I am a computer programmer. Depending on their setup it would take anywhere from 2 seconds to five minutes to fix this problem from a technical standpoint. If it is the five minute fix, it would also require a server reset, which no one would complain about.
I considered this argument at first. As a developer of 15 years I see this mess and think, had it been my design that t-bar market would be a small database that the items could be easily inserted into. Then I think about it and realize, they have that claims agent in PE for a reason, is that the only one that easy to add random stuff to?
In regards to all the people supporting them by saying they need to make money some how, this is not the way to do it.
As I mentioned before their actions here caused me to look at how much I spend on this game and they WERE making $0.69/hour off me based on the number of hours XBL says I have played and the $$ I have spent.
I would likely balk at spending that outright like that, but hidden as a microtransaction, buying keys, etc... Well it happened.
Pastor Martin Niemöller had it right, but remember, before they come for anyone, they silence all, because to have discourse, is to breed discontent.
To elaborate on potentially high costs if its a client side change (and forgive me the computer slang), imagine that in order to make the wards appear in the Trade Bar store they have to:
1) Save whatever work the dev was working on and sync the dev box to the old version of XBox game code which we are running. 1 hour. 2) Make change to the resource table which is part of the application package. Add some missing images whey haven't included. Compile. Build. Test. Could take 1-4 hours. 3) Make translations for other languages. Even if it was translated before, people who make these changes are usually different from the devs, in a different timezone, etc. Could take a day or more. 4) Upload the packaged application to XBox sandbox for verification. Takes a couple of hours probably if done manually. 5) Wait for Microsoft to verify and approve the new application package. Not sure how long it takes, but probably 3-5 business days at least. 6) Schedule patch, publish package from test sandbox to prod. Another day or two. You see how it could take a week or two and make 100K users download a new patch.
Of course, if it is just a server side change then that would probably be as much as it take to write and run a few scripts they use to manage the servers. Probably database query or maybe a shell one. Plus a server reset. Should be doable in 1-2 days.
I am a computer programmer. Depending on their setup it would take anywhere from 2 seconds to five minutes to fix this problem from a technical standpoint. If it is the five minute fix, it would also require a server reset, which no one would complain about.
In regards to all the people supporting them by saying they need to make money some how, this is not the way to do it. Had they just left the coal wards in there, the price would have dropped, those wards would have been used, the trade bars with which they were purchased would quickly deplete. (Math tells us that if you had 7500 trade bars and bought only c wards, that's 100 upgrades. Assuming you don't bother with them till rank 11 and 12, which most will start earlier, that's now fifty gems. 20 on one end game character. 12 for his companions, disregarding slotted equipment on them. This means roughly 3 end game characters eat all those bars, if they started using wards on the way to rank 11. ) people now need more wards. They see that $10 price tag and consider it. They instead buy some keys, maybe they get lucky. Worse case scenario, they get the bars to buy their ward. They quickly realize they have to buy a few stacks of ten to amount to 75 bars. They don't want to give up now, what's a few more keys?
I don't see how any players(though obviously a minority) are defending the actions here.
Im thinking they have a few PR people trying to throw us off track by posting different views that take up for the devs. Ive seen tweets that are obviously overly supporting of the PW/Cryptic staff and saying the T bar switch is no big deal. I think theres a few here also .
@randomdigits#2166 even if it takes 2 weeks to execute the entire process, it only takes a few minutes to type up an announcement that states exactly that.
But the amount of currency currently in circulation would cause a crash in cost of Coalescent Wards and Blood Rubies in the auction house, which means no one would need to buy them with Zen. When Zen traded at ~110 this fall, Coalescent Wards dipped below 100k. Purchased with 15% off coupons players were undercutting each other to take advantage of the low price. If they return 75 Coals back, doubtless, we are headed for the bottom, likely less that 100k. How long that crash would be perpetuated is anybody's guess, but it must have terrified them over at PWE. "
For me, this is the question that they are likely struggling with.
You may very well be right but that I think is one of the horrible symptoms of things wrong in American businesses now. For years everyone has talked about how Gen X people think they deserve everything, and are owed everything. .... There are more than a smattering of reports of high attrition with this mod (couldn't tell you personally as I have held to my refusal to log in until this is over). People are leaving. It could be they want to make sure people come back over the weekend before they commit to a long term course of action. Right now they just may be waiting to take a breath. I think though that someone is holding on to a dream of how the numbers could have been if they hadn't totally screwed this up.
