Ask the admin (02/15/2011)

[Yeata Zi]

I'm glad everyone is so passionate about Harry Potter around here.

[Narumi Misuhara]

Yeata Zi

Give it to me straight Admins and Devs: Should I completely give up hope on ever seeing the Zurg return to Gaia?

In all seriousness, yes I would. As far as our writing team is concerned the Zurg plotline is concluded.

[KatanaWielder26]

Message
Why is the quality of MCs going down?

[MistressMinako]

Super-late and frankly I've posted all I really can at the moment in a certain thread in the SF. I am glad the lite fishes drop something related to Alchemy so much so that I've started stocking a couple tanks with fish (and I hope they continue to be given out in DC as a normal thing... we don't need any more Ocean Spray tops or Amigo pants). I know the lite fish don't trigger booty grab, but do they glow at all?

I would like to know why the back wing formulas are so rare that we've seen more given out through BidBlast than we've seen appear out of boxes. Seems a little backward to me. I'd rather have the level 1 formulas in Bifrost for 100-200K or something like that.

[Ariel Yardena Davidson]

KatanaWielder26

Message
Why is the quality of MCs going down?

When using the Gaia app, backspace is your friend. Also quality is debatable

[Denham]

biglanky14

Denham

Hey guys! Thanks for doing this for us on such short notice. Just a couple simple questions from me.

1) Do you think we'll have the option to move ATA's again in the future? We haven't had very many in the past few months.

2) Will there be more commercials for MC's an other items in the future?

Hi Denham!

Yes, quite possibly. Trust me, it's not like we don't want to do ATAs. Mondays were just great days where a lot of staff was available to participate, and moving them makes it a little tougher schedule-wise. But these are really valuable to us too, so I'm guessing we'll try to move them around more often in the future.

And for the MCs - maybe.....maybe not smile

Hey! I'm sure many of us would appreciate if that happened.
And I wouldn't complain if we got more videos razz was that your idea or were you just the best man for the job? Thanks for the response!

[Fractale]

KatanaWielder26

Message
Why is the quality of MCs going down?

you serious? stare

[Corinth Maxwell]

cat_stare Bumping this, because I'd like to be able to get an answer before the topic closes. cat_whee

Quote:

I hope there's plenty of staff on hand to answer everyone's questions tonight, because I'm sure that there'll be a lot of them. cat_xp

1. Would it be at all possible to add "Go to page..." links to the top of the "View All Comments" page, instead of having to scroll all the way down to the bottom to click on them?

2. Is it possible for us to get a "Friend Tracker" to see which of our friends are online in zOMG, as well as find out which server(s) they're currently playing on?

3. Small issue, but......can we have a way to manually re-size the "Caption" speech bubbles that we place in our profiles, much in the same manner that we can re-size avatars and/or images?

Thanks as always for any answers you & the rest of the staff can provide! cat_3nodding cat_ninja cat_cool

[Yeata Zi]

Narumi Misuhara

Yeata Zi

Give it to me straight Admins and Devs: Should I completely give up hope on ever seeing the Zurg return to Gaia?

In all seriousness, yes I would. As far as our writing team is concerned the Zurg plotline is concluded.

Completely crushed forever.

But thank you for being straight with me.


Now I have to think of other reasons for the Gaians in Black to still exist.

D: My poor, poor agents.

[Voat]

Poor Yeata crying I guess all good things must come to an end.

add: ^ There are the aliens in zOMG biggrin

[Razumi Yazura]

KatanaWielder26

Message
Why is the quality of MCs going down?

That is terribly subjective and vague. I feel that quality has been increasing.

[Lanzer]

Opera Phantomess

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade. Masquerade!

Good evening and thank you for holding the ATA on a Wednesday! Please bear with me as I am very detail oriented and cannot ask a simple question without giving all the nitty-gritty surrounding one! gonk Feel free to beat me for doing this. >.< Long post is looooooooooooong.

1. What is going to be done about the fact that the Quest formulas have caused those who have and do not have them alike to hoard multiple components in mass quantities, causing what should have been semi-plentiful and already rare components to become next to non-existent and worth millions of gold in the Marketplace and Alchemy Exchange. They are doing this because the Quest formulas call for these components in good sums for not just one formula in the chains, but multiple ones, not to mention there are several formulas at level ten that repeat what was called for prior. This hinders those users just looking for those components to complete the normal formulas to have to shell out way more gold than they should or simply give up because Alchemy is already hard to do without hundreds of millions of gold and large amounts of luck already. As it is, I am putting my Alchemy quests aside simply because certain components for formulas I want to complete are way too expensive, and for me to have already spent over twenty five million gold to just get thirteen XP toward reaching level four and having several incomplete formulas due to a combination of the above and the use of disappearing Cash Shop component items leaves a really bad taste in my mouth that is just getting worse.

2. Why are the Quest formulas so rare in the first place, and why do they cost billions of gold and huge amounts of luck to craft? Why do they have so many parts to them, especially after reaching the level ten stages of them? Even those who can afford to continue on are warning others with a Quest formula about going past the level nine formulas that also generate the medium-sized wings because it just is not worth playing cat and mouse with the formulas after that. Add the fact that each level has at least a low chance of being crafted (or very low), and you have numerous users questioning your objectives in the first place and being put off from Alchemy, the backwings, and even this site as a whole.

