Schwa, its not QA its much higher up the food chain. Case in point is how we in alpha reported all manner of issues for months before launch and they still made the choice to not clean up those issues but instead focus priority on other features (as one example the cash shop etc). It is their model and higher ups decisions on implementation schedules and triage order that is more prevalent an issue.
1. His question and context of sentences around the question was in regards to potential/future of the game. The warning was to ignore what they say and judge it only by what they do. What you took from was that I was being an apologist for the game when in fact I was being the entire opposite: If you do judge the game on what it delivered(or hasnt) then you most certainly lean into the steering clear of the game column. You contradict yourself as well on the saying that you're losing faith. The whole point is that you shouldnt make the judgements based on faith. Game industry loves those folks because they tend to be the easiest to exploit.
And by the way many of us beat Nim at under 300 EGO. Your failing to beat him reflects more on you than the game. A small point but just saying.
2. The OP asked for why there was less(ie disintegration) from the community reps. I explained some of it but I was also implying that overall its been about the same(read that as not necessarily substantial/transparent). His focus was on what was spoken on via twitter solely as well to which I explained that there were other media forms they were using more since release in focus as opposed to the reps various twitter accounts. Most of the information they have churned out at times as well has been mostly spin or vapid things like soon, x coming, z plans, etc.... all "potential" related things. Or worse Richardsson's blog posts that pretty much were exercises in patronizing readers.
The real BS is in that.. not in explaining the truth of Lance having pneumonia or Tobey swimming with manta rays last week in Hawaii. Main point just seemed a bit hard for you to get like Nim was :P
This may be. I'm only able to point at one specific critical problem (poor QA). As "higher-ups" are higher-up, they naturally are responsible for the systematic failure of QA in Defiance.
Until QA is fixed, quite literally nothing else Trion does matters. They'll hemorrhage players each patch, even if it doubles the terrain.
If it is, technically, impossible to assure quality (within a small margin) then there is no way to salvage Defiance. The end, nice little bow. Goodbye, Trion.
Microsofts excited op is the ONE guy whos gonna buy the new xbox.
The game still runs the same as day 1 despite having loads of patches. The player numbers on the EU server at peak time empty there not attracting many new players and the gamers they had from day one are leaving fast. No new content if your ego is 2000+ there's nothing for you to do apart from some pointless pursuits. Is there mind on this game prob not coz there making no money from it
the game still is what it is. it's fun. as far as i'm concerned it's the only real (proper) third person shooter mmo out there. can't complain about content but every mission is basicly the same. you shoot dudes in the face and press the "E" button (or something on your controller). something other than this would be neat. like, crafting and stuff. pvp? havn't touched this yet. not a fan of getting shot by invisible players. ark falls and coop missions are still a lot of fun, if you don't do 10 of 'em per day.
show seems to do fine. havn't watched it yet, but a second season is on the horizon which means, it is in fact doing fine.
i don't understand the concept of selling and re-purchasing though. don't you get a double minus in your wallet? but, i would recommened you buy this game again if you're into mmo's. if not, any other shooter will do just fine for you. it's really just the mmo aspect that makes defiance awsome. the fun of shooting dudes in the face can be experienced with a lot of other shooter games but only defiance has the massive scale.
edit: oh, and on the pc it's doing just fine. it currently has a free weekend on steam and got a 30% discount. don't believe those narrow minded fools that claim, players leave the game. don't know about the consoles but on the PC there are weekend sales and stuff that attract new players. currently the game has a new peak on the PC and it actually got back on the list of steam's top selling games. (btw. steam is not even required, so there are a lot more PC players than steam displays.)
do you know why they test atomic bombs? to see if they work. -bill hicks
platform: PC - region: EU - name: Zornbringer
my TOP changes that make defiance a better game (random order):
- interface improvements (including chat) - easier loadout selection - more graphics settings - fix cloak - jetpacks! - realistic day/night cycle+weather - ressource collection and crafting - improved social aspects (easier player to player interactions) - more daily/weekly events - flying vehicles
I guess the main point Im trying to make is that at present, QA is perhaps finding the bugs, but the higher up are making the decision to ignore what they find until after it has been pushed live and then making the decision to let the chips fall as they may otherwise(ie they made their prescriptive deadline and now can retroly fix the problem). Im using this as a valid possibility since we found so many issues in alpha, reported it and how it can be repeated, and it wasnt fixed or changed until after launch or even still now.
Since we know this was true to have happened in alpha, then the step to believing this is happening as well with the QA department is pretty compelling. This means that its not their department that is the main one that should be accountable, but the falls in the lap of accountability of someone along the lines of Richardsson, the producer.
It's even possible that Defiance QA reports to Richardsson. I have seen companies do it that way and it almost always leads to poor quality. Many times during my years in the valley, we would have a shoot out over if a product/feature was ready to launch. Typically, Development and Marketing would say yes, it's good enough (we can always patch it later) with CS and QA saying it's not good enough (the problems will overload CS, the quality will turn off buyers, etc). If ALL these groups report to the Producer, it's very easy for him to mute the nay sayers and launch. If CS & QA report in at a higher level, the producer needs to defend his GO decision. Mistakes can still be made, it all depends on what the top guys think is more important, Schedule or Quality.
I used to say that our first choice was to ship a quality product on schedule, our second choice was to ship a quality product late, and that there were no other choices! Companies who knowingly ship poor quality to meet schedule will not do well over the long haul if there is even one competitor who holds quality to a higher standard.
Mac - VBI Operative Proud Member of the Friends of Trick Dempsey Association
The few, the proud, the DEFIANT!