U42 Preview 3: 4/30-5/02

[LargoKeyWest]

Best thing about the forums...... checking back and finding something posted that provides some bit of knowledge I didn't have in my pea brain yet..

Worst thing about the forums.... checking back and digging thru all the butt-heads & their nit-picking 'gotcha' moments, as if pointing out someone elses mistake validates an otherwise empty life. I've noticed frequency of Devs responses has a SERIOUS reduction of late, and this bothers me.. not because they aren't doing their jobs, but because dealing with a board full of squabbling babies can suck the life out of even the most enthusiastic of workers....

Hows about folks reign it in a bit, and if you don't have something actually useful to post, stop posting for a few and cut the Devs some slack?

[droid327]

I've noticed frequency of Devs responses has a SERIOUS reduction of late, and this bothers me.. not because they aren't doing their jobs, but because dealing with a board full of squabbling babies can suck the life out of even the most enthusiastic of workers....

This is actually quite normal for the very end of a patch or update cycle, right before it goes live...devs tend to go dark on the forums until its released, then they're super active discussing bugs and changes. Its not necessarily that they got scared away by toxic forumites, I assume they're just too busy trying to get everything ready to push live to come screw around with us here. And that, at this point, they really dont need any input from us right now, nothing we say is going to change what they're doing.

[SerPounce]

This is actually quite normal for the very end of a patch or update cycle, right before it goes live...devs tend to go dark on the forums until its released, then they're super active discussing bugs and changes. Its not necessarily that they got scared away by toxic forumites, I assume they're just too busy trying to get everything ready to push live to come screw around with us here. And that, at this point, they really dont need any input from us right now, nothing we say is going to change what they're doing.

True, though there have been other signs of dev fatigue with dealing forum antics particularly the whole "gotcha" game of digging up old out of context quotes to call them liars or whatever. Then getting on their high horse about propriety when the dev gives a light hearted response.

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

(EDIT 3: Getting you all up to speed: Preview candidate build #2 has also failed approval. (Nailing down preview builds is always a pain). This time due to the crafting stations falling out of data and not being accessible in the least. On the bright side, most things are genuinely shaping up into a more polished state every day we end up pushing. =P

At this point we've pushed into the territory where we're planning on doing a weekend preview. Our current plan, now that it's already Wednesday is to take it slow today and get everything in order to pull a new build overnight, verify it tomorrow, and aim for a Friday 5/2 - Monday 5/5 preview schedule.

I'll let you know if this plan changes!)


(EDIT 2: We have yet to be able to kick off a new build which means that we are almost certainly not opening tonight. Still hopeful for a Wednesday 5/01 preview start. Will get you an update by tomorrow morning as to whether that is still viable (possibly in the wee hours of the morning after I have had a chance to look at a build theoretically kicked off in the next few hours if that happens).

As per usual, I will post release notes when the preview opens and not before.

(EDIT: Hey, all!

Popping in to keep everyone updated. The preview candidate build that we hoped to open on Lamannia later today has failed approvals and, as such, the preview has been delayed. At this time I do not have an eta as I need to wait till the rest of the dev team gets back in the office in the morning to fix the issues present in the current build (a highly variable amount of time), then kick off a new build (which takes roughly 6 hours), and then for QA to go through the approval process again (takes between 2 and 4 hours).

It is possible, though not super likely, that we could still open in the evening of 4/30. It wouldn't be the first time we'd pumped out that sort of turnaround time on a build for preview/release, however, I think it's a safer bet that we'd have a preview ready to open on 5/01. Nothing set in stone at this moment. I'll attempt to keep you posted as things develop.)

