Stop with the monthley release madness

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Arcanoxer, Nov 4, 2018.

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  1. Arcanoxer

    Arcanoxer Avatar

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    @DarkStarr and the rest of the Crew

    Please Devs, stop with the monthley release madness and deliver quality not quantity when it's ready!
    The Game always feels like Early Access with every monthly release.
    Obvious bugs, unfinished content and performance problems are not helfull when you try to raise the player numbers and get rid of the negative reviews in Steam.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2018
  2. Canterbury

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    I was saying similar in a recent thread. The only people who really, truly care if the devs put out a patch at a certain time, like clockwork, are... well, let's be honest, the devs.

    Everyone out here, "in the real world", would simply like patches - that work - when needed. Again, the metric of, "We've never missed a patch date!" is meaningless, on the whole.
     
  3. CarlNZ

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    Problem is they've tied the monthly release into their funding model.
     
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  4. Arcanoxer

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    I don't see the problem. They still can do the telethon/livestreams and talk over new features that are in development if they want to.
    Also they already can't keep up with the monthly "reward" delivery from the livestreams.
     
  5. Helvig Ingvildsdottir

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    Monthly releases are a good practice in software development. Basically every team I ever worked in did them. It forces the team to slice big goals into smaller ones that on their own offer a benefit to the customer, and therefore helps keep the feet on the ground and not get lost in the development of huge features that take months and only in the end turns out that expectations are not met.

    Only point here that I agree with is that this game still feels like in development. Because (in my opinion) it still is in development. It was a mistake (again in my humble opinion) to market it as "released".

    But personally I hope they will keep up the monthly release cycles and be honest about which part of the release backlog was achieved and which not and why.
     
  6. gtesser

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    I enjoy the monthly releases.
     
  7. Bow Vale

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    I enjoy the monthly releases as well and if we had XXXX players then it would be a great way of doing things as it keeps things fresh but we need hype, a big attraction that only a new release with LOTS of new content can bring. Personally id only add necessities like performance updates or some seasonal/irregular events and keep all the content till E2. This would give time for full systems to be put in, bugs quashed and the bonus of creating hype for new and old backers and give review sites a reason to give a new review which monthly releases don't do.
     
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  8. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    Disagree.
     
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  9. Brewton

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    So if the monthly releases are not the cause of the bugs, performance issues, the feeling of still in development than what is? I don't mind the monthly releases if they didn't make me dl patches each time and play on weekends with things broke until Monday. So those that disagree with the OP, what's the cause/fix?
     
  10. Jason_M

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    Perhaps some content is better suited to monthly updates than others. Large updates might need more time on the QA.

    New quests, NPCs, bug fixes and optimization is ideal for monthly updates to keep players engaged.

    New systems perhaps ought to come quarterly....

    But @CarlNZ and @Helvig Ingvildsdottir are both correct in their own ways. It's as much a business decision as it is a creative one.

    We can armchair general, and it's interesting for us to do so, but the Company wouldn't put themselvea ubder so much pressure month after month for five straight years unless they had very firm reasons.
     
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  11. Blackghost

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    I agree
     
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  12. Krissa Lox

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    In my opinion, it's a problem to maintain the combination of tieing continued development to monthly funding while also calling the product "released."

    It's been well-known and discussed in the game industry for years that even AAA companies can't expect more than $60 consumer outlay for even exceptional productions with massive advertising campaigns. That's why we see things like DLC and lootboxes for additional funds beyond that, but the base game has to feel like a complete, finished product first for customers to feel that additional purchases are an investment rather than something that should have been included in the base game.

    I know in this game, players don't have to keep making purchases to play so it's not really the player end I'm speaking to, but the business end of being dependent on players continuing to pay in voluntarily, because the consumer dollars have not shown themselves to be there for anyone, so it's an issue of the buying market not seller operations.

    Some people will be willing to pay ongoing amounts to continue an unfinished product they believe in and care about, while others will be willing to pay a lesser price with lessened expectations for a product that was finished roughly and left at that to move on to making a new, improved version for round two to build on what was learned the first time around, but a choice has to be made and stuck with between one or the other. You can't fence-straddle both sides indefinitely and expect anyone to be happy -- or at least happy enough to see an investment value in continuing to pay for more.

    Or alternatively, adjust marketing and funds generation to established strengths that already have core systems in place rather than hyping areas of incompleteness or weakness. Like market this as a virtual community facilitator in a New Brittanian setting with gameplay elements being a secondary bonus when/if they happen, because that's essentially what we've got so might as well start pitching to those who would be willing to pay well for it (virtual community builders are a separate consumer demographic than gamers, but there's a lot of money and less competition in that market so it's not a step down business-wise in any way) instead of chasing money you're not in a position to deliver a fair amount of value for yet.

    You can always come back to working on grander visions later when the foundations have been secured, but profitability starts by selling what you've got rather that what you don't.
     
  13. eli

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    Software integration is a complicated topic and frankly, based upon the size of their team and the QA process used, quick iterative releases is the correct choice.

    The negatives you list are inherent in release cycle, and are in fact typically minimized by continuous integration, not monstrous merges.
     
  14. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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  15. Kain Darkmoor

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    When they do patches is largely irrelevant to the quality of the patches. If there are too many issues it just means they are trying to do more than they can handle.
     
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  16. smack

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    They could offset their releases by a month for additional testing, at the cost of an initial one-time delay. Push R60 to QA and let everyone test it for a month, while you work on R61 and any fixes for R60. Then push R60 to Live after a month of solid testing + fixes and then push R61 to QA and repeat.

    Not saying this will solve everything and get at the root cause of what's happening, but if it's additional bake time and testing needed, that's perhaps one way to do it while keeping a monthly cadence.
     
  17. jammaplaya

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    It is taxing for us players, isn't it? Having to read a wall every month?

    +1
     
  18. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I personally like the new content they bring out every month, wish it was more frequent just cause I see what is to come and get too excited. perhaps its because some of us old players have been around for 3+ years and need new fixes as we have done almost everything, but at the same time we do need balance and bugs fixed. Patience is all I can say is required. Its hard sometimes to wait, but knowing what the end game looks like the rewards in time will happen for those that can wait it out.
     
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  19. Chaox

    Chaox Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Thank you for all of your feedback here!
     
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