Re: patch 53 feedback on harvesting
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:27 pm
Speaking as a guy who runs a jeweller character, this game is already a click-fest. I thought I had harvesting sorted with a key for prospect, heal focus, select source and dig. Nice and simple, a couple more keys for self-careplanning and bingo, easy job. Now I have a touch of RSI from working with computers all day and I can tell you, being forced to use the mouse is a pain, quiet literally.
What kind of norbert programmers change a simple key mapping to benefit one group (bravo btw) but ruin it for another, then test it inhouse and on ATS for two weeks and then release it anyway.
The same kind of norberts who display strange percentages around the interface that mean nothing, relate to things that don't work, are calculated wrongly or simply always displays zero. Man they just cant get it right.
A while ago I suggested that Nevrax are going to have less content delivered more slowly because their underlying engine is a mess. Nobody really agreed with me saying that 'bugs take time to fix'. My theory is based on the fact that a comlex mess gets harder to debug and move forward with every addition and 'fix'. Not good for an evolving world or a system that is yet to be finished. It seems I may have been right because Nevrax is now spending the effort to fix the bugs and underlying systems before moving forward with content. This sounds great on the surface but it implies the guts of the engine are not good enough. In simple programming terms this means that you have just written a big fat mumma of a program and have realised that it doesnt work very well/reliably/consistently and that it wont get you much further because of its fundamental flaws. This is normally the time when I throw my code in the bin and start again. It saves so much pain. But then again, my programs that have had these problems never seem to attract paying customers.
So anyway, well done Nevrax for the overall attempts and fixes, but get it right boys! Be good responsible programmers. If the prospected source text and bars are being hidden by mobs, dont just slap a refresh display on it so that it fights with the other graphics and flickers. Get stuck in and write some proper software that does the job correctly, completely and clearly.
And boys; if you dont know what the jewel resist percentage is, dont just bung in 0% and leave it for someone else to code and then decide to remove it. Think about it once, decide what it is and do it right first time.
And the inventory, dont just dump the items in the display in whatever order your database sorts itself, think about the user and list the items in a way that makes sense. How hard can a sort order be?
End of rant. Thanks for you patience.
What kind of norbert programmers change a simple key mapping to benefit one group (bravo btw) but ruin it for another, then test it inhouse and on ATS for two weeks and then release it anyway.
The same kind of norberts who display strange percentages around the interface that mean nothing, relate to things that don't work, are calculated wrongly or simply always displays zero. Man they just cant get it right.
A while ago I suggested that Nevrax are going to have less content delivered more slowly because their underlying engine is a mess. Nobody really agreed with me saying that 'bugs take time to fix'. My theory is based on the fact that a comlex mess gets harder to debug and move forward with every addition and 'fix'. Not good for an evolving world or a system that is yet to be finished. It seems I may have been right because Nevrax is now spending the effort to fix the bugs and underlying systems before moving forward with content. This sounds great on the surface but it implies the guts of the engine are not good enough. In simple programming terms this means that you have just written a big fat mumma of a program and have realised that it doesnt work very well/reliably/consistently and that it wont get you much further because of its fundamental flaws. This is normally the time when I throw my code in the bin and start again. It saves so much pain. But then again, my programs that have had these problems never seem to attract paying customers.
So anyway, well done Nevrax for the overall attempts and fixes, but get it right boys! Be good responsible programmers. If the prospected source text and bars are being hidden by mobs, dont just slap a refresh display on it so that it fights with the other graphics and flickers. Get stuck in and write some proper software that does the job correctly, completely and clearly.
And boys; if you dont know what the jewel resist percentage is, dont just bung in 0% and leave it for someone else to code and then decide to remove it. Think about it once, decide what it is and do it right first time.
And the inventory, dont just dump the items in the display in whatever order your database sorts itself, think about the user and list the items in a way that makes sense. How hard can a sort order be?
End of rant. Thanks for you patience.