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Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

The problem with issues like Aphelios is that RIOT will not admit to their mistakes.

Instead they will probably nerf the champion to the ground whenever a new one comes out and the cycle continues. This has been going on for years now going back many many years ago with TF release, Zyra release, Xin Zhao release, Kalista release, Camille release and so on.

  • Cashmiir
    Posted 5 years, 10 months ago (Source)

    I think the best example I have is actually from a mobile game developer, Cygames.

    Here's what their monthly reports look like for Dragalia lost: https://dragalialost.com/en/news/detail/1047

    Most of it is news, but what riot can learn from is way down at the bottom. "regarding the future of dragalia lost"

    In this section, they directly address the most common community complaints, just to say "we're aware this is a point of contention" even if they don't know how they plan to fix it yet. Next month, if they still don't have a fix, we will get an update explaining their progress.

    This is the issue with Riots communication, they only ever mention complaints after a resolution has been found. For instance Aphelios' lack of clarity is a super commonly discussed frustration. Yet we don't even know if riot is aware.

    I think a "Addressing concerns" section at the bottom of the patch notes would go a long way. "We're aware that it can be hard to tell what weapons Aphelios currently has available in the heat of combat. We currently don't have a fix, but are looking into some solutions to make it more clear without resorting to ugly UI elements."

    This is really good feedback. Thanks! I'll forward it to Cactopus and add many UwUs so he reads my message.

  • Cashmiir
    Posted 5 years, 10 months ago (Source)

    Can't speak for other people but I sorta feel that this sentiment is perpetuated by Riot having very heavy interaction when it comes to jovial online presence. Like if there is any big meme or something silly on reddit we'll get the same handful of Rioters chiming in very consistently but as soon as there is an issue in the community we usually get radio silence regardless of thread amount until there is a boiling point in which we get a dev blog which is tonally very different from replies on reddit.

    That being said interaction is fucking HARD from a community stand point because we don't allow for employees to defend themselves or their stance. Case and point the 200 years meme where if a Rioter wants to put forward any sort of defensive/antagonistic front they are met with mob mentality immediately which can also culturally instill an idea that it is best to not interact unless it's to agree.

    As for good Dev-to-player communication I only really see this in smaller scale projects. I would say indie games or creators do an amazing job of this. For example the guys that made Slay the Spire and the guys who made Dead Cells both really pushed forward the idea of interacting with the community on both Discord and Reddit to find issues within their game and always invited balance conversations. It was very easy to ask questions and point out problems because their staff was so immediately available to not just speak with, but have a conversation with. But like I said, much smaller situation.

    I have similar experiences with fighting game stuff but only on the fan made level like the different people behind Melee mods such as 20XX or Slippi are similarly always looking to speak with the community. That sort of mentality of wanting the larger community to chime in, test, ask questions, give ideas, and such definitely begets very passionate fans but I really can't imagine a situation where this discord/reddit level of communication is viable apart from PR or at they very least being kept on a positive-only basis with such a large scale.

    No idea how to actually approach the masses of disagreement because for every good idea or point there is also a sea of bad ones that are extremely quick to volitively react. Best of luck finding an answer tho and it's always a good starting point to ask.

    Here I am asking a question and then disappearing for 7 hours. I was away from my desk most of the day, so sorry for the late response.

    As for some context on the first part:

    So, we have a rule where if you engage with anyone (Reddit, players in game, Twitter, boards, IRL, media, literally anyone) you should only speak to the things for which you're a subject matter expert. So here, I don't work on Aphelios, gameplay, champions, balance, or even League, so I can't comment on the main part of this post because I know as much as any of you. (Perhaps slightly more because I worked with Aphelios' team on Champ Insights, but that doesn't help here.)

    The other part of that, Rioters won't often weigh in because unless we worked on something because we'd never want to say anything that anyone could ever perceive as talking shit. I've personally met some incredible people at Riot and I'd never want them to feel like I didn't respect their work or effort. Because at the end of the day everyone I know genuinely cares about making great shit.

    I can see what you mean for the dev-to-player comms working well in smaller scale projects. When you work intimately with a small team it's easy to lean across the desks and ask someone to respond to something on Reddit. It's definitely harder when I don't even know who owns anything half the time. I also don't want to run to Reav3 with every single thing. There aren't enough cupcakes I can bake to make him put up with that much of my nonsense.

  • Cashmiir
    Posted 5 years, 10 months ago (Source)

    Riot just needs to communicate with the community more. It was cool when they allowed us to vote for the next Illaoi skin. But since then they mentioned they probs won't do that in the future. Skins are skins though. Champions are important to get right, and it doesn't help that Aphelios has multiple abilities. Look it's cool they tried something different. But clearly it wasn't ready yet. Like what's the point of the PBE if most things tend to get through anyway. New champs need to be treated better. At least Riot is now more interested in reworks. Reworked champs tend to turn out better. Expect Ryze. Bad Ryze.

    Hey! Hijacking the top comment so I can get responses. I work in comms as a writer, so I'm pretty interested in a lot of the discussion going on here.

    I'd love to see some examples of what y'all think are excellent dev-to-player communications from other companies (not just game studios), and other platforms where you think it works well (similar to our version of Nexus, Reddit, social media, boards, dev videos, written content, etc.). I'm not super familiar with some of the games/studios being mentioned, so I don't know where to go and look at the communications they're putting out there.

    So if you have any examples throw them at me.

    Edit: These examples are great and I'm looking into all of these now. I'll be sharing with the broader editorial and writing teams. :)

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