</p><p>I am encouraged with the state of Norrath.  No question, this game environment continues to improve.  The reality is, the raid content in this game is superb.  That is why so many SK's are [Removed for Content] off.  We <i>want</i> to play this game.  We are just severely limited in our ability to do so, due to our class being so gimped vs. the other Plate Tank classes.  </p><p>So I remain hopeful the Dev's will look at the sorry state of the most gimped Plate Tank class in the game, and say "hey, we have got to do something for these players, this class is really hurting right now."</p><p>I don't think asking for the SK to be balanced with a Bezerker's tanking ability, or at least a Guardian's DPS capability, is too much to ask.  We all rolled Plate Tanks, and we all signed up for the same fees to enjoy the game.    </p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[Daysy]

It wouldn't be difficult for Sony to add a poll to the launcher and every week pose a different question to guage the opinions of players. It would be fair because there'd be one vote per account, and would mean that everyone would get heard, including those who spend their game time playing the normal game, not only those who spend hours on the forum or who have bored level 80 characters on the live server and then have time to go level again on the test server.

[Gnobrin]

<p>If you want to comment about a quote, please ensure you link to the whole thing.  Since there's nothing here except SOE bashing, this link's locked.  If you check the devtracker, there's MANY devs that post to these forums, and far more that read them and choose to stay silent.  If you have issue in regards to gameplay, please be sure you voice it in a constructive manner with as much fact and information you can, so the issues can be reiewed.  Too, ensure that you use the /feedback option ingame so that the information can go directly to the development staff.</p><p>~Gnobrin.</p>