Let's get constructive?

[Ataros]

After reading all negative emotions in the update thread 2 considerations came to my mind:

1) Making slow steps due to bad issues is not a problem. Loyal customers can wait for some time if they see progress in the right direction. Setting wrong priorities is a problem though. Management starts with setting priorities.

2) According to theory of systems any system without feedback will die very soon. If Luthier does not get clear, strong and ruthless understanding about community priorities from the forums or via BlackSix, IL-2 project will be a dead system soon.

Three cases that clearly show that Luthier either does not get feedback from community or sets priorities wrong:
- coop case (luthier still thinks coops work in spite of bugtracker #1 issue vote / or he is not informed properly) http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...postcount=1910
- online crashes after October 2011 patch not set as #1 priority(with "we have not experienced crashes for months now in internal testing" in spring 2012)
- online sound lost for 3-4 months after May or June 2011 patch and not set as #1 priority.

Il2bugtracker set up by community is a great tool to check and fine-tune the priorities but it was not visited by Luthier for 2 months already (at least under his forum name to encourage reporters).

Trust is 99% lost as we can see from comments in the update thread. This will definitely lead to the sequel failure, especially if it is released in a new field of MMO(more new code and bugs).

Let's get constructive.
Can anything be done to get trust back and save the company?
1) Get priorities right. E.g. take top 30 most voted bugs/issues from the il2bugtracker.com and fix 1-2 of them every 2 weeks with beta patches. Yes, not be lazy to assemble patches every 2 weeks in spite of the fact it takes time of chief-developer. When 20 bugs out of 30 are fixed, add another 20 to the list and repeat.

2) Fix feedback channel. Kindly ask B6 to present 5 top forum trends (discussed issues) to Luthier on weekly basis and report results on the forums. Sometimes bosses in Russia do not like to hear bad news and are getting angry when subordinates disturb them with them. In this case it takes courage to meet a boss every week and say unpleasant things about wrong priorities, new bugs, ets. But someone has to start doing this to enable feedback channel. Without feedback the system is dead (see link to coop case above).

Please show some real understanding of the situation and practical steps forward. Anything less then that will not help any more. Too little, too late.

Can this be done? This is only BlackSix's and Luthier's responsibility to take this responsibility and do it whatever the cost is. I do not think I can help more with bugtracker, FMB popularisation or whatever. Nothing will help if a company is producing something customers do not want instead of delivering what is wanted most (and voted!).

If you have better constructive ideas please add. I hope B6 will send a link to the thread to Luthier and they both frankly share their ideas on how to get trust back too.

PS. Sorry that I am not around very often. Meanwhile started to learn RC flying in a sim )

[catito14]

+1000000
I´m completely agree with you and your proposal

[furbs]

Its a very good post, agreed with all points.

Will it make a penny's worth of difference to how the devs work and communicate with us?

Will it change the order of changes and bug fixes?

i pray with all my heart they listen.

Very nice try.

[kristorf]

As said, nice thought, but I don't know how long I can hold my breath for though.......

[Allons!]

Great Ataros, only one adding:
I would be pleased if they would just fix one or two of any of the bugs reported on a weekly basis, may it be missing Stuka horn or wrong directions of levers in the cockpit, 100 octane or whatever. theres enouph little bugs to make a whole year full of Beta Patches. Continous step by step working on the sim will get the community back to business. Greetz Allons!

[ems9]

Really well said!

[Red Dragon-DK]

So true Ataros.

To me it seems that they are getting to the point of no return and very soon can see themselves unemployed and their name ruined as a developer. I hope they will listen (but history has shown the opposite) and get this turned into a success. I hope it will.

[JTDawg]

+1 But that is why we have been testing alpha patch an sending crash dumps , They have got more then enough dumps to keep them busy for years. this is anouther useless thread .

[No1 Cheese]

Blooby hell some one that makes sense!!!!

Well put.

Cheese

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by Ataros

...
2) Fix feedback channel. Kindly ask B6 to present 5 top forum trends (discussed issues) to Luthier on weekly basis and report results on the forums. Sometimes bosses in Russia do not like to hear bad news and are getting angry when subordinates disturb them with them. In this case it takes courage to meet a boss every week and say unpleasant things about wrong priorities, new bugs, ets. But someone has to start doing this to enable feedback channel. Without feedback the system is dead (see link to coop case above).
...

Yeah - good post Ataros. Major kudos for even attempting to be constructive in the current situation.

The B6 as community liaison strategy has unfortunately been handled in a half-arsed manner right from the outset (and that's not due to B6).

All too often he is 'not authorised' to tell us what we want to know. This is down to Luthier - there is no point at all designating someone to be the communications frontman and then NOT giving him anything meaningful to communicate.

The coding delays may have been unavoidable, but the sad truth is that if they had got a really good, timely and honest communications strategy in place from early on they could have avoided a lot of bad feeling.

Right now, I don't think the situation can be remedied. The damage is done. They have shot their bolt. The only way out is to finally produce something decent with the patch. Hopefully ( sorry, but really... ) if the engine is fixed then other improvements can be made in the months ahead at a faster rate.