I'm wondering if there's some forum or something where Jagex actually communicates with their player base on a regular basis about RS3. I know they're relatively good about talking to the OSRS playerbase but I can't find much of anything about RS3 feedback/discussion.
Is there an actual place where Jagex takes feedback/talks with the community about RS3?
Question - J-Mod reply,Discord Is probably the better place in my opinion. Easier to either send direct feedback or tag the moderator who needs to see that feedback
Though if you have a really long suggestion. Posting it here and then linking the suggestion is always good too
Reddit, discord. Those are the current places that you can leave feedback about updates.
What kind of interactions are you looking for specifically? Generally the Jmods are reading feedback and discussions where the communities are with discord being the easiest in my experience.
Is there a particular type of engagement your trying to find and do you have examples of it?
I'm mostly looking to make feature requests. Not really balance or gameplay stuff, but UI/UX things mostly that I think could improve the game.
That said, just general discussion about the direction of the game is also of interest
Quite literally, just answer us every once in a while.
Or perhaps, consider making Q&A Reddit Threads, what's the worst that could happen?
We have unbiased and mature Reddit Mods, a Q&A Thread is most likely gonna be adequately moderated, so people being rude or breaking the rules will get their comments removed.
Jmods can answer whenever they see fit, but a Q&A thread gathers all people answers in a single place rather than various independent threads.
A Q&A Thread for: General Questions, Upcoming Content and, most importantly, issues and pain points within the game, where Jmods actually interact with us and give us the answers we seek, would be highly appreciated.
I don't know if the job of a CM is to get answers from the community and listen to what they have to say about the game, but in all my years on this sub, being through at least 8 of them; with the best one, BY FAR, being Shauny, makes me wonder if my definition of what a CM does is biased or if Jagex prohibits certain interactions with the community.
A CM being silent about specific topics is unnatural, especially when they're things that are ruining the game's experience for plenty of people.
Besides, we're all adults here (most likely I guess) aren't we supposed to... idk man, TALK? Why does it feels like we're talking to a wall sometimes, why aren't CM transparent anymore? Because even before you and Hooli even considered joining Jagex, we were promised more transparency and open communication.
Yet, here we are... Here we are dude...
If I'm wrong I'd gladly love to be proven wrong, because that means we'd get to see more communication.
Nothing wrong with the Q&A thread idea its just quite the drain on already strained resources but it can be something we look to do in the future, do you feel there are specific questions that are not getting answers currently? And if so are they things that will be answered in due time? (e.g people are interested in information around GIM which we will be talking about in the future)
Unfortunately I cant really chat about the issues previous CMs faced and why they made the decisions they made but more communication is honestly always going to be the goal and I am glad to say that in my time with the company we have been making great strides in improving it, is it enough for all players? No, but that's why we are always going to be working on improving it.
Yep! Thanks for the reply and for your time Azanna and just to be clear, i apologize if i sound blunt or rude, that's not my intention, never was, never will.
But speaking about unanswered questions...
There's the issue about Bots seemingly running free, without an official stance on Jagex' part.
There's the RS Mobile client being seemingly abandoned since Mod Asherz departure, are there any updates planned for it, are Jagex actively looking to improve the client?
Then, there's the game's economy, I remember around the Golden Partyhat Release Jagex said they were talking with economy experts and asking for advice, yet we didn't knew what happened, they didn't told us the full story.
And speaking about untold stories, we're still kind of waiting on that Login Lockout report Mod Warden promised, that's old business i know, and irrelevant at this point, but it proves you can get away without an explanation if you ignore the topic for long enough.
Is not always that we have one single question about upcoming content; we know for a fact content is coming (as per the roadmap), but there's topics Jagex seems to actively avoid, and people on the sub constantly ask about those topics on a daily basis, their posts even hit the frontpage quite often!
Now that I took some time off to truly think about it, perhaps a good place to start with a new "approach" would be the Weekly Newsposts.
- What if the new spots included a subsection for "issues currently being investigated" or "under investigation" something like that, because we can report bugs and use the appropriate formats as intended, but we may never know if the issue is actually being investigated or if it requires an engine update and may take a while to deploy, that kind of clarity could be conveyed on the news post and may be really, really appreciated.
