My Grievances (Or, How Bioware is Unprofessional)

[Phorenzyk]

I love this game. Really, I do, but it's hard to justify loving it when Bioware is so unprofessional.

 

1. Known bugs have been on the list for over a year (I.E. the valor 100 not properly awarding Ops Leader) and not been addressed.

 

2. Broken abilities are left broken. (i.E., the fact that being knocked back or pulled during Exfiltrate causes you to be rooted) These are not addressed.

 

3. Multiple exploits are left open for people to exploit. For example, referring subscribed players and the exploit that allows F2P to get past the 5 warzone a week a limit. These have been reported. I've done my part in reporting exploits, but they're left open.

 

In summary, Bioware allows known bugs, gamebreaking bugs, and exploits to remain in their game. Am I the only person who feels this is incredibly unprofessional?

[Sangrar]

I love this game. Really, I do, but it's hard to justify loving it when Bioware is so unprofessional.

 

1. Known bugs have been on the list for over a year (I.E. the valor 100 not properly awarding Ops Leader) and not been addressed.

 

2. Broken abilities are left broken. (i.E., the fact that being knocked back or pulled during Exfiltrate causes you to be rooted) These are not addressed.

 

3. Multiple exploits are left open for people to exploit. For example, referring subscribed players and the exploit that allows F2P to get past the 5 warzone a week a limit. These have been reported. I've done my part in reporting exploits, but they're left open.

 

In summary, Bioware allows known bugs, gamebreaking bugs, and exploits to remain in their game. Am I the only person who feels this is incredibly unprofessional?

 

wait weren't f2p people supposed to be getting unlimited warzone access by 2.5 anyway?

[ELRunninW]

I love this game. Really, I do, but it's hard to justify loving it when Bioware is so unprofessional.

 

1. Known bugs have been on the list for over a year (I.E. the valor 100 not properly awarding Ops Leader) and not been addressed.

 

2. Broken abilities are left broken. (i.E., the fact that being knocked back or pulled during Exfiltrate causes you to be rooted) These are not addressed.

 

3. Multiple exploits are left open for people to exploit. For example, referring subscribed players and the exploit that allows F2P to get past the 5 warzone a week a limit. These have been reported. I've done my part in reporting exploits, but they're left open.

 

In summary, Bioware allows known bugs, gamebreaking bugs, and exploits to remain in their game. Am I the only person who feels this is incredibly unprofessional?

 

Yes, they have acknowledged the bugs and will provide solution in due time, that is professional.

[Darth_Moonshadow]

Then all MMOS are unprofessional. Don't you know how the song goes?

99 game breaking bug in the code

 

99 game breaking bugs

 

Take one down, patch it around

 

12,949,738 game breaking bugs in the code!

Edited January 3, 2014 by Darth_Moonshadow

[Phorenzyk]

Yes, they have acknowledged the bugs and will provide solution in due time, that is professional.

 

1 year is not 'due time'. Please show me where, for example, they've ever mentioned anything regarding the exfiltrate bug.

[ELRunninW]

1 year is not 'due time'. Please show me where, for example, they've ever mentioned anything regarding the exfiltrate bug.

 

I am sorry, but due time is nothing more than due time

 

You are one of the people that want something, and you want it now! I understand that, but you can not call BW unprofessional using above arguments.

[Phorenzyk]

I am sorry, but due time is nothing more than due time

 

You are one of the people that want something, and you want it now! I understand that, but you can not call BW unprofessional using above arguments.

 

I want bug fixes in a reasonable amount of time. The only thing we can do is compare this MMO to other MMOs, and look at the average length of time bugs go unfixed. I think you'll find that yes, compared to the vast majority of its competitors, this behavior is very unprofessional.

[GalacticKegger]

1 year is not 'due time'. Please show me where, for example, they've ever mentioned anything regarding the exfiltrate bug.

Due time is also not today ... or yesterday ... or even tomorrow. Due time is when dev determines that the fix won't have a similar effect somewhere else among the other 80 zillion routines. Edited January 3, 2014 by GalacticKegger

[ELRunninW]

I want bug fixes in a reasonable amount of time. The only thing we can do is compare this MMO to other MMOs, and look at the average length of time bugs go unfixed. I think you'll find that yes, compared to the vast majority of its competitors, this behavior is very unprofessional.

 

NO, you are trying to set time limit to

...reasonable amount of time

and you use that as basis, plus comparison with some arbitrary competitors as definition of what is professional. It is what professional means in your opinion then. I still believe that they are fairly professional.

