Some general observations

[Khaylara]

This is not meant as a personal attack to anyone, more like my thoughts on the game's direction that might be (or might not be) useful to both the developers and the players.
When I say "game's direction" I'm not referring to Citan's plans on it (I wouldn't have a clue about those) but things I observed in game during the last couple of months that are starting to affect the gameplay.

1. The multiboxing (controversial) issue. Again, please read my disclaimer, it's not targeted to anyone in particular, it's more for the devs. It's becoming very common especially because many new players came from AC and AC2 in which games (like in most older games) it was allowed or fairly common (at least that's what I understand/hear, I've never played any of those games). I think it's draining the -already limited- resources. I read that many players think this can be solved by instancing. They can't instance anything big due to Unity limitations (Citan's explanation, I wouldn't know). . This will affect the whole server and not leave room for new players if one player multiboxing hogs an entire area. I am aware Citan made it illegal for combat but not everyone read that statement.

Many treat it as it's a finished game and work towards pimping their chars, I get that part. But this way of multiboxing (although very appliable to other games) I believe it's very detrimental for PG. Why? Because it will create super OP chars which won't be wiped at launch. The reson why Citan said he will ot wipe our chars at launch was to reward long term loyal players who stayed with his game all throughout alpha (some for 4-5 years). When people farm on multiple chars they can accomplish in 3-4 months what the rest of us took years to accomplish. Do at some point this might be very detrimental to the player base if he decides that too many players pimped their chars over short periods of time so the "loyalty" aspect will not count anymore. And he might decide to wipe the server clean in order not to discourage new players.
That is the main reason I dislike multiboxing, it artificially creates equal footing that doesn't actually translate in game time but in how many instances of the game your computer can support. This thing will end up pushing away players like me who don't like fast track. Because after all, why would I play for 2 years when I can triplebox for 3 months and grow cotton while i run Lab on 2 chars. In 2 hours of doing that I can make 85k+ each box from lab and 6 stacks of cotton at 4 k each. That is a minimum of 200 k that I could make in 2 hours of gaming and pour into my main char's skills. Please try to understand my point and the long term effects on the server, compare someone playing normally with the above described scenario.

2. The economy. Lately I noticed a trend taking over. Vendors camping. Leaving an alt at vendors like Hulon, buying things like poetry books and scrolls that newbies sell by accident, not knowing their real value, and reselling for the market value. Off a poetry book you can make up to 80 k profit that way. Why is that bothering anyone you might wonder. Cause I admit that in games that had an auction house I certainly did the camping too, buying cheap and selling expensive is a basic way to make cash. I'll call it "the auction house trend". In P:g its main developer is very much against an auction house/central market. That's why I think this trend is rather hurtful for whatever his long term plan is regarding the game economy. He created the vendor stalls and the vendor boxes so we can sell what we farm or craft, somehow I don't think buying cheap stuff off unsuspecting newbies to sell expensive falls into that category. I noticed some players even buy very cheap femurs, dirt, gems off new players without informing them on the real value.

3. The attempts to control a certain market niche. That happened before but most players boycotted and undercut the ones who attempted. How it's done in practice-get an OP character with many AoEs in a place where the mobs drop something that's expensive, don't bury the corpses to discourage other players and farm alone. Then sell whatever resource you were after (ie notus books, explosive runestones or whatever else). This way, by not allowing others to share the resource, you can control prices. Again, I think it's a big negative in the long run because it benefits only few players while taking advantage and draining all the others who need that resource (material or whatever else it might be).

4. The lack of courtesy towards other players. Complaining there are no mobs to kill but refusing to spend 2 extra seconds each mob to bury and make them spawn faster. And doing that to the next player who comes around and tries to farm. It's okay guys, it's a pve game, you won't lose anything by letting others farm, they won't kill you later or anything. I tried the ironman challenge but couldn't complete it. Too much junk dropped everywhere (including perch straight on Lawara on Anagoge...newbies wouldn't have perch imo), people killing mobs all over around Serbule town and not burying etc. Very offputting if I really was a new player.



