http://blog.bioware.com/2017/05/09/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-06-notes/
There you go people.
@nickc2496 wrote:
Yeah - a few devs have hinted that they actually, contractuarly cannot say what they are working on or even acknowledge if a patch is coming out until a few days before it happens...
...So in theory patch 1.06 could be out in a week with a tonne of fixes/polish and we would have no idea, which is, of course, frustrating to say the least...
Why Bioware would sign such a contract, or even why EA would want Bioware to sign something like that is beyond me...
So it seems like EA are the gatekeepers of any info that comes out ... and Bioware could get in LEGAL trouble if they dont keep quiet and play along...
I have faith in Bioware that they are working their * off to make 1.06 a good patch, but i just wish EA was more open with timelines and community updates. All of this goes back to what i said when the game first came out in that - i am pretty damm sure Bioware wanted more time but EA did not want the game delayed again and out of the third quarter finacials - the game sold well and made EA's 3rd quarter books look good...
Well BW don't have a choice really cause EA owns them. To me that's the biggest mistake of all. I get that they wanted to make bigger games but when you put yourself on the stock market you basically sell your company and someone else gets to decide what happens.
EA has their reasons, probably corporate reasons that are better for their needs rather than ours. So the question is, what could go wrong when they report on things regularly? Say for example that they are working on redoing the crafting system. Some people get excited, some get upset. Maybe some quit over what they hear. Then the week after they report, well actually, it's gonna go a different direction. What happens then? More upset people, others leaving and people screaming that BW isn't keeping their promises. Then the week after they run into trouble testing it and decide to shelve the crafting overhaul. Then what happens?
As much as I hate corporations and how they do things, part of me thinks that the player community is at least in part guilty themselves for causing this approach. Like it or not, we are a *le bunch as a community that's driven by social media and therefore hypes and outrages as well. I'm sure that there is probably more to it than that, but people prefer to shout at BW than discuss things with them. I'm not sure they really can win either way.
They released a patch already and are making more. The time frame given was within 2 months. How impatient are we? And do we really have a clue how involved fixing bugs and changing other things can really be? I'm certainly not an expert but I do raise an eyebrow everything someonse says a particular issue is "so easy to fix". Too much emotion, too little reasonable thought. That sort of thing does make you think twice about how and when you communicate.
Just food for thought.
EA has their reasons, probably corporate reasons that are better for their needs rather than ours. So the question is, what could go wrong when they report on things regularly? Say for example that they are working on redoing the crafting system. Some people get excited, some get upset. Maybe some quit over what they hear. Then the week after they report, well actually, it's gonna go a different direction. What happens then? More upset people, others leaving and people screaming that BW isn't keeping their promises. Then the week after they run into trouble testing it and decide to shelve the crafting overhaul. Then what happens?
Regarding Bioware being bound by non-disclosure, it's totally understandable from EA's corporate perspective.
No company wants rogue employees speaking out of turn.
Especially since Bioware is pretty much the developers and designers ONLY, while EA handles marketing and sales.
EA's job is to min/max the message and how it relates to sales numbers.
What isn't understandable however is EA's reluctance to have an open dialogue with the community.
Attempting to control the message via lack of open communication creates toxicity in your brand.
This is short term corporate boardroom thinking.
As much as I hate corporations and how they do things, part of me thinks that the player community is at least in part guilty themselves for causing this approach. Like it or not, we are a *le bunch as a community that's driven by social media and therefore hypes and outrages as well. I'm sure that there is probably more to it than that, but people prefer to shout at BW than discuss things with them. I'm not sure they really can win either way.
Absolutely customers and community is driven by social media and hype.
The smart approach would be harness that.
Silence breeds speculation.
It's almost as if their marketing team was given until launch day, and then *poof* went off to a different project.
They released a patch already and are making more. The time frame given was within 2 months. How impatient are we? And do we really have a clue how involved fixing bugs and changing other things can really be? I'm certainly not an expert but I do raise an eyebrow everything someonse says a particular issue is "so easy to fix". Too much emotion, too little reasonable thought. That sort of thing does make you think twice about how and when you communicate.
