<!--quoteo(post=1807884:date=Nov 21 2010, 12:37 AM:name=Arcadian)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arcadian @ Nov 21 2010, 12:37 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807884"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How is this not fair? The majority of gamers have failed on this however.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> How could they not fail? They're not game developers and they're not mind readers. There's nothing random about this, gaming communities behave in very predictable ways and PR is about controlling that.
<!--quoteo(post=1807890:date=Nov 21 2010, 12:55 AM:name=Zek)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zek @ Nov 21 2010, 12:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807890"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How could they not fail?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> If they (anyone), doesn't understand the process of game development, this is their chance to understand. If you fail it is likely because you choose not to understand, and instead choose to remain in a fantasy of what you imagine games to be. That is if something doesn't prevent you before those two things.
lots of people are saying that there's lots of flame and whine on these news sites creating bad press. but if you re-visit these pages, the ns community has been SWAMPING the nay-sayers with simple counterpoints and explanations. seems like there are more ns fans commenting than there are general public gamers that dont know the story.
so i think people need to chill about the whole "bad press" situation. theres still tons of loyal fans watching you guys make history here, and when called upon to defend what you guys have accomplished so far, they answer loudly and proudly.
i think Morpheus said it best: "For 100(9-10) years, they(flamers) have sent their armies against us, and after all that time, i remember that which matters most, we(UWE and followers) are still here!
I'd say it's probably not going to be that big of a deal. They'll get some attention, some positive, some negative, but I doubt this will cause NS2 to be labeled as garbage. They're smoothing out the game every patch, I really do believe that. I've personally gone from being unable to connect, to being able to play smoothly with a handful of other people. Keep your server player limit low, don't spam the hell out of buildings, and you'll see what I mean. This is perfectly acceptable as a beta.
<!--quoteo(post=1807601:date=Nov 21 2010, 07:27 AM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Nov 21 2010, 07:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807601"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And who is saying that? People in the comments section of those sites? So where are you? We need people like you to post in those comment sections, to link them to those NS2HD movies, to try and explain to people what the game is really like and the progress that we have made on it. Rather then being upset that people are judging us harshly, we need our fans to be out there protecting their investment, showing pride in a game which they are helping to form and mold. --Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cory, I would deeply love to say to those naysayers, "Guys, it's alright, the game really is damn awesome, you should go and buy it!". But I'd be lying. Honestly I'm not upset that people are making harsh comments; as soon as I jumped on the beta and tried playing my worst fears about the early release of it were confirmed. It was bad enough that the first look most people had of NS2 was an unplayable mess, but now the next big stage has been shown to be just the same. Plenty of people quite justifiably could say "Well, what exactly did you achieve in that alpha phase? It's all very well and good to have these new and shiny features but if you can't play with them it's all rather pointless".
You want us to go out there and convince people that NS2 is worth supporting? Give us something to work with! Don't expect us to try and convince people that something WE can't play is worth playing.
<!--quoteo(post=1807845:date=Nov 21 2010, 04:02 AM:name=w0dk4)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (w0dk4 @ Nov 21 2010, 04:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807845"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->In Max's latest blog post I also noticed that you want to keep <i>again</i> certain "things" in the secret to allow for a nice surprise on release day. Why the secrecy? Have some trust in the community and dont try to surprise us constantly, I dont even get what that should achieve.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Max simply meant that we may hold back on a few features until release in order to achieve some better PR. Most games have a big launch day when they are finally released, and its the first time anyone can actually buy the game, so there is a lot of PR built up around that. In our case, people are already buying the game, from now until when we decide that its done enough to be release version 1.0
The drawback of that, is that it is harder to get a big PR bump, when we just go from beta to release one day. There's really nothing special about the actual release day at that point. But if we have a new map, for example, or some other sexy new feature, then it gives the press something to talk about, and makes the release date a bigger deal.
Don't worry, the essential core of the game will be in by that time already, and any new features/models/maps/etc. that get added for release will have been tested in order to insure they don't break the game.
