Politician Archive
Thread: What publish are the Dev's going to address any issues regarding Cities?
In-game support needs a major facelift. There are bugs that have been around since Beta on the original game. Major issues don't get fixed because they are complicated and difficult to track down. When they fix easier and quicker things (like the candles) they get pounded on for "ignoring" all the other issues. There are professions that haven't seen more than 1 or 2 items in the past 10 publishes while others havea minimum of one almost every publish. Combat professions have seen way more publish time than non-combat professions. The lines of communication are painfully thin in many areas for various reasons.
It's incredibly frustrating to see all these things (and more) and realize there just isn't enough time or manpower to fix it all in any kind of timely fashion. Mistakes have been made in the past...terrible mistakes...but there's no way to go back and fix them now in many cases.
Despite the flaws and bugs and focus on things that I as a player would rather not see development time focused on....I still love this game. A big part of it is the people, sure, but for me it's all about living in the Star Wars universe. The flexibility, the role-play opportunities, the ability to create something successful like a business or a city, the ability to get away from RL problems for awhile even if it means dealing with virtual ones....all of these things keep me playing.
I think even the most hardcore SWG players/lovers have had times of doubting faith. I have myself. But there's something that's kept us all around as long as it has, which is different for everyone. If something gets too frustrating or become unfun, that's a good time to take a look at the parts you do like and do enjoy and focus on those things for awhile.
I believe a year is ample time to wait. I refuse to give way to SOE's lack of competance. I believe you have the right to your opinion, and I completely respect it. I assure you I have earned the right to post the issues I have, because I have to answer to my guildmates, and my citizens. When I do not have a professional or logical answer other than I don't know, it makes me look like a fool and an idiot. Well, Not on my watch. I am not gonna cut these guys any slack whatsoever. They do not deserve it. You show me when the last post on this forum was by a red? You show me where communication regarding LEGITIMATE issues were addressed? You show me what is broken and continues to remain broken because of pathetic Developement, or lack of planning. I am here to tell you, I love the concept of Star Wars that is why I am so passionate about this, but more importantly I care aboutYOU the community member.
Aroogala wrote:
Hey man, I feel your pain. 2 out of 3 of my professions (armorsmith and politician) are facing major bugs and issues at this time. Armorsmith has never had a revamp, (however this is most likely due to the fact that it wasn't borked until the combat revamp) and I understand the issues facing the politicians, even though I am a relative newcomer to this community. However, I remember back in the early days of the game, when we walked everywhere, items disapeared off of vendors for no reason, people would warp to 0,0 on the map, and I can safely say that the game is improving. Perhaps not at the pace that we would like it to, but we must take into consideration that some of these problems and suggested solutions take loads and loads of programming, and that requires time and manpower. I have faith that SWG will continue to grow better, as it always has done. I believe that the CU took us back at least a year bugwise, but whats done it done. I hope you find your faith in this game again, because it can be so much fun, thanks to the great playerbase.
I understand that there are problems about politician. However, (and I may catch some flame for this) I don't think any of them are currently game breaking. Much of the developers are currently working on a combined Bio Engineer/Tailor/Armorsmith programming bug that has been seriously effecting all those professions. We've had our correspondent tell us that the Dev's have found that this is due to a serious error in the crafting system code, and is taking much manpower to track down and correct.
Also, there are still bugs, and minor tweaks being worked out post-CU with the combat professions.
HOWEVER
I agree with you that the politician profession has been overlooked, and I think that it is time for Player Cities: Revamped, much as was done with droid engineer. However, it must be accepted that if this is going to happen, it would take several publishes before it is implemented.
Message Edited by Aroogala on 07-13-2005 02:16 PM
Aroogala wrote:
I understand that there are problems about politician. However, (and I may catch some flame for this) I don't think any of them are currently game breaking. Much of the developers are currently working on a combined Bio Engineer/Tailor/Armorsmith programming bug that has been seriously effecting all those professions. We've had our correspondent tell us that the Dev's have found that this is due to a serious error in the crafting system code, and is taking much manpower to track down and correct.
Also, there are still bugs, and minor tweaks being worked out post-CU with the combat professions.
HOWEVER
I agree with you that the politician profession has been overlooked, and I think that it is time for Player Cities: Revamped, much as was done with droid engineer. However, it must be accepted that if this is going to happen, it would take several publishes before it is implemented.
