1.3 patch anyword

[darkmason]

I look forward to evaluating it in the same light as many have evalulated X3 without giving them the chance to finish it ...

As ESD mentioned earlier ... '[EgoSoft] really can't win, can they?' ...

Interesting stuff - but isn't it traditional for companies to finish developing their product before they sell it at full price?

... heheh ... buy many games? ...

I don't remember the last time that I bought software (or hardware for that matter) where I didn't have to get an update for it to work properly, and this is for large software houses/hardware vendors, not smaller one's like Egosoft. If you read alot of posts here, you may or not believe that the 'distributor' released X3 before Egosoft was really finished with it, but seriously, you would release software (ignoring the bugs) with features missing if you had a choice ?

If I learned anything reading this forum the past several months, it's the following:

1) don't show progress pictures, because everyone will bitch about how they are the wrong color, are too shiny, or don't look real (people ... they aren't real) ...
2) don't EVER use the world realism to describe any feature in your game, because everybody is a theorical physicist (I don't care that there's no sound in space) ...
3) in fact, don't discuss features at all, because they will be picked apart; what you include will be wrong and what you miss will be necessary ...
4) don't ask for suggestions, because you will be reminded of any that aren't implemented over and over again (I want HUGE sectors and I want to be able to get anywhere instantly) ...
5) never remove a feature in a sequel (do we have cockpits yet?, why don't we have cockpits?, when are we getting cockpits?) ...

... ah hell ... how about just ...

6) don't leak any information about a game until it's gone gold, or at least until it's in the testers hands with everything implemented. That MIGHT reduce the 'since you are fixing this bug, can you add a couple lines of code to allow us to land and fight on planets with realistic randomly generated landscapes' type of questions. Actually, forget that, someone will still ask ...

People wonder if developers view these forums. If you were a developer who really cared about what they were doing, would you want to read these forums after a hard day of work? ...

[Misinformed]

People wonder if developers view these forums. If you were a developer who really cared about what they were doing, would you want to read these forums after a hard day of work? ...

Not really, it would probaby depress me to much.

[dazzoefc77]

Are not 95% of the people complaining currently thinking this game was rushed?

I'd say 95% of regular forum posters are complaining, im personally pleased with the game and can wait for the patch, i have had no major problems so far, maybe im not as fussy i dont know. As you can see im not a heavy poster, but i do read regularly.

I do think though for every complainer there are probably numerous people too busy playing to worry about this.

I know there are some serious issues for some people, and im positive egosoft are working hard to make sure at least everyone can play the game. Don't expect the world tho.

[BlackRain]

I would not say that 95% of regular forum posters are complaining, I think it is generally the same people with some new ones now and then complaining. Someone did a poll a little while back to see how many people were happy/unhappy with the game and the great and good votes overwhelmingly beat the bad votes. I think most people are satisfied or know that with new patches they will be satisfied.

[jam3]

So Egosoft release a patch ETA and it slips, people get annoyed and complain.

Egosoft refuse to release a patch ETA because it could slip, people get annoyed and complain.

Egosoft release patch-notes ahead of time, but for reason x,y,z feature m doesn't make it in, people get annoyed and complain.

Egosoft refuse to release patch-notes ahead of time, people get annoyed and complain.

They really can't win, can they?

Ok i have just been reading the forums because there is alot of great info and I read this post and had to respond.

If you release patch notes and someone gets mad cause something in the notes doesn't make the patch, WHO CARES? People who don't understand patch notes list only possibilities of things to come in a patch shouldn't be reading patch notes. One thing people can use patch notes for is to see if theres at least the possibility of a fix or functional add-in that they need/want coming.

We want patch notes we want to know whats coming. Some of us have large vacation time this time of year and want to know if some of the critical issues are going to get addressed and if we can plan on large jaunts of play time, or whether we should give up on the game for now and wait until a patch is suddenly released that fixes our problems.