Now allow me to explain my points *except the last point, that's just common sense and not being rude pricks) in an anecdotal way. Not showing off with how much of a good person I am but the way things should work from my point of view.
I will use cheesemaking as example. When I started leveling this skill I could have comfortably used my alts and a mule to level it without buying a thing. I had 2 cow characters sufficiently leveled and a mule to milk cows and a crapload of stomachs and mushrooms. Instead I made a deal with a new player who needed cash for his expensive skill training (fire+BC). He wanted to sell me milk with 100 a bottle, I gave him 200 and explained to him that was the market value (I could ve just taken his milk and paid him half, he didn't know any better). The guy spent all his game time farming stomachs and milking cows in eltibule and it benefitted both of us. He got cash for his skills, leveled his butchering+anatomy+combat skills and I didn't have to relog all my horde of alts and mules to make materials. Yes, it would've been much faster and cheaper for me to use only my chars but in the long run we're not attracting new players by playing with our alts 90 % of the time.
I know I sound very cheesy but if more of us would share info and offer the right type of help we'd still be a nice community and people would feel welcome. Lately it hasn't been the case. Many of us stayed with this game because we had such a nice community but we're staring to lose this "badge" slowly and surely. More and more insults in chat, impatient newbies who want everything handed to them, spoonfed info, many players jumping on srand with complaints and questions that could be easily asked from other players or wikied, exploits, short fuses blowing etc. I used to spend a lot of time on Help chat but during the last month at least I switched off completely, I read only the guild chat and ignore everything else. Even Help channel became very negative and I don't particularly enjoy reading complaints, the same question asked over and over and the answers dissed..more complaints and more older players who could actually help being discouraged by the results of their help. It's apparently insulting to guide people to wiki I noticed that today:)


Sorry for the long post, I hope at least the literature fans will read it. I won't call it an objective analysis, it is my point of view on the direction PG (or actually more like its playerbase) is going. It has nothing to do with the game's actual development but with how we play it.

[cratoh]

When I say "game's direction" I'm not referring to Citan's plans on it (I wouldn't have a clue about those) but things I observed in game during the last couple of months that are starting to affect the gameplay.

This has been going on since before I started playing. It must have only just started to really bug you. And contrary to what you may imagine, I disagree with you that is affecting game play - what is affecting the game play is the tripling of players. Which I welcome. The tiny little false alpha bubble is almost burst thank god, and we now will get to see how the game functions with competition, economic and resource wise.


1. The multiboxing (controversial) issue. Again, please read my disclaimer, it's not targeted to anyone in particular, it's more for the devs.

Maybe just email them with the feedback then?


I think it's draining the -already limited- resources.

What resources are you referring to here? I'm not sure what you mean. I see a game that is now, finally, getting a bit of economic structure going. There is MORE of everything around than ever before. If you are talking about mobs density - then yes, this needs looking at but multiboxing is nothing to do with it.



Many treat it as it's a finished game and work towards pimping their chars, I get that part. But this way of multiboxing (although very appliable to other games) I believe it's very detrimental for PG. Why? Because it will create super OP chars which won't be wiped at launch. The reason why Citan said he will ot wipe our chars at launch was to reward long term loyal players who stayed with his game all throughout alpha (some for 4-5 years). When people farm on multiple chars they can accomplish in 3-4 months what the rest of us took years to accomplish. Do at some point this might be very detrimental to the player base if he decides that too many players pimped their chars over short periods of time so the "loyalty" aspect will not count anymore. And he might decide to wipe the server clean in order not to discourage new players.

So much here. We pimp our character, because we are in alpha, and testing, and filing reports, and bugs, and suggestions. We like levelling, we like min/maxing, we like making tons of cash, we like killing tough things - that is why we max our toons. To see what is and isn't broken and to help smooth the game for release. We are more than aware it is alpha, we've been playing games for years, and years... and years. Ok next, when I joined and started levelling and wealth accumulation - I argued that a wipe was a good idea - to start with a level playing field - that reward for alpha testing was getting to test and no one in their right mind would want to put off great numbers of new players by creating an Oligarchy of all-powerful alpha testers, able to forever hold the economic reins of PG in their hands. I would be HAPPY if he wiped us clean. Sure, some would rage and quit - and that might be best. Just look what happened now Wemedge doesn't buy poetry anymore? The price has plunged from 50k a book to 5k. Don't tell me that ther Alpha core will not own all of everything after release. Anyway - multiboxing doesn't effect any of this. Just because some people tooks years to get level 60, doesn't mean all do. Some take a couple of weeks.



