I have not played much in weeks. Because the last update for me at least was terrible. I propose ther be a minimum participation on tribble and testing on the changes proposed. Before they are implemented. For two main reasons. 1. to properly test the new content to catch bugs before they happen. 2. To make sure its what we want to begin with. There have been major changes to the gameplay of STO. Some good and some bad. I realise you cannot please everyone. But whats the point if you are the one pleased wtih the game the way it is. They change it to make it better at the exspense of those who may like the game just as it is. When I log in and dont like an update. I have no choice but to say goodbye to what made STO fun for me. Im not sure how many people feel as I do. But some changes go way to far. Im just saying everyone listens to those who want the changes. And very little if any consideration is being given to making sure they got it right to begin with. Im never against changes. Its just to much to fast and the bugs prove that. You make the game unplayable!!
Tribble is a good thing to preview and bugtest new features, but it doesnt help to prevent every single bug.
For example the Textures on the Bridges of the "Federation Bridge Pack III: Research Science Vessel" were fixed perfectly on Tribble (before there were some minor annoyances in the LCARS textures), then the Holodeck Update came and the complete Bridge had LCARS textures all over it now... (the walls, the captains chair... all LCARS now!)
So fact is, even if it works perfectly on Tribble and is such a small thing as a stupid Texture on a Wall the Update for Holodeck still can go horribly wrong!
Besides the past Tribbe incentive, there is not much that can be done to encourage people to play on a test shard.
Its really simple. They just wont update the game until a certain amount of players participate and actually try it out. For all of those people who propose changes. Why are you not participating? If the changes are good they will hold up to a little criticizm!
I dont think its right to continue to expect bugs in the game. Cryptics goals should always be better quality. I dont want them to plan for failure and expect new bugs. We deserve better than this. I expect better than this. We deseverve better than that!! Whats wrong with raising the bar on standards? WHy is everyone in such a hurry to update the game to make changes that have new bugs?
If they put changes I'm interested in on the test server, then I'll test them. I don't care about crafting, and I don't do STFs. I wouldn't be able to provide any useful feedback.
I don't spend much time in Tribble. I'm currently Playtesting two other upcoming MMOs so whatever time I have free is usually spent actually gaming in STO (or another MMO). I trust in the existing Tribble community to catch whatever bugs might slip through. They did a pretty good job on the 1.1 update, IMO.
I was planning on heading over there this weekend, actually. Read some cool things are afoot. Too much of what's coming interests me.
The trouble I'm having is my work schedule is in overdrive, cutting for BigCrits and DCT Concerts is backing up, and the day job still hasn't said yes to my summer hours proposal. Makes it difficult to justify doing things that don't immediately impact my live characters.
Now, if they were to do another Tribble of Borg type giveaway... (what's a Species 8472 Tribble look like?)
Thanks for the feedback. I think if we want an update and expect it to be good. We need to help test it. If there are not enough people testing it. They should hold back the update until we have enough people and feedback on the changes. Maybe its OK the way it is. I just felt the need to question the whole process. For me its stands to reason if there are still bugs then the updates are not ready. And more feedback on game changes and tweaks that might go a litle to far would be helpful!!
If they need to say we need 500 or 1000 more testers for TRIBBLE amount of hours before they move to the next stage. Then I think thats exactly what they should do. A good example would be. If I wanted better PVP balance and was complaining about it on the forums. The Dev would post and say stop complaining and go on tribble and help test the very things you want. Then maybe we can make it happen. If we want a good game we need to help test it. Im certain Cryptic would bhe glad to leave things as they are. Because it is because we want it different then it is now that they make these changes. We need to help them tst the very things we want changed.
i meant more permanent incentives, like play XX hours and get a pick of XX skin for XX ship
The Borg Tribble is permanent. I personally think Tribble Testing should be limited to character titles, free Retcons, and other things which don't cause issues with the rest of the fan-base.
