The full Chat video is available here:
http://www.twitch.tv/chatwithmisterwgt/b/341692576
You don't need an account with Twitch.TV to watch the video.
If you don't get sound, try another browser, I only got sound on FireFox.
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Below is an account of the session with MisterWGT - Chad Nelson.
I have compiled this for the WGT Community as many requests were made for it.
I may continue to provide these for future "MisterWGT" sessions.
Lots of news and answers to questions within this chat, some interesting reading follows.
Where I have shown Chad as "quoted'" may not necessarily be word for word, however I have not embellished anything and is as close as I would suggest to being accurate.
There are a couple of thoughts by me placed throughout this. I may or may not be correct with my musings.
There may be points of which I have missed, there may be areas in which I haven't reported correctly. I apologise for those in advance.
It is a brilliant thing for Chad to allow the time to offer some updates and feedback for the WGT Community.
Thanks Chad! We appreciate it!
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Chad opened welcoming everyone, explained the format of the session asking all to keep it light & friendly.
News from WGT - Questions compiled by WGTPizza and then Q & A
News
- Twitch.TV - Many online communities, 23m users streaming games via this format.
- New mobile version of WGT. At this point, for iOS only. Currently Skill Challenge only. New challenges not seen in the web version. Available iTunes store.
- New Course - Merion- "looks gorgeous", Amazing historic course. Rolling out in the coming weeks, no promises as yet
- New Equipment, - TM RocketBlades. In the process of getting them into the game. Coming soon. Unknown as to what Level they will be as yet
-Sandbagger changes – 1) Have slowed down the progression in Matchplay for lower/ mid tier players. Averages reducing too much "Almost an artificial acceleration through the game" 2) Lower tier players will continue to move up in Tournaments, the best way of avoiding sandbagger. 3) If higher tiered players forfeits to a lower tier in a MatchPlay, the lower tier will not benefit from the Average reduction & will not be awarded the win. They "will not get credit for the game".
Chad went on to say, this is one of the steps in place to combat the 'dilemma' of sandbaggers & that he encourages feedback & to please continue with the feedback, he feels it should always be a 2 way dialogue.
-Completion % changes – "Have taken a lot of feedback about this, we think it's a good feature but we want to tune it"
Removing the numerical value to a colour system as an example if 75% or above will show GREEN colour - 50% - 75% perhaps YELLOW & Less than 50% may be RED (These ranges are still to be finalised) Will be released soon.
The system is currently on a 30 game rolling average will change to a 100 game average.
Practice Games won't be counted toward Completion %.
-Hole In One Challenge - Testing out during the Holiday Season.
Will be based on CTTH Par 3, either multiple holes or a single hole. "Pay an entry fee for that HIO Challenge & if you get the HIO you will be paid a significant amount of credits". Chad encourages the feedback for this also, they will be improving and enhancing it.
(Shrude thinks: Chad might be hinting at a Jackpot scenario, once the HIO is won, the winner may take a % of the pot, WGT retains the rest.)
Prepared Questions (@0:15:00)
Chad announces that WGTPizza has scoured the forums selected a few community questions. Chad has a selected a few.
Q's by 'd3194' (Chad though this username was a great name.)
1.
Golf bags – About to introduce the GolfBag, Purchase a bag it will be seen next to you in the game, ideas are floating, colours you can customise for the CC or Country as well as
head covers…..Coming out soon.
2.
Why default to WGT standard ball – "We don't want to auto select your next ball without you choosing", we give you a fair warning and option to purchase" "We didn't want to make a guess or judge which ball you may prefer"
Chad asked for feedback in the forums on this.
Q by Shrude
More
Country Club Options - "We get questions like this all the time, it
is something we definitely want to improve, we have a long road map and a long
list of features on it.
Coming up next - Ability for owners to set up
MultiRound CTTH Competitions lowest score over all rounds will win, no cut
lines at this point, but coming soon"
Chad concluded this with wanting to hear feedback on CC options especially from CC owners what they feel are the top priority items.
Q from LeGeNdCrUsHeR.
Random acts of kindness from WGT as the Community has also done.
Chad wanted to specifically call out to LC for being such an active member and being a tremendous help to the community and Chad personally appreciates all he has done. Big Kudos to LC and Chad hopes the community has recognised LC for his own Random Acts of Kindness
(Shrude thinks: Yes very well done LC, you are an inspiration to say the least!)
