GMs are still helpful, but still, they could have more connection with players, for example, how often do normal players get to see a GM? mostly never, maybe once in their whole SK playtime. and with the forums, again, they only post something once in a blue moon.
though there is one problem, the GMs arent devs, which means that no matter how much they like the suggestions they find here, they may never be implemented

Trust me, you will began to appreciate their silent once you play some other smaller games where the GMs abuses their power and ban who ever the heck they like. It is never a GM's destiny to change the forums, it is their destiny to leave it the way it is.

I'm not entirely sure if GM's work full 8 hour days for OOO.

Anyone know?

But I agree, the silence and lack of responses to good questions is annoying.

The Game Master want us to appreachiate the game, not slander it. I think they want their audience to have a better attitude and have the patience to wait.

the gamw used to be fun but now its just money... removing the revive system... new forge system with no radiants available. so many bugs but they never ensure that they will fix it.

why is it everyone likes to refer to GMs as the one formless entity that does all the work of managing SK when GMs are likely not developers and therefore cannot respond to your suggestions

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/24841#comment-144427
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/24841#comment-150180

@Not-hollows Yeah, I guess I have been selfish by posting that comment up there :( but you do have a point, self-centeredness needs to go, in games and in real life.

Many GMs are not part of the more reclusive dev team, and as such may not have definite or discussable answers on any events we may experience in the game.

Most GMs on the forums are probably there to maintain the peace and decency of the boards, rather than provide extensive technical research/response.

It's poor form to demand they run to the dev team to find out why x isn't happening, berate them for not appearing when the arguments are largely civil, and of all things demand they work during their off time to placate us.

Be sane.

@Damienfoxy: Really? That's your justification of it? You're going to claim that you as a PLAYER would be happy to take your free time to talk to the community? You are a PLAYER. They as developers or Game Masters work on Spiral Knights for OOO as a JOB. They don't want their break from their JOB just to be more of their JOB. It has nothing to do with dedication here.

If you were the creator and took time to answer every single last question that the community had, you wouldn't have time to actually create the game. Not to mention as someone said in an above post, things may be classified that they aren't allowed to disclose. You don't know what they are, nor do you have the right to know why they cannot disclose them. Also, must I point out that a lot of questions are trivial?

The problem isnt OOO is SEGA.

Probably they are in the same trouble as TITUS have when they were working on the worst N64 game: Superman, that game was a LOT different from what they showed in E3 (and most of the game mechanic were changed, at the first sight would be like you would be free to roam metropolis to do whatever you want landing everywhere but then we got the amazing Rings mazes) but then they have to change Everything due "politics" "license" etc. here some questions about that made by protonjon to Eric, Co-Founder of TITUS, about the development of such game. (http://www.protonjon.com/blog/?p=48)

Do you feel that working on a licensed property restricts your team’s creativity in any way?
Eric: Sometimes yes, but sometimes it is the opposite because the challenge generates good adrenaline.

Superman 64 was the first 3D action/adventure game that Titus worked on, as your prior 3D releases were racing and chess games. Do you feel that this hindered development?
Eric: The main issue was working with the licensor. They caused us so much trouble. Also our design originally was too ambitious compared to what an N64 was able to deliver…

In other words what Traevelliath said is correct. Probably OOO wants to deliver us something awesome but then SEGA says "Nope i want money do it in this way or i will fire you!" (well not maybe that but you get the idea). im upset too about the lack of fire radiants and im not planning to buy CE for fire radiants for the greedy SEGA. but maybe this will change someday until then i just will save money for promos that really worth it (like the obsidian prize boxes)

So pretty much its the same trouble here, we can blame SEGA for most of the changes and Devs silence, i remember when devs used to post a lot in forums about stuff that will come for the game (in detailed way of course) and answerings players, until SEGA took over OOO, after that I saw really a change on how Devs and GM interact with the community

@Sweet-Hope

OOO partnered with SEGA and I do not think they are obligated to work with them. They can probably leave if they wish, though it's probably better that they stay. I doubt that SEGA has such a big impact. However, this is from an uneducated standpoint.

