Architect Archive

OK, I am not going to sit here and say that the corresponadant is not doing his job, he is, and although many architects dont agree with the top 5 lists, every one of those issues are relavent.

Here is the problem: When the correspondent position was announced, I thought it was a great idea, then I saw a post from the devs saying there would be a list of 5 issues generated per month. 5 issues? Architect is pretty much a workable class, so I cant complain too much on the bugs and issues compared to other classes, but at 5 issues per week, it will take about 3 years to work out all the bugs, then we can get started on new content.. Imagine being in DE or worse yet, BH or Commando.. 5 issues per week would mean like 20 years before the bugs are gone..

Now, add to this that we have not even seen an outline from the developers saying "here is our response and timeline to your first 5 issues".We are entering week 3 of the correspondence, and week 1 has not even been addressed. I am not looking for a patch today to fix 1-5, just a response saying "yeah, we looked at it, and we are thinking that issue one will be handled this way, and can be implimented by mid-september, etc..."

Personally, I think the first top 5 should have gone something like this:

1) Fix the bugs

2) Give us 100 structure assembly

3) Crit fails should return sub-assemblies, we already risked crit fail on those, we shouldnt have to risk it a second and third time.

4) Make Admin work in all structures

5) # of lots and resources to make structures should be more uniform. 7-9 lots for a PA is dumb, and 30% more resources for a generic medium that is smaller than a tat medium is dumber. 9000 resources more for a chem harvester over a mineral harvester is dumberer..

This is simple, and to the point, covering all the major "need attention immediately" points, and #1 eliminates having to get detailed on which bugs we want fixed.. the top 5 should be a "change furniture to be more useful" type of request instead of a "fix the couch that we cant move" type. Why should we have to have a corresponent to tell them about bugs they know about.. It is pretty bad when they are so overwhelmed with bugs that they need to ask us which bugs are the most important to fix. All the bugs should be a priority.

Now, we are faced with adding another 5 issues to the list. Lets think about this for a second. The top issue is still critical fails. Almost everyone here believes that. But since it was brought up in the first 5 issues, we can no longer add that. So we are reduced to either using the list for more bugs that should be fixed anyway, or trying to come up with other new developments that are difficult to think about with almost every aspect of the profession bugged in some way, and those bugs occupying our minds.

Personally, I think the next big issue for the list should be the following:

Harvester Interface: I think the harvester interface is clunky and awkward, and could use some serious revamping. Now, this is a Star Wars Galaxy, where they can build droids that are self aware, and space ships that can travel beyond the speed of light. Messages can be transmitted across the entire galaxy in real time, yet we dont have a remote control for our harvesters. We are forced to run to a harvester, across kilometers of hostile territory, and manually feed power and maintenance, retrieve resources, and check levels of other resources to see what is available after shifts in resources. Now I can handle running out to get resources, and even to pay for maintenance and power, even though droids would actually be worth something if they could do this for us, but what the heck is with the patched together, supremely inefficient interface? Did the developers decide that interfaces need to be as difficult to work with as possible so that when a player has to spend an hour running around servicing harvesters that it has to be as painfull as possible?

OK, lets look at this: I run to a harvester. I check the status (one window) I look at the status and determine I need some power and money. How much? well, I have enough for 8 hours of maintenance, I want enough for another 20 hours. OK, the rate is 30, which I need to multiply by 2 then by 20, and put that much money in. 1200 credits. OK how about power? There is some power in there.. :3 if it.. hmm.. I think thats hours, ok, the rate is 50, so if I want enough for 28 hours I need to subtract 3 from 28, and multiply 50 by the difference.. 1250.. OK, so now I need to use the radial menu, deposit money. The cursor is there so I type in the 1200 maintenance.. whoops, I used the number pad.. silly me.. ok, 1200. Done. Power, use the radial menu again, and now theres a slider. Put the cursor up there, type in 1200. Uh oh, 12000 went in.. wonderful.. can we retireve it? nope.. ok.. next harvester I will not put the cursor before the zero, but if I backspace to delete the zero, I get a zero after it again.. whoops.. ok.. so I overpaid power.. no biggie.. Now I want to get my ore.. radial menu again, operate machinery.. opent he hopper, select the resource, retrieve. OK, I want to close the hopper.. every other window has the close on the left.. whoops.. thats the dump hopper.. dont want that.. I guess I hit OK.. Now I want to check whats available for this harvester, or change the resource.. click the button, select the resource, OK.. Is the harvester on? OK.. now check status again to see if I got the right amount in.. radial menu again, status.. OK.. Now, close the 2 status windows, the operate machinery window.. DONE..

