Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: A Bio Engineer Diary (The First 87 Days) An Old BE Story to pass on.
Day 74: Sept 07
SOE convinces their servers that the patch from yesterday, while intended to appear like a Bio-Engineering fix, was in fact just another adjustment to the CH profession. The servers talk it over and decide that they will allow this patch.
Decide to take a break from Pet Stim making and fishing (funny... taking a break from fishing... that's just wrong) I go to the local cantina to catch up on the gossip and enjoy some pleasant conversation. As I am sitting there, trying to figure out which of the dental floss wearing dancers are actually males in real life, I hear the following;
“So, did you hear the one about the Bio-Engineer and the light bulb?”
“No, but I am sure you are going to tell me.”
“Well, how many Bio-Engineers does it take to screw in a light bulb?”
“I don’t know.. how many?”
“No one knows, because Bio-Engineers can’t do anything productive until they get patched.”
This Wookie telling the joke doesn’t see me go /prone and slowly crawl up behind him. I quickly stand up directly behind his chair and /sampleDNA.
Nothing happens.
I try again and again, praying for a samplekill, but nothing happens. As he slowly turns to me I /quit out of game, lest there be some questions from him that I really would rather not answer.
Watch Jurassic Park again. Get to the point where the lawyer, sitting on the john, is chomped on the T-Rex and a smile comes over my face for the first time in months. I replace the lawyer with my evil goatee wearing Bio-Engineer dev, in my mind, and watch that part over again.
And again.
And again.
Wife leaves the room after the 23rd time.
The rewind, play, scream, chomp, rewind, play, scream, chomp is almost like crafting Pet Stims…. Except somewhat enjoyable.
No change: 85% broken.
Day 75: Sept 08
Another post from the BE Dev.
I wonder if it’s the Vernal Equinox or something.
A hush falls over the BE community. He speaks (via Holo again) of the fixes which mirror the tale he posted 23 days ago, only this time in more detail. It’s wonderful, as it was before. It’s fantastic, as it was before. It’s everything we could hope for, as it was before….. except;
23 days ago we were going to get the whole ball of wax in the ‘next big patch’.
23 days later we are only going to get half the ball of wax in the ‘next big patch’.
Still no word on when the ‘next big patch’ is going to be other than (sigh) that dreaded word…. Soon.
I rush to the Test Center Forum to see what is up and testing for us.
Nothing.
I sense a disturbing pattern, but remain hopeful… hopeful and so very very bitter. It’s an odd combination, like Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovette (and we know how that turned out) but there is nothing I can do about it.
The community swoons and gushes and fall to their knees. Thanks and praises are given out by the handful like candy at Halloween. (The lousy Candy Corn that is… not the mini 100 Grand Bars that get stashed until those shrill little kids stop coming around)
I decide, starting tomorrow, I will start posting that people have won 1,000,000 dollars or that I will cure their baldness or will make them loose 10 inches around their waists while they sleep. I wouldn’t actually have to give/show/do anything and still, I would get the love and admiration of my fellow forum members. It then occurs to me that it probably won’t work as my screen name isn’t in red.
(shrug)
I go to tell my wife the news. Post-It-Note™ on fridge is all I find. Gone to see her mother. I breathe a sigh of relief as I realize that she didn’t ask me to come with her. Her mother and I don’t get along and I am sure she just wanted to spare me the aggravation of dealing with that.
No change: 85% broken.
(Ahem, this bears repeating for those who don’t get it)
NO CHANGE: 85% STILL BROKEN
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Okay, now that the fun is out of the way, let me just clear up a few things.
I am glad that the Dev has posted again, I really am. First time it took 51 days, second time it only took 23.
Getting better and you can’t argue with progress.
However, I am not going to get excited by this most recent posting. I did for the first one and then spent the next 23 days waiting for something that still hasn’t happened. Like I said before, posts are nice (and the two from our dev so far have been fantastic) but until there is an actual patch applied to the character I am playing… then nothing has really changed for us.
I will give SOE credit. Right before the Dev posted the first time I was ready to quit. Then the post came and I decided to stick around so I could see and enjoy the changes. Almost an entire billing cycle has passed and we are still as broken as ever. As much as it pains me to say this, I am impressed as hell that they got me to stick around this long with just one post. From a business viewpoint, outstanding job.