The Borg Tribble is permanent. I personally think Tribble Testing should be limited to character titles, free Retcons, and other things which don't cause issues with the rest of the fan-base.
Borg tribble is extremely limited to borg only, which is what i meant with not so permanent (even more so as the borg are just a "nuissance" according to the devs)
also i doubt it will run into many real objections (even though i know it will going with all the feeling of entitlement going about here) of the community as people who test will just contribute to a better and more bugfree game.
Besides the past Tribbe incentive, there is not much that can be done to encourage people to play on a test shard.
That's why Tribble should be free to play for everyone...you can't get feedback when there's no one there to play and you can't test if you don't have people to test.
That's why Tribble should be free to play for everyone...you can't get feedback when there's no one there to play and you can't test if you don't have people to test.
If Tribble were free to everyone no one would pay to play on the Holodeck.
I dont want poeple who dont play to be testing my game. Their opinions and views would not be the same as if they were paying customers. There does need to be some kind of incentive to play on tribble. It could be for the first 500-1000 to play so many hours testing a new update or whatever. I could be in the minority with my opinions. That does not make me right or wrong. There just my opinions which I have voiced in this post.
I dont want poeple who dont play to be testing my game. Their opinions and views would not be the same as if they were paying customers. There does need to be some kind of incentive to play on tribble. It could be for the first 500-1000 to play so many hours testing a new update or whatever. I could be in the minority with my opinions. That does not make me right or wrong. There just my opinions which I have voiced in this post.
Having no one to test your game doesn't do you any good either. You need a HUGE number of people going through play testing all the time to discover problems and test improvements. They shouldn't have to pay for that privilege. You should pay for the privilege of not having zero-day bugs and game-breaking updates.
I have a little bit of an issue with passing out freebies for testing, but it is not a huge one.
The issue being is that you do not actually have to do any testing, all you have to do is show up and stand somewhere for a certain amount of time and boom you have a free item with no testing involved and no feedback left.
Sure you may get a lot of people showing up, but that does not mean they are actually testing anything out, so you are back to square one.
If there are bugs caught they really should hold off on sending the update to the live side, as we have seen here recently with 1.1, the devs/company took a pretty decent tongue lashing so to speak over bugs that were believed by some iirc that should have never have made it to the live side till it was fixed first.
I think that the bugs seem to come back to haunt them time and time again and they probably should stop letting content go forward to the live till they are fixed on test first if for no other reason than to boost consumer confidence in the company.
I am not saying I don't like the company or anything of that nature, just pointing out, that holding off a project for the live till every known bug is fixed is probably more preferable then letting it hit live and fixing it down the road.
Maybe things should have a mandatory 1 month waiting period and a mandatory amount of different testers looking at the project and leaving feedback before it goes out , there is no telling.
Better advertisement would go a long way.
Also got to look at it this way, some of what people are reporting may be no different than what others would have reported, thus some do not bother because they think other players are doing a good enough job and anything extra said about the issues would just be redundant.
Plus, some of the content being released, is just not that appealing to a lot of players so you have that to factor in as well.
All in all, it would not hurt to set a minimum participation amount of some sort, but even still there are still going to be things that just make it through imo and that is just the nature of the beast.
As for myself, I pop in every once in a while for something that interests me, but that is about it.
I usually read what is being said and go from there on deciding if my feedback will make any difference or not.
Comments
For example the Textures on the Bridges of the "Federation Bridge Pack III: Research Science Vessel" were fixed perfectly on Tribble (before there were some minor annoyances in the LCARS textures), then the Holodeck Update came and the complete Bridge had LCARS textures all over it now... (the walls, the captains chair... all LCARS now!)
So fact is, even if it works perfectly on Tribble and is such a small thing as a stupid Texture on a Wall the Update for Holodeck still can go horribly wrong!
Its really simple. They just wont update the game until a certain amount of players participate and actually try it out. For all of those people who propose changes. Why are you not participating? If the changes are good they will hold up to a little criticizm!
