Announcements & News

[center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753&page=1][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/wotw11.png[/img][/url][/center] Welcome to the first 2015 edition of [i]Words on the Wind[/i]! [br] [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753][b]Click here to read more.[/b][/url][/center] [more] It’s been rough ride the last couple of months; several registration windows (welcome, everyone!), [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i], site performance, your concerns about long-standing issues, communication from us, and being heard. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]What happened with [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i]?[/size][/b] We firstly wanted to apologize. We’ve dropped the ball with communication and [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] brought that to light. We echo a lot of players’ sentiments in that we did not deliver a satisfactory play experience with this event. We had originally made the decision to remove festival-style events from December given the potential for players and staff members to be spending time with family. With [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i], we opted to have a two-week long event to account for that -something we could not have done with an elemental festival. In hindsight, this was probably still not the right way of doing it, and we are taking into account the feedback about the timing of the event for next year. We are also heavily considering your feedback about the acquisition of [b]Breed Change: Nocturne[/b] scrolls, [b]Unhatched Nocturne Eggs[/b], and how the process might affect the performance of the site as a whole. The first few days were difficult for everyone, and we will work to prevent that from happening again. Due to the above, our [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/contact-us][b]Contact Us[/b][/url] ticket queue and some of our normal development time have been set back. We are working as fast as we can to catch up while continuing to build and expand [i]Flight Rising[/i]. [b][size=3]Can we get clarification on the Elemental Bear Familiars?[/size][/b] The elemental bears from 2014 and their mimic counterparts will be returning in future [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i]; however, they will drop at a drastically reduced rate when compared to the 2015 bear familiars and their mimic counterparts. There are no current plans to have any non-bear-themed holiday familiars appear during the [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i]. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Speaking of development, what’s going on with long-standing bugs? With the Coliseum? Where are those other features like Adventure and Baldwin’s Bubbling Brew?[/size] [/b] We recognize that we have not been consistent with keeping our [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/bug/20942][b]Known Issues[/b][/url] sticky thread updated. As part of our ongoing improvement to communication, we will be committing time to making sure that this thread is not only up-to-date as it can be, but that players are adequately informed when changes are made to it. Additionally, we have some plans in the works for a possible front-page status box where smaller, more incremental site updates can be easily viewable, rather than having them wait for a content update. This box would also communicate site status messages if we are experiencing performance issues or outages. We will be working to get a preview of that out to you as soon as humanly possible. As for [b]Coliseum[/b], we’re glad to say that there has been much work over the past year put into improving its performance, as well as expanding options available to players that use it. Please see our full discussion on the Coliseum lower in this post. In regards to site features (most notably large ones like[b] Adventure[/b], [b]Baldwin’s Bubbling Brew[/b], and [b]secure item trading[/b]), we can only say that they are still planned, though there is a lot of work to do before development on them can actually kick into full-gear. It is a safe assumption that there may not be any further updates on these future features until they are close to being launched and can be properly previewed to the players. [b]At the request of the community, we will be heavily prioritizing secure item trading, as our team unanimously feels like it should have been a feature available from the launch of the site.[/b] [b][size=4]Why aren’t the bugs fixed yet?[/size][/b] This is where we should take a step back and clarify a few points: [i]Flight Rising[/i] is popular, growing, and performing much better than when it first launched. However, we are still a small studio with a modestly-sized staff. The process of adding new talent to our team requires catching new members up to the overwhelming growth of our community and acclimating them to the intricacies of the site and its operation (especially considering it is currently knee-deep in performance upgrades and optimizations); it is a large task, and not one that can be taken lightly or hastily. That means that as the site grows and the community’s needs change, priority of certain pieces of development will be need to be shuffled. To give you an at-a-glance picture of what we’re focusing on in the immediate future: [LIST] [*][b]Continuing the optimization process[/b] - once more of this is completed, we can devote proper time to additional site features. Optimization means that our current site will use less resources and handle its load in smarter ways, allowing for more concurrent players and for a better browsing experience. Throughout this process, if we encounter game-breaking or easy-to-fix bugs/issues, we will prioritize them.