If you don't implement mobile mining in the next patch I am going to have serious concerns about the future of this game. Not because I love mining but because you PUT IT IN THE MANUAL. People have wasted their precious play time only to find out that something that the manual says you can do CAN'T BE DONE YET! This is a serious knock for newbie holiday gamers who read manuals and just start playing, I would fix this ASAP!

That more than anything is what really bothers me, you said no cockpits and their are no cockpits, thats fine. You put something in the manual, you put stations and upgrades in the game for mining but have the laisez faire attitutde about when your going to add it. You say it will be there then deliver on it, your getting new gamers this time around don't let them be their first impression of you.

[Mford105]

When it comes down to it, nomatter the state the end product is in, people will whine and complain, either because Mr X has a odd left eye brow, because the game is too memory extensive, or because there aren't enough Blue stars in the universe.

What should Egosoft do?? Whatever the heck they want to do to get their jobs done that's what! If patch notes before the patch release means they get their feedback portion of the job done quicker, then they'll do it, if it's just a waste of time then they won't, don't expect people who read you slagging them off and insulting the result of months even YEARS of hard work to bend over backwards for you, because they won't and you just annoy everyone else


Point of this reply? None I just want to vent like everyone else in this thread

[Baron von Beer]

This game is awful. The captain of the M2 in Argon Prime has an odd eyebrow, and there aren't enough blue stars. I mean, come on, how hard would it be to throw us a bone and plop some blue stars in there? Pphhh, good luck tryin to get anywhere in this game without em.

[rustamk]

You mean it has 100 votes? Certainly wasn't me, and I don't remember CBJ mentioning any 1.2.03 either

Not yet, but it does have about 180. 158 for Yes, they should and 22 for No, they should not.

That is pretty considerable, 9:1, it's not like 6:4, but 9:1.

I like all the features they put into X3, the only issue for me is performance. Have to stay away from crowded places. Or go in without the HUD.

Well, it was The_Abbys... although he said it was unnoficial, and he didn't say they were going to release it but that they are "in 3rd stage". Here is his post:

Just a small unofficial update. At present, we are working on a 1.2.03 update, which is in its 3rd phase of release candidate testing. Please don't read anything into our file numbering system for updates

I'm not going to go into the exact content now - as always if something we talk about is missed out or delayed until a future update people will be disappointed. However I can say that prime areas being looked at are:

- game performance (some really good improvements here with menus and HUDs etc)
- conclusion of plot bugs and smaller game bugs
- addition one or two game features that were previously planned but couldn't make it until now.

Something more official and with better spelling and grammer will follow soon.

Rustam

[khabal]

With a bit o luck, the 1.3 will contain everything that should have been in the released version. Think of it as a kind of free expansion.

[Acidic]

It is a shame the game has shipped with such an array of bugs, but I'll weather it for as long as Egosoft maintain a commitment to the release of patches and fixes in order to remove the major ones, or at least alleviate them in some way. In order of preference, anything with the potential to crash the game, any plot-related mission destroyers, and any performance enhancers should be added first, with scripting errors second, and cosmetic changes third.

[jam3]

"should have been in the game"

With Mobile mining its far different than that, they put it in the manual, they didnt add an errata note saying it didn't yet work. They are shipping a product to people that says something exists but clearly doesn't. All those EVE gamers who lived on mining are going to get this for christmas spend hours getting the neccessary equipment and then find out its broken. They'll come to the forums find out theres no word of mining coming in the game cause there are no patch notes, no updates from the devs, and not think too highly of the developer or publisher.

I mean its pretty simple you say your going to deliver something than deliver on your word.

BTW I like the game I sum it up basically as

X2 with better graphics, better combat, and some of the community patches integrated.

But they need to
1) FIx outstanding memory leaks and CTD's
2) Fix plot mission bugs and the ability to break the plot
3) Deliver on mobile mining, of all the "non-bug" issues this should be the absolute first functional piece they add, and again not because it's my "pet" functionality but because there shipping product that says its there.
4) In 1.4 I see things like fixing the broken ship models and hopefully adding cockpits, at least to M1 and M2 ships.

