Cross-Server Istarian Skype Chat

[Racktor]

As an update this chat is still alive and hasn't died out. In fact it has grown from people adding friends. As I write it has 48 people in total. A lot are indeed lurkers but there are at least 10 active people and the chat almost never goes silent for 24 hours or more.

The chat also now officially has rules/guidelines and the player list is mostly updated - some people still haven't added themselves. I'll see if I can get the first post edited with this added in, but if not..

Rules are here!

If you're concerned about me being basically the only current "power" in the chat I apologise, but in reality I don't necessarily need moderators and no one has complained about it. I promise it's not a Racktatorship. I also talk like a player, not an admin.

We haven't hit Skype's limit just yet and it's never too late to be asked to be added. Shoot me a note if you're interested or add me on Skype with the introduction message being about the chat. (Skypename is dragontamer97) We're a little short on Chaos players as well from what I've seen - mostly Order dragging other Order in. I'd like to see some of Chaos' residents!

And sorry to make this sound like an advertisement. :P It's meant to be an update, not an ad!

[Malicore]

I spend too many hours a day typing in other programs. for the most part I have switched to using Skype for voice only. this way on hunts, we all know what each other is doing. less confusion. I agree Racktor's idea is a good one though, if you are the typing kind. I will stay on a person to person basis (or group) via voice though.

[Racktor]

Kind of late to reply to you, Malicore, but I can understand. Typing all day isn't everyone's thing.

I want to clarify some confusion that has come to my attention a few times now from multiple inputs - the forums, Skype, and Istaria itself.

This chat is not an official chat of Virtrium. This means that it is not an officially supported input source by the company that owns Istaria. Yes, AmonGwareth participates and speaks in the chatroom. This does not mean, however, that anyone in Skype has the "ear" of the developers. Any changes or adjustments are always brought to the forums before anything goes into the game. No suggestion made by the players in the chat alone has gone through to the game without hitting the forums first as far as I'm aware.

Amon tends to speak normally in conversation as would any other player. However he answers questions people have for him when asked. For example, the recent Breath attack links were not decided by the chat whatsoever. In fact lots of people in the chat expressed frustration when it was realised. The only thing done was asking Amon if the change was purposeful. A forum post was made about the unfavorable linking and a few people spoke their reasoning to Amon to explain what they said the night beforehand. That was the end of that matter and the forum post remained the sole source of input for the issue.

People are people and may forget that a chatroom is not the appropriate place to suggest changes, so yes, suggestions are placed. However they are almost always brought to the forums and I have not seen one suggestion said only in the Skype chat hit the game. For example, even though people suggested to Amon in the Skype chat that the Myloc Queen's hierophants should have their heals changed or not heal so fast when they first spawn, there was a suggestion thread posted on it and linked in the chat directly. Velea responded to that thread thanking people for their feedback. Later, Amon posted in the chat what was written by Velea in the forum thread shortly before or sometime after she wrote her post.

The most official thing done in the chat is a sort of bug reporting simply because it's very fast feedback and communication. Writing a quick "Hey Amon, is this formula supposed to scribe at 100 skill instead of 10?" and getting a "No it isn't, thanks for saying it" in reply makes writing a whole thread about it in the bug forum a bit.. redundant. I'm not sure if Amon notes down the bugs we mention but he may... if he doesn't then I can see some threads popping up, lol.

The composition of the chat is mostly Order players but there are some Chaos players who join in every so often. One moderator of the two is from Chaos and is very active. Chaos players are as welcome as Order players. Discrimination on server is just stupid and isn't tolerated. Most people play melee dragons although there are two or three prominent biped players as well. There's one person with a caster dragon main and one with a caster alt and one with a hybrid main. The rest are melee DPS as far as I'm aware. I don't really poll people for their play styles.

In the end, this chat is not and never will be the primary source of suggestion and information from the players for the developers. However, I can not tell you whether Amon uses the idle chatter as inspiration for new content or as a notification system for any bugs, exploits, or nuisances in the game. That is for him to say, not me.

Thank you and good day,
Racktor

[Machaeon]

I can confirm all of the above 100%

The chat is most of the time not focused on any one topic, or even Istaria at all. We all generally speak to Amon the way we would any other player and he generally does the same for us.

As Rackie said, there is some 'quicker' feedback in figuring out what's a bug and what's intentional. Really the only difference in submitting a bug report or posting a forum thread is that it generally goes like a normal conversation: "Is X supposed to happen when I do Y?" "Yes that's intended, the reasoning behind that is blah blah blah." "Oh didn't know that!" And then the conversation in the chat typically returns to idle chatter.

People do throw out suggestions in the chat sometimes but I can guarantee that any of the suggestions I've seen in the chat that made it into the game have also gone through the forums and/or the support site. Many times suggestions are tossed out willy-nilly and aren't even meant to be taken seriously, those are the ones that Amon either doesn't bother commenting on, doesn't notice, or just gets a chuckle out of. No chat member has any special standing with the devs, nor should they.

*tosses my two cents in*

[Velea]

I'm closing this thread due to it leading to too much need for moderation. The chat channel exists, yes, but we do not need to have grievances with it aired here on the forums, and that is what this thread has become.