Commando Archive
Thread: Garvin, do you still believe this?
aeuralis wrote:
You posted this on the 15th of December
*****************************************************************************************
So by all of that, I could see the CU hitting live, at the latest, by the end of April
*****************************************************************************************
Now that we have 3 businessdays (counting today) left in January and the Sandbox STILL has not started, do you think that this is still a reasonable estimate?
When SOETyrant posted this:
****************************************************************************************
More details on the Combat Upgrade will be coming out in January as we enter the alpha testing phase of that development.
****************************************************************************************
I agreed with you, but now that it seems that without an act of god, we will not see the SANDBOX starttill febuary. What ever happened to the SANDBOX starting right after the holidays?
What is SOE's new excuse for this delay?
Last time they blamed the testers, who are they going to blame now?
Message Edited by aeuralis on 01-26-2005 10:49 AM
I had really hoped that January would be the start...that's what I based April on...but to be honest, I have no idea how long testing will take ONCE it get's started...I based my estimate on how JTL when from Alpha to Live. I envision a 4 month timeframe, but again, to be honest, that's my assumption and nothing to do with anything SOE has stated. SOE might think it will only take 2 months or they may think it will take 6, not sure. I just know that SOETyrant keeps stating over and over that the CU is their MAIN priority right now.
And I will confirm again, last month a lot of the delays fell on the testers being so nit-picky (a good thing) regarding proposed plans...Many of us were not willing to hear "let's try it out and see if it's a needed change" but rather pushed for "let's change it now or have it ready to change before testing starts"...
I recently heard rumblings that it's hardware that's causing the delays (ever notice that when testing is about to start, we see server issues pop up more frequently? It's my guess that's them "moving" hardware around and having an "opps" )...We saw the same thing around the time of JTL testing...and around Jedi Revamp testing...lots of server issues. The fact that we've seen a few server issues pop up lately that "feel" hardware related is another reason I keep saying that I believe testing will start any day now...
Once testing starts and we get a feel for how fast or slow it's going, I'll be able to make a better estimate on when it'll go live...best case scenerio is it's almost perfect and we could be less then 2 months from it going live...worst case scenerio is that we hate it and it totally bombs (or doesn't work) and we are 6 months to a year away from live...
I'll state this again...I honestly don't think the devs are lying or "stalling"...I believe they are making their "best guess" on when things will happen, and are just not keeping us up to dateas much as we'd like on "what's the hold up"...
aeuralis wrote:
WHAT CHANGES HAVE THEY MADE TO COMMANDO?
The changes they have made FAIL to address the CORE problems in SWG. While i like the fact they are making some changes, I want them to get working on the CURB.
That is more important then you having to wait for a shuttle or making politician cost 0 SP.
While they have made changes that "effect" Commandos, the last major change I remember them making (and recognizing in some patch notes) directly to Commandos was to allow our Consumables to work indoors...TH also announced outside of patch notes that the loot "enchancers" will include heavy weapon skill boots, but that they won't likely work properly until after the CU (because of our skill types).
I have been pushing for a lot of changes both big and small for awhile now, but I tend to get a lot of push back stating "Combat issues will be addressed in the CU"...that's the problem...what Commando issues are NOT combat related? Anything combat related is pushed back to the CU...Can anyone think of some Non-Combat issues that effect Commandos directly that I can push for fixes/changes?
garvin wrote:
aeuralis wrote:WHAT CHANGES HAVE THEY MADE TO COMMANDO?The changes they have made FAIL to address the CORE problems in SWG. While i like the fact they are making some changes, I want them to get working on the CURB.That is more important then you having to wait for a shuttle or making politician cost 0 SP.While they have made changes that "effect" Commandos, the last major change I remember them making (and recognizing in some patch notes) directly to Commandos was to allow our Consumables to work indoors...TH also announced outside of patch notes that the loot "enchancers" will include heavy weapon skill boots, but that they won't likely work properly until after the CU (because of our skill types).
I have been pushing for a lot of changes both big and small for awhile now, but I tend to get a lot of push back stating "Combat issues will be addressed in the CU"...that's the problem...what Commando issues are NOT combat related? Anything combat related is pushed back to the CU...Can anyone think of some Non-Combat issues that effect Commandos directly that I can push for fixes/changes?
