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PSA: Patch Days and what to expect!

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Vespasian Andendare Subsonic Synthesis Alpha Wolf Pack 274	Posted - 2013.09.05 17:02:00 - [1] - Quote After reading through several posts about patch woes, I really wanted to take a moment and write up a PSA on patch days, what they really mean, and what your expectation should be. First, please don't read this like I'm writing high-and-mighty. I just want to explain some finer points to players who may not be familiar with "typical" MMO patches, a category which I'm sure many a Dust "traditional" FPS player falls into. Ok, so patch days on an MMO typically introduce new features, objects, shinies, etc. into the game. In a traditional MMO, say World of Warcraft, this would mean new bosses, weapons, etc. How this applies to Dust is that we'll get new weapons, maps, equipment, etc. Features of the game will expand (new matchmaking), while we may get new or reimagined weapons or equipment (scanner!). BUT, patch days are notorious for having LOTS of problems! This is typical! It doesn't mean that CCP has crappy programmers or they didn't bother to test it or they wanted it to fail or whatever tinfoil hat theory we come up with. It all boils down to how the game is developed vs other, "traditional" shooters: In a "traditional" shooter like Call of Duty, the developers start by spending a lot of time building the game, testing it, polishing it, etc. and end with the game's release. Then, once the game is released, it is essentially "on autopilot" while the Devs begin that process all over again for a new map pack or a new game altogether. In Dust, however, the development table is more akin to a traditional MMO than it is to a shooter like Call of Duty. Really, what this means is that MMOs go through a smaller initial release but instead of the Devs stopping work on it and shifting development toward a new expansion or game, they continually update their work through mid-cycle patches. Patches sometimes bring new features, which we got this time around with new matchmaking and maps, and normally include minor adjustments. But due to the "ongoing work" nature of an MMO, Devs will test their patches and get them "ready," but sometimes it is hard to predict how the changes will actually work, given that they can't shut the game down for several weeks to test it. The patch still may include issues that they'll be able to continually "hotfix," or apply a small fix to a bug that popped up when the patch hit the server. In 1.4's case, you can see hotfixes for the matchmaking and squad deployment issues. Again, THESE ARE NORMAL! In an MMO, it's not as important that the "disc copy" of the game is 100% (and, honestly, its not even common now that disc games are 100% when shipped). Once the patch is applied on patch day and goes live, issues map pop up, and hotfixes are issued for the next few weeks to get that patch into a good place, then the Devs go to work on the next patch and then expansion, etc. So, knowing how patches work in an MMO context--mainly that MMOs represent an ongoing work--it is normal that patch days bring in with them problems to the game, and our expectation as players should be to realize these things happen and that the dev team is committed to getting their game in a good place. Just a bit of history but patch days used to take whole MMOs offline for several days or bring in game-breaking changes that Devs would scramble to get fixed in the following weeks. I guess as some of us have played MMOs for a while, patch days are routine events for us, and we realize how they work and set our expectations accordingly. As an MMO player, I realize that patch day problems will be fixed, just given a few days to a week or so, and that unlike my expectation that (AAA title) will be shipped in pristine shape, I know that MMOs are continual works in progress that get love over time. To my "traditional" FPS friend, though, he didn't understand why "the new map pack" caused so many problems until I explained to him in very much the same way I explained to you above. Once he realized that Dust is an ongoing work, and that Dust-as-an-MMOFPS means that there will continually be development and interation on it, I think it clicked with him how cool it is that there'll always be new things and changes happening in Dust. I hope this clears a little of the patch day confusion up to our traditional FPS friends. Please just bear with the issues you notice in the patches guys, as problems they create will be fixed. It's just hard to forecast sometime how a patch will affect the game when it goes live, since they can't turn off the game for several weeks to test it out, like they could with a game that's "on autopilot."
Spycrab Potato Hold-Your-Fire 377	Posted - 2013.09.05 17:28:00 - [2] - Quote Wow. And here I was thinking that 95% of the fan base are whiny COD idiots. You sir, are the single flame in a sea of darkness speckled with other small flames.
noobsniper the 2nd The Corporate Raiders 49	Posted - 2013.09.05 17:28:00 - [3] - Quote soonGäó
Aikuchi Tomaru Subdreddit Test Alliance Please Ignore 517	Posted - 2013.09.05 17:37:00 - [4] - Quote And now please make it sticky.
Monkey MAC killer taxi company General Tso's Alliance 194	Posted - 2013.09.05 17:39:00 - [5] - Quote Spycrab Potato wrote: Wow. And here I was thinking that 95% of the fan base are whiny COD idiots. You sir, are the single flame in a sea of darkness speckled with other small flames. ILL DRINK TO THAT!!
Vespasian Andendare Subsonic Synthesis Alpha Wolf Pack 282	Posted - 2013.09.05 18:36:00 - [6] - Quote Spycrab Potato wrote: Wow. And here I was thinking that 95% of the fan base are whiny COD idiots. You sir, are the single flame in a sea of darkness speckled with other small flames. Thanks for the compliment! As soon as I realized it was an expectation issue, I really wanted to share what has become "routine" expectations for me and other MMO players who play Dust as well. It became obvious to me that it was an expectation issue when my friend asked how "the map pack" messed so many things up. It was a matter of setting his expectations to realize that Dust is ongoing as much as Eve Online or World of Warcraft is. Because it's ongoing, there's going to be continual updates over the "traditional map pack" model.
Jariel Manton SVER True Blood Public Disorder. 215	Posted - 2013.09.05 18:59:00 - [7] - Quote Can we sticky this and make it required reading.
Soldner VonKuechle SAM-MIK 124	Posted - 2013.09.05 19:10:00 - [8] - Quote Well said OP, good work! I also add my name to the infant petition to have this sticky'ed, needs to be read by the masses.
SgtDoughnut M.E.R.C. Elite D.E.F.I.A.N.C.E 3	Posted - 2013.09.05 19:12:00 - [9] - Quote Along another note, for those who say that since this is an MMO we should get access to a test server, Sony has already put their foot down about that and said NO TEST SERVER! This does make it harder for the devs to test every single little thing.
Aikuchi Tomaru Subdreddit Test Alliance Please Ignore 523	Posted - 2013.09.05 19:15:00 - [10] - Quote SgtDoughnut wrote: Along another note, for those who say that since this is an MMO we should get access to a test server, Sony has already put their foot down about that and said NO TEST SERVER! This does make it harder for the devs to test every single little thing. Sony is too scared a test build might blow up some PS3s. They already bend a lot of rules for Dust.