With the recent delay of the live server release of Update 42 (which you can read about here) we have gained time for one final Lamannia preview. This third, and final, preview is expected to be open on Lamannia from sometime in the afternoon of Tuesday April 30th until sometime in the evening of Thursday May 2nd. There is planned to be a Dev event on Wednesday May 1st from 8-10PM eastern where members of the DDO team will be available on lamannia to answer questions, collect feedback, and run content with players. Preview 3 is expected to showcase all of Update 42 features in various states of polish including:

• Sharn Public Areas
• Cogs Explorer Area
• 9 Sharn Story Dungeons
• 8 Cogs Explorer Dungeons (Yup! We managed our stretch goal and now fully expect an additional explorer dungeon than we were willing to commit to at the time of pre-purchase announcement.)
• 1 Masterminds of Sharn Raid (The only one releasing at the same time as Update 42)
• Named Loot
• Minor Artifacts
• Filigree
• Miscellaneous smaller changes and fixes

We are very excited to have the chance for a final look through of all of Update 42 by our players. We would love feedback from every player that has the time to come check it out! We expect to have a much more polished and finished feeling experience in the third preview than the second and hope you all can help us put those final touches on this new expansion. <3

Are there no new sentient jewels being added? O_O

[Gratch]

As usual, I will post release notes when the preview is open and not before.

But what if I use my Epic Origin Steam SonyPass Gold Store Daybreak+ SSG-VIP early scribbles on wall pass? Can I then get a screenshot of your whiteboard? - no not that one... the one with all the interesting things on it!

Good luck getting a good build for the weekend preview.


Edit/P.S: My randomly assigned 2FA public key for my whiteboard pass is: 55378008

[Gratch]

Are there no new sentient jewels being added? O_O

I think they said in the OMG - so large - loot threads or preview 1 threads that there are no new Sentient Jewels for Sharn.

At first I was like, but you got Keith Baker as a guest DM according to the Sharn promo page. Why no Keith Baker Jewel. And THEN I remembered that he's a game designer and not actually a voice actor and maybe doing quests as a DM is a better fit.

Also, can haz Patrick Stewart sentient gem please someday - k thx.

[Cocomajobo]

The preview build has been approved. We will be opening Lamannia for preview 3 tomorrow, Friday 5/03, in the early afternoon. It will run through sometime relatively early on Monday 5/06. There is not a dev event planned for this preview at this time.

As per usual, I will post release notes when the preview opens and not before.

[J1NG]

The preview build has been approved. We will be opening Lamannia for preview 3 tomorrow, Friday 5/03, in the early afternoon. It will run through sometime relatively early on Monday 5/06.

Whoo-hoo!

There is not a dev event planned for this preview at this time.

Bummer, I was going to crash the dev stream with some comedy cosmetics too for some laughs, ah well, will do it next time.

J1NG

[Vorachtin]

The preview build has been approved. We will be opening Lamannia for preview 3 tomorrow, Friday 5/03, in the early afternoon. It will run through sometime relatively early on Monday 5/06. There is not a dev event planned for this preview at this time.

As per usual, I will post release notes when the preview opens and not before.

As per usual, I will read the release notes when you post them and not before.

[Dreppo]

Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the U42 Preview 3 release notes that are not yet posted.

[thomascoolone64]

Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the U42 Preview 3 release notes that are not yet posted.

Please don't include politics in this forum thread. Or another Purge will ensue. just a friendly warning...

[droid327]

The preview build has been approved. We will be opening Lamannia for preview 3 tomorrow, Friday 5/03, in the early afternoon. It will run through sometime relatively early on Monday 5/06. There is not a dev event planned for this preview at this time.

As per usual, I will post release notes when the preview opens and not before.

Counterpoint...if the notes are already in their final form, if they're not going to change in any way for any reason at this point now, what's the point in sitting on them?

If we got them a little early, we could go over them (especially those of us at work right now heh) while we're waiting for the build to publish, do a little theorycraft and discuss things, get an idea what we want to target to try and test. That would make our testing more productive and useful once the servers do come up and we're able to get on.

[Vorachtin]

Please don't include politics in this forum thread. Or another Purge will ensue. just a friendly warning...

You guys better stop posting jokes or I'm telling!

[Yamani]

Please don't include politics in this forum thread. Or another Purge will ensue. just a friendly warning...

Russia is a player on argo :P