Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 35

Thread: Seriously, give us an Age II update

  1. #1

    Default Seriously, give us an Age II update

    We stopped posting and emailing bugs a long time ago. It may have something to do with moderators who don't allow valid bugs to be posted in the threads. We also know that the serious issues exist as of this moment in Age II. Issues that undermine the integrity and interest in the game like:
    1. Frozen and/or Innacurate Prestige Accrual
    2. Colonization Denial (not due to suppression in progress) and Stuck Suppression Bar Bugs
    3. Continuing "Lost Patrols" and other Disappearing Acts
    4. Multiple Colony Resource/Draft Accounting and Transfer Bugs
    5. L10 Tower bug

    We saw the change in advertising so we can assume you are going forward with the conquest supplement to colonization. In this case, it's likely that change will come sooner rather than later.

    We all know you hate being tied down to commitments or comments. However, this a friendly suggestion that doing so in this case, and doing so in a timely manner, is more than a good idea. I am not sure whether you realize just how many players are ready to throw in the towel on Age II.

    Half the bugs listed above aren't even in the bug forum. You really want to claim you haven't gotten detailed information on these bugs? that you're just getting whining without documentation? that these bugs don't exist or have been solved? It's an indefensible position and we know it. Most players see the bug forum and bug reporting as window dressing and nothing more.

    The new conquest supplement? What's to say? Will you let players take a whack at it as a concept before releasing it? Is it worth sticking around to see whether it resolves some fatal flaws created in the name of "no more bullies"?

    Most companies hate customers who walk away without telling them why they are leaving and giving them a chance to retain their patronage. So, there you go. You now have exactly what many companies wish they had. An opportunity to do so. Don't think of me as one player but as a voice for an entire segment of the game that is really ready to pack it in. It won't even take much.

    You are currently squelching awareness of major bugs in the game. You may think that will help you keep customers who couldn't handle the truth. That might even work if these errors weren't apparent in game play and discussed in alliance chat. Stop it. Fix the system rather than hiding behind it. The fact that you are denying things is far more offputting than the actual bugs. Seriously, a few moments of contemplation should demonstrate how counterproductive your current policies are.

    Colonization has been a failure for two reasons. First, it's buggy as all heck. There's not one aspect of it that works smoothly. I am sure you are working feverishly to fix them. As you should since this thing is now long out of beta. Conquest is yet another interesting idea. One that is going to be introduced without the advantage of a beta. Given this, some fairly in depth disclosure is in order.

    I am not mad and I am not attacking you as developers. I am dissapointed and I am calling you to account but I am doing it logically. I am also doing so in a way that should make it very hard for you to say I am doing anything but attempting to be helpful.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Wilkes Barre, PA
    Posts
    836

    Default

    You missed a few of the bugs:

    1. Commission quests don't work properly (army goes to city, nothing happens, hiring lord loses uprising - nobody knows why or even how it's supposed to work, so no way to even explain what isn't working right).

    2. Facebook problems - players who sign up on one age2 server and then move to another are not getting their gifts and rewards on the new server, despite choosing which server they want them applied to during the acceptance process.

    3. Another FB issue: If you have friends from more than one age2 server on your list, it's likely that some will never get resource enhancements (and you wont' get the reward) because when you try to visit their city, the game tells you "character not created" even though you know they are actively playing (it's just that the game is looking for them on the wrong server).

    4. Not sure if this one has been fixed yet, but there were several bugs regarding the Achievements - like wrong amounts listed and buff's not actually being given, etc.

    I'm sure there are more I'm missing too... but then I quit Age2 after 2 weeks. I love the graphics and some of the new features (hero gear, king/queen quests, historic cities), but the rest, to me, is just not worth the aggravation.

    I may - emphasis on MAY - try once more if they add conquests... but I'm not sure even that is enough to lure me back at this point.
    Last edited by LadyMoe; 06-02-2010 at 01:34 PM.

  3. #3

    Default

    @ egami

    I agreed that you are using a logical manner to analysis the situation, but I am afraid that your comment is not very realistic because it is missing some helpful thoughts.

    If the Evony developers already know problems you just mentioned, how is it going to help them resolving it by posting it in the forum again? Do you think that they didn't saw people posting them in the forum? (Or are you simply trying to increase their pressure?) By common sense, we often say "Have a problem, so go fix it!" but do you think that the Evony Team created these problems to make the players angry? Or they are watching TV to ignore problems at the moment? I believed that they also wanted to resolve bug problems and trying their best, but feeling that they might be a lack of people to fix all those bugs fast enough at the moment.

