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Forum Reorganization Community Discussion [Complete!]

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    aexraelaexrael Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Branflakes is the only one whom knows. The new layout was discussed in this thread.
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    Still working out final details, and taking everyone's feedback, including the dev team's, into consideration. Goal is to have these up next Monday.

    I also would like to add a subforum to The Academy -- "Player Guides". You won't be able to create threads in there, but threads that would have been sticked in The Academy would be moved to there. You would still be able to comment on those threads, too (think of it like current FNN forum).

    Thoughts? :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    idronaidrona Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I also would like to add a subforum to The Academy -- "Player Guides". You won't be able to create threads in there, but threads that would have been sticked in The Academy would be moved to there. You would still be able to comment on those threads, too (think of it like current FNN forum).

    Thoughts? :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=


    Sounds like a good idea to me, since the first page is almost full of stickies.

    It would also be cool if we were able to post images in there. :)
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    lan451lan451 Member Posts: 3,386 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Still working out final details, and taking everyone's feedback, including the dev team's, into consideration. Goal is to have these up next Monday.

    I also would like to add a subforum to The Academy -- "Player Guides". You won't be able to create threads in there, but threads that would have been sticked in The Academy would be moved to there. You would still be able to comment on those threads, too (think of it like current FNN forum).

    Thoughts? :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=

    Totally behind that. Half that forum's front page is stickies and it looks really messy. I would also suggest maybe going through all the OPs in the stickies just to make sure that they are all up to date before putting them into the new guide section. Any outdated ones can just be un-stickied, locked, and then left to drift off into forum oblivion. Just really need to make sure that the guides any new players look at have fresh info in them.
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    bluegeekbluegeek Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Still working out final details, and taking everyone's feedback, including the dev team's, into consideration. Goal is to have these up next Monday.

    I also would like to add a subforum to The Academy -- "Player Guides". You won't be able to create threads in there, but threads that would have been sticked in The Academy would be moved to there. You would still be able to comment on those threads, too (think of it like current FNN forum).

    Thoughts? :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=

    Agreed, motion carried :D
    My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here
    Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
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    aexraelaexrael Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Still working out final details, and taking everyone's feedback, including the dev team's, into consideration. Goal is to have these up next Monday.

    I also would like to add a subforum to The Academy -- "Player Guides". You won't be able to create threads in there, but threads that would have been sticked in The Academy would be moved to there. You would still be able to comment on those threads, too (think of it like current FNN forum).

    Thoughts? :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=

    I'd take it one step further and abolish the notion of the academy as a place to ask random questions in.
    If you go ahead with the restructuring towards a more sensible and laser focused topic choice, people should be asking their questions within the relevant sections. This would free up the Academy for said guides/threads worthy of The Academy exposure.
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    cidstormcidstorm Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Giving the Romulans their own gameplay and ship yard would be a really nice gesture.
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    redshirtthefirstredshirtthefirst Member Posts: 415 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Bran, could we see what's the up to date proposed line up in the OP if not too much trouble?
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    psiameesepsiameese Member Posts: 1,646 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Something I noted at the Neverwinter forum is that their Dev Tracker has, IMO, a snafu in it. It will list dev posts by date. But those posts don't indicate in which thread they are responding. So the player can't click the thread topic to read context of the Dev response.

    I'd hate to see that slip into STO forums without some thought.

    Also, I'd love the ability to collapse each major section of the forum. This shortens the amount of space one needs to scroll through to reach the sections of importance to a player.
    (/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    I want to thank everyone again for all of their feedback. Based on it, as well as feedback from the devs, here is the forum structure that is planned to go live next week. Please reply with any final feedback or concerns.


    Information and Discussion

    .Galactic News Network
    .Release Notes
    .Dev Tracker
    .The Academy
    ..Player Guides
    .Star Trek Online General Discussion
    .Ten Forward
    ..Captain's Table (RP)

    Feedback

    .Federation Gameplay
    .Klingon Gameplay
    .Romulan Gameplay
    .Feature Episodes and Events
    .PvP Gameplay
    ..PvP Boot Camp
    .The Shipyards
    .Builds, Powers, and Game Mechanics
    .Duty Officer System
    .Fleet Holdings System
    .Reputation System
    .Controls and User Interface
    .The Art of Star Trek Online
    .C-Store and Promotions


    The Foundry for Star Trek Online

    .The Foundry For Star Trek Online - Discussion & Feedback
    .The Foundry For Star Trek Online - Mission Database
    .The Foundry for Star Trek Online - Bug Reports

    Support

    .Gameplay Bugs
    .Graphical Issues
    .PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues


    Fleet Administrative Station

    .Earth Spacedock
    .Qo'noS
    .New Romulus

    Test Servers

    .Tribble - Announcements and Release Notes
    .Tribble - Bug Reports
    .Tribble - General Discussion and Feedback

    ---

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Galactic News Network FTW!!!!!!!


