Uh, yeah. The community managers are Frontier employees, and I’m willing to bet they have degrees in marketing and communications. What you are describing is ”marketing”. Congratulations for seeing behind the curtain.
What's with the mood shift?
- Thread starter Masteradstriker
- Start date
Uh, yeah. The community managers are Frontier employees, and I’m willing to bet they have degrees in marketing and communications. What you are describing is ”marketing”. Congratulations for seeing behind the curtain.
The reason why the forum has got a bit frosty is that their are big issue with this potentially fantastic game that people have every right to complain about.
- The feeding bug - this DOES exsist, I am currently trying to fix it in a tiger enclosure which has always worked. Some people have the skills to 'fix' this issue but others dont and to be honest it shouldnt happen
- Saved games bugged - if someone has spent 100+ hours on something, which is then broken, they have a right to be upset, I would be upset. This is NOT a beta, not an early access, it is a fully released game and should perform as such
- Patch breaking things - WHY did frontier drop their patch at the end of the week, when it meant they were not able to fix things like the filter bug, this is VERY poor. In a zoo with over 300 animals not have the filters makes life very hard. People are rightly upset
- Lack of communication - on launch the servers were taken down several times with no warning except via Twitter???
Hello!
- The feeding bug is something we're continuing to look into; we've reviewed a lot of parks over the past couple of weeks and 90% of the time there was no bug - so it's hard for us to nail down what is happening if it doesn't occur for our QA team. If you are experiencing the bug and are confident it will continue to happen, please do send us your save file (either via the Issue Tracker or community@frontier.co.uk) so we can look into it.
- So far with every single update we've rolled out we've fixed these issues; likewise if a fix has not worked we have rolled back or done a hotfix, to ensure as many people as possible can play and nobody loses their save. If you personally have a save file that is bugged, then please do send them via the links above.
- We can roll out updates on any day before Friday; the reason we don't update on Fridays is because our teams have a right to a weekend off as well, and we cannot expect them to be on call 24/7 to monitor and roll out updates. In terms of what gets fixed and what doesn't, we prioritise based on the following two things: the community's reports in the Issue Tracker, and our internal prioritisation based on the ease of the fix (e.g. some things are more elusive or, like "in-game time", the entire simulation relies on it) as well as some other factors. We've always been open about this process and explain where possible in case of delays, or ask for your patience as we look for more information. We cannot continuously put out fixes every day because A) there will be nothing to fix, things take time, and B) it's a huge drain on multiple internal teams, so we have to strike a balance. We also don't want to continuously interrupt people's saves/games with updates. Hope this makes sense!
- This one really baffles me: we've been on the forums constantly, we've done lots of livestreams (and continue to do so), we are super active on social - we do our best to reply to everyone and make sure you feel heard. In terms of server maintenance, there's a pinned post in General Discussions as well as multiple posts on social and on here regarding what's happening. For some issues we might not have all the information, so we cannot reply to people until we do - but we are constantly talking to the rest of the team to make sure we can relay information as quickly and accurately as possible.
Take care!
Awesome response thank you.Hello!
Happy to explain on things further if need be
- The feeding bug is something we're continuing to look into; we've reviewed a lot of parks over the past couple of weeks and 90% of the time there was no bug - so it's hard for us to nail down what is happening if it doesn't occur for our QA team. If you are experiencing the bug and are confident it will continue to happen, please do send us your save file (either via the Issue Tracker or community@frontier.co.uk) so we can look into it.
- So far with every single update we've rolled out we've fixed these issues; likewise if a fix has not worked we have rolled back or done a hotfix, to ensure as many people as possible can play and nobody loses their save. If you personally have a save file that is bugged, then please do send them via the links above.
- We can roll out updates on any day before Friday; the reason we don't update on Fridays is because our teams have a right to a weekend off as well, and we cannot expect them to be on call 24/7 to monitor and roll out updates. In terms of what gets fixed and what doesn't, we prioritise based on the following two things: the community's reports in the Issue Tracker, and our internal prioritisation based on the ease of the fix (e.g. some things are more elusive or, like "in-game time", the entire simulation relies on it) as well as some other factors. We've always been open about this process and explain where possible in case of delays, or ask for your patience as we look for more information. We cannot continuously put out fixes every day because A) there will be nothing to fix, things take time, and B) it's a huge drain on multiple internal teams, so we have to strike a balance. We also don't want to continuously interrupt people's saves/games with updates. Hope this makes sense!
