Jesus christ how can their forums suck so bad

[Threash]

You know, i played shadowbane for over a year and everytime they randomly lost my character or i couldnt log in for a week or i lost a town due to chain sb.exes AT LEAST I COULD LOG IN THEIR BOARDS AND BITCH ABOUT IT.  How wow manages to have the worst forums of any game ive played so far i can't understand, not only are they down pretty much every time i want to check them but their search function is horrible.  Is it really that hard to have working message boards on your official site? lesser companies manage to get that part right even if they fuck up everything else.

[Ironwood]

Do not try to bend the spoon, for that's impossible.

Instead, try to realise the truth.

[Dren]

I'm not Jesus Christ, but I have a few thoughts on the matter.

The forums don't make them money, but probably cause them headaches.  On the books, it would count as a cost, not a profit.  I doubt it is seen as a way to retain subs or attract subs, so what's the point spending money to make them better?

They probably put just as much effort into them as any other company.  The problem?  They have over 20 times more customers to please.  Again, pumping more money into it won't make them more money.  They're better off pushing money towards developing more patches and content.  That is what people react with their wallets to.

Excuse, no.  Reason, yes.

[Nebu]

Do not try to bend the spoon, for that's impossible.

Instead, try to realise the truth.

As far as their forums go, there is no spoon.

[Zetor]

Regular exposure to b.net forums may result in brain damage. Blizzard is doing everyone a favor...!


-- Z.

[Phred]

Did you time this post to coincide with the announcement of new forums on the WoW site or was it an accident?

Is this some perverse form of stealth marketting?

[Signe]

I think the WoW forums are exciting.  It's like being on a really fast roller coaster that only goes down.

[Tale]

They are beta testing new forum software:

http://beta.wow-europe.com/board.html?forumId=10001&sid=1

Stolen from FoHguild.org:

many new features:
Avatar now also takes level and class into account
Ignore
Search (Working)
link to your talent setup (now with wowhead.com 3panel view)
all bans lifted

same old features:
level 1 characters can still troll
still full of retards

Edit: Oops sorry Phred/Threash, the red card distracted me from that post.

[Threash]

Did you time this post to coincide with the announcement of new forums on the WoW site or was it an accident?

Is this some perverse form of stealth marketting?

Actually i posted this before the beta announcement came up while the forums had been down all morning.  The new forums are definitely an improvement, a lot of the extra features are very nice, still full of retards and lvl 1 trolls though.

[Signe]

When you click on my avatard, it blows a whistle.

[Phred]

Unfortunately the new forum's features seem all more tied into the existing character database than the old ones, so unless they are cloning the db's so the forum has it's own copy to use I predict major forum meltdowns on patch days.

That said, being able to see all that detail like pvp rank and talent spec about a poster is pretty cool. Shame most posters post on L1 troll alts.

[Jayce]

Shame most posters post on L1 troll alts.

I have never understood this.  You quite often see people posting as a level 1 from a different server altogether, nondescript name, with their actual character name and level in the sig.  WTF?

[Xanthippe]

I have never understood this.  You quite often see people posting as a level 1 from a different server altogether, nondescript name, with their actual character name and level in the sig.  WTF?

Because they are spineless retards who overestimate the added value of their posts.

[Threash]

Shame most posters post on L1 troll alts.

I have never understood this.  You quite often see people posting as a level 1 from a different server altogether, nondescript name, with their actual character name and level in the sig.  WTF?

Apart from the assholes who use lvl 1 alts to flame anonimously there was also several board related bugs that sometimes didn't let you pick your real char to post with.

[Jeff Kelly]

I just never understood why they had to code their own vastly inferior forum software, when there are so many good forum packages out there. Hell they could have even asked Schild if they could use this one.

Things like phpbb could easily handle the load, are tried and tested and have everything you could ever want from a forum especially a working search feature.

[ahoythematey]

I remember when I bothered with that toilet of a bulletin board I had to pick shitty lvl 1 alts from another server because the forums wouldn't allow Hellscream players, along with 8 or so other original realms, to post at all.  I can't imagine the newer forums being worth the trouble, anyways, since the only place I've ever seen more self-important shitcocks and worthless trolls is here at Politics.

[Ironwood]