Why doesn’t Daybreak employees post information on the official forums?

In here generally, and by a player trying to see if whatever problem they are having is a general issue or not.

Summary of what's what of the week across social media (discord, forums, facebook, twitter) sounds like a good idea.

But of course then you cross into what qualifies for that content. Not to mention how to pick what from the week is worth repeating by then... Say the swash DS issue for instance... Imagine seeing it in a roundup on Friday when it had been discovered and such on Tuesday.

Last I knew, you do not have to sign up for discord to use it, only to post. It's not hard to use - and there is a search function. Just like there is on the forums. Before I started using it on a regular basis myself, when something was going on, I searched the forums... then did a search on discord. Not often you don't ping something in one place or the other.

Edit: Ended post a little soon. Added the comments about searching discord etc because it might help someone in case not aware of the search there as well. Not trying to imply anything more by it.

Btw, is @everquestii on Twitter used for announcements related to game play at all (i.e. emergency maintenance)?

Well it's just announced emergency maintenance.. and it is on the forums as well so perhaps things aren't so bad after all, except the server being down of course. EverquestII twitter says 3 Hours forum says 2 hours... hmmm two different people creating the messages?

Oh, so it has. Mebbe tis Irene of good morning fame tweeting?

Roxxlyy, this is not at all directed at you. You've just sort of inherited a growing mess.

At one time communication was done here, either on the forums or on the website.

Then things like Facebook started becoming popular and the company decided to have a presence there. Occasionally there was a promotion to get us to go there, but nothing excessive. No worries, nearly all of the information usually made its way here still.

Then Twitter became a thing and there was a bit more of a push to get everyone to check the twitter, which is freakin' annoying for those of us who refuse to use the platform. Various bits of news fell between the cracks more often before it made it to the forums, but at first it was ok. Then there was a bit more of a push to get us to follow specific people at the company to get even more detailed news, comments, and thoughts on specific things. Even more information started falling between the cracks between the company and the consumer. Any version of the phrase, "You would have known that if you'd followed So-and-so's twitter feed" is not a phrase we should ever have to hear about important news or information when there is an official website and forum where that information is supposed to be disseminated.

All of this started becoming progressively worse even before the company changed hands. Things like the twitter feed in the side panel don't help if they're not properly maintained.

Then things started happening like the entire Next fan base being lied to, mistreated, and punted off on to the volunteers of a reddit sub, without even informing those volunteers that it was happening let alone asking if it were ok. The Landmark fans were handled nearly as poorly, but at least they got to keep their overly and inconsistently moderated forums. Meanwhile, several different groups of fans were encouraged to use reddit while people on reddit were told the rednames didn't want to talk to them there because they were being mean. Through all of these there was also an era of inconsistent and often petty moderation here as well and the quality and consistency of communication between the company and the customer his and all time low.

And now we're stuck with a situation where most of the time we find out what is going on via someone relating a discussion from a discord server that by all accounts a person can get banned from without even trying or intending to be a problem. Again, any variation on the phrase, "You would have known that if you'd checked discord" is not a phrase we should ever have to hear about important news or information when there is an official website and forum where that information is supposed to be disseminated. The information we do get here on the official forums in patch notes or whatever other communications is often minimal, vague, and incomplete.

I believe the type of information the players, customers, would like to see posted on the forums and the website dedicated to the game is: All of it. It's understandable that the devs don't have the time or the inclination to divulge every little detail of what they're doing here. Discord or twitter could be fine for that. Every patch that has notes, all of those notes should be here. Bugs, here. Information or notices about known issues and addressing those issues, here. All of it, all the time, on a regular basis, with suitable detail to keep the customers informed, here. This is not something that is out of the question. We know this because most other games manage to still get it done. In the past this game has gotten it done. Other SOE/DBG titles have managed to get it done. It's not impossible, though it might be a lot more difficult since CN let go almost all of the people who were responsible for those duties.

Ultimately, if the company can't or won't do it here, why is here still a thing?

Nicely put and a perfect echo of how I feel about it too. This is where I have always come for my information and this is where I want it to be. Personally I couldn't care less about Reddit or Twitter or Discord - they are of no interest to me - I only bothered with FB because of the incentives offered by EQ2 at the time - true story ^^

I had a longer post written, but realized it was a bit much. A quick summary of the things said elsewhere that should also (and always) be posted to the official forums:

* Dev replies regarding bugs, known issues, and any related fixes or workarounds (incoming or being worked on).

Seriously, that alone would help a lot. Right now, getting solid information about known issues affecting gameplay requires a fellow player sifting through the real-time flow in Discord and being kind enough to pass the information on. Players should never have to rely on word of mouth and rumors when it comes to actual bugs and issues affecting gameplay.

There is a lot more that would help going forward, but right now, that would do the most good.

Certain professions and employers discourage you from having social media accounts.

Castegyre has an excellent response.

By "information" I mean anything that involves changes or updates affecting the game. Too often lately we have had to hear about a game change second hand from someone who happened to be on Discord when a Dev posted it.

I mean... the irony is not lost on me.

I'm wholly unoffended - each community operates differently, so what processes may be working for one might not work for another. I'd rather figure out what works best for all of you as opposed to pushing players towards a specific platform because I prefer it. That's lame.

