Yivvits' Pointless Rants

SWG Tricks & Treats - Introduction

2007-12-05T18:40:00Z

Until I have enough time to start one of the dozens of little projects floating around in my head, I need a place to record any handy SWG commands I find. For now, that place will be my blog. [:-)]

If you know of or have found a handy in-game command and would like to share it, please send me a PM. I'll review it and repost here (at my descression).

Raph talks about Content vs. Systems in game design.

2007-11-02T17:03:00Z

In order for this post to make sense, please read this entry in Raph Koster's blog. I've also reposted it at the bottom of this post.

In his latest blog post, Raph talks about the importance of not just giving game designers a set of scripts to work with and that they understand the systems behind the scripts. To me, he just explained what I feel is missing from SWG. In fact, it feels missing from every other MMO I've played during the past 3 years. Many times I do feel like I'm simply walking through a database and not a game world.

Let me be clear, I'm not saying the current SWG devs are doing a poor job! They are currently doing a great job especially when you factor in how small the team is right now. They are working with the tools available to them.

With that out of the way... Think about it... How many times have we heard about how complicated the code behind SWG is? On many occasions it has been implied that too many systems are tied to each other or the code doesn't make sense. Over the years I think we've seen a lot of this "mystery" code removed and replaced with systems which use easy-to-understand scripts. These are the "tools" we hear sometimes hear devs talk about. The truth is, those difficult-to-understand systems are what really brought the world to life.

I don't understand how a sculptor carves a statue out of a block of marble, but I can appreciate how life-like and beautiful a statue can be. If the artist used a computer controlled device to produce his statue it may be perfect, to the micron - but I promise, it wouldn't be as beautiful and it would merely be one copy out of 1000. I eagerly await the day somebody or some company chooses to take the high road while designing their product. The path is more difficult, but the reward is well worth it.

-Yivvits

[hr]

Repost from Raph's blog:

The latest game dev debate around the blogosphere is about designer scripting. Joe Ludwig says,On the gameplay side we use a rich data-drive system that lets designers define an arbitrary list of “requirements” with which they are able to test most any condition. When a trigger fires, object is used, or skill is activated, an arbitrary list of “results” is activated which is capable of modifying just about any state in the game. The designers also have a few ways of maintaining persistent state on the characters depending on the circumstances. This system is working pretty well for us and eliminates the need for any designer-written scripts.No, it doesn’t. Because it means that implementing designers are nothing more than content creators, and that is not what the core job of game design is.In fact, it’s the most commodified part of game design. The core of game design lies in systems. And systems require massaging and testing and iteration. Doing it on paper is hopeless. At the very least you need to seat designer and programmer together to work like Siamese twins — like a lyricist and the composer. But better yet is to acknowledge that systems, for better or worse, are defined in code. And therefore knowing how to code at least a little is like saying that a painter needs to know how to use a paintbrush, or a composer really should play at least one instrument even if not as master.As one commenter said over on Zen of Design, a purely data driven system feels like wandering through a database. Well, yes. That’s because that is what it is. You can stick conditionals in everywhere you like, and it boils down to the fact that the inputs and outputs are fixed, a Chinese menu.Two points I must make even though they are obvious:

Content creation is still a noble pursuit, and a difficult one. Yes, content is critical, it’s king, etc. It’s just not the core. No system, no content. And there’s a lot more people who can mak content than can make systems.
Bad scripting is bad. Sure. Train your budding designers. Ramp them gradually. Still have the data-driven system, becauseyou do still need content. And feel free to have the scripting designer prototype and iterate, and then port the final result over to a robust programmer-created system.

It’s also worth pointing out that a designer who only works inside of data-driven systems will not have a career path and training path to learn systems design unless they are given access to system modifications. So I strongly advise designers to find a way to learn to code.Again, it’s not about being as good as a professional programmer. It’s about understanding the tools of your chosen medium well enough to actually work with them.

In fact, you can go back through this post, and substitute “Excel,” “presenting,” “visual design,” and “writing.” The gist of the post would be exactly the same.

Bixiebopper

2007-09-18T15:29:00Z

As I said in Episode 80.5, Fan Faire Love Affair, I presented Mr. Alan "Brenlo Bixiebopper" Crosby of SOE with his very own Yivvits and MrBubble undies - made by our good friend Ipee. Later that evening the shorts were used to mop up spilled drinks and save Aimee's camera. Yivvits and MrBubble saved the day! I hear the briefs are now hanging on Brenlo's office wall.

