Buggiest update ever

[Deadlock-3000]

Is there any single part of the pre-patch content that isn't now bugged? I can think of one: the basic pew pew mechanics, assuming your game stays uncrashed long enough to get properly stuck in.

Just a few highlights - check out the sheer volume of PC bug reports alone, just on these forums let alone tickets, for more detail. I've reported about 10 in the last few days, they were all bumped down to the third page in a couple of hours.

• 30 second freezes plunging people into stars, rocks, lasers, each other
• Any mission type that relies on finding a target NPC (assassinations) is broken
• Rare materials can be maxed out in a matter of minutes by farming persistent signal sources
• Crashes on changing instances, i.e. entering or exiting supercruise
• Controls locking up randomly requiring exit to main menu at a minimum
• Bounty voucher system completely broken - you can pick up any faction's bounties anywhere
• Discounted purchasing gone AWOL (PP discounts, Shinrarta, etc.)
• Showers of inbox messages every instance change about scanning nav beacons even when said nav beacon is 100,000 ls away
• Multi-crew still only working about 10% of the time
• Conflict Zones either empty, or turning station security lawless, or receding away from you at massive speeds
• Mass locking not working for player versus player
• All kinds of station service menus glitched out and stranding you on STAND BY
• BGS completely screwed up apparently (not that it really makes any difference to anyone other than RPers)

And I've not really touched on the bugs in the new content. I like some of it, the bits I don't enjoy or are clearly unfinished are mostly optional - but I remember this game being reasonably stable, once upon a time.

Rush job or what? There are two possibilities:

- they knew the game was in this state and released it anyway
- they didn't know the game was in this state

Neither one of those is a very happy alternative, is it?

 

[Wendake]

Is there any single part of the pre-patch content that isn't now bugged? I can think of one: the basic pew pew mechanics, assuming your game stays uncrashed long enough to get properly stuck in.

Just a few highlights - check out the sheer volume of PC bug reports alone, just on these forums let alone tickets, for more detail. I've reported about 10 in the last few days, they were all bumped down to the third page in a couple of hours.

• 30 second freezes plunging people into stars, rocks, lasers, each other
• Any mission type that relies on finding a target NPC (assassinations) is broken
• Rare materials can be maxed out in a matter of minutes by farming persistent signal sources
• Crashes on changing instances, i.e. entering or exiting supercruise
• Controls locking up randomly requiring exit to main menu at a minimum
• Bounty voucher system completely broken - you can pick up any faction's bounties anywhere
• Discounted purchasing gone AWOL (PP discounts, Shinrarta, etc.)
• Showers of inbox messages every instance change about scanning nav beacons even when said nav beacon is 100,000 ls away
• Multi-crew still only working about 10% of the time
• Conflict Zones either empty, or turning station security lawless, or receding away from you at massive speeds
• Mass locking not working for
• All kinds of station service menus glitched out and stranding you on STAND BY
• BGS completely screwed up apparently (not that it really makes any difference to anyone other than RPers)

And I've not really touched on the bugs in the new content. I like some of it, the bits I don't enjoy or are clearly unfinished are mostly optional - but I remember this game being reasonably stable, once upon a time.

Rush job or what? There are two possibilities:

- they knew the game was in this state and released it anyway
- they didn't know the game was in this state

Neither one of those is a very happy alternative, is it?

* Biggest update ever

They changed mechanics of a lot of core gameplay stuff the year they moved to a new office with hundreds of employees, released JPW, worked on a new project that we still don't know + start full production on the next era of ED.

Got to give them some credits.

Let them take a well deserved brake during christmas and some weeks to balance / fix stuff which they already started with the recent patch.

 

[Deadlock-3000]

* Biggest update ever

They changed mechanics of a lot of core gameplay stuff the year they moved to a new office with hundreds of employees, released JPW, worked on a new project that we still don't know + start full production on the next era of ED.

Got to give them some credits.

Let them take a well deserved brake during christmas and some weeks to balance / fix stuff which they already started with the recent patch.

You're saying that they're so successful and busy that they can afford to release sub-standard work?

 

[Florenus]

I'm getting kind of tired to be honest. Constant connection errors are simply making this game hard to enjoy.

