Currently, patch notes seem to be being put out when a large number of changes have accumulated. These changes happen live and aren't necessarily known to players at the time they occur. Patch notes detailing the change might not come until weeks later. I've also noticed the Patch Notes posts themselves being quietly edited after being published.
This isn't great. It leaves players guessing and uncertain about how the game is working. We have no way of knowing what's intentional and what's a bug. In a worst case scenario, it can also create suspicion and distrust.
I'd suggest that Patch Notes should operate in the following way instead:
- Lock the Patch Notes threads from player posting. These should be solely for dev notes. Players can comment on News posts and bring critiques to suggestions. We don't need to be posting on the patch notes.
- New Patch Notes thread when you have made significant updates all at once. This is roughly how things are currently done. It's good. Do continue that.
- Make new posts on the most recent Patch Notes thread whenever small live changes are made. Don't hold the announcement of small changes for the next thread. If a change is made to the live game, it should immediately get a new post in the current thread detailing what it was. This allows people to subscribe to the thread and stay up to date on changes.
- Edits to patch notes should be obvious. This should be done with a strikethrough of the changed portion, followed by the correction and an "edited on [date]" tag. The change made should still get its own new post in the current thread. This isn't needed if it's something like fixing a typo, but if the patch notes are changing because something changed on the site then it needs to be clear.
I think these would be relatively simple and painless changes that would drastically improve communication and player trust.
Quiche