- This one really baffles me: we've been on the forums constantly, we've done lots of livestreams (and continue to do so), we are super active on social - we do our best to reply to everyone and make sure you feel heard. In terms of server maintenance, there's a pinned post in General Discussions as well as multiple posts on social and on here regarding what's happening. For some issues we might not have all the information, so we cannot reply to people until we do - but we are constantly talking to the rest of the team to make sure we can relay information as quickly and accurately as possible.
Take care!
I understand the problem with the feeding 'bug', very difficult to pin down because it isnt actually one thing. I have tried to help plenty of people, mainly on the steam forum / discord, and it is actually a number of issues many of which are actual user error, I would break it down as follows;
User Error
- Keeper walks into habitat and walks straight out again (amazing how many people report this as being the bug)
- Habitat in work zone with no keeper (requested keeper but it never shows as en route)
- Not enough keepers (requested keeper but doesnt shows as en route)
- Player keeps requesting keeper, then cancelling and requesting again
- Not enough room in keeper hut (keeper walks in and then goes to make food and has to queue)
- Keeper Hut / Staff room too far away (keeper goes to make food, gets tired, goes for a , staff room too far, takes ages, your fav tiger dies)
- No keeper hut assigned to work zone (keeper will come to habitat and then walk off)
- Too many food enrichment for the habitat (keeper only fills enrichment, fewer animals can get to them, some animals dont get fed)
The only actual bug i have seen is in certain instances (with all conditions above are met);
- Request keeper
- Keeper arrives
- Walk in looks around
- Walks out but does not go to make food
Saved Game Bugs
Here i was replying specifically to the OP, they were asking why the forum was frostier, this is a reason. It has not happened to me but above all I think it is the thing that would upset me the most. So just pointing out that the people who have had this happen to them, do have a right to be upset.
Patches
I agree with the fixes, the patch after launch improved my game performance massively and you have sorted a lot of other issues BUT the state you left the game in after that last patch was not great, we had;
- Broken barriers - suddenly previously working habitats have gaps
- Staff paths are broken - causing unhappy guests
- Refunds go mental, breaking many players zoos making it unfeasible for them to play them
- Zoo filter not working, making it very tough to manage even medium sized zoos
Communication
Again, I am talking here about the reasons for people being upset. I had some issues verifying my account here, so I spent a lot of time on the steam forum mainly firefighting, and there was a lot of people complaining about comms and the fact you only sent server notifications on twitter. I completely understand that you dont want to mod the steam forum (it is truly hell) but you should have a big post at the top of the forum saying THIS FORUM IS NOT MODERATED with details of where to go to get notifications. Also, some sort of ingame messaging capability should have been in the game really.
Credit where due though, your customer service was excellent at sorting my account issues out as was your reply here. As i have said previously, awesome game, just need some polish.
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Hi @Bo Marit ,Hello!
Happy to explain on things further if need be
- The feeding bug is something we're continuing to look into; we've reviewed a lot of parks over the past couple of weeks and 90% of the time there was no bug - so it's hard for us to nail down what is happening if it doesn't occur for our QA team. If you are experiencing the bug and are confident it will continue to happen, please do send us your save file (either via the Issue Tracker or community@frontier.co.uk) so we can look into it.
- So far with every single update we've rolled out we've fixed these issues; likewise if a fix has not worked we have rolled back or done a hotfix, to ensure as many people as possible can play and nobody loses their save. If you personally have a save file that is bugged, then please do send them via the links above.
- We can roll out updates on any day before Friday; the reason we don't update on Fridays is because our teams have a right to a weekend off as well, and we cannot expect them to be on call 24/7 to monitor and roll out updates. In terms of what gets fixed and what doesn't, we prioritise based on the following two things: the community's reports in the Issue Tracker, and our internal prioritisation based on the ease of the fix (e.g. some things are more elusive or, like "in-game time", the entire simulation relies on it) as well as some other factors. We've always been open about this process and explain where possible in case of delays, or ask for your patience as we look for more information. We cannot continuously put out fixes every day because A) there will be nothing to fix, things take time, and B) it's a huge drain on multiple internal teams, so we have to strike a balance. We also don't want to continuously interrupt people's saves/games with updates. Hope this makes sense!
