Arma 3 - APEX - NEWS and SPECULATIONS

[pettka 694]

Food for thoughts:

 

One more point to the marketing communications, that is kind of different from industry standards (not that there aren't companies doing that, as it makes sense at least from our point of view) - we don't have much of a marketing staff but we rather prefer direct communication by developers. That comes with a prize however, as the developers usually don't have that much time in the last parts of development - we focus more on the actual development than marketing. That means we spend more time reading the feedback, adjusting the development accordingly where it is possible, but don't reply as much as we would like to. Realistically speaking, it seems like a no time to write down a post on forums, publish a screenshot, provide some description, but thanks to a passionate crowd, it is a huge deal of responsibility every single time. Anything we mention is analyzed to last detail, which shows a great dedication, and imposes a solid barrier to developers to just write a reply and forget :icon_twisted:

Yes, we know we kind of suck at communication on the forums, but it only gets better after the release, as you may see on several occasions in Dev-Branch part of forums. Our marketing and communications lads are working hard to improve this, but it takes time to make a solid connection between devs and marketing crew. Lets see in the near future, as we prepare the plans and intend to share them to see your feedback :icon_twisted:

[haleks 8212]

Yes, we know we kind of suck at communication on the forums

I've seen much worse, from non-existant communication to downright lies or condescension.

You guys do listen to feedback (most of the complaints players had since release have been adressed by now), provide regular updates & infos for both stable and dev branches - heck, one of the devs even got in touch with me to solve a small issue, wich I wasn't expecting.

I'd say you're doing pretty fine. ^^

[ineptaphid 6413]

 

Yes, we know we kind of suck at communication on the forums, but it only gets better after the release, as you may see on several occasions in Dev-Branch part of forums. Our marketing and communications lads are working hard to improve this, but it takes time to make a solid connection between devs and marketing crew. Lets see in the near future, as we prepare the plans and intend to share them to see your feedback :icon_twisted:

I would not say you suck at communicating at all. Look at Bioware-they are CLOSING their forums this week.Just shutting them down completely. Whereas here we have an incredible community and forum that you can spend hours on every day. 

 

BI release a changelog daily for Dev branch and are always willing to chime in on issues.I say-keep doing what you are doing guys.

[lexx 1412]

Yeah, the daily updates and sitreps and stuff are top of the line. But when I came to the apex campaign, everything communication related failed horribly.

[lex__1 422]

I have no issues for release, in the overview.
But I want to say the following:
-the Feedback of thousands of Tracker 3 Arma unresolved issues and problems. Most of them lie around or near have a common "structure".
Most of the questions repeated from year to year. In the example, the mass of tickets: "bipod", "flying heavy tanks", "the performance of the CPU/GPU and other matters.
With the release of the Apex, the issues are not resolved. The game was-prettier,  richer ... but all the problems in their places. Hence, there is growing resentment of the players. People paid multiple times for the same problem.

Almost all the problems of the game, in the Tanoa, have become more acute.

[Wiki 1558]

The communications problem IMO were not about the game but the upcoming content.

 

Apex was announced, but we barely had nothing to make us wait for a long time.

 

Of course your team was involved in the dev. of the expansion, I can perfectly understand that.

 

But 2 points:

 

-the lack of information about Apex Protocol was IMO a bad choice. It was advertised as a SP / COOP campaign up to 4 players. People imagined something like the COOP version of ArmA 2. You should have been clearer about it.

-the almost-nothing-to-keep-us-wait policy. I think, as we knew Apex was coming, a small screenshot from time to time in the SITREP could have been better. It's isn't much, but it always keeps the hype.

 

We almost had all the informations 1 month maximum before the release - which is a bad move.

 

But that's just my thoughts ;)

[OMAC 254]

I think that the paucity of pre-release info on Apex Protocol campaign was carefully planned and a smart move by BI, as the announced "1-4 player COOP campaign" was just enough info to hoodwink people expecting Harvest Red-like SP/COOP mechanics into pre-ordering Apex.  If they had been more truthful pre-release, stating that there will be no saves, just respawns, and no AI teammates, quite a few people wouldn't have pre-ordered it, and there would have been a mild "explosion" of disbelief and ire on the forums, which couldn't be good for marketing hype and sales.  They expected the angry/disappointed posts on the forums after release, but wanted to minimize such dissent pre-release.  Why lengthen their headache by being truthful early?  So, I think that the minimal pre-release info on Apex Protocol was part of a well-calibrated and successful plan to maximize pre-order sales.  Its late release on Dev branch served to virtually eliminate pre-release dissent outside of one thread in Dev branch forums.

