93 replies to this topic

[Redshift2k5]

I would gladly abdicate my self-appointed job of making these threads if the official preview were more detailed.

Obviously some surprises are fine, but for stuff that has already been announce/confirmed elsewhere in the forum to be left out is a let-down :/

[Viper69]

What is the map width of alpine compared to what we have now?

[Shumabot]

Viper69, on 19 February 2013 - 06:35 AM, said:

What is the map width of alpine compared to what we have now?

No one knows, they've literally never explained any aspect of it or shown any pictures of it.

[Redshift2k5]

Viper69, on 19 February 2013 - 06:35 AM, said:

What is the map width of alpine compared to what we have now?

Shumabot, on 19 February 2013 - 06:37 AM, said:

No one knows, they've literally never explained any aspect of it or shown any pictures of it.

This is Alpine Peaks. So we know it will be snowy, hilly, and will have some industrial/military objects in it.

They said it would be more than twice the size of Caustic Valley.

[Shumabot]

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I think you are confusing the old content roadmaps with the new monthly developer update format.

Considering this is the first ever monthly developer update, there is no precedence for its accuracy or lack thereof.

I'm not going to give a company that has a history of being opaque and missing dates the benefit of the doubt simply because they changed the formatting of the dates they've given (especially given that they already missed a date this month for preview mech art). They haven't earned it, and their last two weeks of dead silence and the requirement that one of their users collate their given information so we can have some semblance of an industry standard "patch preview" isn't helping their case. It's amateurish at best and openly scornful of their community at worst. The truth is probably in between with a bit of bumbling amateurism mixed with apathy towards users.

It takes so little time and effort to do a patch preview, and it pays such dividends with community goodwill. Why they don't even try is mystifying.

Edited by Shumabot, 19 February 2013 - 06:57 AM.

[Kylere]

I am getting a bad feeling about this patch, it looks great on paper but PGI is certainly not acting as if it is going to include everything.

[almightyfargoth]

Shumabot, on 19 February 2013 - 06:49 AM, said:

I'm not going to give a company that has a history of being opaque and missing dates the benefit of the doubt simply because they changed the formatting of the dates they've given (especially given that they already missed a date this month for preview mech art). They haven't earned it, and their last two weeks of dead silence and the requirement that one of their users collate their given information so we can have some semblance of an industry standard "patch preview" isn't helping their case. It's amateurish at best and openly scornful of their community at worst. The truth is probably in between with a bit of bumbling amateurism mixed with apathy towards users.

It takes so little time and effort to do a patch preview, and it pays such dividends with community goodwill. Why they don't even try is mystifying.

"HURR DURR THEY HAVEN'T EARNED IT"

Ugh...could you be more of a downer about this new patch and everyone's (fairly collective) excitement about the new features?

I mean really, we get your complaint. You wanted to be directly notified in effect straight from PGI about their new content. You wanted in essence an email sent to you with a link to a thread saying "hey guys, it's the day before our new patch...here's what you're getting tomorrow because we love you!"

Well, they didn't. They're going to have a thread out later today regarding the new content since it'll be available for anyone to use around 1-4pm. Considering they're giving us the patch and bothering to make new content, I'm pretty sure the love is there always

Like, who said they were the most professional group in existence out there? Let them be amateurish now and then. They don't owe you a damn thing. Any money you put into the game you get in return from playing the game and buying features. After that, let them be to toil and scheme away at making the game better with their own time. Personally I think they're improving a lot in communicating things to us and making us aware of sales/new features more than they ever did in the past. They're not exactly going in a worse direction with that in mind

They didn't command RedShift to make this thread, the man made it himself because he's a fan of the game. Surely you can't be that blind just to rant about your unhappiness man...

[Redshift2k5]

Shumabot, on 19 February 2013 - 06:49 AM, said:

I'm not going to give a company that has a history of being opaque and missing dates the benefit of the doubt simply because they changed the formatting of the dates they've given (especially given that they already missed a date this month for preview mech art). They haven't earned it, and their last two weeks of dead silence and the requirement that one of their users collate their given information so we can have some semblance of an industry standard "patch preview" isn't helping their case. It's amateurish at best and openly scornful of their community at worst. The truth is probably in between with a bit of bumbling amateurism mixed with apathy towards users.

It takes so little time and effort to do a patch preview, and it pays such dividends with community goodwill. Why they don't even try is mystifying.

They never officially gave a schedule for concept art, so they haven't broken a scheduled release date.

There was a pattern, and the pattern is obviously broken. But they never lied to you by saying 'we will give you art on x date' and then failing to follow-up. The players inferred a schedule but there is clearly a reason for the delay.

