Paradox's recent patch 'policy'...

[Javaslinger]

I don't know if this by design or what but lately patching your games is a interminably slow process... beta's that drag on FOREVER... updates that take weeks if not months... no communication.

I am a long time customer but I don't recall it always being like this...

It is very frustrating... Divine wind.. still not first patch and no comment on when...

Semper Fi... (which I will buy once you put out a patch for it) seemingly has one lonely soul working part time on it....

I think you guys A) have too many things going on at once and/or B) not enough employee's to handle it...

 

[unmerged(1823)]

I don't know if this by design or what but lately patching your games is a interminably slow process... beta's that drag on FOREVER... updates that take weeks if not months... no communication.

We have several people working FULLTIME nowadays just on talking on the forums.

Please take a look at the

icon next to a thread. That indicates a paradox employee has replied in that thread.

There is posts everywhere in bug reports, gamebalance and tech support threads, every single day from various paradox staff.

I just peeked in the hoi3 and eu3 bug reports forum, and artfox (our qa) has answered pretty much all threads there, and also telling you if it has been fixed for next patch or not.

I am a long time customer but I don't recall it always being like this...

Nopes, just a few years ago. We NEVER replied on bug reports or had any internal dedicated support person. Now you can pretty much expect paradox to give you a reply when you report a problem.

It is very frustrating... Divine wind.. still not first patch and no comment on when...

It was released 4 weeks ago, and its been basically 1 work week since it was released. The game is in fine shape and may need some balance tweaks which will eventually come.

Semper Fi... (which I will buy once you put out a patch for it) seemingly has one lonely soul working part time on it....

We've released 2 patches for Semper Fi, and lots of betas for them. Podcat has been working fulltime on it, with other devs like Darkrenown, Doomdark, King & Artfox chipping in when needed. I think the total patching process for Semper Fi has had a bigger team working on it than most of Hoi1.

 

[unmerged(223316)]

I think you guys A) have too many things going on at once and/or B) not enough employee's to handle it...

Totally agree.

Don't forget Victoria 2: it has been released 5 months ago and till now there has just been one patch ... even though there're still gamebreaking bugs (don't deny it!):
- mid- and lategame lag
- pop promotions/assimilation are beyond good and evil
- ecenomics doesn't work ... capitalists are as daft as brush ... laissez faire doesn't work ... in mid- and endgame the economic system collapses
- micromanagement hell (SoI, way too many brigades in endgame)
- rebels are way too frquent and fubared
- the interface doesn't show any effects your decisions have ... you're using sliders and building stuff, but you can't see what effects this will have on your pops, promotion rates, etc.

Victoria 2 has been my first Paradox game, but if Paradox doesn't change its release and patch policies (alpha releases + patches that take way too long too be delivered) it will definitely be the last one.

Sorry Paradox, this is not too insult you in any way, but you really need to do something about this.
I can imagine that there's too much work for too little deveopers, so please
a) reduce your projects
b) or employ new devs

Otherwise your current policy will have consequences ...

No0dle

 

[ZechsMerquise73]

Nopes, just a few years ago. We NEVER replied on bug reports or had any internal dedicated support person. Now you can pretty much expect paradox to give you a reply when you report a problem.

That's very commendable. I'm confident I could make a small complaint about clipping and someone would address it in a post.

It was released 4 weeks ago, and its been basically 1 work week since it was released. The game is in fine shape and may need some balance tweaks which will eventually come.

1 work week? What holidays do you guys take off for? The 12 days of Christmas? Kwanza? Boxing Day in Canada? Seems like a rather ineffecient work schedule. Of course, you're working in more creative arts; not mining coal.

 

[Swuul]

1 work week? What holidays do you guys take off for? The 12 days of Christmas? Kwanza? Boxing Day in Canada? Seems like a rather ineffecient work schedule. Of course, you're working in more creative arts; not mining coal.

In Sweden it is pretty customary to have 2 - 3 weeks holiday around the end of the year (except for people who have to always work, like police, firemen, people in healthcare, etc). One of the boons of a welfare state.

 

[Romtos]

I just peeked in the hoi3 and eu3 bug reports forum, and artfox (our qa) has answered pretty much all threads there, and also telling you if it has been fixed for next patch or not.

Actually, in the EU3 forum a lot of the credit should go to Captain Gars. He has been very communicative already starting from the DW development.

