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Quarterly Producer Letter for Q2 2024 ×

Knewt

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Posts posted by Knewt

    Suggestions for a more effective PTS

    in Suggestion Box

    Posted

    you guys are nuts if you think anyone but forum mods read any of this crap.

     

    test forums are for QQ and not for feedback. no one reads your feedback.

    That could be said of any forum for any game. It's a false perception thought. There is someone collecting feedback and forwarding interesting threads to the dev team. At this point, they know there is a growing portion of their player base that is unhappy with the constant changes and the issue of patches introducing new, game breaking bugs.

     

    Please take your negativity back to the general forums. We were having a nice discussion here.

    Test on the PTR and stop the QQ

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    /facepalm...

     

     

    wich is why hes saying " it only takes a week to get to fifty"

     

    use common sense , geez

    So it takes a week to get to 50. They are rolling out patches that impact people at level 50 every week. How exactly are we supposed to test this week's changes when it takes a week to get to level?

    Quick Question:Vanilla WoW.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The new "mature" market will need to get used to disappointment then...

    That won't happen. The market will just punish game companies who produce inferior work. There's a long list of failed MMOs over the previous 2-3 years. The market is speaking loud and clear. Polish and testing are no longer options. They are requirements.

    Test on the PTR and stop the QQ

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So, let's look at some of your points here.

    You act like downloading a client is some big time sink or hassle but it is a click and an install.

    It is a huge time sink and Bioware doesn't pay for my bandwidth.

     

    I am a software developer by trade and work in the simulation as well as game industries. I am not a BW fanboy but I understand the time and pressures of their job and despite what people think, the forums are read, that's what CM's do. They flag posts for developers to look at. Yes there will be triage that needs to happen and some stuff may fall through the cracks but to make it out like they just don't care is naive for this business model. Just because EA is the publisher, much like Activision is Blizzard's, does not mean that QA gets to be 1000 dedicated testers. To replicate the types of situations that players are experiencing in some places requires massive amounts of people be all in an area together from both factions and legit playing the game. QA will have a hard time replicating those sorts of situations. To those who say I don't do PTR, please find another place to QQ and criticize. I didn't do this last one because of my own work schedule but to say wontonly and blankly that under no circumstances do they consider the community's feedback is asinine.

    Bioware has consistently shown a lack of proper QA protocols. The first bug in Ilum 1.1 (camping in the opposing side's base) should have been caught by their internal QA department. In fact, most of the bugs/nerfs people are really upset about (like Ilum, Slicing, Biochem and Warzones) are things that should have been seen in testing. In beta, everyone knew slicing was OP. Bioware still released it and had to nerf it. Not getting credit for kills in Ilum should have been handled in their testing scripts.

     

    I look forward to seeing what we as a community can come up with to improve the PTR system with Bioware's help

    It is not my job to improve their PTS system (they don't call it PTR). I pay them to produce a quality product. So far, they've shown a track record for introducing massive, game breaking bugs in their haste to fix other game breaking bugs. This is not acceptable and should not be tolerated by consumers.

     

    Even if they had a proper PTS system setup, they are patching faster than reliable feedback can be formulated on a PTS. It's time for Bioware to grow as a development studio and slow down their patching if they want more user testing on the PTS.

    Quick Question:Vanilla WoW.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Vanilla WoW- No battlegrounds, Grind to level, 1 Raid, How many dungeons?, Im guessing no dungeon finder?, 6 or 8 characters, and how many days did it take to level to 60 at that time?

     

     

    My point is how did it survive? Did they shut the servers down for a month at one point?

    It was 2004. That is what the MMO market expected back then.

     

    It is 2012. The market has matured. There is more expected of a game at release.

    Okay, swtor players- you obviously lack maturity.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    First off let me start by saying; the game is a *********** month old. I'm honestly blown away by all the haters and ragers towards SWTOR. If you don't like the game, I can think of one easy solution for you.. And for people who do actually like the game; QUIT! Youd be doing us all a huge favor. It's like green and blue.. Is everyone FORCED to like green? Maybe just maybe your favorite color is blue... But does that mean hate and rage towards green? What is this? High school drama? Get over yourselves. You're not changing anything by raging. I myself actually enjoy this game. However; all the raging and pointless hating is just absolutely immature, old, and unenjoyable. Quitting; you'd get your money back and the swtor community gets to deal with one less immature little kid. Thank you all.

     

    You swear in your first sentence then tell people who like the game that they should quit.

     

    And we're the immature ones? Maybe you should edit your post and clarify your thoughts a little more. Or better yet, since you love the game, you should follow your own advice:

     

    And for people who do actually like the game; QUIT!

    "PTR didn't give us enough feedback"

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So, you hold Bioware to a different standard then every other MMO?

     

    That is hilarious!

     

    The only fault on Biowares part is not having character transfer to the PTS. They need to fix that, so that people have no valid excuses to demand fixes and then demand that they not participate in testing to see if they are getting what they are demanding.