Just food for thought.
And impatient?
Sure.
We absolutely should be.
I paid $90 for the deluxe edition of a game.
Glitches and bugs are a given in any sort of game nowadays.
However, the major parts of the game should work.
I should only have to point towards how Blizzard handles Overwatch.
We are nearing 1 full year since launch.
The game is still GROWING.
The game added another 5 million players in the last 3 months.
Communication from developers happens daily on the forums.
That company isn't afraid of it's fanbase. Sure, there is rage, salt and outcry.
But overall, the fanbase adores the game, adores the developers.
And that's largely due to strong communication.
Oh.
And bug fixes.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/04/buggy-d-va-was-temporarily-unplayable-in-overwatch/
DVA bug?
- Communication (acknowledgement)
- Patch
Done in less than 24 hours?
Meanwhile.
All we have are the chirping of crickets
and I can't even get back to Eos.
You do raise some valid points as such but some of it is really rather anecdotal.
Some bugs can be fixed quickly and some are so urgent, especially in an online pvp game that such action is even more needed as it affects a lot of people.
That doesn't mean that every bug is easy to fix or a quick fix.
What do you want them to do? Take Eos out of the game temporarily? I dunno how many players affects the bug you have but I haven't encountered it. Sad as it may be, they won't put major resources on short notice to fix an issue that only affects a very limited number of people. How many people are currently affected? Not a clue.
But an online PvP just isn't the same as a single player RPG with MP. And let's be honest, there are a fair few things to patch so an emergency patch only makes sense if there is a single issue that creates big problems.
And yes, I insist on a bit of patience. You paid 90 bucks for the game. So what? I got the deluxe edition, but you make it sound like you just bought a new car or something. It sucks to be blocked somewhere and that should be resolved. But mistakes were made by management and now the devs have to take care of the falll out and every new game has bugs and they don't all get fixed in the first week either. Let them do it in a way that actually addresses a bunch of stuff, instead of an emergency patch to give you what you want and leave everyone elses screaming for an emergency patch for their problem. That's not going to work.
Now I do agree with you on the general communication bit. BW is generally very poor at that. In my years of playing SWTOR (which I've quit playing now) one of my main gripes was the communication or rather lack thereof.
Oh and by the way, Blizzard is a game company, EA is basically an investment company that focuses on games. They'll never care about their games as much as Blizzard does. That's the sad reality of that. I would've liked it much better if Blizzard had bought Bioware but there we are.
I'm not saying that you have no point at all, but I do like to be a bit realistic about things and that includes being a bit more patient to give them time to fix a bunch of stuff and if it's not good enough then you need to talk to BW about a refund. You may feel you're right in your expectations but they're just not realistic. I want BW to do much better also, but I don't expect the world in a week or two. It's better for my health and general sanity that way.
You think people should be patient with ... big company mishaps? Recurring mishaps? I don't.
@PandaTar wrote:
You think people should be patient with ... big company mishaps? Recurring mishaps? I don't.
I look at it from another angle. What does impatience gain you?
I'm old enough to see forums ablaze for many reasons over the last 20 years. People are unhappy, angry, disappointed and that's all fair enough. Feedback is important. Constructive feedback is better.
But getting upset because it's not happening on your timetable and expecting things that are not realistic won't really change anything in my view...except from increasing your own stress and unhappiness.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't express your anger or impatience, but I do advise tempering it with managing your own expectations. It's just better for your own health really 😉
Take that for what it's worth. Last thing I want to do is tell people how to run their lives. Just feel like it's worth highlighting that some things are worse for yourself than for Bioware.
I'm not having health issues because of a game. Also old enough for that. Old enough too, to see that I shouldn't really comply to a situation in which big companies want to make a tendency of releasing faulty products and imagine that is good for a start? If, in a general tone, people simply sit like polite cows, eating what they are given without saying a word. Do you think, REALLY, it helps improving anything?
