So, I have been at Gamescom yesterday and took the chance to stroll around their chillout lounge and talk to people. The booth was actually pretty cool. I'm sure you have seen the pictures, with their all white interior, their little zen garden, paintings and that water wall. It was also pretty quiet, had soothing light and they served cold drinks. Now that I think about it, I would totally dig a bar like that.
I managed to ask their french community manager a few questions (sorry, I forgot your name! It was a long day...). She made clear, that she would have nothing new to share regarding the game, so don't expect anything ground breaking here
Here we go:
They not only have community managers for different languages, but also different times. She told me, they have pretty much 24/7 coverage, so no matter where you live and when you give some feedback, there is a good chance it will be read.
They still think third party communities are a very important ressource for feedback. The official forum is, of course, a very important aspect as well, but they do realize, that not everybody wants to participate there, and that third party communities often have some of the most dedicated members. They regularly check up on various community sites (including reddit) and relay reports on the feedback they find. She emphasized that they also actually respond on external sources as well.
One of the most challenging times on her job, was when everybody was constantly asking for the release date. She told me, how she was so torn apart as she would have loved to respond to the people but couldn't, unless the official announcement was made.
Being ingame is actually a part of their job. While they need to attend to forums, external communities, twitter and facebook, they also assume their support role ingame. So when you see someone troddling around with that ANet logo, it is totally ok to ask them something or give feedback. Naturally, many of the ANet employees also play the game in their free time and some of them even continue to wear the ANet badge and respond to people - voluntarily.
When I asked her, why ANet is cracking down so hard on the dances, she told me, she "can't talk about that". She only said, they simply want to keep them a secret and she wasn't aware things were going so crazy about that, with youtube accounts getting banned and stuff.
