Influx of new gamers =/= screaming entitlement from the same demographic. I have been a fan for nearly a decade, yet I agree with OP that maybe the devs could open up some more on dedicated threads instead of individually replying about their updates.5 million copies sold, and with the influx of new gamers we get to deal with this shi*.
10~12 year veteran fans are staying calm and patient, and the newbies screaming entitlement.
**sigh**
Example:
Also, in what world does 10-12 year veteran fans have to do with a product that EVERYONE shares? There is absolutely no relevance, so using that as a means to uphold your own opinion is quite egregious./snip
I do agree that forum communication isn't a deciding factor for game success but just look at the pinned beta updates that they put out. A large portion of feedback/bug reports stem from forum users, and the devs act majorly upon our findings. If we use the mass media example, we are kind of like the editors on the forums that simply wish to understand the vision of the product so we can properly dissect it and rid out the bugs. We are in EA, this is totally different from games(mainstream AAA especially) that just throw out the content, TW themselves are relying on us, and if you actually read through the forums, you will find they have been individually discussing with threads that have legitimate bugs and adding that onto their list while sharing their works.There is no statistical evidence, that I know of, which implies "good forum communication equals development success."
Games are mass media products. It is not designing a dishwasher or toilet or TV. It is creating a work that is closer to books, movies, or music. And there have been works that have succeeded in spite of zero mass input and there has been failures that have been focus-grouped to death.
That being said, it doesn't really change how good or crappy the game will be. It is just a bottle of milk for the loudest.
Please refer to the OP and understand that unless you are lucky while browsing, searching active developer names is the most efficient way to see what the devs are working on, and more importantly, areas we can help test ourselves.