The statements in the topic don't "explain away keep battles not existing for player defenders". The discussion is about future improvements.
Are you talking about the thread from around three weeks ago?
The one where you said: "For 1, I don't really think it's a worthwhile goal. The player is unlikely to experience it, because chances are good they will already be knocked out on the wall." ~
Duh
And: "If a few players are to experience a particular feature rarely, it becomes less worthwhile to pursue than a feature that more players are likely to experience often" ~
Duh
My remark was indeed spurred by one of your comments, they give us insight into what some of the thought processes
might be on the team. Hence why I used the "
sounds like" terminology and not something more definitive such as "
they did".
And the very thing you are referencing is quite clear that my opinion isn't the deciding factor.
I actually cannot find where you say something specific like "I have no control over whether this gets in", which honestly I assumed anyway.
However if you did say that somewhere I certainly may have missed it as I did not read into other pages of that thread I was originally referencing, likely to due to simply not returning to it after reading it shortly after it was posted.
these things are not developed in isolation. That is to say if we pursue one thing, we do so by not pursuing something else. Similarly, if we chose to not pursue that one thing, we do so in favor of something else. All of these options can enhance the sandbox experience and must be prioritized according to their assumed costs and benefits.
Sounds about right, industry standard stuff. I just find it a little odd that you are more or less pulling the 'we did not have time to complete the feature' card on an 11 year project for a basic Warband mechanic, which was a 2 year project.
A question to those that are interested in defensive keep fights. Would you feel that the current offensive set up would offer an enjoyable defensive experience to you? That is to say - no control over your troops, no reinforcements for your side and generally a mission that you are quite likely to lose (or, well, are intended to lose - since another challenge may be players exploiting the terrain to simply 1on1 200 bots and basically mean that no siege has to be lost anymore... encouraging that very approach). If not, how do you imagine it should work?
In Warband you could control your random teammates in tournament fights. Control your own soldiers in a keep in it's sequel? Impossible.
But your argument here is essentially that your existing work a decade in is too lackluster to let a player experience? Or were you genuinely asking for input?
TLDR - Feedback is being read by the relevant people and potential improvements will be explored for the feature.
That is great to hear. It is genuinely good to know, thank you for bringing that to my attention.