In real life, talk is cheap. In this forum however, Dev talk seems to be worth 15 bucks a month. : )
Now while some of you think this is Dev bashing, think again. I don’t blame the Dev…. To be honest, I am not sure who is to blame. If I am given a project to do at work and I am not able to get it done in a reasonable time frame, I ask for help. If I don’t ask, then it’s MY fault. If I ask and I don’t get help, then it’s the company’s fault. I think after all this time to still not see a change is not reasonable. Hire more people, fire the ones that are dropping the ball (or put them some place else where they can do some good)… something. I mean it could be our Dev has be begging for help and not getting it. It could be he hasn’t asked for help but is blowing sunshine up everyone’s skirt that everything is fine and is getting done.
We just don’t know.
(Cont)
Day 76: Sept 09
No sign of the Dev or Holo.
No sign of any BE patches on the Test Server.
Still no word on what “Soon” means.
Have an argument with a Master Medic today on what is quicker, continental drift or fixes to BE. After about an hour we both agree, if continental drift was as fast as BE fixes we would all still be living in the United States of Pangea.
Still not sure if I actually won that argument.
No change: 85% Broken
Day 77: Sep 09
No change: 85% Broken
Day 78: Sep 10
No change: 85% Broken
Day 79: Sep 11
No change: 85% Broken
Day 80: Sep 12
Today celebrates 4 weeks since our Dev posted his first fix list to our boards. So lets recap.
51 days before our Dev even responds to our issues. No fixes seen (Test Center or otherwise), just talked about.
4 weeks pass after that and still no fixes seen (Test Center or otherwise), just talked about.
The word “Soon” has lost all meaning.
No Change: 85% Broken
Well I did post the entire time line in the main discussion board as a celebration of the 4 week thing.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=534383
Here's to hoping I have nothing but good things to right about next week.
(Cont)
Day 81: Sep 13
Today I start a daily checklist.
Look for BE Dev Posting.
Look for Loch Ness Monster.
Look for Holo BE Posting.
Look for an Honest Used Car Salesman.
Look for Bio Patches on the Test Center.
Look for the “Can you hear me now?” Guy (So I can punch him square in the face, really really hard).
No luck so far, but it helps to keep my hope up.
Begin to think I might need to send in a pic of myself to the Webster’s people so they can have another meaning added to Delusional. (n. SageClaw)
No change: 85% Broken
Day 82: Sep 14
Had a player ask me today to clone a Krayt for them. Before I had a chance to hit my “We can’t make that animal %TT, I am sorry.” Macro Button, he goes on to tell me his plan.
“I need Krayt Tissues bad so if you could clone me a couple, I will give you 25% of what I sell the tissues for.”
I leaned back in my chair dumbfounded. He was dumb and he founded me. How in the hell does someone who can actually form complete sentences on something as complex as a keyboard come up with this little gem of a plan and not choke themselves with the mouse cable in the process?
“Okay, okay… 40% but you have to help kill them.” He blurts out while I am silent, still stunned by his original explanation of the plan.
I don’t /sit; /logout.
I don’t /quit.
I just flick off the power to my computer and back slowly away.
No change: 85% Broken
Day 83: Sep 15
Test Center Patch notes.
-Increased damage when attacking a lair that has no defenders
-Fixed issue with macros which could unintentionally cause server lag
-Fixed exploit that allowed players to attack another player from inside a private structure
(No comment)
No change: 85% Broken
Day 84: Sep 16
Test Center Patch notes.
-Fixed issue causing manufactured items to grant crafting xp when removing them from a crate
-Fixed issue that would allow players to harvest resources without permission
-Restored resource harvesting to proper levels
-Areatrack changes
- no longer lists you when you look for players.
- has a much shorter delay in returning results.
- displays non unique NPC names correctly.
- displays the 50 closest results in crowded areas.
- no longer displays items with an invalid distance of -1m
- ignores pets and vendors.
A fellow Master BE and I were sitting around samplekilling Chubas out on Rori for fun (Yeah, I know.. but I really don’t want to talk about it) and we got on an odd conversation path.
“Bio Engineer or sand paper on the inner thigh?”
“Hmmmm what grit sand paper?”
“20.”
“Sand paper. Okay, Bio Engineer or eyelash in your eye that you can’t find no matter how hard you try.”
“Just one eyelash in one eye?”
“Yep, just one.”
“Eyelash in eye then. Bio Engineer or testicles caught in a car door.”
“Is the door locked or unlocked?”