Just to be clear, I don't use the wards - but I do think this is a real problem. The stealth edit, the lack of warning, the lack of response... all a real worry. A far bigger worry than the lack of cheap wards to buy. This should have been seen sooner. When they found out they needed to do a proper news post (not stealth edit). They should have looked into helping people who had brought keys expecting the promoted changes without being forced.
Casual Gamers
Join us brothers and sisters and distant relations and confused onlookers.
Join us in the shadows where we stand mostly vigilant... although slightly distracted by our inventories. "In war, unqualified. In peace, disorganised. In death, mild irritation."
@randomdigits#2166 even if it takes 2 weeks to execute the entire process, it only takes a few minutes to type up an announcement that states exactly that.
I think it got lost between my multiple messages that I don't suggest it as excuse for the lack of prompt communication, in fact I think it's a big mistake that many other, bigger companies have made in the past (Pentium FDIV is my favorite) and which is no longer a common practice if you are planning to be a successful IT business.
I'm just hypothesizing while waiting for the team response, giving them benefit of the doubt. Depending on the mood, you may also hear me mentioning "Hanlon's razor", which is "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".
I find it highly disrespectful to us that there is no statement yet or update not even a "hey guys we are still" its been over 24 hrs since last statement or official response at this point they are losing players by the loads. I've been checking back regularly I just want a yes or no answer if they wait till Monday.........don't even want to think about that
yetweallfalldown has posted twice to reddit in the last hour or so
an hour ago
Before we get into a very brief thing that I want to say about this thread, we are still working on our official communication for this. It is in the final process and am hoping that it goes out tonight. Just preemptively addressing any comments about us not working on the situation.
Now to talk about the speculation in this thread. Andy is going to be fine. I say that confidently as I'm Andy's manager, so I know with 100% certainty. I also want to take the opportunity to reiterate publicly what some of you mentioned and say that I'm super proud of that dude.
14 minutes ago
It will be posted on our forums, linked via Twitter/Facebook and I will post it on Reddit. It is important that the community hears this message from us, so we will send it out as far as we can.
kreatyveMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 10,545Community Moderator
Closing this thread up since they have posted an update with how they plan to handle it. You can find that thread here.
My opinions are my own. I do not work for PWE or Cryptic. - Forum Rules - Protector's Enclave Discord - I play on Xbox Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official. Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
Comments
As I mentioned before their actions here caused me to look at how much I spend on this game and they WERE making $0.69/hour off me based on the number of hours XBL says I have played and the $$ I have spent.
I would likely balk at spending that outright like that, but hidden as a microtransaction, buying keys, etc... Well it happened.
SoonerGM - HR Trapper
Haven - Righteous Cleric
Ethereal Justice - OP Paladin
1) Save whatever work the dev was working on and sync the dev box to the old version of XBox game code which we are running. 1 hour.
2) Make change to the resource table which is part of the application package. Add some missing images whey haven't included. Compile. Build. Test. Could take 1-4 hours.
3) Make translations for other languages. Even if it was translated before, people who make these changes are usually different from the devs, in a different timezone, etc. Could take a day or more.
4) Upload the packaged application to XBox sandbox for verification. Takes a couple of hours probably if done manually.
5) Wait for Microsoft to verify and approve the new application package. Not sure how long it takes, but probably 3-5 business days at least.
6) Schedule patch, publish package from test sandbox to prod. Another day or two.
You see how it could take a week or two and make 100K users download a new patch.
Of course, if it is just a server side change then that would probably be as much as it take to write and run a few scripts they use to manage the servers. Probably database query or maybe a shell one. Plus a server reset. Should be doable in 1-2 days.
SoonerGM - HR Trapper
Haven - Righteous Cleric
Ethereal Justice - OP Paladin
This should have been seen sooner. When they found out they needed to do a proper news post (not stealth edit). They should have looked into helping people who had brought keys expecting the promoted changes without being forced.
Join us brothers and sisters and distant relations and confused onlookers.
Join us in the shadows where we stand mostly vigilant... although slightly distracted by our inventories.
"In war, unqualified. In peace, disorganised. In death, mild irritation."
JOIN US.
SoonerGM - HR Trapper
Haven - Righteous Cleric
Ethereal Justice - OP Paladin
I'm just hypothesizing while waiting for the team response, giving them benefit of the doubt. Depending on the mood, you may also hear me mentioning "Hanlon's razor", which is "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".
Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official.
Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!