The QA Lodge

[Kisaragi]

Yeah, this has been on my to-do list for a long time. Since, um, the point in beta testing when I wrote most of the chat feedback that we do have. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things considered higher priority, so it keeps being bumped down into the "next time" bin.

Also, if there are any particular spells or effects that aren't giving the appropriate blue splash or immune text, it may be worth filing a bug; we do have the power to stop those (for things like making paladin auras not spam immunity messages), so it is possible that we accidentally set some effect to not give feedback when it really should.

Ok, this has got to stop. This is a common developer speak without explanation. So I'm asking you to tell us right now what has the highest priority? We're resorting to asking "is this working?" and the result ends up being "maybe but even if it's not I can't tell you." The communication is getting to a stage of being really unhelpful. Even if we do report something unfair, broken, just just plain confusing there is no idea when or if the developers think it's important to EVER fix. There are spells that are simply put, broken. (Examine the costs for using Create Undead vs Summon Monster). Stop being so 'vast and mysterious' and start giving people answers.

[Borror0]

Way to go, bash a developer for answer a question...

I do agree that the whole Turbine crew could give us more information, but post like these are going to do the opposite by making them post less. Rather than complain about him posting something unsatisfying, ask him a question... and no, not on the tone you used. Simply saying "We often hear about htings not being on top of your priority list. So, can I ask... What is on top of your priority list right now?"

There's bug I'd like to see fixed and that have been around for a long time. The super-slow casting time for Cone of Cold and Scorching Ray on my sorcerer being one of them, but complaining the way you do is just going to make DeadlyGazebo post less. It is not an obligation for him to post here. Read, probably, but he is taking some of his own personnal time to reply.

Ok, this has got to stop. This is a common developer speak without explanation. So I'm asking you to tell us right now what has the highest priority? We're resorting to asking "is this working?" and the result ends up being "maybe but even if it's not I can't tell you." The communication is getting to a stage of being really unhelpful. Even if we do report something unfair, broken, just just plain confusing there is no idea when or if the developers think it's important to EVER fix. There are spells that are simply put, broken. (Examine the costs for using Create Undead vs Summon Monster). Stop being so 'vast and mysterious' and start giving people answers.

[sephiroth1084]

I have zero experience with other MMOs, but from what I've seen around on the boards here, Turbine is exceptionally good at communicating with its player-base.

That said, for whatever reason, Turbine seems to be overlooking, ignoring or completely forgetting that, when dealing with people who have grievances, sometimes the best course of action is to simply explain that steps are being taken to address the issue(s). Mystery may be called for when dealing with new releases and such (debatable), but mystery should not figure into how a gaming company deals with bugs that plague paying subscribers.

If there is a bug you know you just are never going to get around to fixing (such as the mislabeled quest difficulty), yet you feel unavoidably hesitant to say so, ask yourselves whether stringing us along is better than just saying you won't fix the bug, or even, GASP!, if perhaps additional time and resources should be devoted to bugs that actually impact gameplay. Sure, everyone wants a new mod, everyone wants more content, and these are the things that bring players into the game, but perpetual bugs DO drive some people away. Yes, all evidence suggests that spending less time on bugs than on new material will still result in expansion (Microsoft is king of this practice), but...

HAVEN'T YOU ANY PRIDE IN YOUR WORK? DOESN'T IT GALL YOU THAT YOUR PROJECT, YOUR "BABY", IS MALFUNCTIONING

on so many levels and making so many people's gaming experience unpleasant? At least SAY something! I don't care if the ladder bug, or the quest difficulty bug doesn't get worked out, as, while annoying, they arne't a HUGE issue, but handwraps not working, new abilities coming out broken (alchemical bonuses), glitched quests (DQ II, Foundation of Discord to name a couple), and much more that is not coming to me because it is 6 AM. Doesn't any of this mean anything to you? I see Known Issues threads updated several times without ever including some of these perennial problems. At least TALK to us about all of this. How about commenting on the known issues?!

[Ustice]

Hey, DG. Any word on the issue with dwarves (or at least dwarven clerics...) where when you attack with a one-handed weapon while holding a shield and running (chewing gum is optional)? The attack is out of sync with the actual hit. The back swing is about a quarter to a half a second too long, which causes the first swing to be off a bit. Right now it looks like he is REALLY winding up, and things seem to explode from the wind of his back-swing before he even attacks.

(I file a bug report on this every 6 month or so, and it has been since game start.)

[JayDubya]

Also, if there are any particular spells or effects that aren't giving the appropriate blue splash or immune text, it may be worth filing a bug; we do have the power to stop those (for things like making paladin auras not spam immunity messages), so it is possible that we accidentally set some effect to not give feedback when it really should.

Oh! I know one - I had to sort of reverse engineer it from context. In Madstone Crater, you can use Greater Command on the Ogres and Trolls, but when you try to cast it on the Minotaurs, it fizzles with arc-welding sparks.

I am guessing that this happens because the Madstone Minotaurs do not speak Common, so they do not hear the command to SIT!

Although frankly, given that they speak their final words in Common suggests otherwise.

In any case, that's one where you don't get any feedback other than some sparkles - no rolls, no hexagon, no spell-resistance half-shield and no immune message (what I would expect to see)

[Angelus_dead]

Oh! I know one - I had to sort of reverse engineer it from context. In Madstone Crater, you can use Greater Command on the Ogres and Trolls, but when you try to cast it on the Minotaurs, it fizzles with arc-welding sparks.

Those sparks ARE your feedback. They have a defined meaning, and this is fine.

I am guessing that this happens because the Madstone Minotaurs do not speak Common, so they do not hear the command to SIT!

