Why Is Friends Still Broken?

poodlemasterb16_ESO

At the heart of any MMO is the community. Our has been crippled for rather a long time now with the Friends facility not working. Our Guilds are having a tough time as well. [snip]
What is going on?

[Edited for Discussion of Moderation Actions]

RedMuse

Steps to fixing a bug:

1) Realize there is a bug.
2) Figure out what's causing the bug.
3) Writing the code that fixes the bug.
4) Test that new code does not break something else.
4b) If step 4 fails go back to step 3 and repeat until step 4 does not fail.
5) Put fix into patch.
6) Wait for Google, Microsoft and Sony to approve said patch. Usually takes two weeks.
7) Deploy patch.

As you can see by this step by step breakdown of what it takes to fix a bug in the game minimum for a fix to appear in the game for something that can't be hotfixed would be a little over two weeks. U29, which broke the friend list, have only been out for 18 days and this bug was only reported once it went to live iirc.

tl;dr They simply haven't had sufficient to to make, test, have approved and deploy a fix.

virtus753

They're going to include a fix in the next incremental, whenever that is:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7182139#Comment_7182139

As to why it didn't get fixed sooner, we're unlikely to get a comment on that, if prior issues are anything to go by.

Goregrinder

RedMuse wrote: »

Steps to fixing a bug:

1) Realize there is a bug.
2) Figure out what's causing the bug.
3) Writing the code that fixes the bug.
4) Test that new code does not break something else.
4b) If step 4 fails go back to step 3 and repeat until step 4 does not fail.
5) Put fix into patch.
6) Wait for Google, Microsoft and Sony to approve said patch. Usually takes two weeks.
7) Deploy patch.

As you can see by this step by step breakdown of what it takes to fix a bug in the game minimum for a fix to appear in the game for something that can't be hotfixed would be a little over two weeks. U29, which broke the friend list, have only been out for 18 days and this bug was only reported once it went to live iirc.

tl;dr They simply haven't had sufficient to to make, test, have approved and deploy a fix.

All laid out right there for everyone, nice!

poodlemasterb16_ESO

I wrote code for years building backends for web sites. I have also been on game development support teams, one under Carmack. I know how this works.

This is far more important than new goodies, which is where most of the coders are working. This is fundamental to the game. Not so much to their bottom line, so some changes in priorities might be a solution.

Fischblut

U29, which broke the friend list, have only been out for 18 days and this bug was only reported once it went to live iirc.

It was broken from the start of this PTS cycle, sadly

poodlemasterb16_ESO

That it made it out the door is astonishing. Any quality control at all, most certainly should have tested basic functions like this, before rolling it out. There should be a level of automated testing, which should pick this simple stuff up. I have written scripts to do about that, a few times to unload volunteer efforts, so the smart people could get stuff done.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

It a minir inconviniance
Sure i would be happy to see it gone but it not a bug worthy to push back a dlc until patched

poodlemasterb16_ESO

[snip]

Its a fundamental part of the game. All the Guilds are screwed, a large part of this game. The game play is based largely on group content and that is seriously impacted too.


Waiting till its patch time just reveals what ZOS thinks is important. None of the big players, Sony etc, will be at all upset if this is just fixed.

[Edited for Baiting]

Araneae6537

FYI, it was announced in today’s Twitch stream that a fix for this is coming! I want to say April 5th, but I didn’t take note of the date. Soon though.

hands0medevil

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

[snip]

Its a fundamental part of the game. All the Guilds are screwed, a large part of this game. The game play is based largely on group content and that is seriously impacted too.


Waiting till its patch time just reveals what ZOS thinks is important. None of the big players, Sony etc, will be at all upset if this is just fixed.

[Edited for Baiting]

Not fundamental enough to deserve a quick hotfix

Dark_Lord_Kuro

Araneae6537 wrote: »

FYI, it was announced in today’s Twitch stream that a fix for this is coming! I want to say April 5th, but I didn’t take note of the date. Soon though.

Yep monday the 5th for both pc and console

RedMuse

hands0medevil wrote: »

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

[snip]

Its a fundamental part of the game. All the Guilds are screwed, a large part of this game. The game play is based largely on group content and that is seriously impacted too.


Waiting till its patch time just reveals what ZOS thinks is important. None of the big players, Sony etc, will be at all upset if this is just fixed.

[Edited for Baiting]

Not fundamental enough to deserve a quick hotfix

Or, here's a thought, it can't be hotfixed. Not every issue can be hotfixed. And if it needs a patch then yes Sony, Microsoft and Google need to certify it.

essi2

RedMuse wrote: »

hands0medevil wrote: »

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

[snip]

Its a fundamental part of the game. All the Guilds are screwed, a large part of this game. The game play is based largely on group content and that is seriously impacted too.


Waiting till its patch time just reveals what ZOS thinks is important. None of the big players, Sony etc, will be at all upset if this is just fixed.

[Edited for Baiting]

Not fundamental enough to deserve a quick hotfix

Or, here's a thought, it can't be hotfixed. Not every issue can be hotfixed. And if it needs a patch then yes Sony, Microsoft and Google need to certify it.

This.

With the PC client being available on Stadia, it now also needs to go through cert, and things that aren't literally game breaking will most likely not get around the cert req.

SownRose

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

It a minir inconviniance
Sure i would be happy to see it gone but it not a bug worthy to push back a dlc until patched

It's not a minor inconvenience to the officers of guilds. GMs are literally pulling out their hair right now. Ppl waiting to get into guilds are missing out on trading, & social events. There are guilds that teach newbs how to play. Before I got in my first guild, I was a mess! I came from only playing solo games & didn't know anything about mmos.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

SownRose wrote: »

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

It a minir inconviniance
Sure i would be happy to see it gone but it not a bug worthy to push back a dlc until patched

It's not a minor inconvenience to the officers of guilds. GMs are literally pulling out their hair right now. Ppl waiting to get into guilds are missing out on trading, & social events. There are guilds that teach newbs how to play. Before I got in my first guild, I was a mess! I came from only playing solo games & didn't know anything about mmos.

Im an officer of a guild and it was minor to us at least
Maybe its because the guild isnt full

DragonRacer

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

SownRose wrote: »

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

It a minir inconviniance
Sure i would be happy to see it gone but it not a bug worthy to push back a dlc until patched

It's not a minor inconvenience to the officers of guilds. GMs are literally pulling out their hair right now. Ppl waiting to get into guilds are missing out on trading, & social events. There are guilds that teach newbs how to play. Before I got in my first guild, I was a mess! I came from only playing solo games & didn't know anything about mmos.

Im an officer of a guild and it was minor to us at least
Maybe its because the guild isnt full

It's definitely because your guild isn't full. I have had to start a waiting list for entry into my trading guild, which usually has a 21 day inactive policy, because I literally have zero way of knowing who's passed that 21 days inactive window right now.

SownRose

I've been wait listed in the big trading guilds in which I should have been fast tracked (I'm in 2 of their guilds in the same guild family)

SeaGtGruff

The friends and guild rosters are still broken because it isn't April 5th yet, which is when someone in a Twitch stream I was watching (a viewer, not the streamer) said it's due to be released. But I'm just passing along secondhand information, so if it's bad information then the other person was wrong, not me! [Finishes shining halo and puts it back atop head.]