Do you feel neglected?

[Scott.]

Genuine question.

I mean from a community aspect?

I haven’t and don’t post frequently on the forums, however I do ‘lurk’ and follow a lot of the discussions. The reason for my question is because I personally feel these forums are lacking in engagement from Frontier to their community base.

New community manager Will has posted a grand total of 9 times on these boards.
Bo is hardly ever around and only posts with things related to the DLC’s.
Ed hasn’t even been active since January......

Now I get that Frontier have lots going on, new premises, a new game and so on but are these people not community managers for a reason? I know the forums aren’t their sole concerns and they do run the social media platforms but there was a time Bo or at least someone was active on the boards daily, replying, communicating, engaging with the players wanting feedback etc. Now? Not so much.

Now all we have are threads filling up with genuine concerns for the state of play and the future of the game with little to no answers. Maybe the odd comment of ‘we do read the forums’. But in reality, little to nothing changes, just another content drop.

I feel like the Planco ship has sailed, their priorities..... else where! Then the odd DLC with some shiny new features is shoved down our throats. A band aid on a gaping wound.

The silence is deafening. For the record, those of you who will say all their attention is in JW, this doesn’t cut the mustard for me. There has to be leave behind plans for existing communities.

 

[Helena]

Yes, I feel neglected. Both for my creations (ha!) and the game overall. I saw the developers going over to Jurassic World Evolution and I felt a pang of.... "this is real". I want to scream DO NOT ABANDON!!! Scenery packs DLC are fun, but we also want realness. Attention to bug fixes, attention to quality of life fixes and additions.. new content add, new functonality/game mech, better managment, better balance!

And some scenery objects too.

I have a feeling PlanCo has a smaller team now, that will just make the DLC objects and maybe a few bug fixes pertaining to primarily the DLC content first and foremost and then.

 

[Cosmic Cow]

Yes, I feel neglected. Both for my creations (ha!) and the game overall. I saw the developers going over to Jurassic World Evolution and I felt a pang of.... "this is real". I want to scream DO NOT ABANDON!!! Scenery packs DLC are fun, but we also want realness. Attention to bug fixes, attention to quality of life fixes and additions.. new content add, new functonality/game mech, better managment, better balance!

And some scenery objects too.

I have a feeling PlanCo has a smaller team now, that will just make the DLC objects and maybe a few bug fixes pertaining to primarily the DLC content first and foremost and then.

I agree with both of you. Look at the bug reports. If we are lucky we’ll get one DEV-reaction a day in one report, during lunch hours.... that says enough. No real customer care...

 

[breezerHOG1]

I wish the game could be bigger and that the devs could put more time into it... however, I do not feel neglected. I think the game has grown significantly since launch and the team has done many community events and contests with big prizes. The team has proven that they work hard and are more devoted than most companies. Are they perfect? Eh, hopefully they wont let us down and they will announce something special for the future.

As far as DLC is concerned, I am very outspoken about things and even though the team has made certain choices I might disagree with, I don't see them as "failing" the game is a success as a "New IP", and hopefully can grow just as RCT3 did... only this time around we have to be a bit more patient, at least thats how I am looking at it as of this point [up] #InFrontierWeTrust

At least give them till the end of the summer/fall season to start getting nervous [cool] I don't normally purchase games at launch but I am happy that I supported this game (a little, I didn't buy DLC) even if it doesn't quite live up to the dreams I had of RCT4, it shines when I see videos of other peoples creations and I know that someday I will get to build my dream park when I have the right tools that I hope the devs are working on releasing soon. The game still has lots of room to grow and stretch its legs before the cow has been milked [tongue] also my knowledge of the game is growing farther than I ever expected, when I played RCT3 i was a pretty big "newb" in terms of my creativity but I also enjoyed that game from a much simpler and childish perspective than how I look at PlanCo!

Maybe the devs also have new ideas, and a different perspective on the game (code) itself and will create something completely awesome like a PlanCo2 with improved support for larger expansions and more casual toolsets, though I could see the potential for risk of failure and the team being nervous if we as the community are not willing to support them in future/larger endeavors. Thats why they have games like JWE which will probably outsell PlanCo for being on consoles and easier to access for the majority of casual gamers, which is something PlanCo fails to do. But that does not mean Frontier is failing as a whole!