Forums – Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel

2007-04-03T15:02:00Z

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel the official SWG forums are at a low point. I'm not talking about the technical issues they've been having, nor am I saying the mods are slacking (because they aren't, the posts in question aren't necessarily against the rules). Blame the NGE, blame the CU, blame PvPers… I really don't care. The forums have become a pit of petty bickering about who is more l337 or which guild is hax0rzing in Restuss.

I'm the first to point out that these issues have always existed, but lately it has gotten worse. Before I go on, let me be clear – this is not a blanket statement. I'm not pointing out any specific people and FWIW there are still fun and valid discussions in the forums (just not as many).

Whenever I pop into the Valcyn discussion forum I see the same handful of people posting nothing but garbage and trash talk.

"Johnny'Rebel'Basher sucks!" *insert a stupid ytmnd image here*
"Bobby sploits all teh timez!11!1!!!" *insert pointless gif animation here*
"j00 stupid imperialz just can't handle losing!" *insert less-than-humorous jpg from imagedump here*

Sometimes posts like these ARE funny and ARE good for building camaraderie or dealing with issues the community has. Yet there is a point where these discussions grow tiresome.

Then again, I'm just a carebear, so what do I know anyway…

So, what’s the deal with “So”!

2007-03-08T14:36:26Z

So, something I've noticed is that almost everybody at SOE has a propensity to start sentences with "So". Hell, even Raph does this in his blog (a lot). So, maybe it's not just an SOE thing but a game developer thing. Maybe it's an east coast thing? I don't know. I know it isn't just an internet / forum thing as I heard a lot of statements begin with "So" at the summit we attended in February. Even during the past few podcasts I've been catching myself doing this; I'm trying to watch it though.

I'm not the grammar police. I have terrible grammar and spelling. On the one hand, I'm in no position to judge. On the other hand, starting a comment with "So" somehow sounds… I don't know… a little bit pompous. While I'm sure this isn't the emotion they mean to convey, it certainly could be taken as such. Sentences can certainly start with "So" but they should have some sort of context or reason.

So, before saying or typing "So," at the start of a general statement ask yourself, "Do I really need to say So here?" So, at best in most cases the word adds no valuable meaning and at worst, could end up conveying some negative emotion which wasn't your intension.

Things in SWG that drive me nuts!

2007-02-01T19:56:37Z

This is just so I can keep track of all the things in SWG that drive me nuts. I'll do my best to separate these things into a few different lists. This is a work in progress and will always remain that way.

Bugs & Annoyances

Radar only displays its current zoom level when you mouse over it.
- This makes it difficult to tell just how close those dots on the radar are to you unless you stop what you're doing and mouse over it.
- Before the resizable radar was added back into the game (and from launch up until that point) the radar always displayed its zoom level.
- This is one of those WTF changes… why would you NOT display this information all the time? At the very least, it needs to be an option. As it stands, I no longer use the radar because of this issue.
Targeting.

Design Issues

In my mind, these things ARE bugs. To each their own; some will call them bugs, others will say they are opinions. :p

Movement speed. Must I even say anything else about this? I'll spare you.

Hoth will become a tropical paradise before these happen

Bring back decay. Nothing further to say on this issue.
Bring back battle fatigue. Nothing further to say on this issue.
Bring back wounds. Nothing further to say on this issue.
Bring back crafting in professions like medic.

My impressions so far: EQ2

2007-01-08T16:34:00Z

As many of you know I've been playing a little EQ2 during the past couple months. Since I've gotten a little deeper into the game I figured it was time to offer some of my opinions. Most of these are comparing EQ2 to SWG in some way or another. I'm still a newbie in EQ2; keep this in mind. These aren't in any special order nor do they cover all the bases; I'm more or less thinking out loud here.

Graphics

Overall, most of the graphics in EQ2 are very nice. I don't have any special gaming rig, but I was able to increase a few of the various options to improve things like character appearance. There are a lot of options for adjusting the graphics in this game. Way more than you see in SWG.

The graphics in cities are great, but the textures used in wide open areas are lacking. The terrain isn't bad, but the textures used are very small, something that becomes apparent when you're looking out over a field of grass. It's patchwork-city. It gives me the feeling that I'm walking on a "fake" floor, or grass colored carpet.

