PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[NukemDed]

i am sure the patch notes said all pois were in rwg

edit*

just looked at patch notes

"All locations are working in Navezgane and Random Gen worlds."

 

[Laz Man]

It is serving me well. The streamers are in essence an extension of our testers. I've spent hours watching new players of A18, in SP and MP, deal with all the changes. I get to see their reactions, play styles and difficulties. I get to see how they handle the current AI and make BM bases. This is different feedback than I get from our testers, since I can't mindwipe them and see first reactions.
Other devs are also getting valuable feedback and we are discussing and making changes. This will help make it smoother for us and the players, when thousands of people start playing on Monday.

Well said!!!

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But if you don't do streamer weekend, and release an experimental for all, the streamer will still streamer and you get feedback, you can limit your access to just those. And we normal guys without youtube channel can enjoy as well. The only difference is we put our feedback on forum 3 days late. Streamer are often distracted with recording, voicing the game. Where as we guys were just enjoying and raging about anything we don't like. Frankly our feedback is more valuable then those. Yes they make game more popular. But from developer view point end client's feedback is more important than marketing team's.

The best feedback is one you can get in the moment live. A written forum post cant beat that imo.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

There's always going to be some exploit you can pull off and exploit with

How did Bethesduh manage to brainwash the gaming community in believing this is acceptable for games?

 

[MechanicalLens]

How did Bethesduh manage to brainwash the gaming community in believing this is acceptable for games?

Ehh, it's not nearly as bad as the idea that you can sell a game half-baked and sell the other half as DLC. There's bigger issues out there.

 

[alchemi2]

Food poisoning that you need to eat to get your hunger up but you can get food poisoning again? Yall are crazy

No it's all good, use vitamins for immunity or get the perk Iron gut, no loop, like all things in the game there is generally an out or a cure.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

Ehh, it's not nearly as bad as the idea that you can sell a game half-baked and sell the other half as DLC. There's bigger issues out there.

How did Electronic fArts manage to brainwash the gaming community in believing this is acceptable for games?

 

[Orclover]

How did Electronic fArts manage to brainwash the gaming community in believing this is acceptable for games?

They did it when they ran out or flat out destroyed every good developer out there who were making amazing games over the last 20 years. I will never ever forgive them for what they did to Bullfrog. Ever. For that alone they deserve the slow death of a thousand cuts.

And Bethesda I can never forgive for ruining Fallout. Still not as bad as EA though.

Oh and origin systems, my god that was such a waste what happened to all that talent. Great now I cant go to bed cause i'm just too mad now.

 

[MechanicalLens]

How did Electronic fArts manage to brainwash the gaming community in believing this is acceptable for games?

Because the majority of people (if not all of us) are sheep. Sorry, but it's true. And if you don't like that term, then tribal is another appropriate adjective.

 

[captspock]

I've been playing for many yrs... think since a6 or a7, have over 4400 hrs logged.... No i was not impressed with a17.... watching Pokket a bit this weekend... a18 looks good.. but i would rather play than keep watching streamers.... my fav build was a11.2 that random cave system back then was so cool... Keep up the good work guys... looking forward to Monday.

 

[Guppycur]

I'm not sure we want to flood nothing but brown Guppy likes his random loot. He might have just got fairly lucky. Its only t2 items he found and yellow, nothing too great.

With the random stats I doubt quality is as important as it once was, which is a good thing imo. My observations are that random is really frikkin' random... Some people are flush in weapons and others not so much. ...what I really like is that it seems loot will likely dictate what your focus is with skills/perks...

 

[Roland]

With the random stats I doubt quality is as important as it once was, which is a good thing imo. My observations are that random is really frikkin' random... Some people are flush in weapons and others not so much. ...what I really like is that it seems loot will likely dictate what your focus is with skills/perks...

True...and I find myself waiting to spend points until I've had a chance to do some looting and see what weapons I get.

 

[Guppycur]

Speaking from the heart mate. Joel and Rick do not hand me talking points to recite each day. The streamer event targets the extremely large and growing demographic of gamers who enjoy watching streams and being sociable in open chats whether they be new or old to the game.

What metric are you using to determine the new users you get during an alpha release are from streamer viewers? I'm not arguing against streamer weekend, gazz got me on board, but I am curious what you're looking at to deem it "successful". Studying metrics is kind of my hidden talent.

 

[Roland]

What metric are you using to determine the new users you get during an alpha release are from streamer viewers? I'm not arguing against streamer weekend, gazz got me on board, but I am curious what you're looking at to deem it "successful". Studying metrics is kind of my hidden talent.

I don't know if there are any. That is Rick's talent and area of expertise. But based on faatal's recent posts alone about how valuable it is for them to be able to watch reactions of veterans and noobs alike during this weekend I would say that it is successful.

People keep wanting to fixate on the marketing to new players aspect of it which is, of course, a definite benefit and one we hope pans out and brings more sales. But it is just one aspect of the success.

Devs viewing others playing

Devs discussing and planning based on observations

Building hype

Having fun

Having that soft launch.

Frankly it has been good to see Gazz, faatal, Joel, Rick, Lathan, and all the QA crew participating and having fun the last couple of days and getting the validation that people are finding it fun. It will help once the inevitable complaints start coming in once thousands have it and not everyone is happy with the changes.