wow.. thats a lot.. How about this?: Walk up to a harvester, double click.. the interface comes up. The interface shows me what the power and maintenance is for this harvester. It also shows what is being harvested, what is in the hopper, the actual rate the harvester is harvesting, and has buttons to pay maintenance and power. There is buttons to withdraw power, maintenance, empty hoppers, and re-deed. The payment button brings up a window that allows you to select a number of hours you want it to run, or an exact credit figure. The power window is the same.. when you hit the OK, the window closes and you are at the interface window again. you click the retrieve button and you have a slider to choose how much you take, or a button to take all. you can also choose which resource if there are many. On top of all this, you can preset a payment for maint, power, and retrieve resources, where you walk up, open the interface, click the button and the preset amount goes in, if you have enough.. say 24 hours.. it pays it all and retrieves the resources. You just saved about 2 minutes per harvester.. times 10-20 harvesters and you just saved some serious time..

Add to this remote status control. Bring up your datapad. Click the harvester, which has the associated waypoint. An interface screen similar to the one at the harvester comes up. You can see the resources its on, what the power and maintenance status is, how much is in the hopper, and what resources its mining. Now add some remote functionality.. turn on or off, change resources.. Resource shift, you log in, check your datapad, change resource, turn on, and thats it.. Go one step further and have a global interface for harvesters.. 6 harvesters mining low grade ore, 4 on steel, 1 on reactive gas, 2 on fiberplast, etc.. the screen has a summary that lists each harvester and how much longer it will run, and what it is mining, and at what rate. Plus a total of all resources available in the harvester.

We are not talking about rocket science here.. simple consolidation of functions that are already there. If the GUI functionality is mandatory, at least make it worthwhile to use. I have the pay maintenance hotkeyed, but cant pay power or retrieve resources with a hotkey.. even that would be preferable, but one screen to show everything, that would be a godsend.. The remote capabilty only makes sense.. They talk about adding an email notification for running out of power or something.. heck why stop there? just add an interface to view all your equipment.. problems are solved.. Dont piddle fart around with patching in more functionality, fix the **edit** thing right and be done with it..

I think that this is not only a valid problem with architects, but also a valid solution that is not just saying "this is bugged, we want it fixed".

A couple thoughts:

1) I'm more than sure they're painfully aware of the major bugs. Using up one of our precious "correspondent suggestions" to say "fix the bugs" would be a waste.

2) You mentioned Crit Failures, which our correspondent already did mention, so how is that different?

3) Ditto for Admin, Ditto for Structure points, ditto for Lot Spaces. Did you actually readZarcath's posts?

4) The harvester interface may not be the greatest example of Humand Interface Design, but I can think of about 900 things I'd rather see worked on than that. Here's a little tip for you... after maintaining your harvesters for a day, write down how much power and maintenace you need for 24 hours. Then you'll never have to do it again. My mediums get 3000 credits and 2500 power every time I visit them. That's about exactly 2 days worth. I don't have to guess, or think, or do any math. I just "memorized" it. =)

I would say it takes me about 30 seconds MAX to access the hopper, check status, and dump in more power and maintenance. I don't think asking the Devs to stop what they're doing to address this so it can take me 15 seconds instead is an efficient use of their time at this point.

That all being said, I DO agree that it's clunky, and in the LONG run I hope they clean it up a little, which as in any MMORPG, I have no doubt they will.

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terrorbeat wrote:

A couple thoughts:

1) I'm more than sure they're painfully aware of the major bugs. Using up one of our precious "correspondent suggestions" to say "fix the bugs" would be a waste.

2) You mentioned Crit Failures, which our correspondent already did mention, so how is that different?

3) Ditto for Admin, Ditto for Structure points, ditto for Lot Spaces. Did you actually readZarcath's posts?

4) The harvester interface may not be the greatest example of Humand Interface Design, but I can think of about 900 things I'd rather see worked on than that. Here's a little tip for you... after maintaining your harvesters for a day, write down how much power and maintenace you need for 24 hours. Then you'll never have to do it again. My mediums get 3000 credits and 2500 power every time I visit them. That's about exactly 2 days worth. I don't have to guess, or think, or do any math. I just "memorized" it. =)

I would say it takes me about 30 seconds MAX to access the hopper, check status, and dump in more power and maintenance. I don't think asking the Devs to stop what they're doing to address this so it can take me 15 seconds instead is an efficient use of their time at this point.

That all being said, I DO agree that it's clunky, and in the LONG run I hope they clean it up a little, which as in any MMORPG, I have no doubt they will.