    I like it nice and neat

    And glad the RPers are getting their own forum, and can get out of Ten forward and it can go back to it's pure shenanigans.
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    vinsinarvinsinar Member Posts: 55 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I think you need to break out the shipyard for the 3 types. When looking for what others have done or need to ask a question I don't want my KDF post to be kicked to the 4th page 10 minutes later by Fed and Rom ship questions.
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    vinsinar wrote: »
    I think you need to break out the shipyard for the 3 types. When looking for what others have done or need to ask a question I don't want my KDF post to be kicked to the 4th page 10 minutes later by Fed and Rom ship questions.

    Thanks for the feedback! :) We discussed this a few pages back, but as the same team works on all ships, it's better for them to be all together.

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    frtoasterfrtoaster Member Posts: 3,352 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    .The Shipyards
    .Builds, Powers and Game Mechanics

    What would belong in "The Shipyards" that doesn't belong in "Builds, Powers and Game Mechanics"? What happened to separating space mechanics and ground mechanics?
    In regards to the "BOFFs, Captains, classes, traits, powers, mechanics, etc." subforum, it turns out we should probably separate this into Space and Ground -- like the content team and separated faction-gameplay forums, this would help the systems team.
    Support
    .Gameplay Bugs
    .Graphical Issues
    .PC & Technical Issues

    Should there be a separate forum for network issues, especially since they often affect many users at the same time?
    Waiting for a programmer ...
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    frtoaster wrote: »
    What would belong in "The Shipyards" that doesn't belong in "Builds, Powers and Game Mechanics"? What happened to separating space mechanics and ground mechanics?

    Feedback, suggestions, requests on the topic of ships :)
    frtoaster wrote: »
    Should there be a separate forum for network issues, especially since they often affect many users at the same time?

    The PC and Tech forum covers this.

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    thepopeofbeersthepopeofbeers Member Posts: 118 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Please consider adding an Oxford comma to "Builds, Powers, and Game Mechanics." An Epohh dies every time an Oxford comma goes missing :( :P
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    frtoasterfrtoaster Member Posts: 3,352 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    The PC and Tech forum covers this.

    I know that network issues are covered under "PC & Technical Issues". But why is there a separate forum for graphics issues, but not network issues? Those are probably the two largest categories of technical problems encountered by users. Another possibility is renaming the forum to "PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues".
    Waiting for a programmer ...
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    theodrimtheodrim Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    My input:

    I'd leave Galactic News Network for community announcements and updates, and make a second forum for gameplay and mechanics announcements and updates, into which release notes and "Feature Episodes and Events" would go.

    Having "The Academy" and "Player Guides" together, especially with subforums later on for Fed, KDF, RRF, and PvP in particular is a shade redundant. Eliminate "Player Guides", roll the newbie stuff including "PvP Boot Camp" into "The Academy", and the faction-specific stuff into their respective sub-forums.

    DOffs, fleet holdings, and reputation can easily be rolled into the game mechanics discussion sub-forum, also. Shipyard discussion, since so much of it is faction-specific, is probably best omitted to in favor of ship build discussion going into respective faction forums.

    I'd also suggest putting "Control and User Interface" under the support forum, also.

    Lastly, due to how Romulan alliances work, a separate sub-forum for Romulan fleets seems quite redundant since Romulan fleet activity is piggy-backed onto either Fed or KDF anyhow.
    Somebody getting uppity about canon? No problem! Just take a deep breath, and repeat after me:

    Spock's Brain.
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    Please consider adding an Oxford comma to "Builds, Powers, and Game Mechanics." An Epohh dies every time an Oxford comma goes missing :( :P

    We'll see :P
    frtoaster wrote: »
    I know that network issues are covered under "PC & Technical Issues". But why is there a separate forum for graphics issues, but not network issues? Those are probably the two largest categories of technical problems encountered by users. Another possibility is renaming the forum to "PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues".

    Because we have a Graphics team, and another team that works on PC and Technical Issues :) I'm okay with "PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues" and updated my recent post.

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    idronaidrona Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    GNN - The Galactic News Network
    signwidrona.png
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    aexraelaexrael Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013


    Information

    .Galactic News Network
    .Release Notes
    .Dev Tracker
    .The Academy
    .Ten Forward
    ..Captain's Table (RP)

    Feedback and Discussion

    .General Discussion
    .Federation Gameplay
    .Klingon Gameplay
    .Romulan Gameplay
    .Feature Episodes and Events
    .Builds, Powers, and Game Mechanics
    .The Shipyards
    .Duty Officer System
    .Fleet Holdings System
    .Reputation System
    .PvP Gameplay
    ..PvP Boot Camp
    .Controls and User Interface
    .The Art of Star Trek Online
    .C-Store and Promotions

    - Some proposed changes to the order of items, naming and usability, see above.