[ikinai]

I remember in WoW there was a blink bug for mages. Was there in the beginning, was there when I last played about a year ago. Is an acknowledged bug, even talked to the devs at one of the cons about it. Probably still hasn't been fixed.

[ImmortalLowlife]

Then all MMOS are unprofessional. Don't you know how the song goes?

99 game breaking bug in the code

 

99 game breaking bugs

 

Take one down, patch it around

 

12,949,738 game breaking bugs in the code!

 

<--Dies LMAO

[Rasen]

Then all MMOS are unprofessional. Don't you know how the song goes?

99 game breaking bug in the code

 

99 game breaking bugs

 

Take one down, patch it around

 

12,949,738 game breaking bugs in the code!

 

This made me laugh far more then it should have! I think Bioware showed their professional through Bruce's love of Darth_Moonshadow's posts. Nothing more professional than that!

[Corsiero]

I'd have to agree with OP, because of the fact that certain bugs, like crashing at the end of Black Talon still haven't been resolved. I acknowledge that they have attempted to address the issue in the past but the bug still remains. I'm not saying bugs should be stamped out immediately, though it would be ideal, I just wish it didn't take such a long time to fix these persistent issues which have piled up over time.

[Nempo]

I want bug fixes in a reasonable amount of time. The only thing we can do is compare this MMO to other MMOs, and look at the average length of time bugs go unfixed. I think you'll find that yes, compared to the vast majority of its competitors, this behavior is very unprofessional.

 

Known WoW bug for OVER 2 years? Warriors not getting rage when hit while shielded in any way. (Oh the many raiders that raged at over zealous priests shielding the tanks...)

Known Aion bug since release? Chanters can glitch up to 5 auras active at a time (still in game today despite them saying they fixed it...repeatedly). Since 2.0? Rangers being able to force a one **** KO glitch every 10 min.

Known DAoC bug that took 3 years to fix? You could bug the defensive spell casts to be usable while on the move (seriously problematic for various melee classes). Cavaliers being able to glitch their self buff to ignore armor (normally lasting only seconds) to being permanent.

 

OP...MMO's always have bugs...some can be incredibly detrimental yet not totally game-breaking. Such as the glitch that locks people in place using a specific set of skills (there are 3 I am aware of). The solution? get your enemy to use their knockback/knockdown before you use one of the bugged skills. It is not hard, and the glitch goes away after you die (or always has for me at least) so really it is a minor inconvenience. What? You think you are some pro gamer? If you were so good you'd know how to get an enemy to waste a KB/KD so you could make better use of the glitchable skills.

 

Game-breaking bugs have always been worked at pretty quickly on TOR. Launcher problems however...yes they truly move at a snails pace (Myself and at least a few hundred others going by individual postings still have to patch the game on a laptop and transfer it over to our PCs).

[Nempo]

I'd have to agree with OP, because of the fact that certain bugs, like crashing at the end of Black Talon still haven't been resolved. I acknowledge that they have attempted to address the issue in the past but the bug still remains. I'm not saying bugs should be stamped out immediately, though it would be ideal, I just wish it didn't take such a long time to fix these persistent issues which have piled up over time.

 

Just spacebar through the fade out after selecting the destination. It loads properly when you do this, the bug seems to be with the warp animation causing the crash.

[Floredon]

it's not about professionalism, it's about limited resources. bioware lost quite a bit of leadership in the past year, and i think you just need to give them time and be patient. it would be nice if we received some sort of acknowledgement of certain bugs and the status of their fixes on the development plan, but Bioware has never shared details like that in the past and I don't see that changing any time soon. and it seems when bugs are fixed new ones take their place so keep that in mind.

[Einobi]

Yes, they have acknowledged the bugs and will provide solution in due time, that is professional.

 

Unfulfilled promises are unprofessional. But no promises are unfulfilled when on deadline are set on fixing the issue. That is granted. However, not stating a deadline IS UTTERLY UNPROFESSIONAL.

 

There is NOT A SINGLE industry or respectable PROFESSION that I can think of that you can just promise your customer something without stating a deadline for completion. No customer will take that and still pay you for something that they don't know when it will get delivered.

[Einobi]

I love this game. Really, I do, but it's hard to justify loving it when Bioware is so unprofessional.