Here's an example of what I mean: Remember those Elf Wildcards from Treasure Hunter that already exist in the Grand Exchange but have no way to obtain them? I reported them in game, I reported them to you, and I mentioned them to Mod Yuey too, yet it seems the reports are being ignored or maybe got assigned a very, very low priority (which most likely is the case) yet, i have to draw those conclusions myself, when this information could be easily conveyed on the new spots as an "issue currently being investigated".
Then there's feedback that on paper may sound simple, like graying out old/expired events on the Game Calendar Window, but may be way more complex to implement and the payoff not as big as expected.
And I know some requests may be out of the Dev's Scope, which is completely understandable, but sometimes even a simple answer is all we really need to ease our minds.
But anyway that's just me and my personal opinion, I'm probably the only person on this sub to be "this" outspoken, but that's the way i am i can't really change that, and to be totally transparent my ulterior motive is simple, all I want is to find a low investment but effective method of communication between Jmods and Players, something that put us on the same level of communication as OSRS, but doesn't give players enough power to feel like they're entitled to answers, it has to be something that works for the short, medium and long term going forward.
There has to be a way, yet we haven't seen it, even after all these years, and I'm sure the answer is pretty simple, but what could it be... Every new Community Manager that gets hired, always gives me hope about getting closer to that answer.
But anyway, sorry for taking time off your schedule with this wall of pointless rambling, but these are just my 2¢, thanks a lot for your time and I wish you and the team a great weekend :)
There's the issue about Bots seemingly running free, without an official stance on Jagex' part.
Botting is always reportable and the team is always working on removing them and more importantly the systems that enable them, I understand that players would like more info on these topics but by the nature of the topic its not one we can give a lot of insight into, just know that we are always working on it.
There's the RS Mobile client being seemingly abandoned since Mod Asherz departure, are there any updates planned for it, are Jagex actively looking to improve the client?
Asherz was not a mobile dev, he was just one of the team who was more vocally active in the mobile aspects, Mobile is still very much being updated and improved by the team.
Then, there's the game's economy, I remember around the Golden Partyhat Release Jagex said they were talking with economy experts and asking for advice, yet we didn't knew what happened, they didn't told us the full story.
Not quite sure of the story on that one, sounds like a bit of a grab bag of stories, when it comes to the economy we are monitoring and making changes where possible and appropriate, unfortunately this isnt as quickly or directed as players would often like but its an incredibly delicate system so being heavy handed likely doesnt get great results.
And speaking about untold stories, we're still kind of waiting on that Login Lockout report Mod Warden promised, that's old business i know, and irrelevant at this point, but it proves you can get away without an explanation if you ignore the topic for long enough.
Unfortunately wasn't around at this time but I know Hooli would love to do a whole documentary style thing on it one day if he got a chance but currently I dont think there is a big report in the works
What if the new spots included a subsection for "issues currently being investigated" or "under investigation" something like that, because we can report bugs and use the appropriate formats as intended, but we may never know if the issue is actually being investigated or if it requires an engine update and may take a while to deploy, that kind of clarity could be conveyed on the news post and may be really, really appreciated.
Oddly enough this is sorta something myself and Mod Yuey are working on trying to implement, essentially we wanna help improve the bug reporting systems to have a more perceivable aspect for players, not 1 to 1 in the weekly news post but the idea to have a space where "known issues" are actively being displayed is something we are working on.
Remember those Elf Wildcards from Treasure Hunter that already exist in the Grand Exchange but have no way to obtain them?
Yup I do recall them and they have been flagged up to the team to investigate but to be very honest they are not particular high in the priority list and its not really an important thing to inform players of as they will likely get a more direct look at next time there is a TH promo that engages with slayer cards more directly and I don't expect players to be massively interested in that info.
Then there's feedback that on paper may sound simple, like graying out old/expired events on the Game Calendar Window, but may be way more complex to implement and the payoff not as big as expected.
This has been raised as feedback but there is limitations on what can be done with the calendar right now, its not in "active" development, its out it functions etc so new features and functionality would have to be something were more dev time is assigned to it and thats the always active question of where is time/resources best spent.
all I want is to find a low investment but effective method of communication between Jmods and Players
I would love for there to be a low investment method that just works but I am gonna be very honest, time and resources are always going to be limiting factor.
