SOE: Your development process appears to defy every best practice for making software

I say "appears to defy" because I'm clearly on the outside looking in.

In the world of making software, the "agile philosophy" (don't want to debate which flavor you like or don't like; I'm referring to the general sentiment of agile) has won for a reason: it's hard to **** up your product by only changing a few things at a time in bite-size chunks. It's easier to develop, easier to test and easier to release.

I come from the mobile/web software world so maybe there's something about games that I don't understand (though I've made a few games). Seeing a 4GB patch with a novel's worth of changes give me the shakes because there's simply no way you have a QA department big enough to not **** up at least a few things unintentionally.

Why don't you plan a weekly or bi-weekly iteration where you add a reasonable amount of stuff? Add the new color system one week, then changes to the Prowler next week, and the Magrider revisions the week after that. It's better for everyone involved, including the poor souls who have to stay until 4am on a Friday night because it's all or nothing when it comes to showing progress in January.

It's poor project management and makes for a jarring experience as a player/user. You could even create story to make it more immersive, like the TR completing research on a new material for their tank cannons. For this patch our characters woke up one day and everything was different. It doesn't make sense in the game and doesn't make sense out of the game.

So, am I missing something or are you stuck making software the same way we did in the 90s?

PS: You can apply similar "lean principles" to your content changes. Replace all of the spawn buildings on one continent with the new ones and give it a week before you roll them out everywhere else.

You screwed up the font size - how dare you.

TL;DR version - Smaller, more frequent updates replacing large, unsightly monthly updates. You're welcome.

Their ineptitude is not limited to this. If you followed the game from the beginning you would see several examples of poor choices and the lack of vision that led to the sad state the game is in now.

Yeap...

I love the game but another 5 massive 'remake/break the game horribly on a number of fronts' patches and im done.

Can't play at the moment, for **** warping everywhere.

There has been an utterly epic failure of quality control.

yup

Concept > Program > Test > Setup Test Server Test There > Get Feedback > Retest /Tweak > Finalize > Deploy to all Live Servers.

I think it might be time for a test server... yeah..

Just look at the sheer amount of serious issues, for whatever reason SoE's internal test beds must be fairly unrepresentative of the average PC.

The massive 4GB patch size happens whenever they make any changes to the maps, and we have to re-download them all. So there's not much that can be done on that front.

Everything else the OP says, I aggree with 100%.

Just a coincidence the OP has a VS sig ?
Probably very happy chappy till now ?
Looks like another smurf needing some loving . . . . . . .
YOU HAD IT FAR TO GOOD FOR FAR TO LONG ! you knew this was coming , the game is balancing out will take a few more months , the only ppl i see crying about the changes are the campers who have gotten far too fat too quickly and the smurfs !
Ba ba ba IM LOVIN IT .

Yeah i don't get it either. If the last 20 years showed us anything, it's how much small frequent updates are superior to the big infrequent ones both psychologically and practically. It makes even less sense in this case since SOE seems to screw up more stuff each update then your average game developer.

Oh and is there a public test server or something like that ? A patch this size has like zero chance of going out bug free without massive public testing, no qa department is big enough to do it internally.

My story: i logged in this morning, spawned a lightning, tried to ignore massive stuttering but started shooting blanks, and just logged out

Did you really just turn a neutral thread about the serious issues in this patch into haha screw you VS post? Do you realize how many FPS, rubberbanding, latency, lag, and other serious issues are present that he's referring to in general? Or does your limited IQ only let you see Purple - Blue - Red? PS2 forums need a hardcap on posts per month for people like you.

The whole game is written in 1 big ASP file

Agreed OP. I'll be taking a long needed break from this game. I'm definitely not spending any more money in the future for Station Cash or memberships because I've lost all hope in the ps2 development and management team.

SOE in 3 words.

Prove it?

Check Higby's Twitter, it's in there somewhere. Couldn't dare post it in the official forums, probably get your *** banned.

Back when I use to script mods for Starsiege Tribes I tested my scripts/Created maps. I made it my job to ensure the mod worked flawlessly and the gun wasn't overpowered by testing it and shutting my server down and tweaking it and turning the server up for a momment to test the guns on live players and ask there feedback so I can fix it abit.

-Created a Vulcan chaingun withe Explosive rounds
-Created automated turrents that shot emp rounds into at players
-Created a Rocket Launcher that fired one shell that exploded in the air and deployed 20 gernades which fell to the ground (Favorite gun because it acted as a flak gun + Mortar Shell)
-Created a Laser Turrent
-Shockwave Cannon
-created a disclauncher that melded 3x disclaunchers into a triangle after a shot was fired it'd rotate (basically can call it a Chain Disc Launcher)
-Redid the user interface to allow players to kick/changemaps/become temporary admins
- Flamethrower
- Training Map with scripted Automated Bots that attack (this is where I tested my weapons I created)
- Created over 20 Maps
- Server was called +Southern Cross+
- Mod I made was +SC+

Of course something can be done on that front. Just make the system only download diff files and patch them into existing ones. It's been done that way for ages now.
Not that I'm complaining about this particular issue much, but saying nothing can be done is really ridiculous.

/facepalnnnnnnnnt

This practice of big game updates is flawed for a number of reasons, let me sum it up;

• Developer burn out. Over working the developers like this is going to lead to shoddy work
• Large downloads - by nature nobody likes a 4.4 gig download waiting for them. It also screws with some people's internet limits.
• Too much to test effectively
• Too many changes lead to too large an effect on balance. It shifts the entire balance metagame in an unpredictable fashion. Prowler unperforming compared to the Magrider? Buff the Prowler. Prowler still underperforming? Nerf the Magrider. A weekly patch schedule is required for this kind of game where there is just too many things that need to be done, but it cannot be done all at once.
• That said, you can still make multiple changes per patch. For example, introducing SMGs, new camos, improving the UI and warpgate rotation can all be in the same patch as a buff to the Prowler.