Coming to pts when?

I think the consensus is that the response of "soon" still is holding true...
(just like it's been for the past month or so...)

Haha, Stephen is fun with his "soon". It can mean "in a couple of hours" and "in a couple of weeks". But I rather see a stable Chunk on the PTS than a faulty who'll we would have to wait forever before they fixed all bugs in to get it live.

Btw, Stephen said on the 20th:
"The new build is getting really close to a PTS release."

I have not played many MMos. However, DR has the absolute highest developer to community involvement I have ever seen or heard of. I am quite sure we will be told when the chunk is ready to be tested. Asking "when" repeatedly in various posts will not make it come any sooner, nor garner a set date. "Soon" is a legitimate response in something of a technical nature.

Imagine if Stephen came said, the chunk will go live September 13. Perhaps we live in happy nothing-goes-wrong land for a bit and it comes to pass. Otherwise... Problems arise and Stephen has to broadcast an adjusted date and perhaps another and another. Next, players begin to complain about not only the delays but also a perceived "unreliable team". Think of it as a legal "butt covering" technique.

Hmm, did we really need you to post this? I have been here since the start and this has been the longest delay for any patch. I understand that they fired three quarters of the staff. That being said, Stephen has been a ghost for the last 2 months. He used to be in-game all the time. He used to respond to the forum questions. I understand he has alot on him but also understand there is a panic among alot of the veteran players. Alot of the pvp vets anyway. Most are looking for other games.

Stephen has doen an amazing job with the resources given and I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. That being said..We have been waiting for a few months.

hmmm, did we really need to post this?

Its been asked repeatedly in numerous forums and postings -- just have patience at wait. They have no responsibility to give you an exact date for the PTS release. Im sure they are doing everything in their power to get it to us as quickly as they can. Just sit back, relax, and wait.

By your forum date, I am sure you just started playing this game. Thanks for your response.

Actually, the forum date only tells how long a person has been a posting forum member, not how long they've played the game itself, or lurked on the forum without posting. Just a thought.

Agreed, there have been a lot of questions in regards to this very topic on other threads. However, I think that illustrates the need for at least some clarification from the developers.

No, they don't have an obligation to get us complete, up to date notices, but the fact that most of the threads mentioned previously have not really gotten any developer response, I would think that even a small heads up from someone would be appreciated.

Agreed, again that they are probably doing everything that they can to get things done. However, some of the "things" that needed to get done were started before the loss of employees, so I would gather that some information is available to tell us about.

A lot of us, including jay (I know he doesn't always come off as the most patient person) have been very patient, time and time again. Not to belittle anyone's love of the game that has not been playing for long, but there are those of us around that have been around for a year or more now, and we've done so because we have loved playing the game. This also gives us some insight as to how long previous chunks or updates have taken and this has taken quite some time. I realize that we have gotten a few tidbits like "close" and what-not, but if we got even posts like that on a regular basis, short, sweet and to the point, I think a lot of us would be reasonably placated.

Yes, recent incidences of job losses have made things difficult on those left behind and obviously created more work to be done. However, you can't forget completely those for whom you are working and adding to the game for (the players of the game) and I believe it is reasonable to expect some comments from those developers left. Perhaps we grew to be spoiled by how often commentary and in-game play use to occur, but hopefully how things are currently (less of each) will not now become the mainstay.

I wouldn't mind hearing a guess as to whether the patch will be on the PTS this (coming) month or a general estimate as to the time frame.
I however play other games so I can bide my time lurking on the forums.

Panic and complaint from the PvP sector? No, not them... Any who.

How has Stephen been a "ghost" for two months? His last post on the forums was 8-20-08, here.

And yes, we did need me to post this. I had a long talk with myself and he agreed, as did myself.

His last post may have been the 20th of this month, but that was 10 days ago. On that day he did post a few posts, and he posted once on the 19th. Before that it was on the 13th with few posts and one post on the 12th. Post date before that was the 4th of this month with 1 post. There was almost a months time between posts in July.
If that's not fading in and out like a ghost, I don't know what is.

