How do you feel about Chris's *Latest* Announcement.

We all knew, that no matter what Chris (or anyone else from GGG) would say, people would pick it apart, word for word and, in lack of better words, 'piss on it'. No matter what he said, it would never be enough. That's why most iterations of an "apology post", and no matter how it was worded, would only add fuel to the fire for the hardest critics, and do more or less nothing for the rest.

Being hung up on the word "struggle"? Really? Ok.

Anyhow, the post is a safe, minimal piece of PR. Why do more than that? Well, this thread is one example why. The more detailed, personal and in-depth a post like that would be, the more it would be picked apart and ridicueled by people's subjective interpretations.

I sensed some admission in the post. The part about "Feature Creep" more or less said "we fucked up a bit here, added a bit too much on top of much, which turned out, well, too much". They created too much work for themselves. But what we really need, is for them to follow their own words; "actions speaks louder than words" - OUTSIDE of the first two-three weeks of a new league too.

The Announcement is all well and dandy, But not once they apologized nor took any responsibility for the HEIST fiasco.

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gryphon79 wrote:

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How do you feel ? Looking for constructive debate... not blind love or hate.

Preface - I have no blind "love" or "hate." It's a game I enjoy, but it's just a game. I feel a tiny bit "kindly" towards the developer for providing me with entertainment, but that's it.

Here's what I see in his Announcement:

1) Thirty-One+ "Leagues" over seven+ years and they haven't sat down and determined a standard set of goals to achieve for a generic League?

Seriously?

Is he telling us that at no time during those periods they didn't end up having a meeting where attendees didn't have fifty-eleven Power-Point presentations shoved in their face about... design goals? Not one mass-distributed .pdf to print out and tape to the wall? No TPS reports every League?

2) Heist is clearly an overbaked mess. A "mea culpa" was expected and necessary.

3) Anytime a developer detects the pungent smell of discontent, issuing a "Turning Over A New Leaf" statement will raise consumer morale. This is the equivalent of taping a "Fresh Bread" sign to the window of a bakery. That doesn't mean the bread will be fresh, it just means there is now a sign on the window that reads "Fresh Bread."

4) Seven years and nobody there had a workflow and gameplan for implementing and developing a standard "League" that achieved administratively directed "goals" designed to attract and please consumers? (Yes, rehashing... ) WTF?

5) At sometime during the development, things went off the rails. Likely, enthusiasm with a "new idea" that just went too far for "League" content. It's like trying to write a novel on a pamphlet - You can only cram so much into it before it all falls apart.

6) I'm glad they seem to be saying that the problem has been recognized and measures will be taken to avoid it in the future. But, that the problem wasn't recognized as it matured means... someone wasn't paying attention.


Verdict - It is what it is and it's nothing really special. It could be an honest "mea culpa" or just a "Fresh Bread" sign. Consumers won't know anything until future products are delivered. Make no mistake - A "victory" next League does not mean that "development issues are fixed." Not by a long-shot. Considering that this train-wreck, judging by the contents of the announcement, continued to move down the tracks during the whole process my confidence levels are low that substantive change will appear. I'll wait for "proof."

I don't play Heist because it sucks and it's not worth my gameplay time. That's just me, but it could reflect that I am more fond of the content GGG thinks it should be making.

Ill at start simply repost what i wrote beneath Chris post

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While i respect Chris and have always loved the way he talks, this is pure bla bla bla. Why not just admit current league was is and prolly going to be crap and focus on honest solutions/mitigation?

MARKER DROP INCREASE WHEN??????????
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To me more than everything a failure of GGG is that they have didnt make poe interesting to every one of my friends and im playing alone. I also feel stupid that i still want to play leagues which are released in such pathetic state, now im not expecting good one but "aww shit here we go again with beta testing".

I remember huge discussion when Tencent bought ggg i remember posts which were as shitty in quality as this one, trying to convince playerbase that nothing is going to change and bla bla bla. Turned out, after such long time, that everybody who expected that chinese money d turn this game into shit were right. Also, people posted that Tencent will force ggg to develop poe for chinese market more, which is way more focused on micro-transactions, well that turned out to be so true as well.

Its just a pain to see that this game deevolved to this state. Its even more troublesome that avalanche is going down and i cannot see that its going to be stopped. Why i remember last leagues by shitty starts, hilarious bugs and bug abusing rather than good content? Im betting my dick on it that many players feel the same. If Chris thinks they have done such great job, they should somehow ask players whet they remember from past leagues - somebody then might be "enlightened" about such great state of the game we have.