Just like SWG I guess EQ2 underwent some changes a while ago. One of the things they did was to increase the rate of movement (sound familiar?) While there are more combat animations than SWG currently has, I'd like to see even more. The rate of movement is just too fast and looks silly. It looks "forced", just like in SWG. Uh, that's probably because it is forced! It's pretty sad to see they did this in both games. I suppose the results from focus group #84-A support the faster movement. Damn that focus group #84-A! Old school SWG still takes the cake when it comes to combat animations.

Performance

This one is sort of difficult to assess, given that I have in fact increased a few graphic settings. The game clips along nicely when there aren't many people or NPC's around, but once you enter some of the NPC cities or a zone like Black Burrow, the game just grinds. I have talked to some folks who have pretty robust systems and they report the same performance issues. I don't know if there are just too many things to render in those areas or what, but it's pretty bad.

During some of our busier podcast parties in SWG (20 or more people) the game slows down, but not terribly so. I usually stay at about 10-15 fps. Considering I have everything except shadows turned on this is pretty good. In EQ2… sometimes I think the fps meter would show "seconds per frame" if it could.

Crafting

I've found the crafting to be… interesting. I don't enjoy it as much as I did the pre-nge / pre-cu days of SWG, but on the other hand it is good at what it does. I would not care to see this system in SWG though. There is decay in the game, but it really doesn't matter. Everything can be fully repaired for very little money. All items of "type X" are the same, regardless of who crafted it. Yes, your skill level makes a difference, but that's about it. I prefer the old SWG economy and crafting, but for EQ2 this is fine.

User Interface

Not the worst. It's average. Sadly, there are many objects that can't be resized, such as the "HAM" bars (that or I'm doing something wrong). Targeting is not bad. I don't have any major complaints here, yet.

Game Play

First, I want to reinforce the fact that I'm not a quest lover. I hate quests. I don't get into the story lines, and rewards, while sometimes cool, are just a carrot IMO. I'd much rather grind. I rather enjoyed my pikeman grind in SWG (I know… that's almost perverse isn't it). EQ2 really wants you to quest for XP, but grinding isn't bad… in a group.

The majority of the quests I've started require a group to complete. I am all for grouping and requiring multiple people for a task, but in the case of EQ2 I think it's skewed a little too much towards group play.

Profession advancement is exactly like it is in SWG now (EQ2 had it first, of course). Most of the times you level you simply receive an upgraded version of an existing move. I dislike this. I think you should gain new abilities more often than not. In pre-nge/cu SWG you really did get new abilities with each new level/skill increase. Also, why the hell don't they just delete the previous version of a skill once it's upgraded? You end up with a book full of useless moves (in EQ2 and SWG). I don't see a reason to keep weaker versions of a move.

Uhm…. I'll think of more to add here, I promise J

Comments on EQ2/SWG-NGE Stuff

I see a lot of EQ2 in the post-NGE version of SWG. I think this was a mistake on their part. To assume people in SWG would like the way EQ2 works is sort of like if our government said "As of tomorrow, everyone will start driving in the left lane. It works in the UK, so why not here!" I'm no developer, but IMO you shouldn't do something JUST because it worked somewhere else. You should do things that work FOR your users, not against them. Working against them only feeds resentment.

Blah blah blah… what do I know though, I'm just a n00b.

Decay? Make up your mind!

2006-11-17T17:29:07Z

Will "decay" return to SWG? Apparently, no. Yesterday Helios made this comment in the official forums:

"There are no plans to bring back decay."
View article...

This was in reply to somebody talking about how the return of day would change how people play the game. Bringing back decay would mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I'll quote some items from the original post Helios was replying to as I agree with them:

PvE would involve a level of risk
PvP would involve a level of risk
No more use of lava or NPC's as a means of travel
Items/rewards once again have some value as you don't want to lose them
Crafting would have more purpose again
Players would need to rely on other classes again

