actually i have to admit i don't really care much one way or the other, whether "they" listen to players or not. I think both ways have an equal chance of becoming a WF that i'd like to play.
I just saw some post about making something the makers would like to play, and commented that if that were the only concern for this mod, it would be kinda weird to use the "weapons factory" name, as that would in my opinion limit their possibilities.
This discussion is as old as the gameplay discussions themselves. I got the feeling that back in the days, Zitheral got a bit tired of all our complaining and discussing, and that he wanted to try a more "ill make something and you just decide if you like it" approach for WF:R. I then saw a return of that sentiment in some post in this thread and so I was just pointing out the limits of this approach.
Anyway it seems many people here who dont seem to be on the devteam at least seem to have the illusion that their input will have some sort of influence on the devteam. And from the way the devteam participates in these discussions and now even invites us to join a special forum for such discussions i get the impression there is indeed room for input from the playerbase. how much of that influence in effect will be remains to be seen of course, but as i said i don't really have a preference for one way or another.
one last thing: im quite confident that it will be a wf version ill enjoy, though i cant really say why i feel that way.