Info on Upcoming Patches from Jon Shafer

This. I realise there's a lot of dislike for Starcraft among Civ players and yes, I'm not saying Bobby Kotick is Satan but he could certainly play him in a film.

That aside, Blizzard put an incredible amount of work into making sure their games are polished and balanced prior to release. Whether this is because they love their loyal fans or are just scared of a PR backlash for releasing an inferior product is neither here nor there - the fact is they put the time and effort in and it works.

Comparisons between Starcraft 2 and Civ V are pretty inevitable, as they're the two biggest and most anticipated strategy releases of the year, both have a huge and fanatical fanbase and they're both sequels to extremely well-received games. As we now know, the quality of the two releases could not be more different, and really highlights the flaws of the grab-cash-quick-patch-later approach 2K have taken.

 

Well, maybe 80 % of happy people according to polls.

It's just the 20 % left make a lot of noise. As usual, happy people just play the game or wait for the patches.

You don't see them whining all day on forums.

 

If they expressed their opinion in any they are not part of the "silent majority" , klokwerk They are part of a rather small fringe of vocal ( maybe not so much , but definitely not silent ) people that like the game or that has hopes of liking it in the event of a patch/x-pak solves the main issues the game has now and that deludes themselfes in thinking they are part of a "silent majority" of players that suposedely have the same opinion but do not express that

 

Also, it's possible (at least for me) to play and enjoy the game while still recognizing that there are problems--some quite large--that need addressed. It's the hyperbole that bothers me.

 

So, since you are browsing the forums, are not a happy player?

 

Some of us happy players have jobs, so we sometimes get our "Civ fix" at work by checking the forums.

As a long time Civ player, I have lurked here from time to time. I joined to take part in the CIV 5 speculation and "pre-game" show. But I'm finding less reason to check this site during my lunch breaks with the amount of negativity in the general discussion for CIV5.

As a fan of the new game, I'm now wondering if there is better site out there for actual fans of the game, as this place seems overrun by haters?

 

THe SC2 Ai really is very good, certainly compare to civ5 or to be fair any civ game. If you play a custom 1v1 game on the highest level without it cheating it plays a reasonable game. Builds stuff in a reasonable order and makes a good timing push.

 

It's always strange to me how people attempt to prop their side up with the "silent majority" as if it granted their words more importance. I see this a lot in politics too.. "THE PEOPLE WANT X! THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE!" when it's really just them and their group who want X.

If we are to consider all the "happy Civ5 players who are too busy playing" then perhaps we should also consider the people who were disappointed with Civ 5 and instead of going to the forum to push for change, simply walked away.


NOTE: Although those who really care about the Civ series and want it to improve would probably jump into the Mod Scene instead of only making noise (which is still important in any attempt for change).

Simple balance changes are very easy to implement with ModBuddy and updating XML files: such as making terrible buildings more appealing by reducing maintenance and improving benefits, slowing down tech to where you aren't replacing units as soon as you build them, and removing that annoying flat terrain penalty to defense.

 

You have to remember though, there is a high chance of mods breaking when patches are pretty much forced (unless concrete steps are taken to avoid it). So making massive mods to correct the game while the game is still in a core broken state for a long time won't make a whole lot of sense.

 

As I am a friendly person, I have a good advice for you:
When being at work, do your work. That way you not only aren't confronted with people not sharing your line of thoughts, but you are doing your job, deserving your salary AND helping your nation's GDP.

 

You going to call my Acura Dealership and buy some cars/parts/service at 6:30pm?

Didn't think so...

 

Or maybe they don't play at all, who know? maybe they don't write but at home with friend are saying "what a crappy game!!

In the end, i'm not in the heads of other and especially i don't know the opinions of the players out of forums, so why i need to say that they are happy playing Civ V than sleeping with Carmen Electra or climbing Alps? Or simply braeking their monitor with headbutts out of frustration?

I don't know.. Do you know? If yes, please can you give me lottery numbers, i always need money to buy candies...

