[Suggestion] Weeding out constructive forum posts.

Currently when it comes to giving feedback to the Devs on the forums there is just too much traffic in each discussion board for more properly constructed ideas to surface.

My suggestion (as a start at least) is for the Devs (or whoever manages this forum) to create a discussion board for game feedback that can only be accessed by those that were in tech test and early on beta.

That way the Devs can ensure that majority of the people posting will have constructive feedback that won't just be drowned out. In beta the forums were full of feedback that went a long way to how the game shaped up to be but now as it seems unless you get a lot of views/replies/likes your post will most likely NOT see the light of day.

At the moment it would appear that the Devs are focusing on other social forums like reddit and twitter to get decent feedback which to me is ******* pathetic! The Devs should be focusing on their own forums for feedback but I guess they have a hard time finding the good posts....either way though limiting the amount of feedback down to a group of people they know can give them the best feedback should be a priority if this game is to survive.

At least some way for constructive criticism to retake the forums...

I am fairly sure they dont actually read the forums. That or they are incredibly lazy and refuse to answer. The trolls get ahead when people stop posting actual feedback because there is no response from the devs.

Right because people in beta have better opinions and feedback than everyone else's?

Might help if the forum's were more organised and not just a mass mess where everything get's jumbled together

I'm not saying there aren't any non-beta testers that have really good suggestions, i have actually read quite few and they amazed me, I'm just suggesting this as a start to get things organized and changes to start happening.

To be honest? That's pretty close to the truth so far, yeah. I've seen a few worthwhile posts and ideas from people that I don't recognize from beta, but not many. I think that's more a function of the game being F2P than it being a beta vs. non-beta issue though.

Ideally though, something like this eventually needs to exist for Planetside 2. PVP MMOs typically have a very, very bad signal to noise ratio simply due to the nature of PVP-based games and the people that play them.

That would be really nice... like very good for this game.

or a way to only show suggestion posts... that way people wishing to discuss suggestions and changes can just filter the post and find things on the first page that otherwise would be waay back on page 5 or 6

That is a simple fix and I actually is going to make a 3 second post with that topic if not you are... I'm giving you 5 minutes to post that suggestion -

Edit: times up posting the suggestion but crediting you for the simple and epic idea.

Actually there is a way to do this, but it's probably unknown to 99% of people and probably very underused. But if you click a thread tag, eg. [Suggestion] or [Bug], then it will filter all the posts by these tags. I really think that this option should be more obvious and built into the search option...

As a downside however you do get some mislabelling of threads by their posters, either through misunderstanding or deliberately.
There have been a couple of opinionated rants that the posters designated as [Guide] for example.

I would not agree that only premium, or beta, or whatever, people are allowed to post suggestions however. There is no way of distinguishing whether someone will post constructively or not until you actually look at what they say when they do post.

I'd guess that the system is similar to the other MMO forums I've used. The community managers are the ones who manage the forums, and they collect feedback and constructive suggestions to pass on to the developers.
Having a developer actually post in a constructive thread is usually avoided, since it is often the worst thing that can happen to that thread.

I see. So instead of letting people express how they feel about the game or new ideas you just want to stay in your little clique of cool kids that played the beta and think only their opinions are valid. That type of elitism is not needed or wanted here. My opinion is just as good as yours so deal with it.

No thanks. Don't care how long someone's been playing, or how much experience they have. Even the most experienced player can still be a moronic child. By the same token, someone who has been playing the game for a week may have a fresh perspective that needs to be heard. Having the "super-awesome-we-got-here-first-club" won't achieve anything.

That idea would work if it wasn't already proven that the devs shut down discussions brought up by the best and brightest minds from beta, especially when they brought up Base Construction.

Well, no. Your opinion is just as valid as mine. That doesn't mean it's as beneficial, or as useful. There's a difference. And as I said, I think it's more a problem of F2P than beta vs. non-beta. You also apparently didn't even bother to read through the info in the link I posted, or you'd realize I'm not at all advocating any kind of clique. I do thank you for providing an excellent example of useless feedback on this board though.

The problem is that there is a lot of drowning going on here because many people have no idea how to use forums.
There is not one thread to address air/anti-air problems, there is hundreds.
Many of them aren't constructive criticism, but lots of whining how they got killed once and now think it's op (or a mix).
Also, those who don't know how to create proper thread titles (this one here is a prime example of how to do it RIGHT), shouldn't be allowed to open threads.
Similar things goes for people that post although the have nothing to say.
And don't even get me started on people fullquoting a wall of text to add one line of response.

Restricting things to beta/tech-test people only would be a little unfair. I only joined after launch and don't consider myself to be a useless poster (others will have to judge that obviously ).

Some more moderation would fix it, but seeing the amount of posts that pop up here that's multiple full-time jobs.

What might work is to set up another forum where only devs or people that have proven to be good posters to OPEN threads. Anyone can post in those threads, though - if it's off topic or not constructive, the post gets deleted.
That would still require moderation, but it's something that can be outsourced to community members, too. (power grab! )

That forum would be a better place for the devs to consider for feedback since it's not actually all over the place. Everyone else can still talk to each other in the other forums and go to that special forum once they've got some ideas fleshed out.

Basically, a forum where whining without giving well-pondered reasons is forbidden. Also known as heaven.

Sorry but the "useless feedback" is this entire thread. It wreaks of elitism and your subtle condescension was a sophomoric attempt at an insult. Proving that you're just an immature child trying to get his way. Laughable and pathetic at the same time.

I'm curious, what exactly has your panties in such a twist? Or are you just confusing me with the OP? I'm not the one advocating a beta-members-only forum. On the other hand, I do feel that a small group elected by the playerbase as a whole to work directly with the developers, represent the views of the players, and try to make sure that the game as a whole stays on track works far better than just a free for all message board. That's not elitism. It's a representative democracy.

Oh. And I wasn't being subtle. I was absolutely being condescending towards you in a very open fashion, because that's exactly what your response to me merited.

SOE needs to hire a community manager.