That's risky. Many of the players here are hardcore players who utilize tactics and strategies I doubt casual players even know exist. Catering too much to this crowd might be detrimental to the experience for newer and more laid back players.
I have come to the determination recently based on perusing the reviews on steam, that the best way to balance your game, design its mechanics, and scale its difficulty, is to provide a challenging and satisfying experience to the top 25% of your fan base. Their passion and praise makes up for the risk of alienating the casual player. Casual players will purchase and enjoy as long as it is well reviewed by the players themselves and produce as sense of accomplishment when victory is achieved.
While working for the Disney Company we were consistently mandated to attend classes with titles like "Walt and Me." In these lectures employees who worked directly with Walt would be interviewed by a host and pass on their experiences with him imparting some of his values and giving insight into his character. Audio tapes from private functions were also played. One story that stood out to me involved the purchasing of stage coaches for Disneyland before it opened. In the story Walt was cautioned by a high ranking executive of a company investing in the park against providing the quality of Stage Coaches to the general public, because they will be ruined quickly, that the guests will not appreciate the workmanship and the investment will be wasted on needless frill. Walt told him that if you make it nice enough, if it is of the highest possible quality, people will appreciate it, respect it, and (paraphrasing) maybe even protect it. This may not be 100% correct in all the facts, but this was the message behind his conversation with the man. It proved to be accurate.
Too often we discount what the general end user will be willing to accept or handle and error to greatly on the side of caution. If anything was to be learned from Walt in those lectures from his partners and his own recordings was that he was convinced that people were more inclined to follow a leader of quality whether or not they understood or completely agreed with what that leader stood for as long as that leader was fair, reasonably moral, had an ethical code, and above all else, was passionate and committed to the vision. Strive to be great, not just successful, and the rest will follow.
It has to be accessible and enjoyable, but the biggest cheerleaders are the dedicated. They can influence sales greater than any marketing scheme. Seems they are noticing this and adjusting their mode of interaction and the approach they are taking to future tweaks and content.
Edit: Something I did not mention. Balance between fan service and creative integrity. Humility is key here. Your most dedicated fan-base will often give you best press and the best feedback, so take all feedback in and analyze it. Give it the respect it deserves, but do not get caught trying to make all dreams come true. Pattern recognition, trends, consistent messages from the faithful should always carry more weight. You don't want the fans to be creating the game completely, nor do the fans want that responsibility. It may seem counterproductive, but if you consider a suggestion and do not move forward with it, try to acknowledge the concern and tactfully explain why it wasn't implemented. Judgement on what should be considered or addressed is the hardest thing. This is where a great leader or communicator comes in so handy.
It was evidenced today that they are listening to the people lower on the food chain internally. Seeing Carl(not that Carl is not respected or valuable, but I would venture he was the lowest ranking member of the dais) relating most of the information and the reference to how important the QA team is to them, that their contributions are plentiful, that they are dedicated, and that the implementation of their suggestions is being considered and implemented, was a great marketing move by their team. I do believe that it has happened like that in the past, that it's not just for show, but letting the fan-base see it in action gives the whole operation a fresh and exciting look.