Let's also realize that Atari and Frontier were in court for many years, and now Atari is burning RCT to the ground I should also commend the team for their direct ties to the movie industry, and Pixar quality animations! Very very well done even after 2 years, so hats off to that! They practically gave the game away for like $8 last holiday season, so yea I could probably go on and on... Oh and who doesn't think the Studio pack is worth $10... omg ....I've been brainwashed ayyyeeeeeee [wacky]

Thank you for reading

 

[lilibat]

I'm not sure I feel neglected as such but I absolutely do have concerns that Planco is going to be left mostly unattended with JWE coming out. I have no interest in JWE and get a bit of a sinking feeling everytime it gets talked about TBH. The longer those iron pieces stay white the more worried I get. I am personally not ready to move onto something else and all I can do is hope Frontier isn't going to sunset us yet.

 

[Kucewiczr]

I don't feel neglected new features for a game takes time. I rather Frontier not say anything until they are certain that a feature or new ride is coming to the game. As for Planet Coaster new game JWE it doesn't pull me. I can't see how Frontier can expand on that game. Planet Coaster is so much more expandable. Hope Frontier isn't giving up on Planet Coaster.

 

[Casiquire]

Yeah, I've felt that way for over a year now lol but everyone here got defensive any time someone voiced that feeling. I feel burned by this entire generation of coaster games. @CoasterFan I get that new features take time, but this game has been out for a couple years already. We might get expansions, but as far as the game, I think we're looking at it.

 

[Citytrader]

Not neglected, but perhaps unloved.

I get the secrecy bit, I really do. I don't agree, but business is business.

But as Scott. pointed out, there is literally no interaction with Frontier at all. It's a shame the community managers don't even seem to have time to be community managers. I mean, if you can't keep your core group of players happy, or at least acknowledge their existence, then what is the point of having a community?

Both Bo and Sam mentioned in the Studios announcement that they were going to be around a bit more. Oh well, dinosaurs outsell rollercoasters, I guess.

 

[Mr Deuce]

I don't feel neglected, I feel... nothing really. It's very clear to me that they have to focus on new things to keep the business moving forwards and healthy. If they didn't do that they would still be 100% focused on Elite and we would have no Planet Coaster..

If anything I'm impressed that they still manage the level of communication and streaming and new features that they do for Planet Coaster. They do a far better job at sticking with and evolving games than most developer/publishers manage. I think it's unreasonable to expect the same level of interaction we saw right at the start, for a game that's been released over a year. Frankly, it's now the turn of the JWE hype community to get that same attention. They already have this community and have delivered a game to a very high standard - and they have only a limited time to get the JWE community as hyped and involve as possible ahead of launch, so they have to throw a lot of their time at that.

The reality is that whilst focus shifts between projects, work has carried on with Planet Coaster, the game has grown and the most recent DLC has added a lot and took the game in some new directions. And look at Elite, I'm sure that community is somewhat less interacted with than when Elite was a new game, yet YEARS later there is still active updating and communication on the forums. So yes, it has died down. But I very much doubt Planet Coaster is going to get neglected anytime soon, and honestly, I think the community still gets a pretty reasonable amount of attention and communication in various ways.

 

[inspectorgadget1]

Very good post Deuce, people seem to forget about Elite D and how that is still going strong several years post-release even though it's clear resources have shifted somewhat over the past couple of years. At the end of the day the Jurassic world release is huge for Frontier, not only for that game itself but for Elite and Planet Coaster. Clearly that has to remain their focus for the coming months.

 

[Ramm]

I feel like they pretend to listen but not really do. You always have those "we always listen to the community and appreciate your input" replies and they even have unpaid volunteer moderators or fanboys that do that job for them both here and on the steam forums. I personally wouldn't call it "listening" but more like "hearing". The best ideas always come from people that actually play the game and sometimes I wonder if the devs even played the early RCT games. Maybe the devs have but the boss hasn't thats for sure. Maybe some of the devs do want to add critical missing stuff but the boss goes like "nah we dont need that but add fancy shining hotels thats what this game needs!".

So yeah I feel a bit neglected that this game isn't what it's supposed to be: Frontiers successor to RCT3. Because to become that it's lacking quite some stuff and I am slowly losing hope because all I see being added is stuff I wasn't waiting for. I'm hoping this game will be saved by mods but unfortunately I lack the knowledge and the skills to do that myself. So in short yes hope is going down a bit and i've felt neglected for quite some time.

 

[Fishook]

I feel slightly neglected , as management/scenario player. The game has had a lot more support than the vast majority of titles these days, and I am happy to support niche genres/games. But I do think Frontier was torn between a hard core game/fan base, and also trying to appeal to casual gamers (graphics) has hampered the game quite a lot.

 

[Vampiro]

Feeling neglected is a bit too dramatic for my tastes.

