I'm lost.

[FivEven]

Is this still a community or just a place where we used to be a community? (Are these even valid thoughts?)

I don't know where to find up to date news. Videos and streams have lost their glamour, and I just want to sit and read about the latest updates without sifting through other locations and watching filler. (Still love you DW20, just... I need a break.)

Things happen and I don't know what to think about FTB anymore because it's weird not to hear from the team about the impact to the vision. Is the vision still a great mod-pack delivery system primarily focused on creating tech-centric challenge maps? Is respect in any and all directions still a priority? Is integrity important?

Are suggestions about composition and pre-configured models accepted? Do developers/configurators have any responsibilities in fostering a better community? Do they want a community? Are we disposable? Should I be worried that my current perceptions will be shattered after all this time and I will no longer want to be here?

I might be missing something. Can anyone help me?

Edit: Added the bit about integrity.

 

[Omicron]

Your best bet to get information is to hop in the twitch.tv chatroom of slowpoke101 and ask him during one of his streams. Be brief and polite and ideally wait for a moment when it's thematically appropriate, he gets dozens of questions like that every stream.

Also, don't expect much. The last piece of news was "new modpacks come when mods have updated for 1.6", and they have not yet updated. And until they have done so, that line of news is going to remain the news that is relevant for you.

As for the rest of your post, I'm not sure if you're asking a question or just whining about the quality of the community? In case it's the latter: don't. You're just adding more of what you're complaining about. If it's the former: please rephrase.

 

[rymmie1981]

We have a great community here. Just look at the GT threads from the past few days. The discussions got heated, but no one ever stooped to "ur stoopid, lol, lrn2ply GT noob" or any of that. We had a lot of different arguments that all sides got to air out without it getting nasty...much.

As far as news goes, the news has always been that the 1.5.2 packs are mostly holdovers until 1.6 comes around and we have a little more stability with the new system of installation. This is because at least two major mods were never planned to be updated for 1.5(Xycraft and RP2, for different reasons) and because of some huge changes under-the-hood for vanilla MC and Forge.

Not everything comes out in official posts, but if you poke around just a bit, you can find what you need. General FTB chat is probably the board to pay attention to the most, but plenty of good stuff comes from other boards if you have the time to pay attention.

 

[Omicron]

Not to rain on your parade, but quite a few FTB forumites went over to the IC2 forum and got very nasty in Greg's thread, all the way down to throwing around Nazi ideologies. It's just that here we have functioning moderation so these people have to keep themselves in check or risk getting banned. Over there? Not so much. Besides, they only made accounts to flame anyway, who cares if they get banned...

If I've learned one thing about internet communities, it's that every community considers itself superior to all others, but no community actually is inherently better than another in reality. It just depends on how much people feel they can get away with under the noses of the moderation team.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Not to rain on your parade, but quite a few FTB forumites went over to the IC2 forum and got very nasty in Greg's thread, all the way down to throwing around Nazi ideologies. It's just that here we have functioning moderation so these people have to keep themselves in check or risk getting banned. Over there? Not so much. Besides, they only made accounts to flame anyway, who cares if they get banned...

If I've learned one thing about internet communities, it's that every community considers itself superior to all others, but no community actually is inherently better than another in reality. It just depends on how much people feel they can get away with under the noses of the moderation team.

Yea, the whole GT thread on IC2 is just... I didn't even bother, and I've had an account over there for over a year now.

I've got some ideas on refinements of the Tower of Power and a different sort of CRCS system in the works, made possible in part by AE and MFR for automation. I just need to do some testing before I am ready to release my results.

 

[Dreossk]

It's true the website seems abandoned. The last news was in April and it was about something no one really cares and the news before that was in December of last year. It seems they should hire a couple of new members in their team to straighten out this situation so we know what is happening with the multiple versions of Minecraft that were released since.

 

[Bagman817]

It's true the website seems abandoned. The last news was in April and it was about something no one really cares and the news before that was in December of last year. It seems they should hire a couple of new members in their team to straighten out this situation so we know what is happening with the multiple versions of Minecraft that were released since.

You're looking in the wrong place, apparently. http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/mod-pack-update.20448/

Wyld (who's working on the 1.52 packs) has been very active in that thread, providing updates every few days. As for the 1.6x packs, what could anyone say? Only a couple mods are updated so far. Once they are, expect at least a couple weeks of building/testing for them to release a stable pack. My wild guess would be we're probably looking at September (earliest) before a non-beta pack is out.

