End of the week with Major Malphunktion - Kobold Union Edition

[AZgreentea]

Hirelings no longer rage and run into the breach.

Aw! But think of the lines you could add to the things hirelings say!

'Forward, the Hirelings!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hirelings.

[MRH]

Thanks for the update Maj !

We do appreciate with everthing you have going on, you at least come on the forums and give us some feedback and chime in on various threads !

looking forward to U12 ! Stackable bolts !! Plat bank ! and fixed hirelings yay !

[Gimpinator]

Rational thought usually.

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced. It almost feels like you're digging your own grave.. As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event.. Hold fast for seven minutes while I dig this jewel up:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...16&postcount=1

Mabar- I promise it will be better next year.

...

Go Pats!

[grandeibra]

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced

The opposite is true. In the old days, the first week(s) of new mods were more like beta. Quests went down and came back up, bugs were found, hotfixes were implemented after a week etc.


NOwadays, the releases are pretty solid, although not as big as I would like

[Symar-FangofLloth]

As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event..

Wow, you've played Mabar in 2012 already?
Is it any better? Any loot there that would make me actually play it for a change?

[Cauthey]

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced. It almost feels like you're digging your own grave.. As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event.. Hold fast for seven minutes while I dig this jewel up:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...16&postcount=1

It is this kind of dogged "promise enforcement" that usually chases Devs and QA staff away from the forums. If you hold them to ever letter and every word, they will simply stop giving us ANYTHING to chew on.

They want to communciate with us. But I bet, as it is, they're already agonizing over their typed posts before clicking Submit. Don't be this way, please. Don't chase away our beloved MajMalphunktion!

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced. It almost feels like you're digging your own grave.. As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event.. Hold fast for seven minutes while I dig this jewel up:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...16&postcount=1

More buggy? Um...no. I see the data, you do not. Trust me, there is more found and fixed going out the door now than ever before. I'm not patting my team on their crystal carrying backs, but what you *don't* see FAR outweighs what you do see.

Mabar is not coming back anytime soon.

[Satinavian]

As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event..

Wasn't that the promise to make it better next year ? As in 2012 ? Sound plausible to me.

Also even this Mabar seemed better than the last. While still people complained about lag, (which a single person can't measure to a statistically significant extend) i heard not a single thing about auto-bans this year. Which was the main complaint the last time iirc.

[BurnerD]

"Mabar- I promise it will be better next year."

reading comprehension ftw.......

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced. It almost feels like you're digging your own grave.. As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event.. Hold fast for seven minutes while I dig this jewel up:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...16&postcount=1

[Razcar]

The opposite is true. In the old days, the first week(s) of new mods were more like beta. Quests went down and came back up, bugs were found, hotfixes were implemented after a week etc.


NOwadays, the releases are pretty solid, although not as big as I would like

That is true. Compare this launch of two raids to the launch of (single raids in their corresponding Modules) Abbot and Titan.

[gloopygloop]

You would possess a better argument if updates and patches didn't get progressively more sloppy as they were introduced. It almost feels like you're digging your own grave.. As a matter of fact, let me start with a promise you've recently made regarding a specific Mabar event.. Hold fast for seven minutes while I dig this jewel up:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...16&postcount=1

I think that Turbine still has a lot of room for improvement (and I think that Maj would agree with that assessment), but they have improved significantly in the past year. The known issues list is better maintained. Bugs are acknowledged. QA and devs no longer sound surprised when someone mentions a bug that has been reported repeatedly in Llama-land and in live. Old bugs still rear their ugly head, but those old bugs generally get squashed in a reasonable-ish amount of time.

The biggest indicator (to me) that things are getting better is that you could not abandon the LoB and MA raids after finishing them the way that you could with Colonscope up until 11.1. Turbine has improved their process. It's a slow improvement, but the improvement is there.

[Cyr]

That is true. Compare this launch of two raids to the launch of (single raids in their corresponding Modules) Abbot and Titan.

That is true. Those two raids were disasters.

However, having played back then also I know that we traded one type of bug (instance specific) for another type (game stability and performance). Sadly the game has gotten dramatically worse since EU released in the stability and performance departments.

That said, I'm not exactly sure that crystal cove and mabar are not disasters in the realm of the titan (nothing beats the abbot though that is king for buggy junk design). It is also worth noting that the occurance of game wide bugs that prevent completion of quests or hamper them seem to be rising. These seem to have less to do with specific instance design and more to do with things going haywire overall. Oh and unlike the old days when in the rare case you had this happen in a random dungeon and it would take all of five minutes for a GM to correct the issue for you now you are SOL nine times out of ten.

[sephiroth1084]

Oh and unlike the old days when in the rare case you had this happen in a random dungeon and it would take all of five minutes for a GM to correct the issue for you now you are SOL nine times out of ten.

GMs have gotten much worse to the point of not only being all but completely useless, but also rude and heavy-handed.

