Can any player program the game better? I dare anyone to try.
The major problem of people leavig aside from most of ben coyote's reasoning is this. When MA took away content that people had paid for and worked for just so they could change a grafix platform with the promise it would be returned in 1 year and its past that year now, you tend to make people upset.and i understand the loot pools ae getting smaller due to smaller player base but there is a very large problem with that. the less loot that we gan from mobs or mining why are the globals/hofs/and ath getting bigger and alot more of them
everytme we see another large one go through the loot goes down a little more. Lets say maybe theyu remove the ath and cap a hof until the economy turns around.
I know that just pissed off people but hey im speaking my mind this time.
So in short here is how things should have been handled:
1. Instead of being so concerned with changing the grafics capability of the gam and losing content to do it MA/FPC should have been worried about building a better player base. then slowly change what you want changed and add new matterials slower. seems to me that with all the crashed systems and instability during and after these epic lots of new content how much player base goes down again. why hasnt the previously removed content been brought back like promised before bringing in new items.
this is how alot of people on here feel about it.
I agree to a point with alot of what ben coyote says but it is in no way all stuck on the players for the reasoning of the player base leaving.
Would also help alot if instead of telling us there was a problem with something we are working on it sry for the inconevience why not try explaining what has happened and what is being done to fix it. in a timely manner
every hour to 3 hour updates that say were working on heres a new time to try sry just pisses people off more.
This whole instability issue and everyone getting kicked off constantly and tp not working and mobs taken away should have been an immediate server down for maint while the re\solved the issues. i personally know at least a doz people that quit the game today and probably many more.
Thank you for that comment there Jake, but then I think that a lot of players don't realize one thing. What we got here is a number of programmers trying to work on the coding and to fix said stability issues, missing or slow spawning mobs, and even the issue of the tele-porters not working, and do so in a timely manner.
I was discussing with a friend of mine, who knows how to program for PHP. (Which is a programming language that helps build website design). Now here's the thing. A lot of the player base, just wants to play, and in fact they don't realize (or for that matter care about), that there are a set number of programmers, who are trying to program the game on what is called "A Live system".
Now what is a "live system" here you ask?
Well a live system is a active computer / server that has been running for a while, and these programmers, are trying to improve the game by letting the system run, and find out if there are any flaws in the game (Granted there are those issues we send in support cases for, as well as those we constantly complain about but never send in a support case for the issue). So they go in and investigate the issues and try out the details of what is said in the support cases or our complaints tha really go unheeded unless we send in a support case (And I can seee that A lot of folks fail to send in support cases). Then they (the programmers) go back over their coding and every time try to improve the issues so they won't happen again or they won't happen as much. And to do it on a live system is a lot harder than it looks then say nstalling an Operating system on a computer.
Of course with today's world, and the issues of time, who wants to sit down and read a book on how to fix an engine? So rather than sitting down, reading a book, and try to figure out what the problem is with their car, a lot of people take it to a technician to solve the problem for them.. and then they complain about the bill when the technician fixes the car correctly.
But I digress..
The problem here is that Jake is right in one aspect.. They're trying to troubleshoot 'on the fly' as it were, and every time an issue comes up, they have to investigate why it's happening, go back into their coding, correct it, and then develop a patch for it, and re-implement it..
And this is where the "Non-Tech savvy" (Which is in reality a lot of people) get angry. They don't realize that these programmers are trying their best, and that it does take time.
But then there are some of the player base that has this issue of "Well if it's broke MA will fix it!" Mentality. They feel that the programmers have screwed up some where, and they have it ingrained in their heads That everything should be fixed in one shot. rather than in a step by step process, (Which is in fact how a programmer thinks.)
Also I notce this goes back to what I said about Patience.. A lot of people want to play NOW. They want to get into the game thinking they're losing thousands of peds for every second MA or the programmers have the game offline, and when you read the notifications for updates (The Server will be down for two hous, etc), you think taht they will figure this problem out in just 2 hours.. and every thing will be hunky dorry..
It's interesting to note that my friend challenged me in something.. He gave me a couple of PHP program codes to decipher and he told me, "Tell me what this program does Ben". and so I sat there for the next 30 minutes figuring out what one code set was.. and I then told him, "This is some sort of database program, right? " He said, "You're close' and then explained to me, that it was a program to run different layers of different server types all on a website. In short it was a database but to a much larger program which connected to different layers in a series of server programs what would be used in the server.
Now then.. The thing is this.. It would be interesting to see someone from the programming department or someone who is definitely savvy in CryEngine 2 code, to show us some of this code or better yet, to explain what each sectionof code does. , and it doesn't even have to be for this MMORPG, it could be for a stand alone game, and he/she could say, "Try to figure this out." (I bet a loft of the playerbase can't.. they're not tech savvy enough.)
