March Patch Notes (formerly february)

[bryanw1995]

Why do we "have to ask ourselves" this question? I'm not managing their staff, my thoughts won't influence how or what they do. Significant aspects of the game (multiplayer for example) are pretty broken and many minor things continue to hang around as annoyances.

As a consumer I'm displeased at all of the negative aspects of this game and haven't played it in over a month. This patch looks like it's made some good changes, but not enough for me to try it out again, so I will wait for another patch.

As for whether or not I will ask myself where I would "rather have them devoting their programming resources" - I don't care. They haven't seemed to do too much right so I don't put much faith in their future efforts. If they get it right, good for them. I've given them my money already and won't give them any more. Maybe some day I'll be able to milk some more value out of the money I've already spent, but that day is not today.

this just goes to show that you can't please everybody. It appears that the designers have put a lot of thought/effort into this patch. They've listened to successful modders. They've gotten overwhelmingly positive comments in this thread, but it's still not enough for some people. We are all entitled to our opinions, but if, after all of the aformentioned came to pass, you still won't play the game, what has possessed you to continue spending time in the civ5 forums area?

 

[bryanw1995]

I've never had Civ V crash on me, or any of my games. My computer runs just fine because I keep up to date on all my drivers and Microsoft updates. I hear a lot about folks having applications and games crashing, I've never had a problem with that.

When I used to build my own computers I had problems, but since I've been buying Dells it's been smooth sailing.

Where is ROFL mao when you need him?

 

[Blue Oyster]

It didn't sound like a big deal, but so far I'm liking the extra cows. Who's with me?

I'm still on the road and haven't played yet, but I think it's...wait for it...udderly delightful. Milk maids would have been a nice touch.

 

[bryanw1995]

My opinions will change more drastically when the game does. My opinions about this game have changed a lot since I created my account here. Also, this is what he wrote:


I'm unclear of what he intended to say exactly, that's why I was inquiring.

Anyway, the main points behind all of my posts are this:
1) Game did not meet purchase value.
2) Game has not reached purchase value.
3) I have stopped playing game.
4) Game is showing slow improvement.
5) Game may reach purchase value eventually.
6) I will play the game at a later date to re-evaluate.
7) I want to enjoy this game in the future.
8) I do not expect to enjoy this game any time in the *near* future.

150 hours divided by $50 is around 33 cents per hour. Even if 2/3 of that time was spent just playing to try to "like" it again, you still paid $1 per hour of actual gaming enjoyment. Is that terrible? how many games are old/stale/boring after 50+ hours anyway? I would say it's the vast majority. A better judge of how good a game is would be how many times/for how long you bring back the game after the initial romance wears off. Is it like Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate, or previous Civ iterations (and AC)? For me, I bring those out every year or two for a couple games. Dragon Age is probably going to be there for me as well, though I think it's too new to know for sure yet. Will civ5 get there? Maybe. The real issue that many people have with civ5 is not that it's not a good value for $50, it's that it's not as FANTASTIC a value as other civ games have been for them in the past. I don't have a game timer or whatever, but I would wager that I averaged 4 hours per day for 3 years on civ4. With both expansions I spent around $150 for 4000 hours. rough math yields 3 cents per hour enjoyed, and I still bust civ4 out sometimes to play final(er) frontier. And star trek mod looks interesting, and... that's what we want out of civ4. If we get it then all will be forgiven in a year or two, if we don't then no amount of fixes/patches/updates/free stuff will convince us to come back.

Speaking of what we can expect out of the game, is it a coincidence that the builder strategy appears to be much more useful/playable/fun now than in pervious patches? I've been a big fan of shafer, but I wonder if some of this is because he's gone and other voices are now being heard?

 

[bryanw1995]

Yeah, I intentionally stopped playing for a few days prior to the patch release precisely to avoid this type of issue. Kind of lame, but, somewhat unavoidable.

I wonder, is it possible to get Steam to not download the patch until one is done one's game? It just auto updates for me. Hrm... *starts examining Steam interface*

only sure way is to completely disable internet on your gaming rig until the game is completed.

 

[Arsenic Steel]

I'll throw you a curve ball, swing.
Strike three is actually v1217. You're out.

The Label spins so fast, nobody can read Rawlings on it or keep up with the current relief pitcher in the 8th inning.
We're heading to extra innings. Have a seat.
Home run.
Firaxis wins.

So who is Firaxis winning against in your analogy?

I am just as curious as pjdodd. This is yet another retooling to change the game. And from the general reactions the Friendship system and SPs will be revamped again. While these endeavors of the devs can be fun to watch and learn from for modders, from the standpoint of plain old players it can get to the point of getting tired of feeling like they are playing an extended beta.

150 hours divided by $50 is around 33 cents per hour. Even if 2/3 of that time was spent just playing to try to "like" it again, you still paid $1 per hour of actual gaming enjoyment. Is that terrible? how many games are old/stale/boring after 50+ hours anyway?

