Rocket, slow down.

[JayMeHD 26]

First off, just to keep the insane fan-boys happy, I love this mod, I play it every day nearly (I've just finished college) and will continue playing.

I have one issue that seems to now be happening, over the last few updates and hotfixes.

The issue is that each hotfix is designed to fix major bugs with the patch that came before it, but the most recent have not been just that. Rocket (and the rest of the team?) please stop putting new "features" into hotfixes.

Take more time working out new features and keep the hotfixes small and effective.

For example - When 1.7.1.2 was released, the food spawns were bugged. Now, this bug made the game extremely harsh because you had more chance of finding good weapons and ammo than finding water or food. So, naturally I expected 1.7.1.3 (a hotfix) to fix this issue and any other issues that arose with that patch. I stopped playing because I had flashing icons and waited for a hotfix that I knew would come and fix the bugs so I could play again.

But the hotfix didn't, you fixed the bugs and then added more features that would (and subsequently have) caused more game-breaking bugs.

e.g. More complicated Zombie AI that causes MASSIVE lag when being chased.

Concentrate on keeping the game stable, so people can play properly and release updates as and when they have been thoroughly tested, and release them as a "TEST BETA"; that way not everybody will rush to play it straight away, notify everybody that the patch is purely a test.

We all realise the mod is Alpha, but it doesn't have an Alpha fanbase, everybody plays this game as if it was a full release; meaning servers and players update to every single patch that comes out before seeing how buggy they are.

Better yet, have a collection of around 10 servers that receive the beta patches exclusively. Then allow people to join them and you will see better feedback, rather than releasing a buggy build to everybody and having everybody complaining about a millino things at once.

tl;dr Slow down. Fix only bugs with hotfixes as and when needed, and major patches should be released further apart.

You guys are doing great work and it is thoroughly impressive how quickly bugs are ironed out, but the rate at which bugs are created could be minimised.

Please don't flame, I'm trying to be constructive with my criticism.

EDIT: I KNOW IT IS A FUCKING ALPHA. Fuck, every time somebody tries to suggest something or make a criticism here people instantly jump down you throat shouting "ITS AN ALPHA DEAL WITH IT!"

This isn't your average in-house alpha game testing. This is a frequently updated mod that is EXTREMELY popular. This isn't some shitty indie developer in his bedroom, who can just throw random bits of code in and see what comes out. The most recent updates have broken the game in many ways, lag, bugged loot, bugged zombies, bugged player detection, losing items the list goes on and on. And one can only assume that the sheer speed at which these updates are being released and unleashing bugs for everybody is due to "rushing" the coding and/or testing phase.

FINAL EDIT FOR CLARITY - I am merely voicing my opinion; which is that I believe the whole updating process needs a rethink. Hotfixes and updates flying out everyday that aren't doing what they're supposed to do isn't good. Why have the whole community getting pissed at major bugs when you can just privately release updates and test them before everybody plays them. In the mean time have a good stable alpha build (that lacks newer features but works almost flawlessly) available publicly. I don't see the downside to that approach?

[Blasty 0]

Why don't you just play on a server that hasn't updated yet... It's alpha, he's testing these as he released them (because he doesn't have a staff as big as the playerbase of the actual mod.) I agree its frustrating at times, esp when u lose gear u spent 100+ hours finding.. but thats the risk you take in ALPHA

[vonlinchen 26]

Whilst I agree that the updates have been happening very fast, it is not up to us to tell the devteam to slow down.

If they are working this quickly on their mod then thats great!

I myself have done some extensive modding in the fast & I know what its like when your on a rush and are able to add so many new features quickly :D

Whilst its a bit of pain for us to keep updating, its very good for a dev team, they can quickly test their fixes & resolve things much more quickly & move on.

[Beloozero 118]

Why not agree with the updates? You don't want fixes fast?

