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Why is it taking soo long to fix the mob-disappearing bug?
Recant
Member UncommonPosts: 1,586
How many MMORPGs use this combat system:
Mob_001 is in "non aggro mode".
Player_001 "aggros" mob.
Mob_001 paths to player_001.
Mob_001 begins combat.
It's a system that has been used in MMOs for nearly a decade. Vanguard does nothing new in this area, and while pathing in the game is generally pretty good, there is no excuse for the most fundamental MMO system to be bugged. There can be no excuses. This occurs multiple times every play session, so much in fact that my group mates have made hotkeys to announce to the group: "MOB BUGGED - PLEASE MOVE", because there are occasions where as a tank I can still see the mob but it's invisible to everyone else.
This should have been working from BETA 1. How could mobs just VANISHING from combat not be #1 at the top of their priorities for bug fixes?
I am addicted to Vanguard, but when I demonstrated it to friends they laughed at me. I was annoyed at first, here is a good MMO with interesting combat, a vast interesting world, and so much to do... how could they not see how cool it was?
It was at this point that I realized that the developers and the beta testers for this game were consumed by the little details, they didn't see the big ugly picture. It's true, after weeks of play, the bugs become transparent... your brain filters them out and you're no longer aware they even exist.
It's almost like this game was written by Autistic Savants; truly brilliant at implementing complex and rewarding game systems, yet completely failing to get the basics right.
As for my friends, after just a few minutes of play they made fun of me
They said it looked rushed and unfinished, and the mob disappearing bug has become repeating joke for them when I mention this game to them. I honestly thought that demonstrating this game to them would get them hooked; they're not stupid Perhaps I'm just too much of a Vanboi.
You can say that MMORPGs are never finished, that's fine... but this one bug for the most basic aspect of the game really goes to show that this game was produced in a very bizarre way.
Mob_001 is in "non aggro mode".
Player_001 "aggros" mob.
Mob_001 paths to player_001.
Mob_001 begins combat.
It's a system that has been used in MMOs for nearly a decade. Vanguard does nothing new in this area, and while pathing in the game is generally pretty good, there is no excuse for the most fundamental MMO system to be bugged. There can be no excuses. This occurs multiple times every play session, so much in fact that my group mates have made hotkeys to announce to the group: "MOB BUGGED - PLEASE MOVE", because there are occasions where as a tank I can still see the mob but it's invisible to everyone else.
This should have been working from BETA 1. How could mobs just VANISHING from combat not be #1 at the top of their priorities for bug fixes?
I am addicted to Vanguard, but when I demonstrated it to friends they laughed at me. I was annoyed at first, here is a good MMO with interesting combat, a vast interesting world, and so much to do... how could they not see how cool it was?
It was at this point that I realized that the developers and the beta testers for this game were consumed by the little details, they didn't see the big ugly picture. It's true, after weeks of play, the bugs become transparent... your brain filters them out and you're no longer aware they even exist.
It's almost like this game was written by Autistic Savants; truly brilliant at implementing complex and rewarding game systems, yet completely failing to get the basics right.
As for my friends, after just a few minutes of play they made fun of me
They said it looked rushed and unfinished, and the mob disappearing bug has become repeating joke for them when I mention this game to them. I honestly thought that demonstrating this game to them would get them hooked; they're not stupid Perhaps I'm just too much of a Vanboi.You can say that MMORPGs are never finished, that's fine... but this one bug for the most basic aspect of the game really goes to show that this game was produced in a very bizarre way.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
Comments
It especially sucks when they disappear, die, with no corpse to be found. Or reappear magically behind you running through other crap they've leashed.
Of the list of top issues pre-beta and after beta though that they've written up, I don't think I've ever seen that bug. It might be the sideeffect of another that we don't know about; like I remember Dreadful Countenance used to make mobs go really haywire similarly. So it could be some behavor issue in their AI moreso than a graphics glitch, I don't know.
As far as why this specific bug hasn't been fixed I would guess it's a combination limited resources and too many bugs/content problems (a lot of the content they hoped to initially wasn't ready yet). I would guess they put someone on the disappearance thing and after realizing it was going to take more than a few days worth of development time moved on to quicker fixes.
I remember Shadowbane having a similar problem at release and it took Wolfpack release + 6months to patch it properly and about a year before the problem was gone completely.
Edit: Also in terms of coding they may be playing it safe if changing the procedures associated with the disappearance bug could effect related game procedures. Depending on how deep the problem code goes they might end up breaking dependent procedures leading to even more development hassle at a time when people are already unhappy with bugs/content issues.
WARNING: Spelling and grammatical errors intentionally left in document to test for Anal Retentive Trolls.
"The key to wasting time is distraction. Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with it, and you start to feel uncomfortable." - Paul Graham http://paulgraham.com/hs.html
Not sure, they said they addressed it in the last patch, and it is happening less outdoors, but that is about it.
At least they upped the draw rate of NPCs to 100m. HUGE friggin improvement.
and your the master of all coders/Developers/game makers? cant wait to play the game you make. Thanks for all that important information.
but on another note ... it seems the outside pathing is worked out so to speak but the inside dungeon pathing has some problems. There are some issues with mobs going up steps or inclines ,,, they walk into them instead of up them,,, if you think about it is a hard thing to code and ive seen it in other games.