That is the main reason I dislike multiboxing, it artificially creates equal footing that doesn't actually translate in game time but in how many instances of the game your computer can support. This thing will end up pushing away players like me who don't like fast track. Because after all, why would I play for 2 years when I can triplebox for 3 months and grow cotton while i run Lab on 2 chars. In 2 hours of doing that I can make 85k+ each box from lab and 6 stacks of cotton at 4 k each. That is a minimum of 200 k that I could make in 2 hours of gaming and pour into my main char's skills. Please try to understand my point and the long term effects on the server, compare someone playing normally with the above described scenario.

The reason you wouldn't do what you suggest in the latter here, is that you wouldn't enjoy it. Also hwoever, it doesn't matter 1 iota if someone else is doing it - it doesn't effect you or anyone else.

NOTE - Already multiboxing thread was closed - so I have no idea why you brought it up again. As you said in there 'you wanted to party' after Citan changed his mind, even though a couple of my friends have quit now, and a lot of people were quite upset.


2. The economy. Lately I noticed a trend taking over. Vendors camping. Leaving an alt at vendors like Hulon, buying things like poetry books and scrolls that newbies sell by accident, not knowing their real value, and reselling for the market value. Off a poetry book you can make up to 80 k profit that way. Why is that bothering anyone you might wonder. Cause I admit that in games that had an auction house I certainly did the camping too, buying cheap and selling expensive is a basic way to make cash. I'll call it "the auction house trend". In P:g its main developer is very much against an auction house/central market. That's why I think this trend is rather hurtful for whatever his long term plan is regarding the game economy. He created the vendor stalls and the vendor boxes so we can sell what we farm or craft, somehow I don't think buying cheap stuff off unsuspecting newbies to sell expensive falls into that category. I noticed some players even buy very cheap femurs, dirt, gems off new players without informing them on the real value.

Eh? None of this makes sense. People have been camping vendors since I started and before. Vendor camping is nothing new at all. There is no difference AT ALL between leaving an alt at Marna say, cos you want to rough skins, that buying a poetry tome. Er, no you can't make 80k off a poetry book. Yeah someone may buy one, but equally - now Wemedge has finished controlling the price with his multi millions of gold, the prices are falling so others can use it. I noticed you buying poetry books in chat - maybe you have the hump cos someone has one for sale, and you feel it is too expensive? 'Hurtful trend' as you say, is not how many of us see it at all. It is just the beginning of an economy starting up. Let me tell you - there will be NO PG inb the long term either without a flourishing player driven economy, people will get bored, and leave. If they can't sell, and can't buy what they need, they will quit. Citan is not against player trade - I very much imagine that an overhaul of the player stall area is on its way, at the very least a universal search board, and the ability to filter all items for sale. Devs listen to feedback, it's how games keep customers. And I am sure people are feedbacking that they need to be able to trade.

I feel here you are trying to enforce your own ideas and play style on other people.



3. The attempts to control a certain market niche. That happened before but most players boycotted and undercut the ones who attempted. How it's done in practice-get an OP character with many AoEs in a place where the mobs drop something that's expensive, don't bury the corpses to discourage other players and farm alone. Then sell whatever resource you were after (ie notus books, explosive runestones or whatever else). This way, by not allowing others to share the resource, you can control prices. Again, I think it's a big negative in the long run because it benefits only few players while taking advantage and draining all the others who need that resource (material or whatever else it might be).


I imagine here you are talking about that character who I agree was fairly odious, and farming explosive runestones obsessively for ages. In this instance, it was the fault of the area. Not big enough, not enough mobs dropping, creating an artificial gaming environment by having teeny tiny area for say 20 max level people. However, in the overall picture OF COURSE there will be people who like playing a merchant role, and try to dominate say gem market, or staffs, or cheese, or food, or potions, or scrolls, or armour, or drops, or dusts, or animal parts, or seeds, or flowers, or wool, or spell components.. wait! See where I am going with this? IT DOESN'T MATTER. It doesn't matter - take a breath - remember it is pixels. Not only that, its a false world with unlimited resources. To say it benefits only a few while 'taking advantage and draining all the others' is just BS sorry. They can go get their own, or they can find someone to buy from who is cheaper. Its simple gaming economics.



4. The lack of courtesy towards other players. Complaining there are no mobs to kill but refusing to spend 2 extra seconds each mob to bury and make them spawn faster. And doing that to the next player who comes around and tries to farm. It's okay guys, it's a pve game, you won't lose anything by letting others farm, they won't kill you later or anything. I tried the ironman challenge but couldn't complete it. Too much junk dropped everywhere (including perch straight on Lawara on Anagoge...newbies wouldn't have perch imo), people killing mobs all over around Serbule town and not burying etc. Very offputting if I really was a new player.

