How can we help DEVS? (and all of us)

[Malix Farwin]

I hate to tell you thins OP but the Devs do not want our help. They do not listen to well thought out feedback and havent been all xpac. Things that were obvious to the player base either gets addressed 2 years later, not at all, or when they finally do acknowledge it as a problem their fixes do nothing(clear example of this is tier 15 affliction talents. took them till 8.3 to buff but the old talent still overshadows them).

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Here is player feedback in mop:

No dalies
No flying

Which is what we got in WoD.
Feedback In wod:

Nothing to do.
We want flying
Dungeons need to last
Means to continue to improve our character at max level outside of gear like xp.

So in legion we get.

M+
Pathfinder (Well that came in WoD but more fleshed out.)
World quests.
Ap in weapons.

In legion feedback was:

AP doesn't let us even have alt specs.

In Bfa we get AP as a neck piece allowing alt specs to work.

To say they don't listen is a myth. Most of the changes are listening to the biggest crying that comes out in the current expansions.

Just because they don't do what you want doesn't mean they don't listen to others.

You are wrong there was mroe to it than that and using Legion as an example only proves the point that they do not listen in BfA.

[WowIsDead64]

They ignore all feedback that goes "I hate this" and doesn't say specifically why they feel that way. "Class design is terrible" isn't very informative.

Also, for any given topic or question they get multiple replies that are often diametrically opposed.

My own opinion is that they often do listen and it usually works out for the worse. Forums are hotbeds of terrible ideas. So are elite high-end raiders who don't represent anything even remotely like average players.

No. In many cases players explain, why certain things are good/bad. For example I can write big article about why no flying is bad. Problem is - they ignore it anyway.

They say, that we don't know, what we want. But I can say, that they don't know, what feedback they want. "I hate X" - isn't informative. "Big article about why X is bad" - too long, didn't read. "Short explanation" - still silently ignore it, because it doesn't fit into our design philosophy, no comments, that could point players' feedback towards right direction.

[Lei]

The playerbase has never been this fragmented as it is now. Period. Some voices were in WotLK "raidz R 2 EZ!", some voices were in cata "dungeons r 2 hard", "lol deathwing manicure for a year as content", in mop "pandaz r 4 children, I'm adult!" "too many dailies!"
But never as broad as in WoD "what 2 do?" "ashran is shit" "garrisons are shit" "facebook game is shit" "reputations are shit", "outdoor content is shit" "story/ending is shit" "why can't I fly?" -> "how do you mean you're removing flying?" "lol 6.1", or in first half (or 2/3s?) of Legion "ap farm is shit" "legiondaries are random so shit" "can't fly!" "mah lore's been butchered! ", "professions are shit" "lol 7.2" or now in BfA. NEVER.

[Aucald]

Collaborate, test, analyze, and provide feedback that is both informative as well as constructive that isn't laced with emotional appeals and very obvious (and often strangely personal) anger. State a case with clarity, back up your position(s) with evidence, and offer alternatives and/or workarounds to current problems. They devs have proven they *do* indeed listen to feedback, but it needs to stand out from the continual salvos of essential salt and withering sarcasm offered without any kind of real constructive feedback. A post that says "X issue is broken, but here's how I think it can be fixed" is a lot more attractive in terms of criticism than 1,000 posts that are all variations of "X issue is broken, WoW sucks, the devs sold us all out to Activision for $$$."

It's human nature to avoid both confrontation and offense, and the devs are just as human as the players - insult them continually and yes, they'll stop listening to you because that's what humans do. But you can criticize without rancor, and sometimes you can even sneak constructive criticism into a preamble that looks like praise (that's often my approach, personally speaking) - an attractive facade that makes swallowing the criticism a bit easier for the reader.