<!--quoteo(post=1807948:date=Nov 21 2010, 08:50 AM:name=Ryo-Ohki)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ryo-Ohki @ Nov 21 2010, 08:50 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807948"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You want us to go out there and convince people that NS2 is worth supporting? Give us something to work with! Don't expect us to try and convince people that something WE can't play is worth playing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> We aren't asking you to tell people everything is great with the game. However, rather then saying to someone that Beta is a buggy piece of crap and to avoid buying it, it would be more helpful to explain to people that, yes the game in its current state is not playable for everyone, but we've been working hard on releasing patches and making fixes to address most of the big issues, that there have been some big improvements made lately, and we will continue to update the game on a regular basis to get it playable ASAP.
But we also know the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and that the easiest way to convince people our game is worth buying is to make it playable for a much larger amount of people, and to that end, we are working day and night.
Anyway, I really think about all that needs to be said on this matter has been said, so I'm officially going to sign out of this discussion.
<!--quoteo(post=1807590:date=Nov 20 2010, 03:07 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Nov 20 2010, 03:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807590"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Frankly, the general lack of support and constant stream of negativity from our own community is really getting to the entire development team.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->I'm a rude person!<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
I think what were seeing here is the double edged sword of close Dev-Community relations. Most Dev teams insulate themselves from their communities with 10 levels of brutal forum moderators. Tensions are running high right now, as we reach another loop in the roller coaster that is NS2's development. IMO it would be best for the devs to pretty much completely ignore us right now, especially if its negatively affecting development.
Its really not about what they should have done or could have done. All that matters now is whats best for the games development, and some of us may not like it...
...yea maybe a PR person would be useful. The way that was phrased wasn't so great, heh. I think the devs need to accept that most people don't know what is really involved in the development process, so the devs shouldn't get pissed off or depressed when there's a lot of bad feedback. (really the bad feedback shows people care right?)
No, Cory made a very clear statement: The negativity of the forums isn't serving to boost the moral of the development team. I can't rightfully believe anyone could have read that any derived at any other meaning.
<!--quoteo(post=1807855:date=Nov 20 2010, 09:17 PM:name=Arcadian)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arcadian @ Nov 20 2010, 09:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807855"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->w0dk4 you're forgetting that before they started doing regular twitter updates, they had few at all. It was some in the forums that wanted more so they started doing more. They know what they're posting about on twitter. They've built the game engine from scratch. They're excited about it as well. But they aren't lying to you, neither did they from all the twitter posts I've read. You hyped yourself up, and you don't deserve an apology, (for your own mistake). Now if you deny that you're talking about yourself, or that you weren't one of those who were hyped up, like you said in your post. Then why talk about something like that when you know what actually happened?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Unfortunately Arcadian, what we're dealing with are some of the most immature, self-entitled bunch of bas@#$ds on the internet. As you said, they're constantly hyping themselves up and then crying when they feel the developers have let them down because they didn't release a fully working game one week after the launch of the alpha. They'll beg the devs to do something and then once the devs follow through they'll cry foul. When the initial Alpha was released and the devs said they were working hard on the net code before releasing another patch a bunch of these idiots were crying they wanted another release, no matter how bad, "just get something out that we can test." So they did (after some initial optimizations) and when the net-code still wasn't perfect there was more gnashing of teeth. Oh, and lets not forget about the Fade reveal. You can't go one day w/o someone whining about how the devs must do a Fade reveal, and then when it's finally released all you hear is complaining. Frankly, I wish Comprox was allowed to be a little more heavy-handed to remove some of these parasites from the community - refund the $$$ paid for the game and ban the accounts of the people who do nothing but whine. It's one thing to give constructive criticism or even voice that the game isn't working well for you, but the same people are posting the same crap over and over again and sucking the life out of the community.
I'm also not implying the developers haven't made slight mis-steps here and there, but nothing even remotely close to what's being implied by a few people in this thread. Guess what, they're not perfect! The developers were trying to do something new and allow the community to be included in the actual game development but many are too stupid to see that.
PS. This post was not meant toward 99% of the community but is directed at a great many of the d-bags posting in this thread - most of whom probably have no idea how complicated software development is. This is why most (all?) independent software development companies (Valve, id, Epic Games / Digital Extremes) don't give release dates and say "it's done when it's done." Unfortunately this post was probably a complete waste of my time - it's like trying to reason with a severely mentally retarded person - you might as well be talking a wall.
