Friday with Means - September 9th, 2011 - Who will be first?

[Krattonomic]

Otan did you follow this? http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...74&postcount=2

[Ravenneyez]

Give us more info on the new engine and rebalancing patch!

[Lazy]

i tried to log on to test server but it shows rimor and atlantean as possible servers :/

i had the same exact problem and then it magically started working again. patching 18.4.7.1 -> 18.4.8.6 now

[SoapTarder]

good to know new content is on the way and test-able. cant wait to log onto test with orgmates and attempt it.

btw, if this new instance doesn't drop the DB backpack, or the head gear, expect a player uproar!

j/k. as long as its worth farming who cares. can't wait to fail miserably tonight on test.

[Otansaanpas]

Otan did you follow this? http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...74&postcount=2

no. i ran the duplicator and the patch eponyx posted.
i think im only missing dimension.txt info about IP of the test server.

seems to work now though.. must have been some kind of win7 cache issue :P

[wyldebeast]

so, nothing new again this week?

[Lazy]

so, nothing new again this week?

nope nothing except a contest to see who completes a brand new instance first. move along, nothing to see here.

[Krattonomic]

no. i ran the duplicator and the patch eponyx posted.
i think im only missing dimension.txt info about IP of the test server.

seems to work now though.. must have been some kind of win7 cache issue :P

it could of been a redirect because the server was down while you were trying to do the duplicator all is good to know its up for you now

[Obsidiandawn]

Hell ya, omw!

[Thebitterend]

So excited! Transferring as we speak!

[Seoin]

Hope that mysterious infuser for morphing memory drops here!!

[haxi]

This is an interesting FWM! I can usually find a way to troll if I feel the urge but this seems like fairly non-trollworthy info. Not doing test server because I play lowbies but what is there really to bitch about this time? New content incoming, a contest of sorts...be happy or ignore?

[Tazalanche]

I seem to have misplaced the new client with the included engine upgrade. Could a Dev please provide a link so I could download it before testing the new DB instance?

Thanks.

[Tanisthonus]

The temptation to spend some of my remaining cash to check out this instance grows.

I should get outside and think about something else.

[If6was9]

Heh, you guys don't have to join the contest if you don't want to. I probably won't either, but if they want to give people some incentive to test stuff more power to them. It'll mean less bugs for the rest of us after all

That's it in a nutshell.

[Siyra]

To avoid multiple changes to the instance after it goes live we need more testing and therefore more testers...if that means we need to offer incentives to get the help we need to deliver a more polished/balanced product we are open to trying it. You certainly don't have to participate and perhaps I should have explained better why we are running this little event.

Hoesntly I don't think contests is the way to go, especially if you're going to do it with substantial prizes. That will just alienate people because testlive is such a bother to deal with and as much as you, or others, may say that you don't have to go test we all know darn well people like prizes and will generally want to get them.

Furthermore - attempting to draw in more people to test live via a constest without fixing the reasons why few people go there is well... sadly typical of you. Lots of people have issues with duplicating and/or transfering characters, and perhaps that's not an easy thing to fix but that just means don't piss on the few people you got (this of course applies to any business model).

Fact is all test live is is a server where you have an even harder time getting a team and where you can't complain if you find a bug that totally ruins things. Other then that it's the same old grind of playing the game and I still can't get why you people figure that's the way it should be.

If I write a program, which I've done a few times, that is say... 10,000 lines of code long. This pales in length to AO but for the sake of the argument you can just multiply it by whatever you want.

If I have a patch to make, be it 1.1 or 1.5.6.12415276 there will be a specific part of my code that is new/changed. If I know boot works, and I know login works and I know authentication and privacy screens work (random examples of features possibly found in a program) then why would I bother testing them unless my new code effects them or one of their sub functions/counterparts?

If I have a problem with calculating elapsed time I don't test if login works. I test if I'm getting Unix right or if my math is right or if changes are being measured right because checking if a username/password matches a database has no relation to checking if ten minutes has really passed.

And therin lays my biggest peeve with test live. We know that gear works, we know that money works, we know that skills work, we know that levels work. Why are we forced to 'test' those again and again?

Oh sure, transfer over your character from live and put that grinding to double the use but what if all I have is in the hundreds and there's new content for below that? Like if all you have is above 150 when S10 was out? Or what if you wanted to test level 50 daily missions when they were coming out and all you had was above that?

What if my toons are to gimp to take on the new content? A new 220 without most of the top gear or whatever trying to help, with something like Collector when it came out, or this new instance. What are they supposed to do? Just not come and be nice and help out because they suck to much? That's a great approach to take with people who are willing to spend time to help test your stuff for you.

Also, when dealing with the vast array of gear variables (levels not so much, if a zone is level 210 as determined by the mobs it's easy to say that you don't need to balance around level 150s power), you need to test with multiple setups. How many times has new content come out that is to hard/easy for the average player? Why do you suppose it get's released that way? Well it can either be because Funcom is a bunch of twits (which I'm sure some would agree with) or it's because the test group size was to limited in scope.

The difference in character power from Ofab to DB to full CC to mixed to cheap because it's their first TL7 to top end cause it's their 20th - well lets just say the power difference is quite vast. How much better would end balance be when it comes to live if it got tested with a larger range of setups as opposed to limited to just those toons with good gear? What if something new comes to test live and barely anybody with top end gear (for the level of the content) tests it? Right, we'd get a bunch of reports of "Great" or "To hard" and then when it goes live you get people with top gear who whine that it's to easy. And vice versa, to many top end testers say it's to easy, content is made harder; goes to test and your average player can't do it because they have yet to get top gear.



In the end, test is just live with more bugs and less people, and I'm not about to waste my time there just for a sneak peak or some contest when it would mean I have to jump through hoops to not only log in to test but to get a suitable character ready to test stuff.

I'm not about to even try to justify leveling and equiping another character, that may or may not be the right level for new content down the line, just to test something. And we shouldn't be expected to! (And in case you havn't gotten the point yet, no transfer is not always an option. If it works still doesn't mean we have a character on live that is suitable to test with either)

/rant

[Kintaii]

I've removed a whole boatload of posts from this thread - If folks don't start calming down and keeping it more civil, I'm going to start tossing out infractions. Everybody take a chill pill and relax. :P

vvv nah you're cool

[Siyra]

So long as "long winded" isn't considered bad I think I'm okay ^^

[Esproc]

This FWM isn't a very good birthday present :<

!ding
My RK4 main is now level 27.

[Means]

This FWM isn't a very good birthday present :<

!ding
My RK4 main is now level 27.

Gratz!