- This one really baffles me: we've been on the forums constantly, we've done lots of livestreams (and continue to do so), we are super active on social - we do our best to reply to everyone and make sure you feel heard. In terms of server maintenance, there's a pinned post in General Discussions as well as multiple posts on social and on here regarding what's happening. For some issues we might not have all the information, so we cannot reply to people until we do - but we are constantly talking to the rest of the team to make sure we can relay information as quickly and accurately as possible.
Take care!
a good start into a new week!
I just wanted to know if you are interested in a more detailed feedback regarding the feeding issues. I have been running into this issue very frequently with my zoo as various other bugs but I have been always able to solve this and cope with (nearly) all other bugs. Franchise zoo still alive after 200+ hours!
And just a quick word on "helping out/ support": My experience is that the game has more depth regarding some topics like number of shops and their variety, growing your zoo beyond a certain size while attracting guests to more distant areas, running transport rides successfully, make guest paths wide enough, dealing with refunds etc. etc.
You are leaving this "support" or tutorials mainly to YouTubers, which is a common practice nowadays. But these are mainly playing sandbox or optimizing their video size and content.
Your ingame help has very good content and depth (especially compared to many other games), but it misses some very important issues and I have been meeting many people on streams that even do not look up the controls ingame.
Bottom line: the game should teach players better and easier, especially players who don't grind it. And imo you could add to that by doing topic related videos rather than more let's play orientated streams.
Have a good one!
Imo that's not an user error.
- the player should not be responsible to figure out the optimal number of food enrichment items
- prior to 1.0.3 all my habitats had 100% animal happiness (overall and every category). Now, enrichment welfare (food and toy) has dramatically gone down for many species and adding ONE enrichment item adds like 1-3 percent of welfare (herd sizes haven't changed).
True, but it depends on the extent, if a player fills his habitat with feed enrichment and then reports a bug because his tray isnt getting filled (which I have dealt with) that is user error. What it sounds like you are talking about it an actual change / bug. This is the problem, a lot of false reports clouding the real issues.
true. but not every one has the time or the motivation to figure this all out like "grinders" like us, which is also valid in general.
Yes please, all save files are welcome so please do send them to us! Thank you!
I'll relay the feedback on tutorials to the team; I don't think many changes will be possible though. As for controls, there's a pinned Keyboard shortcuts post in News and Announcements.
Yeah, just because WE can fix an issue, doesnt mean it is not an issue, if that makes sense?
I would assume the mood shift comes from a few places, some people will only have joined the forums since the game launched to possibly get resolutions on issues they are facing rather than spend time on forums (which is fine). Before the game launches there are no issues/frustrations apart from I want the game now, once it has been released people want the issues fixed hence the change in tone.
Obviously there has been some issues, with a lot already having been patched out, but still some that take further time to look into. Some might be easy to reproduce but difficult to fix with lots of knock on affects or take a lot or take a lot of testing time. There also isn't just one big issue that is affecting everyone, for a game as complex as this it will take time to get most things sorted. This is the way of the games industry now and PZ is no different to any other game in having to hit a predetermined launch date, from what I see they are different in listening and resolving any issues. If it is not an issue affecting you that is fixed first you will be frustrated.
I think if people didn't care about the game they would not express there frustration in such a way.
Obviously there has been some issues, with a lot already having been patched out, but still some that take further time to look into. Some might be easy to reproduce but difficult to fix with lots of knock on affects or take a lot or take a lot of testing time. There also isn't just one big issue that is affecting everyone, for a game as complex as this it will take time to get most things sorted. This is the way of the games industry now and PZ is no different to any other game in having to hit a predetermined launch date, from what I see they are different in listening and resolving any issues. If it is not an issue affecting you that is fixed first you will be frustrated.
I think if people didn't care about the game they would not express there frustration in such a way.
Sorry if my original post sounded a bit negative, I am a massive supporter of this game but am just saying it how it is.
