A plea to the developers

Merrick

I sincerely ask that before you release any more new characters, that you fix the multiple glitches that are in the game.

There are more errors today than I have ever seen in the past two years.
And most of these errors are left for weeks at a time. Every new update seems to fix one problem but create others.

During this time, the procession of new character releases has marched on. Taking a release cycle to fix the errors in the game will not destroy your income. And it would greatly endear you to the community, preventing the loss of players and an increased chance that they would recommend the game to friends.

Magic

I think it's reasonable plea. Most players are not asking for extra 4* every other week anyway. So with the current amount of bugs it makes sense to put it on hold and fix the bloody game.

Dragon_Nexus

You are, like so many, assuming that there are not seperate divisions within the company that deal with different things.

That said, can your new artist please go back and re-do Squirrel Girl when they get a minute? =/

Dartmaster01

I wouldn't hold my breath. For as long as we've had the board drop bug and few others. It's quite clear, as long as you're spending money, they don't care about game-breaking bugs.

firethorne

The thing that really gets me is the degree to which code that has been working since its introduction into the game will mysteriously break. 3* Iron Fist's green now failing to put out the correct number strike tiles (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=61471) is a prime example. Why on earth did that break? Seriously, what was the series of events that led a character that has been functioning properly for over a year to change? Did the mere existence of a new 4* Iron Fist cause the 3* version to behave differently? Do you not keep your characters in separate classes in code? Is your code truly so poorly compartmentalized that that could even happen? I would hope not, but I have no other logical explanation for a character that hasn't changed in years to change.

Punisher5784

Dragon_Nexus wrote:

You are, like so many, assuming that there are not seperate divisions within the company that deal with different things.

That said, can your new artist please go back and re-do Squirrel Girl when they get a minute? =/

I wouldn't mind if they fix 2* Carol's face too. Thanks

nonnel

Merrick - I put that same feedback in the latest player feedback survey.

It's also why I gave the game a Net Promoter Score of 0. That is the question of how likely are you to tell your friends about the game

But ultimately, it's best to vote with your wallets. If the game gets more and more buggy, then stop spending until they fix stuff. New characters get a lot of attention and revenue. If nobody buys the new characters, then maybe the developers will focus on delivering solid code

waywreth

There is a sale today.

I might have been down to purchase some HP, since I do enjoy the game. But, the string of recent patches (we're talking at least 4 in a row now - more even) with serious issues, coupled with the vaulting, has me closing my wallet.

qandols

There is news of anniversary 30% more sale, but it does not look like it when you go to Resources.

nonnel1

Wayreth - the vaulting thing really does hurt overall roster growth

Eichen

the vaulting thing really does hurt overall roster growth

I would counter that it does just the opposite, it helps roster growth. With the amount of 4* in the game it is terribly hard to get a specific cover of a 4* you want. It takes most people months upon months to champ a new character. With vaulting you can cover a character in unprecedented time. It is unbelievable really how fast you can cover one of the new 12. That doesn't hurt roster growth it expedites it which is a good thing.

waywreth

Well I'm not a fan of vaulting - and there hasn't been any other official options or changes. Combining that with the continued bugs - I am going to show my feedback in the only meaningful way I can - and not spend money.

Merrick

"You are, like so many, assuming that there are not seperate divisions within the company that deal with different things."

Actually I'm not assuming that. But I am assuming that the game doesn't just break for no reason, and that most of the glitches occur because of the addition of new characters to the code.

hodayathink

Merrick wrote:

"You are, like so many, assuming that there are not seperate divisions within the company that deal with different things."

Actually I'm not assuming that. But I am assuming that the game doesn't just break for no reason, and that most of the glitches occur because of the addition of new characters to the code.