Honestly, I kind of wish Turbine would just get rid of the GM tool completely, as that at least would save many players a lot of frustration and would avoid a bunch of unnecessary bans being handed out.

[Targonis]

What many people just don't seem to grasp is WHY bugs might be introduced. The more systems type of changes are added, the more of a chance that bugs will be introduced. New content that does not differ much from existing content will generally have fewer problems than content that adds new trap types or game mechanics that we have never seen before.

Most of you were not around back when the game first launched, so you don't know just how many new things have been added to the game, it is far more than just the list of stuff in the release notes. Just compare the adventures from the original launch to the adventures we have seen added in the past few updates.

[Darkrok]

Oh and unlike the old days when in the rare case you had this happen in a random dungeon and it would take all of five minutes for a GM to correct the issue for you now you are SOL nine times out of ten.

I can't comment about the number of bugs. I can say that even on things like Eye of the Titan bugging the GM response is either late or unhelpful, like you said, 9 times out of 10.

I'm the type that likes to give support the opportunity to do their job. If a Titan bugs out? I put in a ticket. When our eDA won't spawn the end boss because (conjecture here) there's an Artificer in our group with his puppy out? I put in a ticket.

Around the time of the F2P release those tickets got responded to within minutes and the GM would fix it (bugged Misery's Peak comes to mind). Now? I haven't had a single ticket resolved successfully in a timely fashion in the last year. I had a Titan that went over 20 minutes on the ticket until we finally gave up. Got the response about 3 minutes after I'd left. Had an eDA that took well over 20 minutes to get a response. The GM then took another 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, then spawns the FIRST boss for us and when questioned about it said that was all he could do, have a nice day.

None of this has anything to do with the QA department of course...just bringing it up here because it was mentioned. I honestly think QA's doing a better job. They're at least communicating now, bugs that have been in the game for years are starting to if not get fixed at least be acknowledged, there's just a feel like QA wants bugs fixed. GM's? I get the feeling that they want the ticket closed as quickly as possible, resolution or no. I don't have a view behind the scenes as to whether that's training, staffing, my own tin foil hat, or what. It's just the impression I get.

[Razcar]

That said, I'm not exactly sure that crystal cove and mabar are not disasters in the realm of the titan (nothing beats the abbot though that is king for buggy junk design). It is also worth noting that the occurance of game wide bugs that prevent completion of quests or hamper them seem to be rising. These seem to have less to do with specific instance design and more to do with things going haywire overall. Oh and unlike the old days when in the rare case you had this happen in a random dungeon and it would take all of five minutes for a GM to correct the issue for you now you are SOL nine times out of ten.

I agree, maybe the DDO game engine is starting to buckle under the weight of almost six years of updates. I cannot put that blame at the door of QA though, they cannot be held responsible for all the dust and junk that might have accumulated in the DDO machinery over the years.

And I refuse to believe that Abbot and Titan were playtested to completion when they were released. Maybe the testers at the time poked their noses in there, sniffed around a little and then left thinking that the players would "sort it out", but I cannot see how they could have tested those raids with real characters and completed them. Especially Titan who was so buggy it made you understand why the Quori lost. As compared to the Cannith raids that work great out-of-the-box while still having fights with fairly complicated phases and turns.

[Eladiun]

Mabar is not coming back anytime soon.

For this I'll give you a virtual Good Game.

[sephiroth1084]

The impression that I've gotten from reading dev comments about bugs and their systems for 4 years is that the game engine was not designed initially to adapt well to big changes, that is, it wasn't designed to allow for modularity. So every time the devs introduce something new or try to make a change to the underlying functionality of the game, it involves quite a bit of effort in simply trying to shoehorn it into the existing code.

Now, I may be wrong about that, and I could have been right at one time (and I'm no programmer), but that's the impression I've come away with from reading these forums for a few years.

[Kraki]

And I refuse to believe that Abbot and Titan were playtested to completion when they were released. Maybe the testers at the time poked their noses in there, sniffed around a little and then left thinking that the players would "sort it out", but I cannot see how they could have tested those raids with real characters and completed them.

There is a big difference between going in and doing focus testing where you follow a script or at the least a fairly tight set of parameters and what we as players end up doing inside a quest where we're making it up as we go. It's difficult to guess the outcomes of hundreds of players going "Now what!" and diving in.

If you remember, we had NO clue when we first entered that raid area. "Oh look, you can target those pillar things...someone go kill them! Hmmm nothing happened. Hey, where are those other pillars on target?" "Why did it fall THAT direction?!!?" etc

We were beating on it like mad monkeys for as long as we could keep alive on pots and CSW wands and then hiding in the wf area throwing stacks of rez scrolls. That being the case, I'm not surprised that some of what we did wasn't anticipated.

Kraki

[slimkj]

Mabar is not coming back anytime soon.

I realise it has Halloween links but I do wonder why when there seems to be reuse of other events more liberally. Feel sorry for anyone rolling a new monk or PM between now and Oct 2012 is all.