 

[gigau]

We have several people working FULLTIME nowadays just on talking on the forums.

Please take a look at the

icon next to a thread. That indicates a paradox employee has replied in that thread.

There is posts everywhere in bug reports, gamebalance and tech support threads, every single day from various paradox staff.

I just peeked in the hoi3 and eu3 bug reports forum, and artfox (our qa) has answered pretty much all threads there, and also telling you if it has been fixed for next patch or not.

Nopes, just a few years ago. We NEVER replied on bug reports or had any internal dedicated support person. Now you can pretty much expect paradox to give you a reply when you report a problem.

True. Like Romtos, i'll also commend Captain Gars.

I guess we wish we could have a little more informations on how things are going along behind the high and dark Gates


I think we should remember also that a Convention is bound to take some time to prepare, so we should try and be patient.

 

[Golwar]

Johan, I agree that your communication handling is excellent and far above the industry's standards (don't take that as an excuse to drop it a bit ).

But I must confirm that Paradox's patch handling could be improved. Take the everlasting beta status of some patches for example. Before DW was released, the community practically had to enforce a final patch for the previous installment. Betas are nice to have, but they should never be seen as a generally satisfying solution for ALL customers.

And about DW - there is much to like about the addon. But the performance issues obviously exist and they heavily influence the game experience (aka I don't play it any further at all. And nope, I don't reload saves - they were at tiny 20MB size when the issue occured). Regarding the mass of performance complains, I can't understand how you can say "The game is in fine shape and may need some balance tweaks which will eventually come" under such circumstances. Such things are hotfix stuff.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

And about DW - there is much to like about the addon. But the performance issues obviously exist and they heavily influence the game experience (aka I don't play it any further at all. And nope, I don't reload saves). Regarding the mass of performance complains, I can't understand how you can say "The game is in fine shape and may need some balance tweaks which will eventually come" under such circumstances.

It's a shame that some people are having performance issues, but it's worth noting that some, like myself, are having none at all. DW is runing better for me than HttT ever did.

 

[Innocent Beard]

We have several people working FULLTIME nowadays just on talking on the forums...There is posts everywhere in bug reports, gamebalance and tech support threads, every single day from various paradox staff...artfox (our qa) has answered pretty much all threads there... Now you can pretty much expect paradox to give you a reply when you report a problem.

Actually I just reported a bug today simply because I believed that Artfox would read it. I'd had it in mind for so long, but the lack of response on Vic 2 bug forum in the middle meant that I really had no motivation to report it. However, then I saw today's BugReport forum and saw that Artfox had pretty much literally answered every thread (like you said), so I felt comfortable reporting knowing I wouldn't be making a post in vain.

So thank you. The increased customer support is clearly visible and much appreciated. Artfox's mission to hunt down all bugs is in fact admirable.

 

[Darkrenown]

Don't forget Victoria 2: it has been released 5 months ago and till now there has just been one patch ... even though there're still gamebreaking bugs (don't deny it!):

There have been 2 patches (just because the first was ready on release day doesn't make it less work) and a third is being working on.

I can imagine that there's too much work for too little deveopers, so please
a) reduce your projects
b) or employ new devs

We've hired 4 new devs (me being one) since V2 was released.

 

[unmerged(223316)]

There have been 2 patches (just because the first was ready on release day doesn't make it less work) and a third is being working on.

But as I wrote there has just been one patch since release ( 5 months ago).
Of course this would not be a blame, if Victoria 2 does not need to be patched, but it does still have gamebreaking bugs which need to be fixed (1.2 didn't really help) ... and we're waiting for a fix for 5 months now ...

So: Why should one buy this game after release?

For my next Paradox game I'll wait until the major bugs are fixed / whether the major bugs will be fixed ... (and till then the price will have dropped to 10 euros)

We've hired 4 new devs (me being one) since V2 was released.

Good news.

 

[unmerged(8351)]

I would say that I have been loving paradox since EU1, and for a while purchased all the products at release and pushed them all to my friends.

But lately I feel they have gotten a little too complex/unwieldy for the development cycle you guys can afford with your limited market segment and for me they just are not that fun without some serious patching.

I don't know if that is because I am older and more discerning in my video games.
If I am better at delaying gratification now.
Or if I just know a lot more about your engines and how they should work and so the errors are more glaring.