[srvrsyde 9]

if you've read the posts about the .3 and .4 updates, you'd see that's exactly what Rocket has decided to do. feature additions have been stopped for 1.7.1, they're focusing on fixes now

[JayMeHD 26]

Why don't you just play on a server that hasn't updated yet... It's alpha' date=' he's testing these as he released them (because he doesn't have a staff as big as the playerbase of the actual mod.) I agree its frustrating at times, esp when u lose gear u spent 100+ hours finding.. but thats the risk you take in ALPHA

[/quote']

Yes I know I can do this, but that isn't the point. The point is that the releases need to be tested thoroughly before being released. Rocket himself said that they cannot stress test releases properly; that's why I suggested around 10 servers that have exclusive pre-public release access to patches, and people can freely join them, and test them over a couple of days. Then the bugs can be ironed out and the patch can be publicly released. This would allow for the removal of the majority of bugs before it goes public; preventing hundreds of posts of "OMG THIS DOESN'T WORK" "OMG I LOST ALL MY STUFF"

---

if you've read the posts about the .3 and .4 updates' date=' you'd see that's exactly what Rocket has decided to do. feature additions have been stopped for 1.7.1, they're focusing on fixes now

[/quote']

Yes, but new features HAVE been added since 1.7.1

Go and re-read the changelogs for the hotfixes.

---

Why not agree with the updates? You don't want fixes fast?

Of course I do, but it's not just fixes that we're getting.

It's more of a "Here's some fixes to all the bugs that you all hated, and here's some more features that will cause more bugs"

[SupWithThat 2]

Rocket goes to E3:

- Rocket has abandoned us

- Dev team hates us

- Why no ubdates?

- It's been a week now, seriously - why no updates?

Rocket comes back from E3, releases a series of patches:

- Whoa! Slow down! Why so many patches?

I'm saying this in jest and obviously I appreciate the original sentiment of your post, OP. I think, however, that we just need have faith in the devs at this point. There's forces at work behind the scenes that we don't/can't appreciate and I'd assume that there's some form of a structured life-cycle for the development now which is being adhered to.

I'm happy with progress this week and feel like we're being serviced extremely well.

[Regicide 111]

Alpha is mostly about adding (and breaking) features. Fixing them is reserved for Beta. No sense in fixing one feature and then releasing another one later just to break the one you just fixed.

[Beloozero 118]

True, but there are many variables that define a realistic zombie game, so rocket is running out of things he can improve on. Eventually, it'll all be perfect.

[JayMeHD 26]

Whilst I agree that the updates have been happening very fast' date=' it is not up to us to tell the devteam to slow down.

If they are working this quickly on their mod then thats great!

I myself have done some extensive modding in the fast & I know what its like when your on a rush and are able to add so many new features quickly :D

Whilst its a bit of pain for us to keep updating, its very good for a dev team, they can quickly test their fixes & resolve things much more quickly & move on.

[/quote']

It's not the updating, I'm fine with that, it takes 5 minutes manually. What I'm saying is that the hotfixes aren't hotfixes, they are major game updates that cause massive bugs. This means that if you stop playing because of a bug, and wait for the hotfix to just fix those bugs, and then try playing again to be greeted by a whole new set of bugs. Rinse and repeat.

[Spikee187 0]

I must say, I do agree with you on some level.

However, for this ONE man and his Small apparently elite team of total masochistic tryhards (As such you all have my supreme respect) I have never seen such efficient fixes and updates.

I've played many games and many styles, never have I watched fixes and updates pour out at any hour of the day.

That being said I am not calling the game perfect, but with the most recent patch I found myself having no issues. (Though idk if the dropped backpack bug still happens where you can't loot a backpack that you just dropped. If it hasn't would love to see that fixed)

So as a final result ROCKET, it's time to kick back and have a beer or six with your team and celebrate your crazy accomplishments thus far. It's more than earned and I know my friends and I already play this game like it's a legit title on the market let alone a game still in Alpha.

But if this is how you like to do business more power to you and a tip of my hat to you I love the frequency of fixes and responses. Just don't get burnt out pushing yourself too hard.

[Elwood (DayZ) 8]

First off' date=' just to keep the insane fan-boys happy, I love this mod, I play it every day nearly (I've just finished college) and will continue playing.

I have one issue that seems to now be happening, over the last few updates and hotfixes.

The issue is that each hotfix is designed to fix major bugs with the patch that came before it, but the most recent have not been just that. Rocket (and the rest of the team?) please stop putting new "features" into hotfixes.

