Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Serious poll: Request for a NEW Bio-Eng designer (replace Keldarin)
"And no matter how many times you say it, there was no "statement" made about when cloning fixes would be in. "
Alright, lets say there was no statement made earlier regarding this specifically. Fine, we can accept this as a miscommunication, misinterpretation, etc.
But at this point in time, we do want to know what's the plan for cloning system i.e. when is it going to be in?What is happening?If the cloning system is notcoming anytime soon,is the current cloning system going to be fixed?
WE ARE ASKING FOR COMMUNCATION NOT INSTA-FIX. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THIS?
Talthazar wrote:
Ranting isn't going to help. All replacingthe dev that's been working to fix us with someone who has no clue what is going on with the coding is going to do is make it take even longer to get things done. If that's truly what you want, by all means, go right ahead. BTW, the work on professions started 3 months ago not 6 months ago. The prior time was spent on things like making sure people could play the game. And no matter how many times you say it, there was no "statement" made about when cloning fixes would be in.
I'm not going to say any more. TH and the devs are excited about the work so far and what's coming up. Contributing to this thread does little to moving the game forward.
Heh
Just Heh
*shakes his head*
In particular: "Contributing to this thread does little to moving the game forward."
Well what will move it forward? Past experience seems to tell ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WILL.
Matter of fact, you sound like a freaking developer now. Heh... that didn't take long.
I see the situation like this:
It all comes down to company politics and avaiable resources.
I think noone doubts that this game was rushed out with most of the Elite professions broken (among other things).
Reason: The involved people wanted to see money for their investments
As was stated above the first few months were spent to get people to play it/ keep them playing it, so they started fixing game breaking bugs/exploits and the classes that were easiest to attain/most popular.
Reason: keep the show running and build a decent customer base for a steady income
Ok, now that the gamebreaking stuff for the MAJORITY of the customer base is mostly working, you try to A)keep the majority happy (add minor content and balance fixes) and B) keep the minority from quitting (well as much as possible at least) by trying to find out where their problems are and doing what can be done with minimal resource investment. The ideal solution is to achive B) while also working on A) (entry Stage left: The Pet Stim)
Reason: see above
Well, it goes on like this, but as the more popular professions start "working as intended" (TM) you have more manpower to work on the less populated ones. Sadly BE isn't all that popular (well except on Gorath it seems, where you can't throw a rock without hitting one) so they are secondary again. So again we are only fixed in ways that impact other professions (entry Stage right: The Tissues)
The basic Idea is like this:
Priority 1: Keep the game running efficiently and the subscription numbers high. (constant cash flow)
You do this by making as many of your customers happy as you can and appease the rest as good as possible. You don't take unneeded risks with the games stability for little reason (like a Hotfix for some BE bug unless it impacts a highly populated profession). You start to plan ahead as soon as the worst bugs are fixed, so you dont throw out some changes to the way cloning works, while there is still some major creature/CH balancing pending.
Priority 2: Expand
Christmas is right ahead, and if you want to be part of the big biz you need to be in the news, so you implement some showy new content (Center Stage: The Mounts) and see that the first Jedi show up (put in Holocrons). See to it that those measures get visible FAST, i.e. put the Holos where they will have the most immediate effect (high level powergamer loot) and put in mountable creatures for EVERYONE in a way that they get distributed FAST without risking game stability (see Priority 1: change nothing you don't really have to. Babys are easy to add, the clone fix is not)
Basically I think that neither Keldarin nor any other Dev is lazy or incompetent. They have to work within the limits they are set by the people signing their paychecks. I don't doubt, that if it was up to Keldarin we would have seen quite some work on our clones (maybe not the whole overhaul, but at least some temporary fixes), but the point is it isn't up to any Dev, they merely advise "the Powers that be" (TM) and thats it.
A witch hunt against our Dev won't help us to get anything fixed.
Have we been left standing in the rain? - Yes
Is Keldarin to be blamed for it? - Maybe partly... there could have been some more attempts at communication on his side without compromising the correspondent system.
So what can we do?
Not much... make our voices be heared on the boards, continue to state our problems and suggestions in a CONSTRUCTIVE manner.
