Just Curious as to how people feel about 343’s communication with the fans. This Poll is just to help 343 gain insight into how the community feels about the quality of communication.
I’m sorry, but what communication? There’s next to none directly with us to be honest.
343I communication
>Occasional bulletins, only some of which relevant to important issues.
>Very rarely posts on forums to answer mostly newb questions.
>Occasional podcasts.
>Videos, articles, etc. that do not directly communicate with anyone.
So, not good, but not bad. I’ve seen worse.
Well, sometimes they tell us that we think they are doing great…
No, not really.
Why? Mainly the weapon tweaks.
If you’re going to announce them, at least give us SOME time frame to expect them. I know you have to test, certify, etc.
But until I even KNOW that these tweaks are implemented, I’m not playing Halo 4. And I refuse to until it’s set in stone. Sorry 343, but I’m not gonna use the DMR JUST so I can play this game regularly.
I am very unhappy with 343i’s communication.
Their lack of communication will be their downfall.
> No, not really.
>
> Why? Mainly the weapon tweaks.
>
> If you’re going to announce them, at least give us SOME time frame to expect them. I know you have to test, certify, etc.
>
> But until I even KNOW that these tweaks are implemented, I’m not playing Halo 4. And I refuse to until it’s set in stone. Sorry 343, but I’m not gonna use the DMR JUST so I can play this game regularly.
Uhh didn’t you see last week’s bulletin? o.O They mentioned the fixes they’re thinking of doing as well as reviewing vehicle play.
Edit:
On topic: I have no issue with 343i’s communication. I get a new bulletin every week. I know they’re listening by the changes they’ve made. I also know the horrible NDA sea of red tape that is Microsoft, so I hold them to very little when it comes to communicating every single thought and design choice.
Could there be more interaction between devs and players, definitely, but I’m not upset by any means.
> Uhh didn’t you see last week’s bulletin? o.O They mentioned the fixes they’re thinking of doing as well as reviewing vehicle play.
He’s saying 343I hasn’t told us when the changes would actually arrive, and that he’s tired of the waiting.
> > Uhh didn’t you see last week’s bulletin? o.O They mentioned the fixes they’re thinking of doing as well as reviewing vehicle play.
>
> He’s saying 343I hasn’t told us when the changes would actually arrive, and that he’s tired of the waiting.
I’d assume with in the next 2-3 weeks as what usually happens when they announce changes. They tend to follow a pattern, unless specifically told other wise. (IE CSR on waypoint)
I also tend to have a great deal of patience when it comes to balancing games. A tricky tight rope that few understand.
I feel like they’ve dodged a lot of our concerns whereas Bungie had a more face-to-face approach where they would appear in their own forums, stick to their guns, and provide concrete design rationale as to why they made certain game design decisions, or they would give the blanket “we’re on it” response.
I feel like we’d also be much more patient with their relatively slow response times if they were more open with us about what they’re actually doing for the game we’re all so passionate about.
The way I see it, on the whole, Halo’s core community doesn’t like Halo 4 as it currently stands, and I think it’s worth allocating some time to communicating with these players to 1). figure out what we don’t like and how to address those things and 2). put our concerns at ease.
Only good things could come from that for Halo 4 and future Halo titles. At this point, through the game’s design and their treatment of us, I feel like 343 has wholly neglected its adopted core fanbase and advanced playership. Personally, I think it’s in their best interest to do something to support player retention, and IMO, they just haven’t really done anything to that end.
They need to be more like Bungie was with the community.
Are we looking for communication?
Or is communication code for compliance?
The bulletins are communicative. They may not be what we want to hear, but still…
> Are we looking for communication?
>
> Or is communication code for compliance?
>
> The bulletins are communicative. They may not be what we want to hear, but still…
I think what we want is more discussion than anything. The bulletin is fantastic, and bs angel does a great job with it. For the matchmaking updates, so does Bravo.
What we’re looking for, though, is the equivalent to someone nodding that they get what we’re saying. We want acknowledgement that we’re being heard. We want rationale for the game’s design.
We want communication that works both ways.
> > Are we looking for communication?
> >
> > Or is communication code for compliance?
> >
> > The bulletins are communicative. They may not be what we want to hear, but still…
>
> I think what we want is more discussion than anything. The bulletin is fantastic, and bs angel does a great job with it. For the matchmaking updates, so does Bravo.
>
> What we’re looking for, though, is the equivalent to someone nodding that they get what we’re saying. We want acknowledgement that we’re being heard. We want rationale for the game’s design.
>
> We want communication that works both ways.
I think that could be a reasonable request, but we run into the issue of what 343i can respond on.
Some are frustrated with the DMR
Others are still questioning why CSR is not in game
Others are wondering when FOTUS can be had for 400 MS points
There are a lot of issues. I am not sure how 343i can navigate all of these questions. The one answering these questions needs to have the authority to give factual and official information. Any mistake did lead to a roasting (Look at always on-line fella)!
> We want rationale for the game’s design.
The last time we got that, it was a crippled Spartan in a wheelchair…
If they can communicate to the community on the Waypoint forums instead of me having to go to Twitter and NEOGAF then I’ll be happy.
> I think that could be a reasonable request, but we run into the issue of what 343i can respond on.
>
> Some are frustrated with the DMR
>
> Others are still questioning why CSR is not in game
>
> Others are wondering when FOTUS can be had for 400 MS points
>
> There are a lot of issues. I am not sure how 343i can navigate all of these questions. The one answering these questions needs to have the authority to give factual and official information. Any mistake did lead to a roasting (Look at always on-line fella)!
For the most part, you’re right. There are many common concerns in the community. This is an asset for 343’s response abilities because, whoever’s talking to us, all they have to do is ask one of the higher-ups once. Then they have the answer.
The other, more work-intensive part is, if someone at 343 comes across something they don’t know how to address and thinks it’s worth addressing, they shoot a PM off to the person who knows that answer. Bungie has an internal messaging system to keep all of their employees in touch no matter where they are in the studio. Something like that would be an advantage to 343 if they don’t have it already. If not, welcome to 1997!
The root of the problem, no doubt, is a lack of allocation of resources at this task. People like bs angel and Bravo probably have more to do than to cruise the forum and talk to us. That said, Bungie accomplished that well. The community guys were ever present, and likely, that was because it was part of their job.
Maybe the problem is nobody at 343 actually has this in their job description.
> > We want rationale for the game’s design.
>
> The last time we got that, it was a crippled Spartan in a wheelchair…
You know what? That was a good thing. By showing us that graphic, hopefully Josh Holmes understands that, while he tried to make the game accessible, our reaction showed that what he actually did was handicap the game.
I’m not confident he’s open-minded enough to even entertain that thought for one second, but I don’t know him and can’t judge or guess. I only hope that such a gaff stopped him and got him to think, “maybe I was mistaken.”
Because the truth is that graphic really couldn’t have adequately conveyed what they did to Halo any better. I just hope they got that.
> 343I communication
> >Occasional bulletins, only some of which relevant to important issues.
> >Very rarely posts on forums to answer mostly newb questions.
> >Occasional podcasts.
> >Videos, articles, etc. that do not directly communicate with anyone.
> Announcing fake promotions to cover their map pack release mistakes
The “14 Day Buy and Play” promotion was announced a few days after the mistaken free release of the Crimson Map pack. The purpose of the “promotion” was to give 343 the legal basis under the Terms of Service to deactivate map packs that Xbox Live users legally downloaded. In retrospect, that one incident did more to break the community’s trust of 343 than any lack of communication.