I am a PVP/PVE player, but I'm not panicking. Just stating some feelings, as we all do on here. Besides, when you check out the rumors threads, it's obvious that there are plenty of people all around that are worried about the game. Just because someone plays PVP a lot doesn't discount their opinions. I just don't understand what is so wrong with stating the opinion that you'd like more information. In the grand scheme of things, no, it doesn't really effect my life whether this game survives or not. I play other games as well and have plenty of other things going on in my life. However, for now, I care and, for now, keep checking back to see if there is any news.

To be honest, whether people liked her or not, I'm not really sure why NCSoft dropped Crickette, as she could have at least answered a few questions while the Devs were busy.

Of course Stephen does not post on a regular basis. I could not imagine anyone to be as deluded to think he should. Meanwhile, Jay stated that he had been a ghost for the past two months. If that "ghost" was in reference to Stephen's frequency of posting it is a poor analogy. To me, it seemed as if Jay meant it as if Stephan was not around, which is wrong.

Sure, PvPs are entitled to their opinions just as anyone else is. Some of them, however, had a poor way of voicing said insights and an even poorer way of dealing with those who contradict them.

There is nothing wrong with asking for information, but this is two threads in a short time frame asking the same questions. The announcements forum is there for a reason, I am sure it will be used. Is a stream of posts asking or demanding answer supposed to work any faster? Oh, and do not forget to add the sentence that makes it seem as if many others agree with you. For example, "…there is a panic among a lot of the veteran players".

The voice of reason, its why I love you Lady.

As for the pve gimps above, if you actually knew anything about pvp or the pvp community you would realize that Stephen was an integral part of that community until the last maybe 6-8 weeks. He was on one time in that time long enough for me to explain the ratings farming to him and he left to work on a fix. His ghosting while understandable is none the less troubling. this coupled with not appearing in the forums like he used to do, adds up to bad news for the long term viability of the game. Small game, small community, huge involvement from the Devs is what has made DR a favorite of mine for the last 16 months.

I'm going to disagree with you. Don't take it personally.

Steven is one of the developers of the game. 75-80% of the developer team was just laid off. It stands to reason that Steven has a lot more work to do now than before then, since those people's work needs to be done by someone. From what I have seen of Steven, he takes pride in doing a good job and he would not let a minor setback like losing three quarters of the team be an excuse for sloppy work.

The ghosting is more likely to be because he is busy working on the game than because he no longer cares. Obviously, I would prefer that the developers kept as active a presence in these forums as they used to, but if they have to choose, I would rather they work on the game than on their post count. Makes sense?

Again, typical PvP, elitist gibberish. I know a great deal about PvP and its community. That is why I have no interest in it. Something that should be fun and friendly competition boils down to a group of immature trash talkers.

*laughs* Stephan is an integral part of the PvP sector? You don't say! He is the lead developer, thus and integral part of the whole game! You sound like a spoiled child. As such, I can see there is no reasoning with logic. So, continue with your whining and get in the last word, as I am sure you must.

Easy solution, pick one:

1. Have the Devs work more on the game and less on 'Status Reports'
or
2. Have the Devs tell us every day that the patch is coming next week.

Catch my drift? They are probably to busy actually working on the game to give us constant updates.

I took the first part out, I'll take my own advice and drop it.

Perhaps, I read your post wrong Necro and most everything (besides the PvP comments) was not directed at me; I have now had time to ponder a bit. I am wearing pink, and therefore feeling kind of thuggish, so please have patience. As such, there hasn't been any official response to this particular thread, so perhaps it is time to let this thread die off and go back to our separate corners. Next time we all fight, I'll bring cookies.



Edited by LadyV (08/30/08 10:51 PM)

NCSoft are at PAX 2008. Events like this are huge timesinks and often take people out of the office for days.

I dunno if it is the case in the US, but here in Britain we have things called summer holidays. Again this results in people being out of the office for many days. Or even months if the Spanish police take a liking to you.

But I guess if you live in your mom's basement you won't know about these things.

At one time they were going to be going to PAX, but according to this thread http://boards.dungeonrunners.com/showthread.php?t=16945 the devs will not be attending but will have others from NC representing them.

PvP is lame, who would waste their time doing that :O?

Lol.. and one thing I noticed from reading all of your posts, you all spelt Stephen like a bunch of different ways. I saw Steven, Stephan, and so on O.o.. anyways its Stephen so get it right!