The Devs are NOT our enemies, they wan't this game to rock just like we want it to, but they are not all powerful.
Well that is my (long) opinion on this matter, apologies on my spelling, I'm not a native speaker.
Irdan
Master Bio-Engineer
Gorath
Irdan, watch out for Christmas. Keep a real careful eye on what happens. If SOE is not announce any new servers between Dec 01 - Jan 31, this game is as good as dead.
Tilen
Plageron wote:
If I am not mistaken the Developer for the Bio-Engineer is the same one Working onthe Chef stuff and some of the Creatuyre Handler stuff as well as helping with the Tailor stuff.
Hmm.....lets take a stroll over to the chef boards and see how happy they are with the state of their profession. I'm not sure if you're trying to throw him under the bus here Plageron or trying to defend him.
Why I believe this is the actual changes that have been happening....mounts being introduced...one creature fixed for it
Ok, we get one creature unbugged for CH use and you are sying that is a BE fix? Or how about CL10 mounts of every mountable creature, where's the BE version of those? Yeah, mounts that we can create for the majority of the people were introduced and placed at novice and clone II. You know, I'm just seeing BE as a side effect of these changes, not one of them was implemented with us in mind and thats a REAL problem
also Elphent creatures now faster(implying Elephant creatures being made mounts)
This has everything to do with combat balancing and nothing to do with BE and mounts
New creatures created and implemented(Ie. new pallets and artwork, which means the coloring thing is going a steady course)
Havent been able to log in since the patch, could you enlighten me on which new pets we are now able to make.
some Tisue Item Fixes so that items can stack(obvious preparation for experimentation being fixed and therefore items from the tissue lines being made in large quantities)
Which fixes are those exactly. The fact that chef tissues are currently pointless to make. Or what about the fact that we still can not get ingrediants for 3 of our tissues. Thats right, you are talking about that conclusive evidence that all of our tissues work....where was that again? Ahhh....I remember, you are talking about the fact that we can make 2 really good tissues and have the customer waste points to get to the 25 cap or the sneeze and come out with 12-13 tissue so people dont pay for points they dont need. Cause we all know that system makes sense. So exactly what fixes are you referring too?
Listen, we all want to believe that things are getting better and that someone is working on our stuff. But the fact remains, the only things that we have been able to get fixed are things that are directly related to other professions (well, we did get the sampling animation fixed). As much as I want to believe that Keldarin is working on things, there isnt alot of evidence pointing that way. I see the scenario working like this:
CH dev: DAMNIT Keldarin, I got mounts going live in 3 FREAKING DAYS......how much longer am I going to have to wait till CH is gonna be able to get have available all their mounts from BE?
or
Tailor dev: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KELDARIN, its been 4 god **edit** months and my tailors still dont have BE'd clothes to sell. Are you planning on getting this done anytime soon?
I'm starting to think alot of our fixes are going down this way. Either other people are making things fix things while they stand over his shoulder to get things done, or other devs are taking it upon their selves to fix things that Keldarin should of fixed in the first place. Think about it, how many BE fixes have their really been?
Ahh, that looks alot better.
Tilen
There are quite a few people who enjoy it as it is, and the Star Wars hype will assure it never runs out of subscribers, especially when the SE comes out and turns out at least halfway decent. The first true Jedi Knights showing up (and off
) will do the rest.I currently don't plan to renew my subscription when it runs out in the end of February, but thats still quite some time, so I will wait and see what happens.
Irdan
Master Bio-Engineer
Gorath
LOL!! Jedi. What a huge laugh.
The Jedi in our galaxy was hunted down and killed within the first 48 hours. She now has to play the game in complete solitude. That's gotta be loads of fun.
Irdan hit the nail square on the head. Ranting and raving isn't going to do a thing. I'd be genuinely shocked to find out a dev actually read anything posted on this forum. It all comes down to money. Hang in there, be patient, great things are gonna happen, we're all excited about the new changes, a fix is coming soon. Sound familiar? That's called the dangling carrot. Now when I see comments like that I just want to puke.
I waited for this patch to come out like I said I would. I saw what it had to offer me and my gamingstyle andI'm not overly impressed. Because I know its all about money I'll be taking mine elsewhere at the end of this billing cycle. I may or may not be back. If you want to make a difference I recommend you do the same.
