47 replies to this topic

[Vellron2005]

Ok, so I have to say, as a regular on the forums, and in-game, I have to say that I've noticed a negative trend with PGI in the last months..

Things are barely getting done anymore?

Here's a short list of things that are odd and concerning:

1) The last few mech packs have broken and strange animations

2) Mechs out for cbills are not announced anymore, until somebody points out the date on the forums

3) The search engine on the forums has been broken for months

4) Problematic / bad events, that require changes or fixes mid-event, or apologies after the event has ended

5) Support services have become slow and non-responsive, all the while sending 5-day reminders to reply to their responses, after a response has already been sent.

6) Random disconnects and server kicks, even while the ping is ok, and the problem is not with the client or the user's computer or ISP.

7) Slow progress updating roadmaps, far-between town halls, no communication with the players

8) Dwindling playerbase, according to some sources, up to 25% less people are playing than this time last year.

9) Increased player toxicity, greater number of hackusations, with no action from PGI

10) Half-baked, bug-filled patches

So, all of these problems are evident in-game and on the forums every day..

It almost feels like half the dev team had quit, is on vaction/sick leave, or has been moved to MW5 development, with only a skeleton crew working on MWO.

It seems like the devs are overwhelmed, and they just can't seem to cope with the game as-is, much less make it better.

So what do you guys think, what's going on with PGI?

Edited by Vellron2005, 10 November 2017 - 12:05 AM.

[Bilbo999]

3) The search engine on the forums has been broken for months
Broken for years
6) Random disconnects and server kicks, even while the ping is ok, and the problem is not with the client or the user's computer or ISP.
True
9) Increased player toxicity, greater number of hackusations, with no action from PGI
See #3

Edited by Bilbo999, 10 November 2017 - 12:14 AM.

[Kaeb Odellas]

They could be sprinting to get a good playable build of MW5 for Mech_Con. It's less than a month away.

[Cyrilis]

The topic already implies the answer. Nobody knows what is going on actually. I agree with (almost) all the point you are mentioning, and yes, it is frustrating to see how it affects the game and the customers. I have the feeling that PGI does not want to go in the same direction as the players want to and so, they probably just don't move at all in order not to create more rants and poopstorms as their recent actions did.


Unless the coat of silence that PGI is wearing right now goes back to the closet, I am afraid, we can only

[Mcgral18]

Don't forget ever increasing Faction balance gap...

"Best it's ever been" is something I doubted then, let alone after the not exactly equal Faction nerfs, leaving Clams still dominant...

[Paigan]

IMHO there are a few points like toxicity, bugs, disconnects mixed in that don't belong in a question about recent PGI behavior because they either have nothing to do with PGI or were like that for a long time.

Most of the remaining points are good, though.
I also think they imply the answer already. Things seem to get ... well, not better.

[Appogee]

Most of their resources have been on MW5 since the beginning of last year.

Now that MW5 is only a couple of months away they are barely bothering to keep up pretenses.

I still can't believe so many people fell for the two development teams BS that was spun at the time. Hopefully they have wised up by now.

Edited by Appogee, 10 November 2017 - 01:22 AM.

[LordNothing]

sounds like the op is describing pgi. its always been like this but it seems to be getting worse. a downward spiral. i attribute it to mw5 staff cannibalizing mwo staff (figuratively speaking of course, but you never know). mwo is effectively on life support. they have a skeleton crew doing mech packs.

i mean there is a new map comming out in a few days and the fact that they actually bothered to do one says something. but with how long from pgi announcing new maps to receiving one, i bet its a one man job. i expect a lot of asset reuse. some of the textures look like tourmaline. frankly im getting tired of tourmaline clones. i want maps that are actually somewhat different in their desing. pretty much if you done it before dont do it, do something else. so i think the thing it says is "rumors of mwo dieing are completely exaggerated. maybe this thing will make those bottom feeders think were still working on this trainwreck. wait is this thing still on? YOUR FIRED!!!"

when i started playing this game dev vlogs actually showed people in the studio working on things, they were showing off new features. it got fishy when those stopped. the vlogs were taken to a sanitized location where you couldnt see anything. at the time i didnt give it much thought, i just lamented the decline in quality of the dev vlogs and stopped watching them. in retrospect i think they were hiding something. its entirely possible that is when they actually started developing mw5 (or something else) and didn't want to tip us off. them being tight lipped is a sign of nothing good thats for sure.

