appreciation for the dev.

[Tabarnak]

Definitively improved game. Faster turns actually have a good effect for multiplayer too. We have more choices to do in the game, more paths, more land ''sensibility'', etc. Wtg devs. Put some work on multi for more stabilisation and i will be a lot happier.

 

[Fabiano79]

I do want to ask, is there no thank you for the continued efforts to improve/fix the game? You say "It is like say 'thank you' for someone who broke your window and is now fixing it" and then say "They are just doing their jobs after releasing a incomplete game." You're right, they released a buggy as hell product that was out a few months earlier than it should have been - and we can speculate as to the reason (they're lazy/cash grabbing VS the publisher pushed them VS whatever) all day long, but that fact stands. I'm not thanking them for sending us a broken window, I'm thanking them for trying to fix the window after they could by all rights say "ha ha!" and walk off counting their money at this point.

The guys working on these patches are not making a ton of money unless Firaxis is some odd anomaly in the computer gaming industry. They're poor buggers who are in there after the big fanfare, critical acclaim, the payday of release, and they're slugging away trying to deal with the aftermath of a very polarizing release of a popular franchise. "They're doing their jobs" - at this point, there is no firm obligation to them for their jobs to even exist. That job is trying to take this problematic product and make it something more of us will enjoy. Don't they deserve a little thanks, not for the initial release, but for sticking around after to clean up the mess? And I'll repeat, they do NOT have to be doing that - they could, again, be laughing their way to the bank and telling you "let modders fix it." They aren't. You really can't see past "I didn't like this game at release" to at least extend a little bit of gratitude?

After sitting through YEARS of Civ IV patches turning a game that I thought "meh, SMAC was better" to the best TBS game of all time, I'm more than willing to thank the continued - and not required - efforts of Firaxis's patching team. I'm amazed more aren't because they can't see past the initial release.

Sry, but you are wrong. You forget that they need to keep improving the game because they still need to make profit with DLCs and expansion packs.

Nobody nowdays release a game and just stop working on it.

And no, I dont think I should at "least extend a little bit of gratitude".

I do say thank you, but to the modders, who are doing a great work for free just to help the civ community. Alpaca, Thalasius, the guy from NIGHTS, all have my gratitude.

 

[AfterShafter]

Sry, but you are wrong. You forget that they need to keep improving the game because they still need to make profit with DLCs and expansion packs.

Nobody nowdays release a game and just stop working on it.

And no, I dont think I should at "least extend a little bit of gratitude".

I do say thank you, but to the modders, who are doing a great work for free just to help the civ community. Alpaca, Thalasius, the guy from NIGHTS, all have my gratitude.

Actually, no. Quite a few games are released with very limited patching outside of what Firaxis calls "stability hotfixes." The sweeping balance changes, the added buildings, etc etc, which constitutes the two major patches they're released, and the types of patches that were released for Civ IV, are not necessarily the norm in the gaming community. Firaxis spends years repeatedly releasing some of the most comprehensive and significant patches I've ever seen in the gaming industry. Firaxis may not release the smoothest products out the gate (lord knows Civ III and IV had major issues all the way through), but I can list the number of developers I know of who continue to release patches as big or as long as they do on one hand. So I'm just curious - how many devs can you list that continues to release patches like this years after release? Because they DID release major patches for years after release with Civ IV.

And you know, again, you say "they keep improving the game because they still need to make profit with DLCs." You ever stop to think they could release the patches they're releasing for free with the DLCs?... And heck, what DLC were they making a buck off of with Civ IV?

There are a lot of computer programmers working at Firaxis who may or may not have been involved in the original release and probably make moderate wages who get the distinct pleasure of coming to their games' site and seeing someone saying "They should be doing it anyways! No thanks to them!" The virtual equivalent of their audience spitting on them and saying "get back to work." I know how I'd react to that type of fan appreciation...

Firaxis, over the past five or so years, has shown some of the longest term and most significant support for their games in the industry. Sure, their games don't come out the gate perfectly, but they have shown they put in a longer term effort to fixing them than a VAST majority of devs. Painting it as if this were just normal has got to be a huge insult to those poor buggers slaving away. The usual game patch in the industry is "multiplayer stability improved, fixed a menu crash bug." Heck, recently waiting for Gearbox to fix various balance and bug issues in Borderlands made me wish I was dealing with Firaxis...