On my part, I won't really keep this conversation. We are apparently of very different opinions and they won't match. Might be the difference in countries.
@PandaTar wrote:
I'm not having health issues because of a game. Also old enough for that. Old enough too, to see that I shouldn't really comply to a situation in which big companies want to make a tendency of releasing faulty products and imagine that is good for a start? If, in a general tone, people simply sit like polite cows, eating what they are given without saying a word. Do you think, REALLY, it helps improving anything?
On my part, I won't really keep this conversation. We are apparently of very different opinions and they won't match. Might be the difference in countries.
When I say it's bad for your health it's just a matter of speech. You are taking things way too literally here.
And you know, I went out of my way to state that it's perfectly fine to express being disappointed and angry. I specifically stated that feedback is important and you come back with a reply as if I'm advocating doing nothing and just comply to with everything? Really? That's what you read in my post?
Since when is managing expectations just accepting everything? If you want to think in only black and white that's your choice but I don't deal in such extremes much at all, so don't apply that to me please. It's unfair and undeserved.
I have explained my share of grievances on this very forum about various things that I am not happy with. All I am saying is that being impatient doesn't help in the sense of unrealistic expectations. THAT IS IT.
What you made out of that is frankly baffling.
Oh and by the way...when a person uses "you" in English it is often used in a general sense and so it was here. I am not talking about you specifically here anyway.
My 2 cents.....if anyone wants to lean down an pick them up for 2 pennies....
I really really really, don't want them to rush the patch, but I would like more info coming from the company letting us know what is going on. I PERSONALLY don't have any game breaking bugs, and I saw, in the first two weeks, kinda rushed patches that helped some, and hurt others. After watching the mixed results of the first two rushed out patches, and the fact I can play the game fine, I would hate to see them rush something out and screwdriver the poop out of my game. I hate they don't TELL me when to expect a patch(ballpark and how it is going--ie on schedule or hitting a roadblock and needs more time) and what they are trying to address in the patch but it is what it is.
So I will continue to play my game, wait for the patch and if I finish the game a third time, I may go back and play the series again before coming back to MEA. The only rumor I have heard on time for patch is May 7.....will be interesting to see how accurate it is.
Who the hell used their 33-56Kbps connection 20years ago to check some forums.. :d There was like 100k webpages in the whole fakin internet back then. Ps. I remember Soviet Union, vividly.
Edit: Oh right, these have topics, no info on patch.
@MEGAF1UX wrote:
@EgoMania this isnt bethesda we are talking about here. ea/bioware is SUPPOSED to be the gold standard in quality.
Well I've played all ME games, all DA games and SWTOR for years. And there's more but those are the big names for ya. Although BW does some things well, they surely suffered from poor management decisions for some years now. Maybe you think they're supposed to be the gold standard in quality but I don't know what you base that on because this BW is not the same as the one that wasn't owned by EA years ago.
Now the Mass Effect franchise is still my favourite and I do like a lot of things in ME:A, but I do try to set more realistic expectations. I mean, in the end the game has a lot of issues and needs some fixes badly. But it's also my view that these fixes are not all 5-minute fixes. So a little patience is required, whether we like to wait or not.
As far as BW's communication...well, that's something they don't have anywhere near the gold standard. It's one of their biggest issues in my view.
So you tell me, if I think their communication sucks and this game has a lot of things that need fixing, why do some people think I am advocating accepting everything lying down?
Clearly people don't know me very well. That's to be expected, but I'll tell you one thing about me. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that riles me up more than people putting words in my mouth based on things I never even said, just because it's what they think I meant. I've fought many battles on the forums in SWTOR and some things actually happened.
For me it's simple. I get angry at times. I might be brutal in some of my commentaries, but I do want to apply some nuance and realism to it. If that equates to giving up in some people's minds then that's on them.
So here is my realism on the topic of BW. They're not the gold standard in quality. Now what do you think makes more sense? If they rate a 5/10 currently on many reviews, does it make more sense to try to get them to 7/10 first or does it make sense to demand 10/10 even if that's not realistic?
