Jedi Archive

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Broom wrote:

I am a 37 year old software engineer / debugger specialised in QA. I think I have a fairly decent grip on development, thanks. And from my perspective, I see poor quality control, worse version control and lacking response to customer demands.

kkthxgb,

Linna

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I have to agree with you 100% I am currently have been for the last 6 years a software engineer and the amount of bugs and major issues released with every patch to this game is just rediculas.. The thing that I see that can be solved in all honesty is the suits need to actually realize the process developers go through to make programs.

They need to allow for proper testing of the said software before the devs release it. If there is a problem and the devs can not figure out the cause of the issue then they need to either delay the release or if they have some idea what block of code or function could be causeing the problem then remove that it. Just like they did with the Seekers on the wookie world.

The funny thing is that we test on TC and we give them feed back and tell them what bugs are currently in the system but yet most of the time our voice go unheard. And they push release after release live full of bugs and game breaking issues.. And the other thing I really find funny is we pay to test there newest stuff so they get paid for us to Alpha/Beta test the software.. Kind of funny seeing most other places pay people to test their software.

I'm pretty impressed that this thread brought out all us software engineers, and programmers out of the woodwork.

I think the best point made in this thread though was that it doesn't matter what methodology they used to program the game. What matters the most is the customer service aspects of things. We are the end-users and it is the responsibility of SOE to satisfy us and do their best to meet out requirements.

That's where the real failing seems to be.

I own a company that is on 4 continents doing IT for military and airports ect., I suggest you finish school before you preach to us common folk.

I have interns who have more skill then I'm seeing from SOE's team. I have MIT grads who work for me who just laughed after reading your post. Bottom line is this is a biz not some 2 week training course on programming.

May I suggest you spend more time studying and less time tutoring on forums.

Flaws as you call them in this case are nothing more then garabage code done by has beens. Yes, alpha/closed beta and open beta are there to solve bugs not to create more. Good companies don't put products on the market until they pass through proper testing. Something SOE does not do in order to cash in every 2-3 months from people like you.

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GuyLarson wrote:

I am not in the industry, but I am studying Computer Engineering, and have had to take a number of Software Engineering courses. I am simply here to let people know how the development of code goes down.

People keep calling for revamp this revamp that, change this change that why this O NOES!! Here is how code goes down. I don't realy feel like reading a bunch of flames from highschoolers/middleschoolers who think they know "Code Development" because you don't im sorry you just don't. This is something learned within the industry and collaborating with superiors who have worked within the industry for a number of years.

** I will skip a few process' within this due to irrelavance.

The code is first designed using one of many different styles of development. Most popular style within the industry is UML diagrams (UML basicly breaks up classes and interfaces).

After Development comes the coding of this EMENSE project.

After a couple years of coding a tweeking it is ready to be internaly tested for performace/style.

During this time it is easier to *BUFF other stuff than *NERF.

Alpha Testing/Beta Testing normaly extended to the public but sometimes kept within the company.

Skip some stuff (Not realy important to point of this thread).

Now upon release there are obviously some stuff unbalanced, NO mmorpg is perfect upon release or even after patches.

Sorry to burst peoples bubbles but there are always flaws within programs that have insane amounts of code, maybe not logicly or with the syntax, but with the balance.

One way the "balance" stuff is to *buff or *nerf.

The problem with nerfing is that you have to go all the way back through ALL of your code, through each class that has the variable or method needed change. This adds human error (It's just there).

It is much easier to bring everyone up to a certain level by *buffing. Easier to add another seperate class to handle this, therefor less chance for human error.

This is what SOE has done. They have *buffed the npc's to a point without compensation to the pc.

This is not defending SOE in the least, but simply explaining why something like this patch has happened. Maybe if you can take a step back and realize what has happened (Just an unoriginal and unthoughtful pub thought to balance the game)

Since i have cancled my account and moved on for now, I could care less what SOE does at the moment. Hopefuly if i come back they will of fixed some of the issues and changed what needs to be changed. I just see blame put in some of the wrong places. Strictly informative post.

*Buff = To bring everything up to a certain level

*Nerf = To bring a certain thing down to a certain level

Have fun, goodluck, and may the Dev's be easy on you all

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I know stuff can have flaws/bugs. its SUPPOSED to have flaws/bugs, humans arent perfect andmake plenty of flaws, everyone does. The fact that the playerbase is angry is that after 2 years of constant /reporting these bugs the devs STILL havent fixed them.

Its not the amount of bugs, its how fast the devs fix them.

I am a 34 year old Field Service Technician for CNC machining centers where coding errors can kill people. I don't think anyone is gonna die here.

I also do customer service phone support when I am not traveling. I don't know why I told you all this, but everyone else did it, so I thought I would do it too.

One thing I have learned is that mostthings built by people have a certain amount of human error built into them. Why would any individual person want to fix something that has the potential to inflame so many people over the silliest little things. I would rather put time into genetic engineering. I think it would be cool to make a flying dragon, with or without fire is fine. I think that would be easier than keeping these forum people happy.

well if everything you say is true and it is easier to buff than to nerf, it only adds to our case against them as they have been going out of their way to nerf so many proffessions into dust. also, we understand that it can take a while for them to do all the coding for things and to get them into the game, but we would like to at least be told that they are working on doing some of the things we've asked for. right now they have given us no indication that they if even begun to plan let alone code many of the things jedi and other proffessions need to keep the game balanced. we don't necessarily need an immediate fix for everything, but we when they mess up we would like to hear immediatly that they realize there is a problem and are trying to fix it. if they don't communicate anything to us, we can only assume they are ignoring our requests completely.