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1) what I am saying is that we have wasted more than 1 top 5 item on a bug.. why should we report that furniture bugs need to be addressed? its a bug, and should be fixed as a bug.. if furniture needs to be addressed, then it should be things like colors, styles, useability, not "the yellow couch doesnt work" I know the devs are painfully aware that there are bugs.. why the heck do they want a correspondent to tell them this? There should have been one #1 issue for bugs.. "FIX THEM"

2) I am simply recreating the first weeks list in my own opinion.. crit fails was mentioned in his list and in mine.. the difference is, Zarcath came up with an extremely complex solution involving junked out failures and recycling skills that would take weeks for a team to impliment.. My solution is simple and makes sense.. you build a module, and you risk a failure.. fine.. but you shouldnt have to risk it 2 more times.. you already risked it.. so if you fail with a wall, you should lose the 300 metal and 200 ore, and get the blocks back.. and if you fail a PA hall, you should lose the ore and metal and get the 15 walls and power core, and identical modules back.. No need to get fancy.. what is the difference programming wise to impliment this versus cancelling after everything is loaded.. there is almost none.. its simple to do.. and it solves the crit fail issues..

3) admin, lots, etc.. once again, I was making a point of listing what I think the top 5 should have been in week 1.. I am simply saying, these are the issues, and they should be taken care of before anything else, including starting new lists.. The lists for architect are going to turn into wishlists soon, unless we just sit around adding more bugs that the devs know about.. again, why should we waste time mulling over known bugs.. fix the **edit** bugs and use the correspondents time to compile lists of balance issues and feature issues the architects have. Do you honestly think the devs needed a corresponedent to tell them that the yellow couch cant be moved sometimes?

4) So you mine the same thing with every harvester, they are all identical, and you always have power to spare even when the wind/solar/radioactive shift? I start a harvester out, and never put more than 24 hours worth of power in, becuase the times I do put more in, the resources shift. Then I have to move the harvester and lose the power. I try to keep the harvesters at 2-3k each depending on how much extra money I have.. BUT, I put 2k in 5 harvesters within 5 minutes of each of them when I first place them. The next day, there is 600 in 3 and 300 in one and 800 in the other.. after 3 weeks, if I can keep it there that long, I either have to use a calculator at every harvester to keep them equal or I just have to guess and hope that I dont end up with 10k in one that I have to move. THen there is power.. I have 4 solars up. One day I go to visit them and find that the 3k credits I put in each was gone in 2 of them.. and it costs 10k to repair.. hmm.. OK, fix that, next day, they are empty.. all were running for at least 1 day before the shift in resources, yet they are all at zero.. hmm.. OK, so I change resources again, turn them on again, feed them money again, and all is good for a week.. meantime, I cannot feed 3k power every 2 days into my mediums and smalls, and factories, etc.. Not only that, but I had to move 9 of the mediums.. lost any power that I had in them when I did it.. the ones I didnt have to move have a few k power each which is good because I dont have any power to put in them now because of the bugs and shifts.. Now, I have to log in 4 times a day for the next 2 days until my power reserves are built up.. On top of all this, I am not just running one kind of harvester, I have 3 kinds.. small medium and large.. so I start by multiplying my mediums by 2 and my larges by 3 and add my smalls in and divide that number into how much power I have from my solars.. Then I just double that for meds, triple for larges.. but every night it is different, and if I dont check the status every night, I will find one rogue harvester that has been fed like the rest sitting there doing nothing because some BUG emptied the maint or power and now I have to adjust accordingly.. It comes down to this: putting the same in every day is not going to ensure that they will stay running unless I overpay, in which case I lose money on resource shifts that happen 3-4 times per week in different intervals.. I burn through 30-80k ore per day, and my order list is 15 people long, and out 2-5 days at any time.. I cannot afford to have a harvester quit on me for a bug, shift, or mistake in math. I spend 60-120 minutes per evening running around feeding harvesters. I could save half that if the interface were made by someone with a brain. This is an issue to me, and I threw it out as a suggestion. It is not a bug, it will not get fixed overnight, and I do not see too many issues that are not outright bugs that need to be on the list after the 10 that have already been submitted.

Yes, I have read zacraths posts, andI am an experienced master architect that has made more money than many PA's. I run a successful business in this game, and I have to spend 4-8 hours per day to do it. I also see the issues that other crafting professions have to deal with, and I think that we have it pretty good. If they would fix the bugs, address some of the issues we have presented to date, and provide some feedback to us on what is happening, our profession would be ready for public release. As it sits now, almost no aspect of this game is in a state where we should be paying to play.. I see the correspondent as a great idea that is being used as a smokescreen to cover up that there are too many bugs to handle. Sony is making a helluva lotta money on this and they need to hire more people to take care of issues. Asking players to provide lists, then not responding to those lists is not exactly customer service..