    - Where does feedback and discussion on Sound and Music go? Art section? Art & Music rename perhaps?

    The Academy
    Now that we will have far more topic-focused forum categories, I feel that having the Academy as a dumping ground for random questions is wasteful and redundant.

    Scenario: I'm a new player, or a player looking for very specific information regarding how something works. Rather than ask my "newbie" question in the Academy, I instead look in the respective section my question is related to and I can subsequently use the Forum Search in that category for my question.

    Under the proposed system, valuable Q/A would be lost in the Academy and split between Academy and the relevant gameplay section.

    I think it's important to do away with Catch-All forum categories because they end up being a dumping ground of random topics.

    The Academy is better served, in my opinion, as a library of guides and relevant threads like the skill planner and threads properly formatted and presented with useful information. i.e what the "User Guide" subsection entails as detailed earlier in the thread.

    Second I think the core STO discussion section needs to be under Feedback & Discussions, it is not at home under Information, but more at home with the gameplay and mechanics feedback and discussion sections.

    EDIT: ps. Apart from the above the new proposal looks good, a lot better than current layout.
    EDIT2: There is no reason to call it Star Trek Online General Discussion, I think everyone knows which forum they are on. ;)
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    cidstormcidstorm Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Klingons and Romulans are never going to be able to have in-depth shipyard discussions as long as they share the area with the feds.
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    gpgtxgpgtx Member Posts: 1,579 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    cidstorm wrote: »
    Klingons and Romulans are never going to be able to have in-depth shipyard discussions as long as they share the area with the feds.


    pretty much. for there question to be seen they will have to constantly bump there own post every 20 minutes. it will just turn into a feds ship yard and the KDF and rom ship question will probably move to there game play subforum just so they can get an answer
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    designationxr377designationxr377 Member Posts: 542 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    For what it is worth, I like the makeup of the Foundry section. I think what we have now is good, and I am glad you apparently think the same.
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    redshirtthefirstredshirtthefirst Member Posts: 415 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    There is no perfect ways to arrange a forum, that's why i stopped managing them *LOL* But I like the general layout. I guess the hard part is to make up of what is a feedback and where it should land for people to hope it will be seen and replied to (either by players or, best, by a dev).

    I guess feedback can be somewhat different to a discussion (be it general or focused)

    I see forming 3 blocks: Information, discussion, feedback:

    - I would see the "Information" section as somewhat 'static' and more like a block people will refer to get, well... information, such as academy or the like.

    - "Discussion" is pretty much chatter, like a general chat (General discussion), anything else (ten forward) or more focused like RP (captain's table)...

    - "Feedback" is very focused posting on the game such as ships, powers, UI and so on. This is info developers can directly look at and use in their line of work...

    So you have it, this is my take, create 3 blocks: information, discussion and feedback.
    It's not much different that what you have Bran, just a bit more of splitting for clarity sake.

    Live Ling and Prosper
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    mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    first off i honestly didnt see this thread until today. so many other things to watch out for.
    Hi Captains,

    With Legacy of Romulus due out next month, and the introduction of a third faction, the time has come to start thinking about a forum reorganization. As you are the community and utilize the forums, I'd love to get your input and suggestions. Ultimately, I'll also need to make sure that the organizations make sense for the Dev team as they are reading the forums for feedback constantly, but I'd really like to involve you all in the process.

    So, let's get started! Feel free to make descriptive suggestions or post something like this:

    STO Forums
    .Information and Discussion
    ..Federation News Network
    ..Release Notes
    ..Dev Tracker

    etc, etc, etc.

    Feel free to use the index as your guide: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/index.php

    Here's a few questions we should also think about:

    Should the shipyards sub-forum (builds, feedback, not art, etc.) still be separated by faction?
    Are there any forums that you think should be combined?
    Is STO discussion and General Community Feedback too similar or should we keep them separated?


    Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions :)

    Once we all come to, or at least try to, a consensus, the changes will be made. The goal for this is a week or two before the expansion launches. NOTE: These changes will not include the future update mentioned here, nor will anything else be changing at this time, other than what forums we have and the organization of them.

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=

    that in bold is what i can answer;
    1. yes, leave them as sub forums, if you combine the whole thing it gets pretty confusing as to who is writing about what. people who come to the build section will have to start put klingon or federation or romulan before their own title in the title display. hence the combining is quite useless.
    2. yes, redshirt and tribble for example. nothing happens with redshirt and its last update was a month ago, so either redshirt finds a more productive use that precludes it merging into one testing subforum or it should merge with tribble so all the data cryptic needs is in one centralized location on the forum.
    3. no, people mix general and STO related so often that there is little point keeping them apart. infact they should be merged.

    i would suggest it be condensed to one sub forum each and within each is it's own subforums, that way it is easier to navigate and in one location making it easier to find.