On a more cheerful note, a usually quite caustic message board I frequent had posters (of the kind that know what beta implies in terms of bugs and etc) saying that the game was fun and exciting. Specifically saying "<u>everything</u> seems overpowered" (then going on to say how you die fast and kill fast in equal amounts), which was amusingly accurate.
<!--quoteo(post=1807590:date=Nov 20 2010, 10:07 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Nov 20 2010, 10:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807590"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Frankly, the general lack of support and constant stream of negativity from our own community is really getting to the entire development team.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> And this is why you need a community dude who is the bridge between you and us. Since I for one feel that comment is a stab to the community members WHO never doubted you and always supported you but expressed their concerns about how all those other people who don't know you would react on the status of the game.
The biggest problem was that another site knew about the beta before we even did. I'm sure that if you had released build 155 in the alpha phase alot more people would have been able to support you in your decision. The thing is that the real NS fans will support this game no matter what and you don't really need to convince us but you have to proof and show the people who don't know NS that this has the potential to become a really really good game.
That's all I wanted to say really. I will always support UWE and I think what you guys do is amazing but maybe you should really get a PR person to avoid the issue's we have here.
Nowhere is written a game has to be perfectly playable until its released.
And even after release, sometimes things dont work out, like with Call of Duty: BLACK OPS and Treyarch, with a major publisher (tons of money and ppl) behind them... => <u><b>Vivendi </b></u>(activision + blizzard, universal music group, and some other fancy companys...)
You see this SMALL indy team is working hard everyday to make it better, patches roll out nearly weekly... guys just be patient please.
- The closed beta is playable, for a lot ppl, thats a fact. And for those who cant yet, it will be adressed - fact, too.
<!--quoteo(post=1807997:date=Nov 21 2010, 01:08 PM:name=Warmonger)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Warmonger @ Nov 21 2010, 01:08 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807997"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->PS. This post was not meant toward 99% of the community but is directed at a great many of the d-bags posting in this thread - most of whom probably have no idea how complicated software development is. This is why most (all?) independent software development companies (Valve, id, Epic Games / Digital Extremes) don't give release dates and say "it's done when it's done." Unfortunately this post was probably a complete waste of my time - it's like trying to reason with a severely mentally retarded person - you might as well be talking a wall.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The point is that UWE did some rather simple mistakes (keeping the community out of the loop on whats happening, losing their short-time support) that could have easily been avoided so that you would not had to call a lot of people d-bags and severely mentally retarded.
Game development is by far one of the most challenging type of software development and I think pretty much everyone believes that UWE is doing a fabolous job. Having said that, PR needs to be worked on in order to get out the right picture. They have done some massive and awesome work over the last few months, yet the public perception is partly contrary. This is not due to everyone being a d-bag and stuff, but rather lacking PR.
NS2 is growing very quickly to broadly experienced high playability. The difference from build 150 to 155 is enormous. A lot of people seem to be forgetting this. The developers are activating super saiyan coding powers right and left... I imagine the more vocal employees shouting out one liners every time a bug is squashed "DUFLAMM!!" or a feature is added "They'll never see this comin'. Heh."... I digress. The progress speaks for itself.
NS2 isn't perfect yet, but it's getting there quickly. I can't stress this enough. I'll stress it again. The difference from build 150 to 155 is enormous. Build 160 and 170 will be even better. In another month (or two, perhaps), this thread will be entirely forgotten. Barring the developers keeling over from overwork.
People have really just been spoiled by all these so called "beta" releases of various games over the last couple of years which are not really beta products..
I guess people are just coming in with the wrong expectation, but you know what this is the first time any game development company has taken an approach like this so there are always going to be lessons to be learnt but kudos for taking the risk guys cause i think in the end its only going to make NS a better game..
Keep your chin up guys the game is really starting to take shape now!
I think that any further reviews should emphasize on the way UWE are giving the public the insight of the making of it and getting involved with testing and feedback.
Definitely the most community involved beta I've ever been in.
<!--quoteo(post=1808043:date=Nov 21 2010, 11:22 PM:name=MaLaKa)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaLaKa @ Nov 21 2010, 11:22 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808043"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Definitely the most community involved beta I've ever been in.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same here, and I've been in my fair share of multiplayer betas and alphas as I'm sure everyone else has.