What? I don't get this either. I've been playing for ages. All I have seen is people having fun, enjoying themselves. I've helped people, people have helped me. The community is generally great. Again - this is alpha - and the burying mechanic is broken IMO. You can't ENFORCE what you want on a player when something is optional. Just because you want tthem to bury, cos maybe it is effecting you that they are not - just ask. And if they say 'no, I don't want repops' or 'no i don't have room for a shovel' then - tough tits mate. It is not mandatory, and you moaning on them about it is tantamount to griefing. I've only met new players who are having a blast. Not ones that are put off by anything. Except maybe horrifically slow run speed.




Now allow me to explain my points *except the last point, that's just common sense and not being rude pricks) in an anecdotal way. Not showing off with how much of a good person I am but the way things should work from my point of view.
I will use cheesemaking as example. When I started leveling this skill I could have comfortably used my alts and a mule to level it without buying a thing. I had 2 cow characters sufficiently leveled and a mule to milk cows and a crapload of stomachs and mushrooms. Instead I made a deal with a new player who needed cash for his expensive skill training (fire+BC). He wanted to sell me milk with 100 a bottle, I gave him 200 and explained to him that was the market value (I could ve just taken his milk and paid him half, he didn't know any better). The guy spent all his game time farming stomachs and milking cows in eltibule and it benefitted both of us. He got cash for his skills, leveled his butchering+anatomy+combat skills and I didn't have to relog all my horde of alts and mules to make materials. Yes, it would've been much faster and cheaper for me to use only my chars but in the long run we're not attracting new players by playing with our alts 90 % of the time.
I know I sound very cheesy but if more of us would share info and offer the right type of help we'd still be a nice community and people would feel welcome. Lately it hasn't been the case. Many of us stayed with this game because we had such a nice community but we're staring to lose this "badge" slowly and surely. More and more insults in chat, impatient newbies who want everything handed to them, spoonfed info, many players jumping on srand with complaints and questions that could be easily asked from other players or wikied, exploits, short fuses blowing etc. I used to spend a lot of time on Help chat but during the last month at least I switched off completely, I read only the guild chat and ignore everything else. Even Help channel became very negative and I don't particularly enjoy reading complaints, the same question asked over and over and the answers dissed..more complaints and more older players who could actually help being discouraged by the results of their help. It's apparently insulting to guide people to wiki I noticed that today:)

When I started cheese making, I advertised for milk, paid people to milk cows with my bottles, and bought a crap load of stomachs from people. That's the same. I imagine everyone - taking cheese making as an example - has done pretty much the same. Help channels - they get full of people asking the same question the more players join a game. If it is too much for you then you have certainly done the right thing by leaving the channel. I've personally felt like things have been buzzing and nice over the last few weeks. One thing you could try, which is what I do and find useful - is leave help on, but answer via /whisper. That way I can say - 'hey, don't listen to that person, they don't know what they are talking about' without starting a fight, and also really help the person who is asking. You should try it.


Sorry for the long post, I hope at least the literature fans will read it. I won't call it an objective analysis, it is my point of view on the direction PG (or actually more like its playerbase) is going. It has nothing to do with the game's actual development but with how we play it.


The player base is growing. With that growth comes the establishment of the economy, for all the good and ills that brings. Player trade will blossom, and no longer will just a few people be in control of chats, resources and direction. As more people join and give feedback and bug reports etc, so the direction of PG will change.

It was inevitable, and necessary for the growth, and success of PG.

I think you should just relax, concentrate on your own game and stop worrying so much about what other people are doing. Mine and others experience of the game in it's current state could not be more different to yours.

Finbarr.

[Tagamogi]

I actually like it when people leave things lying on the ground. A lot. I interpret it as a friendly gesture: "Here's an item I can't use - anyone else want it?" and not "I'm trying to make it difficult to click on this NPC."

I've been playing irregularly for over a year now and I still get that "oooh, free treasure!" feeling whenever I see something I can pick up. The sole exception to that happy feeling for me is Oritania's Navel Ring but since there's no way to destroy items that I'm aware of, there's not much people can do about it except discard it in a more discreet spot. But, since that quest is most likely done and dropped by newbies, they are not too likely to be thinking of that.

I also suspect that some of the leftover corpses in Serbule and Eltibule are caused by newbies who haven't figured out the use of a shovel yet. (Fwiw, I am also pretty sure I found a perch on a wolf on the newbie island once, so that fish could have gotten there legitimately.)

