62 replies to this topic

[Egami]

EDIT: no need to read my long diatribe. Simply vote! Your opinion should matter! (o0

__________________________________________

 

The question in the poll was in and of itself difficult to construct. It stays as is and I hope it's straightforward. This poll is meant to give HCS some feedback on its current business practices. 

 

My major concern, as I write this, is that I actually fear that the thread could be deleted and my character could be banned. I want to reiterate that I'm doing this because I hope it will be positive for HCS to take stock. I've played FS for over 8 years and I openly admit that I'm an addict.

 

What worries me is that I'm worried. )o0

 

This issue has bothered me for awhile. I changed my signature a couple years ago to attempt to promote a better response from FS players in general when posting their opinions in the forum.

 

I have seen so many whiners that I have often felt extreme sympathy for the entire HCS crew. 

 

However, prior to that and several years ago (six or so, seriously), I had a major issue with an HCS staff member. To discard any possible misinterpretations, I will openly state that I am not even sure that the person in question is still on staff. I'm pretty sure that the staff member in question had no idea about my "disgust" and I never brought it up with management. 

 

Even back then, I felt defenseless. 

 

"MY PERSPECTIVE":

 

During the last 8 years, I've always, for right or wrong, supported HCS. I have truly and sincerely believed that HCS strives to do what is "right" for the game. 

 

Why? 

 

Because players are so "me, me". HCS has had to deal with a lot of crap and short-sighted people forget that money runs the world. 

 

To all those players out there that proudly proclaim that they have never spent a dime on this game, I'd say: 

 

1. Congrats, you openly admit that you are living off those that do. 

2. Could you somehow identify yourself so HCS pays zero attention to you?

3. Playing this game requires a computer, electricity, internet and time. I think you have no concept of what you have paid.

4. Have you done any of the "earn points" rewards? Actually, you have monetarily supported the game. Focus on the "time" comment in number 3. A calculation done by an FS player actually noted that 5 shards was equivalent to one to five cents depending on whether you include the bonus FSP offers.

 

When players accuse this "game" of being "pay to win", I often wonder what world they live in. Isn't everything?

 

Don't you realize that people work for HCS and have salaries? Aren't you conscious that servers aren't free? 

 

It disgusts me. You might as well be running around screaming, "I bought really cheap jeans because the manufacturer uses 6 year old child slaves. Yay!" Sorry, I got emotional.

 

Anyway, I would also like to underline that I have seen time and time again actions by HCS that are NOT money oriented. They've worked hard to improve gold sink and the best initiative ever, as gold sink is concerned, would pass today... it was shot down at the time (7 years ago, I think, and go figure it was "stam gain based", horror of horrors). But enough of nostalgia...

 

"NOW":

 

All that said, a system requires its checks and balances. 

 

Some issues have been in the background for some years and the recent PvP Seasons really brought it to a head for me. 

 

For me it's time for FS players to speak. 

 

I believe that it is time for HCS to get some constructive feedback and that's what this poll is about. I plead to everybody, HCS staff included, that this is spread far and wide among FS players. 

 

Again, I'm writing this because I am a loyal, addicted FS player. I'm concerned about the game and I'm hoping to provide some feedback that will keep this game going for another 8 years. Assuming I'm not banned, I'll probably be here another 8 years doing what I do... no matter what the outcome is. 

 

Constructive feedback simply seems way overdue.

 

LET FS SPEAK!!!

 

HCS, I hope you're listening... PS... I'm happy to be hired, lmao. 

 

Prosperous smacking everybody! (o0

Edited by Egami, 10 August 2015 - 05:55.

[EpicPiety]

Mad respect egami! Voted no for obvious reasons...Won't explain for obvious reasons. Pretty much sum's up this whole thread.

Edited by EpicPiety, 10 August 2015 - 05:54.

[Undjuvion]

id be disgusted if you were banned Egami, though the thread prob is in the hands of fate, imo as is the way in life, depends on timing, way its said, mood, various factors, if that was to change HCS would need to think more money conciously and totally professional, no personal basis stuff with players, be shadowy figures that are totally business and non fun with all interaction, best way for FS to survive also, my two

 

[smileynirv]

i voted "no" for the same reasons epicpiety said. 

[Pardoux]

However, prior to that and several years ago (six or so, seriously), I had a major issue with an HCS staff member. To discard any possible misinterpretations, I will openly state that I am not even sure that the person in question is still on staff. I'm pretty sure that the staff member in question had no idea about my "disgust" and I never brought it up with management.

 

If it's who I'm thinking of, then no, they're not - and that's a very positive thing in my book.

