Buying Planetside?

by **Edogg** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 10:46 am

guys Im not saying that I dont agree with you. I do agree with you that they are rushing planetside. I was just merely saying that I have respect for the programmers, not sony's corporate dick heads who know shit about making games.

by **RCinator** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:25 pm

I have gotten the proper amount of sleep and have (at least for a few hours) re-found my "happy space"

No more ranting today, I promise. Well - at least for a few hours anyway . . .

by **BulletToothTony** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:36 pm

Nothing you buy is going to be perfect, software or otherwise. Cars breakdown, cd jewel cases come scractched sometimes, dvd's don't always play properly, etc.

I hear what people are saying and when it comes to non-MMO games I agree that they should be able to get them tested well enough so they are not so buggy. However, with PC titles you are trying to design software that could run on any multitude of different PC's all with vastly different configurations. You don't see too many console games with bugs because they are designed for one piece of known hardware, PC's are another matter entirely.

But why on earth do people expect MMO games to be so perfect upon release? There are SO many things that can go wrong when trying to run a game with several THOUSAND people all online at once using different PC's. Not only that, but look at all the data that must be tracked by the servers...in Planetside you have to track the movement of every player and vehicle as well as each rocket, grenade, or bullet they fire. When 3000 people are on, no wonder there is lag.

I haven't seen a single MMO launch without hiccups. They manage to get them optimized and cleaned up, but they can't do those things without loading up the servers with players. No company is going to hire and pay 3000 player testers, it just isn't feasible. So yes, we have to be guinea pigs early on, but you have the option to not play if it's such a big deal.

If games with bugs aggravate people so much, why even bother to buy and play ANYTHING? Nothing's going to be perfect, so shut the fuck up and just play already.

Some of you guys bitch and moan so much you sound like a couple of old ladies.

-BT

by **FarginMofo** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:54 pm

One man's junk is another man's gold. To each their own.

by **RCinator** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:57 pm

Tony,

"Nothing you buy is going to be perfect, software or otherwise. Cars breakdown, cd jewel cases come scractched sometimes, dvd's don't always play properly, etc."

Cars have lemon laws, and CDs and DVDs have return policies. Also, dealers don't generally sell 90% of a complete car.

" There are SO many things that can go wrong when trying to run a game with several THOUSAND people all online at once using different PC's. "

THAT'S WHY THERE ARE BETA TESTS.

That's the whole point of betas - to work out the glaring bugs. We're not asking for a perfect product upon release, just one that has its major issues worked out.

" They manage to get them optimized and cleaned up, but they can't do those things without loading up the servers with players. No company is going to hire and pay 3000 player testers, it just isn't feasible."

Planetside has 10,000 people in the beta right now. It's entirely feasable. Each beta of the 2 or 3 servers at night host around 2500-3000 people. Game companies stopped having to pay beta testers a LONG time ago.

"If games with bugs aggravate people so much, why even bother to buy and play ANYTHING? Nothing's going to be perfect, so shut the fuck up and just play already."

Nobody is asking for perfect, but when we buy a product, we deserve a product that is free of the MAJOR issues that SHOULD have been worked out before release. And many quality game companies release products that are fairly bug free at launch . . . many more that may have some bugs, but nothing showstopping.

Those of us who are ranting here are PARTICIPATING in the Planetside beta, and know that there is no way they can fix teh bugs in the software in the next week (which is when they start pressing CDs). They KNOW there are huge bugs (because the community has told them), but they're unwilling to hold of the release while they fix the bugs. This is a poor way of doing business. I have no problem with bugs in beta software, but there is no way that release sotware should be of the same quality as the beta.

by **Ruci** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:19 pm

Which bugs are you exactly talking about? ( I know there are bugs but i am curious as to which ones you speak of.)

by **RCinator** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:27 pm

Th big ones I have a problem with are the crash to desktop issues (which are just getting worse for me and a bunch of others as they continue to patch), the screen resolution/crosshair off center issues, the numerous sound bugs (including the fact that it likes to set my speaker settings to 2.1 every time, forcing me to reset them to 6.1), and the frequent zone crashes. Not to mention the clipping and occlusion issues (vehicles occasionally driving THROUGH towers and walls), and multiple objects winding up in the same space.

by **Ruci** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:31 pm

Today they said they were tackling the memory issue so maybe that might fix something, but how it is at the end of beta determines whether i buy it or not.

by **RCinator** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:43 pm

I've already givin up on it - it had GREAT potential, and I really like what I think it SHOULD be, but I have no confidence that they're going to be able to get to that point. Also, considering they pretty much have to be done with the beta next week if they're shipping on the 19th, that doesn't give them enough time (in my opinion) to address the major problems.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention - I HATE the matrix system even more than I hated phantom hackers.

by **NightStalker453** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:46 pm

Since last weeks update i havent crashed or disconnected at all, even playing 6 hours straight. The only problem i have at the moment is that it cannot save my sound setting correctly. Other than that the game works fine for me, no video probs, lag probs only in large battles but of course they can easily fix that with better servers. I see the game as basically complete product, but of course there will always be small patches when it goes retail, no different from any other game.

by **RCinator** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:51 pm

ALL of my issues still exist as of last night. No where near a complete product. Try changing your resolution to something other than the default.

by **Edogg** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:54 pm

Originally posted by NightStalker453
Since last weeks update i havent crashed or disconnected at all, even playing 6 hours straight. The only problem i have at the moment is that it cannot save my sound setting correctly. Other than that the game works fine for me, no video probs, lag probs only in large battles but of course they can easily fix that with better servers. I see the game as basically complete product, but of course there will always be small patches when it goes retail, no different from any other game.

trust me I thought they had fixed the crashing problems, but unfortunately they are still there. It crashed repeatedly for me yesterday. if they can stop the crashing and fix some of the weird lag issues, it will be a complete product to me.

by **NightStalker453** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:28 pm

Actually i use 1024x whatever resolution, 32bit, triple buffer, and Vertical sync. Works fine

by **RCinator** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:32 pm

That's what I mean - set it to 1280 or 1600 and the crosshairs are waaaaay off. Not to mention, it doesn't save the resolution the next time you start the game.

by **NightStalker453** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 5:45 pm

hmm it saves it for me but ill try the 1280 res to see how much the crosshairs are off, and btw have u reported any of these bugs to them, stupid question but worth asking

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