Patch Notes - R109 (09/12/16)

mega ghost

Polares wrote:

Crowl wrote:

Polares wrote:

After the R108 double-reward bug, I was hoping testing would improve... (testing is now the Achilles heel of this game, it is what is hurting this game the most lately, a lot of very good improvements but really bad testing before they are launched)

I would very much doubt that testing is the problem with this game, it is vastly more likely that development overruns and then they have fixed release dates with the net result that the time qa should get is squeezed and problems end up going live.

Well it might be this fixed two weeks sprint releases is affecting the quality of the product and reducing the test time, but this case in particular was a very very obvious bug, anybody with an iOs device would have found the problem in just a minute of testing. They did not test the release on iOs, someone did a very bad job doing the testing or they just tested on development devices (there is a big difference between testing release versions or the real app that gets uploaded to the store, and you should always test the latter).

I don't think R109 is working correctly in any iOs device (but maybe I am wrong and it just affects some iOs devices). Anybody in iOs with R109 without the bug?

But anyway, a lot of good things going on in the game that get seriously affected by bad releases

You know, I'm very happy to complain about several core aspects of this game, especially the glacial pace of roster development and the terrible incongruity of the dollar values they attach to in-game currencies... but this in particular is not something I'm going to give them any guff for. Sure, bugs are annoying, and I'm not enjoying this 5+ second long black screen every time I switch between sections of the app, but it's not game-breaking, and this is still a free-to-play game.

Most importantly, it's a game available on a wide variety of platforms, and they have a very aggressive release schedule. Every other week, or whatever their cadence is, is intense. Especially when you take into account that they're not just releasing one update to several platforms. The bulk of these platforms, if not all, require their own unique build of the app, with their own updates and unique lines of code, etc. Getting these updates coded, QA'd, and launched at such a rapid rate doesn't offer much wiggle room. And that doesn't even take into account approval times. You could have your iOS update done and sent to Apple, but Apple might spend anywhere from a day to a month with it in their queue before someone looks at it and approves it.

And I could be mistaken, but I don't imagine D3 Go has a large headcount. If I had to guess, I'd say they have 15 to 25 employees. And how many of those are developers? Half, at best? They probably only have one or two of those people working QA. Honestly, it's a marvel (no pun there, shut up) that the bugs that do go live are typically so inconsequential.

mega ghost

mega ghost wrote:

Polares wrote:

Crowl wrote:

Polares wrote:

After the R108 double-reward bug, I was hoping testing would improve... (testing is now the Achilles heel of this game, it is what is hurting this game the most lately, a lot of very good improvements but really bad testing before they are launched)

I would very much doubt that testing is the problem with this game, it is vastly more likely that development overruns and then they have fixed release dates with the net result that the time qa should get is squeezed and problems end up going live.

Well it might be this fixed two weeks sprint releases is affecting the quality of the product and reducing the test time, but this case in particular was a very very obvious bug, anybody with an iOs device would have found the problem in just a minute of testing. They did not test the release on iOs, someone did a very bad job doing the testing or they just tested on development devices (there is a big difference between testing release versions or the real app that gets uploaded to the store, and you should always test the latter).

I don't think R109 is working correctly in any iOs device (but maybe I am wrong and it just affects some iOs devices). Anybody in iOs with R109 without the bug?

But anyway, a lot of good things going on in the game that get seriously affected by bad releases

You know, I'm very happy to complain about several core aspects of this game, especially the glacial pace of roster development and the terrible incongruity of the dollar values they attach to in-game currencies... but this in particular is not something I'm going to give them any guff for. Sure, bugs are annoying, and I'm not enjoying this 5+ second long black screen every time I switch between sections of the app, but it's not game-breaking, and this is still a free-to-play game.

Most importantly, it's a game available on a wide variety of platforms, and they have a very aggressive release schedule. Every other week, or whatever their cadence is, is intense. Especially when you take into account that they're not just releasing one update to several platforms. The bulk of these platforms, if not all, require their own unique build of the app, with their own updates and unique lines of code, etc. Getting these updates coded, QA'd, and launched at such a rapid rate doesn't offer much wiggle room. And that doesn't even take into account approval times. You could have your iOS update done and sent to Apple, but Apple might spend anywhere from a day to a month with it in their queue before someone looks at it and approves it.

