test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Bugs? Bugs? Bugs!
allikitten80
Member Posts: 8 Arc User
Okay, normally I don't post in the forums but I really need to let this out because it is infuriating and frustrating.
Has Cryptic absolutely no playtesters at all in their development team? If they're there, what do they do, sit around stuffing Doritos down their throats and texting their girlfriends? I mean, seriously, one play through in this game and I have more bugs than I can count on my fingers and toes combined. And the worst part is they're so obvious even a dog playing this game could sniff them out.
I'm not even going to bother to report them because they're so obvious and there's so many of them. Things like objects not spawning, getting stuck inside walls and objects, away team losing its pathing and getting stuck themselves, it happens literally on a daily basis.
It's a real shame that a game like this - which obviously has had so much love and attention to it, with a lot of real nice content and so addicting to play - could be littered with such a grotesque number of annoying flaws which would probably take no more than 5 minutes each to fix - maybe 30 for the tougher ones. But why are they so bad? Because you almost finish a mission - only to get stopped in your tracks by one of these and have to do it all over again! And what's worse? You have to do that again, and again, and again. Repetition is NOT conducive to enjoyable game play.
And what's worse, there's a ton of "buy! buy! buy" incentives in this game, but where is the money going? Really? I mean if you imagine the rarity of those ships that get spammed in the game world constantly with people opening lockboxes, multiply that by about 250 (which is how rare those ships are), you KNOW they're making the rolls right now. At LEAST thousands of dollars off the lockboxes alone, considering the rarity of those damn ships.
I didn't spend much money in this game, but with what has become painfully obvious to me - Cryptic's business model, I am glad I didn't.
I know Cryptic is ultimately a corporation and they're in it for the money, but seriously - give a little bit back, would you? Fix the game, it's not much to ask. At least get some of the more annoying bugs out of the way.
I'm sorry for the rant but it had to be said. This is really out of hand ... I love the game but I can't love the bugs that come with it.
Has Cryptic absolutely no playtesters at all in their development team? If they're there, what do they do, sit around stuffing Doritos down their throats and texting their girlfriends? I mean, seriously, one play through in this game and I have more bugs than I can count on my fingers and toes combined. And the worst part is they're so obvious even a dog playing this game could sniff them out.
I'm not even going to bother to report them because they're so obvious and there's so many of them. Things like objects not spawning, getting stuck inside walls and objects, away team losing its pathing and getting stuck themselves, it happens literally on a daily basis.
It's a real shame that a game like this - which obviously has had so much love and attention to it, with a lot of real nice content and so addicting to play - could be littered with such a grotesque number of annoying flaws which would probably take no more than 5 minutes each to fix - maybe 30 for the tougher ones. But why are they so bad? Because you almost finish a mission - only to get stopped in your tracks by one of these and have to do it all over again! And what's worse? You have to do that again, and again, and again. Repetition is NOT conducive to enjoyable game play.
And what's worse, there's a ton of "buy! buy! buy" incentives in this game, but where is the money going? Really? I mean if you imagine the rarity of those ships that get spammed in the game world constantly with people opening lockboxes, multiply that by about 250 (which is how rare those ships are), you KNOW they're making the rolls right now. At LEAST thousands of dollars off the lockboxes alone, considering the rarity of those damn ships.
I didn't spend much money in this game, but with what has become painfully obvious to me - Cryptic's business model, I am glad I didn't.
I know Cryptic is ultimately a corporation and they're in it for the money, but seriously - give a little bit back, would you? Fix the game, it's not much to ask. At least get some of the more annoying bugs out of the way.
I'm sorry for the rant but it had to be said. This is really out of hand ... I love the game but I can't love the bugs that come with it.
Post edited by allikitten80 on
0
Comments
Beyond that, bugs happen in games. It took SWTOR over 2 months to sort out all the problems from it's 1.3 patch.
Sure.... 2 days may not expose all bugs, but they are fixed as they appear, and there isn't anything cryptic can do...
Yea... I didn buy that either...
If you really believe that, you obviously have never truly understood business and common sense.
Yes, players themselves are testers, but only to an extent. The big issue is: Games need to be tested (patches as well) before they are released to the public. The public (i.e. paying customer) is the audience. These are the people you are doing it for.
We are not hired by Cryptic to test their game, and that is not our job. If we are, we should be receiving money from them, not paying them. Our role in the success in the company is to compensate the developers for their work, and to enjoy their product. Yes, Cryptic can, and as I am aware in fact does allow people to test content before it is released; hence the Tribble server. And that is all and well. But it was never said players' jobs to do so, they did it because they chose to. They volunteered to do so, without compensation. And sometimes that is its own reward. But it should not be compulsory for any player to do so, and that is why servers are divided between "release" and "testing." And just because there are beta testers does not ever mean a company can eliminate any sort of paid testing team. And besides, such a form of outsourcing is extremely limited in its usefulness, as beta testers are not properly trained in how to search for and properly diagnose bugs.
To say that it is the customer's job to fix a malfunctioning game is not only poor business sense, it is a setup for failure for any company, and if Cryptic has ever said anything even remotely close to what you have just posted, I am happy I never found it.
Such a thing would be really beneficial.
You don't need to test every single mission, but having a list of every different type of mission would be helpful. i.e. "okay so this is the comet mission, it should spawn 3 fragments and 9 shards," etc, etc, simple things like that. And just making a note after 2 or 3 play throughs if it fails so that it can be fixed.
Time. Playtesting takes time. do you think that Cryptic really has enough playtesters that they can go through everything in the game for every WEEKLY patch? I don't.
You'd think that it'd be as simple as testing only what was updated, but.... some changes have what are called "ripple effects" that may not be predictable. Night of the comet is a good example. They added something seemingly minor to the map, they probably even playtested the mission. But on the live server, the comet now doesn't spawn peices reliably. what's the connection? I HAVE NO IDEA. I'm not sure the programmers do either. Computer programmers get paid big bucks because it's HARD.
My character Tsin'xing
(Though I wonder, how many times has the 'Build' been broken at Cryptic???)
When it is broken to the point that you can not pass the forcefield in the first 1/3 of the map..
When it is game content that is definately going to be played by MANY players each day...
You know it has not been tested properly. I have seen bugs in every game I've ever played yes, but never so many at one time. And when bugs did show up in full force, the server was down for 4-24 hours and it was fixed ASAP. (And that was rare). Bugs of this proportion (that made content unplayable) should be announced, and addressed now. Here we are 7 days later.
Do I like Star Trek and the general concept of STO? Yes. And I will be patient, because thankfully I do not have to pay to play.:D
There is one flaw in your logic, then.
If playtesting and programming are so hard, why release weekly patches? Just as an example, as buggy as WoW is, patches are tested for weeks before they go live. No game is ever perfect, not even WoW, when it hits the live audience, but some companies DO take the time and effort to get most of it right - especially the glaringly obvious stuff - before the worst critics get a hold of it. And believe me, the current patch WoW has now, underwent a lot of major testing and fixes. I was part of the beta when a lot of it was actually broke.
Of course, WoW is only one example, but it is as decent as any to make my point.
I am NOT demanding perfection or any standard that is impossible to maintain. But at least in WoW I am not constantly abandoning missions to come back to them on a daily basis because I get stuck in a wall.
p.s. it's not "Mr. Kitten" btw.