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@Cryptic/PWE: Why are you not delivering what your customers are asking for?

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  • ambisinisterrambisinisterr Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
    edited June 2013
    zlainfurry wrote: »
    You're implying that they are just starting on the class like nowish, how long do you think they've had so far working on the classes? Also, in coding, more people on a project does directly equate to shorter time to completion. The bigger your staff, the more you get done earlier.

    As a programmer myself I have to say you're missing one crucial piece of the equation.

    Let's say that developing a piece of content is equivalent to cleaning out a one car garage. That's certainly a job that gets completed faster if more than one person works on it but also at some point so many people be working in such a small space that they start tripping each other and actually reduces efficiency. It's really not a 1:1 developers:speed ratio.

    However what does happens is that you have an optimal number of people "cleaning multiple garages" so that more "garages are cleaned" in the same amount of time.

    It's obviously not a very mechanically similar situation but mathematically it very similar. You can only have so many developers work on a single piece of content until they start stepping on each others toes. The solution to releasing content faster isn't as simple as higher a ton of staff. That will get *more* content out but it won't necessarily increase the speed of production.
  • zlainfurryzlainfurry Banned Users Posts: 163 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    My point is their game is failing and if they would like to avoid that, then they should listen to their customer base. Name a single piece of content that has been released that the community clamored for. O wait there is none. No Raids, no new classes, no new tier of loot, new pvp modes. Star Wars' huge problem was they rushed you to max lvl and didn't supply enough end game content to sustain the player base while more came out. This game did the same thing but on a much larger scale. At least SWTOR had 2 raids with 2 different difficulties, this game has only the zones you'd use to gear up for those types of instances. Secret World is another instance that did the same thing but still slightly better then NW, at least they released a raid within a month and a half of the game being available.

    This game has been out since Apr, and you can say "open beta" all you want, but that is because you're a blind sheep. Nothing changed with how a consumer acquired this game between Jun 19 and Jun 20. The cash shop has been live the whole time. There was no roll back, not even for the crazy AD exploitation. People got banned for it, when it should have all been testing and dealt with before "open beta" even started. These people are ran by a Chinese company and take their orders from them. They don't care what your american or british pasty *** thinks or wants.
  • jayws84jayws84 Member Posts: 42
    edited June 2013
    I didn't even bring it up since I don't see how it's relevant, but I completely agree with ambisnisterrr. I have also worked with programming, and besides what he mentions - that you can basically only have a set amount of people working on a set amount of content at one time - there's something else to bring into the equation: coding isn't as simple as "sit down and do it". They certainly have different people for different tasks, with people not always being available and/or even able to jump in wherever they are needed. AI programmers are not the same as level designers, for instance.
  • jayws84jayws84 Member Posts: 42
    edited June 2013
    zlainfurry wrote: »
    My point is their game is failing and if they would like to avoid that, then they should listen to their customer base. Name a single piece of content that has been released that the community clamored for. O wait there is none. No Raids, no new classes, no new tier of loot, new pvp modes.

    And that is exactly what my initial post was about. Read it again.
  • zlainfurryzlainfurry Banned Users Posts: 163 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    I never said anything about a diminishing returns and i should have. Regardless, it just seems to me like there are simply not enough people on classes if a single one hasn't been released yet. You obviously are not at the point of diminishing returns. It's not like you're rewriting all the class code or something, templates are there for all the workings.
  • czarkazmczarkazm Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    Not doom to movies in general, but overall, the box office would lose out big time. The amount of people that would pay to see Avatar, The Avengers, Star Trek in 3D IMAX let alone plain old regular showings vs the amount of people that would pay to see ...idk, Love Actually in 3D IMAX or something, or just wait and get it from redbox for $1?

    Movies would live on, of course, but clearly the top 10 is beefy with action content. They deliver more of what people want and the bucks keep coming. you see what I'm saying?
    I see what you are saying, but what I am trying to tell you is that it's a logical fallacy that is not born out by reality.
  • czarkazmczarkazm Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    zlainfurry wrote: »
    You're implying that they are just starting on the class like nowish, how long do you think they've had so far working on the classes? Also, in coding, more people on a project does directly equate to shorter time to completion. The bigger your staff, the more you get done earlier.

    You clearly are not a programmer, although you would probably make a good program manager. The law of diminishing returns applies here like you couldn't even believe.

    For what it's worth, I get what you are saying. As I have said several times, I was disappointed myself. I may even have to stop playing for a little while till they can come up with new things to interest me.

