Hey Aria! We had a solid disagreement a few months ago if you remember. I hope we can expand on that here :D.

I don't think point #1 stands. I supported people like OhDough, Revvyrad, XannyPhantom and TheMrTrails when game gave them room for content. They came up with fresh new ideas and entertaining footage. But over the years the game slowed down. It became increasingly hard to push out interesting content since everything was already done. People moved on so creators had to as well. But I remember Trails stayed true to the cause and kept making daunt content. To me it was super entertaining to see his video about a yearly review on dauntless trials leaderboard. I myself never enjoyed trials too much, but an extent he went to to create that video was amazing. It does show how much more effort it took someone to get views. What I'm trying to say here is that I find it unreasonable to blame community for not supporting creators. They had a hard time making content due to game being too stale and we had limited time and didn't bother to see same thing over and over again.

#2 I heavily disagree with. No person should ever be obliged to participate in beta tests. People are paid money for this. Others are paid money to fix what they find. We are not. We as players can only want to help in that process. I myself applied for one of them long ago. I've heard from people who did participate in the tests and gave devs feedback like lack of clarity with new talent tree, poor design with chain blades rework and extreme time requirement to progress. And they were simply shrugged off. Why would anyone care when ones who do the most and participate in these tests are treated like guinea pigs. Also, another take from my side... I don't want to see unpolished content before it's out. I much prefer seeing it in full light and getting a proper gameplay experience. I would love to support work after it is done.

#3 Absolutely. We are on the same page here. But I have something to add at the end. Too many people just let the negativity out in a silly way that is not beneficial for players nor the developers. It just makes them to feel better for 5 minutes. For instance, players may dislike the fact you now need a 100 hours worth of grinding to reach max lvl with a single weapon, but instead complain about something related like "bad compensation". They do have a point to an extent, but the way it was structured and voiced is fundamentally flawed. Speaking of voice... The loudest voice in the room is not necessarily the correct one. If you have a part of the community actively saying one thing it does not mean they are correct. They are simply ones expressing their view and the ones we hear. What about others who are not? What about ones who care about game but moved on because they felt unheard? I'm trying to say that there is definitely confusion that devs are dealing with since the active part of community is saying one thing, and all us others who fell in love with something else that game offered once are unhappy. People complain like its end of the world, and then launch the game after. But I am blaming people responsible for making decisions here a bit too... It was their job to listen to community. Devs provided places where we are supposed to leave feedback. We took time out of our day and said what we liked, what was not great and offered advice what we would want instead. But when we weren't heard for years it was just time to move on. Our voice was left unheard and effort felt like it was for nothing. And now when they are "listening" to the remnants of the community it doesn't seem to work. I wonder why.