<!--quoteo(post=1807658:date=Nov 20 2010, 11:43 PM:name=antacid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (antacid @ Nov 20 2010, 11:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807658"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->No significant changes? What have you been playing? Surely it's not the same game I am.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
NS2, you? Please tell me some of these 'significant changes.'
<!--quoteo(post=1807685:date=Nov 21 2010, 12:27 AM:name=Hot Coffee)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hot Coffee @ Nov 21 2010, 12:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807685"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If you can't tell the difference between Build 155 and Build 154 or any other builds for that matter, just don't give feedback. You're either very bad at it, have a welfare computer, or both. Feedback like this hurts the community and the developers. You would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to work their job night and weekends unless it was their regular shift, especially for this kind of "thanks."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
uh sorry but they haven't been working on the game at all as you can clearly see by this 'beta'
<!--quoteo(post=1808132:date=Nov 21 2010, 07:12 PM:name=bl1tz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl1tz @ Nov 21 2010, 07:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808132"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->NS2, you? Please tell me some of these 'significant changes.'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know what you mean. Significant changes from NS1 or changes made to the game between early alpha and beta?
PrefixÉirinn go BráchJoin Date: 2006-12-31Member: 59353Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1808134:date=Nov 21 2010, 08:14 PM:name=bl1tz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl1tz @ Nov 21 2010, 08:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808134"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->uh sorry but they haven't been working on the game at all as you can clearly see by this 'beta'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah it is frustrating that the game doesn't run well and their are countless features not implemented yet, but developing a game as big as this is ambitious. They have clearly been working their asses off, it just hasn't <i>quite</i> payed off yet. Just ride it out, if they remain funded then we will all get a good game eventually.
I think that the game is really fun, thought it has bugs the development progress section of the website lets me know what the devs know about and whats being worked on. (http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/progress) For those that do not know. Looking forward to the next patch fixing the connection issues, after that it will be much easier to find bugs when you can play the game for any length of time. This game rocks!
<!--quoteo(post=1808134:date=Nov 21 2010, 08:14 PM:name=bl1tz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl1tz @ Nov 21 2010, 08:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808134"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->uh sorry but they haven't been working on the game at all as you can clearly see by this 'beta'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So you think they're just sitting at the office discussing porn all day? Have you even watched the progress-page?
<!--quoteo(post=1808134:date=Nov 21 2010, 02:14 PM:name=bl1tz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl1tz @ Nov 21 2010, 02:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808134"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->uh sorry but they haven't been working on the game at all as you can clearly see by this 'beta'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> <img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbc28dKuhQ1qav6f6.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<!--quoteo(post=1808132:date=Nov 21 2010, 04:12 PM:name=bl1tz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl1tz @ Nov 21 2010, 04:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1808132"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->NS2, you? Please tell me some of these 'significant changes.'<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I can actually play it smooth. During alpha I was only able to play it locally because every time I join a server it lagged like hell, but now I can play (build 154 and 155). Yes, there is a big problem on the server but is already fixed and the patch for it will be released tomorrow. There are a lot of new features and fixes implemented that helped to achieve this. So yes, there are significant changes.
I think that you guys need to relax a little and wait for the patch. Is not that the game went gold and you have a zillion bugs (like a recent class A game with the head of one of the characters spinning) that makes it ridiculously awful. This is a beta stage and it will be evolving into a better stage in the short time. Always remember, UWE is a tiny team, they don't have millions of dollars to use, they have a very limited budget which makes the times a little longer. But still the game is fairly stable and don't have does inexplicable bugs like that game.
I almost don't play on any other game since 4 days ago, looking at everything in NS2, trying to find problems on this build and this way help to solve this issues.
Comments
How could they not fail? They're not game developers and they're not mind readers. There's nothing random about this, gaming communities behave in very predictable ways and PR is about controlling that.
If they (anyone), doesn't understand the process of game development, this is their chance to understand. If you fail it is likely because you choose not to understand, and instead choose to remain in a fantasy of what you imagine games to be. That is if something doesn't prevent you before those two things.
so i think people need to chill about the whole "bad press" situation. theres still tons of loyal fans watching you guys make history here, and when called upon to defend what you guys have accomplished so far, they answer loudly and proudly.
i think Morpheus said it best: "For 100(9-10) years, they(flamers) have sent their armies against us, and after all that time, i remember that which matters most, we(UWE and followers) are still here!