    It's just that I don't expect them to tell us what they are working on, or why it's not working. It's entirely possible that they went to release the new class, did some playtesting, and found out there was something horribly broken, like there was with GF a couple weeks ago. Remember what a complaint-fest that caused? So now they have to fix it. Maybe they are considering changing some base mechanics, who knows? I certainly don't and I refuse to start throwing blame out there without being informed.
  • zlainfurryzlainfurry Banned Users Posts: 163 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    czarkazm wrote: »
    You clearly are not a programmer, although you would probably make a good program manager. The law of diminishing returns applies here like you couldn't even believe.

    post 4 minutes after my follow up, and ignore it moar please.
  • ambisinisterrambisinisterr Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
    edited June 2013
    jayws84 wrote: »
    I didn't even bring it up since I don't see how it's relevant, but I completely agree with ambisnisterrr. I have also worked with programming, and besides what he mentions - that you can basically only have a set amount of people working on a set amount of content at one time - there's something else to bring into the equation: coding isn't as simple as "sit down and do it". They certainly have different people for different tasks, with people not always being available and/or even able to jump in wherever they are needed. AI programmers are not the same as level designers, for instance.

    It's a lot of tossing back and forth.

    Just for a class you would look something like this:

    Designer > Producer > Combat Programmer > Animator > Quality Control > Character Graphics team > Animation Graphics > Quality Control > Live

    In Reality every ">" is a spot where the Producer And/or the Designer could say 'I think it would be better if you did this' or worse yet 'I don't like this do it over.' Plus I know I am missing steps and this is just a fraction of the amount of steps it would take to develop a class.

    Oddly enough the most time consuming part of development is waiting for people to be ready to start working on something. Nobody simply twiddles their thumbs waiting so when it's time to put textures on the classes and gear the project could sit in hiatus until the graphics team is actually ready to work on the armor graphics because chances are when they have the project handed to them they are already working on a different piece of content.

    It's just the way the industry is. That's how software development in any field is.
    And despite anybody's attempts to change that system it has proven to be the most efficient every time.

    The number of people doesn't really improve things. It allows for more content to come out but it doesn't speed up the process at all really.
  • aorin84aorin84 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    czarkazm wrote: »
    I see what you are saying, but what I am trying to tell you is that it's a logical fallacy that is not born out by reality.

    Clearly you don't. My movie allegory is about businesses should be making products their customers want, that they directly ask to be made for them. In the case of movies, ticket purchases. The volume of sales for movies like Avatar vastly exceed movies like Yogi Bear.

    Cryptic is making us more Yogi Bears instead of more Avatars.
  • czarkazmczarkazm Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    Clearly you don't. My movie allegory is about businesses should be making products their customers want, that they directly ask to be made for them. In the case of movies, ticket purchases. The volume of sales for movies like Avatar vastly exceed movies like Yogi Bear.

    Cryptic is making us more Yogi Bears instead of more Avatars.
    And if the rate of return on yogi bears is higher than it is on Avatars?
  • aorin84aorin84 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    czarkazm wrote: »
    And if the rate of return on yogi bears is higher than it is on Avatars?

    Now you're just being silly :P
  • cdnbisoncdnbison Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 806 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Funny, I don't recall the public clamoring for the return of 3d movies when Avatar started filming. In fact, I'm pretty sure Cameron was laughed at for suggesting people wanted to see movies in 3d.

    Sometimes, the public is wrong about what they want.
  • runebanerunebane Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    You are manufacturing "Product Y" when your customers have been asking for "Product X".

    This is just what all game companies do. Just because players want something doesn't mean its good for the game. The people in charge make the decisions based on what they can do and what is good. Then players hope to get something close to what they want. Besides quite a bit of the features listed in module one are wanted by players (companion upgrades).

    For example they promised the pack buyers they'd get 60 days of exclusive drow. So they can't give everyone drow before then. If they go back on their word no one would trust them. Less people buy packs. They lose money. Less money to develop new stuff for the game.

    Myself, I am more worried about their way of fixing things. People complained that the zen shop wolf mounts were too small. Much smaller than the armored worg on display. Instead of making them bigger they shrunk the display mount. People complained about most of the Leadership tasks being crud compared to the Protect Caravan one... now the preview notes say they cut Protect Caravan's AD reward in half. Hate that myself. But just because I don't like it or understand it, doesn't mean its not best for the game.
    Halgarth's Legacy - NWS-DSTGFZHFR
  • ganjaman1ganjaman1 Member Posts: 792 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I wonder when will they fix the dungeons , all these glitches and exploits left the dungeon queue empty .
  • cdnbisoncdnbison Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 806 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I'd disagree on this point. New content gets people to fire up their old characters. New classes means they start from scratch, needing to spend on bags, mounts, companions, respecs...
  • c2n2c2n2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    The game is one day out of Beta.
    One day.
    One....
    Day....
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    Furthermore, in what universe do people get banned for finding bugs and exploits in a game that is supposedly in a "beta" state?
    The entire thing with the auction house/astral diamonds and their suspensions and bans is just proof that this game has in fact been in a "live" state for the past two months. In every game I've ever beta tested, finding such exploits and bugs are rewarded (definitely not PUNISHED), so that they are eliminated from the "live" version. This whole promise of not having wipes during open beta was in actuality a Head Start sort of thing, which encouraged people to spend their money/zen on things with the comfort that their progress would not be erased. Essentially, we Quality Tested their game for them, found major problems with it and that's that.