So it isn't simply a case of needing a certain threshold of new sales to justify the event. The event is justified thanks to other benefits that have nothing to do with direct sales.

 

[JaxTeller718]

It is serving me well. The streamers are in essence an extension of our testers. I've spent hours watching new players of A18, in SP and MP, deal with all the changes. I get to see their reactions, play styles and difficulties. I get to see how they handle the current AI and make BM bases. This is different feedback than I get from our testers, since I can't mindwipe them and see first reactions.
Other devs are also getting valuable feedback and we are discussing and making changes. This will help make it smoother for us and the players, when thousands of people start playing on Monday.

Just make sure you're choosing the right ones. Some of these streamers haven't streamed 7 days in months, and ONLY play when new alphas come in before dropping it like a bad habit. Hopefully you ignore those reactions because they're just streaming for the numbers and no one needs feedback from those types.

Grumbuls is one of the good ones. Legit player, plays for months on end.

 

[alchemi2]

But if you don't do streamer weekend, and release an experimental for all, the streamer will still streamer and you get feedback, you can limit your access to just those. And we normal guys without youtube channel can enjoy as well. The only difference is we put our feedback on forum 3 days late. Streamer are often distracted with recording, voicing the game. Where as we guys were just enjoying and raging about anything we don't like. Frankly our feedback is more valuable then those. Yes they make game more popular. But from developer view point end client's feedback is more important than marketing team's.

Yes but he can SEE what is happening and know whether it is just an opinion of the player or an actual problem. also many tweaks and fixes will get done prior to us playing and posting which benefits both TFP and US, so a win win.

 

[JaxTeller718]

But if you don't do streamer weekend, and release an experimental for all, the streamer will still streamer and you get feedback, you can limit your access to just those. And we normal guys without youtube channel can enjoy as well. The only difference is we put our feedback on forum 3 days late. Streamer are often distracted with recording, voicing the game. Where as we guys were just enjoying and raging about anything we don't like. Frankly our feedback is more valuable then those. Yes they make game more popular. But from developer view point end client's feedback is more important than marketing team's.

I may have agreed with this fully except for that players normally have no idea how to report anything properly. 70 percent of their bug reports are observational and emotional ("Dude i cant find any rifles and ive looted everything" when the players hasn't left his starting area and its day 3) and done under unverifiable conditions.

A player can tell you he didnt see that zombie spawn in front of him that its a bug but time and time again on streams a streamer can go back and check and go "oops yep there he was i missed him". So in that regard I see streamer reports as MUCh more valuable because they have visible evidence. A player does not always report his test conditions properly.

 

[alchemi2]

Just make sure you're choosing the right ones. Some of these streamers haven't streamed 7 days in months, and ONLY play when new alphas come in before dropping it like a bad habit. Hopefully you ignore those reactions because they're just streaming for the numbers and no one needs feedback from those types.
Grumbuls is one of the good ones. Legit player, plays for months on end.

Yea Personally I have watched a couple of twitch streams but stayed focused on the ones who do 7D2D regularly, JaWoodle, Glock9 and Capp00.

(By the way watching JaWoodle play Ravenhearst was highly entertaining and got us to give it a go)

Personally I can't wait for NotaGamerGaming to get their hands on it with the rest of us, those two will be joyous.

 

[DaVegaNL]

I haven't watched any streams, and i still haven't finished the witcher 3.. so take your time TFP!

 

[archergod]

Sorry, but I disagree. I don't need or want that much feedback at that point in development. I don't need each bug reported 50 times or 100 videos of a day 7 or 14 BM. Information overload.
Since b134 that the streamers are playing, we have committed 19 changes to the game and we have more to come. We know you want the game, but we don't feel it is ready to give you yet.

And I respect and understand that, all I am saying is you still can limit yourself to streamer video and don't have to active in forum for this weekend. even if you launch for all of us. You can choose to limit yourself.

Streamer video is not really a Testing event, it is marketing event. Experimental release is testing event. But, you guys are doing good. Just that your comment about getting info from event seems little off to me.

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The best feedback is one you can get in the moment live. A written forum post cant beat that imo.

Agreed, but if they are specialize video, watching 1hr stream to see if there is one bug is not a feedback.

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Yes but he can SEE what is happening and know whether it is just an opinion of the player or an actual problem. also many tweaks and fixes will get done prior to us playing and posting which benefits both TFP and US, so a win win.

You miss my point. It was win win even if they release direct to experimental.

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I may have agreed with this fully except for that players normally have no idea how to report anything properly. 70 percent of their bug reports are observational and emotional ("Dude i cant find any rifles and ive looted everything" when the players hasn't left his starting area and its day 3) and done under unverifiable conditions.
A player can tell you he didnt see that zombie spawn in front of him that its a bug but time and time again on streams a streamer can go back and check and go "oops yep there he was i missed him". So in that regard I see streamer reports as MUCh more valuable because they have visible evidence. A player does not always report his test conditions properly.

Again, the point is Development team can restrict their debugging while other can still enjoy, like you. Who is modder as well and can properly report. as I said before, it is marketing event not a testing event. If it is testing event it is released for Modder like you not to streamer.

 

[alchemi2]

Actually you missed the point as Fataal said "Since b134 that the streamers are playing, we have committed 19 changes to the game and we have more to come. We know you want the game, but we don't feel it is ready to give you yet."

We get to test/play the even more polished version.