ATTN Firaxis: New patch in the works?

[Cabay Jet]

I think Firaxis' main problem is that they are not paying as much attention to their flagship product as they should. I mean, come on! If you were the owner of a gaming company wouldn't you kill for the opportunity to capitalize on a game as legendary as Civilization? They really blew it in that regard, in my opinion.

I'm not really concerned with bugs in the final release game, every game has at least a few bugs when it's released. What's really angering me right now is that every time they try to fix something, they break something else in the process, and, in effect, these patches keep piling on to the disappointment caused by BtS and even vanilla Civ IV as a whole. That's what's getting on my nerves, and if they keep doing crap like this they're going to loose the developing rights to the Civilization series.

 

[Duuk]

Even assuming you were actually "obligated"... Were you obligated to do so in a 3rd party venue?

Yes, because Firaxis operates no venue of their own and CFC and Poly are known to have direct contact with Firaxis. By default, Firaxis has agreed that Poly and CFC _are_ their direct representative websites.

So the obligation to post that Firaxis released a buggy patch falls to CFC and Poly.

 

[Bhruic]

By default? You can't make something a direct representative of something else "by default". Especially since Firaxis does have a website. They may lack a forum, but a forum is not a necessity to report bugs, or general dissatisfaction. They have email addresses. That would be the way to directly contact them.

Bh

 

[arstal]

Since most of the problems have been easily fixable by the community- no harm no foul. That said, Firaxis should get a wag of the finger for how BTS has been handled so far...

 

[DigitalBoy]

Agreed.

Solution:

(1) A really great patch that actually fixes problems rather than creates new ones.

(2) A scenario that sends factions to Mars based on philosophies, a new supermodern tech tree, mindworms, and instead of alien invaders -- folks from the "mother planet" trying to reassert their rights?

Something value added... just a thought

What does this has to do with getting what you paid for? I didn't think that "a scenario that sends factions to Mars based on philosophies, a new supermodern tech tree, mindworms, and instead of alien invaders -- folks from the 'mother planet' trying to reassert their rights" was among Beyond the Sword's advertized features.

I haven't been following the whole customer relations scene, but I think that attacking a single poster for trying to inform the community is pretty irresponsible. That'll learn him to try and be helpful.

 

[LiDDiS]

I think a small patch that fixes MP, and a few bugs is a reasonable request. I'm sure they could have something to that effect out in a week or less if they really wanted it.

 

[LiDDiS]

And let's face it. If you use Bh's patch single player is perfectly playable.

 

[svkenney]

What does this has to do with getting what you paid for?

Compensation for the fan base because they did *not* get what they paid for (i.e. a working add-on), and repairing the Firaxis image...

Is it necessary? Probably not. Is something like this a good public relations move? Probably so...

Of course, if BTS and all the patches worked swimmingly, then no need to toss a bone to the fan base. No need to do it now either, but there's little question players are dissatisfied with how buggy BTS seems to be.

 

[JFLNYC]

It's funny.. When I was a kid, if you didn't get what you paid for and you were unsatisfied, you were OBLIGATED to complain to the company and the company was OBLIGATED to listen to your complaints if they wanted to keep a successful company (remember, 'customers first?').. Now you get punished for complaining and/or get insulted by kiddies who think it's not 'c000l' to complain/keep companies in check.

I guess we grew up at around the same time! If you think about it, there are really only a small handful of posters who consistently defend Firaxis' behavior at every opportunity. They tend not to give an inch in terms of rationalizing everything Firaxis does. There's always some reason, some excuse why Firaxis can't get it right, do it on time and/or communicate effectively about it.

Why is this small band so unwilling to criticize Firaxis not one bit? One can only speculate. Of course, it could be they honestly believe that Firaxis can do no wrong. But, since everybody's human and Firaxis/Take2 have had more than their share of public problems, it's unlikely anyone could reasonably find their behavior above reproach every single time. I suspect it's more likely some hidden motivation which colors their view. Maybe they own stock in Take2 or perhaps one or more of them dreams of following in Alex' footsteps by moving from a helpful part of the posting community into a paying job at Firaxis.

But those of us customers who criticize Firaxis' approach to patching and communicating have every right to do so and to do so in a public forum such as this.

 

[jkp1187]

Guess I misunderstood the poll. I thought the question was whether or not a new patch would be nice, and my answer to that is: yes. Firaxis is under no obligation to announce (least of all on this forum) that a new patch is in the works.

I must say, in most cases if a product works in a way that is unacceptable to me, I definitely would complain. However, if that product is a mere retail purchase with an MSRP of less than $30.00, in most cases, I would simply take the product back and ask for my money back. In fact, I did exactly that with many games that were unacceptable to me -- Birth of the Federation really sticks out in my mind. That sucker went back to the store after one week of trying to enjoy it.