    I hold Bioware to the same standard as Blizzard. They chose to compete in the MMO genre. I choose to hold them to the same standard as other gaming companies. I don't participate in the PTR on WoW and I've never been told by their CMs that I didn't give them enough feedback.

     

    The PTS is a secondary testing tool. It is most effective for testing stability and generating feedback on new features. The primary testing tool for bug fixes needs to be a quality QA department using substantial testing scripts to ensure changes are effective and don't create more issues.

    Test on the PTR and stop the QQ

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Apparently, this type of attitude is why we can't have nice things. The lot of you who share this ideology have no bias to complain later, because you do not take the time as being part of the gaming community to make things better.

     

    I'll bet none of you vote either, but will scream till the cows come home on how your "constitutional rights" are being trod upon.

     

    I was in beta and tested, and would like to point out to you all that testing involved ALL aspects of game, not just that which comes at 50.

     

    Suck it up, buttercup and contribute rather than sit back and complain.

    This is just wrong on so many levels. Let's start with the basic one. I am not paid to test their content. I pay them to play this game. Expecting me to do more than report bugs in the live game is unrealistic.

     

    Bioware needs to understand the MMO community they have joined. In 2012, it is not acceptable to release game breaking bugs to live servers. That might have worked 7-10 years ago when the MMO genre was in its infancy. Now that the genre is maturing, the demands and expectations are greater. The user base is no longer the same 200k people who played Ultima Online, Everquest and World of Warcraft. The MMO market is tens of millions of gamers who have come to expect a certain level of polish in the games they play. Bioware needs to grow their testing methodologies to meet the expectations of their customers.

    Suggestions for a more effective PTS

    in Suggestion Box

    Posted · Edited by Knewt

    Xav,

     

    The game has been out for less than 2 months. I think you should give BW a break. There is little interest in the PTR because a lot of players are still leveling their toons. I have one level 50 and it took me a month to get there. Now I'm workng on my second one. No one's bored enough yet to want to check out the next big thing early. Over the next year I expect the PTR to blow up. Until then, give the CURRENT game a try before you mouth off about what's coming down the pipe or the method in which they bring it to us.

    We should not give Bioware a break on testing. The PTS is only a tool. The heavy lifting needs to be done by their QA department. Issues like the ones in Ilum since 1.1 should have been caught by their QA team. The PTS is a great secondary testing mechanism, but it should never be treated as the primary way to test a patch. So far, BW has shown me that they don't really know how to test their game. The issues in Ilum this week and after the 1.1 patch were easily avoidable with a small team of testers going through a basic testing script.

     

    Further, BW has shown that they don't understand how to gather appropriate player feedback. Everyone knew how lucrative slicing was in beta. It was reported to Bioware. They still released it and had to nerf it almost immediately. The cooldown issue is another example. They made a radical change to the UI without asking the community to perform some focused testing. A quick post in the PTS forum asking people to focus on the new cooldown animation would have generated some interest in the PTS and probably generated more feedback.

     

    In 2012, it is not acceptable to release game breaking bugs to live servers. That might have worked 7-10 years ago when the MMO genre was in its infancy. Now that the genre is maturing, the demands and expectations are greater. The user base is no longer the same 200k people who played Ultima Online, Everquest and World of Warcraft. The MMO market is tens of millions of gamers who have come to expect a certain level of polish in the games they play. Bioware needs to grow their testing methodologies to meet the expectations of their customers.

    TO BW: About the Feb 9 Ilum patch

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Knewt

    Have you rolled a character on the public test server to help them test? If not you really have no room to fuss aboit it.

    I can fuss. There is no point in trying to test Ilum on the PTS. All characters start at level 1. How much time should I invest in trying to get to 50 so I can test Ilum on the PTS? Further, how many more people are going to do the same so real testing can occur?

     

    Last, it is not my job as the consumer to properly test their software. That is their QA department's job. Junior techs should be able to go through a simple script to see if PvP in Ilum is working properly. While I applaud BW for trying to fix things quickly, I am horrified by the apparent lack of quality game testing before patches are released.

     

    At this point, they are showing a horrible trend of releasing massive, game breaking bugs in almost every general bug patch. I would rather they take their time and get it right before pushing something to production.

    TO BW: About the Feb 9 Ilum patch

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Please adequately test this before you release it. I'm tired of the constant yo-yo effect of horrific bugs making it to the production servers then needing to be patched in a day or two. I appreciate that you are trying to make things right as quickly as possible. However, I would rather you delay a fix or enhancement to make sure it is adequately tested.

     

    -- Signed a frustrated customer

    New Ability Bar Cooldown effect

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    If it affects people like they claim they will fix it. I do no see them as the monsters you seem to think they are.

    No, they are coming off as incompetent bufoons. Their testing procedures need to grow up fast. You can't run MMO testing like a single player game. The need a better PTS system with level 50 characters for people to perform some testing.

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