game problems

[geal]

I just realized something. I have never seen funcom directly fix an item problem before. They always seem to "go around it" rather then changing the code and fixing it out right. Example of this is decreasing inits for the new scopes drastically in 14.6. i mean wouldnt it make more sense to make it not stack...or just make it not compatible with melee users? or how about releasing new weapons rather then fixing old ones. or removing some items from the game because they did not feel like fixing it. not really complaining...just an observation.. maybe by doing it this way, not as many bugs go through..the only thing i have seen a direct change was a change in profession/breed i.e. upcoming breed hp/nano changes..also m.r. changes to advies making them green as well as the ipr.

but as far as items are concerned..why does it take them so long to fix something that seems simple(might be a very ignorant question since i dont know much about programming) such as weapons inits...or lower m.r. on certain pistols so taht ql 200 pistols are dual wieldable.

[aaronb]

From a developer's standpoint, when you have a large project with many developers involved, the code tends to become incredible interdependant. As time goes on and you make alterations and "hacks" to fix bugs or add features, it becomes a management nightmare -- every time you attempt to fix one thing, it breaks 4-5 other things and you struggle to get them all working in balance. I have never seen anyone avoid this completely. No matter how much foresight you think you have, things always get messy later on.

For my own projects, where I'm the only developer, I've found that in many cases it's easier for me to rewrite modules as I get further into the project than it is for me to try to hack them to work with later code. In a project with the scope of AO or any major application, this simply isn't practical to do within the financial and time constraints of the project.

I hope that gives you a little bit of insight into why sometimes an "easy fix" isn't necessarily so easy. Even as a developer and understanding the issues, I get frustrated sometimes when I see how Funcom deals with issues. But it's easy to get impatient and frustrated when you aren't involved in the development process. I usually just try to relax and enjoy the game as best I can.