Free Rental Weekend - coming up (this weekend?) - Anyone can rent a club within their level and try it out. – “our way of saying thank you”
Q by TheDuckinator
Spectator Mode – Chad agrees he would love to be able to watch some of the great players play. Although WGT doesn't have that option..yet. Twitch.TV is available to stream live
games, can chat and participate.
A WGT forum thread will be created with this topic, WGTPizza will provide instructions. You will be able to log into Twitch.,TV search for 'WGT" and see all the live games being played, "it's very cool".
Chad is looking forward to this eventuating and growing and has offered to also participate in a tourney. Twitch.Tv can also record matches.
Question Time concludes @ 0:24:00
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Q&A
In this section I have only included the majority of questions in which Chad answered in a definitive way, Chad saw many more questions but needed & asked for clarification on most.
I have remained as succinct as possible. Many questions were answered with "well that's and interesting one, interesting".
I apologise if someone's question and answer here may have been missed.
^ MisterWGT warns he is able to filter/ ban/ block inappropriate chat/users.
Uneven lies update – Have been updated, no announcement to make for further update as with .. draw & fade – stay tuned.
- Chad murmurs "sheesh these things are flying in here" (questions in the chat)
- Chad began to answer and read a question from someone, however lost it as it scrolled away and stated "wow, these questions are coming in way too fast"
Q - Which Course at Merion are we playing?
A - WGT will have the historic course, the East Course.
- "No other course announcements to make"
- Chad confirmed free rental is only for within your Tier.
Q Country Club Ready Go's - Chad thought that would be cool, yes.
- More details coming soon on how Merion will be launched. Probably immediately after the Masters.
Q - Championship greens in Practice mode and in CC tournaments?
A - That's a good idea we can add that to our list.
Chad mentioned he had his big list, his road map in the room and wanted to be able to move the cam to show us.
Q - How about a Caddy? - Chad said Merion had told them how important their caddy program was and Chad said they had some internal discussion on a caddy Chad wonders what do we want in a Caddy, is it for the Advanced player, is it possibly a Tips type of approach - has seen other products with caddy almost telling you your shot and where to place it etc. - Chad feels it removes some of the skill from the game..has Suggested a Forum thread asking what people would like to see in a caddy feature.
Q - Ability to move avatars on the tees -
A - It was discussed very early on, but hasn't come to the top of the list lately. Chad thought their Tee Boxes are pretty narrow so curious as to why it may be an advantage.
Q - 4 player stroke in a Best Ball format
A - there are so many game formats, we could add to our road map.
Q - Tee off indication timer?
A - Sounds like a good idea, "Gosh a lot of these topics we could really dive into detail with"
"Please talk about this stuff in the forums, we read it and our Community Mentors definitely read it." "In then gets filtered up the Chain to our Product Managers"
"Please communicate these ideas to the forums"
Q - Oakmont included in Best of hardest?
A - Chad agreed, stated Oakmont is a prestigious private club and they are very particular about what WGT can do with that course and explained
contractual obligations.
- Chad confirmed St Andrews shares a putting green between holes 7 & 11.
- It sounded like someone asked for tiered levels in CC tourneys here. (not 100%) Chad responded with "yes good input."
Q - Customisable avatars?,
A - They exist in WGT Baseball, has newer
tech, may not happen in WGT golf
Chad stated the Game interface has grown almost out of control & acknowledges
there are some improvements needed to the menu system etc.
- Draw & fade has
been discussed. Would like to introduce. Not much else to say
- Told us about his Titleist lamp behind him and his
granddaddy.
- Abusive players – chat channels hard to police , up to
players to take screen shots. Players with multiple offenses reports will be
looked into. Repeat offenders will be banned.
- Will look into removing the Blink when chat closed.
- Will never be able to share credits
Q - Par 3 courses?
A - Maybe a ‘best of’ but no discussions with any
exclusive par3 courses
Q - Asked about end of game chat.
A - Chad mentioned the option for
‘rematch’ lobby.
Q - Deleting more than one message at a time?
A - Chad tried to clarify "In Private messages?"
Q - World ranking for players?