 

[Yusunoha]

I do agree that the FTB team needs to be a bit more... in the spotlights.
I know they are constantly working behind the scenes, and do post here and there, but they need to be a bit more in the spotlights

 

[namiasdf]

The community is what you make of it. FTB is pretty niche'd. Though it is a sandbox game, the amount of people who like playing games with such a vague objective isn't as large as you'd think. Think about how many more people play CoD, etc.

Though the MC community is quite large, it is also made up of a relatively calm, mature-ish fanbase. Even the younger players tend to exhibit some intelligence and maturity, since MC isn't really a game where you can go hardcore and yell at each other because your arena rating dropped and you didn't get any gear.

I feel like the community is fine. The occasional fiasco and argument keeps things interesting, but for the most part I feel like everyone here is relatively intelligent and has something to contribute. We aren't all the same type of player, that's for sure, but I still come back here for a lot of information, even if I play a difficult variety of FTB.

 

[Infallible83]

I think it is a shame that you feel this way.

Personally I think there is a great community that can discuss many different topics without stooping to childish behaviour, and on those few occasions that a thread slips, one of the very attentive moderaters deal with it.

I am always confident that if I have a questions or need help with something, I can ask a question and have a number of people answer with anything from best guesses, links to info/videos/guides or outrageously in-depth math on the topic. (Or even just finding it by searching the existing wealth of informationon these forums)

I hope you find your way again soon.

Infallible

 

[namiasdf]

I also think what keeps it going is e-peen.

We want to provide the best answer using our knowledge. At least that's what I strive to do. I feel like I put a lot of effort into finding unique, reliable and efficient solutions. This is also the general chat, so you can't really complain if it's unfocused.

 

[FivEven]

Your best bet to get information is to hop in the twitch.tv chatroom of slowpoke101 and ask him during one of his streams. Be brief and polite and ideally wait for a moment when it's thematically appropriate, he gets dozens of questions like that every stream.

Also, don't expect much. The last piece of news was "new modpacks come when mods have updated for 1.6", and they have not yet updated. And until they have done so, that line of news is going to remain the news that is relevant for you.

As for the rest of your post, I'm not sure if you're asking a question or just whining about the quality of the community? In case it's the latter: don't. You're just adding more of what you're complaining about. If it's the former: please rephrase.

Chat-rooms would be similar to streams and videos of playing with tiny hints at content that's theorized or might come to a future stream or video. Not quite what I had in mind when the information is constantly moving and not "posted". I don't know if chat-rooms love new people coming on to ask the same questions previously asked...

Expectations... I can only form ones based on the trend of no to little information.

The rest of my post is composed of many questions. Written to inspire thought in others, and with a hope for possible answers as well. I am not the best at phrasing or in proper threadicate format.

As for whining about the quality of the community. I wrote this when tired, and even called into question my own line of thinking in the very same line.

I would absolutely love an answer to all but my first question.

Thank you.

V/R

FivEven

 

[Omicron]

I would absolutely love an answer to all but my first question.

I already gave you the best answer anyone here will be able to give you: ask Slowpoke - or even someone else from the team. Anyone who is not on the team will be unable to answer even a single one of those questions. You can't walk up to a bunch of youths with iPads and expect answers on Apple's future business decisions and how Tim Cook thinks about integrity. Or ask your parents if and how the vision of your country's minister of agriculture has changed over an undefined period of time. That's just not how it works.

We're just "the youths with iPads" here. We don't make FTB, we play it. We'll happily answer questions about how to play FTB, but we cannot answer questions about how it is made.

 

[FivEven]

I already gave you the best answer anyone here will be able to give you: ask Slowpoke - or even someone else from the team. Anyone who is not on the team will be unable to answer even a single one of those questions. You can't walk up to a bunch of youths with iPads and expect answers on Apple's future business decisions and how Tim Cook thinks about integrity. Or ask your parents if and how the vision of your country's minister of agriculture has changed over an undefined period of time. That's just not how it works.

We're just "the youths with iPads" here. We don't make FTB, we play it. We'll happily answer questions about how to play FTB, but we cannot answer questions about how it is made.

So I'm not communicating with the community here? Just customers?

I've asked my questions and been turned away by you but I would rather believe that, as a whole, this is a place of more than just "youths with iPads"...

