Do the developers of B&S understand we don't like what they're doing?

[NorbertTheOpinionated]

Support cannot make changes to the game. I understand that the Support Team is not the Development Team. I am not blaming Support for what I am about to say. Support says that if we want to make our voices known to the Developers, the best place to do it is to post on the forums. Well we have done that. I read the forums. We, as players, have done so consistently, but we keep getting ignored. Not just me. Lots of players. NCsoft keeps ramming changes we don't want down our throats anyway. We say we don't want it. They do it anyway. We say we don't want to keep the changes. They keep the changes anyway. If you want proof of this, just read the forums a decent amount.

 

At the same time I cannot contact the Development Team because that is the way the system is set up. I literally cannot ask the Development Team this question even though it is a question for the Development Team. The system tells me that I have to ask support, so I did. Once again, as the formula directs, they tell me I should come here to post my opinion to, once again, probably have it not be acted on.

 

Apparently the Support Team is the flame shield for the development team. That's how NCsoft wants it. I feel sorry for them frankly. Their job is to be paid so that the developers don't have to waste their time talking to someone like me.

 

I don't know if Support actually gets any kind of real insight or communication with the Development Team either, but if Support has any kind of "gut feeling" for it, here is my question:

 

Does the Development Team (again, not talking about Support here) actually understand that, from the players' perspective, the Development Team has ruined Blade and Soul to an extreme degree as a game? Do they know that they had a nearly perfect game in the game's early life cycle, and they have progressively ruined it, making it worse and worse over time? I want to know if the Developers understand that many aspects of what they have added to the game over the past several years is NOT what the player base wants.

 

Sure, early on, there were a few changes made that were ACTUAL improvements to the game. They were unnecessary, but they were ACTUAL improvements. Then, it's like NCsoft HAD to keep fixing it whether it was broken or not. Maybe this is what led to all these additional aspects of the game no one asked for? Something about the requirements of their development pipeline? They have a quota of some kind? They HAVE to add some new mechanic every so often maybe? Bad design if that's the case.

 

If the Development Team actually reads the forums or, at least, gets monthly or even quarterly reports or summaries from their community managers about their own forums regarding what the player base thinks to any reasonable extent, I don't see how it would be possible for the Development Team to not understand the extent to which they have ruined Blade and Soul as a game from the players' perspective.

 

Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the Development Team does, in fact, understand a general idea of the extent to which the players feel that the Development team has ruined the game. We feel betrayed.

 

Now, if the Development Team knows this, the next logical question is, "Why?" Why does the Development Team keep doing this? I mean, honestly, why?

 

Money? Do the Developers think this is the best way to make the most amount of money? It isn't! Blade and Soul had SO MANY players at one point. They lost them because the Development Team ruined the game. Think about it. Sure, maybe they made more money in the short term, but look at Blade and Soul now. The player population is a joke compared to what it used to be! How much money can they possibly be making now? They sold out, and lost all their customers. Just look at NCsoft's quarterly reports. The income from Blade and Soul is a mockery of its former self. I don't have to guess at that. It's a fact. It's listed right there on NCsoft's quarterly reports. Go look them up if you don't believe me. Watch the income from Blade and Soul decline over the years.

 

If the Developers had kept Blade and Soul the game that the players wanted, sure, the game would have made less money all at once, but Blade and Soul could still have a healthy player population today. This would make less money per year, but it would make MORE money over the game's total life cycle.

 

I presume you have seen the pictures of NCsoft telling us how Blade and Soul would be managed when they were first releasing the game, first advertising it to us, telling us how the game would be- the "advertising packaging on the box" so to say. False advertisement is more like it. Here it is:

 

 

https://imgbox.com/WlbieR9i

 

 

Do the Developers think that it's too late? Maybe they think they might as well milk the game until it dies? They can't build it back up? Is that the logic? If so, look at Final Fantasy 14 for an example. Final Fantasy 14 had a HORRIBLE launch. Everyone spit on Final Fantasy 14. It crashed and burned hard. The Developers for Final Fantasy 14 took the game back and fixed it. Now it's one of the most popular MMOs out there. Final Fantasy 14 is an excellent example of a ruined first impression. They lost that first big boost, and lost most of their players despite the Final Fantasy brand name. Then they clawed their way back to the top... slowly... the hard way... for years. How? They did it by giving the customers what they want.

 

Blade and Soul, as a game, is like a shining diamond in a pile of coal lumps that are a bunch of other games around it. However it has a festering, rotting, maggot ridden, fly infested banana peel on top of it. That banana peel was put there by NCsoft AFTER the game launched. At first, the game was great! They could just take the banana peel off! At this point, they could make the game better by removing some aspects of it. They don't though. They just keep adding more nonsense that no one likes, wants or asked for! Why?!

 

It's not too late. NCsoft could fix Blade and Soul. Why don't they? Like, honestly, WHY are they doing this to Blade & Soul? Rationally, I don't think money is the answer, because, surely, by now, even they can see that this approach is NOT making them more money. Just look at the quarterly reports since the game launched. You can see it came out. It was great. They got that initial boost. They started making some ACTUAL improvements. The popularity grew. Then they started adding in all the unwanted changes, ignoring their customers feedback. You can see the decline from there just by looking at the revenue the game generated. Put it on a chart. Graph it out! You'll see it. It is also wasting tremendous potential of, what is, at its core, a fantastic product. It makes no sense! It's bad for NCsoft. It's bad for the game. It's bad for the players. Who benefits from this behavior?