A - No intentions for grouping
players according to tournament rankings
Q - Score cards with more info.
A - Initially when scorecards were made WGT did not have the features it has now.
Q - WGT Nation
A - No news or updates yet, Intentions for further development
- Lie conditions in pregame Lobby – chad thought it was
definitely a good point.
Q - Uneven lies for RG's/ CC tourneys.
A - Chad feels uneven lies are not
at the point they want them yet. Once they are they will be available for many
types of games
Q - Top 10 shots of the month
A - Intentions to do this Bi-Monthly
Q - Change RGs more often - More frequently
A - Would be interesting, will discuss with Product Manager
- Stimp meter speed variances – Chad mentioned the differences
are usually only .5 to 1 point differences. the FAQ has info on the range.
Q - Private message alerts in game window
A - Chad
felt the questioner wasn’t keeping his ‘community window open while playing "In theory it could be done” “a lot of this is just road map
items” Understand not everyone has this window open when playing
Q - Changing the pin locations for Best of and Hardest courses.
A - “good suggestion will look into it”
- “A lot of this is possible it comes down to priority – new
features vs. enhancing current features”
Q - Developing CTTH courses to full courses.
A - “When WGT started
we didn’t have the financial resources or the clout. We could look at this and discuss what's
better? to develop a new course or to build on an older course , there are
different sides of the coin on this as to
which is more favourable” “Some courses no doubt would be excellent to
play as a stroke game, but we have to look at the balance of new vs. old”
Q - Pin placement .
A -“When we shoot a course we shoot all pin locations, there are many pin
locations in the queue, there is always a course being worked on for extra pin
locations””
Q - Will future courses be shot in 16:9 format.
A -“We shoot all courses in 12mp, there will be
more options for screen ratios in mobile formats than the web format, good
question, thanks for the feedback”
- Chad was bemused at Andysons (apparent) never ending requests
for meter optimisation “we can't speak as to when the next level of
optimisations will be coming out”
- Cabo & Whistler were developed by TruGolf, we have a
partnership with then so we can include any courses they do into our game, they
are done in a more traditional 3d rendering format.”
Q - A counter for ball life
A - “interesting. I’ll talk to our
product manager about that”
- Higher end irons with slower meter - “ok”
- Confirmed that ball durability is not affected by a putter
hit. If you are on a green using anything else but a putter, they will count to
durability
- Cannot speak about any new brands in the pro shop until the
agreements/ announcements are official
- There are no plans to have multiplayer available in WGT
tournaments. “its interesting people are asking for that format, we haven’t been
able to justify its priority over others”
Q - Equipment restriction games in RG format
A - “There are so many
good ideas we can put onto our roadmap list, but there is only such much time
between every release”
Q - More free company/ sponsor avatars
A - “Absolutely it depends on the companies
and if they are willing to sponsor a new avatar”
At 3pm (PST) 1:00:00 - MrWGT announced he was happy to go a little
longer and answer some more questions about 10 mins.
(Shrude thinks: Chad was enjoying all these ideas, we need better reporting to him.)
Q - A request for a CC trophy room for the clubs tourney wins
instead of the boring cups that are shown.
A - “Ok, I’ll talk to our Product Manager
about that, classier trophies, I hear ya”
Mr WGT bemused by the notion that there will be a bunch of
animated gifs circulating of him in chat which will humiliate him, he asked to
keep it clean. The most creative one he will shoutout at next chat session.
Q - Someone asked for free balls for all chat participants.
A - “I’d
like to promote this chat and next time I’d like to see well over a hundred and
maybe we will put some kind of promo on, “confirmed 44 currently in chat, he
said we need well over 100, there are far too many people in our community to
be sitting here like that”
Chad agreed he would like the community to organise a
tournament and he would love to be there and play a game with 3 others.
Absolutely.
- Chad talked about game bugs and their priorities, level 1
bugs are always dealt with immediately, interface bug are not so important.
Q - Faster green speed than championship?
A - “We certainly COULD do a faster green speed, it's
something we could take a look at”
Chad was asked about his WGT cap, and there was discussion about offering them for people who buy........ "if we get enough people wanting it, we could do something."
Chad ended wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving, asked to
keep the suggestions thread active, happening & constructive and he will see us again in roughly
a month.