[br] [*][b]Continuing to add new art-related content [/b]- keeping in mind that our artists and engineers work on separate projects, our mentality is that just because large feature projects may be delayed, it does not mean all other content needs to be. The art team likes to be kept busy, and them working on new content does not slow the pace of an engineer working on rehauling an old feature or building a new one.[br] [*][b]Improving customer support ticket times.[/b][br] [*][b]Growing, evolving, engaging with our community’s needs.[/b][br] [/LIST] [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]What’s going on with Gathering?[/size][/b] A few weeks ago, players brought up a concern regarding percentage yields on items of a the same star level rarity in the gathering pool (all available items of the same star level should have had an equal chance of showing up after they are unlocked). Some of the items available early-on were appearing at an uneven rate, pushing out items unlocked at a higher level. A group of players were able to collect and provide data documenting these yields. Because this only affected a small selection of items some of the time, the issue eluded us for quite some time, leading us to believe that there may have just been some unlucky randomness occurring. Further investigation by our engineers proved that there was a hidden bug that was contributing to some skewed gathering results, which we implemented a fix for early last month. We really appreciate that our players not only let us know when something is wrong, but give us thorough, reproducible steps or information, because sometimes issues like this may never come to light in initial development or quality testing. Thank you so much. In addition to this, we have been reviewing feedback from players regarding the volume and spread of item yields when gathering types have been increased to high level, and how they compare to those at lower levels. While things [i]are[/i] functionally performing as they were designed, this is a place where we should focus some time and balancing on. We have always wanted to give this part of the site some more attention, but have not yet been able to find adequate time for it, as it is an older, bulkier system within the infrastructure of the site. Changes will need to be made with care. While we do not have anything to announce regarding changes to Gathering right now, please know that we’re aware of the feedback and are interested in revisiting this feature in some way in the future. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Will there be more forum boards?[/size][/b] We understand that as the community continues to grow and blossom on the site, there may be need for changing forum boards, altering what types of topics they house, and even adding entirely new ones. Our philosophy is that we intend for any subforums we create to see wide use. A board that is so incredibly specific that it would receive only handful of posts a day or orphans an existing subforum is not something we want to introduce. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]So about those Contact Us ticket response times...?[/size][/b] We know there is room for improvement here, and we’ll always strive for a better turnaround rate. To give you some insight to why some tickets take longer to address: When a ticket comes in and Customer Support accesses it, the first thing they do is check to make sure it is sent from an email address associated to a [i]Flight Rising [/i]account. If it is not, we notify the ticket maker, request they send in a ticket from that email, and close it. If the email on the ticket is registered to the account requesting assistance, it is then sorted by priority and severity. We apologize for the delays some of you have experienced and are working to improve the overall return on this. Please be aware we are currently experiencing a very high volume of tickets due to the [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] event and are working as fast as we can in responding to them. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Why aren’t you hiring more people?[/size][/b] We appreciate that our community is passionate enough for our site that they believe it can be better supported by a growing workforce. We are working on expanding our team; however, staffing for [i]Flight Rising[/i] is an internal process and not one that we are able to openly discuss with the community. This includes information about potential candidates and the frequency at which they are hired. When we have added staff that will interact with the community here on the website, we will happily announce them to you with a warm, proper welcome! We understand that many of you are interested in being a part of the development of [i]Flight Rising[/i] which is why you want this transparency. If you want to be a part of our ongoing development, please feel free to submit your portfolio, resume to us through [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/contact-us][b]Contact Us[/b][/url] and we’ll be happy to review it. [LIST] [*][i]We will file all resumes for future consideration[/i] [*][i][b]Engineers[/b] and [b]Customer Support[/b] applicants will need to provide a list of past work experience in their resume with current contact information. [/i] [*][i]Applicants must be 18 years of age or older[/i] [*][i]Applicants located outside of the US must be able to accept Paypal payments.[/i] [/LIST] [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Is constructive criticism about staff allowed?