Earning the smedbucks, SOE to forgo the Superbowl

Contracted testers have a place, often they are provided GM powers to allow them the ability to reproduce bugs they discover. But some of the issues are data stream and load based, something much more challenging to represent in a small group.

If SOE wanted to make a public test server then they should take one of the lowest population servers we already have, transfer everyone off of that to the next-lowest population server, then let everyone make new characters on the newly-branded test server. Or they could give everyone in that server a free transfer token so they can move wherever by a certain date or they get moved forcibly. SOE won't need to pay for an extra server, we'll get a real-world testing scenario and be happier for it. Let the hired testers play on this too if they want. I don't see how this is difficult.

Whoever decided to send out a major patch just before a weekend (of any kind) is an idiot. There are a couple of things you learn in quick in IT.

-Don't deploy new software just before your employees leave for the weekend / evening. Deploy in the morning typically on a Tue, Wed, Thur .

You will quickly piss off you employees and users. The paying customers will stop paying for the service, and the good employees will go elsewhere.

I'm all for a test server, but only for subscribers. The last the we need are all of these Call of Duty caps lock kids running around the test server yelling buff and nerf all day. And let the current testers be the ones coming up with redetailed reports on player feedback, and passing it along to the developers. This way everyone keeps their job, and we get a much more effective feedback system.

I guess they're just fulfilling what was announced, that the patch was to be later this week.

Test server would need to be an entirely different client, or your testers couldn't access live servers after patching.

Agreed, but expand it to SC purchasers as well.

Wow guys, the hate, just wow. It was a 4GB patch, let them fix it. I'll probably get flamed for this post, but how about constructive criticism instead of spewing vitriol?
Yes a test server is needed SOE, please consider creating a public test server so we can test your patches before you roll them out.

This, they have gone back into work on a weekend and people are ********. This forums is full of Cod kid whiners.
FF

This is true. People on salaries don't get overtime.

I get called in on weekends for "special projects" too and it sucks bad. Its just the way it is when you are a salaried employee though. Hourly don't have to worry about it, cause anything over 40 hours is time and a half.

lmao this year's superbowl is whack anyways. Only watching for the commercials ;p

They can have a Super Bowl party at the office, while hotfixing the hotfix.

I am on a salary, but get paid OT if I get called in past 40 hours a week or on a holiday/weekend unless I'm scheduled for a weekend.

Don't deploy (major) releases in a weekend..... see why? Simply don't.
Plus developers are properly tired now so them fixing issues is risky and likely to introduce even more issues because of time pressure. And them missing Superbowl (if they're interested in something like that) would properly not make them more motivated ....

So many things gone wrong in the development cycle that I wonder how it can happen to such a company. Even small development companies knows these things. It's like 101.

You don't get my point.. You don't announce that you will or deploy at the end of the day or week. Whoever manages this or thought it would be fine needs to learn something. They are only hurting themselves in the end.

Same reason Microsoft has a patch Tuesday. Mondays are hell for IT people and you wont get anything else done anyways. You do it on a Tuesday so you have wed-fri to fix any fallout.

They need a new patch release manager.

I am bumping this solely because I was googling the term "smedbucks" lol this term is AWESOME!

I wouldn't actually call this bumping. Just let the dead lie.