[Shumabot]

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First of all, they didn't miss any date for "mech preview art". There has never been any kind of official schedule for the new mech announcements.. Any perceived schedule was conjecture by fans. PGI never once said "we are going to release new mech concept art every month!"

Which would be irrelevant since they continuously miss official dates anyway. When something occurs with regularity there is a perceived schedule, one that they missed.

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And if you really look at Redahift's post.. 90% of it is straight from the February Developer Update. They are doing patch previews... Once a month covering two patches.

Which isn't a patch preview. Starcraft puts out patch information a few days in advance, LoL does a week in advance with a video and developer commentary, same with DOTA2. Releasing information once a month is a roadmap, not a preview of patches. Patch notes should be available, at the minimum the start of game downtime, they can't even do that in a good way.

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They have yet to miss anything mentioned in that February update. We'll see if that holds true after today's patch. If it doesn't... I'll be changing my tone, don't get me wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I like the month format, but they should be doing both, not giving one meaningful communication per month. A month is a very long time to be silent.

[almightyfargoth]

Shumabot, on 19 February 2013 - 07:10 AM, said:

Which isn't a patch preview. Starcraft puts out patch information a few days in advance, LoL does a week in advance with a video and developer commentary, same with DOTA2. Releasing information once a month is a roadmap, not a preview of patches. Patch notes should be available, at the minimum the start of game downtime, they can't even do that in a good way.

Yes, and that's good for Blizzard and Riot....but this is PGI, not Blizzard or Riot.

Like, you're trying to compare these guys to much much larger companies where that is commonplace. Sure it would be great, but you can't judge them that harshly if they don't meet standards they shouldn't be judged for.

[Shumabot]

Quote

Ugh...could you be more of a downer about this new patch and everyone's (fairly collective) excitement about the new features?

I mean really, we get your complaint. You wanted to be directly notified in effect straight from PGI about their new content. You wanted in essence an email sent to you with a link to a thread saying "hey guys, it's the day before our new patch...here's what you're getting tomorrow because we love you

That would certainly be nice, though if they just posted the news on their site in advance of the patch it would be cool too. They can, they have that front page update already written up, they're just waiting on it. I want PGI to take the five minutes to be up to snuff with their competitors, not so much a newsletter. They are currently the worst in the industry for transparency in a F2p title. That's doubly insulting because this is a "beta" where we're supposed to be "testing new features". Look at any other beta out there, HoTS, DOTA2, HAWKEN, etc. All of them give much more common communication with much more context.

almightyfargoth, on 19 February 2013 - 07:14 AM, said:

Yes, and that's good for Blizzard and Riot....but this is PGI, not Blizzard or Riot.

Like, you're trying to compare these guys to much much larger companies where that is commonplace. Sure it would be great, but you can't judge them that harshly if they don't meet standards they shouldn't be judged for.

They have a community manager whose sole job it is to communicate with the community. I don't know what Garth gets payed, but given that he communicates maybe once a week and the companies official presented communications are usually short and feature little media content it stands to reason he could be doing a lot more. Keep in mind, they have these patch communications already written up. These are html updates with media, they don't get prepared patch day. They should be releasing those news updates midnight moving into the patch day at least, if not the day before. They could easily, it's just a button they have to hit.

[Kylere]

You know, they should just hook up Redshift with some MC and call him the "Patch Ambassador"

[Taryys]

Kylere, on 19 February 2013 - 07:34 AM, said:

You know, they should just hook up Redshift with some MC and call him the "Patch Ambassador"

Hmmmm.... I am liking this idea as a start.

[Shumabot]

Kylere, on 19 February 2013 - 07:34 AM, said:

You know, they should just hook up Redshift with some MC and call him the "Patch Ambassador"

That's not a bad idea, a lot of companies use their mod staff to push content info to the forums.

[That Dawg]

Is it wrong to declare I'm all atwitter waiting for the patch?

[Taryys]

ThatDawg, on 19 February 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Is it wrong to declare I'm all atwitter waiting for the patch?

I will not hold it against you.

[Furmansky]

Hmmm can't wait. I actually have off next week so I will enjoy it more
Game is getting better again finally, I'll try to get few pepes back onboard after this one.
And thanks Redshift for the well put together info. I would get you a beer if I could.

[Arkmaus]

Thanks for the info, Redshift!

P.S. Did you play Silent Hunter?

[Redshift2k5]

Arkmaus, on 19 February 2013 - 08:24 AM, said:

Thanks for the info, Redshift!

P.S. Did you play Silent Hunter?

I have no idea what that is, so no?

[Arkmaus]

Redshift2k5, on 19 February 2013 - 08:42 AM, said:

I have no idea what that is, so no?

Haha no worries.

I knew a guy that played it (Submarine Simulator) back in the day with the name RedShift.