I'm pretty sure no one will remember or care about the buggy alpha when the game has gone gold.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cory, I would deeply love to say to those naysayers, "Guys, it's alright, the game really is damn awesome, you should go and buy it!". But I'd be lying. Honestly I'm not upset that people are making harsh comments; as soon as I jumped on the beta and tried playing my worst fears about the early release of it were confirmed. It was bad enough that the first look most people had of NS2 was an unplayable mess, but now the next big stage has been shown to be just the same. Plenty of people quite justifiably could say "Well, what exactly did you achieve in that alpha phase? It's all very well and good to have these new and shiny features but if you can't play with them it's all rather pointless".
You want us to go out there and convince people that NS2 is worth supporting? Give us something to work with! Don't expect us to try and convince people that something WE can't play is worth playing.
Why the secrecy? Have some trust in the community and dont try to surprise us constantly, I dont even get what that should achieve.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Max simply meant that we may hold back on a few features until release in order to achieve some better PR. Most games have a big launch day when they are finally released, and its the first time anyone can actually buy the game, so there is a lot of PR built up around that. In our case, people are already buying the game, from now until when we decide that its done enough to be release version 1.0
The drawback of that, is that it is harder to get a big PR bump, when we just go from beta to release one day. There's really nothing special about the actual release day at that point. But if we have a new map, for example, or some other sexy new feature, then it gives the press something to talk about, and makes the release date a bigger deal.
Don't worry, the essential core of the game will be in by that time already, and any new features/models/maps/etc. that get added for release will have been tested in order to insure they don't break the game.
<!--quoteo(post=1807948:date=Nov 21 2010, 08:50 AM:name=Ryo-Ohki)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ryo-Ohki @ Nov 21 2010, 08:50 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807948"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You want us to go out there and convince people that NS2 is worth supporting? Give us something to work with! Don't expect us to try and convince people that something WE can't play is worth playing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We aren't asking you to tell people everything is great with the game. However, rather then saying to someone that Beta is a buggy piece of crap and to avoid buying it, it would be more helpful to explain to people that, yes the game in its current state is not playable for everyone, but we've been working hard on releasing patches and making fixes to address most of the big issues, that there have been some big improvements made lately, and we will continue to update the game on a regular basis to get it playable ASAP.
But we also know the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and that the easiest way to convince people our game is worth buying is to make it playable for a much larger amount of people, and to that end, we are working day and night.
Anyway, I really think about all that needs to be said on this matter has been said, so I'm officially going to sign out of this discussion.
--Cory
<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->I'm a rude person!<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Its really not about what they should have done or could have done. All that matters now is whats best for the games development, and some of us may not like it...
Unfortunately Arcadian, what we're dealing with are some of the most immature, self-entitled bunch of bas@#$ds on the internet. As you said, they're constantly hyping themselves up and then crying when they feel the developers have let them down because they didn't release a fully working game one week after the launch of the alpha. They'll beg the devs to do something and then once the devs follow through they'll cry foul. When the initial Alpha was released and the devs said they were working hard on the net code before releasing another patch a bunch of these idiots were crying they wanted another release, no matter how bad, "just get something out that we can test." So they did (after some initial optimizations) and when the net-code still wasn't perfect there was more gnashing of teeth. Oh, and lets not forget about the Fade reveal. You can't go one day w/o someone whining about how the devs must do a Fade reveal, and then when it's finally released all you hear is complaining. Frankly, I wish Comprox was allowed to be a little more heavy-handed to remove some of these parasites from the community - refund the $$$ paid for the game and ban the accounts of the people who do nothing but whine. It's one thing to give constructive criticism or even voice that the game isn't working well for you, but the same people are posting the same crap over and over again and sucking the life out of the community.
I'm also not implying the developers haven't made slight mis-steps here and there, but nothing even remotely close to what's being implied by a few people in this thread. Guess what, they're not perfect! The developers were trying to do something new and allow the community to be included in the actual game development but many are too stupid to see that.
