Lost desire to play due to 1.3 update

[Baron's Brawlers]

I loved this game but it has become unplayable for me. Black Market is pointless for me as I can't shop on the vast majority of worlds due to low reputation. I've lost several mechs moving them from storage to the mech bays including gear on some mechs as I moved them from the mech bays to storage. I'm not seeing any communication from HBS on when they might address some of these issues which have been reported. The onus is not on me to QA the game.

I am not currently inclined to purchase any additional DLC in the future. I'll wait until these issues get resolved which I'm fairly certain will not return my mechs and lost SLDF gear.

I want so badly to run another campaign but why would I?

At this point I'm glad I didn't get over zealous and by the season pass and I can't recommend it to any of my friends.

 

[xlarbarx]

Warning: This may get a bit long but I feel like I have to get some of this stuff off my chest. This is all personal opinion and I am not looking for placation or vindication.

Battletech is the first PC game I've bought in years, and I've enjoyed it immensely since I purchased it back in June. I had some problems with whatever bugs, gameplay quirks, UI deficiencies, memory leaks, etc., that I encountered but none of them were serious enough to dampen my enjoyment too much. I was starting to lose interest a bit after playing through the campaign & post-campaign sandbox for the 2nd time, but the announcement of the first DLC and 1.3 update made me cautiously optimistic about being able to really enjoy the game again. I had a hard time deciding whether to pre-order the DLC(s) but eventually decided to wait until after the first one was released to see if it was worth my money.

I feel somewhat justified in my decision to not pre-order Flashpoint, since I was really hoping for more improvements to the sandbox experience instead of a series of one-time missions. From some of the feedback on this forum, it seems like some of those missions were very poorly thought out. I may purchase DLCs in the future, but what has really ruined my positive opinion of Battletech was the 1.3 update and how it affected my game.

1) The reputation system & alliances: Seemed like a promising idea. Continued my post-campaign sandbox game and took a few missions against the local pirates since I didn't really want to upset my reputation with any other factions yet. Took one too many contracts against the pirates, now my reputation with them is seemingly beyond repair. I spent several game months looking for 2.5 skull pirate missions to restore reputation, sometimes not taking any contracts at all (so as not to disturb my reputation with other factions), eventually reducing my cash reserves from 25M to 13M before deciding to give up. Alliances and faction-specific store access also seemed promising, but judging from feedback on this forum it seems like there is very little incentive and many drawbacks to allying yourself to a faction. Trying to balance reputation so that contract availability doesn't dry up is not fun. Trying to balance reputation to avoid permanently losing the ability to switch to a different faction is not fun.

2) Bugs: One of which was the straw on the camel's back. My most current save game contains the mech deletion bug, in which a ready-to-go mech in the bay is somehow completely deleted along with all of its gear, apparently by something related to bringing a mech out of storage. Nothing I can do prevents this mech from being deleted. Losing several hours of gameplay in order to load a saved game where this bug does not exist is not the solution I am looking for. I would rather not play the game and wait until the bug is fixed.

All in all, I still really like this game but in its current state I have almost zero desire to play. It seems like aspects of both Flashpoint and the 1.3 update were pushed out too early and/or poorly thought out. I would rather have had a delayed release than an update or DLC which causes me to not want to play the game anymore. I am hoping for serious steps in the right direction soon.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Shame you aren't enjoying 1.3. By contrast, this is the most fun I've had since the first time I played the campaign back in May. Playing in Career mode, particularly using Ironman, is such a very refreshing experience.

 

[ntw]

my responses - please feel free to disagree, ignore or listen

Deciding not to play because of other people's feedback on a forum seems a little short-sighted to me. I value *MY* opinion over other people's opinions, and the interwebs tends to draw out the very strongest of opinions.
HBS have shown previously and repeatedly that they can and will polish a system once it has gone live - even making major changes if they are deemed necessary, and it sounds like some changes are needed to the rep system.
Bugs are always frustrating, especially ones with such a large impact. I feel your pain on this

 

[GridLink]

So there are a few options.

First head to that area where you normally start the campaign there are a lot of Planetary Government missions there (for and against), feel free to take missions against them to boost Rep since they don't persist rep. The Directorate is also a popular choice to boost Arano, and then you can take some other missions to drop Arano and boost other factions.

Higher skull missions give you a slight increase rep overall (usually net +1-2 points), flashpoints do even better (usually net +8, and some are against factions that only exist for the purpose of that flashpoint giving you a hefty +20-30).

I would still recommend picking a couple of factions to actively antagonise but you don't have to and in theory can get max positive rep with every faction.

 

[Timaeus]

Greetings MechWarriors.

Merging threads.
Carry on.

Timaeus.

 

[D-Day]

Trying to balance reputation so that contract availability doesn't dry up is not fun. Trying to balance reputation to avoid permanently losing the ability to switch to a different faction is not fun.

