I think it was reasonable feedback; and in this specific case the developers seems to agree that adding a bit of spice helps. Not sure why it offends Kein but you can't please everyone
I think it was the "mandatory" comment that is perhaps objectionable. I've no problems with combat being optional, perhaps one particular path to the completion of a quest, but why force players into it? Personally I don't really care for large amounts of combat in my games, I prefer exploration and finding alternative solutions like mediation, sneaking or whatever unless I'm in a particularly belligerent mood. It's all about choice rather than suggesting that players "should" like things to be such-and-such a way, which is an unfortunately prevalent attitude amongst some sections of the RPG community.
Only if you take the comment out of context. Look at the entire statement:
I think the period of time spent in Cyseal could really benefit from a battle or two. That's it.. just something to break up the act of running back and forth between locations and NPCs to progress the story. Maybe a bar fight, or assassins attacking the party inside the town at some point, a band of thugs that need to be dealt with, orcs that have snuck into the town, whatever.. just something. Don't alter the time spent inside the town to a total combat-fest, just maybe pepper it with a mandatory fight or two to help with the pacing.
"Mandatory" in this case is referring to examples of battles that players can't avoid due to the way they're woven into the story. For example, by the time the player enters Cyseal they've learned that it has come under attack by orcs several time already. You, in fact, are forced to deal with such an attack prior to being allowed to enter Cyseal. It's a mandatory battle - one that can not be missed by chance or due to the way you've chosen to play your character. As tactical combat is a huge part of the game, one should not expect to be able to avoid it at every opportunity.
The problem with Cyseal was that there were combat opportunities in town: you could kill the elder elf, you can fail the ghost's test and trigger a battle, you can get into a skirmish with the guards, you can attack almost anyone if you want. But if you're trying to play as someone who isn't a complete jerk, psychopath or incompetent, all the optional fights become non-options. You miss them "due to the way you've chosen to play your character".. and that can be frustrating for someone itching for some tactical combat after two hours of errand-running in town.
Thus, what I was looking for was a fight for the rest of us: players who don't go around picking fights but are drawn into one because circumstances make it unavoidable (i.e. mandatory) - like another orc attack on the city, assassins striking at the party, getting sucked into the chaos of a bar fight, etc. You don't have to be playing an incompetent, psychotic, or jerkish character to participate in these, you just have to show up and let the storyline play out to an unavoidable combat encounter.
Now, if you wanted to be presented with an option of
"fighting off the orc attack on the town" or
"walk away and leave everyone to be slaughtered", I have nothing against that other than the fact that it makes little sense seeing as your characters have already shown they're willing to help protect the town from orcs, and creating an alternate Cyseal that's under orc occupation due to your lack of action is (while interesting) a little more work than I wanted to ask of the developers.
Again, the "mandatory" part of that statement was all about context.