My perspective may very well be off, way off even. As your the most "vocal" to tell me these things, I guess I shouldn't come to the FTB site for FTB information or expect the FTB community to be informed about FTB goals/ideals. Just wiki style info on how to play? (By the way. Totally not ignoring your suggestion that I go to Slow's stream.)

I hear you. I think I understand your perspective. I don't think that is the only perspective here, so I'll go wander over "there" and talk to others...

 

[namiasdf]

Why don't you ask something about FTB, I'll be glad to answer.

 

[Infallible83]

So I'm not communicating with the community here? Just customers?

I've asked my questions and been turned away by you but I would rather believe that, as a whole, this is a place of more than just "youths with iPads"...

My perspective may very well be off, way off even. As your the most "vocal" to tell me these things, I guess I shouldn't come to the FTB site for FTB information or expect the FTB community to be informed about FTB goals/ideals. Just wiki style info on how to play? (By the way. Totally not ignoring your suggestion that I go to Slow's stream.)

I hear you. I think I understand your perspective. I don't think that is the only perspective here, so I'll go wander over "there" and talk to others...

It is difficult to know how to help you as you dont seem to know what you want yourself. The FTB website gives you up to date information on things that are coming...

Wyld (who's working on the 1.52 packs) has been very active in that thread, providing updates every few days.

But if you want speculative information on what might be coming on anything not set in stone then it obviously wont be on the news/updates pages. It is an odd conculsion that you have jumped to with your last statement, just because you have been given an alternative way of communicating directly with Slowpoke, it in now way means the general message is that you...

shouldn't come to the FTB site for FTB information or expect the FTB community to be informed about FTB goals/ideals.

I wish you the best in what you are looking for but you seem to have already come to your own conclusion about this site/forum and I'm not sure what any of the "Community" can do to help/change that.

Infallible

 

[FivEven]

It is difficult to know how to help you as you dont seem to know what you want yourself. The FTB website gives you up to date information on things that are coming...



But if you want speculative information on what might be coming on anything not set in stone then it obviously wont be on the news/updates pages. It is an odd conculsion that you have jumped to with your last statement, just because you have been given an alternative way of communicating directly with Slowpoke, it in now way means the general message is that you...



I wish you the best in what you are looking for but you seem to have already come to your own conclusion about this site/forum and I'm not sure what any of the "Community" can do to help/change that.

Infallible

You could very well be right. For now it seems I either don't know or cannot communicate it well.

I thought my questions would bring discussion and perhaps answers of a different sort. Perhaps even be applicable to current events.

As for my conclusions, I cannot reach any unless there was more discussion. But I've missed that chance because of my poor communication skills.

Should someone figure out what I meant before this goes to the thread grave, let me know. Until then I will ponder in my usual passive uncommunicative manner.

Off topic. I would like to mention that to me, use of the word "whining" or phrase "you seem to have already come to your own conclusion" are very... irksome. Not that they may not apply, but would be better for our discussion if you had rephrased. Much as I was asked to do with my post to be more clear.

 

[Virgoddess]

I believe he's saying communication from the FTB crew sucks. And for the most part, I agree.

I love FTB - I think they work really hard putting together great packs for all of us. I appreciate them. But a user shouldn't *have* to dig through a 100+ page thread for an update. It's asinine to suggest that the "best" way to get a question answered is to sit in a twitch stream and wait for the "right" moment to ask a question, and hope it gets answered. We should be able to check the "news" area and find posts updating us on the progress of packs, and the posts should be updated regularly to reflect new dates/information.

The last post made with regards to modpacks made by Slow was in May. It's not out of question for users to become frustrated with over two months and no new news.

I think Wyld has been doing a good job keeping that thread updated, but unless you've been active *in* that thread (I have), you're in the dark. And it sucks.

 

[Virgoddess]

Not quite Virgo.

http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/members/wyld.7768/

Wyld is very active with updates, I wouldn't say he's worth following to get them, but looking at his activity now and again will be enlightening. I'd say it's never been more then a week between updates from him, and rarely more then a day.

Which I mentioned in my post - did you read it? My point was, you have to be following Wyld, or the mod pack update thread to find information. I think it *should* be easily accessible for the casual user who pokes in every once in a while to get an update.

 

[namiasdf]

If you don't know where to look, don't know how to look or is too lazy too look for, I can't really suggest much more...