If the developers are not listening to you

If the developers are not listening, just rate the game poorly and move on to a new game. There are plenty of similar games, with better graphics, better plots and story. Rate the game poorly to protect future prospective players from investing in this game, and then take your money elsewhere.

Any other thoughts out there ?

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I am going to speak for myself. I believe it is not a Black or White situation. The fact I feel the desire to offer some feedback to the game developers does not mean I ā€œHateā€ the game or feel the need to ignore the good. To Rate the game a 1 and move on, IMO, is an action of someone who is fed up 100%.

I dislike how they handled a few things and love how they handled some things. There are areas of the game I feel need tweaking and other areas I think are doing well. The Developers have offered us an area to share our feedback (This Forum) and thus it is an important part of our relationship as Game Company and Game Consumer.

So, for now, I donā€™t see the need for the extreme action of a low rating and stop playing.

Hope that makes sense.

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Agreed with dafrca. The devs are listening as they have replied to those concerns in the past. I think they can do more and be more pro-active about their communication with the community, but I understand that theyā€™re a small team and Iā€™m not privy to the data behind the scenes that may dictate their actions.

This isnā€™t to say that I wonā€™t move on if the game continues on its path, but thereā€™s enough promise with a great base game and even better community that warrants sticking around.

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I enjoy this game and plan on continuing to play. If you donā€™t like the update feel free to move on. You donā€™t have to destroy the game if you donā€™t get your way. Honestly, you sound like a petulant child.

Before the update I gave the game a good rating. Today I changed it. I am not acting as a petulant child in any way and neither is anyone else that chooses to show prospective players what has been done. Titan loot has been horrible often loot from a one star is better than a 6* . You might say itā€™s because you were top hitter. In that they would be incorrect. Up until this week I was in a standard alliance. Half of which were inactive or barely active including the leader. Baha and several other mercs helped us learn the game and convinced us to invest RL money into the game. I did so and chose to move to a merc alliance to help other players. It has been a wonderful change. I was one foot out the door and Baha ,Chu and other mercs changed that. By the way my original post Iā€™ve rating of the game was given the day I moved to Chuā€™s alliance.

Ok, so what have you told devs that they didnā€™t listen to?

Many if not most of the changes they done to this game is based on feedback we players gave them. Including this mercenary change. I have pitched a lot of ideas and problems and many of them have lead to improvements in this game. Not all but many.

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Hey Arien -

There were 60+ comments in the forum, many many many hours, without a single response from the Empires and Puzzles team when I posted this.

Everyone who works in a customer service industry knows, that for every comment/complaint you get, there are 10 others who feel the same but donā€™t comment, and just deal with a bad experience and eventually find something else that makes them happy if alternatives exist, which in this case there is. My note is pretty basic, in that if people donā€™t like what is happening to them, move on to something better.

In eliminating a major portion of their user base, and not even putting it into their release notes they knew they would get backlash, they knew they were doing something sneaky. Businesses that go a day without responding to a crisis is something we read about in business school all the time surrounding failed companies. Perhaps proactively listing this in their upcoming release notes would allow for feedback prior to implementing such a drastic change, rather than being reactive.

I recognize that you have a valid point of view, and that there is no correct answer here. The underlying problem to all of this still exists, in that they listen to a few ā€˜seniorā€™ points of view, which may seem valid from a business standpoint. Unfortunately, their view of the world will be skewed to only see the viewpoints of a select elite few, and not the other 100,000 players either playing, or coming in to the game. Their failure to announce this, and exclude it from their release notes shows a deliberate cover up.

While I know they have recently announced a partial remedy to the situation, the lack of response for so long has resulted in the heartbreak of many, including myself, who have mentally moved on. Iā€™ve only been in the game a short time, the developers can see the hundreds I spent each week on the game, and I have left the game. My user name was Grinder, and I was one of Chuā€™s Mercs, now called Chuā€™s Retirement Home. I took my own advice and uninstalled the game, and feel a weight lifted from me. I wish those who remain the best of luck, and I hope they one day see a path to the ascension items they need. Be well.

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Come on! The devs canā€™t just change everything on a seconds notice as soon as someone wants something.

Many people wanted that mercing to stop, wrote about it and they took weeks to stop the exploit. Now many people complained that they canā€™t merc. So they should change it back in an hour? So who to listen to? Of course those who wanted this changed arenā€™t going to be as noisy as those who oppose it. So that long thread is just the one side of the community.

Takes some planning to get a solution that is acceptable by both sides. I think they handled it fine in the end. Quick solution to remove the worst imbalance and more time to get into the root of the problem and work out something better. I think this was quite fast reaction to the voice of the community, donā€™t you think?

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They didnā€™t have to resolve something in seconds, a single response that said they are listening, and would look into it would be sufficient. Alternatively, as I stated they could have mentioned it in advance in their release notes, but chose to deliberately hide it.

Iā€™ve seen other games that have someone who monitors the forums, announces things in advance, and listens to feedback. This forum/game is severely lacking in that aspect.

This post was a simple statement, that if people were not happy, they should vote with their wallets and their social media presence. It is the best power they have, and they should use it, rather than complaining in posts, dealing with bad corporate behavior, and letting deficiencies continue.

The internet and social media are changing the way businesses run, and satisfy customers. Using Yelp to find a good restaurant will make the other restaurants focus on improving themselves to get better, and the ones that screw customers will go out of business. It is the same in gaming, and people should use their vote to find games that donā€™t do this. I spend hundreds a week, to build a team, so I can go Mercā€™ing, and I feel as if the company broker their contract with me, and deliberately hid the fact they were doing so. Voting to protect future players from the same trap is the right thing to do for all.

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