Info on Upcoming Patches from Jon Shafer

[Zadox]

Seems that Civ0.V can be shelved for some weeks or months.

I've unfortunately already had to do that. I'm unable to finish any of the games I've started due to them randomly blowing up with errors.

I've very disappointing to hear that the fixes are coming in "a few weeks" and then "later this year".

 

[Novem]

I'd like to see some acknowledgment of design and scaling problems. It would help their creditability enormously if they could show some evidence that they've heard the feedback and have a plan for responding to it.

By scaling problems, I mean simple things. Like turning on a marathon speed game and having 19 turns to make a scout followed by 52 turns to make a worker. Is there someone who looked at that, nodded, and said "what an exciting start"?

It's not like there isn't anything to do while this is going down. I'm busy with the starting warrior group running around taking down barbarians for gold and looking around for the next place I'm going to put a city.

If you do it right you don't even have to wait for worker to be built, you should have enough gold to purchase a worker. My build queue on Marathon is usually, scout/scout/warrior/settler. I'll purchase a worker when I feel I have the tech and the hexes to make it worth while.

 

[Bandit17]

To be honest, I truly think that's the case. It's in fact, a bit obvious for me. Firaxis is not Blizzard, they can't release the game "when it's done". So I think 2K gave them a release date, Sep, 21th, and they had to abide to it. In the end, it wasn't enough, but tough luck, you have to release. I think this happened and they planned the patches beforehand because they knew, at release, this was necessary.

Exactly. Smaller companies sadly have to make sacrifices and this is especially seen in the strategy niche.

Paying beta testers unite!!

So where is my option to turn off RA's again?? Tired of watching small little Ghandi giving RA's to the World Super power only to watch that super power using mech infy to run over his poor elephants! (Because that super power also has a higher research rate and a larger cash flow to have multiple RA's...)

 

[Doctor Phibes]

At least there's some sense of priority in what Shafer said. While Civ5 is currently boring, that doesn't make me actively angry. The pathetic, broken, diplomacy does - can see why it's first on the list. Much as I hate to, I'm sure we can cut him some slack on bugfixes too, I imagine he's taking it for granted that a lot of those will be in an early day patch. They usually are with newly released games.

 

[ohioastronomy]

It's not like there isn't anything to do while this is going down. I'm busy with the starting warrior group running around taking down barbarians for gold and looking around for the next place I'm going to put a city.

If you do it right you don't even have to wait for worker to be built, you should have enough gold to purchase a worker. My build queue on Marathon is usually, scout/scout/warrior/settler. I'll purchase a worker when I feel I have the tech and the hexes to make it worth while.

Moving two pieces around for dozens of turns (assuming that you don't lose them) is, well, not terribly fun. Granted you can buy a worker and have your city spend ages on units or a monument or the like. But I can't detect any playtesting at all of the large maps or slow speeds. Negative feedback on the glacial game pace at marathon has been virtually universal.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

the glacial game pace at marathon

Has it ever been exciting?

 

[silentknight111]

People complain that the game isn't perfect upon release, but I bet those are the same people who would have complained had the game been delayed until next year to make it "perfect".

Personally, I'd rather play it as it is now, a good game, knowing a future patch will make it better than have had to wait until it was "perfect"

 

[Celevin]

It's not like there isn't anything to do while this is going down. I'm busy with the starting warrior group running around taking down barbarians for gold and looking around for the next place I'm going to put a city.

If you do it right you don't even have to wait for worker to be built, you should have enough gold to purchase a worker. My build queue on Marathon is usually, scout/scout/warrior/settler. I'll purchase a worker when I feel I have the tech and the hexes to make it worth while.

Unless I'm going Liberty, I actually buy my settlers. I don't like putting my cities on hold waiting for them to pop.

 

[silentknight111]

I'll dispute that based on the fact that I am playing it right now. I think Steam statistics back me up on that. Perhaps you want to back up your statement instead of assuming it stands on its own?

Agreed. I've played 3 games to conclusion so far, and started several games that I didn't finish for various reasons. But that's the same way I played Civ4. If late in the game I feel that my winning goal has become very unlikely, I may start a new game.

I will be playing Civ 5 for months to come, and even more when it's patched to have better AI.

 

[Zogar]

Undisputable fact - Many people love this game

Undisputable fact - Many people feel cheated at the game quality and would like to have a refund.

 

[PDAquinas]

I must be getting very old and cynical.
I know that I used to be a glass full kind of person but when I read thro Mr Shafer's posts my mind has paraphrased it into

-We knew at release just how many issues it had whilst we were lying/talking it up relentlessly
-Even with my aforementioned willingness to lie when financially necessary, not even I can find a way to say that it will be fixed and or finished anytime soon
-I really do want it to be fixed and or finished and I intend sincerely to do it but I am not exactly confident by any stretch that I will be allowed to do it by my boss.