I had to pull this out, sorry. I don't know whether you're an old TT player or not, but this game also simulates running a merc company - and there are consequences to your actions now with 1.3. This is a good thing - and was advertised by HBS too. You simply cannot have max rep (well unless you play a very long game and go against Local Government) with every faction. Sorry to hear you've suffered from bugs though - especially the mech losses - unlike an online game, where your data is on their servers and can be investigated, those mechs are forever lost

 

[AncientRaig]

I had to pull this out, sorry. I don't know whether you're an old TT player or not, but this game also simulates running a merc company - and there are consequences to your actions now with 1.3. This is a good thing - and was advertised by HBS too. You simply cannot have max rep (well unless you play a very long game and go against Local Government) with every faction. Sorry to hear you've suffered from bugs though - especially the mech losses - unlike an online game, where your data is on their servers and can be investigated, those mechs are forever lost

At the same time, it is definitely too easy to ruin your reputation with a faction. While there being actual consequences for your actions is nice, most factions generally don't outright refuse to work with mercs unless they either publicly declare an alliance to their enemies or they repeatedly and regularly work against their interests without ever running a contract for them. If you, say, run 10 contracts for House Davion against House Liao and 5 for House Liao against House Davion, your rep really shouldn't shift very much with those two factions ever. Neither of them will see you as a friend, but neither of them will refuse to work with you. Such is the way of things in 3025.

 

[D-Day]

At the same time, it is definitely too easy to ruin your reputation with a faction. While there being actual consequences for your actions is nice, most factions generally don't outright refuse to work with mercs unless they either publicly declare an alliance to their enemies or they repeatedly and regularly work against their interests without ever running a contract for them. If you, say, run 10 contracts for House Davion against House Liao and 5 for House Liao against House Davion, your rep really shouldn't shift very much with those two factions ever. Neither of them will see you as a friend, but neither of them will refuse to work with you. Such is the way of things in 3025.

Agreed, a clarification on what "ruined" means to players would be useful to the debate. If you're not paying attention to your shifting relationships with factions to the point you where you arrive at "Hated" or indeed simply lower than "Indifferent" with someone you wanted to have a working relationship with, well that's the commander's fault to be blunt.

My rep with the pirates is -100, and that's fine with me. I am "liked" or better with everyone else except the Combine and Taurians. I'm working to reach "liked" with the latter so it's a balancing act with Davion right now. Thank the stars for rebellious Local Governments and pesky pirates. With over a year to go, I expect to have everyone but Kurita, Steiner and the pirates at max.

Edit: I have Marik and Liao at max, with Davion and the Restoration not far behind.

 

[Edmon]

There are few who play this game as much as I do and I've made over 400 BattleTech videos. I've loved playing v1.3 and Flashpoint and it shows in my plays.

So know that this next statement comes from someone who is one of the most dedicated fans of this game...

Some of the bugs, like the crab bug, the loading bug and the reputational blackhole issue... could have been discovered and investigated/resolved by having a full beta/closed beta and/or reasonably robust Q&A. The community discovered some of these bugs/issues within hours of launch day...

The steam forums are full of people crying about technical issues and it's killing the reputation of a game which is otherwise excellent.

Suggestions:
1) Detect the players computer, if they are minimum specification and/or below specification, tell them so. Half of the people complaining about crashes have below minimum specification computers or 8GB of ram. Also, I would say put the minimum specification at 16GB of ram, this game is unstable at 8GB. Especially the argo mission, which seems to murder 8GB ram players dead.

2) Hand out 7-14 day beta keys / play sessions like candy to everyone for new expansions. At least a few weeks before launch. Get those bug reports in early before the next expansion is up for sale. Half of the people returning to the game with the launch of the expansion on the steam forums where like "Is the game stable now? Should I buy?" The answers weren't pretty...it's lost sales and that's a shame...

There is only so much damage control we the community can do, to try and get people playing what is an excellent game when the steam forums are filled with complaints about bugs and instability...

Even just acknowledging the bugs (the loading one has at least been acknowledged) and resolving to have them fixed within a timeline would do a huge amount right now.

Just my thoughts...

 

[MajorPrankster]

Bugs, actual break the code bugs, are certainly a problem with any large software package.
This one is a game.
I have _always_ looked at bugs in video games as nothing more than the fickle universe taking it's toll on the player character.
I see no time played in a fun game as wasted time, even when I die and lose an ironman save game from a random headshot - I laugh and make a new character.

I am not, at all, implying that some of these things are not very frustrating in the moment, because I know for some people they are.

I cannot count the number of lost character sheets, game notes, mech designs, etc., lost over the years to spilled drinks and pets.

I also never look at time spent playing a game as work or a grind. I play the game.
Therefore, I cannot possibly lose any work if a save game corrupts or I run out of monopoly money.

I don't live my life in such a way as to allow the minor errors in the code of a game impact my enjoyment, they just add some flavor now and then, from my PoV.

Why be serious about a video game or any entertainment?

When 'stuff happens' I just relax and make a new character, personally, no matter what the game.

 

[karlo73]

Yes, I'm not so happy about the game right now.
Flashpoint itself has become really good. What pisses me off are the constant mistakes!
3 errors are closed, but 1000 new (part serious!) Errors are added!
(For example currently the BSC-27Crab-> Shop-> Mechbay Bug)
And it always takes half an eternity before they are finally fixed.
And then the "error game" starts again. And again ... and again ...
Reminds me somehow of "Gothic 3" ...