steadyhand amarr Imperfects Negative-Feedback 1236	Posted - 2013.09.05 19:26:00 - [11] - Quote yeh to be honest i can see where sony is coming from they dont want to risk the fallout of 100 of people going X blew up my ps3/ps4 their clearly bad hardware
Gadz Tyrr Kirkinen Risk Control Caldari State 0	Posted - 2013.09.05 20:22:00 - [12] - Quote sticky this plz!
Arkena Wyrnspire Turalyon 514 Turalyon Alliance 2996	Posted - 2013.09.05 20:23:00 - [13] - Quote An intelligent poster? Excellent.
Hunter Junko Zanzibar Concept 166	Posted - 2013.09.05 20:36:00 - [14] - Quote All my likes take them, its yours
SILENTSAM 69 SONS of LEGION RISE of LEGION 526	Posted - 2013.09.05 21:43:00 - [15] - Quote At least some do get it.
Theresa Rohk The Cuddlefish Templis Dragonaors 34	Posted - 2013.09.05 23:11:00 - [16] - Quote And here I was going to post something similar. +1 OP and to everyone who told their friends to wait a few days for fixes.
Needless Sacermendor Red Fox Brigade 418	Posted - 2013.09.05 23:39:00 - [17] - Quote Soldner VonKuechle wrote: needs to be read by the masses. I agree, but can you do it in pictorial comic strip or something with not more than 15 words (and none of them more than 4 letters)
Vespasian Andendare Subsonic Synthesis Alpha Wolf Pack 312	Posted - 2013.09.06 00:53:00 - [18] - Quote Needless Sacermendor wrote: Soldner VonKuechle wrote: needs to be read by the masses. I agree, but can you do it in pictorial comic strip or something with not more than 15 words (and none of them more than 4 letters) Or perhaps a festive GIF.

