XXX is too far away!

[Dmer]

Even worse than losing BP timer on an attack BP on a mob that dies before it completes is when it happens with a BP that doesn't even target the mob (healing and buffing BPs) that don't go off and reset the damn timer.

[cidbahamut]

That wasn't what she said. They're considering enemy TP as well, which I believe they shouldn't

They're probably just using the same function to govern player and enemy TP move execution from the sound of it.

[Malthar]

Ok SE,
A bulk of the player-base are programmers. Enlist us to fix/update the code and create new content with free service as incentive. I'm tired of depending on the development team to get things done. Put together a confidentiality and non-compete agreement and let's get things done.

[Arcon]

They're probably just using the same function to govern player and enemy TP move execution from the sound of it.

Yeah, which makes sense too, but like I said, I wouldn't care much if mobs kept their TP too. How often do you even outrun mobs' TP moves these days?

Enlist us to fix/update the code and create new content with free service as incentive.

Pff, I'd do it completely for free. I'd rather pay play a good game than pay to play a buggy game, which is what I currently do. Besides, programming is fun.

[Kraggy]

The dev. team is currently investigating rule adjustments

Why do I get a very bad feeling about this? What rule adjustments are needed to fix a mechanic that was broken on release 10 years ago?

[Greatguardian]

Besides, programming is fun.

^

Why do I get a very bad feeling about this? What rule adjustments are needed to fix a mechanic that was broken on release 10 years ago?

It's not what you think it means. She's just saying that it appears that the same parent function governs player and monster TP moves (not surprising, it's more efficient that way), so they need to tweak it in such a way that it works for players and not monsters without causing a cascade of issues elsewhere down the inheritance line.

[Zubis]

Changes to large legacy systems are not easy. Even a single line of code requires a significant amount of testing, especially on a system that can't have automated tests to cover most test cases (which is what FFXI sounds like).

If you've worked as a QA tester or as a developer on a large scale gaming project then your comments are valid.

If not, go away.

[Arcon]

If you've worked as a QA tester or as a developer on a large scale gaming project then your comments are valid.

If not, go away.

Out of curiosity, which one are you? Making such generic comments sounds like you're trying to justify the existence of testers for random garbage that a monkey with half a brain could figure out. Instead of throwing around blanket statements like that tell me what could possibly go wrong here.

Large legacy systems can still be extremely easy to edit, if they're well designed from ground up. Despite what people may think of SE's poor judgment, I do believe the underlying coding is extremely adaptable and versatile. You can see this clearly from the myriad of effects that you can equip through gear. Being able to buff for the casting time based on spell, type, skill and element depending on several variables (time of day, moonphase, weather) shows you how well designed the game is. Unless they handle literally thousands of seperate cases, hardcoded, (which would be an insult to any programmer to even assume) it means that their game design allows buffs to plug into the chain of evaluation for certain variables at any given point, making adjustments in myriad ways. Additive boni, multiplicative boni, introducing new steps in the evaluation process (like there's at least two seperate DT calculations), none of that would be possible if SE designed a game as crappy as you imagine it to be. And this is nothing compared to how WS damage calculation works and how you can modify it. You can literally influence every step of it, base damage, WSC, pDIF, critical pDIF, direct damage multiplier (also at least two tiers), and that's all before the plenty ways of damage reduction are applied: xDT1, xDT2, SS-like effects, Phalanx-like effects, or just downright weird effects (like Mana Wall).

So I have good reason to believe that SE's code doesn't suck as much as people like to believe. And yes, I've worked on gaming projects myself, networked 3D games as well. Admittedly, not nearly as big as FFXI, but who has? Are you saying only commercial MMOG developers get to discuss this because everyone else has absolutely no idea? It's not about the size of the project as much as it is about the complexity, and on that note I consider myself qualified.

I also disagree with you on the automated testing. They could easily write scripts that feed random variables into a function and test the results, compare it with the old function and single out the "TP lost cases". If those test cases return the same TP that was put in as one of the variables and all other test cases have the same result as the matching test using the old function, they've just simulated an arbitrarily large test and gotten a positive result. If there's deviations, they can single out those cases and analyze where it went wrong, and what exactly went wrong. Testing done, why would you need human testing on for this? The way the variables are put in is the same, only the chain of evaluation changes, so there's nothing a tester could do that a random variable sampling couldn't simulate.

[Zubis]

Making such generic comments sounds like you're trying to justify the existence of testers for random garbage that a monkey with half a brain could figure out.

There's nothing a tester could do that a random variable sampling couldn't simulate. If there's deviations, they can single out those cases and analyze where it went wrong, and what exactly went wrong. Testing done, why would you need human testing on for this?

Your QA Team must love you.

I'm not going to argue about this. You actually have some valid points, but the tone of your posts speaks volumes.
Good day sir.

[Arcon]

Your QA Team must love you.

I was part of my own QA team, so yeah, I did. I think you misunderstood me though. I'm not saying testers aren't needed or their jobs are useless, I'm just saying you don't need testers for every change in code, especially not things that can be tested with automated scripts (almost what you said yourself, I just pointed out that this could indeed be tested automatically).

[..] the tone of your posts speaks volumes.

[..] go away.

I'm not sure what you expected writing that. Basically telling me to stfu then expecting a nice reply? Not gonna happen. Unless I'm in an exceptionally good mood, which I wasn't (I blame the maintenance interfering with my Voidwatch plans).