[jone_kone 158]

.... but we rather prefer direct communication by developers...

 

 

Communicating with the masses is always tricky. There is always room for improvement, but I would hate to see some marketing team filter being implemented. There are some HC modders in the community and a disconnected "marketing guy" would probably be ripped to pieces pretty fast. :)

[froggyluv 2136]

There are some HC modders in the community and a disconnected "marketing guy" would probably be ripped to pieces pretty fast. :)

ok ill take the bait:

 

 Highly Contagious?

 Hugely Competent?

 Horridly Crass?

 Humidly Cool?

 Human Colonics?

[froggyluv 2136]

 They expected the angry/disappointed posts on the forums after release, but wanted to minimize such dissent pre-release.  Why lengthen their headache by being truthful early?  So, I think that the minimal pre-release info on Apex Protocol was part of a well-calibrated and successful plan to maximize pre-order sales.  Its late release on Dev branch served to virtually eliminate pre-release dissent outside of one thread in Dev branch forums.

 

 Yes but deep longstanding trust between community consumer and company/provider is a valued commodity and shouldnt be treated haphazardly as it doesnt come back quickly.If you make the intentional decision to in all essence 'fool' your diehard fanbase for the sake of initial sales before it is truly fully revealed, your selling of that invisible commodity for the sake of upfront dollars.

 

Edit: Wow, sorry thought these posts would auto-merge ;/

[IndeedPete 1038]

ok ill take the bait:

 

 Highly Contagious?

 Hugely Competent?

 Horridly Crass?

 Humidly Cool?

 Human Colonics?

 

Hard Core, maybe? :D

[das attorney 858]

Only if hardcore was two words  ;)

[IndeedPete 1038]

Only if hardcore was two words   ;)

 

Well, H Modders just sounds stupid.^^

[das attorney 858]

It does!

[lex__1 422]

In a workshop subscribe for the Island Nation company Apex - by Part 1-7. Maybe it will be interesting to someone.

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse/?appid=107410&searchtext=island+nations&browsesort=textsearch&section=home&actualsort=textsearch&p=1

[jmayr2000 2]

Can someone answer me this question. What abilities does the special purpose suite have and or what makes it special?

[Jona33 51]

Can someone answer me this question. What abilities does the special purpose suite have and or what makes it special?

 

Hides your thermal signature, might have some level of ballistic protection but I'm not sure.

[Mr. Arsmallow 0]

I'm considering buying Apex... but want to make sure, if there are any discount offers on it's way soon?

 

The price atm is 29,99€ in Steam Store - a fair price... but you never know about those sudden special offers....:)

[willithappen 194]

It only came out fairly recently chief. Considering BIS is yet to release their upcoming roadmap and the files are still in EBO, I doubt the chances of an APEX sale anytime soon.

[OMAC 254]

There have been Christmas sales in the past.....  I would wait for a fairer price, especially if you enjoy SP gameplay.

[ceeeb 147]

I'm considering buying Apex... but want to make sure, if there are any discount offers on it's way soon?

 

The price atm is 29,99€ in Steam Store - a fair price... but you never know about those sudden special offers.... :)

 

Many of the big steam sales are very predictable, such as halloween: whenisthenextsteamsale.com

[BLTZ71 0]

I'm not sure what to do, I love Tanoa as a map, but I have a server and the vehicles keep blowing up. Is there someone I can talk too. Its a Exile Mod, but I remember When I had a Altis Epoch People would get in a chopper and it would blow up. I hope I'm not posting in wrong place, If so please direct me to correct place. Thank you a head of time. PS I hope this can be fixed, I love this game. I thought maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[Maio 293]

I'm not sure what to do, I love Tanoa as a map, but I have a server and the vehicles keep blowing up. Is there someone I can talk too. Its a Exile Mod, but I remember When I had a Altis Epoch People would get in a chopper and it would blow up. I hope I'm not posting in wrong place, If so please direct me to correct place. Thank you a head of time. PS I hope this can be fixed, I love this game. I thought maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

You can forward your problem to the mission creator or post in the mission thread.

[BLTZ71 0]

Can you give me a link, can't figure out how to post something new. Can post on someone else but not make new post confused.