Sphinx's Decree causes game to soft lock [Fix in 3.0]

EvilDead

So when players put Sphinx's Decree in their decks in node events to basically help them hold on to higher rankings, the rest of us are supposed to just grin and bear it? No other reason to have in their deck other than screw over other players because they obviously aren't going to use it themselves. Players are missing out on higher rank tiers, not getting progression rewards, etc due to having to quit matches.

I mean some of us are paying customers and not being jerks only to reward those who choose to troll. Seriously, when does this end? 

Mburn7

EvilDead said:

So when players put Sphinx's Decree in their decks in node events to basically help them hold on to higher rankings, the rest of us are supposed to just grin and bear it? No other reason to have in their deck other than screw over other players because they obviously aren't going to use it themselves. Players are missing out on higher rank tiers, not getting progression rewards, etc due to having to quit matches.

I mean some of us are paying customers and not being jerks only to reward those who choose to troll. Seriously, when does this end? 

Short answer?  It doesn't.  There will always be a way to troll people in events for those who are such inclined.

Its happened in the past with buggy cards, and will happen again.

Sadly all you can really do is either grin and bear it or find a way to stop opponents from playing it, neither of which are really great options.

MDsupa

Yeap, just happen to me. AI Play Sphinx's decree and I have to force to quit and lost.  this is During DUEL which not only affect me but everyone on my side.  Since the Green side can't use that card, only El Drazi side can only do this troll.  D3 really need to look at this.  I put in a ticket with screen shot.  I encourage everyone that face a deck like this to screenshot the Battle Log.  Well make sure D3 have of these Troller/Cheaters.

Tilwin90

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

@Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

Laeuftbeidir

+1 for @Tilwin90 s comment.

We've had a player asking whether someone already faced the bug with this card before, he bugged himself out when using it

MDsupa

The one that doesnt know just  doesnt know. But they'll look it up and remove it from their deck.  The one that intentionally put it in can avoid his own freeze by just disable and discard the card.  

I agree there no way of telling which play did it intentionally.  

Guess which side won the duel.  

Root cause is still oktagon doing something about it.

Brigby

Tilwin90 said:

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

I personally wouldn't consider using Sphinx's Decree an exploit, since everyone that uses it is subject to the same behavior; there is no manipulation involved in order to get it to behave this way. I do consider it a serious bug though, which is why the team is already aware of it, and working on a fix.

As for changing the structure of the game to be more flexible with hot fixes, I'm not a developer, but I speculate that it would take a significant amount of work to re-orient the infrastructure of the game to allow for that. That's not to say it isn't something the team wants to accomplish, but it certainly would take significant time to do so.

rafalele

Brigby said:

Tilwin90 said:

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

I personally wouldn't consider using Sphinx's Decree an exploit, since everyone that uses it is subject to the same behavior; there is no manipulation involved in order to get it to behave this way. I do consider it a serious bug though, which is why the team is already aware of it, and working on a fix.

As for changing the structure of the game to be more flexible with hot fixes, I'm not a developer, but I speculate that it would take a significant amount of work to re-orient the infrastructure of the game to allow for that. That's not to say it isn't something the team wants to accomplish, but it certainly would take significant time to do so.

If someone is using it as an exploit he/she will not cast it, just add it to the deck for making the IA to use it and chrash other players battles.

For me, it is a serious bug and not having a quick fix, a big error.

IM_CARLOS

As long cards like etali can steal from opponents library SD is not a real solid troll option.

Devs have to fix it fast or possible install a banned list like in in PaperMTG for cards like this to minimize trouble. 
Next HOD os comming and I am sure I will loose to at least one SD. 

Mburn7

Now is the time for Oktagon to set a precedent for cards like this.  When Prized Amalgam did the same thing, it was abused as a troll card and they did nothing about it.  Oktagon appears to be doing the same thing with Sphinx's Decree.  We can argue whether or not this is a good choice, but its up to them to decide how they want to handle these types of issues going forward (because I can guarantee that there will be more cards with the same issue)

Kinesia

Brigby said:

Tilwin90 said:

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

I personally wouldn't consider using Sphinx's Decree an exploit, since everyone that uses it is subject to the same behavior; there is no manipulation involved in order to get it to behave this way. I do consider it a serious bug though, which is why the team is already aware of it, and working on a fix.

As for changing the structure of the game to be more flexible with hot fixes, I'm not a developer, but I speculate that it would take a significant amount of work to re-orient the infrastructure of the game to allow for that. That's not to say it isn't something the team wants to accomplish, but it certainly would take significant time to do so.

Changing to allow hotfixes would be serious work, but I believe there is a potential solution that might not require a large amount as most of the required tools exist in game.

We have Standard and Legacy card pools, depending on how it's coded it might be possible to make a "Banned" pool of cards too (it's theoretically mostly just a label in the card database), so for game-breaking cards you temporarily move that card from it's existing set to "Banned". (There are a number of data only things that are now being done without builds since recent patches, so I think this kind of structure is potentially possible), then after the card is fixed and the new build pushed out the card just gets the banned label lifted and goes back to normal.

rafalele

@Brigby, @Tombstone, @Oktagon_Daiane As you are not releasing a quick fix for this bug, could you, at least, send an ingame message just to the people that are using Sphinx's Decree in pvp events warning them that it is not a good practice?