 

[Fabiano79]

Ok mate, I surrender.

Thank you dev with moderate wage.

 

[AfterShafter]

Meh, one of my closest friends made the mistake of going into game development as a programmer and did it for some seven years. Basically, he worked for a few more large scale game development houses over the course of a few years (he was involved with No One Lives Forever and a few smaller games) and he now works on some internet game meant to teach you languages. He went from the romanticized large game developers to the crappy little who-the-heck-cares internet game development because the former was such a crappy, thankless job. Harsh deadlines, high expectations, not spectacular pay, and a fanbase that is all but ready to send you a fecal filled envelope because some gun doesn't shoot as far as in the previous iteration of a series.

It's not just an issue of saying "thank you," it's an issue of realizing there's some poor bugger out there fighting deadlines and generally sitting in a cubicle making not that much money to appease a bunch of thankless internet goons. If you want to blame someone for how Civ V started out, the people working on patches now are not the ones you're looking for. They deserve a bit of a pat on the back - most devs would be releasing stability hotfixes and calling them patches at this point.

I just fee like if you seriously want to send ill will to the people doing the patching NOW, you're either totally misdirecting frustration over the state of the release or you really don't have any sympathy for people working a pretty meh job.

 

[Thormodr]

I too appreciate what the Devs have done.

The patch does make the game a lot more playable.

They are certainly listening to playtesting group which is wise as who truly knows better what Civ fans want then Civ fans.

I think it is not easy to be in Firaxis' shoes with the dead weight that is 2K Games making their life difficult.

However, there are still fundamental problems with the game that need to be addressed such as an AI that still very bad, diplomacy that needs a lot of work (though it is somewhat better now) and multiplayer that is still a mess.

Also, the new patch introduced some graphical glitches to my game that weren't there previously. The game is still playable but it's somewhat annoying to have to deal with them. I can see floating images of various objects in the lower right corner of the screen from time to time.

So, I am appreciative of the work so far but we all know that a heck of a lot of work still needs to be done. Keep at it Firaxis.

PS I wanted to show my appreciation for the Frankenstein playtesters for the good work they do. They deserve credit too.

 

[V. Soma]

I also think Devs deserve appreciation for their work on patch 217.
Really, the game is put on a good track... keep it on, guys!

But... I repeat: keep working, keep working, as:

- the crashes are still there, especially in the new Polynesia scenario (at late turns)
- there are bugs...
- there is more work needed on AI, Diplomacy, balance...

I think a quick hotfix with obvious bugfixes and about playabilty (crashes, freezes, etc)
would be most welcome and needed

 

[Keejus]

Good job, guys. My game's running better than ever, and I'm enjoying the gameplay more with each patch.

 

[Haig]

I've basically turned from a hater to a lover, part of it goes for the patch and sensing that developers care for the game and give great things to it in the future, and part of it is also accepting some changes and developing new strategies.

Now I'm a kid in a candy store, just devouring all info and thinking of new strategies..

 

[Babri]

Also, the new patch introduced some graphical glitches to my game that weren't there previously. The game is still playable but it's somewhat annoying to have to deal with them. I can see floating images of various objects in the lower right corner of the screen from time to time.

That is an old glitch. It has happened to me before this patch.

 

[DST1348]

Hello,

I too think the devs deserve some positive feedback! So, here it is: .

As others pointed out already, they don't earn millions of dollars but have to pay their rent as everybody else. The patch was a big step in the right direction, and the community should tell them so too. Far too often people only complain and rarely show gratitude. I hope this thread gives them the motivation to work on future patches, which are still needed.

 

[Strategist83]

I'm in the camp that won't clap hands for this.

Sorry, but the standard is just too low. It's now even just Civ, it's games from a lot of (most!) other publishers as well.

Gamers are too complacent and too willing to put up with shoddy products. Making products of such poor quality would cause companies to go out of business in any other field. Instead, we here have people creating 'thank you' posts. I do admire the attempted positivity but I simply can't say I agree.