In my cynical minds defence I am not a hater of civ V. Underwhelmed yes but I'm not in the furious/how could they camp. However, I think that's actually confirmed my gut feeling that the game isn't going to be anywhere near great for a very significant amount of time. More fool me for buying it on release. I am old enough and theoretically wise enough not to get done by marketing men but I think those that planned to pick it up in a year at half the price are looking sharper by the minute.

 

[ZimbuTheMonkey]

He cant talk about details because he "sold" them to a magazine or whatever for "exclusives"..gotta pay for his world tour which is apparently vital to the game. Just like flying the 2k staff back and forth from california to Maryland instead of hiring someone local..there is a reason this company is going broke

..sick communication will lead to a sick game.

Some people are never happy.

It doesn't matter what the news or update will be, people like this will always take cynicism to an extreme level. We finally get some good news, and we know that the dev team has been listening to the complaints and is addressing them directly, but you still have to crap all over it for some reason.

What's weird is that you have the "Say no 2 net validations" tag so one can assume you don't even own the game, so why does all this concern you anyway? Why are you here just to create controversy? Can you back up ANY of the statements you have made in this post?

 

[EmpireOfCats]

Seems that Civ0.V can be shelved for some weeks or months.

My feelings exactly. December the earliest would be my guess.

 

[ohioastronomy]

the glacial game pace at marathon

Has it ever been exciting?

Civ was always slow starting in earlier versions, but there were at least things you could do (like chop rushing) which sped it up. It has never been this painfully awful before, and I just can't believe that they designed it this way on purpose. They didn't care and didn't test it, or they ignored feedback from the tests. The listed beta group was way too small to test all of the various map/size/speed combinations. Just as I wonder if anyone played an archipelago map before release and noticed that the AI couldn't handle it at all.

 

[lschnarch]

I've unfortunately already had to do that. I'm unable to finish any of the games I've started due to them randomly blowing up with errors.

I've very disappointing to hear that the fixes are coming in "a few weeks" and then "later this year".

Honestly, you haven't missed much.
I started a game today at 12 my time and since then I am here in the forums and reading in the internet, because I cannot force myself to make another turn.

And Civ games have been literally the only games I've played during the past years.
With Civ4/BtS/ROM I can spend a night and then suddenly being surprised by sunrise.

With Civ0.V I have to force myself brutally to explore the game mechanics a bit more, because it is just this: exploring the mechanics, but not having fun.

 

[DaveGold]

I can ensure that I'll be working on Civ 5 as long as I'm able to.

Is this statement completely meaningless? If he's able to work on CIV5 then he'll ensure he will. If he's not able to work on CIV5 then it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[lschnarch]

Is this statement completely meaningless? If he's able to work on CIV5 then he'll ensure he will. If he's not able to work on CIV5 then it doesn't matter anyway.

No, it means that it isn't sure that he will please us much longer.

 

[DaveGold]

People complain that the game isn't perfect upon release, but I bet those are the same people who would have complained had the game been delayed until next year to make it "perfect".

Not all all. I've worked in computing. I know what software looks like when it is written to a specification and not given full testing. Features tend to work according to specification but still be little or no use to anyone and the features don't even act as the designer intended. CIV5 is full of those sort of features. This becomes obvious when you try to get any information out of the logs and overviews - all of which are less than half the use they should be.

 

[shinkicker]

Undisputable Fact: There are games that are released ready to play, needing no patches or only minor patches.

Not many, actually. Then there's companies like Blizzard who have the in-house capital to indefinitely delay release without pressure from investors - when Diablo 3 comes out I expect it to be very close to a "final build". Firaxis apparently isn't that lucky regarding investment capital.

Firaxis should have pushed back the release date, not gotten people's hopes up and then dashed them.

What makes you think the stockholders & investors would have waited any longer for a return on their investment?

It's good to hear from Jon and I hope what he says comes to pass. I'd be happy right now if the game would just stop crashing or locking up.

 

[gunter]

Of course these Shafer words are welcome and appreciated but to me they seem really vague and definitely no details are provided so it is too early to have an opinion.

For example he says the diplomacy will be improved.... this to me means nothing until we will have some details.

The reiterated usage of " soon " or " often " or " quickly " or " pretty much " are quite scaring in terms of AI bonuses or cheating as we have experienced to deal with. I mean " quickly " means " immediately " and " often " means " always " and so on ........ these cheating even if minor ones are massive.

There is also no mention to use a " dynamic " beahaviour of the AI both on diplomacy and war , this leads to a sistematic bonus cheating instead of rendering the AI more smart....

Anyway finger crossed, Civ V is not bad and can improve further. Have a nice job Shafer and please keep us updated.