Changing "Beta Feedback" to "Improvement Ideas"

Agree 100%

I think they should lock this forum (for now) and open another one for "Improvement Ideas". I say this because what is here is a public record of a unique open development process and it should be preserved intact and unaltered as much as possible. You never know what archive sifting can produce.

I've been asking for something like this since the game was released.

So, YES a thousand times over.

/signed

I actually like the idea of locking this. Though maybe with some way that one can still post, but the thread gets coppyed to a new sub-folder or somthing.

If it goes anything like GalCiv, betas for major updates or expansions in the future will need a place for their feedback, so I wouldn't expect to see this category go anywhere

Completely agree with the OP's idea. It seems that a good 40-50% of the feedback in Beta Feedback is not directly related to some of the changes listed in the changelog (for instance, either a bug or a balance issue caused by super strikecraft), but rather a player who wants an addition made to SoaSE in a later update. I think that opening up another section to both 1.) reduce the number of "please add/change this" posts in the beta forum and 2.) give a place that people who have paid for this excellent game can express what changes they would like, and know that Stardock's staff is looking at them. This would work much better than having such a post get washed out in any of the other forum sections.

A poll kind of thing could be interesting to use as a way of finding out how popular some of the ideas are.

it would be nice tho to give us rts players a headstart on timeframe of improvements before an official patch is release to us. say for instance (i.e..) we have a bout the whole half of a year before a patch is released then give that time frame to us to have a improvement beta tests. that way it gives the devs enough room to adjust what we would like to see and patch up what would be better placed.

that i would call the improvement beta test before the anouncement of release. any of you guys would one agree?

^^^^^

Yes, I most definitely agree. Any well-designed area that I can voice my opinions on what I would like kept the same about an upcoming update and what I would like changed would be incredible. I certainly think that Stardock is capable of utilizing this type of communication with its customer base.

There's no reason suggestions can't go into the General forum.. they have for months after release, after all. People just think a patch beta means they can suggest gameplay mechanics changes, not realizing that Beta Feedback means exactly that - bug reports/tweaks/etc to the patch release. That is, no new features, no reworking mechanics. This is not what patch betas are for.

Furthermore, most of the things people suggest (most, not all) is really going against what the game is supposed to be about, in the eyes of Ironclad. And most of them are the same arguments that have been hashed and rehashed even before release (see: stationary defenses thread)

So it isn't that the Beta Feedback forum needs to change, it's that people who don't understand what it's for need to not flood it with posts unrelated to the purpose of patch testing

Good point Annatar11. However, I think a lot of people agree with that sentiment as well--we don't want the Beta Feedback forum itself changed, we just want a sub-section where we can directly express what additions we would like in the future. And so be it if people voice opinions that aren't going with the flow that Ironclad desires, but that still shouldn't exempt some creative ideas from being voiced in an easily-viewable area, if not just for the hell of letting someone express it.

The general forum is just that: too general. I think it wouldn't hurt anyone to have a forum dedicated to changes that players would like to see. I agree that they don't belong in a beta-feedback forum UNLESS balance issues are raised directly as a result from a change made in the beta, like strikecraft for example.

And yes, please do take a look at the stationary defenses thread and give some feedback. The more the merrier. This would be a good example too: if the static defenses thread has been hashed and rehashed over and over again, perhaps it needs to be directly addressed, resolved, and stickied so that nobody tries to bring it up again. I think this supports the idea of having an improvement-specific forum even more to be honest. The general forum just lets too many of these things get washed into a big sea of posts.

Static defenses thread