I think they wanted to get this update out before christmas sales. So it was rushed.

 

[Miko]

* Biggest update ever

They changed mechanics of a lot of core gameplay stuff the year they moved to a new office with hundreds of employees, released JPW, worked on a new project that we still don't know + start full production on the next era of ED.

Got to give them some credits.

Let them take a well deserved brake during christmas and some weeks to balance / fix stuff which they already started with the recent patch.

Don't be an apologist. FDev are taking a lot of our time and money with this game and they have NEVER actually released an update that isn't completely devoid of consideration when you observe their gloat prior to them being released. They hype and raise anticipation knowing full well we love the game, only the love is frankly undeserved for a lot of reasons.

They need to start testing their game themselves as opposed to appointing the community via Beta to do that job for them. This is not acceptable for a fully priced game full of fully priced cosmetics and little actual generosity on their part besides the hype train streams and giveaways.

Hmmm... Frustrated with this, sadly. Don't take this as wrath towards yourself or FDev. I just think there's a clear trend with this if you have been onboard to see it since the actual game's launch.

 

[krylite]

* Biggest update ever

They changed mechanics of a lot of core gameplay stuff the year they moved to a new office with hundreds of employees, released JPW, worked on a new project that we still don't know + start full production on the next era of ED.

Got to give them some credits.

Let them take a well deserved brake during christmas and some weeks to balance / fix stuff which they already started with the recent patch.

Very much so. They've worked hard on the updates and it's like a new expanded game now and has maintained in the top 50 on steamcharts this week. I'm having a lot of fun and rarely see the bugout crashes now. As for the nitpick bugs, I barely noticed them and am sure FD is working on fixing them. ED is such a big complex scoped game with a lot of freedom for player ships. That it's done so well despite the bugs is a major win this end of year for FD and the game. Glad they stick to their scheduling and release updates soon after their trailers. Looking forward to the new milestones and bigger things to come for the next five years of the ten year plan for ED. [up]

 

[xxThe_Dice_manxx]

Only problem I've had since the new patch is the freezes but if you don't do anything and wait the 20 seconds it carries on where it left off as if the galaxy was paused for a while.

Be interesting for people to note exact times of freezes see if it is the whole galaxy.

Anything else is just teething issues and to be expected with such a big change.

Thinking back I remember some of the updates went far worse than this one , meh I must have become used to it.

 

[Aashenfox]

* Biggest update ever

They changed mechanics of a lot of core gameplay stuff the year they moved to a new office with hundreds of employees, released JPW, worked on a new project that we still don't know + start full production on the next era of ED.

Got to give them some credits.

Let them take a well deserved brake during christmas and some weeks to balance / fix stuff which they already started with the recent patch.

They haven't earned or deserve anything from this update. They shouldn't have released it in this state. If you say something else, all that shows is that you don't play enough of the game to understand just how bad it is.

 

[Aashenfox]

edit: nvm...

 

[Aashenfox]

Only problem I've had since the new patch is the freezes but if you don't do anything and wait the 20 seconds it carries on where it left off as if the galaxy was paused for a while.

Be interesting for people to note exact times of freezes see if it is the whole galaxy.

Anything else is just teething issues and to be expected with such a big change.

Thinking back I remember some of the updates went far worse than this one , meh I must have become used to it.

There's a big thread about that, please make sure you add your name. Also, please don't dismiss the current state of the game as teething issues... How about these little beauties...

Murdering ships increases the influence of the faction, rather than decreasing it.
You can hand in any bounty, anywhere, and any combat bond, anywhere, for full price and influence with the faction where you handed it in.

People are fighting wars for the survival of their faction and when they fight and hand in bonds, the OTHER side makes gains in the conflict. Some people have even started fighting for the opposite side and it's working to REDUCE their influence.

In some cases, actions are simply reversed, no matter where you hand them in. People are losing MONTHS of work and whole systems because of this.

NOt to mention that suddenly almost every system in the game is at war (which now lasts 7 days!! :O) because of an EXTREMELY poorly considered BGS reset.