Everyone who keeps making excuses and defending the devs as well as calling the community para. absurd for asking for a finished product needs to go make an "excuse/reason" thread and stop posting in threads that make reasonable requests.

I posted in this thread specifically, and for the first time about x3 in the forums, because the one thing they can do right now is communicate with the community and a positive first step would be to release patch notes.

[dzhedzho]

Overpromise Underdeliver...
Rule number one of keeping customers happy...
Oops or did I get it the wrong.
Guess was the other way around.

[Puppy Drowner]

I'd really like to see a developer refuse to give any kind of release date.

"It'll be ready when it's ready. Don't like that? Then make your own damn game and quit bitching"

The ships being left out due to time constraints doesn't bother me too much and some bugs you'll never discover until you've got a few thousand people playing it to death - and no company can afford that many in-house testers.

In some ways I actually like getting new patches that finish off these things as it's like bonus content. If the only way to find out about this unfished content is to start going through library files you shouldn't get too pissed with the company. If you hadn't nosed about then it would never have bothered you.

However, (and it's a big however), when you release a game centred around jumping between different star systems and the engine has a 20% chance of throwing a fit and CTDing every time you enter a jumpgate, then you SCREWED UP. It's sloppy workmanship and there's no excuse.

If a developer tries to pass of a major flaw like that as being down to "time constraints", then it's poor project management and, again, there's no excuse.

If the manual that ships with the game describes features on the main HUD that simply DO NOT EXIST then it's a clear indication that someone wasn't paying attention.

You could not get away with this in any other industry. I've sacked people for work this sloppy and I've seen department heads kicked out for managing a project this badly.

But what can you do - I can't exactly not play X, can I? I can hardly build a galactic empire in Battlefield 2.

[Ecthelion]

Everybody who thinks that the manual listing missing features is bad should listen to this. I read a review of Pirates of the Caribbean where the reviewer really ranted about one of the keys being changed after the manual was published. I pointed out on the comments for the review that the new key was listed in the Readme file on the CD and he went on and on about how that wasn't good enough, that people shouldn't have to read READMEs. I tried to explain that it's pretty much standard practice to put last-minute changes in Readme files and it should be obvious to check them. Then he said how he'd been gaming since the days of Pong and never once read a Readme. I thought it was a GameSpy review, but I checked it and a couple other sites and couldn't find it - it's been so long that I forget exactly where it was. I'm sure it was one of the bigger websites though.

At least no one here is complaining about the keys being different in the manual (which they are, I believe they changed the default key configuration)! Talk about nitpicking.

[serimral]

[quote="jam3"]"should have been in the game"

With Mobile mining its far different than that, they put it in the manual, they didnt add an errata note saying it didn't yet work. They are shipping a product to people that says something exists but clearly doesn't.

Class Action lawsuit anyone?

Still waiting for patch 1.3, haven't played for a couple of weeks. Pretty cheesed off I paid expedited shipping from gogamer for an incomplete game.

[khabal]

Well, the patch will probablt be released today at 23:59, so that the devs can make due on thei promise of "later in November".

[plynak]

As I can see in the sticky topic, it was delayed. Release dat unknown. What a support!

[fredrick]

As I can see in the sticky topic, it was delayed. Release dat unknown. What a support!

yeah on a gmt - 9 or something

[Ecthelion]

"should have been in the game"

With Mobile mining its far different than that, they put it in the manual, they didnt add an errata note saying it didn't yet work. They are shipping a product to people that says something exists but clearly doesn't.

Class Action lawsuit anyone?

Still waiting for patch 1.3, haven't played for a couple of weeks. Pretty cheesed off I paid expedited shipping from gogamer for an incomplete game.

I assume you were joking, but if you weren't - I'm getting really tired of these people saying they're going to sue over a manual being incorrect. A manual is in no way a legal representation of a game - it could be totally incorrect (for a different game even), and the user would have no legal recourse. You have the right to boycott future products of course, but that's about it.

[Skeeter]

Wrong. Im sure you can take legal action but its still not going to make them put it in even if u won, dunno what you would win but a refund at the most in most probability.