Take more time working out new features and keep the hotfixes small and effective.

For example - When 1.7.1.2 was released, the food spawns were bugged. Now, this bug made the game extremely harsh because you had more chance of finding good weapons and ammo than finding water or food. So, naturally I expected 1.7.1.3 (a hotfix) to fix this issue and any other issues that arose with that patch. I stopped playing because I had flashing icons and waited for a hotfix that I knew would come and fix the bugs so I could play again.

But the hotfix didn't, you fixed the bugs and then added more features that would (and subsequently have) caused more game-breaking bugs.

e.g. More complicated Zombie AI that causes MASSIVE lag when being chased.

Concentrate on keeping the game stable, so people can play properly and release updates as and when they have been thoroughly tested, and release them as a "TEST BETA"; that way not everybody will rush to play it straight away, notify everybody that the patch is purely a test.

We all realise the mod is Alpha, but it doesn't have an Alpha fanbase, everybody plays this game as if it was a full release; meaning servers and players update to every single patch that comes out before seeing how buggy they are.

Better yet, have a collection of around 10 servers that receive the beta patches exclusively. Then allow people to join them and you will see better feedback, rather than releasing a buggy build to everybody and having everybody complaining about a millino things at once.

tl;dr Slow down. Fix only bugs with hotfixes as and when needed, and major patches should be released further apart.

You guys are doing great work and it is thoroughly impressive how quickly bugs are ironed out, but the rate at which bugs are created could be minimised.

Please don't flame, I'm trying to be constructive with my criticism.

[/quote']

Another reason why Rocket and the team should consider closing Dayz to the public...at 250,000 testers you have more than enough people to develop a solid game.

[Boonshniggle 0]

It's an Alpha, not a release. The time to focus on keeping things stable in an update is post-release. You need to learn that in alpha u just gotta deal with bugs, get used to it, or don't play until it's a final version.

[davidcastle 19]

First off' date=' just to keep the insane fan-boys happy, I love this mod, I play it every day nearly (I've just finished college) and will continue playing.

I have one issue that seems to now be happening, over the last few updates and hotfixes.

The issue is that each hotfix is designed to fix major bugs with the patch that came before it, but the most recent have not been just that. Rocket (and the rest of the team?) please stop putting new "features" into hotfixes.

Take more time working out new features and keep the hotfixes small and effective.

For example - When 1.7.1.2 was released, the food spawns were bugged. Now, this bug made the game extremely harsh because you had more chance of finding good weapons and ammo than finding water or food. So, naturally I expected 1.7.1.3 (a hotfix) to fix this issue and any other issues that arose with that patch. I stopped playing because I had flashing icons and waited for a hotfix that I knew would come and fix the bugs so I could play again.

But the hotfix didn't, you fixed the bugs and then added more features that would (and subsequently have) caused more game-breaking bugs.

e.g. More complicated Zombie AI that causes MASSIVE lag when being chased.

Concentrate on keeping the game stable, so people can play properly and release updates as and when they have been thoroughly tested, and release them as a "TEST BETA"; that way not everybody will rush to play it straight away, notify everybody that the patch is purely a test.

We all realise the mod is Alpha, but it doesn't have an Alpha fanbase, everybody plays this game as if it was a full release; meaning servers and players update to every single patch that comes out before seeing how buggy they are.

Better yet, have a collection of around 10 servers that receive the beta patches exclusively. Then allow people to join them and you will see better feedback, rather than releasing a buggy build to everybody and having everybody complaining about a millino things at once.

tl;dr Slow down. Fix only bugs with hotfixes as and when needed, and major patches should be released further apart.

You guys are doing great work and it is thoroughly impressive how quickly bugs are ironed out, but the rate at which bugs are created could be minimised.

Please don't flame, I'm trying to be constructive with my criticism.

[/quote']

Alpha is LIGHT bug fixing (to make it playable) and MOSTLY implementing new features. You dont bug fix heavily in alpha because more bugs just come up. You duct tape it so it sticks and figure out by adding and removing features how you want to game to actually feel, THEN in beta you fix the bugs and finalize things.