It infuriates me to read posts from people who bitch and moan about decay, "greedy" crafters, and generally feel that decay cramps their style. The NGE and all recent changes have done a great job of breeding this sentiment. On the one hand, we had Helios telling us the game was no longer about "world simulation" and Nancy M. telling us we're too dumb to read. Almost *every* change during the past 12 months has focused on the combat side of the game. On the other hand, we now have Helios discussing some of the in-concept ideas using terms like "persistent state world" and implying if somebody wants to play Aunt Beru they should have such a choice. At the very mention of something non-combat related, the combat folks throw a gran mal tantrum. Huh, big surprise. (ok, not all combat players, but a good number of them in the forums)

Well, which is it? Kill-loot-repeat, or moisture farmer? As long as the developers are too afraid to piss off the combat players by "forcing" them to do something they don't necessarily enjoy, I honestly do not believe they can (successfully) mesh the two very different styles of play. If the game was designed to be nothing more than a combat MMO then fine – crafting and decay are silly. If it was designed as a virtual world you need to treat it as such and create consequences for actions (like decay on death and battle fatigue).

Something has to give in order to make this crap balance out. Either they just dump crafting, turn crafters into ammo factories, or step up and make the combat folks take a hit for once. They'll get over it and maybe the game will develop a little bit of depth again… something we've been missing for a long time.

Particle effects...

2006-11-14T23:42:00Z

... are really getting out of hand in SWG. I didn't mind them when they simply showed us a state effect such as stunned or bleeding, pre-cu days. Logged into TC tonight to check out Medic and it just wasn't worth it for me because the game is so DAMN UGLY with all those particle effects! Grraawww!

“Respecs” cheapen the experience

2006-10-18T15:45:02Z

I hate them.

I've used them many times.

But I hate them.

They are a very necessary evil at this point and time in SWG because they keep changing the professions so much. That doesn't mean I like them, nor do I think they have any place in an MMORPG… at least in a normal, stable MMORPG. When I have respec'd to a different profession in SWG I had no sense of accomplishment, I did not feel like I earned it, and overall the experience felt cheap.

It's funny… a lot of people hated having to grind professions in the old SWG. I in fact loved it. Yes, rather odd isn't it? I suppose there are many reasons as to why it didn't seem so mind-numbing. Because the combat was turn based and we had the combat queue I could take 30 seconds here and there to chat with other guild members. The animations and sound effects along with the rich terrain made the experience much more realistic than any other game I had played (non-MMORPG at least – SWG was my first MMO). It was really exciting to finally train in a new skill box and get a new move or the ability to use a new weapon.

The best part came when I mastered the profession I was working on. There was a real sense of achievement, even if it only was a game. I had invested time and it paid off. I rarely changed my templates pre-CU; I just didn't feel the need. I'd have to give up something in order to try something different. When I did decide to make the change I looked forward to progressing through the various skill boxes and when the grind was finished I once again had that feeling of accomplishment.

Sure, loads of players hated the grind and I think a lot of that came from the Jedi grinding days. If I had done that much grinding I'd probably end up hating it as well. Thankfully for me, I have never wanted to be a Jedi in the game.

There should be consequences for changing professions in something as large and complex as an MMORPG (again, SWG:NGE is something of an exception). I want to have a worthwhile and meaningful experience when playing these games. If I really want to change professions I should have to consider the work involved. Now, all you do is visit an NPC, give her some credits and you're on your way. It's an empty experience, much like the entire game has become during the past 18 months.

Next time you visit that "profession counselor" and have been converted to your new vocation ask yourself this: How do you feel?

Bug and issue tracking – Good job Microsoft!

2006-10-13T17:13:00Z

Just bare with me here, this does relate to SWG…

Some of you might already know this, but I'm a network engineer IRL (that's right, I not an appliance repairman). Titles mean nothing to me though and I actually don't do as much hardcore networking as my title suggests. We are a Microsoft shop (please, put away your pitchforks and torches). Almost every single one of our customers use Microsoft products which means I try to keep up on what's new from MS. This means I usually run beta software when possible (except for Vista… what a beast that OS is going to be Uff!).

I've been using Office 2007 for a few months now and have to say I'm really liking it. In fact, I'm publishing this blog entry directly from Word 2007. (On a side note, if anybody wants to do this with Word 2007 or even the free Windows Live Writer Beta let me know, it's pretty easy to get going. Say what you want about MS, but the fact is some of their products are pretty cool, even if they bought them from another company. Almagill… you can publish to LJ using the Live Writer :D)

Back on subject – I'm a fan of Microsoft OneNote and have been using the 2007 beta. I ran into a problem today; more of a feature I didn't like than a problem. I visited the site MS uses to track bugs and suggestions about their beta products and while they weren't going to change the feature I didn't like in this version, I was VERY impressed with their entire tracking / community feedback-discussion system.