I watch a lot of discussions on this game and people are unhappy about the issues created in the last patch and the length of time that has passed has compounded that. I do believe that Frontier will sort the issues out and in good time. I just urge anyone who isnt enjoying the game at the moment to hold onto it, as it is a real gem.
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Tbh, this game has a few high demanding users
After the update some of the posts were; why didn't you address the time-"issue"? Why didn't fix my "issue", which I put in the issuetracker 1 week ago?
With the extra options for the sandbox, there were already posts: why didn't you also include that option?
And when people "threatening" to refund/uninstall the game, i would say: Go ahead..
--
I somewhat relate to this, but I don't put my full frustration on my forums (or try to be polite when doing so)
After the beta I've put 100 hours in 1 zoo, and this zoo is stuck in the infinite loading screen. Bummed out, but I don't "yell" at the devs/mods.
I hope they address the more urgent issues in the next updates, but in some ways the game is more frustrating/annoying to play.. Which is a shame, the game is good.
I think we need a guide section on this forum or as a sticky topic.. It never crossed my mind but I think some people don't add a keeper and a Keeper Hut to a workzone. They just add a keeper to an exhibit… (Every building/facility in my zoos are put in a workzone, and don't experience any issues with feeding/cleaning)
After the update some of the posts were; why didn't you address the time-"issue"? Why didn't fix my "issue", which I put in the issuetracker 1 week ago?
With the extra options for the sandbox, there were already posts: why didn't you also include that option?
And when people "threatening" to refund/uninstall the game, i would say: Go ahead..
--
I somewhat relate to this, but I don't put my full frustration on my forums (or try to be polite when doing so)
After the beta I've put 100 hours in 1 zoo, and this zoo is stuck in the infinite loading screen. Bummed out, but I don't "yell" at the devs/mods.
I hope they address the more urgent issues in the next updates, but in some ways the game is more frustrating/annoying to play.. Which is a shame, the game is good.
I think we need a guide section on this forum or as a sticky topic.. It never crossed my mind but I think some people don't add a keeper and a Keeper Hut to a workzone. They just add a keeper to an exhibit… (Every building/facility in my zoos are put in a workzone, and don't experience any issues with feeding/cleaning)
I think this is a great way for a youtuber to gain a lot of followers/views.. We've seen a lot of youtubers showing how to build an habitat but they could add some instruction videos for the game.
Nothing wrong about that. I am enjoying many YT content about this game.
But creating spectacular habitats in sandbox has nothing to do with being successful in challenge/ sandbox mode.
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I have seen some horrific 'advice' on YouTube, I remember a couple of the first videos which were 'proof' of the feeding bug, one was just a video of a keeper coming in to check the habitat after being requested and walking out again..... just like he should. The other video, the guy kept requesting it, then when he walked out he would request it again. The issue is this then make other people believe there are issue where there arent. Took me ages to explain to people keepers walking in and out was the actual way it worked.
the so called feeding issue, might not be as some people claim, but stop sugarcoating the real issues, there are gamebreaking issues, with not loadable zoos and crashes, and there a serious balance issues, concerning feeding costs and refunding. there are fps-issues not related to hardware and there a simple menue and filter issues, that should be fixed after the beta test already. it is rediculous, that the game is nominated as best simulation game, the simulation aspect is very bad, as much as i still like the game, but you cant ignore this, if you are serious. there are some people, that are constantly butter everything up, the developpers post and complain about every eligible critique. that makes me very angry
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To be fair, most marketers these days just lie and manipulate.Uh, yeah. The community managers are Frontier employees, and I’m willing to bet they have degrees in marketing and communications. What you are describing is ”marketing”. Congratulations for seeing behind the curtain.
That's all "marketing" is these days - hype up something that isn't as good as what the "marketing" makes out it is.
A good example is Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - the "up next" bit at the end shows cut and shunt pieces of footage, but the actual programme is completely different and you see everything has been taken out of context or from different scenes entirely! All to build up hype - lies really.
Yeah, me as well (but that might be only a small share of overall videos). One example is a "never fail franchise tutorial" with 23k views, in which staff facilities are placed nest to staff paths...I do not expect that all viewers imitate that but it also demonstrates that YTers with hundreds of hours in the game might not do everything right.