"Oh, we're listening."
No, i think usually listening to the community is surely of interest to Wargaming. But sometimes i think they have a real communications and transparency issue. I can totally understand that not any change to balancing, game mechanics and so on can be discussed with the community. That isn't even necessary. But I think they sometimes forget that the center of their efforts in making any type of game should be to give the players at least something that is close to their expectations.
My advice would be: Listen to the players, they carry the game and they will only invest time and money if they think the product is worth both. Listen to what the majority of the players want and change the game accordingly. Even make polls to do so. (Look for example at other developers, as Amplitude Studios and their Endless Space series).
Ask yourself: What does a Player expect the moment we announce the game going from beta to the release stadium: Certainly not only the vanishing of the beta stamp!
If you want the players to recognize the importance of such a step, do something to make them SEE and FEEL it. Give them ribbons and balloons in the port, give them a tiny one time reward like an achievement or title for playing the game on Launch day..... I could go on and on. It is not giving rewards that is showing the importance of such an event, it is the effort you as a Company put in it to make it SPECIAL. Or in this very sorry case, the COMPLETE LACK of it!
That is why in my opinion everybody is unhappy now. World of Warships is not getting the kind of loving care and attention by its own developers that it really deserved.