Something I have challenged myself to do more is dive into responding to discussions and right now I find it easier to do on discord then reddit, but that's the goal.
Oddly enough this is sorta something myself and Mod Yuey are working on trying to implement, essentially we wanna help improve the bug reporting systems to have a more perceivable aspect for players, not 1 to 1 in the weekly news post but the idea to have a space where "known issues" are actively being displayed is something we are working on.
Would absolutely love something public, akin to github issues, trello, uservoice, whatever it is WB is using, or anything else like that. Along a similar vein, it'd also be super nice to have a status page similar to the one used for so many other sites/services (reddit, discord, twitch, github, etc.), and having it list all the worlds individually in a collapsable section similar to reddit's and discord's status pages would be especially nice.
As always, thanks for the time and the replies Azanna, it sure sounds like there's plenty of moving parts behind the scenes and it's always reassuring to know feedback and reports are being taken into account, and I think some sort of acknowledgement (be it on the newspost or otherwise) would be a good step forward regarding better communication between players and devs.
At the end of the day all we want is to make RuneScape a great place to be in, a great game to play, and I'm a strong believer that the best way to achieve that goal is through communication, making it clear when it's time to talk and when it's time to let Jmods Cook.
Haha, idk something like:
- We're currently Cooking, please hold on tight!
Or
- We're looking for your feedback, come have a taster and tell us what you think.
And
- The update is almost ready! but we need you to add the finishing touches, help us by taking part in the next Beta Test!
And I think this could be a good structure, because it gives people a clear stop, advance and engagement signal, similar to a stoplight (or a semaphore), with the first one allowing people to think about the new content, theorycraft, and discuss future expectations while Jmods cook.
The next one being a bit more open and helping manage and settle expectations about the content, by communicating about the scope of the project and the intentions of it.
Then, if appropriate, releasing a beta world or showcasing the new content in a Livestream where people can provide the final piece of feedback to add the finishing touches before the update goes live!
And lastly, we'll have a time to sit down and play the content, make videos about it, memes, ask for good luck and overall enjoy it because that was the result of a joint effort between the devs and the community, and can set an example for the outside world to see.
That's when I think the game would go from good to great! One step at a time however, I hope to see it one day.
Sorry once again for the long reply, but this topic is one I'm very passionate about, I hope it didn't took much time away and I wish you a great weekend :D
Have a good one!
with the best one, BY FAR, being Shauny, makes me wonder if my definition of what a CM does is biased
It's definitely biased. I'm completely with you on a lot of that, but man, Shauny went way, way outside his job as CM. He had a hand in everything from learning runescript to do content dev during gamejams, to frequently looking up stuff in the game code and editing the wiki on his own accord just to help get info out, to even running the stream room completely solo acting as both producer and host on many occasions. He was constantly on Reddit, even at odd hours of the UK night, and he very often had a jmod lodestone plopped down somewhere with a skilling node just to hang out in-game with players and turn everyone into goebies.
Yeah, what Shauny did was nice but I gotta be honest, that doesn't sound like a healthy work schedule. If we want good CMs to stick around expecting them to 'work' 70 hours per week is counterproductive. going above and beyond is nice when it fits in a 40 hour work week, but we should be encouraging everyone to limit work to work hours.
I think people curious about the results of the t95 betas.
Soon :)
We appreciate you and your team regardless of what garbage people are fluffing on Twitter.
Just look at this subreddit! We have unanswered threads about bots, terrible customer support, bug abuse during wildy flash events, MTX complaints.
For some reason Jagex is in "ghost the playerbase mode" again.
Jmods are pretty active on the Discord.
The short answer is no, we are generally treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed nothing but shit... in recent times they have started getting better, it's still not good by any stretch of the imagination but they have made improvements and it may be moving in a positive direction with a few twitch streams with q&a (they only answer the questions they wrote for themselves but again it's better than nothing).
There's small amounts of feedback/discussion split among half a dozen platforms or more. Some on random twitch channels/during livestreams, some acknowledgement of concerns officially on their website, some here, on reddit. There's some on twitter, both the official RS account and also personal dev accounts. Probably the most on the official discord, and some extra info on random other public discords/private discords.
You're looking at it. Also, Discord.