 

I'm right behind you on this thread Egami - constructive criticism needs to be taken on board at all times.

 

By all means, delete posts that are inflammatory, trolling, swearing, whatever, but if a reply is legitimate criticism, then the post should NEVER be deleted / censored.

[gilby90813]

Voted yes. The fact they take the time to listen to all the yapping and respond is good enough for me.

Edited by gilby90813, 10 August 2015 - 06:46.

[Blenny]

I voted "sometimes" since the brain is a very complex organ. The best way this game will prosper is for everyone to appreciate changes (easier said than done, I know ). I also think everyone should try to drink at least one bottled water a day. 

[gilby90813]

.

Edited by gilby90813, 10 August 2015 - 06:46.

[Saltillo]

i voted no for obvious reasons

[Egami]

Voted yes. The fact they take the time to listen to all the yapping and respond is good enough for me.

 

Respect on that. I actually do agree there. 

 

I voted "sometimes" since the brain is a very complex organ. The best way this game will prosper is for everyone to appreciate changes (easier said than done, I know ). I also think everyone should try to drink at least one bottled water a day. 

Lol at the bottled water... I kind of wonder why one needs to bottle water and more so why one should pay for it, but that's way off topic. 

 

I think the "sometimes" vote is an excellent decision. 

 

I hope I didn't leave out any possibilities on the vote. 

[Diemond2]

I can only speak for myself ... 3 times, with fairly important stuff to me, they dealt quickly and fairly. I voted - in general yes ...

I can only speak for myself ... 3 times, with fairly important stuff to me, they dealt quickly and fairly. I voted - in general yes ...

[Egami]

I can only speak for myself ... 3 times, with fairly important stuff to me, they dealt quickly and fairly. I voted - in general yes ...

Excellent Die... My point is to get FS-wide opinion on this. It's the only thing that counts. 

 

No answer in the survey is wrong. I hope I put all the possible answers here. I just want HCS to see the response and contemplate if improvement is necessary. 

 

In game, I've heard lots of answers and explanations and I'm liking it. (o0

[yghorbeviahn]

I voted no because I (along with others) had deleted/edited posts before, without real reasons other than just disagree.

Also, I want to reinterate, I try to never donate and never really did (Starter pack+$5+Shards) just because $60 is too much expensive, I could buy some top tier Steam games, PS or Xbox...Instead HCS give us 400FSPs+Epic Chest+Loyalty Points.

400FSP - Fair enough (but could be more)
Epic Chest - Worth 150~250FSPs, and they are kinda close of some Global Chests.
Loyalty Points - Nothing worth buying there, HCS really needs to implement a lot more things.

Of course the game is pay to win, like everything else in the world, and if the donation was less expensive I would donate too, and a lot of others. Just a small calcs to show some things:

$1 = R$3,80 (Reais, Brazil).
$60 = R$228,00.
Month salary in Brazil: R$720,00 (or close).

400FSP costs me 1/3 of the MONTH SALARY for me, does it worth buying it for me? No.

[Davros81]

I think the cows, honestly, have an impossible job. They do listen to feedback, but obviously not all feedback says the same thing so some folk will get bitter...

[smileynirv]

dav the only players that know are the ones that have contacted the cows and have been told "behave" "because we say so" "do as you are told" "OBEY" "you know what you did" others skype with them and are buddy buddies. im ok with them now after long talks with grimm. but it has been a long road of being treated poorly with no good answers as too why. 

[Undjuvion]

Of course the game is pay to win, like everything else in the world, and if the donation was less expensive I would donate too, and a lot of others. Just a small calcs to show some things:

$1 = R$3,80 (Reais, Brazil).
$60 = R$228,00.
Month salary in Brazil: R$720,00 (or close).

400FSP costs me 1/3 of the MONTH SALARY for me, does it worth buying it for me? No.

 

that is something HCS should be concerned with if they want a healthy playerbase from across the world.

[txcowboy]

Vote

I voted for "Don't know."

Honestly I have not witnessed personally HCS be criticized by others in public, so I have not seen how they would handle the situation. As you said Egami, HCS receives a large amount of whining warranting sympathy even from me. 
 

Perspective

I do want to say that HCS did not handle criticism from me once, which got me banned from Global Chat. Close to the truth (but definitely not the truth) a staff from HCS stood firmly in their position to ban me although they had little evidence that supported their decision. I was later suspended for posting a screenshot of the criticism in my bio.

 

Perhaps I voted "Don't know." because I pity HCS. 