THis is by miles the single worst update this game ever had. When ALL of these problems are fied, it could be the best, but this is just as bad on the same level as the Gnosis debacle, it just shows poor consideration and understanding of their own game and mechanics and highlights yet again that not enough people are capable of testing the game at the top level at FD as there should be.

 

[GJ51]

I don't see anything unusual here. Many of the past updates were as bad if not worse. If they slow the pace to improve quality, everyone complains development is too slow, when they drop a massive update all at once, everyone complains it's too buggy.

Usually there are 5 or 6 minor patches after release to stabilize the latest release.

ED gets very stable by then and you get a few months where things are working well and before you know it it's time for Beta again.

They've been doing releases just before Xmas like any good publisher. Nothing new in that regard. I always think of Beta as Alpha, release as Beta, and then .4 - .6 patch as release. Relieves a lot of stress and frustration if you just substitute the right terminology in place of the FD conventions.

HTH

 

[Aashenfox]

I don't see anything unusual here. Many of the past updates were as bad if not worse. If they slow the pace to improve quality, everyone complains development is too slow, when they drop a massive update all at once, everyone complains it's too buggy.

Usually there are 5 or 6 minor patches after release to stabilize the latest release.

ED gets very stable by then and you get a few months where things are working well and before you know it it's time for Beta again.

They've been doing releases just before Xmas like any good publisher. Nothing new in that regard. I always think of Beta as Alpha, release as Beta, and then .4 - .6 patch as release. Relieves a lot of stress and frustration if you just substitute the right terminology in place of the FD conventions.

HTH

How can you say that when people are having their entire last 6 months of BGS work destroyed in a week because FD don't understand their own game (or if they, do, the excuses start to get more embarrassing after that)? Oh, it's ok, it's just FD using us as a live beta. Completely fine that they never ever learn a single lesson from any release. Even the update text when they put the servers down still said 2.4. So. Unprofessional. Every. Time. More fool me for thinking each time that things will be better than the last.

 

[Morbad]

Not sure this is the buggiest update, but it's close.

Some things I've come to expect from 4+ years playing:

- The game will never leave beta.
- Every major update is rushed.
- Bugs are (re)introduced faster than they are fixed.
- It takes four to seven patches after a major update before most features really work smoothly.
- Not every update will get four to seven patches.

I have no doubts that Frontier is working their collective off and striving mightily to fix things. The Support team in particular is usually outstanding.

I also have no doubts that there are major organisational and scheduling issues hampering things, with deadlines trumping QA considerations.

 

[Jack Schitt]

I think they wanted to get this update out before christmas sales. So it was rushed.

If you're going to quote me from 2014, at least give an attribution.

This has been FD's MO since day one, so it's difficult to be surprised. As others have pointed out this is a massive update, but that's a contributing factor rather than an excuse. Setting a release date in stone and then working up to it regardless of outstanding issues is just the way things are done.

You only have to look at how the betas have evolved. Pre-launch, and to some extent in the versions immediately following, beta periods were characterised by an indefinite series of rolling updates and interstitial patches based on forum feedback which FD read thoroughly and -- perhaps more importantly -- to which they gave regular and pertinent feedback.

Nowadays a beta is a short fixed duration, has one or two significant updates in the first few days to quash those genuine game-killing bugs, and goes gold on the predetermined release date when the bug forums are invariably still full of unresolved and unremarked queries. If we're lucky there'll be a series of thread-closing posts from Support staff apologising for the delay and asking to re-report the bug "if it's still in the live release." If we're unlucky, we get crickets.

I don't know if there's a better way of doing things in a cutthroat commercial market; it's most definitely not my milieu. But I have come to accept that a period of frustration and instability, lasting from hours to weeks depending on the severity, is just the price we pay whenever there's an update to Elite: Dangerous. As the wise Mr. Hornsby once said, that's just the way it is.

 

[Aashenfox]

Not sure this is the buggiest update, but it's close.

Some things I've come to expect from 4+ years playing:

- The game will never leave beta.
- Every major update is rushed.
- Bugs are (re)introduced faster than they are fixed.
- It takes four to seven patches after a major update before most features really work smoothly.
- Not every update will get four to seven patches.

I have no doubts that Frontier is working their collective off and striving mightily to fix things. The Support team in particular is usually outstanding.

