The Problem with Communication

(hawkeyeguy99) #1

I really wish I didn’t have to talk about this given that it’s been talked about before awhile ago, but with the most recent dev videos I feel like it needs to be brought up. Let me preface with this: SD has been doing a far superior job in being present both on the forums and reddit in recent months compared to the Nexon days and shortly after. So kudos where kudos are due.

Here’s the problem though, pretty much every dev update video and “Ask the Devs” videos don’t REALLY answer any questions. We’re falling back into Soon™, “We’re working on it”, “We’ll look into it”, and so on. I’m going to use Hunter as the prime example. He got announced what… 2-3 months ago? And we only JUST heard any updates on him that he was delayed from the most recent dev video. With videos released almost twice a week we didn’t even get a “Hey we got some problems with Hunter and we’re fixing him. We hope to have him out early next year. Sorry for the delay.” Wow, took you 15 seconds and you curb most of the speculation and hounding of “Where’s Hunter?” questions.

Most of the updates we get are coming out of the blue. We get details about things as they release or right before, cutting out community feedback. I don’t get the secrecy behind these releases. Why not tell us? Something like: “Hunter was delayed because this new projectile is unbalancing the game in terms of spotting. We’re working on dialing in the AOE because otherwise he’s too great a pick over someone like Vasilli.” In my humble opinion, more details are ALWAYS better. Anyways, I’ve ranted enough. Am I missing something? Is there a good reason to keep so much secret until release day?

(WatchAsILead) #2

Other than “soon” and “working on it” what else do you need? To me its pretty simple, you dont give deadlines because if something goes wrong you have time to fix it and dont have vets with 3K hours complaining about how SD is horrible for missing deadlines or Vets demanding compensation for a delay in release. (cause vets like to demand compensation for every little thing)

Its obvious to me Hunter is their priority and probably want him released and fixed more than you do. You shouldnt really be worried about why hes delayed, you’re not a dev and have no reason to worry over problems that arent your own. They said there is an issue, they said they are working on it. Good enough for me,

(n-x) #3

I also dont get all this secretiveness. I guess they think they build up a hype like this. But I find it kind of annoying and not hype building at all. And there is a lot of stuff the community could give input before changes are made. I think especially in game play questions they should ask the competitive scene first. Let’s take the Fragger nerf for example. Do you honestly believe a Pug player suddenly stops to wipe the floor with casual players because Fragger has now 10 hp less. And the +5 speeed buff most likely will just mess up muscle memory. Stuff like this needs to be discussed with high level players and not members of a PTS consisting of content creators and accomplished members of the DB world. DB has a horrible player retention and then alienating those members of the commuity who are basically the core is not the best move.

Which brings me to the second point. They could also start to tell us how they imagine the 1.0 launch will go down. Because as it is right now, this could easily become a giant shit show. Veterans are already annoyed by having to deal with an insane amount of beginners, because DB just seems not to be able to bind players to the game. How do they want to handle the phase after full release, when a huge influx of completely incompetent players will meet players with several 100 hours in-game? They dont want toxicity but say with no word how they want to handle completly annoyed veterans meeting beginners who will probably think that the game is full of cheaters and aim botters? In my opinion there is an actually risk to lose a good chunk of the existing player base and get insanely bad reviews from newcomers.

(Mc1412013) #4

Any one else notice they have a tendancy to repeat questions from other episodes??

(Xenithos) #5

I just don’t want a vague answer when they give one. This is specifically to things like Will weapon crates ever have other unlockable options? They basically said they’re looking to do that yes, and then something vague about whether it would be credits or just future events was said that wasn’t ever really mentioned again until Shoe said yesterday that they have no plan whatsoever to include an option to buy keys for credits… Which just kinda sucks imo but oh well.

(Da_Mummy) #6

And I can safely say by now that you don’t have to be a genius or some sort of CIA super agent to know what Hunter is and what he does. All those little leaks and sneak peaks have spoiled him more than enough for me and I can definitely say I am not even excited for him (never was but whatever).

(Xenithos) #7

@Da_Mummy said:
And I can safely say by now that you don’t have to be a genius or some sort of CIA super agent to know what Hunter is and what he does. All those little leaks and sneak peaks have spoiled him more than enough for me and I can definitely say I am not even excited for him (never was but whatever).

Wait what? Because he’s a sniper? Huh? :’(

(Da_Mummy) #8

@Xenithos
He is a recon with a crossbow in the same Spirit as Naders Lactic-40 or Sparks REVIVR. Ist his main Primary with his other weapons beeing a machine pistol and a normal pistol with those weird ninja turtle handblades. His arrows might as well mark every enemy that they hit with a sniperrifle like mechanic, which wouldnt make sense for a medieval crossbow but I guess an arc would be frustrating to fight against.
I could be completely wrong and he could be totally different, but I highly doubt it.

(Chris Mullins) #9

We’re giving you as much info as we can. I know “soon”, “coming in a few weeks” and “in the next update” aren’t exactly things you want to hear, but that’s where we are. Hunter is indeed still being worked and on and there isn’t really much extra we can say about that. We’re trying to and want to give you snippets as and when it’s possible, but game development moves at a pace which giving you new info every week is pretty much impossible.

We know that clarity and transparency is important to you, and I have made it a personal goal for us as a studio to be as open as we can, but there’s only a certain amount that this can be achieved.

(Mc1412013) #10

@stayfreshshoe said:
We’re giving you as much info as we can. I know “soon”, “coming in a few weeks” and “in the next update” aren’t exactly things you want to hear, but that’s where we are. Hunter is indeed still being worked and on and there isn’t really much extra we can say about that. We’re trying to and want to give you snippets as and when it’s possible, but game development moves at a pace which giving you new info every week is pretty much impossible.

We know that clarity and transparency is important to you, and I have made it a personal goal for us as a studio to be as open as we can, but there’s only a certain amount that this can be achieved.

I dont think a few min here and there from devs to do a lightning round answering our questions is too much to ask for. If they have time for redit and discord i cant see why they cant be in here on the “official” forums. A few weeks ago when we saw a lot of dev activity here, and it was welcomed but sad to see when it stoped. The dev vids have a slight repition to it i cant remember the topic was but it was answered at least twice in 2 seperate dev vids, and i feel the questions picked are too basic and simple to answer . Theres a lot of hard hitting questions in here that we would like to see answered even if its a short answer.

(Xenithos) #11

Oh gosh, it’s called “Unofficial Dirty Bomb Discord” That’s so great. Might have to join now.

(Chris Mullins) #12

@Mc1412013 Sure, but questions are often specific to certain areas. If all devs were to peruse for a few minutes that would equate to a ton of dev time.

As and when topics come up which would benefit for more of a ‘dev’ response, I send a link to the thread to the appropriate dev to respond to. If I or another dev hasn’t commented and you would like a response, just hit me up direct and I’ll see what I can do.

(Da_Mummy) #13

@stayfreshshoe
Would it be an option to have like a forum part that is reserved for direct questions at the devs only.
Sure we don’t expect them to be answered immediatly but at least some sort of direct Dev communication the rest is discussions amongst players of the game anyway.
After all these are the official forums that most new players will hop into (after posting a new merc idea) and they expect the devs to take part in some discussions.
And with all the new players for 1.0… Just aan idea.

(TheStrangerous) #14

Version 1.0 is soon spreading it’s wings.

SD surely’s pressured to not afford any F ups.