The only thing i can think of would be to tone down the graphics for the launcher pistol. I know it is sorta combat related, but only in a graphical way. While i dont mind the explosions myself (doesnt really lag my system) , i quite often get people moaning at me for using this weapon as they claim it lags them out and makes close quarter combat tougher for them as they cant see whats going on.
Adifi wrote:
garvin wrote:
aeuralis wrote:
WHAT CHANGES HAVE THEY MADE TO COMMANDO?
The changes they have made FAIL to address the CORE problems in SWG. While i like the fact they are making some changes, I want them to get working on the CURB.
That is more important then you having to wait for a shuttle or making politician cost 0 SP.
While they have made changes that "effect" Commandos, the last major change I remember them making (and recognizing in some patch notes) directly to Commandos was to allow our Consumables to work indoors...TH also announced outside of patch notes that the loot "enchancers" will include heavy weapon skill boots, but that they won't likely work properly until after the CU (because of our skill types).
I have been pushing for a lot of changes both big and small for awhile now, but I tend to get a lot of push back stating "Combat issues will be addressed in the CU"...that's the problem...what Commando issues are NOT combat related? Anything combat related is pushed back to the CU...Can anyone think of some Non-Combat issues that effect Commandos directly that I can push for fixes/changes?
The only thing i can think of would be to tone down the graphics for the launcher pistol. I know it is sorta combat related, but only in a graphical way. While i dont mind the explosions myself (doesnt really lag my system) , i quite often get people moaning at me for using this weapon as they claim it lags them out and makes close quarter combat tougher for them as they cant see whats going on.
Great example...I actually brought that one up and recieved back "CU related issue to be addressed there"...they apparently feel that even that is "combat related"...so that's why we are having a tough time currently getting any changes/updates/fixes prior to the CU...
There are several of us strongly suggesting some "combat related changes" be made prior to the CU to help live players "pass the time" better...I've submitted over 15 "small fixes" suggestions over the last month (at the devs request) that I feel will help us "pass the time"...still getting a lot of "CU pushback"...
Pushed for that too...So did several other Correspondents...haven't heard back yet on the pre or post CU status of those fixes...
aeuralis wrote:
How about ranged FS mods getting fixed?
garvin wrote:I recently heard rumblings that it's hardware that's causing the delays (ever notice that when testing is about to start, we see server issues pop up more frequently? It's my guess that's them "moving" hardware around and having an "opps" )...We saw the same thing around the time of JTL testing...and around Jedi Revamp testing...lots of server issues. The fact that we've seen a few server issues pop up lately that "feel" hardware related is another reason I keep saying that I believe testing will start any day now...
Ok. The "we don't have the hardware" is a reason (excuse?) that I have a lot of trouble accepting. They pull down just how much money MONTHLY from the subscribers? They like us to believe that there are several hundred thousand paying players. If it's ONLY 100,000, then that is about $1,500,000 per MONTH. They can BUY new hardware for this CRITICAL purpose. And it's hard to imagine that a full server set up would be necessary for the less than 275 players that will be participating in the Alpha testing.
SOE has invested in new developers by hiring. They have acknowledged this is THE priority for SOE. They have had MONTHS (I'll be generous and call it 3 months, or $4.5m in fees collected) to get the equipment in place to support the Alpha testing. If they have failed to do so, it's inexcusable.
So while the "hardware isn't ready yet" is a nice plausible sounding reason, it's something else, like the code isn't actually ready yet. They aren't that incompetent.Message Edited by Latenighter on 01-26-2005 03:02 PM
garvin wrote:
Can anyone think of some Non-Combat issues that effect Commandos directly that I can push for fixes/changes?
Loot rights from flame DOT (doesn't count toward loot rights) to match CM DOT (counts toward loot rights) is a loot issue, not combat.
Stack size for consumables and grenades is a crafting issue, not combat.
Cheers.
Also, large multiproduct companies tend to share money recieved between all projects. So, (hypotehtically) we were helping to pay for the EQ2 code writing. That's just a hypothetical example.
Also, pre-alpha testing is always a delay point. Ensuring that the code is functioning and not completely broken with as massive a change as this will be is far more time consuming than the minor patches that run through the normal TC loop.
I don't expect that this will help anyone, but felt it needed to be said.
Talen