[/size][/b] We encourage and welcome constructive criticism. We wouldn’t be able to grow and evolve without it! However, if that criticism is delivered in a manner that is verbally abusive, condescending, or sarcastic, that means it’s no longer constructive and begins to move into a place where we will intervene to keep the discussion civil. Our [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/terms-use][b]Terms of Use[/b][/url] and [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=50][b]Rules & Guidelines[/b][/url] protect not only our players, but the staff of the site as well, and we have a responsibility to ensure our employees are able to effectively maintain and create for [i]Flight Rising[/i]. This includes ensuring their workplace is not hostile. We highly value our staff, their contributions, and their work. Constructive feedback for any of our staff or volunteer moderators should be sent through [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/contact-us][b]Contact Us[/b][/url] for proper review by the team. No one should feel uncomfortable with expressing their concerns. We employ a team who understand the difference between constructive feedback and harassment. Each employee is held to very high standards. If you feel strongly that a representative of [i]Flight Rising[/i] is not meeting these standards, or you feel uncomfortable or that you are being targeted, please send us a message through [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/contact-us][b]Contact Us[/b][/url] and we will review it. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Player Interactions & Forum Behavior[/size][/b] We would also like to stress our commitment to maintaining a healthy, thriving community for players to participate in. Recent rough patches have highlighted the fact that we can do better in ensuring this, and our goal will always be to reinforce cooperation, collaboration, and constructive discussion. We don't expect everyone to like each other, get along a hundred percent of the time, or agree with decisions or directions that the development team makes. We do expect that even amidst these differences, every thread, discussion, or post proceeds respectfully in accordance to the[url=http://www1.flightrising.com/site/terms-use] [b]Terms of Use[/b][/url] and our [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=50][b]Rules & Guidelines[/b][/url]. Failure to do this will result in appropriate account action. We known what can happen when these standards are not maintained, and do not want that for our community. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Community Management[/size][/b] We know that some of you have concerns about the current overall management of the community. When the Community Manager position was first added, we weren’t quite sure what we needed, considering the size and state of the site. In just the last year, the position’s duties and needs have evolved. We understand that this evolution is not completely visible, and that it can create misconceptions and even frustrations for some. It is true that a part of community management is organic and frequent interaction with the players in forums and social media outlets; what some may not understand is that it also includes duties like working internally with the developers to track, analyze, discuss, and collate high volumes of feedback in a digestible and actionable way. There also are several day-to-day reports and upcoming projects to follow and prepare for. Additionally, a Community Manager of any game is not able to share all sensitive or upcoming information with the community. That being said, [i]Flight Rising[/i] has been conservative in its approach as we, as a team, are still new and still learning. We understand that our community needs more and we are taking steps to address that. Going forward: [LIST] [*]We will be making adjustments to our workflows to free up the Community Manager for more frequent, more organic, and more substantial community interactions. [*]We will be changing our overall communication approach in order to better support your Community Manager to deliver information. (Examples: better forum post tracking and front-page incremental updates) [/LIST] [b][size=4]So what does this mean for the future of things like [i]Words on the Wind[/i] and the [i]Player Questions/Concerns for the Admin[/i] thread?[/size][/b] For starters, [b][i]Words on the Wind[/i] will be moving to a more quarterly frequency[/b], and become as substantial as we are able to make it. It’s just not feasible to give you a thorough, ‘meatier’ dev chat newsletter every month, which is why some issues of the feature may have felt lacking in the past. We would rather take the proper time to give you a comprehensive periodical that is more in line with what we wanted for [i]Words on the Wind[/i] in the first place. We will still be making monthly smaller community spotlight updates (much like past shorter [i]Words on the Wind[/i]) to accompany new content. Example: A focus on fan sites, community projects, and threads like Dragon Share. The [i]Player Questions/Concerns For the Admin[/i] will now be known as [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=frd&id=1327998&page=1&anchor=][i][b]Weekly Q&A[/b][/url][/i]: [LIST] [*]The thread will be open for questions each week from Friday to Wednesday [*]Answers will be posted on the following Friday [*]It may not be possible for us to answer all questions; [b]but each will be documented and archived.