    There is a difference between Finding Exploits and Exploiting. Just as there is a difference between noticing the shop assistant left the till open and reaching in and taking money out of it.

    Given that there was no wipes at the end of beta then they needed to respond to the exploiters as though it was a live situation because any amount of exploiting could, and would affect the economy when the game went live. Besides as I said during Caturday, it's better that they set a precedence for coming down hard on exploiters and gold sellers now than letting them get away with it and having people cite it as precedence later.
  • hkiewahkiewa Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 379 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    ganjaman1 wrote: »
    I wonder when will they fix the dungeons , all these glitches and exploits left the dungeon queue empty .

    There is no queue, it is a lie.
  • delionivercourtdelionivercourt Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 86
    edited June 2013
    I personally think they should not give any information other than subtle hints as to what is coming and little thought provoking ideas on content that is coming, however I forget this is the day and age most people think they should be told everything right now. I like the idea that we dont know til it is released what is coming down the road until it is actually released.
  • savnokasavnoka Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    Every time they "fix" something, they break something else.

    That's like the Cryptic motto.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    savnoka wrote: »
    That's like the Cryptic motto.

    Try the motto of everyone who writes computer code.
  • magoguitarristamagoguitarrista Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 105
    edited June 2013
    c2n2 wrote: »
    The game is one day out of Beta.
    One day.
    One....
    Day....

    When the game was on closed beta that was the excuse, when it starts open beta that was the excuse, now you are excusing the troubles by saying the game its one day out of beta? funny
    When we reach the year you will keep justifying the mediocrity whit the same sh*t? :)
  • wingsforwingsfor Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Do you really think they told you everything about Module 1? It's not due for another month or two. It would be incredibly foolish to reveal all of the cards in their hand this early on. They only confirmed what is in the expansion pack. They have not confirmed what isn't in it. :p

    dude do u relize when they decide to show all their cards, there might be noone around anymore who wants to see them?
    are we supposed to do GG for 2 months now? what im really interested in is how much players did the game gain since official start..couse only those players might be around in 2 months time. for the rest, there is simply nothing to do.
  • magoguitarristamagoguitarrista Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 105
    edited June 2013
    aorin84 wrote: »
    Every time they "fix" something, they break something else.
    Auction House, Gateway, Guardian Fighter block, logging in, their new content GG was disabled less than 24 hours after being pushed out to live.

    This is a whole other subject. I'm focusing on their promise of "new content" that isn't the new content the majority have been clamoring for.

    That's because they need to fix the development team first(fire all and contract some people with vision), and then and only then starting fix game issues...
    Otherwise the game will die before being born, like Xbox One before they decide to remove the restrictions (Anyway the damage its already done)
  • riqitariqita Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 297 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    Primary answer to this thread is that all of the new material being introduced has been planned since way before Beta and any player feedback.
    New classes is already in the works. When the code is ready to play is another matter entirely. I would expect to see new classes in Fury of the Feywild. Plenty of time before an announcement is necessary. Same with more Paragon paths.
    Playable Drow will likely be available in August - 60 days after launch. Complaints will be warranted if the don't appear (with no further explanation) by September.
    Hold out on Drow is so the Founders can feel elite for a while. Patience is a virtue. I don't think the community needs whiners to take up the battle cry for people who aren't actually complaining.
  • hkfrenchtoasthkfrenchtoast Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 24 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    The thing you guys don't understand is... It takes time to code things into a game. Even a simple game of Tic Tac Toe can take around a few hours for someone to code. There could be bugs and exploits that they need to fix. Have a little faith and be patient.

    The reason Drow isn't playable is so the Founder can feel special for a while.
  • urlagurlag Member Posts: 68
    edited June 2013
    @aorin84
    when they announced the founder pack with the menzo rogue, they also stated that it was going to be an early access for drow, and the official release of drow for every1 won't be in game until at least 60 days after RELEASE (not from that date) which means at least 60 days after june 20, 2013.

    also, if they announced absolutely everything that was going to be in mod1 when they 1st announced the name of it but kept the current release date, you wouldn't be complaining about what is/isn't in it. instead you would be complaining about how long u have to wait. the reason they only announce a little at a time, is that those entries are either finished or close to finished. why would a game company tell their player base things about major content updates when its not clear that they are going to be able to get to it? and about things that cryptic confirmed were going to be released but never made it in game, those didnt make it because of all of the whiners on the forums. their time was spent more towards crowd control than progress, and all of the QQ'ers on forums are the reason why.

