Getting the Community back to where it needs to be

[Whart]

Interesting post and equally interesting responses. A few additional considerations (i.e. The Great Wall of Text) would include the following:

1. Some people are afraid that Turbine is desperately struggling financially and isn't adequately able to maintain the game or to continue to add content. Therefore, every time someone makes a suggestion, people for whom this suggestion is not a number one priority panic, because they believe implementation of that suggestion will take supposedly scarce resources away from the changes they feel are the number one priority. This leads to the 'The game is fine as is--if you don't like it, leave' arguments.

2. The breaking of the community site (not just forum problems, I'm primarily thinking blogs) at the time of f2p release (which has nothing to do with f2p, just same timing), drove away many of the great community ambassadors to other sites and discouraged new ones from taking their place. When the blogs were full of good fiction, poetry, game guides, music, artwork, etc., and those posts were prominently displayed and easy to find on the site, there was this great creative energy that made me, and maybe others, really excited about the game. It made me want to be a part of this mature, fun, creative community and helped me see an entertainment potential beyond just a pew-pew video game. Those folks are gone now, as are many other positive contributors to the forum community who simply gave up on trying to post (I'm taking bets on how many times I get logged out while posting this).

3. The new pattern of releasing pieces of expansions instead of entire expansions together has fueled the argument between people of different play styles. People have short memories and forget which pieces were actually part of the same development cycle. Players waiting on group content get annoyed that they have to wait on their content while others are happily doing the new solo content. Soloers get annoyed when the group content finally comes out because the groupers have received new content and they haven't. Both groups get annoyed when one or the other group comments on needed fixes to 'their' content or classes or systems because they feel that any fixes will mean that Turbine is focusing on somebody else's play style at the expense of their own (see point 1). It divides the community into 'us' and 'them'.

4. The bandaid approach to fixing things (like loot imbalances) by allowing a certain type of player to benefit from a problematic system for a brief period of time, then responding to complaints by simply dropping the feature entirely (like taking loot out of dailies, symbols away from Durchest and presumably BfE t1 soon, etc.) rather than taking the time to come up with a balanced, thoughtful system that benefits all players, accomplishes nothing other than to foster negative attitudes and further divide people. I know there is pressure to fix things quickly, but when Turbine takes its time and really thinks through a workable approach (as they did with the involuntary emote toggle for example), so many more people are happy.

5. As the game ages and adds content/features/systems, things break more often and more dramatically, and people want to hear that their concerns are being heard. There are few Turbine staff who engage with the community in a meaningful way (Scarycrow is to me the best example of positive and meaningful interaction) to ask about their concerns and really talk about them in a satisfactory level of detail, with respect and thoughtfulness.

What can we do? Stay, and remember that our fellow players are the reason that our beloved source of entertainment still exists, regardless of how our opinions differ. Always try to set an example of positive, constructive collaboration when making suggestions or voicing concerns. And remember that behind every forum post is a real human being.