Unread postby Sir Charles » 12 Jan 2008, 22:35
Wow, this discussion took a turn for the worse. There are simply too many posts here to reply to so I won't attempt to. Instead I will simply try to clarify my position a bit.
1. I know the editor problems are frustrating. But those problems are not due to the fans (community leaders...or whatever you want to call that group). That was a botched project by Nival/Ubisoft from the get go. By the time they "made time" to address the difficulties of it, it was pretty much too late to invest too much time and money on something that was at the end of it's cycle. Sure, I'd love to see a well done editor overhaul for H5...but then again, I think I'd rather see them focus their efforts on making H6's editor the best yet. Fabrice, Ubisoft & Nival have seen this mistake and it's going to get a higher priority in H6 (as will the AI).
2. My comment about Fabrice reading the forums is accurate. But some of you are reading into that that he reads EVERY forum and EVERY post. That...he doesn't do. Our group does try to gather info for him. But as I mentioned earlier, that hasn't been happening as often as it used to. Not by a long shot. And in regards to the editor, that feedback has definitely not recieved as much attention as bug threads and such. Could we have done better in regards to info-gathering on the editor...absolutely. But that certainly doesn't mean we don't serve a good purpose or that we should get blasted for our efforts. In case you're unaware...we do this for free and for fun...and many of us have full time jobs, spouses & kids. Our free time isn't as free as some here. Cut us a LITTLE slack.
3. The comments about the name of our group (community leaders) or that we're not the "best of the best" I find rather insulting. Most of the members of this group have played Heroes from its inception. And many are some of the very best players in the world. I'm sure you can feel free to dispute that, but there simply aren't many players as knowledgable of this game than we are. But as I said before, it wasn't the goal to get the select few great players. It was an attempt to get a wide variety for varied opinions. In regards to having site admins in the group....think about it. One of the main purposes of our group is to distribute information on the game to the fans. So having site admins is pretty much a no-brainer. And also, remember that site admins also tend to be fanatical players of the game. Why else would they create entire websites based on this game. It's certainly not to make money. Sure, they probably enjoy web design, but they could've made a website about anything. The fact that it's about Heroes confirms there's quite a bit of love of the game involved in the project. So they are defintely concerned about the quality of the game and how it's made.
4. Next, the idea that people unsatisfied with the game were excluded from that group is one of the dumbest statements I've ever read. Fabrice wanted ALL opinions. Positive and negative. In fact, the negative ones are ususally the most useful ones. Sure, we were all honored to be included, but we certainly weren't swayed into spewing the company line as many have suggested. If we disliked something, we say so. If we see a way to improve something, we say so. I'd personally like to add that of all the people that have criticized the game, I've personally put forth ideas/complaints from King Imp the most. Have I put forth ALL of them...of course not.
5. To Zam. *sigh* Are you really under the impression that you got bumped from the group because you were critical of the game? God I hope not. Everyone in that group is critical of the game. Heck, many (including myself) have BLASTED the game from time to time. To suggest that the ones most displeased by the game aren't included in the group is a pretty silly statement. Who are these people? Do they still play the game? Were they wanting a RTS instead of a TBS? In the end, Ubisoft still has to make the basic game that they want to make, right? The goal of this group is to try to help make the game the best it possibly could be....within the constraints of the basic overall design of the game they want. The thing you tend to overlook is that not every idea you consider good is one that Nival/Ubisoft would consider good. It's an opinion. All of those "great ideas" we gathered early on were NOT ignored as you seem to think. Many were implemented, many were altered and implemented in different ways, many were shelved for later use, and still more were shelved because they didn't fit in with the theme correctly. Could H5 have been a better game? Sure. But instead of focusing on the negatives, you COULD occasionally focus on the positives. It IS a fun and addictive game. It IS a visually stunning game. It IS a feast for the ears. It IS constantly being improved and updated even now. And lastly, please knock off the personal attacks. Just respond to someones' post...not to someone's personality. Fine, JJ and you dislike each other. Get over it and discuss the topic. (and yes, that goes BOTH ways).
6. The goals of this group. First off, we're not paid...we're volunteers. We're not professional bug finders, information gatherers, playtesters or marketing experts. We are, simply put, Heroes fans. We are heroes fans to such extents that we're willing to spend our free time putting together information, web pages, polls, projects, manuals, etc, etc, etc for the good of the OTHER Heroes fans out there. Are you seriously going to point fingers at us for NOT gathering ALL the info? For NOT ensuring the editor is the editor that we should've gotten? For NOT squashing all the bugs? We don't have DIRECT influence on the game. We have direct contact with someone who DOES have direct influence on the game. To assume otherwise is simply wrong.
Calvin: "Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless."
Hopefully, I just misunderstood something.