You see, everybody is free to decide that for themselves but I prefer setting realistic, achievable goals. So let them bring it up a couple of points first before going to the next level, but I no longer believe that Bioware is going to ever deliver 10/10. Do you?
@EgoMania bioware has been slacking for a LONG time, ea wouldnt have been able to simply acquire them if they hadnt been sucking already (due in large part to farming out sequels of successful games like kotor to obsidian so they could use them as a scapegoat), that being said baldurs gate, kotor, etc they WERE infact the gold standard. ea didnt buy them to completely suck at their jobs (only in the videogame industry can you make bank by half-a**ing your job), they bought them to improve their stable since they lacked strong RPG titles. ea IS supposed to be the gold standard though, and it offends me that they are tolerating this level of slackery FROM bioware. having called microsoft, EA, and bioware its bioware that is trying to pass the buck. ea can only report the issues THEY receive TO bioware (and obviously microsoft reports their issues to EA), when bioware drags their feet (and theres really no other word for it) they arent punished.. its not like their wages are withheld until the issues are fixed (which they probably should be.. blame it on a bug, if they cry tell them to fix their bugs and youll fix yours).
i have been mulling this over for a while.. considering the decay that bioware has gone through (im not even a mass effect fan, i would NOT consider it my favorite franchise at all) i have come to the conclusion that hunger is the issue. when bioware was at their best they were HUNGRY, they were trying to prove something, and they put their souls into their games. now its almost like they are a 9-5 job with full medical and dental. just some place to work because the grass wouldnt be any greener someplace else.. and the problem is systemic. theres very little hunger in the industry in general (remember when EA got screwed by sony stealing the design for the 3d0? they were furious, so trip went about making some of the best franchises on the planet.. and thats how they got where they are now) and we the players suffer for it. complacency is not the solution though, retail armageddon is. stop supporting trash companies and they will die or evolve. worst case scenario ea goes the way of acclaim and somebody else steps up to fill that void.
for THIS game though every single person on this forum should be ON THE PHONE with ea daily until this garbage gets fixed! its easy to ignore this stupid forum! ignore having to pay operators by the hour to listen to people report the same thing over and over ALL DAY for weeks on end. were gamers, we have the luxury of sitting on our duffs WHILE we play! why NOT fill out the form (it takes literally 2 min.) and have ea call you? they are generally pretty nice people! then you can unload EVERY single issue that irks you to a human (admit it, this forum is mostly deaf ears aside from a couple moderators that are probably actually working like 3 hours a day at it) who then has to file a report and send it up the chain of command.. day after day! eventually theyll realize its cheaper to just fix the game (or shut down bioware for good which judging from this game is about 5 years overdue) than pay the operators to answer the phones.
Why do you feel the need to explain to me that Bioware have been slacking for a long time when I said the same thing in my post just with different words?
I agree there are issues, I just think there are better ways of dealing with it than incessant ranting and trying to push over a mountain with your bare hands. I really don't understand why people think I've given up on wanting them to be better just because I choose not to continually bang my head into the same immovable wall.
Do you honestly believe that ranting on a forum will change their ways?
And do you really believe that if they bring out patches faster it will not come at a quality cost?
Because I don't believe that.
@EgoMania your implication was that it was only since EA took over that their quality has been lacking, which isnt really the truth. so i was clarifying/correcting the statement.
ever heard the expression "the squeaky wheel gets the oil"? well, its the truth. these forums are infact useless, they have to be looking for something to fix to actually check the forums. dealing with EA directly is a much more effective way of "moving the wall" since then specific issues are DOCUMENTED and run through the chain of command.
as for the quality.. can it really sink much lower? when simcity came out and stunk to high hell we all got a free game, does ea not understand that this game is in even worse shape? i mean that was really just 1 night of not being able to connect to servers, this has been WEEKS of getting screwed out of boosters and exp because of the disconnects.
i wish there was some kind of mailing list i could get on that would have EA alert me when they finally fix this broken piece of trash.
