over 4 years ago - Dollie - Direct link

Let's clear a few things up.

The voice chat occurred on our 50k member Official ATLAS Discord, not in a private Discord or channel. It was within an hour of the stream ending, spontaneous on my behalf (and on my own time outside of work hours) as I was aware of some confusion and lot of questions in relation to the stream. I saw 100 or so people gathered in voice, asked another colleague if he would join with me to moderate whilst I spoke, shouted "I MUST GO TO MY PEOPLE" at him and joined the channel to talk with players. I love talking with our players and wanted to address their concerns and reassure them, and, going on the comments and messages I received, they were very happy also.
Jat joined later once he was able, to predominantly, listen in and get a read on player's concerns with me. During that time, approximately 300 or so people filtered in and out to ask questions and listen in. I spent about an hour and a half with them. It seems a player joined about half way through and broadcast some of the conversation on his stream unbeknowst to me at the time. I would like to reiterate that this voice conversation was not planned, it was held on our public and Official Discord, and it was done of my own volition and on my own time.
This spontaneous talk led to Jat and I sitting down together yesterday and using information gathered from the voice chat to write up the Recap you can find here in order to address player's concerns and questions on a wider scope and to a broader audience to make sure no one missed out. The voice chat directly facilitated being better able to identify where players wanted clarity on the Stream and, in my humble opinion, improved the quality of the Recap post.
I apologise if my response here may be a little blunt. It's quite disheartening to see some of the responses in this thread.

Could we communicate more on these forums? I don't think there's such a thing as too much communication across any of our official channels. Now the Roadmap is out to the community and Xbox has been announced we can be more forthcoming and responsive after a month or so of less direct activity in regards to Captain's Logs, posting in threads, posting on Discord etc. I understand some of you don't want to join the Official Discord and I'll remain aware of that and dilligent in cross-posting anything relevant here also.

As always, we'll continue to share info and respond to players across all of our Official channels: these Forums, ATLAS Discord and Twitter.

over 4 years ago - Dollie - Direct link

We haven't created any in-game channels specific to Companies, this isn't possible. You may be thinking of Company Discords, of which I am in about 30. These are created and used by Companies/Alliances for their own communication with each other and myself and Jat are invited as guests. Some create a #dev-chat channel or something of that ilk. As with all other channels, we read everything and respond less so (as it's just impossible to respond to everything). Players there are not privy to VIP info or "special treatment" customer service. If they report something on their Company Discords or require Customer Service, they're directed to the ticketing system (as with the Official ATLAS Discord). If they report bugs, they're directed to official ATLAS Discord #bug-reporting channel or the forums. If they offer lengthy feedback, they're urged to post it on the forums where we have more eyes on it. Worthy to note that these Company Discords most frequently give us info about exploits in the game that would be more critical if shared publicly.

The forums is the first place we go for our most "official/important" communication. Think of it in tiers. I agree that important info should go out on all platforms, and, in that respect, the forums are the hub for that. Tier 1 Communication goes in Captain's Logs and Announcements here on the forums and on Steam. A link to the post on these forums is shared in the Official ATLAS Discord's Announcement channel and on the ATLAS Twitter. This is the best avenue for that. Casual chit chat occurs on the Discord and scrolls past quickly.

Some of the best feedback can be found on the forums but it isn't limited to here, no. Companies/Players frequently make us 5-10 page Google docs and send it to us via DM on Discord. Reddit posts can offer valuable feedback. Observing players chat and debate with each other on the Official Discord is also useful. If lengthy feedback posts are made on Discord, our Mods are directed to link them to the forums and nudge them to post it here so it doesn't get lost. All of it is valuable to us. All of it is read.

The Stream was limited in time and, it seems, some things that were said slipped under the radar for many players. We recognise that some things we assumed were expressed clearly, weren't. Yes, everything conveyed in the Dev Livestream (or not conveyed as well as we'd hoped in some instances) along with what was shared in my (rare) voice chat with players was summarised and posted here (as linked in my post above). We recognise that the format of the Livestream didn't translate as we'd hoped and we're working on improving that in future Streams.
I think there's a bit of a disconnect in regards to assumptions on what is shared on Discord or Twitter, it seems there's a belief that some important info is shared there exclusively. Tell me how I can remedy that perception, I'm listening. Admittedly I have been of the belief that responding to a lengthy and well thought out post here with a "I hear you, we're looking into it" may be perceived as trite in context whereas I'm more likely to respond as such on Discord (or with a thumbs up emoji if I'm really pressed for time) because Discord is more conducive to a few words in a scrolling chat according to my own perception. Would you guys prefer brief acknowledgement of something being read even if we have nothing substantial to share on it yet? Will forum users welcome a "gotcha" or a like as a response or find it insulting? I'm open to adapting.






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