No. You can target one and push Z to read why.

[MysticTheurge]

Those sparks ARE your feedback. They have a defined meaning, and this is fine.

Not according to Silthe.

5) We have a consistent feedback system. There are three ways a monster will avoid a spell effect, each with a different visual cue to let you know what's going on. First, is the blue-ish little octagon thing to indicate that it made its saving throw. Second, is the Immune message telling you that no matter what you do, the monster will not be affected by your spell. Third, the blue "sparkly" as you put it indicates that you failed to overcome the monster's spell resistance.

Yeah, he's got the wrong "sparkly" but he's saying that things that are immune should give the immune message.

Then DG says:

Also, if there are any particular spells or effects that aren't giving the appropriate blue splash or immune text, it may be worth filing a bug;

So JayDubya pointed out a scenario where there is no immune text.

And you decided he was somehow wrong for doing so. Thanks for helping.

[Angelus_dead]

And you decided he was somehow wrong for doing so.

You're trying to be sarcastic, but you failed. It was wrong, and the "somehow" is by the elementary rules of the English language; in particular the definition of the word "or".

[Gornin]

1)

3) Hmm... Good Hope DOES give bonuses to Ability checks, as per the pencil and paper rules. Thing is, I don't think there ARE any Ability checks in DDO. Rest assured though, if there were, Good Hope would give you bonuses to them. (This is a peril of copying text from the D&D Player's Handbook

~Silthe

Defending against a trip/overun/knockdown is supposed to be a STR or DEX ability check. This is what annoys all of us high dex or strength builds that we have NO defense against these attacks.

[MysticTheurge]

You're trying to be sarcastic, but you failed. It was wrong, and the "somehow" is by the elementary rules of the English language; in particular the definition of the word "or".

The sentence could potentially be saying "Bug report something that isn't giving either of those things" or it could be saying "Bug report something that isn't giving both of those things."

Welcome to the "elementary rules of the English language."

[parvo]

Not so much a bug but a QA thing. Mob caster/range AI has been horribley broken for a long time. This takes a lot away from the game. Is there any effort being made to fix it? I can't believe this hasn't been a priority.

Enemy mob caster/range...
1) sees PC
2) runs toward PC until he bumps into PC
3) turns around and fires a spell at the wall

[GAULSTON]

Is the current drop rate for large ingredients in the shroud working as intended?? I seem to have way too many medium ingredients and not nearly enough large ingredients. Seeing as how crafting down the Para/Quasi path (Magma,Smoke,Radiance,Ash,Ooze,Mineral,Dust,Ice,Li ghtning,Vacuum,Salt,Steam) requires twice as many large ingredients as it does the mediums and smalls, what is being done to address this?

Thank you sincerely,
Gaulston

[kruggar]

The API would be real nice to us..

we could make a DDOmeter program to measure how we going against the enemies...

total DMG dealt, number of misses and hits against especific enemies etc etc etc..

loot collected and $ value total received per quest.. a lot of work to do and a funny software to make..

think i would expend a couple hours a day coding that..

imagine a parser for quest timers

u log in your char /quest and bump all values imported to a tool that control your quest timers

[Ustice]

The API would be real nice to us..

we could make a DDOmeter program to measure how we going against the enemies...

total DMG dealt, number of misses and hits against especific enemies etc etc etc..

loot collected and $ value total received per quest.. a lot of work to do and a funny software to make..

think i would expend a couple hours a day coding that..

imagine a parser for quest timers

u log in your char /quest and bump all values imported to a tool that control your quest timers

In case it was missed, we talked about what we would like to see in a DDO API. Lots of great ideas in there.

[kruggar]

pulling levers or breaking doors "should" be ability checks, but think they coded as having a minimum hability score for that.. maybe add the good hope bonus to those stats would solve?

[Silthe]

Just wondering if the Devils and Orthons being able to teleport around at will even when stoned, stunned, held, fascinated, tripped, dancing, commanded, AND paralyzed is a bug or if they're working as intended.

Disregarding the discussion on how it should work in pencil & paper D&D, in DDO Orthons and the others can use their purely mental teleport ability while under most if not all of those conditions. It is unclear if someone made that a deliberate choice at some point or if it just "happened" that way.

So, for the purposes of this thread, it's not a bug.

It IS a design issue that could be changed. I encourage all of you who feel strongly about it to start another thread giving reasons why you'd like to see this change.


~Silthe

[Freeman]

It IS a design issue that could be changed. I encourage all of you who feel strongly about it to start another thread giving reasons why you'd like to see this change.

You mean the dozens of other threads complaining about how irritating the hyper-teleporting can get aren't enough reasons?

[Borror0]

You mean the dozens of other threads complaining about how irritating the hyper-teleporting can get aren't enough reasons?

They would need a few more. Might as well mention the lag it creates on the way to A Vision of Destruction.

Is that a bug, or gameplay issues?

[totmacher]

at the very least, we need some way to defeat that sort of teleportation, there are spells in the phb like dimensional anchor and binding weapons in one of the optional books I think.

with devils and orthons moving faster than us by a large leap and with teleportation, there is no option to dps them unless you're moving around, hence we just use vorpals

[Angelus_dead]

at the very least, we need some way to defeat that sort of teleportation, there are spells in the phb like dimensional anchor and binding weapons in one of the optional books I think.

Higher priority than that is to prevent them from teleporting more than once per "round", which would mean a cooldown of prehaps 2 or 6 seconds. Currently they can re-teleport with 0 cooldown... I've actually been standing there and seen a blue teleport animation appear in front of me with no associated devil, because he teleported to me and then away again before he even showed up.

Here's an example thread on the subject
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=151953