Well, I certainly don't claim exact knowledge about what started exactly when, but as far as quality is concerned there does have to be some reason than hating myself to play this game for over 150 hours in less than a month.
So it can't be that bad.
Still, people will have their opinions about that and that's cool. However, all other things aside, when it comes to the next patch I'd rather they bring out a better patch than a faster one if you know what I mean. For me I'd rather get a quality patch than a rushed patch because the community was screaming for a fast patch and then it just doesn't deliver.
@EgoMania you dont seem to get that the damage is already done for the most part. people dont give a * about this game anymore BECAUSE they took their sweet a** time fixing/ignoring MAJOR issues! the disconnects and crashes for example were and are a CRITICAL issue.. yet they persist, not knowing what kind of connection a host has is another one that needed to be fixed IMMEDIATELY, but they dragged their feet and turned even more people off to the game, the way the n7 drops and passive bonuses work also turned alot of people off to the game. they may come back, but rest assured it WONT be any time soon (i have over 15 days PLAYED.. with your cute little 150 hours). do you realize the ammo glitch is still alive and well on xbox one?
they could release the best patch that ever existed in this world tomorrow, unfortunately 80% of the people who originally bought the game no longer give the slightest * WHAT they do with the game. never discount the fact that it looks real bad for EA aswell, new NFS game coming out later this year.. anyone going to preorder it knowing the steaming pile of trash THIS game turned out to be? i know im not!
the angaran poetry recital in the vortex... i've played this game 5 or 6 times, and this is the first PT that i've seen it. just how new is that?
@MEGAF1UX wrote:
@EgoMania you dont seem to get that the damage is already done for the most part. people dont give a * about this game anymore BECAUSE they took their sweet a** time fixing/ignoring MAJOR issues! the disconnects and crashes for example were and are a CRITICAL issue.. yet they persist, not knowing what kind of connection a host has is another one that needed to be fixed IMMEDIATELY, but they dragged their feet and turned even more people off to the game, the way the n7 drops and passive bonuses work also turned alot of people off to the game. they may come back, but rest assured it WONT be any time soon (i have over 15 days PLAYED.. with your cute little 150 hours). do you realize the ammo glitch is still alive and well on xbox one?
they could release the best patch that ever existed in this world tomorrow, unfortunately 80% of the people who originally bought the game no longer give the slightest * WHAT they do with the game. never discount the fact that it looks real bad for EA aswell, new NFS game coming out later this year.. anyone going to preorder it knowing the steaming pile of trash THIS game turned out to be? i know im not!
I do get that. I have no idea why you think I don't get that.
And don't even try this "cute" business. I've seen people with 500 hours and all that. That's not the point. My point is that if I played that many hours and really hate how BW does things and see them not learning...basically like you. Then why the hell play so many hours?
You are a complete contradiction if you hate all this so much and played hundreds of hours in the meantime. That's just total self-hatred in my book, if you are willing to put yourself through so many hours of something that you seem to hate so much about.
@EgoMania hmm, perhaps its the fact that you seem to think spending MORE time on a patch is a GOOD idea! its not! this b/s should have been sorted out WEEKS ago!
make no mistake, it is "cute". i dont even remember what its like to be a casual gamer. i didnt buy this feces (not even going to call it a game anymore until its fixed) for the single player, i bought it JUST for the multiplayer BECAUSE in the past bioware demonstrated an ability to throw together a surprisingly enjoyable multiplayer mode. i waited MONTHS for it to come out, i bought stupid games like breath of the wild and wildlands JUST TO PASS THE TIME until andromeda launched. should i have played it for 2 hours, declared it garbage, and walked away? nonono.. this game was supposed to keep me busy for months (particularly when i look at the coming soon list and want to vomit.. worst summer gaming i have ever seen, and i have been playing videogames for over 40 years). so i stuck with it (i know, impossible for millennials to comprehend) until very recently.