This is EXACTLY what SWG needs – at the very least, test center needs it. It would solve so many of their community feedback issues if we simply knew that a bug we reported has been entered into their DB. If they really want to get a high level of usable feedback, they need to stop using the forums and start using something that is actually made to track bugs and suggestions.

Below you will find a typical issue report thread in the MS tracking site.

Here is why this system is so DAMN GOOD:

VERY easy to see what the reported issue was, comments from their team or other users, the status of the item, and they provided links to any discussions about the item.
The "rating" section allowed me to provide input on how important this issue is to me.
The "validation" section would have allowed me to verify that I am seeing the exact same bug or issue.
The "workarounds" section lets me see if other users have found a way around the bug.
The "tracking" section makes this issue show up on the list of "Items I am currently tracking."

I applaud Microsoft for providing us such an easy way to submit, monitor, and discuss bugs and suggestions. They don't limit what is entered in this database to just bugs. They also want general feedback on features and even suggestions on how to improve the product whether it be entirely new features or tweaking existing ones.

If SOE were to implement something like this I honestly believe the quality of the feedback they get from the community would increase 100-fold. The amount of "junk" the developers have to sift through would decrease considerably, and most of all – we would feel like our issues mattered. Saying you care is only 1/10^th of actually caring. The other 9/10ths comes from "doing."

Sure, they have the good old /bug system, but it isn't connected to the community and that's a really big problem IMO. Sadly, they are stuck in their ways and we'll never see anything like this.

P.S. I encourage any bloggers out there to give the Windows Live Writer a try. Or, if you have Office 2007 Beta2 with Tech Refresh try blogging from Word.

Just fix it already!

2006-10-12T16:01:00Z

UI - Suck it up and give us the "official" option of the pre-NGE UI. This one sucks and has more problems than a balding Wookiee. Don't try to improve it, don't try to pretty it up, don't try anything! Just make it work with the NGE and leave it the hell alone.
Radar - Good job devs - Thanks for fixing this, but why didn't you just reuse the art assets (to a greater extent) from the old old old radar? It looked better. Oh, and what is my radar zoom level set to? Hmm... let me see, since you removed that text from the radar I'll have to hit the alt key and mouse over it in order to determine the zoom level. Gee thanks that's handy.
Toolbar - Good job on the 2-row bar! About time! Yet, you had to improve it. Now, I have to map my "first row" to the "second row" keys since you felt it would be best to reverse them from how they were pre-CU. Add to this the fact that my second row (graphically - really it's the first row) is mapped to SHIFT+F-Keys and I end up with a tool bar that displays the following:
SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT
Shaders - Publish 28 broke a TON of shaders. I've started sending the broken ones to Red-Dwarf in the hopes he can convince somebody in the bunker to fix them. Sending the info to Smed and R5 obviously wasn't good enough.
Keymapping + Targeting - Again, just give it up already you f'ing clowns! If some of us want to have the exact same functionality we had pre-NGE give it to us, rather than inventing wonderful new things like "SWG Modern." What the hell!
Movement - Slow it the fack down already. It's got to be one of primary, if not THE reason you can't make the old animations work now. Fast movement looks stupid and breaks a lot of stuff. When was the last time anybody saw one of the larger creatures in SWG move without shuffling?

All of my rants aside, these are the issues keeping me from enjoying SWG right now. I login and see crappy terrain... which I KNOW how to temporarily fix but sucks none-the-less. I go to do a little combat and fight with targeting for 20 minutes because I hate the NGE way and the "hybrid" Nge+Auto-Attack just doesn't work right for *me*. Bah. I shall go sulk in the corner now.

SWG Test Center – SOE Fails Miserably

2006-09-29T15:58:26Z

Lately I've been almost irate over the way SOE handles their Test Center server. The major item in this chapter was the new smuggling system. The developers who worked on this system were actively communicating with people who were testing. They were trying to fix issues found during testing and kept people updated on the status of some item. But, that's where it ends.