Besides that it's hard to put the finger on what I / we exactly want from them. They stated multiple times they don't like to respond to suggestions and stuff because that would lead people into believing something WILL happen. And i might not like that, but i definatly understand it.
We also have multiple livestreams per week and the community managers are also very actively going to real life events and stuff. So saying we are neglected doesn't feel right to me at all.

The only thing i feel they should / could improve is communication on new stuff. For example the Studios Pack announcement and release were very close to each other.
I would really like if they tell us a bit earlyer. Tell us they are working on something, maybe drop some hint's and clue's about whats about to happen without giving out too much information (as they obviously don't want to do that).

Just don't let us wonder for 3 month's if something is ever happening again and then out of the blue announce and release it within a 2 week span. Tell us earlyer with some hint's and clue's of whats about to happen and we will be at ease knowing that we can still expect more.

Just my 2 cents

 

[joeee]

Feeling neglected is a bit too dramatic for my tastes.

Besides that it's hard to put the finger on what I / we exactly want from them. They stated multiple times they don't like to respond to suggestions and stuff because that would lead people into believing something WILL happen. And i might not like that, but i definatly understand it.
We also have multiple livestreams per week and the community managers are also very actively going to real life events and stuff. So saying we are neglected doesn't feel right to me at all.

The only thing i feel they should / could improve is communication on new stuff. For example the Studios Pack announcement and release were very close to each other.
I would really like if they tell us a bit earlyer. Tell us they are working on something, maybe drop some hint's and clue's about whats about to happen without giving out too much information (as they obviously don't want to do that).

Just don't let us wonder for 3 month's if something is ever happening again and then out of the blue announce and release it within a 2 week span. Tell us earlyer with some hint's and clue's of whats about to happen and we will be at ease knowing that we can still expect more.

Just my 2 cents

this!! some spoiler stuff would be nice to keep the community in line[up]

 

[Citytrader]

... "nah we dont need that but add fancy shining hotels thats what this game needs!".

In all fairness, Hotels have been very requested by a large number of people since alpha, so maybe they are listening. A bit anyway!

Of course, water parks, animals and zoos, midway stuff, and numerous, numerous, individual rides have also been requested that we have not seen. Yet. (fingers crossed!)

 

[mr.sugar]

In all fairness, Hotels have been very requested by a large number of people since alpha, so maybe they are listening. A bit anyway!

Of course, water parks, animals and zoos, midway stuff, and numerous, numerous, individual rides have also been requested that we have not seen. Yet. (fingers crossed!)

But some, much smaller, but very needed features were requested too and we had no reaction from devs, at all. And some of these features are features we are used to since RCT1. But yea, I understand hotels will sell the game/update much better.

 

[LN]

No. I do not feel neglected, or ignored, or overlooked.

 

[AaronTuckwell]

I think it's all going to depend on what happens once JWE is released. Most of the faces from the PlanCo Dev team are working on JWE in some capacity. So, it's possible that when that project has launched and becomes BAU (Business As Usual) that they will reallocate back to PlanCo for an expansion project (assuming that another title isn't being launched). So, we may be seeing the results of that towards the back end of next year.

Look at the development and on-going support of Elite Dangerous... It seems to come in fits and spurts; the announced a 5 year road map at the end of last year. So, Frontier DO look after their games going into the future.

It seems that the world of releasing a game then peddling out a sequel is over... Instead it seems to be a culture of release a game and keep it alive. Something that the likes of Cities:Skylies is doing really well. Nearly 5 years later and the game is still as strong today as it was when it released, when in the early 2000's, we'd be seeing noise about a sequel by now.

Have faith. The Dev Team of PlanCo are still around, some of them are allocated else-where and others are on maintenance updates. But there isn't anything saying that they'd never come back together to work on a big scale update.

 

[Eaglefan9727]

I don't feel neglected, because I have played a couple other games in previous years that once they released the original game. They devs are no where to be found.

 

[RubberKerfuffle]

I personally think it's wrong to jump to the conclusion that Frontier are neglecting the community by abandoning PC. They can't just stick with one game forever, with Jurassic Park Evolution either on the brink of release or having been released, they'd move over in that direction for a bit. Seeing Frontier DID release new DLC and an update to PC recently, this is how it's going to be for a while, just occasional updates.

But if what everyone wants is more frequent attention to the community and the game as a whole, I'm with them for sure. Sometimes it does feel like the game isn't changing a lot but just remember there's at least a couple pairs of eyes against hundreds of threads containing suggestions and feedback flying in every day. We can only have a little faith in Frontier, they've brought us a beautiful game which, yes, may not be perfect...but nothing in life is ever perfect. They're a busy company. Let them do their thing and remember someone out there is probably occasionally noting down any feedback for later on.