 

..."The plan is also to make major revisions to the diplomacy system,...."
What???? Sometimes the game is difficult to start and crash/freeze after about 70 cities! The diplomacy is the first??? (of cource in diplomacy to change maps is very important)
Well, i think that u must have a look to the forum, what the fanatics suggest to be the game playable (as i see, there are over 50 bugs/errors e.t.c to fix).
I have a question. BEFORE the game becomes available to the market, they didn't check if it works??? How the peope that test it, finished a game (huge territoty)???? How checked the workers, the interface, AI e.t.c.??? To this game is difficult even to load a game!!!! For example if u want to load a game (to continue), u dont see the last saved game, u have to search it!!! (after days u may not remember the saved name...). where is the world buider to play something different (civ 3 & 4) (i don't like sdk).
well, please try to fix the (non cheap) civ 5 as soon as possible (yesterday!!!), because now the game we love is no perfect is almost bad

 

It's good to read this, and also a bit enlightening. We will be getting one patch hopefully soon, and then getting another large patch towards the end of the year. The "First Premium DLC" has been known to have been scheduled for release at the end of 2010, just when the game should be much more playable. They must have known they weren't able to complete the game 100%, gave the AI as many bonuses as they thought it needed to resemble a challange, with the plan being to release one patch for major bugs/fixes, and then a second for the AI/more tweeks and fixes. Only then can they sell DLC and not get a wave of backlash. The dlc is probably sitting in a file, and just waiting for the rest of the game to be ready till it sees the light of day.

Also if I think this way, it helps to cope and play the game. They had a plan, 2k is bad and made them release it early, but they are finishing the game and releasing patches to do so. If I tell myself this and it happens? Well then good job team! If dlc comes, and the patches too, but the game still plays like now? Well then I'll be saddened, I guess I got my moneys worth, what's coming out in January 2011?

 

Well, the game was likely originally scheduled for release on the Christmas holidays, where it would have been a more-polished finish. But there is strong evidence that Take-2 pushed the game late September, to make their 2010 financial reports look better.

 

Until every company has a profit generator like World of Warcraft that will never happen. Blizzard can afford the attention they give to each and every one of their games because they have revenue stream that is unparalleled to anyone else.

 

That's funny because I remember that the statistic being for every 1 vocal complaint there are 9 (10%) who don't say anything. So at 20% (double) it means even the silent majority are speaking up!

That's just a plain cop-out. If Civ V took a common sense approach and didn't try to include everything under the sun they would have done fine. That's how Blizzard does it. Most people complain about the simplicity of their games, but they are reliable and entertaining enough to play.

My biggest complaint is Civ V had no open beta. Pre-orders were way back in June and they had plenty of time for FREE open beta testing (3 full months) and could have worked out many major issues and could have had a decent release.

realistically no one expects a flawless game, but this sloppy release of Civ V is absolutely unacceptable.

This was my first pre-order in a long time and I broke my cardinal rule as I trusted the Civ franchise. I guess it just goes to show you can't trust anyone.

Needless to say I'll never pre-order again no matter how much I trust a product. Businesses only care about the bottom line.

I just hope the patches fix this up quickly, and hopefully they get them out fast instead of holding on to them.

well, break time's over. Back to Civ V and hoping to actually finish a game. Is it,"Fith time's a charm?", that is if I mind my Ps and Qs.

-=Mark=-
ps, Thanks for responding to us Jon Shaefer. It helps to hear from people instead of the majority of times of people hiding in shadows.

 

Can you link any source for this "strong evidence" ?

 

I honestly don't understand why so many people would prefer Civ5 to end up like Gran Turismo 5, that have been postponed for 3 years because of "polishing" . I think they should give us the game as soon as it functions adequately and then they can patch it later. Using this method they will have much better feedback than just using a handful of beta testers.

 

Seems, you say that right. While i am quite negative about CIV 5, i would not say i hate it but what i do know is that i dislike the direction the game is going. One of the places to let "them" know about my feelings is right here. So yes, i post negative post mostly, since that's how i feel about it. Aldo i try hard to enjoy it, chanhing my mind and enjoy with what i have. Only to discover, the more i play, the more i dislike it. The "tactical" warfare with all his flaws is the worst part of it, for me. Which means that if CIv continues this path, my days with CIV are over.

So, excuse my madness and/or rants. I have to accept, that after 4 enjoyable CIV's, it is time to close the book. And that is hard to swallow.