Edited by LordNothing, 10 November 2017 - 01:29 AM.

[Jack Booted Thug]

You were all warned many moons ago, the sign of the beast....the end... ... the sale of the Mad Cat... aka.... the final cash grab


Now we get crumbs.








Edit: I've also been noticing an increase in crashes and disconnects lately.

Edited by Jack Booted Thug, 10 November 2017 - 01:19 AM.

[LordNothing]

the apparent decline of mwo is why i didn't buy the piranha. im pretty sure they will sell a mech pack the same month they turn the servers off. im not going to be one of those players. lack of openness is hurting their sales, but that just means that them being open would hurt their sales more.

Edited by LordNothing, 10 November 2017 - 01:40 AM.

[TLBFestus]

I guess you haven't been around long enough to know that is just PGI being PGI?

I suspect though that as a small company PGI is dividing it's resources disproportionately towards the development of MW5 since they are now doing most everything you've described just all at once instead of the "pick any 3" style that we've become accustomed.

In other words, exactly what Appogee painted;

Edited by TLBFestus, 10 November 2017 - 10:01 AM.

[Appogee]

LordNothing, on 10 November 2017 - 01:14 AM, said:

in retrospect i think they were hiding something. its entirely possible that is when they actually started developing mw5 (or something else) and didn't want to tip us off.

When they went to monthly patches and three-monthly road maps (beginning of last year) that was the sure sign they were focusing their development resources on something other than MWO.

I called it at the time. And all the white knights said "no, no, Russ says they have two separate development teams".

Where are those chumps now...? They left, but I'm still here and playing daily.

Edited by Appogee, 11 November 2017 - 12:18 AM.

[Cato Zilks]

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

1) The last few mech packs have broken and strange animations

Yes, this is because they have launched in packs and had several mechs come out at once. They also have had some turnover, I don't know the reasons, but this does happen in companies.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

2) Mechs out for cbills are not announced anymore, until somebody points out the date on the forums

Honestly, I think the change in schedule from one mech each month to this 4-in-1-month-then-months-of-nothing has really thrown them off their game.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

3) The search engine on the forums has been broken for months

As has already been said, years. Not a priority item.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

4) Problematic / bad events, that require changes or fixes mid-event, or apologies after the event has ended

This is not new. The new difference is because they are trying to figure out how to better communicate to players with the new event system. They are moving away from website based communication.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

5) Support services have become slow and non-responsive, all the while sending 5-day reminders to reply to their responses, after a response has already been sent.

Can't help here. The few times I have contacted support they have replied within 8 hours. How often do you contact support?

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

6) Random disconnects and server kicks, even while the ping is ok, and the problem is not with the client or the user's computer or ISP.

They have had trouble with the servers in the past. Tell @Russbullock on twitter.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

7) Slow progress updating roadmaps, far-between town halls, no communication with the players

Normal. Especially similar to last year. After the summer, they save news for MechCon.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

8) Dwindling playerbase, according to some sources, up to 25% less people are playing than this time last year.

Hard to say.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

9) Increased player toxicity, greater number of hackusations, with no action from PGI

No, hax is down. Back in early 2016 those claims were waaaay more common than they are now. Hell, I was in a match back then where people on the other team on the other team insinuated they were using them and their own teammates were reporting them. They booted a lot of players and that problem seems much more contained now.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

10) Half-baked, bug-filled patches

To be honest 80% of their patches have always needed hotfixes. It is a small staff.

Vellron2005, on 10 November 2017 - 12:03 AM, said:

It almost feels like half the dev team had quit, is on vaction/sick leave, or has been moved to MW5 development, with only a skeleton crew working on MWO.