PS. This post was not meant toward 99% of the community but is directed at a great many of the d-bags posting in this thread - most of whom probably have no idea how complicated software development is. This is why most (all?) independent software development companies (Valve, id, Epic Games / Digital Extremes) don't give release dates and say "it's done when it's done." Unfortunately this post was probably a complete waste of my time - it's like trying to reason with a severely mentally retarded person - you might as well be talking a wall.
And this is why you need a community dude who is the bridge between you and us. Since I for one feel that comment is a stab to the community members WHO never doubted you and always supported you but expressed their concerns about how all those other people who don't know you would react on the status of the game.
The biggest problem was that another site knew about the beta before we even did. I'm sure that if you had released build 155 in the alpha phase alot more people would have been able to support you in your decision. The thing is that the real NS fans will support this game no matter what and you don't really need to convince us but you have to proof and show the people who don't know NS that this has the potential to become a really really good game.
That's all I wanted to say really. I will always support UWE and I think what you guys do is amazing but maybe you should really get a PR person to avoid the issue's we have here.
And even after release, sometimes things dont work out, like with Call of Duty: BLACK OPS and Treyarch, with a major publisher (tons of money and ppl) behind them...
=> <u><b>Vivendi </b></u>(activision + blizzard, universal music group, and some other fancy companys...)
You see this SMALL indy team is working hard everyday to make it better, patches roll out nearly weekly... guys just be patient please.
- The closed beta is playable, for a lot ppl, thats a fact.
And for those who cant yet, it will be adressed - fact, too.
The point is that UWE did some rather simple mistakes (keeping the community out of the loop on whats happening, losing their short-time support) that could have easily been avoided so that you would not had to call a lot of people d-bags and severely mentally retarded.
Game development is by far one of the most challenging type of software development and I think pretty much everyone believes that UWE is doing a fabolous job. Having said that, PR needs to be worked on in order to get out the right picture. They have done some massive and awesome work over the last few months, yet the public perception is partly contrary. This is not due to everyone being a d-bag and stuff, but rather lacking PR.
NS2 isn't perfect yet, but it's getting there quickly. I can't stress this enough. I'll stress it again. The difference from build 150 to 155 is enormous. Build 160 and 170 will be even better. In another month (or two, perhaps), this thread will be entirely forgotten. Barring the developers keeling over from overwork.
Take a break, guys! You deserve it.
I guess people are just coming in with the wrong expectation, but you know what this is the first time any game development company has taken an approach like this so there are always going to be lessons to be learnt but kudos for taking the risk guys cause i think in the end its only going to make NS a better game..
Keep your chin up guys the game is really starting to take shape now!
Definitely the most community involved beta I've ever been in.
Same here, and I've been in my fair share of multiplayer betas and alphas as I'm sure everyone else has.
NS2, you? Please tell me some of these 'significant changes.'
uh sorry but they haven't been working on the game at all as you can clearly see by this 'beta'
I don't know what you mean. Significant changes from NS1 or changes made to the game between early alpha and beta?
Yeah it is frustrating that the game doesn't run well and their are countless features not implemented yet, but developing a game as big as this is ambitious. They have clearly been working their asses off, it just hasn't <i>quite</i> payed off yet. Just ride it out, if they remain funded then we will all get a good game eventually.
Looking forward to the next patch fixing the connection issues, after that it will be much easier to find bugs when you can play the game for any length of time.
This game rocks!
So you think they're just sitting at the office discussing porn all day?
Have you even watched the progress-page?
<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbc28dKuhQ1qav6f6.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I can actually play it smooth. During alpha I was only able to play it locally because every time I join a server it lagged like hell, but now I can play (build 154 and 155). Yes, there is a big problem on the server but is already fixed and the patch for it will be released tomorrow.
There are a lot of new features and fixes implemented that helped to achieve this. So yes, there are significant changes.
I think that you guys need to relax a little and wait for the patch. Is not that the game went gold and you have a zillion bugs (like a recent class A game with the head of one of the characters spinning) that makes it ridiculously awful. This is a beta stage and it will be evolving into a better stage in the short time. Always remember, UWE is a tiny team, they don't have millions of dollars to use, they have a very limited budget which makes the times a little longer. But still the game is fairly stable and don't have does inexplicable bugs like that game.
I almost don't play on any other game since 4 days ago, looking at everything in NS2, trying to find problems on this build and this way help to solve this issues.