I also have no doubts that there are major organisational and scheduling issues hampering things, with deadlines trumping QA considerations.

I hear you man, but what's happening with the BGS in inexcusable. And as you say, SOOO many bugs reintroduced that had previously been quashed. How does that even happen? Does each dev have their own pet build they work on? It's got to be a change management problem. Hire a consultancy firm to fix the processes and procedures. That's what those kinds of firms are good at. GET HELP at whatever you're terrible at, don't keep screwing over the players year after bleeding year.

 

[gooddoc]

It may be a bit buggy, but you can still play it.

Apart from the launch day server fiasco, when PC players couldn't get into the game, at least it's playable.

Did you play X4, when that was launched?

Iv never played a game where Iv been CTD soo many times in a session. To make things worse, I had to then wait for 45mins each time for the damn game files to sync with the pathetic Steam game launcher!!!

I still now have to save the game every time I get to the main screen.....in case it CTD again!!

The ED game isn't perfect & has annoying little glitches & bugs....but it's playable & most players can work their way around these 'bugs' until the FDev team get them fixed.

 

[Aashenfox]

If you're going to quote me from 2014, at least give an attribution.

This has been FD's MO since day one, so it's difficult to be surprised. As others have pointed out this is a massive update, but that's a contributing factor rather than an excuse. Setting a release date in stone and then working up to it regardless of outstanding issues is just the way things are done.

You only have to look at how the betas have evolved. Pre-launch, and to some extent in the versions immediately following, beta periods were characterised by an indefinite series of rolling updates and interstitial patches based on forum feedback which FD read thoroughly and -- perhaps more importantly -- to which they gave regular and pertinent feedback.

Nowadays a beta is a short fixed duration, has one or two significant updates in the first few days to quash those genuine game-killing bugs, and goes gold on the predetermined release date when the bug forums are invariably still full of unresolved and unremarked queries. If we're lucky there'll be a series of thread-closing posts from Support staff apologising for the delay and asking to re-report the bug "if it's still in the live release." If we're unlucky, we get crickets.

I don't know if there's a better way of doing things in a cutthroat commercial market; it's most definitely not my milieu. But I have come to accept that a period of frustration and instability, lasting from hours to weeks depending on the severity, is just the price we pay whenever there's an update to Elite: Dangerous. As the wise Mr. Hornsby once said, that's just the way it is.

And that's fine for most casual players, but the hrdcore ones, the ones that drive the game and game systems forward, its not just a few hours of pain, or even a few weeks, it's the wiping out of MONTHS of effort.

It may be a bit buggy, but you can still play it.

Apart from the launch day server fiasco, when PC players couldn't get into the game, at least it's playable.

Did you play X4, when that was launched?

Iv never played a game where Iv been CTD soo many times in a session. To make things worse, I had to then wait for 45mins each time for the damn game files to sync with the pathetic Steam game launcher!!!

I still now have to save the game every time I get to the main screen.....in case it CTD again!!

The ED game isn't perfect & has annoying little glitches & bugs....but it's playable & most players can work their way around these 'bugs' until the FDev team get them fixed.

See above.

 

[Judz]

Strange, so far I have had zero bugs at all. In fact I am loving it. At first I was raging about the FSS and exploration, but now its all smiles..well, more like a grimace.

 

[JonSnowman]

This is probably the worst update I have seen in terms of quality control. That bug report forum is a disgrace.

Hell there is a thread about the launcher crashing when people try to update! The irony...

 

[Cosmo]

Not sure this is the buggiest update, but it's close.

Some things I've come to expect from 4+ years playing:

- The game will never leave beta.
- Every major update is rushed.
- Bugs are (re)introduced faster than they are fixed.
- It takes four to seven patches after a major update before most features really work smoothly.
- Not every update will get four to seven patches.

I have no doubts that Frontier is working their collective off and striving mightily to fix things. The Support team in particular is usually outstanding.

I also have no doubts that there are major organisational and scheduling issues hampering things, with deadlines trumping QA considerations.

You're talking about your opinion as if it's a fact. You're overly negative. Go play something else then.

This update changed a lot of core features. There's some issues, but overall most of it works okay.