my suggestion is, everyone just mail SEGA about this, send a mail with deliver note, i mean, physical mail, this will sure do something

or you can just e-mail sega about this

OOO probably is not the right person\identity to bother... bother the publisher instead, the developers are the ones who get paid for do something, no money no "do something" so, go bother sega so they can spend some money on the game, or makie them just will find a way of spending better their money... like yelling at OOO employers to move out their arses and listen to the players

EDIT: even if OOO is not under sega arse, come on, at least sega can give a "tip" to OOO and make OOO change...

we can just yell at the cashier and make him having a bad day for something he can't do. or call the store manager\boss...

i remember when they made the changes to Radiant Sun Shards and the community send mail to SEGA, and as Reto-Da-Liz Said, they dont care about the matter. so its pretty useless to complain with SEGA.

Try again.

Some communities have outgoing GMs, some abusive, some completely silent. This is OOO, not any other game. I, for one, actually like the silence. Although it's great anticipating certain updates, the surprise ones (or shall we say features of an update) are always the best. Plus, like someone said before, if a GM posts, well, here how it worked out on some other occasions:

"What do you mean?"
"I need more information!"
"Why do you guys never post?"
"Obviously a new update since they posted, obviously."
"Y U NO ADD ME?"
"Potato."

And, well, yeah.

whell... nintendo and sony console updates usually say "security updates, fixed some performance issues blablabla" as does apple and others companies, they don't go on details like "removed exploit for hax" like windows updates, you don't know what it does exactly..
the "adjusted the drop rates" is enough, i had seen changes on spiral and other games\devices that didn't even get documented...

like reto, we must just accept this.. or simple leave the game and\or dont pay a cent for it....

but i agree with, there is a lack of GM talking with the players... or having a suggestion box and let it alone on dust...

+1 Thimol. It is both literally and figuratively not the GMs' jobs to answer the specific sorts of questions that OP is asking for; they are busy saving stuck players, etc.--THAT is their actual job. They would likely be in deep [solid waste] if they were to overstep their normal job duties by addressing areas that are the purview of the developers.

[edit: Ninja'd by Avixi!]

Of course, if you think you could do better than OOO's current employees, they are hiring.

That was Nick, not a regular GM.

Since OOO was acquired by SEGA some time ago (as pointed out by a hardworking poster up there), SEGA pretty much has OOO in its palms. Since Three Rings is probably under a contract to not reveal anything without explicit permission from the upper management system (and from the government, we all know that it's SO efficient and SUPER quick to process things), it probably can't do much.

Additionally, Game Masters aren't developers. They are two separate parts of OOO, and may have differing agendas.

As to why Radiants were dropped: Once again, probably SEGA wanted to actually profit from this contract. You don't think they did the contract out of the goodness of their own heart, right? They, like all companies, seek profit and gain from a rather cold point of view. When OOO removed Mist Energy, causing elevators to become free, that left a major gap for people to exploit. Play some time, level up all your weapons, and leave because it gets boring with all the awesome stuff you have. In comes the Forge, both a way to limit the super fast grind advance, and for SEGA to profit yet more, by charging extravagant prices for Fire Crystals.

As to the unresolved plot holes: OOO has a relatively small development company. If they finish the plot like that, they won't be able to develop anything fast enough to appease boredom-struck players. At least now people are still guessing as to how the plot'll end. And if players have nothing to do for long enough, they leave. And that means no people spending money, which means no profit for SEGA. Running yourself in circles, eh?

As to the spontaneous buffs and nerfs of monsters and gear, it proves that OOO at least tries to listen to the community, though they can't do much due to the contract they're probably in. Acheron was bumped up to compensate for the lack of a status effect, and still lacks a few things from the Gran Faust (less reach and knockback, no curse, and doesn't look as epic). Vanaduke was nerfed for those people who lagged to death from the boss fight effects. Then people complained about it being too easy. Meh.

Lastly, I would like to tell the complainers, the trolls, the jerk-faced green-livered potato turkey pastrami sandwiches: Whining isn't going to get you anywhere, either in life or in this game.

That's all.

Well on a nearly unrelated note, all of my support requests and even my thread in technical issues have received at least a few moments of a GM/Dev's time. They are quite responsive on that front, assuming you aren't being unreasonable/unpleasant.

When will people get it through their head that GM = admin ≠ customer service ≠ personal slave?