Message Edited by Aroogala on 07-13-2005 02:16 PM
Ok you advocate cross server housing? Politician in itself has some issues overall I can live with them.I'm talking about PA's and there ability to expand (cross server housing and no player purge prevents this). Regarding manpower? I forgot where that was our problem to resolve (I simply cannot accept their poor excuses)......I have choked on this excuse before, and it tasted like crap the first time they fed it to us. LOL minor bugs and tweaks is possibly the BIGGEST understatement I've ever heard. Aroogala my anger is in no way directed at you, please do not think I am lashing out at you, I'm not. I am a Tailor, a Politician, a Rifleman, Carbineer, Scout, MDE, Merchant, Artisan, and a Jedi...believe you me........I know what it's like to walk right into the belly of the beast. I got a big mouth and it appears that I am quite obnoxious, but do you realize who it is I am fighting for? I simply cannot stop. I will continue to be as "In your Face" to the Devs as I can be and remain tactfull while doing it. You know what would please me more than anything? A developer who would speak to the community and be truthful. As it stands that clearly is not happening. I still have yet to receive an answer regarding when was the last time a red tag actually addressed our forum?
Message Edited by Uzziel- on 07-13-2005 02:34 PM
Message Edited by Uzziel- on 07-13-2005 02:36 PM
Wouldn't know, this would be my first week here.
Uzziel- wrote:
Aroogala wrote:
I understand that there are problems about politician. However, (and I may catch some flame for this) I don't think any of them are currently game breaking. Much of the developers are currently working on a combined Bio Engineer/Tailor/Armorsmith programming bug that has been seriously effecting all those professions. We've had our correspondent tell us that the Dev's have found that this is due to a serious error in the crafting system code, and is taking much manpower to track down and correct.
Also, there are still bugs, and minor tweaks being worked out post-CU with the combat professions.
HOWEVER
I agree with you that the politician profession has been overlooked, and I think that it is time for Player Cities: Revamped, much as was done with droid engineer. However, it must be accepted that if this is going to happen, it would take several publishes before it is implemented.
Message Edited by Aroogala on 07-13-2005 02:16 PM
Ok you advocate cross server housing? Politician in itself has some issues overall I can live with them.I'm talking about PA's and there ability to expand (cross server housing and no player purge prevents this). Regarding manpower? I forgot where that was our problem to resolve (I simply cannot accept their poor excuses)......I have choked on this excuse before, and it tasted like crap the first time they fed it to us. LOL minor bugs and tweaks is possibly the BIGGEST understatement I've ever heard. Aroogala my anger is in no way directed at you, please do not think I am lashing out at you, I'm not. I am a Tailor, a Politician, a Rifleman, Carbineer, Scout, MDE, Merchant, Artisan, and a Jedi...believe you me........I know what it's like to walk right into the belly of the beast. I got a big mouth and it appears that I am quite obnoxious, but do you realize who it is I am fighting for? I simply cannot stop. I will continue to be as "In your Face" to the Devs as I can be and remain tactfull while doing it. You know what would please me more than anything? A developer who would speak to the community and be truthful. As it stands that clearly is not happening. I still have yet to receive an answer regarding when was the last time a red tag actually addressed our forum?
Message Edited by Uzziel- on 07-13-2005 02:34 PM
Message Edited by Uzziel- on 07-13-2005 02:36 PM
No I don't advocate cross server housing. I abhor it, and I don't use it in my city. It's a ticking time bomb, that lead to the destruction of a city I used to live in. Eventually they all go poof, and then there goes half your population.
I'm not sure what you mean by PA's being able to expand. My guild expands by recruiting new players from mos eisley, giveing them a home, teaching them how to play the game, and then admitting them into the guild. It has worked out quite well. Our ranks have swelled to 115 from about 90 in the last month from recruiting. AND the new players are developed and are actively contributingto our community.
If what you mean is that you want them to stop cross server citizen trading, then you would also have to stop cross server credit trading, gift trading, and installation lot trading, which would have a disastorous impact on each server's economy. SOE has stated that it does not like cross server trading of any sort, but that the players assume any risks that come from it. From our professions standpoint, that would be the fact that you have a city with no citizens that will one day fall right out from under you.
I also am a host of professions, as I have three characters in this game that I play regularly. And I know that this isn't directed at me, nor are my rebuttals directed at you. I just enjoy a good argument.
