I think dev chats are a good idea always both before and after a game launch.  I plan on talking with Frogboy about some of my ideas in the near future, so if Kryo or the others at SD don't beat me to it I will definitely mention this.

[Ignored XSive_Death's post]

i agree TheMystic, proper developer <--to--> consumer discussion and communication is needed before AND after release.  if those in this community aren't mature enough be able to do that then i think taking the time to find those that are willing and able to is very important.

yea, i'm also very interested in getting to chat to the real deals.  building an idea is so much easier when u know what can't work. 

getting back to the OP thou, i would almost say its more productive for the game dev to spend say 1 hour a week all collectively chatting with (the more mature) community than taking that time to work.  if the developers can see the excitment and ideas brought forward to from this community it would definately at least motivate them.  if all u hear are complainst forwarded through Frogboy then u tend to hate ur job.  however if u actualy see how excited people get over new content and feature u might actualy want to come into work in the mornings

Don't take Kryo too seriously. Like everyone else he has a temper and he's known to let it show. Anyone who ever visited competetive gamer forums or "free speech" american political forums knows what flaming and trolling looks like.

Demigod is a fuzzy ball of harmony compared to that.

All right, kryo. Want to talk ScottishAlien on IRC or something? Anyone else want in on this?

I like the idea of it but while it'd be interesting to shoot the breeze with the devs over the game I don't really have a lot of questions for a FAQ type thing.

Here are some questions that I feel are asked directly or indirectly pretty frequently

1. What's your general perspective on minion 'swarm' builds at the moment?
   1. Has the horn of battle been altered in 1.2?
2. What your current perspective on team matchmaking. Do you see it in the near future, on the horizon, or not at all?
3. Are there any plans to make stats visible in game?
4. How do you guys feel about pantheon/skirmish at the moment?
   • Do you feel pantheon drains players off of skirmish matching or vice versa in a detrimental way?
   • How well has the light/dark seperation played out?
5. HP stacking seems to be the proper gear choice 99% of the time. Are you guys happy with current item balanc?
   • Personally I think the artifact shop items are extremely versatile and well made, did they precede or follow the creation of the regular item shop items?
6. Do you guys have a working list of bug fixes that have been nailed down?
   

The green subquestion is just a personal inquiry, it's not something I've seen repeated by anyone else on the boards, but for the most part I think this short list covers much of the most frequently asked stuff.

I'd agree Stardock appear to be almost willing the community to be this way, certainly seems no different from any other publisher or developer forum.

Tals

Lemme point out on exception on the standard item shop inventory - the Orb of Defiance is, imo, the coolest and most interesting item in the game.

I know it isn't SD's style to get involved in heavily moderating but surely it's time to think about doing something if you're having to say that?

You can't say "it's not working, those folks spoilt it for everyone by not playing nice" because this is the only way of giving feedback on the game short of emailing ideas through, and that's in no way less prone to people sending vile and uunhelpful comments so will end up equally ignored if it becomes popular.

Heck, there's not that many helpful posters, you could even just give the posters who make a couple of constructive posts the keys to some secret feedback clubhouse on an individual basis. Anything's better than completely isolating yourself from the community because some sections are running riot.

Also, constructive criticism doesn't technically have to be nice, and some people have trouble holding their temper when they have a problem but can still make a solid arguement. It takes a thick skin to read the rants and separate the ones out that have a legitimate point too. But it would help get the most out of any feedback if you can separate "angry and dumb" from "angry and impolite, but kinda right".

It has already been necessary here (and done, whether visibly or otherwise) for some time. Which is frustrating, as it's been a point of pride that we've always been hands-off and that regular locks and deletions have never been necessary in our communities. The bottom line is that those trolls have discouraged Brad from interacting directly on a regular basis (as you're all aware), which is what the primary feature of a live chat would be since he is involved with GPG more than anyone else here.

So I'll reiterate, go ahead and post your questions and we'll see if they can go into a journal. A live chat would basically be the same thing anyway, just with a faster turnaround. It also eliminates the scheduling issues with a live chat.

Lemme point out that some of my questsions were answered already on the july 24th update, so kudos to frogboy and the DG team.