Practically only the subreddit and twitter are cited as source for any D4 related things in articles and Youtube contents. Do people still read forums? Outside of the few thousands that are still here.
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It’s really sad that Twitter is the main source of info and not the forum.
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i never used twitter or read reddit 
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That’s because, generally, the forums are for the more dedicated players with real takes on stuff in game. Twitter and Reddit are for circle jerks, flavors of the month, and both extremes of hype trains. They get the loudest voices to the largest possible audience. The people on the forums are already invested in the game - those external sources have both existing and potential players.
That just shows they don’t really care about the true nature of the game, only it’s perception.
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Blizz employees are allowed to use those is probably why. They aren’t allowed to post on the forums.
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Forums were mentioned once during a live stream then never again. This is more or less just for the players to talk to each other. Oh they do read the bug forums, they just don’t fix all of the bugs listed. So I mean there’s that.
What does it matter anyway, never saw a blizzard employe posting here or answering a question except for one single person, same goes for the bug subforum they just don’t care.
Which is hilarious.
They get mentioned every live stream when they get to the Q&A.
That said, the forums have the least participation of any of the “social media” feedback sources. A lot more people use reddit, discord, Youtube, third party websites like maxroll, Twitch, and even Twitter.
Yes. That is exactly what Blizzard feels all their Discussion forums are for. A place for players to discuss the game with other players. They do read and monitor it for feedback and it goes into the weekly (or other) reports.
The QA team is responsible for the Bug Report forums. That is the only means we have to submit bug reports for Diablo games. They DO read it, they just don’t post about it. Bugs get fixed in some sort of priority order, usually in patches where many are fixed at once.
Game breaking bugs being an exception that get fixed in hotfixes if possible, or emergency patches if not.
The Community Managers are the ones who are cleared to post on the forums. We get basic announcements, and there is one who has been interacting with the forums from time to time. Blizzard does not let the Devs just chat on the forums, as far as I know. It is limited to CMs only. Probably some sort of legal and PR reason.
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I see, thanks for clarifying, I was always wondering why they never replied, especially in the bug forum.
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Microsoft has different policies. Maybe in the future things will change. Forum dev posts can fuel fansite news. Build stable communities. From a PR perspective its easier to control information.
Fans love little details. Obviously you need to stay hush on most things but little silly info nuggets you can glean from blue posts can help keep people informed on stuff 95% wouldn’t even understand.
This could be sidework for devs. Answer a question or two a week on the forums.
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QA handles the Bug Report forums and for any Blizzard game, they don’t reply. I am thinking that is policy. Their job is to collect the bug reports, try to replicate them, document them, etc. Then they get prioritized and whatnot. Somewhere in there they get a fix order and get done in patches, or not.
The exception is usually game breaking bugs where they have the Community Managers relay a status message about it. Every once in a while you will see a Blue post from A CM on the Bug forums, if they are given info to release. Otherwise, it is just a one way reporting form basically.
That would be an enjoyable engagement campaign from my point of view. I think players would like it, and it feels like something they could handle time wise. Sadly any answer really has to be thought out. Otherwise people swear “you promised X”, you said “y”, etc. etc. Even when they put huge disclaimers that they are talking about early/mid development thoughts that might change. One a week in text format should be doable.
Right now they do the Q&A more for media interviews that you have to go looking for, or the end of the Campfire stream but that is usually pretty limited to whatever topic is at hand that day.
I really do like studios that have a “known concerns/issues” section they maintain somewhere and keep updated. It makes players feel listened to, and keeps the current answers in one place. Even if the answer is “we have no plans for that feature at this time”.
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Twitter and Reddit are used by a far greater amount of players than the forums.
…You mean to tell me Twitch chat has a higher priority?
There’s also a fair amount of click bait websites that use AI to pull from reddit and create short news articles. All about them clicks.
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Well, Twitch chat has a higher engagement rate overall than the forums. More of their player audience watches Twitch, and participates in stream chat, vs posting here. They spend their time where the metrics show the players to be.
I can like it or hate it, but forums have really become the “old school” way to communicate with a Community. I am waiting for them to become trendy as a retro thing!
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So the “engagement rate” overrides the inbuilt idiocy? The best use you can get out of Twitch chat is to hear what Bowser is doing to Princess Peach while Mario watches on an Artosis stream.
If Blizz made a funny disclaimer video about the questions & how answers aren’t guaranteed it would work. Bludd could be that guy lol.
Im not saying you’re wrong, but it doesnt seem like anyone on this forum is here to have a dedicated discussion about the game…
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That’s how you begin to change the narrative. Forums are like gardens. Take care of it & it’ll take care of you.