Preparing for the OB

Yeah...its coming, and we need to be ready. Closed Beta Members are in an interesting position, and I can warn everyone reading this now, it will try your patience. I have been in a few betas myself, and though I have only been in this beta for a short time, I have been running the game ragged learning all I can about it to answer questions that may arrive in OB. I can inform you that going from CB to OB is a big deal, for everyone. Its hard on the CB members. Its a pain in the ass for the Forum Mods. Its hell on earth for the poor Devs. But we as CB members must steel ourselves for the coming tide, and I have a few pointers to help with that.

Forums
The forums are going to get busy, with people asking questions, and begging for help, and comparing the game to the current other popular ARPGS, like TL2 and D3. What we have to do is try to stem the tide just a little. We have to answer those question to the best of our knowledge, and bear any insults for the 'poor designs' that might come from certain aspects. We also have to insure that we dont feed the trolls...If you post on the thread you KNOW is stupid, it stays on tops alot more, and thus feeds the trolls. And lastly, another thing we have to make sure is that any compare threads made are not attacked, but instead viewed as valid. Sometimes comparing games is a good way to improve both. Lets try not to attack D3 comparisons, as much as I'd love to as well. D3 is a decent game to a degree, and attacking peoples suggestions to make it more similar is not a way to express your feelings about the game.

Game Chat
On game side...there will be alot of QQ, there will be alot of stupid questions, and there will be alot of beggars. Our job as Closed Beta members with more in depth knowledge is to stern our patience, because you will prolly be answering the same stupid questions in the game 500 times a day. Some of which are already answered in the Forums. I tend to point people in the direction of the forums alot, and they get pissed saying its just easier to answer the question. I suggest you do not take that route. Either answer the childrens questions, or ignore them. Getting them upset isnt the way to work the issue out. And for the QQ, try to be helpful, maybe it will rub off. Pair up and team up often, to help people out, since you already know how to play the game. Yes, it might be boring, but it stops alot of the QQ early enough that others might be able to enjoy the game in the long run. I usually ignore the beggars, but thats just personal preference. If I wanna give you crap, I'll just give it to you, dont ask me for it.

Then again, for those of you in this JUST for the gaming with buddies like old times, there is the ability to hide global chat and you dont even have to come to the forums. But for those of us that wanna see the community thrive and grow, we must try to regulate it to a degree. Gardens are beautiful when cultivated properly, and to do that, we need a communities help. The Devs and Mods cant be everywhere at once, and we have to be there at the front lines for them.

Amen for that.

I also wanna mention, that people who are supporters....they will think you know more about the game than they do. They arent always smart, so they will ask questions of you that you might not know. They believe you have bought your way to more knowledge about game mechanics that others might not. Your free to inform them otherwise.

Great post! The devs and mods will be overwhelmed and anything we can do help relieve the pressure I'm sure will be greatly appreciated.

"

Maximus:Anyone here been in the army?
[an unknown gladiator responds yes and tells Maximus he served under his command at Vindobona]
Maximus: You can help me. Whatever comes out of these gates, we've got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together we survive.

"

For those of you that are with me, we will survive this. We must. It is not for ourselves that we fight, but for those that come after us. They will be the heralds of a better age. If anything, we must allow them this.

Anonymous Soldier of WWII.

I plan to take the darwin approach. As I'm not the brightest bulb out there anyway, I'll have global off till I hit cruel. At which time, I will entertain any questions/conversations that I can. Only once I get to ruthless will I start blocking the trolls/morons(well the really bad ones anyway) and of course all wow/D3 fanboys. This way I figure I won't burn out from reading "how do i use skills," or "how do I buy gold," and at the same time I'll be able to help the people who are at least trying to learn the game.

I wish there was a pre-brutus or mervil channel so we could weed these people out sooner, but oh well.

Just my observation from open weekends, If you intelligently answer a question in normal chat, you are in fact inviting the next 40 questions which will instantly load up your chat box, because a lot of people out there are going to be looking for help. So be forewarned as you explain why ground slam isn't a projectile for the 10th time.



P.S. We really do need a trade channel.

In the natural course of things, when or if D3 kiddies run amok on these forums, the old guard will leave to populate other forums that are cozier.

Blizzard dedicates alot of resources like moderators to manage D3 forums, yet you can see the degree of lunacy on those forums.

Can you imagine what is coming to PoE forums (assuming PoE is going to attain the same level of popularity?)

I don't think the D3 wave of netizens is something that any moderator here can handle. Even Blizzard's depth of resources do not seem to be able to handle it.

"

alaizon wrote:

Blizzard dedicates alot of resources like moderators to manage D3 forums, yet you can see the degree of lunacy on those forums.

Congrats, first post that actually scared me