Nothing says we care about the community than another MTX update with development resources poured into graphically reworking a tiny part of the game giving it more visual inconsistency.
Who is the person in-charge and how can they not see they are doing a terrible job? Is no one internally telling them?
There's going to always be a mix - especially when it comes to weekly output. Ninja are prepping their next strike and Episodic are continuing work on our September content update after releasing Alchemical last week, so you'll see more on those fronts soon.
In general, I would just say to be prepared for a variety between events, QoL updates, new content and reworks. We have different teams doing their own thing and they'll pop up in between each other. Live Ops dropped this event and did the work themselves which shipped when it was ready without reliance on those other teams (the graphical rework was even done by an artist on the team!).
I'd say the lack of communication from the community managers (outside of these posts themselves) is an indication of how much Jagex (or at least the community manager) cares about the community.
2 weeks ago a post was not received well and the community manager then decided not to comment at all over the last two weeks, but has posted this thread and another a week ago. Really makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
Fair comments on our community presence. We've had a mix of holidays, internal training days and a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has made us less present vocally for a little bit here. We'll work on that. The CM team really have been working their socks off.
Regardless of our workload, the CM team are in here reading constantly though and the feedback has been represented to and/or seen by the team, even if you didn't see us comment.
On the 'working on stuff behind-the-scenes' front, we mentioned a while back that the plan is to bring you closer to development and that's a big part of fixing that feeling. We have some stuff in flight that hopefully will start to emerge soon which - we hope - will really give you the kind of insight you all look for from us. It's taking a bit but we will get there.
*Slight edit for clarity*
This new mtx update is extensive. With polish. And s kick ass interface. You're really telling me that couldn't have been replaced with something for the subscriptions we already payed? Like come on man. The most substantial updates we get in a month can't be mtx events. Pay a subscription for a month for support, and then you use that money to find more ways to ask for more money...
If you did both, that's one thing. Live ops seem to put out the most consistent content and the most polished content... Like the actual permanent content updates that aren't related to paying more than our sub, are an after thought. Not a priority.
That's what we're hoping to solve with the new monthly content releases - a mix of Ninja (QoL / Rework / Improvement), Events (Live Ops) and new content as a balance. Events cover things like The Beach, Halloween etc as well as stuff like Travelling Artisan just to be clear.
Totally appreciate the feedback that, right now, you don't feel like that balance is there. The plan is just taking it's first steps so hopefully we'll hit more of the notes you want coming up as we release some bigger stuff like Orthen too.
As a question just based on your comment, did you not feel Alchemical Hydrix was the most substantial thing this month out of interest? We're aware it's a smaller update in size compared to some we have in the pipe, but we feel it is pretty meaningful to the game. Just keen to hear thoughts to pass on here!
Why are we getting more content produced out of Live Ops than we are from the regular development team?
Also, if Live Ops were the only ones to work on this update then why are there no patch notes this week despite a number of bugs?
Finally, Hooli, are you aware of Jagex's accomplishments in 2016? What their update schedule was like, Jagex's team formation, strategies, etc? If you aren't, why aren't you?
We're talking about some very different scopes sizes in terms of content which is part of it - the other part is the pivot plan has only just taken effect to enable more content more often. Desperate Measures was the end of July, followed by Alchemical in mid August. That's the first signs of that coming into play, so if you feel like that now, hopefully the months ahead will change that feeling!
On the Patch Notes, it's just simply a quieter week. More and more team members are taking their holiday right around now (given most waited while lockdown was on!) so the capacity expands and contracts accordingly with that. We also had our internal two-day LevelUp conference focused on team learning / knowledge sharing that played into that too. In those situations, the development priority is on Ninja Strikes and the new content.
On your question about the past, I am indeed. I think it's a great question and - like the Double XP LIVE conversation - one that would be great for us to come back on in more detail about how our team works in the here and now. Hate to sound like a broken record, but that's where the more transparency on our development process / state comes in hopefully!