i get it you are a casual and cant handle grinding, i came up on games like EQ, phantasy star online, and ragnarok online. suffice to say i can grind like a stripper working for coke. what better options are there? prey is trash, wildlands lasted a whole weekend, vikings is a bit slow paced.. theres not anything BETTER to do (can only spend so much time a week mowing the lawn) than waste hours a day playing with friends picking apart the MANY flawed systems within the game.. but now THEY mostly stopped playing too. now i know alot of you kids are all kinds of pros at playing with yourselves, me.. eh id rather NOT waste my time like that. so im doing laps in the pool, playing OTHER games, and checking back on these forums hoping they fix the b/s so theres a point TO playing again.
to me self hatred is simply accepting that you got shat on by bioware asif you deserved it.
@MEGAF1UX wrote:
a) hmm, perhaps its the fact that you seem to think spending MORE time on a patch is a GOOD idea! its not! this b/s should have been sorted out WEEKS ago!
b) make no mistake, it is "cute". i dont even remember what its like to be a casual gamer.
c) to me self hatred is simply accepting that you got shat on by bioware asif you deserved it.
a) If the choice is between a rushed patch that doesn't fix things properly and/or causes more bugs or one that is solid but takes a bit longer, my vote is for option 2. That doesn't mean I don't recognise the issues that exist but it does mean I believe in quality over speed. The point that it should've been sorted out weeks ago is crying over spilt milk. Complete waste of time.
b) If you call playing 40 hours a week being a casual gamer then you have just won the no-life award and I wish you well with that. It's truly one of the more ridiculous statements made, aside from the fact that I find 150 hours already enough to qualify for playing too long if you really hate it.
c) That is also a form of self-hatred but that doesn't in any way invalidate my definition, so my point stands. It makes zero sense to offer an alternate definition. It's still ridiculous to hate something with such a passion and still play it. Basically you come whining here and then play 100s of hours in game. Do you think that BW will take any of your comments seriously if you talk the talk but don't walk the walk? Actions do speak louder than words.
But do as you will. This will only escalate into a full-fledged forum fight if we go on like this, so I'll bow out at this time and let you have the last word, since that's probably important to you.
I'm less concerned about patches for the very noticeable number of glitches and smaller bugs not being available right now, but rather disappointed by the lack of communication and follow-ups (with most information being "hearsay" via Twitter).
This is 2017 and other games have game directors regularly (!) communicating with their customers via videos, livestreams, blogs, et. al. - here we get nothing of the sort (also an issue with Battlefield) and it just doesn't feel the way a big franchise or game entry should be handled in this day and age.
[CONTENT REMOVED- do not make personal attacks against other users]
them SAYING they are working on a larger patch is in all likelihood a line of *, you know that RIGHT? like every game that ever got pushed back "for polish" and STILL got released with 100000 bugs.. but people always support the developer asif they REALLY are polishing the game. SUCKERS!
if actions DO speak louder than words (im pretty sure ea is sick to death of my words while not giving * number 1 about my actions since they already got my money) then what do biowares "actions" say about this game? aah, that they simply dont give a * about ANY of their customers, right, got it.
@PatTheMav wrote:
I'm less concerned about patches for the very noticeable number of glitches and smaller bugs not being available right now, but rather disappointed by the lack of communication and follow-ups (with most information being "hearsay" via Twitter).
This is 2017 and other games have game directors regularly (!) communicating with their customers via videos, livestreams, blogs, et. al. - here we get nothing of the sort (also an issue with Battlefield) and it just doesn't feel the way a big franchise or game entry should be handled in this day and age.
Yeah, this is probably the most frustrating thing about BW in general. I've played a number of their games over years and it just seems they can't get this communication thing right. I played SWTOR since launch and just quit a couple of weeks ago. Also there one of the main issues is their horrid communication. It's not the only reason, but it's always been a factor.
Wow another one of those?
I asked the same question nearly two weeks ago... can't believe we have heard nothing whatsoever in 4 weeks:
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Game-Information/When-is-the-next-patch-coming/td-p/6011987/page/7
