Ya, I agree about needing dedicated server forums. That would really help.
Not for nothing, but how many times do they need to redesign the website. This is the second time in 5 months IIRC. maybe they should get it right one of these times, so they can use some of those resources to get the game fixed.
Humans are the only species on the planet smart enough to be this stupid.
It's a valid point.. but honestly I think it looks much better than before and is easier to navigate/read. Heck even the patch notes are easier to read, which to me is a total win.
The first design was, admittedly, quite bad. I even went as far as to make a post about it a while ago. I didn't get many replies, but it looks like they finally did something about it. I am really really happy with the way it turned out!
at least now it looks like a site of a game that is out and running. The old site looked like TOR was still in beta
I like it, the style fits much better, however, I would like maybe the background on posts to just be a little lighter, or the text a little darker - I am suffering from the same problems I have on Darth Hater's website, my eyes really start to feel strained now after reading even just 10-15 posts. I didn't really get that on the old colour scheme - but still, it's a vast improvement, cosmetically, and functionally everything is much clearer now. It looks more like a proper MMO website... whatever that is supposed to mean :P
I was hoping they'd add realm forums with this update, too bad.
but yes, it looks more modern and more inviting now, I like it.
The addressed the idea of realm forums some at PAX... I think their response was basically from what they have seen from other games realm forums always seem to devolve really quickly and seem to in the long run not be all that useful. They like the way things are and suggest using the filter/search functions to help you find things specific to your server (like in the case of guilds).
So basically, don't hold your breath on the idea of realm forums.
I honestly don't know what to do about recruitment right now. With servers like mine, everyone is loyal to their guilds so they will not join. Cross server recruitment is almost not an option (though we had one reroll) due to having to relevel and regear. Ugh. They really need to make this easier.
yeah, that is kind of the problem we are dealing with as well. There is one other decent raiding guild on our server, maybe two. People have settled in to their guilds for the time being.
We are seeing applications from some of the guilds that did well during T1, but overall lack the skill to progress well in T2. However, the skill level of some of the newer recruits isn't quite where we need it to be. We're Rep and on a medium pop serer so getting an influx of talent from rerolls isn't likely.
All of our guilds kind of fell apart due to trying to eat each other up. We were #1 with minimal competition but now we just have 0 competition. The only other raiding guilds are doing Story Mode and not even full clearing it yet :/ So trying to recruit from them wouldn't really be wise- since you're only as strong as your weakest player.
I suppose forum discussion is still being ontopic so I will add in another point relating to it.
The forums in WoW I used for advertising was a lot easier for people to notice since they really didn't have to look anywhere to see you recruiting. Also, advertising for things to sell or events you are holding was much better. I know they don't have any plans for adding in that function but I hope they change their mind. They seem to be changing their mind about a lot of things recently so I will keep my hopes up.
Looks way better now!