New UI Update: Gameboard

Akoni

Motren said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

This dev team is almost certainly very small, and working with very limited resources. I think it's a mistake to assume every game you play has an army of people behind it, particularly a free to play mobile game of this vintage, so I find it highly unlikely there is room in the budget for specialty consultants or user focus groups when you're feeding the content furnace as often as this game is. I don't know if they are, but you could keep this game going with a full time designer and a full time engineer, with a contract artist and a shared QA asset if your tools are good. I've known personally late stage F2P games that were being maintained by a single full time designer. And again I'd like to be very clear I don't know anyone at this studio working on this game, just saying that this is how the sausage is made generally. So really I'm just advocating for a little grace for them, I am sure they are doing the best they're able.

 I'm sure that walking back a change like this one is going to be non-trivial, but I'm also sure enough people are reporting health reactions to this that they will definitely have to address at least the screen dimming. I'm sympathetic (but I also as a player would like this problem addressed lol). 

Limited resources? Are u joking? With all the money they gain from players, they have enough to use to make something decent on the game. Anyway, money or not, health is the most important thing, they showed us they didn't even think to player's health, the incompetence was so high that not 1 in the team supposed that could be dangerous a change like this, OMG, not 1 that was able to imagine. And also, u want to tell me that inserting a warning before opening the game was costing too much? U speaking of limited resources when was enough that devs put into this thing only little attention and nothing else. Maybe u think money are essential but be sure this is not the case. Many things are possible to do just using ur damn own brain correctly and with responsability. Now tell me what could happen if someone cause of the game gets an epileptic episode fall and hurts his head and must go at the hospital? Incompetence, disinterest, not enough money, bad or good intentions, doesn't matter... It Will be d3's fault. There is no justification

I would like to respectfully argue that your statements are not completely fair. Starting at the top, the amount of money players spend is not the only variable utilized in determining profit. Profit and Loss (PNL or P&L) statements detail various expenses and revenue streams. Player purchases are merely a revenue stream. If the game brings in $1,000,000 per year, but expenses equate to $999,000 per year, that only leaves $1,000 profit for the entire year. In most developed countries, $1,000 in profits per year is not good. If we are honest with ourselves, we do not and can not know this company's revenue and expenses. We should not assume that revenue equals wealth and, therefore, buying power.

To your second point, it has been identified that common sense is not common. To many of us, it makes sense that if you alter the color or physical appearance of two objects that you can really screw with people who have vision-related disabilities. However, if you grew up in a perfect little community where no one had visual impairments of any sort, the thought would never cross your mind. It doesn't become common sense to you until you are exposed. An IRL example of this is the racist sink. Those wonderful hands-free sinks you see in many establishments only worked for people with lighter skin tones such as whites and lighter-skinned African-Americans. It so happens that the sinks or the people who made them weren't racist. The engineers just simply forgot to test their product on darker-skinned folk. In this case, devs (of which none are probably epileptic or color-blind) tested the product amongst themselves and thought "it works". Unfortunately, much of the world has yet to catch up with those with disabilities. As a result, we are still redesigning sidewalks, street lights, entryways, etc. Should devs have taken those people in consideration? Yes. Did they? No. Are they meanies who only want to see the world's eyes burn because of this? No. They're human beings who made a mistake (ok, a few health affecting mistakes).

I get where you're coming from. I really do. We want to believe that anyone who does anything less than good is a bad person or just doesn't care. Your statement was very aggressive and absolutist, but does that make you a bad person? No. Just another human being who is passionate about this little form of entertainment.

Jacknife

Untill these day all patches was good or better than the good. This time it was terrible. Im afraid of something that is developers change somethings and make new patch. But it wont helpful for me. I want odl style back.

It wouldnt be last too long that remove new patch. What I undestand now? They still impose somethings new to us.

BeetleGeorge

Thanks to the links Chameleon posted I'm now sitting here dreaming about getting a new version in maybe two weeks where I can switch off darkening and I can switch off all kinds of flashing.
This are the two main points causing headaches I think but I'm aware that other people, e.g. color-blind ones, might need other changes - so let's dream of a color scheme or tile scheme button too :-)
Until then I will try to hold out by playing less and only in bright surroundings.
And I hope I will not wake up too hard when I first play-test the new version.

ThaRoadWarrior

This was the most recent high profile game reaction I’m aware of - the Cyberpunk 2077 Un-skippable brain dance cinematic that was intentionally design along the lines of a medical seizure inducer for some reason: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/12/31/cyberpunk-2077-seizure/

grenadier

It's somewhat concerning that the announcement of fixes mentions "alleviating some" of the eyestrain from the dimming on the enemy turn.  Why are they not alleviating ALL of the eyestrain by removing a much-hated and unneeded "feature?"

I hope I'm wrong, but this does not sound like they are rolling this back, but are tweaking it to somehow make it acceptable.  If it proves to not be acceptable, that leaves us waiting for another few weeks for another round of "fixes."

This entire update should simply have been rolled back, and then re-examine the changes with some kind of focus group, as should have happened in the first place.

