The firings of Zymurgist and Fallout are a tragedy. It is counter to everything Hilmar and CCP have been saying about promising to stay more in touch with the community. The only possible explanation for firing community leaders while simultaneously promising to redouble your efforts to stay in touch with your community is simple - "performance issues". The only way this makes sense is if the person responsible decided that Zymurgist and Fallout weren't doing their job well enough. You don't lay off community leaders to save money when the economic crunch was created by an angry community unsubscribing. Obviously the players disagrees with CCP's assessment of these two, based on our overwhelming show of support for them.

SO - the burning question on the table - who is stepping up to replace them? Who will take the lead on answering our questions and staying in touch with us? Who will take the lead on moderating the forums?

The first order of business for Zymurgist and Fallout's replacement should be for the new leader(s) to identify themselves, and outline what THEY bring to the table that is an improvement. You don't have to disclose the details of whatever "performance issue" supposedly led to Zymurgist and Fallout's termination, you can keep their secret crack addiction a secret. Whatever. HR stuff is closed door stuff, thats normal.

We the community deserve a strong CCP presence here on the forums, and a strong leader in delivering news and responding to the community, as well as moderating the forums and keeping dialogue on track.

The sooner the new leaders step forward and claim responsiblity for the void left by Zymurgist and Fallout, the better. In the meantime, consider this another major blow to the confidence the community has that CCP is responding to our needs.

Question.

You are a bunch of guys. When will you hire a chick to your team?

Either hire a new one, or make Navigator dress up as an exotic dancer.

Now now, Spitfire.

Be Fearless.

How secure are you currently with your current employer, Mr. Spitfire?

You've fired two fifths of your community team and hired one repalcement. Now you're seeing very_predictable_feedback to offloading some of the most visible and popular devs. I assume there's more to the story than we'll ever know but from the players perspective you've undone so much good work.

Somebody did the sums on what another forum rage event was going to cost versus saving a couple of wages, I'd be looking to fire that person. Also, I'm sure it was Hilmar who ultimately made this overall choice, why is his name not on the devblog? Sending out the meatsheild from PR is weak.

There is no point getting annoyed at CCP spitfire guys. What can anyone really do on the customer front desk at a time like this? Drink tea and stiff upper lip and carry on is the only option.

I do have a request though Spitfire.

Could you please hurl slices of rotten shark at anyone in the headquarters still pushing the NeX concept for Eve Online?

A Question for DEV Spitfire :-

Could you propose to your Management to have a thread here in these forums (as opposed to a blog) about "This is what we now have on Sisi"

Followed by a blurb as to when a rough estimated time of going live on TQ ?

This would be more informative and cut-down on the inevitable threadnoughts that follow and devblog hints and such.

Peace out.

Dear CCP Spitfire,

First off I'd like to commend you on your efforts in this thread so far. You're doing a great job at damage control, and I would be very pleased if you could pass that message on to your superiors.

As for other requests, Hillmar stated there would be more openess from CCP in the near future. I heard about the community team being downsized from external sources, which I feel is a bit lousy as far as communication goes. There was no goodbye and no official: we thank X, Y and Z for their excellent efforts on the community front... they will be sorely missed... a great loss to the company and yada yada... blah blah etc.

I'm not a militant "things have t obe done this way" type of guy, but this just feels like CCP is trying to hide stuff from us.

Also, is there any chance we could get a hint as to an ETA on the winter expansion?

Thank you. Keep up the good work.

Morning Spitfire,

Is there a way that I can forward along (preferably out-of-Eve) my work's job posting and Facebook links? We're technical in nature (over a couple core fields) but also global in scope.

I do not get bonuses for this btw, the offer is purely to help y'all.