They have had some turnover in the office, idk whats going on there in that regard. Go to mechcon, by someone some drinks and find out.

As for a reduced staff for MWO... they released several new mechs last month, a mech and a map this month, new solaris map will be out soon and they are polishing a new urban map. They have been pretty busy. They also hired Chris Lowry specifically to handle balance issues in the game. So, in terms of people that we interact with, I think we have more people working on MWO. Who do you have in mind that was moved over to MW5?

Appogee, on 10 November 2017 - 01:52 AM, said:

Where are they now? They left, and I'm still here and playing daily.

Who is that you are saying left in the last year?

[Cato Zilks]

I should also note that the player base was super bitter last November because they thought PGI was gonna quit by early 2017. Instead, they announced a **** ton of things at Mech Con and made people really excited about the game. And the game is still going. I think the info lull is bad for PR, but I understand why Russ does it. He likes to see our excitement, and Mech Con gives him that venue.

[Davegt27]

things seem fine to me

[Toothless]

By lately do you mean from 2012 to now?

[Sjorpha]

It's been like this before, long gaps of minimal communication and seemingly anemic development mixed with bursts of hype and rushed low quality "big" patches followed by a couple equally rushed hotfixes for whatever they broke and then a new period of slumber and silence.

Whatever the reason is, this is how PGI operates. It's not a good sign of course but can't really be used as an indication of doom either since this isn't really different from before. This is simply their workflow, they think this is a good way to develop and market a game.

What IS different is the reduced quality of mech animations and other slip ups around mech releases, yes that is worrying because mech releases are the one thing that used to have consistently high quality all around (except balancing) even when nothing else happened. That is a difference that perhaps warrants some questions about what's going on up there, but it could also be that someone on the mech release team quit and they haven't caught up.

Edited by Sjorpha, 10 November 2017 - 03:52 AM.

[Juodas Varnas]

PGI is simply demoralized because of Russ's stance against Quad mechs.

[Ssamout]

Cato Zilks, on 10 November 2017 - 02:10 AM, said:

Yes, this is because they have launched in packs and had several mechs come out at once.

Lol, yeah, they haven't released several mechs at once before? Dig harder man.

[Bud Crue]

As a daily player and daily forum warrior over the last three years I’ve noted the ups and downs of the developers and their...shall we say enthusiasm...for their product. On the one hand every year about now they stop even pretending to care about the game itself, customer interaction, satisfaction or actual development. I have always assumed this was a result of a combination of the upcoming holidays, their focus on mechcon (or whatever it was that they did in 2015) and just a general end of year malaise.

This year has been different though. This year I think the “small dev” excuse is not just an excuse but a reality, and the malaise isn’t one of timing but of prioritization. I mean they obviously put in a lot of effort with the skills tree (compare the original December of last year proposal to what was actually released) the whole rejiggering of the module refunds, the skills tree pts, the new tech, the new tech balance passes, etc. All that took a lot of effort regardless of what we might individually think of those features. Consider too the effort of having to essentially redevelop or at least modify a lot of that stuff, since as they do not test much of anything, once it was proposed the community for all intent and purpose forced some degree of revision upon them. That too takes enourmous effort (again, regardless of what one thinks of the outcome). But that effort has come with a cost. The obvious things that have been short changed are CW development and Russ’s promise of 2017 being a refocus on CW development. Even more significantly and apparent are the shortcomings of the art assets. The mechs this year have been frankly below the standards that we have come to expect, especially the animations. That to me is the most disturbing trend as it suggests to me that they are holding on by their finger nails especially when viewed against the population trends.

Add all that in to what Appogee noted above regarding MW5 and it paints a picture that MWO is simply not the priority that it once was for PGI, and the normal end of the year malaise that PGI typically exhibits will likely be more normative year round, with apparent effort being exhibited only for specific elements and more often than not merely to fix what they have broken.

I don’t know about you all, but that state of affairs is not instilling me with much confidence.