Currently, as I see things:

• Website: Game News
• Facebook/Twitter: Sharing game news, fun content, and maintenance notifications
• Forums: Maintenance notifications and open discussion
• Discord: Open discussion

The uses for the website and social media will more than likely not change. (I'm always open to mind-blowing new ideas, though! )


I think what's happening with the disconnect between the forums and Discord is due to ease of access. For a developer, it's easy to have Discord open in a background tab. If you get a notification, you can check it in a second, or scroll quickly through one uniform channel, answer a question, and be done. It's a very quick process.
Forums (in general, not just ours) are not the best at surfacing discussions. Sorting through them requires some digging - titles can be misleading, and posts in threads are generally much more dense. Clicking through pages to and reading separate threads is a lot more time consuming.


This is in no way an excuse, just an honest explanation for why I think this happens.
I will definitely make a more conscientious effort to share things cross-platform; I didn't know there was quite so much getting stuck in the pipeline.


Keep in mind, though, that players can be quicker at disseminating information than we are.
I am one person (who does more than one thing here at Daybreak, which I only mention because I'm not sure if people realize that), and there are times where I can get completely tied up by another task. Devs are devs, and their primary focus is to keep EQ2 running and improving.
There are a lot of you. Oftentimes, word spreads a lot faster between members of the community who are actively playing/engaging with EQ2 at whatever moment.


All of the being said, I have actually not been all that active in Discord. I'm more than willing to pose myself as a liaison between the platforms to help spread some of that information. Like I said, though, some of you will still probably beat me to the work, and I will not have a 100% catching everything success rate.

Sorry about the wall of text; trying to be as transparent as possible and I kinda just kept typing and typing. Hope it helps provide some insight, though.

This would be absolutely brilliant, Roxxlyy.

A stickied "FYI" thread of major issues/bugs (things like the Daggerstorm bug or the earlier "instantly expiring instances" troubles) would help a lot - something that acknowledges the bugs (so people don't have to ask a gazillion times) and if available, when a fix is going to be implemented (so people know to sit tight because it's being worked on).

Basically if a dev says something like "We know that's broken, we're working on it, it should be fixed in the next patch/update/expansion/full moon", it should be in the forums from an official source.

That would go a long way towards easing some of the confusion and frustration at seeing the same question asked over and over (and at having to ask the same question over and over, since an answer isn't readily available). It would also help manage people's expectations and let us know that something is known about, acknowledged, and being looked at.

yep, i was banned from having a social media accounts, for a while, there due to a tech job i had and it's becoming a lot more common in workplaces. thanks for the reply roxxlyy, the forums are important, especially for people who are in jobs where such things are not allowed. as shmogre said... just being told it's known and maybe a fix is in the works, would work wonders some time.

i got banned from discord for teasing someone, seriously, and this situation(with the lack of or confusing information) we find ourselves in is exactly why i was one of the objectors to discord when it was started. too many platforms and the forums treated like a redheaded stepchild.

Yep. It's about control. They need no excuses or reasons to ban people there. At least on the forums you have to violate a rule.

I see people on discord filling it with spam and poking the devs non stop. Makes it harder for anyone else to find information. I think some people use it to get a reputation.

In all honesty the forums have certainly gone the way of what all the cool kids are using. Several of us have complained til we are blue in the face but the fact is we aren't paid attention to after they get our money. If DBG and the devs truly cared about the player base they would listen to us and our concerns. Once upon a time SOE and the devs listened but all that went in the wind with the hiring of Smokejumper and now DBG. Welcome to EQ2 the game we love and hate in the same breath.

Here's my overall impression about DBG (and it'll be on topic eventually, stay with me here), and it's not targeted at anyone in particular as much as the overall culture. The only thing they listen to is money, and it's only if they lose enough money that they'll maybe pay attention to their customers. Even then it's not guaranteed since they also have the options of closing the game or selling it if it stops making them money. Anyway, since they've moved to a pay-to-win scheme (and apparently it's working as far as profits go) they have no reason to listen to us. They don't care about the number of players, they don't care about our complaints, not as long as they're making bank.

There's a pattern here that many others have noted. They've made player advancement a grind in order to avoid having to create new content via Live Updates, they've kept that grind current and necessary despite a new level cap, they've made it far more difficult to get non-rare harvestables (which just adds to the grind), and they didn't even have a tradeskill line on launch. I bet the next expac (or one soon after) won't even have a tradeskill line. Why should they bother when the real money they're making is from Ascensions? At this point they don't even seem to care about how hard it is for returning players to catch up, but eventually they'll see what a huge mistake that was.

So yeah, I don't see communication from them as being a priority, no offense to Roxxlyy who seems to be someone who genuinely cares. They're gradually cutting out everything they see as unnecessary/unprofitable, and this communication problem (which started with SOE) isn't going to get fixed because they lack incentive. I'm not saying not to complain, we're paying customers and we should complain when things go wrong/stay wrong, but curb your expectations.

Roxxlyy I personally don't use Discord outside the guild tab very often but I did during this Daggerstorm fiasco simply to find out what was going on as there was nothing on the official forums, from yesterday morning to now there are over 500+ new posts including inane video links, photos etc etc its a crazy mess.