Even though this patch is very good, it's not even the bare minimum of what us paying customers are in our good rights to demand. They've spend nearly SIX MONTHS to create this patch. Half a year! A patch which, in a sense, is little more than a mod with some small tweaks. The patch doesn't touch on the game's two primary problems: Poor AI and abysmal multiplayer. These problems are supposedly scheduled to be fixed after further half a year of waiting, if not more. Is it reasonable to patch up a product to a basic functioning status more than a year after you've been paid for it? Nope, they're merely fixing the broken window, for sure - and barely.

One would think that with the increased value of the gaming industry that the workings of the free market would push developers to create ever better, more refined products. Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be the case - and, to make matters worse, the price of games is as high as ever even though the 'promise' was for prices to sharply drop with such innovations as Steam that saves the industry of the expenses of physical products.

Sorry about the doom and gloom, but honestly, us modern gamers are not seeing the quality and service we should see, at all. Unless you like StarCraft, of course. There is a game with a level of quality I'd be willing to applaud.

 

[Toulouse]

If you want to blame someone for how Civ V started out, the people working on patches now are not the ones you're looking for.

Of course. But who then? Who can we direct our ill-will towards? Because I want to direct a big bunch of it to anyone involved in making the decision to release this steaming pile of a game, for charging $50, for chipping off core content into DLC, for the audacity of calling this Civ.

Jesus H. They wonder why people are tempted to pirate games?

 

[RealHuhn]

Thanks for the patch. Many more choices in the early game and I appreciate the continued support!

But it's still kinda boring. In particular, I don't like the tech tree. Spending 30 turns to backfill useless crap really spoils the fun for me. No dead-end techs, no tech race vs the AI for an exclusive tech, too few possible slingshots, too many prerequisites per tech etc.

Tech trading in CIV4 was just more interesting than those random or exploitable research agreements

 

[dilettante]

One more stability patch fix and one more price drop. By then I'll probably buy along with the x-pak. (39.99 base game + 50 USD for x-pak... yikes )

Keep going devs and good job I know you guys are trapped in the thankless cubicle farm game but many of us are still here supporting all of you. Thanks to you guys and the Franky team helping us players... oh and the mods as well.

let's all (devs, modders, testers, civfanatics) keep making civ5 into something better than when it launched... together

aside: I want to play civ5 after watching Bibor's let's plays. It looks quite interesting. Thanks Bibor and keep making more LP's.

 

[spider1]

I've always liked the game, but it had some things about it before the patch that irratated me. The patch fixed my biggest issue, which was turn lag time in late games. Now fix deplomacy and I'll love it even more.

Good job guys.

 

[jdog5000]

Yes, thanks devs!

 

[gingerbill]

i'll tip my hat to the devs for the last patch , much better game now , alot of fun

 

[Saarud]

Thanks dev you're doing a great job.

Btw I loved the game on the relaese day more so than I ever liked Civ 4 (however Civ 1 made the best impression on me when I bought it in 1991 or so). Civ 4 was always quite boring imho and only thanks to the superb mods it become playable for me. Civ 5 was fun right out of the box (despite severe balance issues and a very bad AI) and with some expansions and some mods it will become even better.

 

[bossconian]

You honestly think the guys doing coding for these patches earned a couple of million dollars? Or just about anyone on the development team, for that matter?

Thanks to the devs for the continued support. Keep the good patches coming.

The same company of the same devs worte the game in "complete joke state" and sold it in hunderds of thousand copies and now after months I'm supposed to say "Ohh - thank you" cos the game is somwhat more what it should have been initially ? They haven't touched crucial issues as multiplayer / AI / diplomacy and many more base engine issues. They mostly just introduced some game balance / xml changes that already had been made by game fans.


One says - they have been rushed ? They haven't been given enough time and resources. I may agree. Completing this kind of work is not art where you need to be tallented and bit of lucky. This is a project management issue. However as I may appreciate hard work of my builder I wouldn't appreciate fact that he left my roof leaking and has been patching it up for months after he collected the money.

This is sad how we are being ripped off these days and how months after release we haven't still got what they promissed they are selling to us.

Sorry - I'm not impressed. And I'm not appreciating a game where there is no simple minimise to taskbar / maximise button when I play in windowed mode. For this or that reason they've clearly shown lack of attention both to details and base engine of the game.