I don't know who the politician dev is, but they are not required to post in here at all. That is the purpose of the correspondent. I don't know our correspondent as well as I know our armorsmith one, but from what I can see,they are doing a good job keeping people informed. On the matter of our dev for this profession, got nothing for ya buddy. I know our armorsmith dev poked his head in about two publishes ago when the armorsmith profession was crippled by multiple game breaking bugs. Since then two of those bugs have been fixed, and two remain. However, we know that it is being worked on. Perhaps its just a different experience, but I have always seen the devs trying to help out, not ignoring us.
Uzziel- wrote:
I believe a year is ample time to wait. I refuse to give way to SOE's lack of competance. I believe you have the right to your opinion, and I completely respect it. I assure you I have earned the right to post the issues I have, because I have to answer to my guildmates, and my citizens. When I do not have a professional or logical answer other than I don't know, it makes me look like a fool and an idiot. Well, Not on my watch. I am not gonna cut these guys any slack whatsoever. They do not deserve it. You show me when the last post on this forum was by a red? You show me where communication regarding LEGITIMATE issues were addressed? You show me what is broken and continues to remain broken because of pathetic Developement, or lack of planning. I am here to tell you, I love the concept of Star Wars that is why I am so passionate about this, but more importantly I care aboutYOU the community member.
15 days ago we had 8 posts by Thunderheart, mainly about factional involvement for Player Cities, something that many Politicians have been asking about. 5 were solid information things, 3 confirmations and congratulations. Here. Here. Here. Here. And Here.P>
Publish 19 fixed a long-standing bug that had rendered /cityban useless in many cases by fixing it so that a banned player could not use the shuttleport via a workaround, and banned players can no longer have houses transferred to them.
Are there other issues? Yes. They are bigger issues to some and lesser to others. That's the same for any profession.
There are 36 other professions besides Politician. That doesn't include things that fall under Core Systems. All of these other professions have concerns and issues that are just as great as, if not more game affecting, than Politician issues. There is only so much that can be done at any given time. If it was as simple as turning a switch and everything would be fixed, I would imagine that switch would be pushed in a heartbeat. Unfortunately it isn't that easy, and many of the bugs (our Sales Tax included) are elusive and very difficult to pin down and fix.
Things are getting better. Slowly, but it is moving forward. Just because we haven't seen a publish for the "Politician Revamp" doesn't mean that our issues are being ignored.
Khristen wrote:
In-game support needs a major facelift.
*Yes, SOENeeds to Fire almost alltheir Devs and CSR's? *Keep TH*
There are bugs that have been around since Beta on the original game. Major issues don't get fixed because they are complicated and difficult to track down.
* Not very hard when people send in ticket after exausting ticket to get a response back that says, "Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, however at this point and time...." Sorry Khristen, but I have to disagree on you about this one. I have sent in ticket after ticket, bug after bug and got the same "Cookiee-Cutter" Response. They Know what needs fixed.
When they fix easier and quicker things (like the candles) they get pounded on for "ignoring" all the other issues. There are professions that haven't seen more than 1 or 2 items in the past 10 publishes while others havea minimum of one almost every publish. Combat professions have seen way more publish time than non-combat professions. The lines of communication are painfully thin in many areas for various reasons.
* I agree with this because we are ignored, and SOE needs to fire all the CSR's and hire those that care about others feelings, as well as have played the game for Two years, like us vets...
It's incredibly frustrating to see all these things (and more) and realize there just isn't enough time or manpower to fix it all in any kind of timely fashion. Mistakes have been made in the past...terrible mistakes...but there's no way to go back and fix them now in many cases.
Despite the flaws and bugs and focus on things that I as a player would rather not see development time focused on....I still love this game. A big part of it is the people, sure, but for me it's all about living in the Star Wars universe.
* Only thing is, It's not even Star Wars anymore. It's all about Jedi & Bounty Hunters, and the devs nerfing things. I'm a Master RifleWoman/Master Ch that picked up Politician to keep me from quitting the game because my professions have been nerfed so badly that it's heart breaking.
The flexibility, the role-play opportunities, the ability to create something successful like a business or a city, the ability to get away from RL problems for awhile even if it means dealing with virtual ones....all of these things keep me playing.
* I do agree with you on this. I DO enjoy having myown city, makes me feel a wee bit important and cared for in a Real world that most often makes you fell otherwise Inferiour (Spell check please?? lol)
I think even the most hardcore SWG players/lovers have had times of doubting faith. I have myself. But there's something that's kept us all around as long as it has, which is different for everyone. If something gets too frustrating or become unfun, that's a good time to take a look at the parts you do like and do enjoy and focus on those things for awhile.