    maybe you should gather all of the facts before slamming any particular subject

    i, for one, am glad cryptic took this project. it would have gone a hell of a lot worse if just about any major game developer would have gotten it instead, because most of the major game developers care more about money than their players (i.e. blizzard, ea, etc.). cryptic has proven that they care about their players by having prompt response's and quick fixes. if you think other-wise, then you're not seeing the bigger picture. noone can ever please every1. cryptic chooses to please the section of the playerbase that doesn't think of only themselves
  • spyke2009spyke2009 Member Posts: 674 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    OP:

    You're wasting your time bringing this up.

    That's it... there's nothing else to add to that. At the end of the day, all you can do is claim that you subjectively think the game is being grossly mismanaged and go play something else.
    urlag wrote: »
    @aorin84
    when they announced the founder pack with the menzo rogue, they also stated that it was going to be an early access for drow, and the official release of drow for every1 won't be in game until at least 60 days after RELEASE (not from that date) which means at least 60 days after june 20, 2013.

    also, if they announced absolutely everything that was going to be in mod1 when they 1st announced the name of it but kept the current release date, you wouldn't be complaining about what is/isn't in it. instead you would be complaining about how long u have to wait. the reason they only announce a little at a time, is that those entries are either finished or close to finished. why would a game company tell their player base things about major content updates when its not clear that they are going to be able to get to it? and about things that cryptic confirmed were going to be released but never made it in game, those didnt make it because of all of the whiners on the forums. their time was spent more towards crowd control than progress, and all of the QQ'ers on forums are the reason why.

    maybe you should gather all of the facts before slamming any particular subject

    i, for one, am glad cryptic took this project. it would have gone a hell of a lot worse if just about any major game developer would have gotten it instead, because most of the major game developers care more about money than their players (i.e. blizzard, ea, etc.). cryptic has proven that they care about their players by having prompt response's and quick fixes. if you think other-wise, then you're not seeing the bigger picture. noone can ever please every1. cryptic chooses to please the section of the playerbase that doesn't think of only themselves

    This is correct about the release date. The rest descends into borderline ad hominem garbage afterwards though.

    Let me reiterate so you however understand my meaning, CRYPTIC, do what their publisher tells them. That's it. It doesn't matter one iota what any of CRYPTIC wan't to do, if PWE storms into their offices and demands this game become about pink fluffy dragons to appeal to the 5-10 age group, they will effing recode the game to be about pink fluffy dragons, and they are not obliged to tell the players one iota if they're told not to. Does it REALLY matter who the game went to developer wise as an IP? as opposed to which PUBLISHER it went to?

    I think not. I'm sure Cryptic are great people, I have all the respect in the world for them. I just wish people would stop mixing up the monkeys from the organ grinder.

    Edit:

    And if you're of the kind to defend a publisher as opposed to a developer, you have serious comprehension issues.
  • psion6psion6 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    So the Op is wasting time by stating truth?

    The devs may or may not listen, but there's a valuable lesson to be learned here from SWTOR. They also didn't listen to what their customers wanted, and it lost them millions of players for not listening to their community.

    I happen to agree with this issue. I think they are focusing internal resources on the wrong things. What people at the end-game want are:

    -New classes to play (Ranger & Warlock primarily)
    -New PvP gear thats bought with PvP currency and itemized correctly for each class (GWF itemization is terribad)
    -Reliable way to get good end-game PvE gear
    -An end-game dungeon you dont have to exploit or cheese your way through to complete (it still should be very hard)
    -Balanced Classes
    -A balanced and fair economy that doesnt take a year's saving of astral diamonds to pay for one of the more rare enchantments
    -A cost of removing enchantments that doesnt completely break your AD reserves and leave you begging


    Are they implementing any of this? Nah...we got some new content on the way no one cares about. I think a lot of teams development teams can't see the day to day perspective of the little people, and their game suffers for it.

    They have already lost players because of the issues above (including many of my guildies, unfortunately), and will continue to lose players if the correct issues are not focused upon and implemented in a reasonable amount of time.

    SWTOR and the massive exodus of their playerbase is the biggest example of what could happen to NW if they do not listen. They would be wise to heed the advice of the folks in this thread, as it gives a pretty good outline of the pulse of the people.

    I think the cost of respeccing and pulling out enchantments is one of the things key things that needs to be addressed. 150K for yanking out an enchantment you still want or would like to combine with new drops? Puh lease...Thats god awful ridiculous. I understand F2P and all that, but at some point you have to stop <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> your own customers. In the end we are the ones keeping the lights on for this game.
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