    I know that you didn't get paid to fix bugs in Evony, but can you encourage them to give them momentum to get their task done? I have pointed out their fault in this fourm before but soon, I realized that it is not helping much, and I can actually be more constructive than just listing out their problems.

    I believed that there are 4 things that Evony Team can do to improve their current situation:

    1) Stop adding new feature in the game for awhile.

    2) Prioritize the bug fixing + testing order, and concentrate on one before moving on another one. (Hopefully the Evony Team will ask Evony players for opinion about it because there is no point to fix a bug that only very few people care while there are bugs that are making the majority of players frustrated.)

    3) Keep the debug progress transparent, and

    4) Keep the communication to be open.



    @ LadyMoe

    It can be a big relief for me if the Commission quest is fixed. I am very serious about this quest that I timed it myself -- if the bugs of this quest is not completely fixed within two weeks, I am leaving this game. Which I think that there is a 75% chance.
    Last edited by quarter; 06-03-2010 at 08:40 AM.

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by quarter View Post
    If the Evony developers already know problems you just mentioned, how is it going to help them resolving it by posting it in the forum again?
    First, posting again? You won't find the tower bug or the prestige bug in the forums and many other bugs. I am sure the developers know about these issues. So let's stop thinking about those poor tired and overworked developers who deserve all of our love, respect and patience (just stop for a moment, of course).

    How about the player who wonders what's up with his or her prestige? or why an army just died in an L10 attack that "should have worked"? or the player who wonders what he or she is doing wrong in colonization? There are a lot of players banging their heads against the wall because THEY don't know it's a known bug. Heck, some stuff that seems like bugs is WAI so it's not like it's easy to tell. They're just frustrated players who are looking for answers.

    How about the player who takes the time to supply a detailed report with accompanying data? and then finds that report never makes it past the moderators? Ever. One could certainly make an argument that this institutional response would dillute the urge to take time to engage in assisting the developers.

    Personally, I could give a fig about the poor, misunderstood developers. There is a pattern of behavior here that is outrageous. Not poorly thought out or incomplete. This is hubris and cavalier disregard for anything other than a myopic outlook on what's important. The bug forum serves many functions, not the least of which is a release valve and source of information for players. Yes, it serves the developers and the game but it's often critically valuable to the player desperate to understand "what's going on." Think of how crazy people get about medal farming and extrapolate that to all the crazy ideas that run through people's heads that could be offset by some information ("Oh, that's the deal. I thought I was going crazy and it was just me."). Instead, we have players trying to play some twisted game of "reinvent the wheel" as they try to identify what the issue is.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    6,308

    Default

    Please understand that the developers do not maintain the forum...any part of it. Other staff, mostly volunteer, do that. If you saw the sheer volume of reports (and spam and complaints and rants and questions and requests for free cents and requests for a job and everything else) that gets posted in that forum, you'd understand that for us to pay a programmer to sift through that for 50 hours a week would be a sheer waste.

    We know there is a bit of a communication disconnect between the staff who maintain the forums and the developers who fix the bugs. We're working on adding more transparency and posting more information, and for those who've been around since beta I think you'll agree it's 1000% better than it used to be. We still have a way to go.

    Posting through every single thing people try to put up in the bug reports forum would be idiotic. Seriously. Maybe one day I'll screenshot the thing so you know what I mean. It is time-consuming enough to read every posting, sort out the new bugs or new information on known bugs, catalog it, prioritize it, assign it to a team member, track it's progress, notify liasons of the fixes, and post those out. At the moment we simply do not have the process in place to keep 100% up-to-date on the forum postings of all submissions, nor do we have the time.

    Perhaps having a bug reporting forum at all is a bad idea, as it builds expectations in players like yourself that all bugs will be rapidly assessed and posted.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    in the OT, under Morgan's desk, hiding with CHICK
    Posts
    1,228

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by FoxyBunny View Post
    ...
    Posting through every single thing people try to put up in the bug reports forum would be idiotic. Seriously. Maybe one day I'll screenshot the thing so you know what I mean.
    ...
    I posted a bug a while back about getting logged out randomly when trying to post facebook events. It definitely didn't make the cut yet. My post included as much system info and event detail as I could gather.
    I guess, getting logged out randomly when trying to use facebook isn't a serious enough bug :S I should endure those pop-ups but never use them. Fair enough.

    How about when ppl get fed up and go hack systems to take advantage of these glitches, it hurts the company AND the players. Already a member has had their acct hijacked through the facebook link-up. Somebody got in and took control of their facebook and all the evony accts. Such bugs needing solving in private "player to helpspot/rep" mail, I get, but do all of them rejected bug reports not deserve to be addressed!