As far as the question posed in the title....I have no idea. Probably not this publish at any rate, since it's tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday (I think). There's precious little information even the correspondents have been given as to what Publish 21 is about. If you're looking for a complete revamp/focus on the Politician profession....probably not for awhile. That doesn't mean that they can't fix things here and there or squeeze a tidbit in here and there as part of a larger publish (like what happened with getting the /cityban to prevent banned players from using the shuttle as it was supposed to).
I don't know what a developer's schedule looks like other than it comes from higher up. They're under an NDA on that schedule just like Beta players were and correspondents are. They can't always tell us what's coming until it hits TC. It makes things cumbersome many times, but it's not going to change. So we work with what we have or we move on.
Personally, I intend to keep making the best I can with what I have to work with as a player and as a correspondent. Focusing on everything that's wrong is a good way to keep you from seeing all the things that are right. That's not a place I want to go. It's good to acknowledge and problem-solve on the things that are wrong, but if you disregard the positives in that pursuit it makes your life miserable.
I can't tell you what to do, but that's a bit about where I'm coming from for what it's worth.
Khristen, I wasn't trying to have a go at you, just showing you what it looks like from my point of view. I think you are doing a great job as correspondent and are dealing with quite a bit and I thank you for being an up front and honest Person that Knows what we all feel most of the time.
Keep up the good work.
Rynnn
Message Edited by RynnnDraggon on 07-15-2005 05:13 PM
Khristen wrote:
I understand.
Just a quick correction though....I'm not saying they don't know *what* needs to be fixed, only that it can be difficult to pin down the *how* to fix it. That's why things like repro steps are so vitally important.
I appreciate you being so optimistic and bringing a light into so many dark areas.
LuciousOtso wrote: i
I appreciate you being so optimistic and bringing a light into so many dark areas.
Khristen wrote:
I understand.
Just a quick correction though....I'm not saying they don't know *what* needs to be fixed, only that it can be difficult to pin down the *how* to fix it. That's why things like repro steps are so vitally important.
I love this game and Politician.... along with chef, and sometimes a couple other proffs. And frankly sometimes my favorite proffesions not getting 100% attention upsets me, thenI look at how much work they try to get done and i'ma little appeased. Mostly thanks to my guild lol. I'm not leaving anytime soon, prolly not untill majority of my close friends do.
But when I look at this game from a consumer standpoint (i mean my money going away every month for a service), I think things should come along a little bit faster (not a lot just a little bit). I think for the kind of money everyone is spending there should be one developer when deep programing experince PER proffession, Upon all the CSR, forum people, etc. This means that every proffesion would be 40 hours of dedicated work per week. Now lets say you each person 50k per year. Thats only 1.6mil per year and your customers would be 100% more satisfied. (The current devs could work on core system and so on). Now i'm not trying to tell anyone how to do there job, just a thought from a consumer. (and i pay something like $360 a year so times.... 70k people??, thats over 25mil per year, not counting buying the softwares, expansions etc). Its just the american way when we are paying something to expect results now. (I work in gourmet restaurants in RL, and people always want that nice sauted seabass with chiponili coulis, deuxlle mashed potatoes, and blanch vegetables in under 10 mins lol, yeah right)
My two cents.... take it or put it in the give a penny take a penny jar.
Yummers and I agree wholey. But on the whole, the devs really do need to figure out what they are doing....I'm sure that every single one of them would ask for a refund or demand a product that they bought be Complete and not half done and broken...So, I would expect them to actually say, "Ok, would we want to pay $14,99 a month for something that's not complete and broken??? so why should we make them pay the $14.99 a month???"
I understand that it takes a lot to create a game, but don't put it out if it's broken and not complete, Also, Listen to the customers...SOE may be their "Legal" Bosses, but in all reality, We are the Bosses since we PAY their Paychecks. I just wish they would remember who made them big...WE did...WE the Paying Customers. No one can get rich off of Not making money....and if you are trying to sell a Product and NO one buys it...guess you won't be making money...Just my penney's worth tossed into the jar...and now, I'll take that lovely dish whenever the cook finishes it. *drools*
Message Edited by RynnnDraggon on 07-16-2005 04:27 AM