We know that players are using it now in Bolas HOD just to make the other players losing battles. It is not fair.

Tilwin90

Brigby said:

Tilwin90 said:

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

I personally wouldn't consider using Sphinx's Decree an exploit, since everyone that uses it is subject to the same behavior; there is no manipulation involved in order to get it to behave this way. I do consider it a serious bug though, which is why the team is already aware of it, and working on a fix.

As for changing the structure of the game to be more flexible with hot fixes, I'm not a developer, but I speculate that it would take a significant amount of work to re-orient the infrastructure of the game to allow for that. That's not to say it isn't something the team wants to accomplish, but it certainly would take significant time to do so.

Dealing with critical bugs should be the TOP priority of the team. When something explodes in production there is no "we don't have time for that" and the lack of proactivity here shows a serious lack of maturity and care for the product itself to begin with.

As a software developer and scrum master I understand perfectly how difficult this industry is and what are the struggles. It is also the same reason here Brigby why I also find this mindset unacceptable (but something Oktagon has to come forward and give some proper explanations and a real plan of approach towards correcting this) 

Mburn7

Tilwin90 said:

Brigby said:

Tilwin90 said:

Sorry to say this, but this really doesn't fall into the cheating category. Whoever is playing Sphinx's Decree messes themselves up just as well as other players. In this particular event I agree it is a super annoying bug, but I also noticed people were unaware of this issue (and actually asked other players for clarifications whether it was a known issue or not) after so much time.
It so happens that both not everyone follows the forum, and also doesn't frequently play Sphinx's Decree. Let's not jump to calling people cheaters and ask for reprisals when it could very much not be the case. instead I would have expected that such a bug could demand a hotfix.

Brigby has the team considered changing their way of working so that hotfixes are possible? The current release cycle suggests that this is not possible, and I would imagine it is a serious problem in the way of working/branching structure. Critical bugs/blockers should definitely be subject to hotfixes so that they may be fixed and pushed by the team as soon as possible, without depending on the next version release. A card that freezes the game is certainly a blocker.

I personally wouldn't consider using Sphinx's Decree an exploit, since everyone that uses it is subject to the same behavior; there is no manipulation involved in order to get it to behave this way. I do consider it a serious bug though, which is why the team is already aware of it, and working on a fix.

As for changing the structure of the game to be more flexible with hot fixes, I'm not a developer, but I speculate that it would take a significant amount of work to re-orient the infrastructure of the game to allow for that. That's not to say it isn't something the team wants to accomplish, but it certainly would take significant time to do so.

As a software developer and scrum master I understand perfectly how difficult this industry is and what are the struggles. It is also the same reason here Brigby why I also find this mindset unacceptable (but something Oktagon has to come forward and give some proper explanations and a real plan of approach towards correcting this) 

You ever work on mobile games before?  Maybe you could help them out (joking, mostly.  They definitely need help and coding this game looks like an impossible task)

Tilwin90

Mburn7 said:

You ever work on mobile games before?  Maybe you could help them out (joking, mostly.  They definitely need help and coding this game looks like an impossible task)

Games aren't necessarily my area of expertise, so I don't necessarily have such an informed professional opinion when it comes to animations, UI performance etc.

I know I sound like a know-it-all that pretends has any idea what happens behind the scenes with Oktagon when in reality I don't know what's there, but the sad reality is that very many software companies simply have very slow and lacking way of workings (if any). The argument "we don't have time for this" when it comes to improving and maintaining the way of working has been proven to be faulty again and again, and that all comes from a highly reactive mentality that is very hard to change. Some cultures embrace this easier than others, that's also true...

So yes, it is frustrating for me because I understand the struggle and I know there are so much better ways of doing this. Where I do use the words "unacceptable", "inexcusable" and "unprofessional" it also comes from me as a customer, finding it absurd how a BLOCKER can sit on the bench for such a long time. If the team has still not found out "what's going on" after such a long time, I'm sorry but either: 
a) this was not seen as a priority (then go back to my former point)
OR
b) they still can't figure out where the freeze comes from in spite of investing significant amounts of time in it - which is even worse, because it means they still can't properly debug the application after a year of development. If it were difficult to reproduce or would be unpredictable (caused by a race condition for instance), it would be a different discussion.

Again, we are talking about a BLOCKER bug that CRASHES the application consistently. (ok, freezing the match, but it's the very same thing in this case)

N.B.: There is no such thing as an impossible task. You just have to break it down in a manageable fashion and then handle the pieces in an organized and structured manner.

IM_CARLOS

If it is hard to find a fix for a problem, then there should be a workaround. This could be a banned list for problematic cards like this until fixed. Shouldn't be hard to code I think. There is a check for srts in any event. Just make it another class of set that is prohibit in standard and legacy events.
If possible to leave it open in story mode for testing. 

That's not a fix, but remove a lot of trouble and diassapointment. Just don't forget the cards on the banned list if fixed. 

Brigby

Hi Everyone. I just wanted to let you all know that this issue with Sphinx's Decree should be fixed in the upcoming 3.0 update, which is anticipated to be released in early/mid November.