What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
nerevarine1138 wrote: »What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
If I were to imagine an MMO as relatively bug free, I'd be committed to an insane asylum.
Please stop tossing around words like "incomplete," simply because elements of the game don't conform to your subjective tastes.
What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
Sadness for me on your entire first two paragraphs Obscure and more disappointment found in your conclusion, even if only half-right.
My hats off to those on the staff that are working so diligently, but are basically hemmed in by the sizeable fustercluck. (*)
What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
Sadness for me on your entire first two paragraphs Obscure and more disappointment found in your conclusion, even if only half-right.
My hats off to those on the staff that are working so diligently, but are basically hemmed in by the sizeable fustercluck. (*)
MMO design is incredibly difficult work just to describe doing much less to actually do and even less again to describe doing for a living. For many of these developers at ZOS this isn't their first time. They come from EA, NCSoft, Mythic, and other such studios and know full well how to make a living developing games. It's really really really hard, but that's how they feed themselves.
You shouldn't be sad regarding the present state of the game, you should be optimistic for its future. ESO has more potential than any MMO I've ever put my hands on, it just has a long road ahead to realize that potential in the game. Things will be shaping up and in time, if you stick around for it, you'll look back and see just how far it's come along. The only constant is change, and for ESO there's potential for gobs of it in a very positive direction.
If your willing to wait it out, there's professionals who do it for a living working on fixing, improving, expanding, and evolving ESO as I post this. That's not sad to me, that's very encouraging. I don't lose sleep over something that's bad today, I sleep soundly dreaming about tomorrow.
Positive and negative live in a very quaint little harmony within which one makes very little sense without the other.What you're witnessing is an incomplete game that is still under development, that's being updated with more content, and being ported to two other platforms all while requiring live service. To make matters a bit more stressful for themselves they also insufficiently test the developmental additions to the game causing even more developmental issues to be corrected. They take one step forward in one category but then take one step back in another.
They're spread thin. The rate of important fixes getting out to the game is going to be slow and often require important fixes itself. There's really no reasonably short time scale to anticipate any of this to be corrected, though if I had to guess, ESO will be free of critical bugs by this time next year. In which case I also expect console ESO to launch with said critical bug free build. By such time there will no doubt also be a shift in the business model towards micro transactions and perhaps a non subscription play option much like we see in other games. It's a fairly easy notion to think that ESO, by console launch, will be a very changed game, very much grown up and polished from how it is today, and part of that growing up will need to include a business model that will help it thrive in the console market.
Ultimately if I were to imagine an ESO that is relatively bug free, optimized, responsive, with smoothed out combat system, I'm imagining an amazing game. As it stands there's just not even a manageable number of things to fix yet, so many things get side lined and the development team is forced to just focus on the tasks their boss/director/manager tells them they need to work on. Given time they'll whittle the list down to a small hand full of minor inconvenience bugs which is what any one would consider a reasonable amount of bugs.
Sadness for me on your entire first two paragraphs Obscure and more disappointment found in your conclusion, even if only half-right.
My hats off to those on the staff that are working so diligently, but are basically hemmed in by the sizeable fustercluck. (*)
MMO design is incredibly difficult work just to describe doing much less to actually do and even less again to describe doing for a living. For many of these developers at ZOS this isn't their first time. They come from EA, NCSoft, Mythic, and other such studios and know full well how to make a living developing games. It's really really really hard, but that's how they feed themselves.
You shouldn't be sad regarding the present state of the game, you should be optimistic for its future. ESO has more potential than any MMO I've ever put my hands on, it just has a long road ahead to realize that potential in the game. Things will be shaping up and in time, if you stick around for it, you'll look back and see just how far it's come along. The only constant is change, and for ESO there's potential for gobs of it in a very positive direction.
If your willing to wait it out, there's professionals who do it for a living working on fixing, improving, expanding, and evolving ESO as I post this. That's not sad to me, that's very encouraging. I don't lose sleep over something that's bad today, I sleep soundly dreaming about tomorrow.
Positive response Obscure heh. I'm not losing sleep, I'm becoming a little more jaded though I suppose. I have plenty of other recreational pursuits and the amount of money involved in following this hobby is trivial compared to any other hobby I'm involved in.
Doesn't mean that I'm not a little surprised and continue to be disappointed in what I based my buying decisions on: a subscription PC MMO which actively sought out and advertised hard to veteran PvE and PvP MMO'rs looking for a challenging, somewhat fresh/innovative MMO with a lil' ES setting to live in virtually.
Likewise I believed, from my activity and involvement with fansites and official Beta years prior to TESO launch that this MMO would be primarily filled with like-minded individuals. That is decidedly NOT what TESO has now devolved to be. You say its evolving. My hope is it is not evolving to become what you described in the second paragraph of your post.
Glass half-empty, but still paying attention. (*)