If you want to get super technical, the game probably breaks because of new features added to the code. Now, those new features may come from creating them for new characters, or they may come from future implementations of things like new events or goons. Or they may be new features that have nothing to do with characters, but changes a variable that does effect characters. You can't make too many assumptions about code you've never actually seen.

jredd

Eichen wrote:

the vaulting thing really does hurt overall roster growth

I would counter that it does just the opposite, it helps roster growth. With the amount of 4* in the game it is terribly hard to get a specific cover of a 4* you want. It takes most people months upon months to champ a new character. With vaulting you can cover a character in unprecedented time. It is unbelievable really how fast you can cover one of the new 12. That doesn't hurt roster growth it expedites it which is a good thing.

expeditious growth of new characters yes. not all of them are going to help rosters when the boosted characters are older ones. how do new players develop the icemen's and teen jeans and the like?

and the other problem, iso. yeah you can cover your new coulson in a month. but in the mean time, your cap marvels and mordos are fully covered waiting for iso too. with several covers on the vine. eventually to be sold for a measly 1000 iso.

Cthulhu

Also, different people checking out the code, new engineers (this was started in June last year and we have had some changes) that believe something was written incorrectly or bandaids were added to fix something quickly and then are re-touched so they are fixed correctly, etc, etc.

The reason things take weeks we did specify in another thread. Somethings the game can be patched to fix an issue, but most of the time we release in two week submissions, the next build is sometimes close to locked by the time we release the latest update and we spend the week and a half testing.

We are always working to improve the debug process, we made huge jumps this year in terms of efficiency with the release testing and the qa process.

Bowgentle

Cthulhu wrote:

We are always working to improve the debug process, we made huge jumps this year in terms of efficiency with the release testing and the qa process.

Don't take this the wrong way, but are players ever going to notice that?
All we see at our end is breaking stuff that has worked for years all of a sudden for no reason, plus the re-introduction of bugs that have been fixed numerous times already.

I get it, coding is hard, but it feels like we're getting more and more bugs instead of less with each release.

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to reply in here

broll

Bowgentle wrote:

Cthulhu wrote:

We are always working to improve the debug process, we made huge jumps this year in terms of efficiency with the release testing and the qa process.

Don't take this the wrong way, but are players ever going to notice that?
All we see at our end is breaking stuff that has worked for years all of a sudden for no reason, plus the re-introduction of bugs that have been fixed numerous times already.

I get it, coding is hard, but it feels like we're getting more and more bugs instead of less with each release.

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to reply in here

I was actually coming to say the same thing. From my experience having played for just over year. The releases have been getting steadily sloppier. I'm less concerned about you guys improving the efficiency of release and qa, but desperately interested in seeing an improvement in the quality of the releases and qa. The entire spirit of this thread is saying improve the quality even if that hurts the efficiency. It seems to us the emphasis is efficiency over quality and the game is suffering for it. Please rethink that strategy!

Jarvind

"LOL" - devs, probably.

I'm fairly certain the only way you'll see new releases stop is if the game becomes unplayable. I don't mean "so buggy that it isn't fun," I mean literally won't load.

Unless that happens, gotta keep the cash flowing.

firethorne

Cthulhu wrote:

The reason things take weeks we did specify in another thread. Somethings the game can be patched to fix an issue, but most of the time we release in two week submissions, the next build is sometimes close to locked by the time we release the latest update and we spend the week and a half testing.

If this is the result, then I really think you need to go back and reconsider this two week cycle you've locked yourself into. I know there has been a lot of push from lazy product managers pushing Agile or a similar method like it is the best thing since sliced bread. But, short release cycles aren't worth it when they result in bad software being released. That is happening.

To me, this sort of development has the hallmarks of a cult. It has disciples, evangelists, crazy jargon, and a strong aversion to walking away from it when the evidence shows it isn't working. That isn't to say it doesn't have its place. Agile is designed for and by web consulting firms with finicky clients who want things changed every minute. And for that, it can work. But, used improperly, it can just as easily be bucket of nonsense that has nothing to do with solid programming. Agile and Scrum glorify emergency. It makes your entire development “crunch time.” It’s not sustainable to work that way. And obsession with short-term “iterations” or sprints means you're more pressured to do something quickly and sloppily or without adequate time to properly understand things instead of doing it right the first time around. Sound familiar?

something was written incorrectly or bandaids were added to fix something quickly and then are re-touched so they are fixed correctly, etc, etc.

ammenell

just stop spending real money.
it should be the other way around - a plea from the devs to the players, in form of testing.