Back to you Necro, I think you just don't like PvP because you can't handle a little bit of heat, maybe it just overloads you and blows your mind then we would see the dark side of you :O.. maybe thats why you stay away from it xD!

PvP is okay to me. Got angry just once, when it was some guy obviously farming newbs (my experimental ranger among them...). Since then, I PvPed a lot and learned a lot as well.

IMO, you get the best picture of DR if you play and understand both PvE and PvP and don't really isolate other players labeling them as "PvP elitists/fanatics" or "PvE cowards/carebears/farmer boys".

It's true PvP is a bit harsh, but which competition isn't? You find trolls and offensive bastards in both PvE and PvP. I met decent and helpful people in PvP and have formed groups with them for fun, even the opposing group enjoyed it and it was all for laughs, no trash-talking or name calling and no formal "GG" or just silence, everyone had a good time.

So yeah...it's not all black 'n white.

Lol, been playing for 4, almost 5 months now -- have a level 100, a level 72, and a level 44.

Thanks for trying.

*laughs* Fighting with cookies? Interesting. As to my PvP comments, perhaps they were a bit too generalized. I read the PvP forums as I do all sections and have seen how childish it can be. I do not think poorly of all PvPers, and certainly not you, Lady.

Yes, Nolan, you are on to my dark secret. I simply cannot handle the raging turmoil that is player versus player. Crap, I did spell Stephen's name wrong... oops.

Lmao, seeing as how none of the actual dev team is there..and it takes 5 seconds to respond to a forum post..I guess you are wrong again. Guess you are used to it though.

I actually have a nice house of my own which I make the mortgage payment on. Thanks for caring though.

PS. the moms basement line is typically used by people who just lost in pvp or know they are outmatched in some type of internet enviroment.

Wow, I defer to your imminent knowledge of the DR dev team and all game mechanics. Many apologies.

As my good friend Nolan pointed out, spelling his name correctly might help your case a little. And Stephen spent almost all of his DR playing time in pvp. That was all I was saying. I wasnt saying he didnt care about the pve players. Some of us spent lots of time talking to him about the game and he listened and implemented changes he felt were good for the overall game..not just pvp.

So back to my question and to who it was adressed to...any time frame Stephen?

never claimed any knowlege of teh dev team or game mechanics -- just told you to stfu and stop whining about an exact date.

and this is the point where Crickette would have stepped in a nd told all of us to calm down..... *sigh* I miss Crickette....

Gary

Well since your an obvious gimp and a noob despite your character level, you are not qualified to tell me to stfu. That being said..may all your rainbows be viskars bilespitters 3 levels below your current level.

Oh snap!!! Oh no you di'nt!!! Guess it's on now... Sean can't just take that like a punk. Git im, Sean -- don't hold back. Say some equally real s**t, like, "Your mom loots greys!" Then Jay, come back with somethin about his armor clashin with his boots. Yeah! Bring it! BRING IT!

MMM Hmm.

Good thing I got ringside seats to this panzy fight!
Yeah, it's scripted, but at least it's entertainment...

Whoa whoa WHOA!.. hey now I acutally got the Vis'kars Bilespitter to work really good in PvP .

We're working hard to get the build ready. It's taking longer than we'd like because we've lost a lot of the development team with the recent restructuring. We've been churning on Posse issues the last two weeks... it's taking us extra time because the remaining programmers (me and Scott) are learning this code for the first time. Boo!

Sorry it's taking so long. It'll be worth the wait.

steve

It always is.

boo? I can remember when it was so much fun learning new code and how to use it. Never did get very good at it though. just making pretty designs on the screen in QBasic and Basic A

[sorry gotta go. just got my new DVD ROM drive. My last one went bust about 4 or 5 months ago. on my computer.]

Very good to hear. Can't wait for this to come out.

On a side note, just out of curiousity. What language are you all working with??

C++ FTW!

steve

Very Nice, I've taken a few semesters on C++ and was starting to get into C# But C++ is definitly personal favorite.

Also a very nice language to work with when trying to code items and quests. Did a little bit of coding for Ultima Online back in the day for some of the player servers.

I have faith. You should be able to pick it up without any issues.

Thanks for answering

/agree

It somehow makes the wait more bearable when we get an update. Best of luck with it!