Nobody seems to care about the little bugs anymore. The small things that seem to not be a "big deal." If it doesn't directly affect a game-play mechanic it seems a bug is destined to linger for at least a year. Yes, they are in fact trying to knock bugs out of the game, but what is the point if they can't even fix a bug fix that they broke after an update (I know, confusing isn't it). Now, I'm sure Smed or R5 would argue with me using the "what bugs you the most" threads Virrago and Garva have been running in the forums. I'm happy to see these threads and they aren't the problem. Where they fail is when we log into TC to test the fixes for these bugs, find issues with the fixes, report the issues, yet the broken fixes end up going live.

Let me expand on this just a bit by giving an example: the incorrect location of Dathomir on the planetary travel maps (ground game). This is a prime example of the level of utter incompetence SOE displays. It represents failure – plain and simple. If you're not familiar with this bug, travel to a starport and open the travel map from a ticket or starship terminal. You will be presented with a map of the various planets in the game. Look where you see the text label for "Dathomir." You'll see a planet there, but you can't click it. Look a little ways to the left. Oh! There's Dathomir! This would appear to be a fairly simple bug to fix, wouldn't it?

I've reported this bug many times, so have a ton of other people. The first evening Chapter 3 was loaded up onto test center I logged in and went right to that map. I was happy to see they had finally fixed it! I thought, "Wow! They really are starting to care about the details again." That night, they patched TC with a fresh build of chapter 3. The next day I logged in and was dismayed to see Dathomir reverted to its bugged location. I promptly went to the official SWG forums, located the bug/issue thread and posted about the problem.

Jump to Wednesday evening of this week. Chapter 3 is published to the live servers. Where do you think Dathomir is displayed on that map? In the wrong damned location! There are really two arguments here. The first is how did this even happen? I'm sure SOE is using some sort of code management solution, but my guess is they aren't very good at following procedure when it comes to checking out/merging in code. This sort of "we fixed it" then "now it's broke again" thing has been happening for SO long. The typical excuse is "MMORPGs are just so big it's impossible to predict these problems" to which I say bull ****. If you're using your code management software correctly this wouldn't happen except on rare occasion.

The second problem comes down to an inability to use the most valuable testing tool available, the players who genuinely want to help make the game great. The process for reporting bugs and issues is less than reliable. Sometimes the devs will start a "Bugs and Issues for Chapter x.x" thread in the forums, other times they tell you to post them in the publish notes (which are usually full of trolls and spammers). If I'm going to test something for you don't make me wonder if I posted in the right thread. Don't "forget" to create bug threads. Don't make it confusing. Most of all, don't ignore my post. If the items I report don't get fixed I might be upset, but not nearly as upset as I am when I have the feeling nobody even logged them.

I'll say it again – To me, this is a major failure on SOE's part.

How do I think Test Center should work? Eh, I'm no expert. I'll toss this out there though. Really, they should not even ask for our input on bugs and issues if they can't provide us a better means to communicate with them.

People who are serious about giving feedback on all aspects of SWG can request access to a special testers only forum. This forum can be viewed by everyone, but only testers can post there.
Anyone can become a tester, but some kind of rules would be set up to minimize the number of people who request access only so they can post in the forum. Perhaps they have to login on TC for X amount of hours per month, maybe 5-10?
Testing forum members can volunteer to be moderators for the forum and moderation would be heavy.
Bugs and issues would be posted using a specific format.
Not only bugs can be posted, but also more general "usability" issue such as "this menu is confusing and should be reviewed again."
Posts can contain brief thoughts or ideas, but must be kept short (maybe set a word limit on them). Using the previous example of an issue, you could say something like "the wording could be changed to …. In order to make it less confusing."
Posts may not contain big ideas or long winded proposals.
Each bug or issue thread would have a few rating categories where the original poster would specify on a scale of 1-5 how annoying the issue is, if it affects their overall experience, how important they believe a fix is, and/or if it breaks any game-play mechanics.
Other testers can reply with their own ratings for each issue, but from the assumed perspective that they haven't yet tested the bug/issue.
Thread can only be started by posting a new issue or bug.
Each would contain a "Date logged" field which would show the date that item was logged by SOE.
Additional fields could be included for SOE to post the status of items, like "in review" or "currently being tested with dev assistance."
If a developer or QA tech would like to work with a tester on an issue they would do so via private forum messages or in-game chat on test center.
While it would be nice, SOE would not have to explain why something was left unresolved when a publish is pushed out.