 

[Pherdnut]

Definitely going back to pre-FP saves when the BSC bugs are patched.

 

[yrrot]

Yes, I'm not so happy about the game right now.
Flashpoint itself has become really good. What pisses me off are the constant mistakes!
3 errors are closed, but 1000 new (part serious!) Errors are added!
(For example currently the BSC-27Crab-> Shop-> Mechbay Bug)
And it always takes half an eternity before they are finally fixed.
And then the "error game" starts again. And again ... and again ...
Reminds me somehow of "Gothic 3" ...

That's software development in a nutshell. You have multiple programmers/developers modifying multiple parts of a big systems and something gets broke on one end when a fix goes into another. It happens, a lot. No game is bug free, it's just whether or not the bugs are tolerable and if you hit them as a player. Even the best QA practices aren't going to catch every blocking/critical bug every time.

Since flashpoint, we've already had 2 patches roll out to address issues. HBS surely has a backlog of bug fixes in the work as well. Blocking/Critical bugs always get put on the top of the list, but that doesn't mean they are super easy or quick to solve all the time. Even when the community has a workaround/mod to fix something, it doesn't always address underlying code issues that may also need fixed on a larger scale than the bug as reported might indicate.

As a player, I get it, losing items or progress due to a bug sucks. But as a programmer and former QA tester, I tend to give the developers the benefit of the doubt. In this case, Flashpoint *has only been out less than a month*, and has been patched twice.

 

[Leraje_]

...
As a player, I get it, losing items or progress due to a bug sucks. But as a programmer and former QA tester, I tend to give the developers the benefit of the doubt. In this case, Flashpoint *has only been out less than a month*, and has been patched twice.

Kudos to HBS for patching it, but a lot of this could have been avoided if the DLC was properly ran through QA or Beta-ed by players as suggested by Edmon - fans would tear the game apart looking for bugs, would do so happily and for free. (Do not confuse with releasing beta as finished product like certain X game...)

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

Just throw a SLDF Black Knight as reward somewhere and we´re cool. I´m that easy to buy

Now, being serious, while those bugs are upsetting, none are game breakers if you save often. And to me 1.3/Flashpoint brought far more fun with content than annoyance with bugs.

It seems the mech deletion one can be dodged by not queueing jobs when readying mechs. It has being working to me everytime.
About the BSC-27... Well, with 18 mech slots and 12k maintenance i can afford keeping it ready. But this might not be true for those who got it in career mode rather than post main campaing.

@Leraje_ I think i know and have the game you´re mentioning. Its a cRPG, right?

 

[Baron's Brawlers]

Just throw a SLDF Black Knight as reward somewhere and we´re cool. I´m that easy to buy

Now, being serious, while those bugs are upsetting, none are game breakers if you save often. And to me 1.3/Flashpoint brought far more fun with content than annoyance with bugs.

It seems the mech deletion one can be dodged by not queueing jobs when readying mechs. It has being working to me everytime.
About the BSC-27... Well, with 18 mech slots and 12k maintenance i can afford keeping it ready. But this might not be true for those who got it in career mode rather than post main campaing.

@Leraje_ I think i know and have the game you´re mentioning. Its a cRPG, right?

I understand what you're saying but I didn't know about the bugs until it happened as I was prepping multiple 50t mechs for a flashpoint and came to the forums to find out what's up. I have no issue losing mechs and gear in an engagement. I've lost plenty of rare gear including star league era gear in missions along with pilots and mechs. In an engagement I can live with it. I've got 355 hours on this game as of last week. I'm looking forward to playing more once it's all sorted. I do love this game but I also know the frustration levels of my friends and this would be a deal breaker for them. We all work full-time and have family and friends like most people here. Time to play games is at a premium.

 

[Leraje_]

...
@Leraje_ I think i know and have the game you´re mentioning. Its a cRPG, right?

Nope, Space sim X4

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

Ah. Then are 2 betas arounds that were released as finished...

 

[SpenReyn]

I'm hurting inside for all those who have had their saved games screwed by losing mechs to a bug. That does bite. The only bug I've seen (and I haven't seen it since the last update) is the one where you swap mechs around in your mech bay and some or all of the mechs disappear. Luckily all you have to do is leave the bay and come back and they return.

Being a working gamer with only 1-2 hours to play some days (not all days) I can understand the frustration of having your precious commodity (playing time) wasted because someone didn't catch what seems like an easy error to find.

That being said, is there anything else you'd rather be playing? I mean really? I can't seem to get enough of the random "headshot high" when your Firestarter does a flying roundhouse kick to the head of an enemy mech and you cheer as the chassis falls to the deck! Maybe I'm just too wrapped up in this game to care, but I've been saving before and after I do anything to make sure these bugs don't affect me much, if they end up happening to me. Prior planning makes for excellent execution, as my drill instructor said many, many, MANY times.