Closed Improve communication / team capacity

[DeCiMaToR]

Hello everyone!

First off, I want to clarify that this thread is not supposed to attack any team members, but instead is merely meant to voice my concerns and to give some constructive criticism.

The topics I want to discuss are mainly the state of suggestions, patches in general and communication.

Suggestions

I like the fact that the team is collecting suggestions from the playerbase, and it is obvious that many, or even most suggestions will not be implemented. That is totally fine, of course.
However, my main concern is the very slow response rate of the team, both regarding reviewing suggestions, as well as implementing accepted ones.
There have been over 1 entire page of suggestions piling up over the past month, with vivid discussions going on, but only very few of them even got acknowledged by the team.
I am aware that they are still being watched, even with no direct response, but it does not really feel engaging when you see many unanswered suggestions, especially when they have been made weeks ago.

I think this goes hand in hand with there being suggestions that have been accepted almost half a year ago, (even ones that should be rather simple to implement) yet still not being live.
My conclusion here is, that the team simply does not have the capacity to deal with all the suggestions, so more of the newer ones get rejected or don't get properly reviewed at all.
This sadly leads to frustration, and also my second point:

Communication

It is one thing having to wait on suggestions, new content, patch notes etc. being implemented, but it is a whole different thing when you don't even know what you are waiting for, and/or when or even if it is coming.
One example: I recently opened a suggestion about something that already has been accepted, simply because I was certain it has been entirely forgotten about.
The reply was that it will be implemented, but there are currently higher priorities.
Besides the fact that the original suggestion has been accepted in July and it definitely should have made its way into the game months ago already, I am way more content about at least knowing the team has not forgotten about it.

In my opinion, communication is one of the biggest weak points, as the playerbase currently feels not included, nor cared for, and generally distant.
Acknowledging player concerns, creating road maps, sharing progress on patches, suggestions and updates would not be a lot of work for the team, but would make a huge difference for the players.

Conclusion

As already mentioned before, I think a lot comes down to the limited capacity of the development team.

I feel like it would massively improve the server, if the team had 1-2 more developers, so that suggestions can be implemented more quickly, bugs being prevented through crosschecking, or at least being addressed more efficiently, and updates, events etc. being more polished when getting released.

This would drastically increase player satisfaction, which leads to more players joining, and most importantly, staying on the server.
The same goes for the aforementioned communication, both within the team and between the team and the players.


Please feel free to give your input on the matter, or share ideas. We all want WoM to thrive after all!

 

[PlaQ]

This is currently one of the biggest downsides. It feels like WoM2 is lacking clear direction, as issues like these are not being addressed proactively by the team, which in turn demotivates players in the long term.

Especially concerning compared to previous WoM2 iterations is the complete lack of PvP event rotations. In the last WoM2 (especially last 1,5 Years) , I participated in more than three to four PvP events + Kingdom Wars & other named Events, which helped keep the server active and competitive among high-level players.

It is important to keep in mind that the team has the ability to motivate players to grind, play, and build for PvP by taking the right actions. This is clearly demonstrated by the success of the World Bosses, where we have seen a level of PvP activity that has not existed before.

 

[Essence]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to write this up so thoughtfully. We really appreciate the constructive tone and the fact that this comes from a place of wanting WoM2 to thrive. We understand that communication and transparency are areas that can feel frustrating from the outside, especially when accepted suggestions take a fairly longer period to reach our community. That frustration is valid and we understand how silence can easily be read as disinterest or neglect, even when that isn’t the case internally. If disinterest was really the case, then we wouldn't have a forum to begin with. Additionally, the recent holiday period meant reduced team availability across that timeframe; that is usually the case during Christmas to New Year period.

To give a bit of context (not as an excuse, but as an explanation): the team's capacity often shifts resources toward areas that require more operational urgency, such as maintenance, stability and urgent issues that aren’t always visible to players. This, combined with the fact that our production follows a certain calendar of events and celebrations, does, unfortunately, mean that some accepted suggestions take far longer to reach implementation than expected.

Regarding team size, we agree that in some cases, more is indeed better, and we are actively thinking about it in terms of the server's long-term health. However, expanding the team isn’t a simple process, considering we operate in a niche of the game development industry. It’s also worth noting that it isn’t always possible to bring in just any developer at short notice, as we have specific criteria and requirements for our team, and those who meet them are rare.

Thanks again for raising these points respectfully and in good faith. With that being said, team size, hiring decisions & internal management matters aren’t topics we’re able to discuss with our players. For that reason, I’ll be closing this thread, but please know that the feedback has been seen and taken into consideration.

Warm wishes,
Essence.