    Alpha Quadrant news network -
    All important news related to STO and Cryptic is posted here.

    News and events
    Release information
    Dev tracker
    C-store & Promotions

    General forum -
    General Community forum is open to all kinds of discussion and inspiration both inside and outside STO.

    STO Discussion - General community feedback (merged. obviously it's the same thing)
    Ten forward
    The art of STO

    Support -
    Learning how to play STO and need guidance or want to post a game breaking issue? it goes right here.

    The academy
    Character builds - Shipyards (merged. as creating a build is just as much ship as rifle and a great place to learn something which i feel is more important in the support section, each shipyard and build has it's own sub-forum within.)
    Gameplay bugs
    PC & tech issues - Graphical issues (merged. as its the same thing)

    STO Feedback -
    General feedback on in game powers, officers, Balance and game functionality.

    DoFF - BoFF systems (merged. officer requisition feedback should be made as one.)
    PvE gameplay
    PvP gameplay
    Controls & UI

    Foundry and Missions -
    Cannot guarantee spoiler free mission details, however all foundry and ingame missions are placed here for discussion and feedback alike.

    Missions & Episodes
    Foundry feedback
    Foundry database
    Foundry bugs

    Fleet Recruitment -
    Place a notification of intent that your fleet wants new members, or if you are looking for a fleet this is where to find one for you.

    Federation Fleets
    Klingon Defense Force Fleets
    Romulan Republic Fleets

    Testing Forum -
    Where all testing shard Feedback is placed in order to prepare for upcoming season patching or general bug fixing patches for Holodeck release. Both Tribble and Redshirt.

    Announcement & Release notes
    Bug Reports
    Discussion and Feedback
    T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW.
    Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
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    lan451lan451 Member Posts: 3,386 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    cidstorm wrote: »
    Klingons and Romulans are never going to be able to have in-depth shipyard discussions as long as they share the area with the feds.
    gpgtx wrote: »
    pretty much. for there question to be seen they will have to constantly bump there own post every 20 minutes. it will just turn into a feds ship yard and the KDF and rom ship question will probably move to there game play subforum just so they can get an answer

    Have to agree with the above posts. It may be more convenient for the devs to read only one forum, but it isn't so great for players. It may take a little bit more effort for the devs to go to multiple forums, but the end result will be a better experience for those looking for ship/build advice. Otherwise it's just going to end up lost in the sea of Fed stuff as the posts above outline.
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    pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited May 2013
    Another update, based on feedback:


    Information and Discussion

    .Galactic News Network
    .Release Notes
    .Dev Tracker
    .The Academy
    ..Player Guides
    .Star Trek Online General Discussion
    .Ten Forward
    ..Captain's Table (RP)

    Feedback

    .Federation Gameplay
    .Federation Shipyards
    .Klingon Gameplay
    .Klingon Fleetyards
    .Romulan Gameplay
    .Romulan Dockyards
    .Feature Episodes and Events
    .PvP Gameplay
    ..PvP Boot Camp
    .Builds, Powers, and Game Mechanics
    .Duty Officer System
    .Fleet Holdings System
    .Reputation System
    .Controls and User Interface
    .The Art of Star Trek Online
    .C-Store and Promotions


    The Foundry for Star Trek Online

    .The Foundry For Star Trek Online - Discussion & Feedback
    .The Foundry For Star Trek Online - Mission Database
    .The Foundry for Star Trek Online - Bug Reports


    Fleet Administrative Station

    .Earth Spacedock
    .Qo'noS
    .New Romulus


    Support

    .Gameplay Bugs
    .Graphical Issues
    .PC, Network, and Other Technical Issues


    Test Servers

    .Tribble - Announcements and Release Notes
    .Tribble - Bug Reports
    .Tribble - General Discussion and Feedback

    ---

    Additions in yellow :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
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    cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Maybe I missed the discussion, but I'm not understanding why the various faction "yards" is a separate forum from "builds". There are a lot of Build discussion in the 'Yard forums and I think that is what a lot of community members gravitate to as it is.

    So, it would seem to me to remove "Builds" from the forum title and just leave it as "Powers and Game Mechanics".

    Alternatively, make it more clear: "Game Mechanics, Powers, and Captain Builds"

    ?
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    ussboleynussboleyn Member Posts: 598 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I never saw the point of having The Academy and Star Trek Online General Discussion.

    /\
This discussion has been closed.