Like I said, I'm no expert, but wouldn't something like this help to rebuild the testing community? Hell, hire some people to be the Thunderhearts of the test center community.

The primary focus here is to officially get bugs and issues logged giving testers the feeling their work is at least going somewhere. Players who test games (and I mean really test, not just try out the latest and greatest new profession) do it because they enjoy it. They want the game to be better. They don't expect money or a free game account in return.

In my view, the reward for testing something is seeing your issue or bug get fixed.

Rather than embrace this, SOE nearly shuns it. That is why they fail.

Targeting, Keymapping, and Chapter 2

2006-08-02T13:37:00Z

This is a long one… lots of words… average grammar… you know, a typical Yivvits rant.

/rant on

Chapter 2 is now live and with it comes another round at trying to address the targeting and keymapping problems in SWG. Overall I feel pretty good about these changes, but there are a few things that have become glaringly apparent.

Rather than streamlining the targeting/target lock system to more closely match pre-NGE, they have made a real mess – and the only reason I can discern is they refuse to accept that the NGE controls just don’t work with SWG. In their eyes, it would be a big no-no to revert something like targeting to the pre-NGE style. Let me show you the options most commonly mapped to your left mouse button. Don’t worry if you’re confused, so am I.

Set primary target

Default action / attack

Attack

Set primary target / radial menu (new in Chapter 2)

(the following aren’t usually mapped to left mouse, but they are relevant to my rant)

Toggle auto-fire

Toggle auto-aim

I continue to try and emulate the pre-NGE controls for SWG, so naturally I set my left mouse button to “target/radial.” I was almost moved to see a radial menu pop up without using any special buttons or keys! I ran outside to try it out in combat.

Hmm… clicking on my target brings up the radial. Ok I can live with that, but how do I start to attack with auto-fire? Ah, ok, I have to use this “toggle auto-aim” each time I select a different target. Meh, sorta stinks, but I can live with it. I map the auto-aim toggle to my middle mouse button. This works pretty good until…

Until I went to mount my swoop. Left click gets me a radial menu with the mount option, middle click does nothing. The single-click-to-mount feature is considered a default action. I no longer have anything mapped to default action. If you remember, this feature was introduced before the first combat upgrade and worked just fine then.

Yes, I know, I’m rambling on and on and on but do you see where I’m going? While they have given us additional options to perform tasks which were easier before the NGE, all of the features appear to be a hodge-podge of “fixes” that are not fully thought out. Perhaps they’ll fix this stuff, but for now I’m back to needing 4 mouse buttons to do something that should only take 2.

/rant off

P.S. There is a bug with targeting right now. If you have something targeted you are not able to target anything else until you first press esc a couple times. What a friggin pain that is.

SOE mentality: Why fix it if we're changing it soon?

2006-07-31T15:25:00Z

This really must be the corporate mentality over at SOE. Countless bugs have been ignored during the history of SWG without any comments from the developers. Only later do we see why - they either revamp or remove the bugged items.

Under some circumstances I can accept this, but SOE takes it to an entirely different level. Is it any wonder why players don't trust the team? I don't mean distrust like you see in every other game either. This is something way bigger. Distrust on an epic scale; and rightly so.

Is this fair to the paying subscribers of SWG? Many people continue to pay just because they have some lingering hope that their profession or bugs will get the "lovin" next. One example (out of the dozens) is the resource stat calculation bug that publish 24 brought. It has been all but forgotten at this point.

Based on past experiences I'll put good money on this scenario:

Chapter 4 Trader Revamp!
- Resource stats no longer affect the final item's stats
- Resource stats removed from the game
- Removed harvesters; all harvesting will be done by hand

This mentality can be seen in other areas of SOE besides development. Recently, some of the other SOE games got their forum software upgrade (i.e. the one SWG forums are getting on August 15th). The day after the upgrade the SWG forums were broken. Later that day, they were back up, but you might not have noticed that the URL is different. This broke all RSS feeds, if you were using them. In fact, you can't even use the new URL in feeds; all feeds are dead now. I asked Virrago about this and he simply replied with a confirmation. It isn't a big deal as I doubt too many people are using them. It's the principle of the thing.

SOE Corporate Mantra?
"If it's broken don't fix it, wait to revamp it!"