3. While the changes to the Cache and Case formulas were such amazing steps in the right direction, it does nothing when a large group of users are after the same components and formulas and other components and formulas are left in the dust because they are not used in many formulas, if any, and the formulas are too costly and not worth crafting at all. Why not at least put formulas in The Bifrost for each of the components (amount of gold to purchase should not exceed what is already established in the other shoppe formulas) that are found in the Cache that use gold shoppe items (not items from Dernier Cri, unless you create formulas for those items to be made at any time), zOMG! loot and crafted items (keep in mind some crafted items’ recipes are only given out once per person!), Fishing items, Towns items, Tickets, Credits from Word Bump, Tokens, Aquarium fish drops/items and the fish themselves (so long as they cost gold only or are free from Daily Chance), Aquarium decorations and backgrounds (once again, only gold costing ones or free ones found in Daily Chance only), housing and avatar items from both Enchanted Trunks and the other Magical Giftboxes, and whatever other things that are free by being purchasable with gold, found in nice quantities in the Daily Chance, and/or farmable? It did not take me long to make mock-ups of three components I was focusing on that would sink a lot of gold without using Cash Shop/RIG only items.

4. Are the Enchanted Trunks and other Magical Giftboxes going to be given alternative paths in their respective formulas as well? Also, the Golden Magical Giftbox formula has yet to have any of its paths reflect the changes to the Cache and Case formulas, making it more expensive to craft than the other two.

5. Will Cash Shop items be taken out entirely from formulas and replaced with gold shoppe alternatives in larger quantities? If not, are there any plans or at least ideas to make the Cash Shop items have corresponding formulas that use what I had suggested above for component formulas to keep the formulas the same, but have an alternative way to obtain them without spending real life money or enormous amounts of gold in the Markeplace or Exchange?

Hide your face so the world will never find you.

We do want to shift towards the idea where buying from other users would not be the only means of obtaining components. We'll continue to improve the system to make things more obtainable.

We also recognized that formulas themselves shouldn't be hard to obtain. Outside of being unfair to those who had tried real hard in obtaining current formulas, we are trying to shift that balance.

There are constraints on certain items that were once Cash Shop items to have other components from the Cash Shop also, while original components or other items don't have that constraint, and that's what we're focusing on.

In general we will focus less on cash shop items and have more and more obtainable formulas. Thank you for sharing your concerns and ideas with us.

We have a great turn out today! Thank you so much for joining us on today's ATA! Have a happy Valentines' event and we'll see you all in two weeks! Don't miss the Gaia anniversary!

[biglanky14]

Cecilia Wolfram Davidson

biglanky14

Cecilia Wolfram Davidson

Lanky made me think. How many admins and staff actually exercise and do long runs?

There are a few here, but the most inspirational person here by a country mile is Sisky. Ill let her tell her story, but suffice to say shes literally transformed her life, and is now helping others in the office do the same.

Its seriously one of the coolest things Ive ever seen from someone Ive worked with.

Wow. I can imagine. smile I lost 30 pounds in the past year from running and lifestyle changes

Yeah, she's literally half the person she was before (or right around there).

And funny you ask these questions. Ling here is a certified Zumba instructor and is teaching classes here on Wednesday nights. It's going on right now, actually smile

[biglanky14]

Scobre

biglanky14

The Undead Suitor

biglanky14

The Undead Suitor

I must commemorate you patience with collecting that many singles



I would have blown it on strippers by now

<refrains from posting the 17 different awesome responses I have to this quote since Lanzer is in the thread and already thinks I shouldn't work here>

oh crap, I dont want you to get fired


you're like, the coolest guy here.

Gaia should be staffed by a bunch of biglankys

cause youre awesome


just saying


anyways, keep up the great work and all

*fist bump*

*fist bump* right back.

Seriously though, I just try to let people do their thing and not get in the way. We've got a bunch of awesome people here, and it's too bad that we've made enough mistakes that we've sullied our own reputations with some of our users. This is what we're trying to fix. But in terms of who actually does the stuff that makes Gaia awesome, I'm probably last on the list (unless you count being hyperactive in front of a camera).

The monthly collectible video was awesome and it's ok to make us all laugh. Don't feel bad about being in front of the camera, you did great. Gaia is doing great and awesome with all the new updates already this year.

Thanks! We had a great time making it, and I'm glad most people enjoyed it too.

[siskataya]

http://www.gaiaonline.com/payments

biglanky14

Cecilia Wolfram Davidson

Lanky made me think. How many admins and staff actually exercise and do long runs?

There are a few here, but the most inspirational person here by a country mile is Sisky. Ill let her tell her story, but suffice to say shes literally transformed her life, and is now helping others in the office do the same.

Its seriously one of the coolest things Ive ever seen from someone Ive worked with.

Wow. I can imagine. smile I lost 30 pounds in the past year from running and lifestyle changes

Awwww, thanks Lanky - that was super sweet! Thanks for all the support. And WELL DONE Cecilia Wolfram Davidson - 30 pounds is AMAZING. You must be super proud!

So, what Lanky is referring to is the fact that I used to weigh 325 pounds a few years ago. All my life I was always overweight, but it got out of control until I was dangerously morbidly obese. I started a lifestyle and fitness diet in January 2010 and set a goal for myself: Lose weight and get fit enough to climb Mt. Fuji.

I ate well, trained hard, and 17 months later, I had lost over 150 pounds of fat and climbed Mt. Fuji. Goal was met on 8.11.11 and I haven't looked back. My world has changed so much, now I am trying to "pay it forward" by helping others. My goal is to make everyone feel the joy I have. My new motto is 'Movement is life". I am going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro later this year - I'll take pictures for everyone. In the meantime, I recently went cage diving with sharks with my friend Ty. We made a video if you are interested!: Sisky is swimming with sharks in Hawaii! :0

And, part of my "pay-it-forward" plan is to bring it to Gaia. One of my projects is going to be to start a health and fitness forum where we can all share tips, hints, recipes, and support each other in good health. I hope you like this idea - maybe you could let me know any ideas you might have. If anyone reading this has ideas, let me know - just shoot me a pm!

Again, congrats on the 30 pound loss - that is phenomenal! So proud of you biggrin

Sisky