Point is, if you're really dissatisfied with the product, ask for your money back and offer to surrender the DVD-ROMs to the manufacturer. Or, just sell it on eBay. Or, even better, try to help fix it yourself -- Civ is good in that you can work 'under the hood' on it to some extent, and some very generous individuals such as Solver and Bhuric are doing just that for their own benefit as well as the community's. Maybe it's just the age I grew up in, but if something is not working correctly, I try to fix it instead of just sitting around complaining.

Is the product perfect? No. But it's good enough for me -- especially with both the 3.13 patch and the 'unofficial' patch by Bhuric, otherwise I wouldn't still be playing it. And it is good enough for a lot of other people, otherwise they wouldn't be playing it.

 

[Smidlee]

Why is this small band so unwilling to criticize Firaxis not one bit?

Count me in this small number. I'm a big supporter to both Firaxis and Stardock. Just look at what Firaxis did with civ4 especially BTS shows me they did listen to their fans and tries to give us what we ask for.

 

[vilemerchant]

Count me in this small number. I'm a big supporter to both Firaxis and Stardock. Just look at what Firaxis did with civ4 especially BTS shows me they did listen to their fans and tries to give us what we ask for.

Unless of course we ask for a timely patch that actually fixes the problems

 

[Smidlee]

Unless of course we ask for a timely patch that actually fixes the problems

Then when we do get what we ask for it cause other problems.

 

[JFLNYC]

I must say, in most cases if a product works in a way that is unacceptable to me, I definitely would complain. However, if that product is a mere retail purchase with an MSRP of less than $30.00, in most cases, I would simply take the product back and ask for my money back.

There's an important distinction here. I've said more than once that I think BtS is a great game, worth every penny and gives me hours of enjoyment. But here we're just discussing patches and the patching process. I'm not going to return a game I think is great (bugs and all) because the patching process sucks. OTOH, it makes sense to discuss the issues with other fanatics with the knowledge that Firaxis checks in on this (and other) boards, so bugs might get fixed.

 

[vilemerchant]

There's an important distinction here. I've said more than once that I think BtS is a great game, worth every penny and gives me hours of enjoyment. But here we're just discussing patches and the patching process. I'm not going to return a game I think is great (bugs and all) because the patching process sucks. OTOH, it makes sense to discuss the issues with other fanatics with the knowledge that Firaxis checks in on this (and other) boards, so bugs might get fixed.

This is exactly right. It's plainly obvious their testing procedure is almost nonexistant, so if we WEREN'T crying and moaning about the bugs they might never be fully realised and therefore never fixed. This latest patch would have been great, if only SOMEONE had of actually played it for a few hours first to verify that everything worked as intended.

 

[Troymk1]

Even assuming you were actually "obligated"... Were you obligated to do so in a 3rd party venue? Were you obligated to take out a newspaper ad, for example, decrying the company? If you saw someone who worked at the company relaxing at the bar, were you obligated to attack them? Or were you simply obligated to take it up with the company themselves.

These forums are not run by Firaxis. They are not Firaxis/Take Two property. While some Firaxis members do post here (or did), they don't do so as Firaxis representitives. Therefore this is not the proper venue to "complain". Either email Firaxis/Take Two directly, or write them a letter, call them, whatever you wish. But attacking them here is not the proper behaviour.

Bh

hear hear.....or is it here here?

 

[Troymk1]

But those of us customers who criticize Firaxis' approach to patching and communicating have every right to do so and to do so in a public forum such as this.

And what about the rights of those sick of reading these posts by the usual suspects over and over?

You may note that I said there would be bugs within the patch and there is.

This isn't console gaming.

Is their beta testing solid? Not recently. It seems they lack manpower....where are their offices??

 

[vilemerchant]

Is their beta testing solid? Not recently. It seems they lack manpower....where are their offices??

Nothing to do with manpower. Half the bugs could have been discovered within an hour of playing. It's clearly not tested AT ALL.

 

[Duuk]

Nothing to do with manpower. Half the bugs could have been discovered within an hour of playing. It's clearly not tested AT ALL.

or 5 turns of multiplayer testing.

2-5 minutes.

Asking for 5 minutes of testing multiplayer code is apparently attacking Firaxis.

I'll say this: I won't buy another Firaxis product at full retail again. I'll wait until it's in the discount bin.

Other game companies I purchase from also release buggy products, but I buy anyway because I know that the company will patch it as quickly as they can once issues come to light and also communicate with the customer and say, "Wow. We totally torked that one. ETA on a patch is a week or two."

 

[Fjordson]

Yea, the patch really has seemed to mess with the MP gameplay - I really hope that the patch has.. a patch