What i do is while fighting them ... i back up a bit and that seems to fix it ... bad thing to do though in a tight area ... so its not really a fix at all ...
Ive run into the good old ... dead mob falls into the ground thing ... cant do anything about that until they fix it .. it has not happen to me often though now that i think about it ... it does happen on the steps and inclines when it does happen ... Hummm.
and your the master of all coders/Developers/game makers? cant wait to play the game you make. Thanks for all that important information.
but on another note ... it seems the outside pathing is worked out so to speak but the inside dungeon pathing has some problems. There are some issues with mobs going up steps or inclines ,,, they walk into them instead of up them,,, if you think about it is a hard thing to code and ive seen it in other games.
What i do is while fighting them ... i back up a bit and that seems to fix it ... bad thing to do though in a tight area ... so its not really a fix at all ...
Ive run into the good old ... dead mob falls into the ground thing ... cant do anything about that until they fix it .. it has not happen to me often though now that i think about it ... it does happen on the steps and inclines when it does happen ... Hummm.
It doesn't take a master coder/developer/game maker to realize that a bug like this does not belong in a release quality MMO. Backing up to make them reappear is not a fix for this bug! It's a bandaid at best. A fix is addressing the broken code and well...fixing it. They still disappear both outside and inside on a regular basis as of last night.
As much it is annoying and justified to rant about it, it is also not that easy in the end to "just fix". Obviously if it would be, wouldn't you think they had it fixed by now?
and your the master of all coders/Developers/game makers? cant wait to play the game you make. Thanks for all that important information.
but on another note ... it seems the outside pathing is worked out so to speak but the inside dungeon pathing has some problems. There are some issues with mobs going up steps or inclines ,,, they walk into them instead of up them,,, if you think about it is a hard thing to code and ive seen it in other games.
What i do is while fighting them ... i back up a bit and that seems to fix it ... bad thing to do though in a tight area ... so its not really a fix at all ...
Ive run into the good old ... dead mob falls into the ground thing ... cant do anything about that until they fix it .. it has not happen to me often though now that i think about it ... it does happen on the steps and inclines when it does happen ... Hummm.
It doesn't take a master coder/developer/game maker to realize that a bug like this does not belong in a release quality MMO. Backing up to make them reappear is not a fix for this bug! It's a bandaid at best. A fix is addressing the broken code and well...fixing it. They still disappear both outside and inside on a regular basis as of last night.
I agree with you in that regard but i dont think that you are pretty much on level with the developers of this game as far as programming is conserned. what makes them amateur? And what do you base this expert opinion? Are you just making base allegations because you can? Or are you a programmer who just donst have alot to say?
I really do agree with you that they have to fix that npc path bug ... and i will admit i have little knowledge in the work it takes to fix such a thing ... I have heard programming friends explain it and i know its a large amount of work based on the complex system that vanguard has ...
I have looked on Stratics and Silky and I have seen that the devs are aware of it ... so i hope its on their plate for the coming week. That is all i can do. Calling the developers amateur is just beyond my scope....and i assume it is beyond you too.
and your the master of all coders/Developers/game makers? cant wait to play the game you make. Thanks for all that important information.
but on another note ... it seems the outside pathing is worked out so to speak but the inside dungeon pathing has some problems. There are some issues with mobs going up steps or inclines ,,, they walk into them instead of up them,,, if you think about it is a hard thing to code and ive seen it in other games.
What i do is while fighting them ... i back up a bit and that seems to fix it ... bad thing to do though in a tight area ... so its not really a fix at all ...
Ive run into the good old ... dead mob falls into the ground thing ... cant do anything about that until they fix it .. it has not happen to me often though now that i think about it ... it does happen on the steps and inclines when it does happen ... Hummm.
What are you blind man? Do you see ANYWHERE in my post of Me Saying that I am a MASTER coder/developer/game maker??? you should stop thinking up these scenerios in your mind...it could get you in trouble. Glasses might help you
Out of my 4 hours or so of play today, i saw the bug one time only with my full group. When it happen, u just strafe around and the mob will pop pack in.
But yes, it is annoying.
No group member disapearing, no lost connection to group... nothing of that tonight.
I did crash though
eqnext.wikia.com
Uhm... What does Sony have to do with this game?
You are obviously clueless about what really happened here.
Microsoft was the original publisher. They got antsy when Sigil started falling way behind in development - and in fact they wanted to release it far earlier.
SOE took over PUBLISHING and MARKETING, and gave Sigil yet more financing. And Sigil STILL could not pull it off in time. Then the ran out of money. Read that again - SIGIL ran out of money. SOE had nothing to do with that except that I figure they were tired of pouring yet more money down a rathole.
Nobody but Sigil forced Sigil to release this game too early. Or specifically, a long chain of poor management, too many changes in direction during development, and far too much spent on getting PVP in at the last minute.
If anything, this game is giving SOE a bad name, and I think it was a mistake for them to pick it up after Microsoft dropped it.
If you move away from where the mob was when it disappeared (back away a little), it seems to update in the game engine and re-appears. Of course while you stand there wondering where the mob disappeared to it continues to hit you.
The bug is compounded with groups, if the person who is being attacked doesn't get the bug you stand there watching it warp back and forth unable to hit it.
I reckon it'll be fixed in the next major patch.
Life can be tapped