CCP Nullarbor C C P C C P Alliance 2368	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:13:00 - [19] - Quote Great post and a lot of truth in there. This new monthly release schedule means we get 20 working days between updates, with a bit of lead time for QA and Sony submission. The rate of development of DUST has already over taken EVE, an MMO with an extremely matured development process and 10 years of experience to reach that point. It is incredibly enabling for us to be able to ship new ideas out really quickly but as we've seen it sometimes comes at the cost of coming in for landing a bit hot. This doesn't excuse the issues, we will be having some very detailed post mortems on this release as to why some things were not caught earlier, but we will take it on the chin and adapt and do it better next time. Despite the speed bumps, our resolve to making this the experience we all know it can be has never been stronger. Your feedback and patience as always is very much appreciated.

Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 Chatelain Rapid Response Gallente Federation 65	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:16:00 - [20] - Quote who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER

Ryder Azorria Amarr Templars Amarr Empire 545	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:21:00 - [21] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER Actually they did, granted it took 48 hours more than it should have. Quite frankly I'm impressed at how quickly they fixed stuff, again it probably shouldn't have needed fixed - but hey it all worked out in the end. As long as the next 'big' monthly release (ie. 1.5) goes smoother, I'm willing to put it down to growing pains and forget about it.
J4yne C0bb DUST University Ivy League 80	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:28:00 - [22] - Quote I'll be honest, I have little to no experience with MMOs, which is why I've been continually frustrated at Dust, compared to other games. I had no idea this was a common experience for MMO players. Thanks for explaining -- this does need to be stickied. People might ***** a little less if they understand the nature of Dust as being a work in progress, and be more constructive in their criticism.
We are 138 Subdreddit Test Alliance Please Ignore 368	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:29:00 - [23] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER Brave words from an alt. Continue to hide behind that and take pot shots at a process that you know nothing about, so brave.... so brave
Anarchide Greedy Bastards 564	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:29:00 - [24] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER And YOU succedeed to suck
Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 Chatelain Rapid Response Gallente Federation 65	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:30:00 - [25] - Quote J4yne C0bb wrote: I had no idea this was a common experience for MMO players. it is not you have been lied to
Anarchide Greedy Bastards 564	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:33:00 - [26] - Quote So, the cake is a lie... Everyone knows!
Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 Chatelain Rapid Response Gallente Federation 65	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:35:00 - [27] - Quote We are 138 wrote: Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER Brave words from an alt. Continue to hide behind that and take pot shots at a process that you know nothing about, so brave.... so brave this is not about me or anyone, this is about ccp, and their performance
SgtDoughnut M.E.R.C. Elite D.E.F.I.A.N.C.E 8	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:36:00 - [28] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: J4yne C0bb wrote: I had no idea this was a common experience for MMO players. it is not you have been lied to Actually it has only recently changed in mmo's where a release is pretty much stable, Hell I had friends in wow that weren't able to login for about a week after cata released.
Maken Tosch DUST University Ivy League 4017	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:37:00 - [29] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: who cares about your internal deadlines and your excuses "oh its so much work, oh it is so little time" the fact is your FAILED TO DELIVER Failed to Deliver? Where were you this past week? Look at the sticky threads and you will see that they fixed a lot of stuff that went wrong this week with 1.4 within a two-day period. That is fast even for us Eve Online players.
Maken Tosch DUST University Ivy League 4017	Posted - 2013.09.06 01:38:00 - [30] - Quote Dust LAG-LAG-LAG-LAG 514 wrote: J4yne C0bb wrote: I had no idea this was a common experience for MMO players. it is not you have been lied to It has been for a while dude.



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