[/b] [*]We will answer [b]around five questions each week,[/b] depending on volume. [*]It is possible that some questions may be included in an upcoming issue of [i]Words on the Wind[/i] instead of answered in the thread. [/LIST] The above changes are part of our ongoing efforts to maintain clear and reasonable expectations in regards to community questions. We feel that reigning this thread in a little bit more and giving players defined windows for asking and receiving responses will not only make the thread easier to read, but allow us an allotted time in which to consider thoughtful replies as a team, which we feel our players deserve. [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]MVPs[/size][/b] In the near future, we will be reviewing our forum regulars as candidates for [b]MVPs[/b]. These will be players who have a history of level-headedness and maturity when interacting with others and/or expressing points of view, disagreement, or critique. This also includes players who are regularly supportive of newbies and provide helpful resources and answer questions. MVPs will have a special forum vista to designate them! [b]Qualifications for MVP status:[/b] [LIST] [*][b]Account must be in good standing[/b] [*]If the account has been previously actioned but has since displayed exemplary behavior with no further violations, this will be taken into account [*]A forum history showing that even when under pressure or in heated debate, the player is able to discuss or disagree within our [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=50][b]Rules and Guidelines[/b][/url]. [*]A forum history showing consistent positive contributions/benefits to the [i]Flight Rising [/i]community [/LIST] [center][img]http://flightrising.com/images/cms/fvista/12.png[/img][/center] [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Update: Coliseum[/size][/b] We have been working hard on performance optimizations for the Coliseum. We have received tons of helpful feedback and reports about the feature and wanted to dedicate development time towards improving its functionality. [b][size=3]Infrastructure Changes[/size][/b] Coliseum, being one of our older, larger, and most widely-used features has been difficult to address issues for, as it affects thousands of players in different ways. The experience can vary between internet providers, browsers, and device hardware, making it a considerable challenge to find a one-size-fits all version of the application. As we focus on continuing to improve the performance of the site as a whole, Coliseum is receiving the same treatment. We are making a number of back-end and structural changes that should see the Coliseum performing smarter and much more efficiently than it did before. Systems are being re-designed to handle a dynamically growing number of players, and we have high hopes that it will alleviate issues some players have been experiencing. We are also working hard to ensure that during times of high volume, Coliseum will not affect performance of other parts of the site. Some of those changes are already in place; during Night of the Nocturne's first few bumpy days it was common for the Coliseum to run better than the rest of the site. We plan on expanding that improvement. [b][size=3]Effects Options Menu[/size][/b] We want to thank everyone who has been contributing their feedback and ideas regarding visual effects and animations in the Coliseum. We recognize that some of our players may have a hard time using the feature due to the visual effects employed, and we wanted to implement that feedback in the form of an Effects Options Menu. [center][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/preview_optionsmenu.png[/img][/center] From this menu, you can disable the following visual effects: [LIST] [*]Weather Effects (such as snow, rain, embers, bubbles, etc.) [*]Animations (abilities, floating, dragon jumping, etc.) [*]Elemental Flash/Screen Shakes (the effects that happen when you score an elementally-charged attack against what that element is strong against) [/LIST] [i]NOTE: Disabling these effects will not alter the speed at which battles progress.[/i] [br][br] ----- [br][br] [b][size=5]Piebald Gene Poll[/size][/b] We are running a poll for an upcoming gene, [b]Piebald[/b], and how it might be applied to dragons. In this poll you will decide if you would like Piebald to be a Tertiary gene, or broken into separate Primary and Secondary genes. If Primary and Secondary genes are chosen, there is a choice between the patches being a pale version of the appropriate color or the patches being white. [br] [center][size=5][b][url=https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Piebald]Click here to vote[/url][/b][/size] [size=2][i](one vote per player please!)[/i][/size][/center] Here are some examples of how Piebald may look as a Tertiary, and Primary/Secondary faded/white combined with other genes to help you better make your choice. This survey will be closing [b]February 5, 2015[/b]. Please note that between now and the release of Piebald, there will be other genes released; previewing Piebald in this update does not indicate that it is the next gene available to dragonkind! We'll need some time after the votes are in to prepare the gene according to the community's choices, but we have lots of nice stuff lined up in the meantime![br][br] [center][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/piebald_tert.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/piebald_prim_sec1.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/piebald_prim_sec2.png[/img][/center]

[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753&page=18&anchor=8729718#8729718][b]ON PIEBALD:[/b] [/url] [quote]It's one or the other, not both/three. You're welcome to make a suggestion in the Suggestions forum.[/quote] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753&page=19&anchor=8729785#8729785][b]COLI MENU[/b][/url] [quote]it is a preview of things to come. It is not implemented yet.[/quote] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753&page=24&anchor=8730301#8730301][b]ON KEYBOARD CONTROLS[/b][/url] [quote]I have communicated this to the team and they are aware that this is something the community would like to see.[/quote] [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=ann&id=1329753&page=36][b]ON MVPS: [/b][/url] [quote]Regarding MVPs: We are not taking nominations. MVPs will be chosen based on a combination of their forum history, their account status, and overall contributions/behavior.[/quote] [i]note: I will be posting the pages where I have commented on but at this time, I'm doing my best to keep up with you and your questions! (although if I comment on every page, I might restrict it to the most common questions!) :D[/i]