but inclu
but include all platforms within the pts!
I would love that, but it might be difficult with Xbox and Playstation, because they have approval processes for patches, and they charge for them, so on the fly tweaking is not something either of them support, so it might be PC only, dont know, Fdev would probably have to come to some sort of arrangement with them. Not sure.
However if they could pull it off I think it could be a wonderful collaborative tool and Fdev can get real time feed back on changes before they go out into the wild.
I've been on games where the developers were regularly on the test servers, they'd issue the beta patch.
Fdev: Hows this?
Test Players: It's great, except this boost to Drag Munitions is potentially game breaking?
Fdev: let's do a mass PvP test. (Posts to forums inviting players to test server for mass test, grants 100 million dollar test money.)
Test Players: (makes potential game breaking builds) Ok let's do this.
Some time later
Fdev: Ok that
was pretty game breaking, we'll tweak some numbers
issues hot fix
Fdev: How about now
test again, this time shorter
Test Players: Eh, still a bit broken, unbalanced.
Fdev: Give us a bit....
sometime later, issues another hot fix.
Fdev: We tweaked the numbers again and this time added a cool down to the secondary effect so it doesnt happen ALL the time. Try it now.
Test Players: awesome, perfect.
Fdev: great, put another one in the win column. Keep testing the rest of the update.
A few weeks of this later, Patch day.
Regular Players: hey this patch is great, nothing wrong here, a few graphical bugs but nothing game breaking. Awesome work devs.
Fdev: We aim to please.
THIS is how the QA exchange in this game should go. Given that I jump into testing on all the games I love this much, I
should be on first name basis with the QA lead by now, we should be on each other's friends list, and talk occasionally. In fact this is how I GOT my job at CCP, I started with their volunteer bug hunting department and got an internship that way.
My point is, the issues that keep happening are from a procedural and infrastructure standpoint, it's not just about what they did this patch, it's what they
don't do EVERY patch. It's what they don't have set up and haven't established process that works. and that every patch, EVERY PATCH seems to happen by the grace of god more then by the grace of a proper QA process, And tweaks and balancing are a crap-shoot.
And no fanbois, don't tell me that I'm armchair devving and don't know what I'm talking about, I know a dysfunctional QA process when I see one, and there are many reasons it could be, I'm not going to dismiss it as "they don't care" or "they don't know what they are doing." And is probably more like an issue with the design of the process, or perhaps it's a management issue, either under or over. Under being, not enough checks and balances and over meaning "too many cooks spoil the soup."
I really wish I knew the specifics, because I would love to come in and fix it.
The fact that this is 2019, 5
YEARS since the game's release and the fact that their patch QA and release management is as bad as it was when they launched is just sad, and the gaming magazines joke about it in their articles, Fdev and this community are a
joke to them. And that ticks me off. Because I want this game, Fdev and this community to do better and fulfill the potential that I KNOW it can. We just got to fix some core issues, take a deep look at long held processes and possibly people (I'm talking to you Fdev) and make some hard choices to get this game back on track. I'm not saying fire people, not unless you absolutely have to, but alot of times certain people aren't doing the right job. Some people might have a head for management but they came in under a technical position and are stuck there, so their management brillance is being wasted because their job description doesn't give them the opportunity or authority to shine. Other times it's managers that worked fine in the past but their process or management pipeline doesn't scale properly and has broken down or perhaps they've been given
additional responsibilities and their focus has to be spread out.
So there are real legitimate reasons why management and processes break down that has nothing to do with malice and/or incompetence. But I think the biggest reason why companies falter or fail, is pride. management doesn't want to admit their IS a problem and that it might be directly or indirectly their fault or that the problem isnt that bad and they can fix it.
For the same reason there are stories of some fighter pilot's trying to fix their planes and they ride the thing straight into the ground rather then punch out like they know they SHOULD.
Like I said I don't know the specifics. But I would like to, not as some judgemental person shaking my finger at Fdev, but as a friend who wants to help them and by extension, this game, do better.
