Suggestion: Turn General Threads into Sub-Forums

[PrimeHydra]

As the number of beta backers jumping into the game grows, those General Threads are going to explode. It will become harder to find specific posts and ideas. But we still need some way of taming the fire-hose nature of excited gamers' brains.

 

I propose multiple forums a la my "other PoE", Path of Exile. Note the categorized Feedback forums. I think the intent of the General Threads matches up well with these. In practice, though, we can't just sticky all of them because it uses too much screen real-estate. So the threads just kind of float around, hoping someone clicks on the General Link at the top and then into the correct sub-thread.

 

Possible sub-forums:

 

Beta Feedback - First Impressions

Beta Feedback - Classes, Builds, and Balance

Beta Feedback - User Interface (Non-Combat)

Beta Feedback - Combat

Beta Feedback - Story and Dialog

Beta Feedback - Graphics and Animation

Beta Feedback - Music and Audio

Beta Feedback - Other

 

These sub-forums would provide:

• More discoverability--currently there are plenty of posts outside of a General Thread that belong in one, because not everyone (myself included admittedly) noticed the General Threads sticky. So currently the devs probably need to look both at the forum and these super-threads. Links on the main beta forums page would nicely funnel the feedback.
• Better granularity of discussion--users having feedback around the spellbook UI, for example, won't need to "threadbomb" users in the same thread already discussing the Inventory UI.
• More readability--keeping up with sub-threads is not much easier than refreshing the main screen only to find the post you were just looking at just went to page 2, due to the sheer volume of posts (due people not using the General Threads for reasons explained above).
• More fun--a player especially interested in the UI could "hang out" in an area separate from the storytelling feedback, for example.
• Better for devs--as a programmer, if I were focused on the UI, I'd love to have a separate feedback forum targeting my area of the codebase.

Please consider doing this, I think it will make our beta testing, reviewing, and discussing much easier!

 

PS--super excited for the next build.

Edited August 22, 2014 by PrimeHydra

[Osvir]

Hey

I dug up this for you where I was asking the same thing (for Project Eternity, b4 it became "Pillars of"), might give some insight as it did for me back then:
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62193-more-sub-forums/?hl=forum

[PrimeHydra]

Hey

 

I dug up this for you where I was asking the same thing (for Project Eternity, b4 it became "Pillars of"), might give some insight as it did for me back then:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62193-more-sub-forums/?hl=forum

Hey, thanks for the link.

I see where a moderator responded to your thread, but he makes an exception for the case of a beta forum. In this situation I think we'd be well-served by multiple sub-forums. This isn't the main "community hub", for which I agree that too much fracturing is bad. This is a case of needing to provide/find feedback more easily.

 

Too many sub-forums relative to activity tends to kill activity, because it becomes really annoying to actually navigate the forums as a user. It would be a different question if these forums were a report database for the devs, e.g. a beta feedback forum.

 

[Osvir]

Forgot to say in the other post: I don't oppose the idea of more sub-forums, more spaces/places to discuss. I think it's a great idea, and it is still early enough in the Beta to make adjustments me thinks. It just shouldn't become counter-intuative, or new members entering feeling "So much forums!" and getting overwhelmed.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Osvir

[PrimeHydra]

Forgot to say in the other post: I don't oppose the idea of more sub-forums, more spaces/places to discuss. I think it's a great idea, and it is still early enough in the Beta to make adjustments me thinks. It just shouldn't become counter-intuative, or new members entering feeling "So much forums!" and getting overwhelmed.

This is true, they'd have to balance forum overwhelm against thread overwhelm. They could probably do with fewer than I suggested. Maybe no more than five.

[Sir Newbie]

As much as i approve the idea of implementing sub-forums for me readability , to many of them and it can have the opposite effect. Maybe, just maybe :

 

-First, general impression on the game, story, dialogue and other;

-Classes, build, balances + combat ;

-U.I + options in-games

-Graphics/animations + sound/music

 

instead of 8 sub-forums, for a newbie like me that would be perfect (idk about others though).

 

Thanks to you for making this thread i feel i bypass a lot of interesting post in this forums because of a sheer number of topics.

[jde3]

As much as i approve the idea of implementing sub-forums for me readability , to many of them and it can have the opposite effect. Maybe, just maybe :

 

-First, general impression on the game, story, dialogue and other;

-Classes, build, balances + combat ;

-U.I + options in-games

-Graphics/animations + sound/music

 

instead of 8 sub-forums, for a newbie like me that would be perfect (idk about others though).

 

Thanks to you for making this thread i feel i bypass a lot of interesting post in this forums because of a sheer number of topics.

 

I feel the same way.

[Osvir]

I think it could help if QA Developers had signatures with important links or threads that they find interesting for the project or want more discussion/feedback on at the moment (And they can edit it out when they feel it is resolved/gathered enough info from~). They tend to be the most central figures on the board that everyone takes notice of, and obviously/unfortunately people don't pay too much attention to pinned threads.

Instead of General Suggestion Threads we could have QA Signature Links (for better workflow with bug reports = "My Accounts: Signature" in one browser tab). And if you come across a good thread/issue/feedback you could easily copy browser link, add caption, save, continue working in like 10-15 seconds. Dev/Mod gets most attention after all, they are more central than pinned threads or this forum.

The point: Everyone would see signatures in a Dev signature more than they would in a pinned thread.

I know my signature can probably be daunting/overwhelming, but it's there because I want to help and if others want to help I provide a pretty good service. The more we help, the better/stable the product will be, I believe. The sooner it gets stable, the sooner it can be released on Early Access the better for the game and for Obsidian (economically) and could even give them the ability to get more money for post-release expansions (instead of extending Early Access, develop Expansions).

Edited August 23, 2014 by Osvir