    I'm sure evony actually does get hacked into by ppl (or at least they try). Yet, our bug reports that could indicate that something is amiss (could be a bigger problem - symptoms: acct logging out) are just ignored

    AND, I agree its a 1000% better than it was, but yes, its still quite opaque in some instances, maddeningly so.

    (c) Ravensigs production
    Quote Originally Posted by llCHICKll View Post
    lol, you are worst than ardee... at least she tells you right away to pizz off lol
    Quote Originally Posted by Alusair View Post
    Announcement:
    I will start randomly deleting a post of practicalfool here and there over time to mess with his mind.

  7. #7

    Default

    Your excuses don't hold water. If the bug forum would be filled with "useless" posts that would make it useless without moderation, then general discussion and other forums would have the same problem. They don't. They certainly have questionable posts but it doesn't make them either useless nor unmanageable. So, enough with the "it's not our fault, blame the players who make us do it" routine. It's tiresome and insults the intelligence of the audience.

    It's a choice by the developers. As to the "taking my ball away" response in suggesting the forum isn't a good idea, stop being so defensive and look at it from the player's point of view. This game already requires psychic abilities to understand all the rules. When your army dies for no apparent reason, you're going to get frustrated and get some answers or act with your feet. Many players already have. That bug forum could be a lifeline buying you extra time and reducing player frustration. Instead, it's adding to the player frustration.

    We're done here Foxy. Any number of players have made attempts to break through the defensiveness but Evony is apparently about as immune to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. You win. Enjoy the game. Enjoy the forums.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    6,308

    Default

    http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bunny/bug5.jpg
    http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bunny/bug4.jpg
    http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bunny/bug3.jpg
    http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bunny/bug2.jpg
    http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bunny/bug1.jpg

    Egami, you can stop trolling me now. I'm immune. I accepted that we have room to improve in the transparency of our bug reporting, but I also explained the pitfalls we face. You are bound and determined to paint us as either evil or incompetent, and you stand fast by your assertion that the players themselves couldn't possibly be any portion of the problem in the way they behave on bug report forums. Above is a miniscule sampling of the items that didn't make the cut on the bug report forum. It represents a little less than a day's worth of reports....on a slow day.

    We're working on a better way to deal with this, but I wasn't making a threat when I discussed taking away the bug report forum entirely. I mean that sincerely. It builds false expectations, and we might be better without it. After all, people come to a forum to get an audience. Bug reports are not appropriate material for an audience. They are technical items used by the developers. So maybe we need to get them off the forums entirely.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    in the OT, under Morgan's desk, hiding with CHICK
    Posts
    1,228

    Default

    "Support the crusade against the Evonazis" .. "Getting my ex back"!!!!!!!!!!! --- ROFLMAO

    PS: ur selling ur argument to a forum full of geeks and bored ppl, they/me/we at times have nothing better than to pick through stuff and blast it to hell. Bug reports are yummy Kapow! Kapow!

    OK, maybe more like an informal bug report section, where ppl can post without expecting a resolution, you pick the appropriate ones from the lot and shift to the REAL bug reports section.
    I'm sure ppl on the forums will do a SPLENDID job of flaming and destroying any trolls. Considering the angst about bugs, trolls would think thrice before trolling in an open to all bug report section. Right now, they're sending u private love letters knowing nobody else is likely to see them :P
    Last edited by practicalfool; 06-03-2010 at 04:12 PM.

    (c) Ravensigs production
    Quote Originally Posted by llCHICKll View Post
    lol, you are worst than ardee... at least she tells you right away to pizz off lol
    Quote Originally Posted by Alusair View Post
    Announcement:
    I will start randomly deleting a post of practicalfool here and there over time to mess with his mind.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    6,308

    Default

    Hmm....okay, but how would we make sure people realize that their public bug reports wouldn't be receiving an official answer? I mean, seriously, you are talking about the same people who post on page 3 of the s139 forum demanding an answer straight from a dev on a thread titled "OMG!" and who flip out if they don't receive it within 20 minutes. The same people who post in any obscure corner of the forum expecting customer service or complex technical answers to a long list of questions.

    Keep in mind...absolutely NOBODY really reads stickies. It's like girls on the internet: it's a myth. In fact, the surest way to hide vital information is to post it publicly, make it a sticky, and title it, "VITAL INFORMATION! READ IT! YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!!!"

    If you can come up with a way for us to host a bug report forum, without heavy moderation of all posts, that doesn't cause massive problems, I'll convince the other reps and we'll do it.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •