CH4OT1C!
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It's somewhat reassuring that this decision has been rapidly reversed; I'm glad to see that the community sentiment is being taken into account.
This year has been a challenging one for the game and, while I can only speak for myself, I (and I believe many others) recognise that a lot of it is down to things beyond anyone's control. For instance, nobody could have predicted @Ianthe being out of action for so long, with @Kamui having to take on all of the coding duties himself in the interim. That's had knock-on impacts; the game still needs to run, so of course premium items were prioritised, meaning fewer gold-costing items have been produced of late. It only makes sense - Kam simply can't do the job of two people. However, in these kinds of difficult situations, retaining the goodwill of everyone involved is downright necessary in order to make it through. The situation doesn't matter if the community lacks the goodwill to recognise and empathise with the difficult circumstances that the staff may be facing. It's why there's such an impetus towards not squandering that goodwill on poor and unnecessary decisions.
I don't (nor do I need to) know who it was that made this decision. Whoever it was, I strongly suspect that they haven't directly interacted with the AQ community for a while. Regardless, I doubt they need me to reiterate the feedback I'm sure they've received from staff members that absolutely do engage with us. Instead, I'll say this: This decision has burned a lot of the remaining community goodwill AQ had left. I would not be surprised if players decide to (at least temporarily) rethink upcoming purchases because of it. Even if they don't, the negative consequences will still certainly outweigh any financial benefit the company would have received. Speaking directly to the decision-maker: If you don't wish to directly engage with the community, then that's fine. However, in the future, I would first consult or, at the very least, listen to the advice provided by staff members that do before making such a decision. It would have saved you being responsible for an awful lot of damage being done here. Damage that I have a sneaking suspicion someone else will be ultimately responsible for cleaning up. It's not going to be an easy job either; it'll be quite some time before the community gets past this one.
It's only more depressing that this is one of the last posts I make before the forums are perma-locked. Who knows how many people will be greeted with this mess as they find/return to the game in the future.
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