“Unlocked.”
”Car door. Bio Engineer or paper cut on your eyeball.”
(It just gets weird after that.)
Just to let you know, the original question was “What is more fun?“.
Sidenote – The Samplekilling for fun is real, not just real sad. The way it’s played is you get a group of BEs with the same skill level DNA Sampling (at this point you are lucky if you can get two on the same planet let alone in a group) then you take turns DNA Sampling a mob, preferably low level so you don’t get your face eaten off during gameplay.
At the start of every turn you each add 100 creds to a pot.
If the person sampling gets a Samplekill, the pot goes to them.
If the person sampling gets aggro’ed, the pot stays but the sampler has to double ante the next round (ie 200 creds).
No change: 85% Broken
Day 85: Sep 17
About 2 days ago I find out on the forum that you can /harvest animals after a samplekill. This didn’t show up on the radial menu and could only be accomplished via the slash command so it wasn’t a well known ‘bug’.
However today they ‘fixed’ it.
So it seems that it has to somewhat look like an exploit to get any attention. If we get something for less work it gets squashed faster than a spider on the dinner table.
(Was going to use the whole ‘they are all over it like Oprah on a Holiday Ham’ but decide that would be in poor taste)
If it's something we work hard for but get nothing... well they will fix that 'soon'.
Drive By Sampling - Squashed.
Locked in Place Sampling while Creatures Run Off - Um, we are working on it.
The Harvest Thing - Squashed.
Broken Tissues - Soon.
Unlimited Pet Sampling - Squashed. (and well it should have... not going to argue about that at all)
Untameable Animals - Next next big patch.
So now it would seem all we have to do is come up an exploit that involves all of our animals, our entire tissue line and BE Draft Schematics before we will see fixes to our Core Funtionality.
I am at a complete and total loss…
Test Center Update
- Added confirmation dialog to prevent surrendering skills by mistake
Can only figure they added this because of all the Bio Engineers surrendering their skills en masse, they assumed it had to be player mistakes, even though they never received a /bug report or CSR Ticket on this.
Decide not to surrender my skills today as with my Advanced Stages of CTS from Pet Stim making, the extra button click on the confirmation dialog would be too painful.
No change: 85% Broken
Day 86: Sep 18
Q posts an update to the Correspondent program.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=567285
What does this have to do with BE? It’s just another thing to blame lack of positive development in game due to manufactured/self-imposed complications.
“Why haven’t we gotten any fixes yet?”
“The Dev just got our information via the new Correspondent Forum. So have some patience. It’s only been a day. ”
“Are you saying we are starting back from scratch because of this new system!?! What about all the information they have been getting from us for the last 86 days?”
“What information?” (Waggling his fingers in the air in front of me)
“The top five issues that we have had posted from the very beginning.”
”What five issues?” (Still waggling fingers)
“Are you trying to use the Jedi Mind trick on me?” (I ask with a raised eyebrow)
“Um..” (Stops waggling fingers) “Well… HEY LOOK! It’s Elvis!” (Runs off as I turn to see what he is pointing at.)
I really have got to stop falling for that one.
Test Center Notes
- Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause items to dupe
- Changed the surrender skill UI to be less cumbersome
- Changed colors of the bodysuit so that players do not appear to be naked
But still no way to stop players from actually playing the game naked.
Not that I know anything about that.
Really.
Um.. never mind.
No change: 85% Broken
Day 87: Sep 19
So here it is… the 5th week anniversary of our Dev posting his Fix List.
51 days (or 7 weeks if you prefer) before our Dev even responds to our issues. No fixes seen (Test Center or otherwise), just talked about.
5 weeks pass after that and still no fixes seen (Test Center or otherwise), just talked about.
Beginning to wonder if we actually have a Dev at all. Going over past posts, I notice that I have never seen the Bio Dev say anything while Holo drinks a glass of water.
Hmmmmm.
Any hope that I may have had is long gone.
Only the bitterness remains.
‘Soon’ is a four letter word that somehow bypasses the profanity filter.
No change: 85% Broken
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Funy stuff, I laughed, I cried, I cried again. You keep using the word soon and wondering about the meaining. I'm begining to think it's a Stephen King thing, s-o-o-n spells soon... just insert it whenever you don't know the word you're looking for.
Anger is funny. 
It really is.
I'm half rooting they never fix BE so you stay angry. Channel that aggression! It's fun!