Whatever folks think about how representative the forums are (or are not) I think that the user survey Cryptic are running at the moment is some sort of evidence that they are a little worried about reaction to the game.

Personally, I think part of the problem is a lack of innovation. Some quite valid player concerns are answered by other posters saying 'that's just the way things work in MMOs'.

Well, cookie-cutter design might have been enough when there weren't many alternatives, I'm wondering if they are enough nowadays? Is it OK to build a bog-standard game, slap it with a coat of Star Trek paint, and hope that is enough? Don't get me wrong, I am having some fun, but can't see enough here to keep me going for the long haul.

To my mind, the game could have been at the forefront of design with non-combat missions building a deep and compelling storyline. LOTRO has some elements of the story, even Guild Wars has one, but it seems strangely patchy here. This is just one area where there could have been a more innovative design. Anyway, starting to ramble - just curious what people think about this.

So let me get this right, people whine because they think that they doesn't care what you think, and when they ask you what you think you whine saying they don't know what they are doing so that are asking us what we think.

which on is it, do you want them to get ideas from us or not?

Umm - are you smoking your tribbles?

I have no idea what you are asking - I thought I was discussing innovation and game design - what does any of this have to do with whining? Wait, don't answer - let's try to stay on topic.

Wait...you can smoke them?

yea you can smoke them? I'm going to try that.

This game was rushed, no doubt about it. However, the good thing about MMOs is that they're a constant work in progress. Even Blizzard is STILL evolving WoW.

As long as Cryptic makes a habit of fixing the little things that annoy players, they'll placate most customers and give themselves time to develop new content. Think about it, how much LESS complaining would you hear if there was 90 degree pitch motion instead of 45? lol The architecture is actually quite innovative in what it's capable of, but because the game was rushed they haven't had a chance to make the best use of it.

Either that or they shot themselves in the foot, your call. :p

I think the biggest mistake they made was selling closed beta keys. They filled their beta test with Ultra-Mega fans, because of this they got mostly positive feedback. They had no idea about the sheer scope of negative feedback until now, hence the survey.

Kinda stupid tho, they ask us what we'd like to see in the game "check all that apply" and then fill the whole list with awesome ideas. I guarantee every survey they get back will have all those boxes checked. They should've had us rank that list from "want to see most" to least consequential.

the storyline is actually very compelling, you just need to get through enough of it to get the pieces and hints they've dropped in at various points.

i'm very much looking forward to how they resolve it.

as for the survey, i think thats for 2 reasons

1 - more people came on board then they expected, many of whom expected something else so they want to try and find out what those people wanted

2 - they're currently working on the endgame content that they had in place to be finished post launch, once they've finished with the nuts and bolts of that and all it needs is a coat of paint before release they want to know what direction the players would be happier for them to move in, rather than just doing whatever and risk annoying large amounts of the player base.

so rather than just saying "this is the game, we're doing this with it, like it or lump it" they're actively polling the players to see what would make most of them happy so they can do that first. there's already huge divisions in what people want in the game and there's only so much they can do at once, so they would want to focus on the largest group's wants so as to retain as many people as they can once the 30 day drop comes up.

i suspect there will be an announcement saying whats being planned for next based on the poll results coming in a week or so, or just before the 30 day mark.