While I’ve reached a point where working on any advertising over actual improvements to the racing experience would raise my ire, at least the advertising you’re talking about would add immersion to the game.
No I’m talking about stuff like the Oreo Pagani and yes, the the Donut media story and the Hot Wheels expansion. That represents a lot of content that could have otherwise been effort spent on improving the racing experience, which is currently dismal for a racing game.
I mean the Hot Wheels expansion was horrible. All spectacle without any depth. Spent 90% of the expansion just holding the gas, bored out of my skull.
I’ve been going to official forums for a long time (I stay away from Reddit because that is a hole from which I will never reappear), and I have only once actually interacted with a dev (MLB the Show) and only once (for sure I may have influenced other decisions) had my input actually make it to the game (Overwatch).
Direct dev interaction, in my experience, never really works well. As soon as a dev jumps into a forum, they get absolutely flooded. People you have never seen on the forum before suddenly come crawling out of the woodwork to ask some of the stupidest, most mundane, unimportant, or already answered questions (that last one happens A LOT).
In my eyes having the community manager as the go between and the filter for the devs is a better solution. Issue here is that something in that chain is clearly broken. I have no idea what part, but based on the effort Max puts into improving these forums I’m guessing it’s something above him, but I have no way of knowing for sure.
The occasional locked thread post just to say “Hey, we actually do read the forums on occasion” from a dev would go a long way though. I mean, as long as it wasn’t a lie. Of course there is kind of a catch-22 there. Because even if they have been reading the forums, there is no way I’d believe them based on their actions.
Yeah I don’t mind advertising. It made Dirt 2 feel pretty legit. Especially with the special gold “No Fear” scooby you could unlock with an old DiRT save file.
Things like coca cola trucks for the Holidays and if you buy a coca cola you get a coca cola car would be cool with me.
when can i download this along with the series 19 update for PC? as my internet speed out here in the sticks isn’t that great i need to get on it asap.
Check the messages/news in the game. There is one that gives a timeline for the updates required. There is one today and another one tomorrow, and you need both for the DLOC to work
Thats the closest you’re ever gonna get to a player-dev interaction. If they adressed feedback every once in a while that’d be great. For example the recent night time increase which turns out to be temporary.
This was requested like a month after horizon 5’s release and asked by many. One of the first 3 update shows it was even directly asked at Mike Brown in a Q/A. At least wouldve been nice if they acknowledged that it came from player feedback. They couldve say hey players wanted us to extend night time but issues such as blah blah blah and this and that come to hand. So this is the reason why we are only testing if the players will like it or not. ( which granted they explained but very briefly).
I have to be very guliable after having played this game for over a year and spend reasonable time in forums and what not to know how horizon stands in this genre. Just because someone says something in this case the folks who want player-dev interaction doesn’t necessarily mean is the best way of handling the situation. Ive never been a forum guy untill half a year ago maybe. What you’re demanding of could a good thing or not. TheWarmWind76 Definitely puts out a good perspective on it.
Ive looked through the Forza Horizon 4 Discussion some time ago and there was definitely more interaction. Not dev to player one but community managers to player interaction. And oh boi that looks like a hot mess. All of a sudden everything that TheWarmWind76 talked about hits right in the face.
ManteoMax had a comment on that long thread that got closed and i am paraphrasing it “everyone wants me to stop working and talk to them”… Speaking about me i wouldnt want to disrupt someone just because i am a special kind of snowflake. I find that just wrong. However they could do i think a better job of adressing feedback as i mentioned earlier. The night time increase request has been up and hagning for so long. Cmon Turn10/PG do some healthy PR! Just say the words. That maybe wouldve offset the feeling of not being heard. ( Edit: Similarly to the way they adressed the leaderboards issues )
And i did go on discord and threw my question in the box. I asked about the reasoning behind the car choises for the new expantion. Nobody is gonna catch fire or get a corona if they wrote 1 line of text and pushed a button. I am usually very negative around here and nobody is asking me or you to stop. Just know you’re not the only snowflake out there.
I can tell you what “issue” prevented them from making this change permanent. It’s people - myself included - who don’t enjoy driving at night and could react to the update so negatively that it might result with opening another highly voted topic to request shortening night time
However, despite my dislike for driving at night, I am willing to accept this change, especially if it’ll make a considerable chunk of community happy. And I appreciate that PGG is introducing it temporarily for now, to gather feedback before making a major change like this irreversible
As a Community Manager, isn’t that the point? That position should be a liaison between the community and the player base. When the dev’s are M.I.A., the onus for communication falls directly on this position.
If the issue is “I have a real job”, then why take the position to begin with?
I understand it for not being a permament feature. And totally get it for being only a temporary thing to be tested and see how players react. I am certianly all about the idea for longer nights but i wouldnt know myself unless i see how it would work first.
Adress the specific feedback - yes, suggestions that are made in the hub - yes. And they arent doing a very good job on this. But what do you really expect them to sit down and talk to me or you? As i said it again ive seen it on the horizon 4 disscussion page. FH4 Discussion - Official Forza Community Forums . Click and filter by top posts of all time and read down the list to see the madness.
Every random user that comes and goes through this forum suggesting and trying to get into conversations with them for just about anything. Go explain to the 50th guy that Japan expansion in Mexico makes no sense or that adding their favorite car here and now cant happen just because he/she demands for it. Thats anything but productive. And maybe 1 or 2 people actually say something valuable in between. But then you’re back to square 1.
That doesn’t mean there shouldnt be any communication at all. Just not this kind of communication thats equivalent of talking to some random person in the bus. In which after 5 minutes you start to question your existence. Having a Q/A only on discord does feel kind of unfaire i can agree on that. Especially since this is supposed to be the central hub for everything forza related.
