Change the release strategy

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Jens_T, Apr 27, 2018.

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  1. Jens_T

    Jens_T Avatar

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    @Chris seeing that you push out a lot of “stuff” in monthly release cycles it is not surprising that bugs happen and not all features are properly tested.

    Did you discuss/think about going to a different release strategy? For example splitting tech/game mechanics from scenery/quests? Every two months tech/mechanic updates could be rolled out and every other month scene updates, new npc and quests.

    This ahould allow for more testing and “bigger” updates in the respective field or at least help you concentrate resources on one topic.
     
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  2. moxiepilot

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    Heck, I don't understand why they don't push on an as needed basis. But then again I'm no programmer
     
  3. Vyrin

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    It's a particular development methodology. Rolling out as-needed reflects other methodology choices, probably better when there is less that needs to be done. SotA is truly ongoing full development, but there is a good question as Jens_T proposes as to whether the methodology should change now that things are post-release. I think the underlying question is, with so much left to do post-release, how long can the game hold someone's attnetion if they are waiting for an update or improvement? Would two months try people's patience too much for waiting for new content/performance improvements?
     
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  4. Deadly Habit

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    I'm still waiting on more fishing and brewing...
     
  5. Jens_T

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    That’s why I believe alternating tech & gameplay/scene updates would allow for enough novelty buzz while allowing more testing and better resource planning.
    We had a few releases where updates were corrected through patches or later releases. For EA this might be acceptable, for a “released” game a different approach might be more prudent
     
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  6. Anvar

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    Certainly seems to me a much better approach is needed post launch. Id suggest something along the lines of following some simple rules...
    1. All patches go to the Qa server for public testing
    2. Patches should be on Qa for at least 8-12 hours public testing
    3. A certain number of players should have had to have tested it total in the time period or the test period is extended.
    4. 2 hours before dropping the patch Live put out a server message - Last chance to check Qa before we break your game !
     
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  7. Vladamir Begemot

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    Testing patches is a good idea. But there's a problem with that, QA is basically a job, after a launch we've got the live release with lots of new things to do.

    Rewards for QA aren't enough to get that many people in when they could otherwise be improving their character, making gold, etc.

    By the end of the month (prior to the release) we've been doing the previous release enough that we'll step over and do some testing.

    But who is going to want to do that when the release is already live, and there's all this new stuff to do? Particularly with Double XP time?

    There also might be some technical issues with your plan, that I'm not sure about.
     
  8. Floors

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    I think this release strategy is good. For me at least, R53 makes some real improvements over R52 in some major areas.

    Yes, I did run into the health bug which is annoying, but I'm having less moments of annoyance and more fun with each release. Keep adding content and quests !
     
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  9. Deadly Habit

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    Even with the incentive double xp is you have people (myself included) not wanting to play for longer stretches of time with the bugs or sweeping balance changes as it's just not fun.
    I pretty much came in, did the new scenes and last night did the shardfall cloak grand tour. I don't really feel incentivized to grind even with 2x xp when the path I've committed for my build can be changed on a whim release to release, not to mention have other games to play.
    Dunno about incentives for the QA server as that never piqued my interest at all, but as I recall from some of the videos and streams Port has some official hired QA staff.
     
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  10. Canterbury

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    It does seem at times that too much is being pushed into releases. I'd rather they take a small handful of problems - perhaps some of the problems you realise have been hanging around for years when you go digging around for solutions on the forum - and really nail them. Sure, it doesn't make for a sexy EDM at the end of the month saying, oh wow, look at all this new stuff we made, but it WILL impress the hell out of people who want their game to "just work". See if I'm wrong.
     
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  11. Deadly Habit

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    Would rather a game of fewer completely working systems than one with a bunch of buggy, broken, half finished ones.
     
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  12. Canterbury

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    Absolutely right. Get a core working, then build on it. Don't throw a dozen things at a wall to see what sticks, and then throw another dozen before the first dozen are sorted out. Which seems to have been the strategy to date.
     
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  13. Vladamir Begemot

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    Meanwhile, most of us are playing the new release and loving it. As a plate guy I don't even care about the nerf, it happens to everyone, it's going to swing around to you some day too even if you're a Pugelism guy.
     
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  14. Floors

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    I feel like most of the people with issues are people that have already spent a lot of time leveling up their players to relatively high levels and can notice such changes.

    I didn't really notice anything on my character I started using at launch. He's only level 60. And that's WITH a necklace of civility.

    There is a huge gulf in this game between long time players and characters and the new players coming in. Which is why creating a high level area away from the mainland might be a good idea for R2.
     
  15. Jens_T

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    That was not the point of discussion, the point was that a high frequency of updates in various systems with limited resources and testing time will not serve release quality. By changing the release cycle time could be allocated differently.
     
  16. Floors

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    I would like to point out that for 10 years, the entire software development industry has been moving to a "release early and often" strategy. That is why Mac OS X is released every year, for example. While taking longer between releases might seem like it will make things more stable at release, that is probably not the case.

    The risk of major differences after 3 months of devleopment and suddenly putting that on the players is actually MORE than the current model. What is probably required are improvements to the QA process prior to the release. But sometimes, things happen that are unexpected at the last second; it's software,

    it's not perfect. These things will happen. It's not like the game is unplayable atm.
     
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  17. Jens_T

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    My original proposal was to keep their “agile” monthly release but focus alternating on tech/mechanisms and scenes/graphics/gameplay to allow for bundled resources. The team is small and wears multiple hats, not comparable to Apple or others... and even those corps are moving updates if they feel the quality is not right.
     
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  18. Floors

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    Well, forgot that I said apple then. I work for a company and we are only 10 people on our team, and we release software every 2 weeks. No, it's not apples to apples, but frequent releases are generally good.

    They should probably not release on a Friday when nobody is gonna want to be around to fix it tho :)
     
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