 

If not money, then why? I want to know why. Do they understand, and why? Please explain to me why NCsoft is doing what they are to Blade and Soul in a rational way. How is what they are doing a good idea, and if it isn't, then why are they doing it? That is the perspective of this player. There you go.

Edited August 18, 2022 by NorbertTheOpinionated
Reason for edit: My screen shot link didn't work the first time.

[Amarathiel]

The bottom line in my opinion is simply how big companies work in general. If the developers were say solo, they would have much much more control over the game than what they would have if they worked for a big company.

They can't just go and do anything they like to the game, they have to follow their company rules and do whatever their bosses tell them to do. Meet deadlines on assignments they've been given etc. etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case here as most of the time people who make decisions in these projects usually never have played games themselves, so they don't know what they doing. If fixing a bug or otherwise improving certain part of the game is not part of their monthly schedule, it most likely  won't happen until it is part of it.

That's just my understand on why some things never seem to get better in the game. Those who care and would like to fix it, can't because of the company they work for. Not to mention devs themselves might also have their own view on how the game actually should be like and maybe their views don't match ours.

You make the game what you want it to be, however, when working for a big company, you cannot do that half the time. If at all.

[Walex]

@title - no, and they're totally aware/fine with that. Just look at their actions.

 

4 hours ago, NorbertTheOpinionated said:

Does the Development Team (again, not talking about Support here) actually understand that, from the players' perspective, the Development Team has ruined Blade and Soul to an extreme degree as a game? Do they know that they had a nearly perfect game in the game's early life cycle, and they have progressively ruined it, making it worse and worse over time? I want to know if the Developers understand that many aspects of what they have added to the game over the past several years is NOT what the player base wants.

This is so true. Remember first year? We had bosses, we had quartz, we had 24 people instances & dungeons with NPCs that were interesting with their voicelines. And we had more than that. What's the game now? "Wait for a new dungeon, grind as much as required to get a new piece of gear, upgrade it, repeat". NOTHING more than that, just grinding dungeons. AND on top of that the gear progression is WAY worse now. First we had to get some basic materials, a few elements, maybe some scales (that was increasing with each tier btw), and upgrade to +10. And now? Never ending story with mythical tier, and everything's mythical now. Not even mega whales are at +20, and there's a new tier every few months.

 

Edit - ofc all dungeons are shorter and with constant reskins. You know why. Even the music is copy pasted sometimes.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Walex

[Metatime]

They need to add back stuff like Raids, those open 24 men dungeons and other end game modes besides only dungeons and solo dungeons. It's kinda mind blowing that they have an engine now that can support all that too but they're not taking advantage of it.

[Green Storm]

First, hello!

 

There is so much to say about this post, but I will be concise.

 

First, you use "we" in the title, but it doesn't mean what you think it does. There is a variety of players in any MMO community, and what each group wants doesn't always align with other groups (but it often overlaps in certain areas of the game). Players often nod at the feedback that they agree with and ignore the rest, even if it's relevant. What players like or dislike can vary greatly, thus making "we" a very relative concept as you may agree on certain things but not others.

 

It's not the role of the Customer Support Team to talk to the development team directly. They provide a service related directly to a player and the issues they're facing individually. It's what we call a 1-to-1 relation. The Blade & Soul forums (or social accounts) are the best place to communicate feedback about the game. It is my job (the Community Manager) to read feedback, compile it, and send it to our teams (or whoever needs to read a particular report or piece of feedback).

 

I read the forum every day, and, to be frank with you, forums are primarily a place where players relay their complaints or negative feedback. Players that are happy with the game don't usually share this positive feedback on the forums. We've made changes that gathered some positive feedback over here (see the Community-based changes releasing on July 6 thread for the first example I can remember). We're working on more things in the future, and we'll share them closer to when it releases.

 

Be careful not to confuse "feedback" with how you feel about the game based on what  it was (as I imagine you have been playing Blade & Soul for a long time). I cannot relay feedback of the sort you shared as the Development Team could never do anything with this feedback. Helpful feedback provides PRECISE examples of what needs to change based on what's in the game at this moment in time. And I want to be clear that many players have done so on the forums, and I've relayed their feedback.

 

Please do post your feedback in a detailed and descriptive way so that it's actually actionable. Tell us what you'd like to see come back, what you'd like to see changed or removed, what new content would be exciting for you to play, or what new system would improve your player experience! Provide examples, numbers, screenshots, and what's missing or could be improved in your own words.

 

Last but not least, please use a tone that's more conducive to a positive discussion. Not all forum threads need to be a discussion, but the tone will direct the thread in a particular direction when they do. For example, if the original post reads combative, players will feel they have to take a position in favor or against it. I believe that when we start a discussion with an open-mind and the intention to be understood but also to understand, a community grows stronger and healthier. I'll close this thread because it started in a way that will probably escalate to a point where it's not productive for you, me, or anyone else.

 

Talk to you soon.