 

1. Known bugs have been on the list for over a year (I.E. the valor 100 not properly awarding Ops Leader) and not been addressed.

 

2. Broken abilities are left broken. (i.E., the fact that being knocked back or pulled during Exfiltrate causes you to be rooted) These are not addressed.

 

3. Multiple exploits are left open for people to exploit. For example, referring subscribed players and the exploit that allows F2P to get past the 5 warzone a week a limit. These have been reported. I've done my part in reporting exploits, but they're left open.

 

In summary, Bioware allows known bugs, gamebreaking bugs, and exploits to remain in their game. Am I the only person who feels this is incredibly unprofessional?

 

I am with you for the first 2 items, but not on the 3rd. How is that affecting your enjoyment of game play in the game? Are the f2p playing more than 5 wz a week AFFECTING your game play? That your char is less powerful when people play more than 5 wz a week?

 

If you are referring to exploit in wz such that your char are rendered relatively less effective against those exploiter, then I would have agreed with you. It affects your gameplay.

[RandomXChance]

Unfulfilled promises are unprofessional. But no promises are unfulfilled when on deadline are set on fixing the issue. That is granted. However, not stating a deadline IS UTTERLY UNPROFESSIONAL.

 

There is NOT A SINGLE industry or respectable PROFESSION that I can think of that you can just promise your customer something without stating a deadline for completion. No customer will take that and still pay you for something that they don't know when it will get delivered.

 

Yet they DO announce they will be patching many bugs, give a date, and then proceed to patch the bugs. They are constantly fixing bugs, but obviously the bugs you have listed and many others have been determined to be of lower priority.

 

I actually agree with many of the sentiments here that it should be embarrassing for EA that (seemingly) simple bugs like some of these are have lingered for so long. Lets be honest though, EA is not renowned for devoting significant resources to beta testing before launch nor Q&A after launch. They may not be the worst in the industry, but that is no compliment.

 

Perhaps they are unprofessional compared to some industry standards, but when it comes to software they are close to par for the course. Look at the shenanigans companies like Ubisoft & Sony (DRM rootkits) and Adobe (hidden items added to startup without user consent) do.

[Jeweledleah]

you know, I'm not surprised that they still haven't patched black talon/Esseless bug.

 

why? becasue chances are, they cannot figure out exactly what's causing it. becasue you see, it doesn't happen for everyone all the time. some people get it. other people don't. some get it every time, some get it part of the time, some wouldn't have known it existed, if not for running with that one person who gets the bug.

 

isolating something like that is pretty darn difficult.

 

more than 5 warzones is not a bug, as its been pointed out. its a feature.

 

referring subscribers is a very recent bug. few months tops. and its a result of them trying to fix another bug, that which didn't allow some people to refer their friends at all - people would do referrals and wouldn't get rewarded for them) they ARE working on referral bug - chances are, they are just trying to figure out how to reverse referrals without penalizing people that did referrals legitimately.

 

of all the MMO's that I've played, bioware is actually one of the better ones when it comes to stomping out bugs. (and yes, that includes WoW that can take 4-5 years to fix some of the bugs, and others never get fixed... and they seem to have much MUCH higher operating budget then Bioware)

Edited January 4, 2014 by Jeweledleah

[Selenial]

Then all MMOS are unprofessional. Don't you know how the song goes?

99 game breaking bug in the code

 

99 game breaking bugs

 

Take one down, patch it around

 

12,949,738 game breaking bugs in the code!

 

I really missed you

[AlexDougherty]

Unfulfilled promises are unprofessional. But no promises are unfulfilled when on deadline are set on fixing the issue. That is granted. However, not stating a deadline IS UTTERLY UNPROFESSIONAL.

 

How can they state a deadline, they will fix it as soon as fixing it doesn't break more aspects of the game, no sooner, no later, posting an artificial deadline then saying "Look we did it in time" is an PR stunt and unless you work for pr it's unprofessional.

 

A programmer never says "I wil fix this in a month" because a programmer understands how complex it is (complex = many little steps (which can be easy) adding up to something unimaginably complex), and knows that a timeline can't be estimated until after it's done.

[Einobi]

A programmer never says "I wil fix this in a month" because a programmer understands how complex it is (complex = many little steps (which can be easy) adding up to something unimaginably complex), and knows that a timeline can't be estimated until after it's done.