Cheers / KingGreg

Some days ago I asked Chris by email about some game related question (because Support with their automated messages were unable to actually give an answer; it's understandable though, because they have like 1000+ tickets per day).

He replied in less than 5 hours and gave an actual human answer.

So I have real hope that Chris' increased and more involvement in the next league development is a good sign for the game (I also love that the new league would have MONSTERS IN MAPS, which we don't had in last two leagues, and also Atlas mechanic change).

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_Daybit_ wrote:

Some days ago I asked Chris by email about some game related question (because Support with their automated messages were unable to actually give an answer; it's understandable though, because they have like 1000+ tickets per day).

He replied in less than 5 hours and gave an actual human answer.

So I have real hope that Chris' increased and more involvement in the next league development is a good sign for the game (I also love that the new league would have MONSTERS IN MAPS, which we don't had in last two leagues, and also Atlas mechanic change).

I'm not sure what your actual point is?

Chris responded to your email personally, so you have high hope for the next league? Based on what? The actual response?

I mean if I send Chris an email and he doesnt respond, then I should be pessimistic about the next league?

The fuck logic is this?

Chris who?

Imo what should be taken from this is that he even cared enough to put it out and oversee development more. Once again he has placed himself in "the firing line" cant say I would do the same if I were in his position. Better to not have expectations in these things, if you do, again imo your too involved.

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fobosollo wrote:

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To me more than everything a failure of GGG is that they have didnt make poe interesting to every one of my friends and im playing alone. I also feel stupid that i still want to play leagues which are released in such pathetic state, now im not expecting good one but "aww shit here we go again with beta testing".

No product can appeal to "everyone." Some people are just not going to be in the market for that product. How many pairs of gloves are you going to sell to a one-armed man?

I play PoE because a friend plays it. (And, if he's reading this, hi bro! (He prob knows that.)) Is it fun? Sure, I guess. It's aggravating, but it's playable and sometimes interesting.

My friend's a fan and that's why I'm playing. That isn't, btw, meant as a jibe or insult to GGG or PoE fans. Not one bit. It's just that I'm not a diehard fan. (I've spent plenty of cash on MTX. I play on XBox and don't feel like linking my account because F'that...)

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Its just a pain to see that this game deevolved to this state. ...

Do some introspection there, too. Sometimes players change. That's normal. A bit of both? Normal, too. PoE is "old" in terms of a psuedo-mmo ARPG'heavy game... It is it's own thing, really. But, it's good that they're working on PoE2.

PS: It's just a game. It's not a way of life. Sure, it can be fun and all that goes with it, but it's not worth agonizing over. Discussing? Sure, that's fun too. Interacting with the community? Yup. But, if it folded tomorrow? There are other games. Eventually, "this too shall pass."

The level of entitlement is unbelievable within this community sometimes.

What do you want from them? The lead developer came out and admitted shortcomings and areas they need to improve in. In spite of what many of you view as undermining to the statement, this league and the previous league were developed while under pandemic constraints. That requires some compassion as far as I'm concerned...or we could go the other way and expect Chris to sacrifice his first born son to this community as an apology. I suspect that would still not be enough to appease this entitled mob.

Anyone that has been in charge of a group of people knows that coming out and saying that you completely F'd up is terrible for employee morale -- particularly when they're pulling overtime to meet aggressive deadlines during a pandemic.

I personally don't think this league or last league warrant a full throated apology. The releases were somewhat buggy, but honestly not so game breaking that I cared much. A few patches later they were without any noticeable bugs at all; at least for me.

As for the offended whales, his comments were about everything but you. You kept the game floating and they owe you a debt that will likely never be fully paid. But as a business, relying on the generosity of a few is not a good business model. They gain a disproportionate amount of leverage over you and if they leave, you're done. They were clearly referring to smaller fish as it's better to get 1000 $5 contributions than 1 $5000 contribution because losing one fish only costs you $5 whereas losing the whale....well you get the point.

I do think the three month cycle is a mistake, even if you decrease the amount of things in the release. There are some things that have a fixed amount of overhead, and other elements that just require raw time invested (QA in particular). But that's their choice; and it's my choice to stay or go. Same for everyone else.

If you feel that you're entitled to some soul bearing, over the top apology for a game that is more than playable during the pandemic, then it might be time to reevaluate some things.