[JayMeHD 26]

Alpha is LIGHT bug fixing (to make it playable) and MOSTLY implementing new features. You dont bug fix heavily in alpha because more bugs just come up. You duct tape it so it sticks and figure out by adding and removing features how you want to game to actually feel' date=' THEN in beta you fix the bugs and finalize things.

[/quote']

Yes but this isn't your average game development scenario. You have 250,000 people trying to play a mod, there is no "Phew I'm glad we didn't miss that bug and release it to everybody"

It's just a suggestion anyway.

[sexacutioner 1]

What the hell. I've never seen this kind of request on work in progress before.

I've played many in development games, usually from start up indies and they are usually lazy as hell, take months to change a couple numbers in their code etc.

Rocket seems to actually be working on this and someone wants him to stop? Nonsense.

[daze23 549]

Alpha is mostly about adding (and breaking) features. Fixing them is reserved for Beta. No sense in fixing one feature and then releasing another one later just to break the one you just fixed.

that's fine, but then why call them "hotfixes"? and obviously bugs have to be taken care of when they're essentially gamebreaking. you need to be able to at least play the game in order to "test"

[JayMeHD 26]

What the hell. I've never seen this kind of request on work in progress before.

I've played many in development games' date=' usually from start up indies and they are usually lazy as hell, take months to change a couple numbers in their code etc.

Rocket seems to actually be working on this and someone wants him to stop? Nonsense.

[/quote']

Where did I say "Stop testing/developing" ? Where? Where did I say anything remotely similar?

What I'm suggesting is that the release of new hotfixes and patches becomes a little more organised. Instead of throwing patches and hotfixes out every single day just so everybody can complain about how they lost items or bugged out or died or crashed. Release hotfixes to FIX the existing bugs with new features/systems. Release patches (with new game0changing features) exclusively to a handful of servers to stress test PROPERLY, and then release to the fanbase.

[hedich 0]

think you need to do some research into what a alpha build(ing) is friend.

[JayMeHD 26]

think you need to do some research into what a alpha build(ing) is friend.

Ahhhh yes, that's right, because this is your run-of-the-mill alpha release isn't it?

99% of games or mods are NEVER publicly released at Alpha stage, and the rest are luck if they are released as Beta.

I'm not complaining that this mod is available to us to play when it shouldn't be, what I'm saying is this isn't your average alpha build(ing) is it? It therefore needs to be handled properly.

[drayson 158]

The very nature of the Alpha stage in game development is to add in mechanics. You don't start polishing and fixing bugs till Beta stage.

[rabble-rouser 3]

^This

We are the testing phase!

If you do not like to deal with the bugs and issues then you need not install or play the mod.

Every Server and Player should be running the same version, there should be none of this rolling back as it brings no benefit to the mod moving forward. If a roll back is needed then it will happen in an update or a hotfix.

@Devs Thanks for the quick fixes and new additions!

[NoxZA 2]

People jump down your throat and yell "IT'S ALPHA!" because that's exactly what it is, an alpha. It's the stage of development where new features are added and tested. Most developers don't even have open alphas but rather just test it themselves or with a very small group, be glad that we are able to play in alpha stage.

Once it goes beta, where the majority of times patches will just be bug fixes, then you can get mad if shit gets fucked, but for now, just deal with it

[tsurotu 16]

think you need to do some research into what a alpha build(ing) is friend.

And perhaps you should look up what hotfix means?

I agree with OP in some respects, a hotfix should be just that - a fix to bugs that can be knocked out quickly and cleanly. An update, on the other hand (which can be just as quickly if needed) is what is happening now.

I dunno, I am at no point suggesting the development cycle should be different, or slowed down, I just think you shouldnt tell OP to DIAF before you think about things - calling things a hotfix, which then breaks more than it fixes is misleading, and will put many people off in their support of the mod. If you call it an "update" with a variety of bugfixes, people wont think "OOOH its fixed, lets go and play" then come on the forums and shit all over threads.

Although then again, they probably will.

Fuck it, I dont really care. I just see what the OP is getting at is all.

/flame on

[sexacutioner 1]

You could, you know, wait until the game is finished if you want.