It might help if someone aware of the current player market posted a guide to valuable items a newbie might encounter and their approximate market value? Not everyone's going to read it, but we may end up with fewer valuable things on the vendors, which may discourage resellers a bit.

I can't really speak to the other points since I spent most of my gametime oblivious of other players. (I haven't figured out how to adjust the current chat box in a way where I can actually play and read, so most of the time it's just off for me. Yeah, I know I'm a terrible MMO player.) I dropped into help chat a weekend or two ago and found it pretty stressful, but that was mostly the sheer volume of it and not anyone being especially rude. I have seen rude/thoughtless chat on occasion, but I'm not sure how to address that - the people most likely to be typing that are probably also not the ones likely to take the time to actually read forum posts...

[Khaylara]

@Finbarr I am not sure why you posted, I know you certainly disagree, that was clear. I was hoping for constructive ideas added or corrections but I shouldn't expect too much I guess.

Not gonna adress everything, just a couple of points.

1. Yes Citan changed his mind but that doesn't mean everyone will respect it. Not sure how that made your friends leave but if they were banking on multiboxing meh, tough luck.

2. Another point, you whining about wipes when u just started playing. I told you then that you had enough time to catch up. And you did, you had help (including from me, the shit player) but you did. Why do you think it's okay for someone else to get there in 3 months instead of your year and a half is beyond me but if that's the case, your opinion, I won't try to change it.

3. Burying mobs. Idc, in the areas that I farm there's no such problem for now. Wanna be a dick go ahead but then don't complain when it's done to you, that's all. And blame it on the repop and game mechanics. As we speak people aren't burying cows in eltibule, near the fort. Next one who tries to kill mobs there will complain.

4. I didn't refer to just that particular case when i said some players try to control the market. It's happening again, if you were actually playing with people instead of your alts you would notice too.

As for constantly saying "when i started playing, ages ago" small correction there. It wasn't ages ago, it was around kickstarter. And you took some very long breaks, that's off topic but the point is your game time isn't that extensive. You keep saying people were doing this/that when you started playing. That might be true because we had the exact same situation, a wave of new players that caused lots of drama in terms of farming resources, bosses, elites etc. That settled and now it's starting again and many of us don't like it. What you call economy growing is the same jazz that drove down other games, greediness, hogging stuff, griefing newbies (yes, that's possible even in a pve game) and we're still in alpha. I'd like this game to have a successful launch and be playable for years to come not stumble before that cause of its playerbase.

Tagamogi-I like the stuff on the ground too, I'm a true scavenger (more stacks of bone meal on the ground please), it was annoying for ironman challenge though and it kinda leaves a bad first impression when you log first time. Unburied mobs...people complain that X or Y player griefs them in crypt by not burying but then they do the same thing to others just because. Not new players who don't know better (those are understandably unaware of the burying mechanic)
Good point, i'm gonna write a guide for valuables, I think Hood had one for new players too.

[Niph]

3. The attempts to control a certain market niche. That happened before but most players boycotted and undercut the ones who attempted. How it's done in practice-get an OP character with many AoEs in a place where the mobs drop something that's expensive, don't bury the corpses to discourage other players and farm alone. Then sell whatever resource you were after (ie notus books, explosive runestones or whatever else). This way, by not allowing others to share the resource, you can control prices. Again, I think it's a big negative in the long run because it benefits only few players while taking advantage and draining all the others who need that resource (material or whatever else it might be).

Is Explosive Runestone your most significant example? It can be found elsewhere, and in fact I can't think of any resource that is restricted to one camp only. Anyway it's always possible -at equal level of gear and skills- to force sharing, although it's definitely not fun for either parties.

[cratoh]

@Finbarr I am not sure why you posted, I know you certainly disagree, that was clear. I was hoping for constructive ideas added or corrections but I shouldn't expect too much I guess.

It was constructive, if you bothered to read it. I posted, cos this is a forum - for discussion about the game, and I find some of your ideas quite worrying.




1. Yes Citan changed his mind but that doesn't mean everyone will respect it. Not sure how that made your friends leave but if they were banking on multiboxing meh, tough luck.


They enjoy playing games differently to you. So they left. Nice empathy, thank you.