A lot of (Non-tech) savvy players would be scratching their heads, and saying "I don't know what this does!"
Correct.. You don't know what's going on, the programmers are trying to figure this out for you. and thus in turn make you happy to be playing this game.
Now think about this as well, The old game engine is a dead horse, and granted it's programming was probably a bit more simple than CryEngine 2 is.. About 50 times easier.. But hey folks wanted the functionality of the game, they wanted the graphics, they wanted th realism, they wanted things to work perfectly the first time, and they don't realize that programmers are human too..
But then these players who leave or threaten to leave, or complain a lot, don't realize that they fall into what I like to call 'The Monkey-Typewriter corollary' which basically states:
"That if you took an infinite number of monkeys, and an equally infinite number of typewriters, and given an infinite amount of time, eventually the infinite numbers of monkeys would be able to produce something on the infinite number of typewriters along the lines of either a sonnet or a play from William Shakespeare."
The thing is, is that they feel that a year is a reasonable time to program a game even with complex coding details liek what the Cryengine 2 has, yet I bet a lot of folks don't know that some games sit on the design board in gaming companies and are programmed sometimes 2 or 3 years in advance? And then they're tested,debugged, recoded, retested again, re-programmed' and then tested yet again..
Over and over ad nasuem.
And of course tis is before a game or ptogram is released to the market. But that is usually just a gmae you buy on the intenet or you buy from a store. Now on what is a 'Live system" which is constantly running except for times when it's brought down to either
1. Implement a new set of code into the game,
2. Maintenance, or
3. finding a problem with the code debugging it, then reimplementing it again.
And the only way the programmers know what's wrong is if we tell them what's wrong.. (Yes folks, we're the infinite number of monkeys.. and boy, are we a bunch of lazy monkeys!)
And really it doesn't matter if it's an Operating System that runs your computer or a simple game program.. It takes an very long time for the programmer to code, recode, debug, re-write (and re-check) code, test it, retest it, debug it again, over and over again, ad nausem.
(And I would further like to state for the record that at one time, I did programming of older more archaic languages.. Fortran, COBOL, Basic, Virtual Basic, Pascal and even C. and the last two were extremely hard for me at the time, and remember today's world of the internet is a thousand times more complicated than what it was some 10 or even 20 years ago).
But today's games are written in such complex coding and the programmers have to either be taught to do this, or have to learn 'on the fly' as were, and they have to not make mistakes, so that you the customer won't complain.
And in the end, like I said, Mistakes will creep in, and so some things that are fixed initially become broke, so they have to go in, and redesign the code again..and again and again.
And this, all takes (that infinite amount of) time. Rome wan't built in a say you know.
So in the end, I say this, I would like to throw out a challenge here, and this is for the "Programming illiterate' here.. Try to sit down, and program a game, or for that matter, a VCR, or a microwave. And think it out carefully and logically.. and then, once you've done that, try to implement it and see if it works. (And I can hear a lot of Programming Illiterates banging their heads against the wall... right... about... now...)
For programming anything is a difficult task. It's a lot harder and more stressful task for these guys who are programming it 'on the fly', and then implementing it on of all things, a "Live system".
Personally, I don't want to put anymore stress on them. They deserve a break to figure things out, and to solve problems here, and not be "Bullied" by a bunch of folks who can't even program a VCR, or a microwave, let alone a computer game.
So my advice to those who want these problems fixed? Take a chill pill, relax, (have a burger, some fries, (or your favorite food.. Order out pizza, eat chinese food.) Or go do art, or write (heck right now while I'm writing this, I'm looking for reference picture ideas for a story I'm writing. I'm also playing around with a 3D program before I decide to buy it or not. I even am installing some programs that I want to have on my machine..)
But please let the programmers do their jobs, and let them have a llttle breating room, don't crowd them. Cause if you do, then all you'll do is really not have a worth while game,but a bunch of gibbering programmers who will sound just like monkeys.
(no offesnse to you programmers.. I'm behind you guys 110 %!, just take your time, and figure things out.. I'll be here for you when you get things fixed.)
so hey, chill out... and go talk sports, go talk politics, go do something. Just do it, and let the guys at the programming department be.
But the game will be back soon enough.. and believe me given enough time, and enough patience the game will become better.. and above all, learn to adapt and be patient. Because just like real life, this is a game you know, and the rules change daily. It's a known fact.
Okay I think I'm done, here.. Now then.. who wants to program a website? Any takers?
Benjamin "Ben" Coyote.
all my depo's dissapear within minutes and go to someone else