Cannibalqueen

Yup.  Exactly.  They had a way to fix this immediately, which was just roll back and sort it out later.
Instead they choose this.  I don’t blame anyone for sticking around, but I can’t play with headaches all day.  **** this game and the way they’ve handled this rollout.
it’s a joke.  Adios amigos.  

SilverAgeFan

I've uninstalled permanently as well. Visited forums one last time today to see where things are at. A 3 week fix for what is currently a hazardous product is unacceptable.

Their numbers will probably recover in time. Until then, I wish my former fellow players the best and a bounty of bracket rewards in the reduced player population.

HoundofShadow

As usual, hyperbole running amok. The dev has survived a lot of "crucifixions" in the past seven years and they are still going strong. 

After a week of playing, I'm accustomed to the changes and I'm not playing in dark or dimmed environment to avoid or reduce the effect of dimming during enemy's turn.

The effects of the changes on colourblind people and people who suffer from epilepsy are unfortunate. The best thing thing they can do is to stop playing for their health sake, and maybe come back after 3rd April to see if the changes reduce or remove those undesirable experiences. 15 days to go.

UNSHMD

This is simply not enough. This just looks to me that they don’t really want to make changes. First let’s push it in a future not too close, see if the storm calms, second let’s do as little changes as possible and again let’s see what happens. I still detest and bug by the other recent ui changes, but whether it takes me 2 minutes or 15 minutes to find or do what i wanted to do doesn’t matter much, but it it takes me 40-60 seconds per pvp match or 2 minutes per match it has tremendous effect. Why can’t you just admit this ui thing was a big mistake scrap it revert to the old one and move on. When i started playing this game and the polls they were taking i was like wow a game that care about its user, I’m not so sure anymore, looks more like every 6 months or so they ran out of ideas snd just come fishing for some in our pond

The rockett

HoundofShadow said:

The effects of the changes on colourblind people and people who suffer from epilepsy are unfortunate.

Unfortunate?  Unfortunate? Seriously?  This is what you have to say?  Unfortunate?
Lets clear this up:

The DEV team decided to change the board that has been in this game for 7 years, not the players. 

The DEV team are the ones that did not test this enough, not the players. 

The DEV team won’t roll back the board because players are having “Unfortunate” reactions or as the dev team has said “didn’t land well”. 

The DEV team posted the “fix” late on Friday night and ran out of the office....hey we have seen this before.  

End of day, players cannot play or not happy.  Some, including 2 in my ally, have quit tied directly to this issue.   We will have to see what the long term affects will be of this.  

McPosterson

HoundofShadow said:

As usual, hyperbole running amok. The dev has survived a lot of "crucifixions" in the past seven years and they are still going strong. 

After a week of playing, I'm accustomed to the changes and I'm not playing in dark or dimmed environment to avoid or reduce the effect of dimming during enemy's turn.

The effects of the changes on colourblind people and people who suffer from epilepsy are unfortunate. The best thing thing they can do is to stop playing for their health sake, and maybe come back after 3rd April to see if the changes reduce or remove those undesirable experiences. 15 days to go.

I too want to defend the developer team.  Also want to get paid same amount as others to hold up shield wall on attacks against them.  How to apply for benefit?

realz though, players should no change house around to play phone game.   

sample :  Phone game too dark.  Do not play inside or at night.  Play only during sunshine weather outside

Daredevil217

HoundofShadow said:

As usual, hyperbole running amok. The dev has survived a lot of "crucifixions" in the past seven years and they are still going strong. 

After a week of playing, I'm accustomed to the changes and I'm not playing in dark or dimmed environment to avoid or reduce the effect of dimming during enemy's turn.

The effects of the changes on colourblind people and people who suffer from epilepsy are unfortunate. The best thing thing they can do is to stop playing for their health sake, and maybe come back after 3rd April to see if the changes reduce or remove those undesirable experiences. 15 days to go.

I don’t understand the point of this. People are having real adverse physical reactions to this and you call it hyperbole running amok. Great that it works fine for you, and you’ve adjusted. I also don’t have the same physical strains as others here have reported. But the one thing you don’t seem to get (in so many of your posts) is that this is a gaming community; a player base. And without those bolded words, there would be no game for you to play or developers to defend.

The two biggest arguments I’ve seen from those that are defending this change are 1) It works for me so I don’t see the problem. And 2) If it bothers you so much just leave. Both of these statements are just dripping with privilege and entitlement.

Why should players have to leave and come back on April 3rd when there is a perfectly fine game board that an overwhelming majority of people strongly prefer (and allows people to play the game without adverse reactions)?

HoundofShadow

My hyperbole comment was not targeted at those players who are suffering from the effect of the change, but those calling for the dev team to be fired or cruficified.

I have a simple equation: health > virtual rewards. Besides that, based on the dev response and given timeline, it's highly unlikely that the dev is going to bring back the old board. Also, rolling back changes has been ruled out. They have 5 days to decide and they decided not to roll back the change. Based on the above reasons, it's a logical decision for those group of players to stop playing because of health.