 

That must be something you have been led to believe. In the REAL world of software implementation, we don't even define our own deadline. The customer defines it for us. Do it or don't. Get paid or don't. Keep your job as a programmer or don't. This is the choice that you only have to decide. Not the choice of whether to have deadline or to choose when is the deadline.

 

There are thousands and thousands of programmer out there meeting customer defined deadline and keeping their jobs. I don't see how different this industry is where the software implementation complexities and REAL impact to the people using it is on the lower end of the scale compared to those mission-critical and life-dependent software.

 

Would all the big banks and financial institutions still use a certain vendor's database when there is a lingering bugs within it that remains not fixed after months and yet no indication from the vendor on when it will get fixed? NO. The bank would have customer knocking on their door complaining why their account is short of one zero and suddenly, the entire bank's account are out-of-balanced just because of the bugs which affected the integrity of the financial records stored inside the database.

 

"timeline can't be estimated until after it's done"? Sure, dream it in your spare time at home when you are fired from your job as a software programmer.

 

I only see excuses all over the place and not REAL work. The only thing is all these excuses dished out sound so pathetic compared to the REAL world out there. Someone has to come up with a more creative and convincing excuses. Some time back a forumer posted a youtube video of star war in which yoda said "Do it or don't. There is no try." when advising Luke who was trying to force lift his X-wing fighter out of the swamp pit. The choice is his: remain in the pit or to fly. No ******** excuses. How aptly.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Einobi

[Tsillah]

I love this game. Really, I do, but it's hard to justify loving it when Bioware is so unprofessional.

 

But are they really, or is it just your limited understanding of how difficult it can be to find the source of problems and the difficulty of resolving them in literally MILLIONS of lines of programming?

 

1. Known bugs have been on the list for over a year (I.E. the valor 100 not properly awarding Ops Leader) and not been addressed.

 

All games have bugs, some of which exist since launch. Especially MMOs. This is a reality you need to accept. In general we can create things that are too complicated. You could argue we should stop doing that but the public does demand better graphics, etc. To say the have not been addressed is a falsehood. They have not been resolved but that doesn't mean they haven't been addressed. GW2 for example has events that are still bugged since launch. Just one example of many.

 

2. Broken abilities are left broken. (i.E., the fact that being knocked back or pulled during Exfiltrate causes you to be rooted) These are not addressed.

 

These are bugs too. So I refer to the section above. Please note that particularly MMOs by nature have to deal with different people and their pc's and unexpected things can always happen. Things that consistently go wrong for you may or may not go wrong for others or only for certain players. This is just one reason why it can be very difficult to fix certain bugs. If it's not consistent and happening to everybody it already gets a lot more complicated. Again, just because they are not resolved, doesn't mean they haven't been addressed. Please understand that to address something doesn't automatically mean it has been fixed.

 

3. Multiple exploits are left open for people to exploit. For example, referring subscribed players and the exploit that allows F2P to get past the 5 warzone a week a limit. These have been reported. I've done my part in reporting exploits, but they're left open.

 

As we can read in this very forum, Eric has told us they are currently working on fixing the referral problem and that in the mean time it's against the rules to use the referal link here on the forums. It has been addressed, but you seem to think that thinks can be fixed in one day. That's just ignorance speaking.

 

In summary, Bioware allows known bugs, gamebreaking bugs, and exploits to remain in their game. Am I the only person who feels this is incredibly unprofessional?

 

No, but you are one of the group of people who do not read the forums, ignore the bug fixes that have been done and have no concept of how difficult or virtually impossible it can be to fix certain bugs. You also make it sound like this is a BW problem, but surprise surprise, all games, especially MMOs suffer from this.

 

Honestly, you need to fix your tunnel vision. Bug fixing should be a continual process but to expect that every bug must be fixed and all within a certain time limit is simply naive.

[Tsillah]

That must be something you have been led to believe. In the REAL world of software implementation, we don't even define our own deadline. The customer defines it for us. Do it or don't. Get paid or don't. Keep your job as a programmer or don't. This is the choice that you only have to decide. Not the choice of whether to have deadline or to choose when is the deadline.

 

Lol, the game industry is huge and all games have these issues. I don't know what you call the real world of software, but you obviously haven't got a clue how complex certain issues are. I work for a big company that obviously uses software programs for many things. Things go wrong all the time and deadlines are met but usually some things end up not being implemented or fixed because they can't be on time. Only the so called showstoppers can stop a patch or update but generally patches don't contain everything they were supposed to at start. That's the real world for you. Has nothing to do with beliefs.