2. Another point, you whining about wipes when u just started playing. I told you then that you had enough time to catch up. And you did, you had help (including from me, the shit player) but you did. Why do you think it's okay for someone else to get there in 3 months instead of your year and a half is beyond me but if that's the case, your opinion, I won't try to change it.


Because its level 60, beginner level. It's not even anywhere near endgame. It should be fast. Whining - come on, be civil. I wasn't whining for wipes. I was simply stating the fact that some players won't join because of the odds stacked against them. And I'm used to testing periods being wiped for parity.


3. Burying mobs. Idc, in the areas that I farm there's no such problem for now. Wanna be a dick go ahead but then don't complain when it's done to you, that's all. And blame it on the repop and game mechanics. As we speak people aren't burying cows in eltibule, near the fort. Next one who tries to kill mobs there will complain.

Want to be a dick? Come on - be civil. If you don't like the mechanic - feedback it. Don't bitch at people. I don't complain about it, I ask someone who isn't burying if they could, if I ened them to, if they don't i just don't worry about it. Cows business at Eltibule? Maybe they will feedback it, maybe Citan will look at it and realise it is a little broken.


4. I didn't refer to just that particular case when i said some players try to control the market. It's happening again, if you were actually playing with people instead of your alts you would notice too.

Hey, be civil? I play how I want to - I don't have to answer to you, or play how you like. Play with my alts? What are you even talking about.. sigh. Like I said - I liek it when someone tries to control a portion of the market. It's fun, its MMO economy 101.


As for constantly saying "when i started playing, ages ago" small correction there. It wasn't ages ago, it was around kickstarter. And you took some very long breaks, that's off topic but the point is your game time isn't that extensive. You keep saying people were doing this/that when you started playing. That might be true because we had the exact same situation, a wave of new players that caused lots of drama in terms of farming resources, bosses, elites etc. That settled and now it's starting again and many of us don't like it. What you call economy growing is the same jazz that drove down other games, greediness, hogging stuff, griefing newbies (yes, that's possible even in a pve game) and we're still in alpha. I'd like this game to have a successful launch and be playable for years to come not stumble before that cause of its playerbase.


Oh I'm sorry. I started in June/July 2015. I've only spent 71 days logged in on this character, so yeah I probably haven't learnt much in the quarter million attacks I've done, or the 60 million damage. The only people I see causing drama is people once again trying to enforce their own (I stress here, not the devs, their own) play style on others. And then saying 'oh cos if that happens then I'll quit'. I have no idea what you mean regards 'stuff driving other games down' cos economy certainly wasn't what did that in any of the ones I've played. (AoC, EQ, EQ2, Rift, LotRO, SWtOR, just too many to mention) I'd like this game to have a successful launch as well. I don't think you need to worry about the playerbase, most of us a rubbing along quite nicely thanks. I do however hope thereis a fresh start server at least, if not a complete wipe.

[srand]

There's a lot of frustration here. I can understand that.

But I am locking this thread. Frustration - understandable. Ranting - understandable. Discussion - always good. Sniping at your fellow players with veiled or not so veiled insults - not acceptable.

I'll be honest - I'm not sure that locking this thread is the right thing for me to do here because I know that there is a lot of frustration around these and other potential problems that will come as we move out of tiny alpha and into slightly less tiny alpha, and from there into larger beta. And I'd like to encourage that discussion. (Except multi-boxing; that ship has sailed. Please report it if you see it and we'll deal with it.) But I don't think that this particular exchange is a good place to start.

[Eachna]

I'm not sure how to do a quote of a thread that is closed, but here's my best shot:

There's a lot of frustration here. I can understand that.

But I am locking this thread. Frustration - understandable. Ranting - understandable. Discussion - always good. Sniping at your fellow players with veiled or not so veiled insults - not acceptable.

I'll be honest - I'm not sure that locking this thread is the right thing for me to do here because I know that there is a lot of frustration around these and other potential problems that will come as we move out of tiny alpha and into slightly less tiny alpha, and from there into larger beta. And I'd like to encourage that discussion. (Except multi-boxing; that ship has sailed. Please report it if you see it and we'll deal with it.) But I don't think that this particular exchange is a good place to start.

I agree there's a lot of frustration bleeding through in posts. It might(?) be useful to put up some polls now and then about stuff in flux.

Polls aren't just feedback for devs. They're feedback for the other players. They're a superficial way of giving people an idea where they fit into the general player population (what percentage of people tend to think like them). When you have your same small pool of people you play with (same friends list/guild) it's easy to forget not everyone thinks like your clique.