And I could be mistaken, but I don't imagine D3 Go has a large headcount. If I had to guess, I'd say they have 15 to 25 employees. And how many of those are developers? Half, at best? They probably only have one or two of those people working QA. Honestly, it's a marvel (no pun there, shut up) that the bugs that do go live are typically so inconsequential.

And further on this point, when you have an aggressive release schedule and know your updates are weeks apart, you sometimes know you're releasing a bug and run with it. You have an option: Do I push back the whole feature and let everyone wait for it and be disappointed, or do I let a section of users be slightly annoyed for a week or two until we can get a hotfix out?

Personally, I'll deal with the lag for a week or two if it means not waiting any longer for these S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance level rewards.

Polares

mega ghost wrote:

Personally, I'll deal with the lag for a week or two if it means not waiting any longer for these S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance level rewards.

Really ? Are you serious ?

It is super annoying, every single time you load a new screen you need to wait 10s, every single time you open a token 10s, come back from a fight 10s, it is unbearable! I am not exaggerating, this can be called lag, it is 10 seconds of waiting with a black screen. I would much prefer the game to be fixed than have a new feature that I am not going to enjoy, this is not like Nova not correctly changing his powers or the facebook gift not working, this is making the game unplayable!

I can wait a week or two for the new feature, but I NEED THE FIX ASAP.

Oh, and there is a simple solution if you can keep up with a very aggressive two week cycle that it is breaking the game all the time, just make it a 3 week, or a month.


PS: I might be wrong but I am betting you are not playing on iOs....

Philly484

I am having the lag issues as well and its annoying but I can deal, I'm not going to stop playing over a lag issues, which happens in any online game ppl play.

broll

Polares wrote:

mega ghost wrote:

Personally, I'll deal with the lag for a week or two if it means not waiting any longer for these S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance level rewards.

Really ? Are you serious ?

It is super annoying, every single time you load a new screen you need to wait 10s, every single time you open a token 10s, come back from a fight 10s, it is unbearable! I am not exaggerating, this can be called lag, it is 10 seconds of waiting with a black screen. I would much prefer the game to be fixed than have a new feature that I am not going to enjoy, this is not like Nova not correctly changing his powers or the facebook gift not working, this is making the game unplayable!

I can wait a week or two for the new feature, but I NEED THE FIX ASAP.

Oh, and there is a simple solution if you can keep up with a very aggressive two week cycle that it is breaking the game all the time, just make it a 3 week, or a month.


PS: I might be wrong but I am betting you are not playing on iOs....

Yeah he's serious and I feel the same. It's annoying but it's in no way game breaking. Calm down sir... it will get fixed.

CrookedKnight

Polares wrote:

Oh, and there is a simple solution if you can keep up with a very aggressive two week cycle that it is breaking the game all the time, just make it a 3 week, or a month.

I'm not on iOS so I'm not seeing the slowdown, but yeah, there has been a marked uptick in bugs per patch since the switch to fixed two-week sprints, and maybe it's time to look at why that is....

mega ghost

Polares wrote:

mega ghost wrote:

Personally, I'll deal with the lag for a week or two if it means not waiting any longer for these S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance level rewards.

Really ? Are you serious ?

It is super annoying, every single time you load a new screen you need to wait 10s, every single time you open a token 10s, come back from a fight 10s, it is unbearable! I am not exaggerating, this can be called lag, it is 10 seconds of waiting with a black screen. I would much prefer the game to be fixed than have a new feature that I am not going to enjoy, this is not like Nova not correctly changing his powers or the facebook gift not working, this is making the game unplayable!

I can wait a week or two for the new feature, but I NEED THE FIX ASAP.

Oh, and there is a simple solution if you can keep up with a very aggressive two week cycle that it is breaking the game all the time, just make it a 3 week, or a month.


PS: I might be wrong but I am betting you are not playing on iOs....

I am playing on iOS! It might simply be a difference in our play styles. Unless I'm competing in a big event or the last hour of PvP, I'm rarely sitting here focusing on nothing but the game. I usually incorporate it into a series of other things I'm doing and "multitask." For example, earlier I cleared Deadpool Daily while cooking some sausage and eggs. Any time the lag came up, I just put my phone down for a second to cut up some jalapeno, or poured another cup of coffee, etc.

That said, if the bugs grow in severity, I agree that the release cycle should be changed to accommodate (although I'm sure there are other behind-the-scenes reasons for their current cycle that we're not privy to, possibly things like "Marvel wants to have this character in all of their games at once, so we all need to launch on Monday.) Until then, I'm ok.