I dont think its right to continue to expect bugs in the game. Cryptics goals should always be better quality. I dont want them to plan for failure and expect new bugs. We deserve better than this. I expect better than this. We deseverve better than that!! Whats wrong with raising the bar on standards? WHy is everyone in such a hurry to update the game to make changes that have new bugs?
If they put changes I'm interested in on the test server, then I'll test them. I don't care about crafting, and I don't do STFs. I wouldn't be able to provide any useful feedback.
Hmm, I may need to switch back to my main and post some feedback. Thanks for the tip!
The trouble I'm having is my work schedule is in overdrive, cutting for BigCrits and DCT Concerts is backing up, and the day job still hasn't said yes to my summer hours proposal. Makes it difficult to justify doing things that don't immediately impact my live characters.
Now, if they were to do another Tribble of Borg type giveaway... (what's a Species 8472 Tribble look like?)
If they need to say we need 500 or 1000 more testers for TRIBBLE amount of hours before they move to the next stage. Then I think thats exactly what they should do. A good example would be. If I wanted better PVP balance and was complaining about it on the forums. The Dev would post and say stop complaining and go on tribble and help test the very things you want. Then maybe we can make it happen. If we want a good game we need to help test it. Im certain Cryptic would bhe glad to leave things as they are. Because it is because we want it different then it is now that they make these changes. We need to help them tst the very things we want changed.
Way to many complainers! IMO
i meant more permanent incentives, like play XX hours and get a pick of XX skin for XX ship
The game just doesn't work that way. Nor will it.
Borg tribble is extremely limited to borg only, which is what i meant with not so permanent (even more so as the borg are just a "nuissance" according to the devs)
also i doubt it will run into many real objections (even though i know it will going with all the feeling of entitlement going about here) of the community as people who test will just contribute to a better and more bugfree game.
That's why Tribble should be free to play for everyone...you can't get feedback when there's no one there to play and you can't test if you don't have people to test.
Paying for a game that people aren't playing anyway is entirely futile, this game has too much stick, it needs more carrot.
Having no one to test your game doesn't do you any good either. You need a HUGE number of people going through play testing all the time to discover problems and test improvements. They shouldn't have to pay for that privilege. You should pay for the privilege of not having zero-day bugs and game-breaking updates.
The issue being is that you do not actually have to do any testing, all you have to do is show up and stand somewhere for a certain amount of time and boom you have a free item with no testing involved and no feedback left.
Sure you may get a lot of people showing up, but that does not mean they are actually testing anything out, so you are back to square one.
If there are bugs caught they really should hold off on sending the update to the live side, as we have seen here recently with 1.1, the devs/company took a pretty decent tongue lashing so to speak over bugs that were believed by some iirc that should have never have made it to the live side till it was fixed first.
I think that the bugs seem to come back to haunt them time and time again and they probably should stop letting content go forward to the live till they are fixed on test first if for no other reason than to boost consumer confidence in the company.
I am not saying I don't like the company or anything of that nature, just pointing out, that holding off a project for the live till every known bug is fixed is probably more preferable then letting it hit live and fixing it down the road.
Maybe things should have a mandatory 1 month waiting period and a mandatory amount of different testers looking at the project and leaving feedback before it goes out , there is no telling.
Better advertisement would go a long way.
Also got to look at it this way, some of what people are reporting may be no different than what others would have reported, thus some do not bother because they think other players are doing a good enough job and anything extra said about the issues would just be redundant.
Plus, some of the content being released, is just not that appealing to a lot of players so you have that to factor in as well.
All in all, it would not hurt to set a minimum participation amount of some sort, but even still there are still going to be things that just make it through imo and that is just the nature of the beast.
As for myself, I pop in every once in a while for something that interests me, but that is about it.
I usually read what is being said and go from there on deciding if my feedback will make any difference or not.