Costs
As my friend yghor mentioned, 5 or 60 dollars is different for every person. I understand it would be time-consuming calculating the capital for each country and adjusting inflation and deflation to accommodate fsp sales to each country. Even in America do we see large differences in capital for the different regions. As an example, in Texas the hourly wage is $7.25 and in California it will soon be $10. A typical home in Texas costs around 150k while in California it is 440k.
I am not an economists, but I think this is something that can be looked at.

Myself, have not spend currency, but I do not discourage others just because I do not. I do not beg either, and as Egami mentioned, watching the adds or participating in surveys is a way to contribute to HCS.

 

People Interaction
As I understand most of HCS (if not all) are based in the U.K. I do not mean to question their etiquette or ethics, but since this is an international game, perhaps they should have expertise in the area of cultural/gender/race dilemmas. For example, in Global Chat,

"You may not
 

Use non-English language. The vast majority of the games community is English speaking, as are the HCS Staff."

It is not that most of the community is English-speaking, it is that many of the community is bilingual or multi-lingual with English as their second or third language. I have spoken to many players that are generous, respectful and rule-abiding, that hardly speak English. Some of them have gotten by, but how will others progress in a game where the staff only speaks English?
 

 

I can go on and on, but I will stop here and wait for other replies. 

 

Thank you for your time Egami and the rest of the community,

 

TX.

Edited by txcowboy, 10 August 2015 - 08:21.

[Egami]

I think the cows, honestly, have an impossible job. They do listen to feedback, but obviously not all feedback says the same thing so some folk will get bitter...

Dav, I agree to a large degree with the first sentence. I mean the sentiment because the rest is semantics.

 

They obviously do not have an impossible job. After all, they've been doing "it" for close to 9 years.. So, yeah... semantics. 

 

Beyond that, the question is NOT about how HCS implements feedback. I 110% agree with you... Hoof well stated somewhere that not everyone can be made happy. In my long diatribe, I made that point myself. If you skipped it, no surprise and no foul, lol. In short, impossible to satisfy everybody with the end results.

 

That however is not the issue nor the question.

 

The question is: Does HCS respond well to constructive criticism?

 

That does NOT in any way mean satisfying everyone and their mother. Hope that helps you with your vote.

 

Btw, I would seriously hope that people "think" long and hard about this. I don't think the answer to this question is easy, considering the options I've given. 

 

In short... take your time. I know at least one person has come back to change their answer. I knew (or thought) when I wrote the poll that it wouldn't be easy for a number of people. 

[Egami]

I'd like to point out yg's #13 post which I liked because there is an issue AND a business angle there. It's something TX echoed. I do think it's off topic,  but it definitely touches on something I mentioned so I'd definitely like to clear that up:

 

I did not mean in any way, shape or form to critique anybody that does not or cannot pay to play this game. This is a free game and it's something that I highly respect about it. 

 

What I dislike is those that "proudly proclaim" that they have never paid a dime. 

 

I hope the difference is clear. 

 

Apologies for any misunderstanding. This topic is not about the whole "pay-to-win" issue. Way off topic. 

 

Again, really sorry. )o0

[KitiaraLi]

Very well written, Egami...very well written indeed.

My vote fell on "Sometimes". As far as I can tell, they do listen to what we have to say - but, and that is a big but(t); They do not listen from the same point, as the players speak. Sometimes I feel, that we (players) are talking in the east, and HCS is listening in the west.
We (players) speak with emotions and involvement into the aspects of the game we like, all while HCS tends to listen from a "we have no idea how this game is being played" point of view. In the midst of that, it can be a hard task trying to sort out, what is best for the game in general, and what is simply best for the individual who is pushing an idea - and yes, that kind of forum usage is common practice by.. some...in FS. I actually have a unwritten list of a bunch of players, who post out of their own greed/agendas which I simply skip. I sometimes wonder, if I could miss something useful in their many posts, but then I read a few, and nope. Same old, same old ... and I am now sidetracked...so...back on target.

I, as you, am 100% certain that HCS are trying their best, to move the game in the most positive direction at all times, if for no other reason, then trying to restore it back to the moneycow it has been over the years. Sadly, it seems they still have no idea as to how the game is played, and as long as they do not have that feel we (players) have ... they're throwing their best ideas up wind.

 

 

PS. The staff member you had issues with, well.. if it's the one we all had issues with - except for a few (read my sidetracked comments), that one be gone a long time We had a close call with another staff member who seemed to start acting a tad.. rash and onesided on issues at hand, but luckily Hoof resurfaced, and that seemed to calm the waters.

Edited by KitiaraLi, 10 August 2015 - 08:49.