The Civ series is not like every other game on the market. 60min = 60min but 1 hour of COD playtime is not the same as 1 hour of Civ playtime. 50hr of gameplay is abysmal for sim type games.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Yeah, I intentionally stopped playing for a few days prior to the patch release precisely to avoid this type of issue. Kind of lame, but, somewhat unavoidable.

I wonder, is it possible to get Steam to not download the patch until one is done one's game? It just auto updates for me. Hrm... *starts examining Steam interface*

only sure way is to completely disable internet on your gaming rig until the game is completed.

Or you can just keep Steam in offline mode. It never switches to online mode without at least asking you first. Cutting off all internet is a tad excessive.

 

[bryanw1995]

yeah, I know, but I've just heard enough people complain that updates were disabled or steam was in offline mode to be very leery of that. iirc, you must change to offline mode or disable updates again every time you log into steam (if computer restarts for example).

 

[godotnut]

I seem to have just downloaded another patch moments ago--probably a hotfix--anyone know anything about this?

 

[forty2j]

I seem to have just downloaded another patch moments ago--probably a hotfix--anyone know anything about this?

Per 2K's forums, it's the bit that lets you know that Polynesia is now available.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

I'm still on the road and haven't played yet, but I think it's...wait for it...udderly delightful. Milk maids would have been a nice touch.

I'm gonna re-texture 2 of them B/W since they're still too noisy.
Gathering dog for hire, please. Barn them once improved.
Do somethin'!

 

[Zyxpsilon]

The real issue that many people have with civ5 is not that it's not a good value for $50, it's that it's not as FANTASTIC a value as other civ games have been for them in the past.

QFT...
I slap a good mod right in, only then i understand what the 4thX really means; i'm able to explore a lot deeper if i decide to.
Past tense. Forever.

 

[PieceOfMind]

yeah, I know, but I've just heard enough people complain that updates were disabled or steam was in offline mode to be very leery of that. iirc, you must change to offline mode or disable updates again every time you log into steam (if computer restarts for example).

As far as I know, if Steam was in offline mode last time you used it, even after restarting the computer it still starts in offline mode.

The people complaining about the game updating without them wanting it to are typically ones who use steam in online mode most of the time (understandable considering it's the best way to use steam for petty much every game there is on steam) and had set civ5 to "do not automatically update this game". That toggle is bugged for some reason or other, making the least inconvenient yet sufficient way to prevent steam updating civ5 be putting steam in offline mode.

It might go without saying, but no games at all will update while steam is in offline mode.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

So who is Firaxis winning against in your analogy?

The visiting team (Frankenstein), the hard-core fans, the crowd watching, the market of casual gamers, 2K pressure tactics to release early - should i go on?

X-Com:Enemy Unknown is still running in a DosBox, almost two decades later.
Why?
It was also patched and followed up by indirect DLC (or if your prefer Expansions) ; TFTD & Apocalypse.
Bring on the Yankees.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

As far as I know, if Steam was in offline mode last time you used it, even after restarting the computer it still starts in offline mode.

Nope, it got the MsConfig treatment as much as Adobe (and other illicit snoopers) updater the very minute it finished installing back in November.
I *MUST* click on its icon to be politely presented a choice... 95% of the time, i select; OFF-Line Mode.
And over the next few days 25-40% will be ON-Line for Polynesia achievements.

Then, it's right back on LeoPaRd's task(s).

 

[SpearMan153]

Speaking of what we can expect out of the game, is it a coincidence that the builder strategy appears to be much more useful/playable/fun now than in pervious patches? I've been a big fan of shafer, but I wonder if some of this is because he's gone and other voices are now being heard?

Yes I've been wondering about possible "creative differences" between Shafer and whoever is in charge now

 

[bryanw1995]

It's really weird for me to say that, since I feel like I was often in a position of defending him from the unbelievable torrent of attacks that he got in the "jon shafer has left firaxis" thread. In fact, I was extremely worried that the game would head off in a completely different direction once he left. That doesn't seem to be the case now because the latest patch has mostly built upon the earlier changes to the builder vs ics vs warmonger strategies, but it definitely feels to have gone much further down that road at least. In my mind at least, having more options in playstyle will keep the game "fun" longer. Besides, anything that uses thal's mods is great in my book!

 

[Mustakrakish]

Not just more cows, but less wheat, the most annoying resource.

What!? I love wheat!

 

[spider1]

Where is ROFL mao when you need him?

If you're laughing at me because I can't build PCs right, then I'll laugh along with you. It's why I quit doing it. But as to me not having system or app crashes, I don't. Ever. I'm very careful about what get's loaded on my PC.

To the thread, I've already noticed that the other civs build a lot more wonders now than they previously did.

 

[Arsenic Steel]

The visiting team (Frankenstein), the hard-core fans, the crowd watching, the market of casual gamers, 2K pressure tactics to release early - should i go on?

Please don't because I could not disagree more and don't want to get sucked any further into your analogy.