Good luck to you that choose to chase that carrot. Hope you get it before the game goes poof.
Will this game survive the next year? Unless Space expansion is a major league home run, I won't be there to find out. I'm sticking around until one of the following occurs:
A) Cloning gets fixed
B) EQ2 comes out
C) Space expansion
I know EQ2 will also have its problems, but I found EQ to be more immersive, fun, social. Compare running the trip from Qeynos to Kelethin. It was interesting, even exciting. There were things to see and people doing things. In SWG I spend the vast majority of my time in Bum**edit** Egypt, no one else in sight. I can run for 10 minutes without even seeing an animal. The scenery is boring. A significant proportion of players are incredibly annoying.
But it is Star Wars. And the crafting is a lot more interesting than in EQ. And skill based professions are great. And we have e-mail.
Should we replace Keldarin? If he can't point out some significant progress, then what good is he? Actually, the person that NEEDS to be replaced is the one that's supposed to be his boss. If Keldarin hasn't done anything, then someone should have noticed by now. BEsides us players, I mean. No SOE employees play SWG, as far as I know.
as if the cloning changescould happen slower with someone else in the position
almost 6 months in and the track record speaks for itself. cloning is deliberately broken and wont be addressed until after the rebalancing of all creatures in the game is done. tissues were sort of fixed once it was proven by the members of the class that they were entirely broken. pet meds were forced on the class without a word to anyone and not only did they have ridiculous material requirements but were designed to be only hand made. taking a month to put in the hotfix to allow meds to be run in factories was unconscionable. this person shows little grasp of the game and what might actually be enjoyable.
so is it too much to ask for some CSR work? Is it too much to ask that Kedamihim communicate with us?
Is it too much to ask?
WHEN?!
Melicamp wrote:
I pretty much doubt that this game will die, Oaktree.
Like I said, Christmas is going to tell you all you need to know. I believe they've mentioned that they have sold around 250,000 copies of the game. With approx 10k people per server max and 23 servers, things should roughly be full if everyone stayed. Yet, you can log on during prime time play hours (I'm talking Sat afternoon, not weeknights) and no more than half of the servers are even on medium capacity. Thats a scary thought. If I had to venture a guess right now, I'd say that this game has anywhere between 125-150k active accounts at the moment. If Christmas rolls around and they dont have a need to open more servers, it means this game is in bad bad shape. Think about it, 250k original subrscribers, and maybe 100k new with Christmas. So we are talking in the neighborhood of 350-400k games sold. If the populations stay consistant as what they are now, that is going to mean around 250k out of 400k peole have bought and quit this game. Thats 62% of the people with the 6 month subscription people coming due on Jan 28 which will probably lead to more loss. Yeah, the game may not die, but like I said, this Christmas is going to tell the future of this game.
Tilen
Scylla
And to the people who think things will get done faster if Keldarin is removed:
A new Dev coming in to take over will have to be a new employee, since the current Devs are kinda busy with their own departments.
So you really want to replace someone that knows this profession and its problems (the fixes that DID make it in prove that even when they came slowly), with someone fresh from the street, that probably hasn't even seen the game before?
Well you have to excuse me, when I think this is an awful idea. We would loose at least an additional month.
It comes down (as so often in a discussion) to what you believe Keldarin is like.
For my part I think he is someone doing his job acceptably well within the bounds his employers set him.
You seem to imagine him, sitting at his desk for the last months either sleeping, or clutching a CD labled "Hotfix that makes BE completely fixed and enjoyable" shouting: "BWHAHAHA those fools! They will NEVER get their fixes as long as I am their supreme overlord, MUHAHAHA!"
Sony beeing the (successful) company it is, I somhow doubt that they would need us to petition for the removal of an obviously lazy, malicious Dev. If Keldarin was really like this (wich he isn't) he would have been fired long ago.
Disclaimer:
The above is my OPINION, it was not meant to demean any of the members of this community.
I do NOT claim that Keldarin is lazy or malicious, if that impression can be gained from the text above, it is most likely due to my lack of control of the English language.
Irdan
Master Bio-Engineer
Gorath