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State of the Preview Weekend by Mark Jacobs
Pheace
Member Posts: 2,408
God you guys are slow with the news ...
[quote]Folks,
I'll be expanding this as the weekend goes by but here's where we stand right now in terms of some of the issues that have been discussed, tossed around, thrown like a spear at our heads since the Preview Weekend started:
1) We peaked last night at around 30K concurrent players across our servers, that is obviously a great number. During that time the servers performed extremely well in terms of CPU usage and we never once came close to max usage so we know that we will meet our server cap populations for launch.
2) Regarding overall server stability we've pretty much exceeded our expectations. We've only had two full server crashes across all servers since we began. Neither crash was due to player load, CPU overload, code going brain dead,etc. but due to a minor issue on our part. The same is true for region crashes of which we only had two. Unfortunately, we had more scenarios crash (20) than we like but the number is still quite low considering we've been running 15 servers for more than a day.
3) Client crashes (crashes to desktop) are down from the last stage of closed beta and thanks to all the people playing, we've already fixed two issues that have caused some of the CTDs. We're not there yet but we are in better shape than we were last month and we will be even better at launch. Even now the CTDs are lower than some games were at release but having said that, it's not good enough for us and CTDs are issue #1A for us right now.
4) Pet AI and pathing is severely broken. The Preview Weekend patch (3.3) unfortunately borked the system. This is issue #1B for us. Even though this is a beta and new bugs/issues are to be expected, we messed up on this issue. We expect a quick turnaround on this next week. So please accept my apologies for this one, it should not have happened.
5) On the subject of graphical quality, SLI, etc., the problems that some players have reported are being focused on as well. From what we've been able to gather so far (other than on SLI which is a known issue), there is something weird happening with a small percentage of graphic cards as well as a possible issue which crept into this patch. We'll know more about it this week.
6) On some targeting issues, we're looking into that as well.
7) Regarding the GCD, we are not going to remove the GCD but we are continuing to look into some of the issues that have been reported with its use. As our closed beta testers have reported, our Combat Responsiveness Code made a huge difference to the game's feel and we're going to continue to look at the GCD and see if it needs tweaking along with any bug fixes that need to be done. I'll be posting more about this as well in the coming days/weeks. While the bugs with the GCD isn't our #1 priority, making combat feel even more responsive and fun is a major issue so it will continue to get looked at and tweaked over this last month and beyond.
So, that's it for now, more to come as the PW progresses as things arise. Overall we are thrilled with the response to the game on the Web, to our in-game surveys and from our feedback/bug tools. I'm glad we still have almost a month before launch but I am also quite happy where we are other than the problem with pathing/AI for which again I offer my apologies.
Mark [/quote]
vnboards.ign.com/warhammer_online_age_of_reckoning_general_board/b22997/108321422/p1/
Edit: What's the proper coding for quotes on this board anyway, lol
Comments
ok, broken pathing explains a lot.
Man, that is what I wanted to hear. I'm glad they are on top of it. I am hoping to God the mob AI really won't be this bad at launch.
He pretty much addressed my main concerns, horrible mob AI, global cooldown and fluid combat.
Well they do not seem to be sugar-coding any of the problems do they? I'm still impressed by this fact alone.
Pathing suck, they mention it. Ability queueing sucks, the mention it. CTDs and graphics are a huge problem for some, they mention it. Every big problem that i have seen they are adressing atleast verbally at this stage.
Now if they eventually admit crafting sucks and improve that, I think I may be a WAR lifer (if they fix everything of course, and admitting issues is half the problem)
Pathing was much better before build 3.3
So yeah I think they shouldn't have too much trouble improving that.
The crafting in WAR is Mark's baby, I don't think he'll ever put it that way
nice.
It seems they really have learned from Failcom's mistakes.
Its nice to see they are continuing to stay open about their issues rather than scooting them all under the rug, then throw sugar and candy to distract you from that growing pile in the middle of the floor :P
The crafting isnt too important to me, I understand its not the most focused aspect of the game. As long as they dont do to crafting what Blizzard did to PvP I'll be just fine
[quote] Pet AI and pathing is severely broken. The Preview Weekend patch (3.3) unfortunately borked the system. This is issue #1B for us. Even though this is a beta and new bugs/issues are to be expected, we messed up on this issue. We expect a quick turnaround on this next week. So please accept my apologies for this one, it should not have happened. [/quote]
This alone increased my respect for Mythic. They made a mistake and they openly confessed they did. That right there takes balls in an industry where one bad mess up can screw you.
So refreshing, an honest answer - take note other MMORPG (Cough AOC)
May I ask - what is the GCD?
Happy to read this definitely. Playing as a Squig Herder the squig seemed useless, unresponsive and retarded, so that will mean I'll definitely try out the class again in open beta to see if this helps.
Lets just hope they keep to their promise and actually fix all this stuff before launch. I definitely feel the combat could take some tweaking to make it more responsive, satisfying and enjoyable.
Great post! I noticed when i played the White Lions that the pet was glitchty too. Its nice that they send you the surveys in game so you can let them know about it.
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
GCD = Global CoolDown. Basically the amount of time that you must wait after you use any skill before you can use another one. (Doesn't stack with that skill's cooldown - for instance, if you did something with a 30 minute cooldown, you'd still have to wait for the GCD to finish before you could use another skill.)
GCD= Global Cool Down.
I have been in beta for the better part of a year. And the whole time Mythic has been straight with players and the issues that need fixing.
Having a company that is honest with players and works to fix problems players report deserves kudos even if you do not like WAR.
Overall the guys at Mythic have done an A+ job
.
Love it or hate it at least the WAR devs are honest.
A better example would be something with a smaller more noticable cooldown.
You have A1, and A2, both are abilities. A1 has a cooldown of 5secs, but doesnt trigger the GCD(global cooldown), while A2 is instant cast, but does.
Generally the GCD lasts 2 seconds. I use A1, then A2 right after. When the GCD is done, instead of 5 secs, I'll be waiting 3secs to use A1 again.
It doesnt stack, but it will lock you out of your abilities until it is gone.
This game will turn out just fine when all is said and done with good honest communication like that. I am not even planning on playing at release and seeing this thread gave me a warm fuzzy about the game. Too bad I am all wrapped up in leveling a alt in L:oTRO or I would buy and play a moonth or two till MoM releases. Anyway Mark's attitude is a refreshing change of pace after AoC and Funcom's "our game is working as intended, it's your computer" Bull$hit.
I miss DAoC
All I can say is thank God they realize they have a severe AI pathing issue... That was my main concern.
The crafting in WAR is Mark's baby, I don't think he'll ever put it that way
Sometimes you just have to face the fact that your baby is ugly.
mythic is a A++ company and stuff like this shows it