But I do know despite absolutely loving classical history and paradox I never purchased Rome, I still haven't picked up HOI3 SF as I await some more patches/expansions, haven't bought Vic 2, despite Vic1 being one of my favorite games, and still haven't bought DW.

On the plus side for me if I wait things are patched up and cheaper! On the minus side I have to wait and you presumably lose some revenue.

If you are interested in having me purchase at or near release in the future would rather pay $200 up front for a "completed" game (though I realize that is a business model that probably doesn't work), or pay the customary $50-60 for a drastically scaled back, but well functioning game. You can always add more features and mechanics in patches later.

I feel like so many of the games these days (from all developers) have 150% of the features/elements they need, at 75% completion/balance. Then they don't want to release expansions that are just fixes so they just heap on MORE 75% completed features without ever fully fixing the original ones. It makes for a very unsatisfying experience because you can see all this potential, but it is never met.

Anyway I know you guys are a business not our personal entertainment slaves (as the forums seem to sometimes think), so keep up the hard work and I look forward to playing the current round of games someday in the future.

 

[Duke of Bavaria]

I would say that I have been loving paradox since EU1, and for a while purchased all the products at release and pushed them all to my friends.

But lately I feel they have gotten a little too complex/unwieldy for the development cycle you guys can afford with your limited market segment and for me they just are not that fun without some serious patching.

I don't know if that is because I am older and more discerning in my video games.
If I am better at delaying gratification now.
Or if I just know a lot more about your engines and how they should work and so the errors are more glaring.

But I do know despite absolutely loving classical history and paradox I never purchased Rome, I still haven't picked up HOI3 SF as I await some more patches/expansions, haven't bought Vic 2, despite Vic1 being one of my favorite games, and still haven't bought DW.

On the plus side for me if I wait things are patched up and cheaper! On the minus side I have to wait and you presumably lose some revenue.

If you are interested in having me purchase at or near release in the future would rather pay $200 up front for a "completed" game (though I realize that is a business model that probably doesn't work), or pay the customary $50-60 for a drastically scaled back, but well functioning game. You can always add more features and mechanics in patches later.

I feel like so many of the games these days (from all developers) have 150% of the features/elements they need, at 75% completion/balance. Then they don't want to release expansions that are just fixes so they just heap on MORE 75% completed features without ever fully fixing the original ones. It makes for a very unsatisfying experience because you can see all this potential, but it is never met.

Anyway I know you guys are a business not our personal entertainment slaves (as the forums seem to sometimes think), so keep up the hard work and I look forward to playing the current round of games someday in the future.

He took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[Castellon]

I would say that I have been loving paradox since EU1, and for a while purchased all the products at release and pushed them all to my friends.

But lately I feel they have gotten a little too complex/unwieldy for the development cycle you guys can afford with your limited market segment and for me they just are not that fun without some serious patching.

I don't know if that is because I am older and more discerning in my video games.
If I am better at delaying gratification now.
Or if I just know a lot more about your engines and how they should work and so the errors are more glaring.

But I do know despite absolutely loving classical history and paradox I never purchased Rome, I still haven't picked up HOI3 SF as I await some more patches/expansions, haven't bought Vic 2, despite Vic1 being one of my favorite games, and still haven't bought DW.

On the plus side for me if I wait things are patched up and cheaper! On the minus side I have to wait and you presumably lose some revenue.

If you are interested in having me purchase at or near release in the future would rather pay $200 up front for a "completed" game (though I realize that is a business model that probably doesn't work), or pay the customary $50-60 for a drastically scaled back, but well functioning game. You can always add more features and mechanics in patches later.

I feel like so many of the games these days (from all developers) have 150% of the features/elements they need, at 75% completion/balance. Then they don't want to release expansions that are just fixes so they just heap on MORE 75% completed features without ever fully fixing the original ones. It makes for a very unsatisfying experience because you can see all this potential, but it is never met.

Anyway I know you guys are a business not our personal entertainment slaves (as the forums seem to sometimes think), so keep up the hard work and I look forward to playing the current round of games someday in the future.

I hear what you are saying, I see some issues here, and I think an honest effort to address them is being made. Many new staff have just been added recently, some of whom have the primary task for curbing some of the exact issues you raise.
Taken as a percentage of total staff this represents a huge increase and focus in this area. End result = stay tuned and give it chance.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

I think Arttfox was hired for thus reason. So far he seems to be catching a huge amount of bugs, so I'm sure that'll work out. Guy knows what he's doing.