I appreciate the response. I'd like to add that I think even if the balance was one to one. One substantial update for every event like this. If the graphical update had been more extensive today for example, I would have been cool with it. Hell, I might have even been inclined to participate in the event and spend a bit of extra money.
But if I don't feel like the money being generated from mtx and my subscription is going back into the game, I'm far less inclined to give any more money than I have to.
The alchemical hydrix was great. But no, I feel today's event is more substantial. A bunch of new items, overrides, a well done interface with some depth there in progression, seems to be more extensive to me than the alchemical hydrix. (Edit: I'm not saying I like the type of content the live event is better, far from it. I am saying that the time spent developing seems like it'd be significantly more extensive with today's mtx event)
Thank you for this feedback! Elaborating on feedback like this is really helpful for the team, so it's very appreciated. We'll pass it along.
It's not really a mix. We get more MTX/Events than we do content updates. It's like the main course are MTX/Events and the breath mint at the end of a meal are normal updates when it should be the other way around.
I already said this on twitter:
- Currently: You guys are trying to see how normal updates can 'mix' with an MTX/event update.
- Instead of: How can an MTX update 'mix' with a normal update.
If your response to this is: There are more events/MTX than normal updates then bingo, you identified the problem. That's our issue and I don't see why it's that difficult to grasp.
did you not feel Alchemical Hydrix was the most substantial thing this month
But default it has to be in terms of permanent content, but when compared to:
- The Beach
- Double XP Live
- Traveling Artisan
Two pieces of jewelry which are primarily for rich players/end-game players aren't going to be something most players will have access to.
Thanks for the well put together post on your thoughts Rubic, feedback presented in this way is great to have.
We'll see if we can bring together some folks who can talk to this - not sure if we'll have the right people to cover this in the Q&A this week fully, but if not, we'll sort something out where we can tackle this head on in more detail.
Hey Hooli, the issue is that when you and other mods say that "theres going to always be a mix" or something in that essence, we don't believe you. Because you've all proven there is not a mix occurring. Theres only a mix of MTX and patches (don't call ninja strikes anything other then a glorified patch because thats what they are). Then you sprinkle in a single content update every 4 or so months. that's not a mix.
Honestly, you hit the nail on the head when it comes to believing in what we say. We understand that. Proof is in the pudding for us right now.
The new content plan has started on track with DM in July and Alchemical in August. Our next content drop in September is also looking on plan right now. And Ninja Strikes are constantly peppered in between that.
Point being, we hope you'll feel it as a mix more as the months ahead go by. Please keep the feedback coming on this front - it's important we know how it feels, not just what it looks like on paper.
Just a side note, if this blend is the new format for monthly updates, is there any plan on bringing back the Month Ahead news posts?
Mod Warden has made it very clear that he doesn’t like teasing or revealing content without being confident in the release date. But even when we did get the month ahead posts, Jagex put a little disclaimer at the bottom saying that the revealed content wasn’t guaranteed to come out this month, but they are what updates are coming out next, regardless. And yes, Jagex made use of this a lot lol. Sometimes frustratingly, but at least we still knew what was in the pipeline.
Not per se. Right now, the plan is still to announce content when we are highly confident in it's release - both to protect quality (if we need to spend more time to get it right) and to move away from some missed promises of the past.
What you called out is what we're going for though - 'we still knew what was in the pipeline'. We're looking at how we announce things at the right time in the right way, while also keeping you up to date with what we are working on in a satisfying way. It's not as impossible as it sounds!
Apologies for the vagueness in what the 'thing' we're going for is, still some things in flux, but once we're all locked we'll happily discuss what's coming!
I can't even imagine how dysfunctional the management of your development teams must be if you can't even forecast releases a few weeks away with reasonably certainty.
We have done recently - Desperate Measures was announced 3 weeks in advance - but each piece of content differs in development. Some fly through, others unfurl surprises to tackle.
Just speaking personally, in other development teams I've worked in, content is usually announced pretty close to release for similar reasons.
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