The dev has already pre-empted the players since last year that they are going to work on UI. They also stated the reason for doing so and if I remember correctly, it's because the game has been around for 7 years and they think it's time to put on a coat of fresh paint. Just because players on the forums didn't ask for this change doesn't mean no one else ask for it. Also, there isn't any game developer who implement 100% of what their players want. They will still implement stuff that they want. This is their creation afterall. 

UNSHMD

They think it needs a fresh coat of paint but we said no it doesn’t it’s perfect like that we are the one playing the game i think we’d know, we are on the field they are not we’ve been playing it for seven years they haven’t no need to fix what ain’t broken. All the cheating going on for ages that need be fix, that’s what we want them to address.

entrailbucket

The rhetoric among some players is less "we don't like this change" and more "we don't like the developers" (and in fact, has gone well beyond that).

The simple fact is that by continuing to engage with this game, whether spending a lot or a little or nothing, you are supporting those developers with your behavior.

If the owner of the best restaurant in town occasionally punched you in the face instead of bringing your food, how many years would you keep going back before you started looking for the second best restaurant in town?  If his restaurant was full every night, do you think he would ever stop punching people?

supergarv

entrailbucket said:

If the owner of the best restaurant in town occasionally punched you in the face instead of bringing your food

That made my day. „Sloppy Joe‘s - We pack a punch“. „Come for the food, stay for the stitches in our restroom“. „MpqDonald‘s - I‘m getting punched for it“.

Daredevil217

HoundofShadow said:

My hyperbole comment was not targeted at those players who are suffering from the effect of the change, but those calling for the dev team to be fired or cruficified.

I have a simple equation: health > virtual rewards. Besides that, based on the dev response and given timeline, it's highly unlikely that the dev is going to bring back the old board. Also, rolling back changes has been ruled out. They have 5 days to decide and they decided not to roll back the change. Based on the above reasons, it's a logical decision for those group of players to stop playing because of health.

The dev has already pre-empted the players since last year that they are going to work on UI. They also stated the reason for doing so and if I remember correctly, it's because the game has been around for 7 years and they think it's time to put on a coat of fresh paint. Just because players on the forums didn't ask for this change doesn't mean no one else ask for it. Also, there isn't any game developer who implement 100% of what their players want. They will still implement stuff that they want. This is their creation afterall. 

Have you not seen the multiple posts of people doing exactly what you are telling them to do? People ARE choosing health over the game. They are leaving in droves and/or waiting it out for their health. So again, I don’t get your point. Both things can be true. 

Players: If this game is a hazard to your health, do something about it. 

Developers: If this game is a hazard to your players’ health, do something about it. 

One doesn’t negate the other. And players are mostly giving feedback to the developers on this forum instead of to other players on how they should choose to engage (or not) with the product. Seems appropriate. 

Yes, I agree the developers made a choice not to roll the changes back and instead leave the health hazard up. But just saying “this is what they decided, so obviously you shouldn’t play and protect your health” denies the fact that 1) (again) people are not playing/ are protecting their health (with or without your equation, because they are adults and can make their own decisions and 2) they can still be angry at the choice not to roll back the changes while continuing not to play (which is largely what we see happening). 

Akoni

entrailbucket said:

The rhetoric among some players is less "we don't like this change" and more "we don't like the developers" (and in fact, has gone well beyond that).

The simple fact is that by continuing to engage with this game, whether spending a lot or a little or nothing, you are supporting those developers with your behavior.

If the owner of the best restaurant in town occasionally punched you in the face instead of bringing your food, how many years would you keep going back before you started looking for the second best restaurant in town?  If his restaurant was full every night, do you think he would ever stop punching people?

A rather aggressive analogy, but I must agree.

Fellow gamers, I understand that we are all passionate about this game. Even more so, many of us are suffering due to changes in the game. Changes that many feel were unnecessary. Nonetheless, remember that:

1. The creators of this game are real people who love this game as much, if not more than you do. Devs are aware of your thoughts and feelings on the matter. Though they will never respond to them directly, they are directly impacted by your words. 
2. We are truly prospering if our biggest complaint is about a game. Like many of you, I am also struggling with eye strain. Hours after playing this morning, my eyes were still bothering me. In the grand scheme of things, I have good health, I can put food on the table, I have a roof over my head, and I have hundreds of games I can play at my fingertips. In other words, this is just one game. A game I have invested my time and money in, but a game nonetheless.

People made this game and people play this game. Please remember that when voicing your opinions.

Bad

Another time we are talking about a game hurting users.
You can say I dont like this update/ I have problems playing it. That is a perfect valid opinion/experience. 
Saying this is a game hurting users is absolutely false in the very moment I can say in my personal experience and like others users said we dont have any problem playing it. 
The sentence closer to the truth is this game has a lot of users who never miss a chance to hurt it.
And dont forget to say thanks to the speed hackers. Possibly because of them we have this update that personally Im not a fan too.
And possibly for that devs wont revert the old board. Just saying.

Michael1957

I also haven’t seen one comment or shred of hysteria in my entire alliance. All 20 played the event quickly , successfully in higher scores than ever to complete rewards . I think the FEW entitled people who basically just use the forum to rage about “ players are dying by the thousands!!” have no concept how insignificant this update was to I estimate 99% of the player base .