Devs don't read Bug Reports. Devs don't read Suggestions. Devs don't have a Devblog.

If you don't feel like they don't do much, then you're naive. This is precisely how they're presenting themselves.

Keep in mind that items are like skills/spells in this game, so it would be like adding completely new skills to Diablo

Umm. No. The lack of skills and spells in this game doesn't mean that adding a few items = adding skills in Diablo. And why are you invoking Diablo in the first place? The only similarity between both games is that they're both heavily involved in collecting loot.

Developers not replying to each and every bug report thread or suggestions is not indicative that they are not reading them. It is very possible they read them, just do not reply. Sure, it would be nice if they did - but you can't assume they aren't reading them without any proof beyond a lack of communication.

Deslare also says that they can make certain updates/bug fixes if it's server-based without needing a patch, as it would just affect the way our clients would communicate with the server(s), but not the way in which our client works. Hopefully that makes sense, he's a lot better at explaining these things than I am ('cause he actually has the technical skills, and he knows a good amount of Java, while I do not).

So they could potentially be ninja-ing fixes to bugs without us even knowing. >.>

As I recall, though, they were giving us patches almost everyday in the first few days (sometimes twice a day even). Those kind of trickled down, though, leading up to the introduction of the arsenal expansion, and Rose Regalia. And they've pretty much halted, as I'm assuming they're working vivaciously to get that Auction House (and whatever that new thing in Haven is) live.

I'm pretty curious to know when they're going to implement things too, and I'm really curious as to what the new thing in Haven is going to be (and of course, how soon is "soon"). I kind of assumed that the new thing in Haven was just going to be the auction house. Though, they did announce that they were working on it, so it would seem kind of silly if they're trying to keep it a secret now.

The game is way too good and the feedback must be overwhelming for an indie team.

I'd say that in the time since release, the devs have released a minimally healthy amount of content, and if the 'new construction' is at all meaty, it'll take the total well above 'minimally healthy', probably to where I'd feel that they were putting some pretty heavy chops into the game.

Now, that's amount of content, not level of communication. I think that the game seriously needs a community manager type, paid and on-tap, who spends much of their time *visibly* on the forums and in the wiki - the two places that the game itself directs you for "community".

If you're in the Tech Help forum a lot you'll know that that andrzej and Poseidon pop in on a semi-regular basis. When they do it's usually very helpful in relation to the specific query. Though, unfortunately, it feels at times that only the really active Preview players seem to be able to elicit a good response from the Dev team, but not often though the forums. I know on the very few occasions where I wanted a Dev to really take note of what I'm saying it has occurred.

Still, just a "We've read and acknowledged this" type statement would be very helpful for areas like the Bug Reports forum. People do need to know, to a certain extent, that certain problems are in the process of being addressed. Most preview players that had some really logical and critically thinking statements know that the Dev team really does read a huge amount of what we say (even if they don't act). They just rarely choose to comment (as kakelgis noted).

Also, Equinox deserves much praise for the wiki work. Other GMs are also doing some great work too. If you've ever used the in-game support option you know that they are pretty swift about things when needed.

1) Doctor Who: Worlds in Time is due out sometime this year (standard caveat: as a general, industry-wide rule, never be surprised when video games get released late). Doctor Who is a much bigger intellectual property with a well established, multi-generational worldwide fanbase. It's also one of the Biggest UK TV Shows Ever show from the UK--the home country of OOO's CEO.

OOO, really, really, really, REALLY doesn't want to screw that game up and they're running low on time if they still want make a 2011 release. I would not be at all surprised if Spiral Knight employees are helping out on the WiT game, even if only on a temporary basis.

2) Then there's the bit about the current lack of an auction house in this game. An auction house, if done poorly, can wreck all sorts of havoc on a game. They don't want to screw that one up, either.

3) I don't see how Spiral Knights is anywhere near turning a profit, especially for a multi-year project. If you want more Spiral Knights features, convince more people to join up and buy Crystal Energy.

If I had to guess, my first guess is that they'll get the auction house out and then Spiral Knights will end up like Whirled--still alive, but with a greatly reduced staffing and a slow release schedule. The biggest fact that supports such a guess is simply doing a head-count of the people in the four gates--there's more people in Spiral Knights than in Whirled, but not that much more.

One thing you could consider is a Dev post tracker for the forums like some other games. Basically a query that pulls all the dev posts out of the database in one readable location.

As a dev on another game, I respect all devs and give them the benefit of the doubt that they're working full power.

My concern is that the game and website are not updated enough. What I mean by that is not content, but rather, the main page of any MMO needs to have current events, not past events. The last event was the Rose Regalia promo. That was extended and then ended one week ago. Regardless of content or target audience, I've found one thing an MMO needs to do is to always have something going on. An event/holiday/promotion that is currently happening, and Spiral Knights doesn't have this. There are gaps between these and it should never happen. You can't have someone come to the site and see something old (yes, in the fast moving world of MMOs, a week of silence is a week too long). Twitter does not count.

This isn't a fault or a burden of the developers. It may involve them, but if SEGA/OOO has any sort of community or marketing focus, then it needs to keep updating the FACE of SK. I don't think the devs aren't doing enough. They just need to keep updating whether it's with something little or something big. New promotions, video contests, polls, or even preview screenshots. These things buy time between the real content updates, and keep interest up. If the site is dead for a week, the game is dying for a week.

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