Minor patch? Major patch? How to tell?

Greetings,

As there has been some speculation as to whether 2.1 is only a minor update, whether "3.0" is the real major update, and other such talk, I would like to clarify a bit about the system we will be using.

2.1 is definitely a major patch where we will be adding content.

Moving forward we will use increases in the tenths place (ex: 2.2, 2.3, and so forth) to denote major content updates, while other bug fixes and emergency fixes will take place in between these as hotfixes as they are needed.

We would most likely adopt the usage of "3.0" when we have an expansion.

I apologize to keep you all waiting on information about the next patch, but the next Letter from the Producer LIVE will announce information related to patch 2.1, so I hope you are all looking forward to checking it out!

Thanks for this information.

Good to know.

Hope it's REALLY major.

so the minor patches will be 2.11, 2.12, 2.13... right?

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Originally Posted by Evangela

so the minor patches will be 2.11, 2.12, 2.13... right?

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More like 2.1a, 2.1b, 2.1c...
Or
2.1 ver - date - format

From how I'm reading it, I don't think they'll be numbered.

So this information related to patch 2.1 that will be talked about on the 19th.....is it a release date and not just housing details? Housing has lost most of my interest(for 2.1 anyway) when i'm not an officer of my guild and will not be able to take part in creating the fc house other than selling items for other fc officers.

Sounds good to me, you have my money and support lets rock it SOE!

many times with software versions
X.YZ

X changes=major update (big update, adds many new things and many bug fix)
y changes=minor update (medium update, add small things and fixes bugs
z change=bug fixes (small update, fixes bugs)

is what i think

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Originally Posted by Camate

I hope you are all looking forward to checking it out!

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I very much look forward to it :P

Ah, actually if you look on the title screen, the version is "2013.9.11.0000.0000 (696475)" currently. Probably the 2.1 name is pretty much just for 'marketing' rather than an actual version number.

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Originally Posted by RyuPower

many times with software versions
X.YZ

X changes=major update (big update, adds many new things and many bug fix)
y changes=minor update (medium update, add small things and fixes bugs
z change=bug fixes (small update, fixes bugs)

is what i think

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The goofy release cycles of web browsers has screwed with people's conceptions of point releases. Back in the day it was

(X.Ya)

X = new version...usually this meant having to purchase a new copy of the software (think of the difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista)
Y = point release...major update, new features (see MacOS X)
a = hotfix...bug fixes and security updates (generally denoted by a letter instead of a number, since the possibility exists for more than 10 point releases)

So what SE is doing falls somewhat in line with this. 3.0 will be the first expansion pack, which we will have to purchase. Everything else will be 2.1, 2.2, etc.

I really wish you'd have at least something of a minor patch each month in between the major ones.

Always excited to see communication! Thank you for taking the tome to do this :)

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Originally Posted by Khalette

Always excited to see communication! Thank you for taking the tome to do this :)

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I see what you did there.

The rule for numbering software release versions is: there is no rule.

In FFXIV version 1, they used: 1.1, 1.2, ... 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, etc. Minor "fix-it" releases were marked with letters. So patch 1.19b meant fix #2 of update 19 of version 1. The order was 1.19, 1.19a, 1.19b. ARR may or may not continue with this.

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Originally Posted by FutanXIV

Ah, actually if you look on the title screen, the version is "2013.9.11.0000.0000 (696475)" currently. Probably the 2.1 name is pretty much just for 'marketing' rather than an actual version number.

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This, if you look at it, is the date of the latest version update.

They can tell us about how they're naming their patches but they cant share any info on what they're doing to fix rampant connectivity issues and server instability? Get your priorities straight SE! FFS!

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Originally Posted by ArkhamNative

The rule for numbering software release versions is: there is no rule.

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I thought the rule for numbering software release version is that you don't talk about numbering software release versions.

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They can tell us about how they're naming their patches but they cant share any info on what they're doing to fix rampant connectivity issues and server instability? Get your priorities straight SE! FFS!

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Yes, because they definitely AREN'T working on this, because they can only do one thing at a time. *rolls eyes*

So where are the patches to fix the glaring issues that this game has had for the past month (and before):

- Bots able to teleport any distance away from their previous location, even underground and in instances.
- The ability for a single character to constantly spam messages to the same channel or send more than 1 directed tell a second.
- Session IDs that never expire, even after changing password (Really need to fix this)
- Difficulty involved with reporting players and lack of any response to players who are clearly exploiting and have been for weeks now.
- Apparent fault with crafting system to allow a computer controlled player to craft multiple items at once.


Not emergency enough?

It's nice that you have all this content lined up for 2.1, but at current the only people who will still be around to enjoy it are bots, people who already bought x months of subscription before realizing it, or people who are too jaded to care.

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Originally Posted by Vagrant-0

It's nice that you have all this content lined up for 2.1, but at current the only people who will still be around to enjoy it are bots, people who already bought x months of subscription before realizing it, or people who are too jaded to care.

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They've said multiple times they learned from other mmos when re-creating this one, well they didn't learn from one of the biggest patch failures for the biggest mmo. WoW patch 4.1(troll dungeon remakes), it took 5 months for this patch to come out 3 of which were after the ptr went up, they kept adding more and more pushing the patch back more and more and for what? 2 rehashed dungeons and a bunch of qol fixes that could have been done in smaller patches. You cannot keep doing that especially with a "new"(technically) mmo, so many of these changes that are being added on to this patch should have been out already because many of the people who wanted those issues fixed will have left already making the fixes for nothing.

A lot of the changes and additions in this patch are nice, however most of them should have been there either at launch or soon after. QoL issues that are not adding new content should be done in smaller patches, not crammed into big ones just because devs don't want to push them out over time.

We get it the game had a successful launch, how about keeping it that way and actually doing something sooner rather than later for a lot of the issues. Mmos don't stay successful for very long unless you keep the people paying happy, and at the moment there are a lot of pissed off people because nothing is being done inbetween patches 2.0 and 2.1. Do not make people wait another month or more for this patch.

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Originally Posted by Evangela

so the minor patches will be 2.11, 2.12, 2.13... right?

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In 1.0 the minor updates had a, b, c

Like 1.23a, 1.23b and 1.23c

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Originally Posted by RyuPower

many times with software versions
X.YZ

X changes=major update (big update, adds many new things and many bug fix)
y changes=minor update (medium update, add small things and fixes bugs
z change=bug fixes (small update, fixes bugs)

is what i think

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What?

major.minor.build.revision is the general scheme used, at least its how we do it at work, some companies prefer to use the date as a version stamp

I think I might freeze my account til 2.1 comes out if it's months away. I'm not going to waste my sub time waiting.

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Originally Posted by Vagrant-0

So where are the patches to fix the glaring issues that this game has had for the past month (and before):

Not emergency enough?

It's nice that you have all this content lined up for 2.1, but at current the only people who will still be around to enjoy it are bots, people who already bought x months of subscription before realizing it, or people who are too jaded to care.

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What exactly makes you think they are not working on these as well. They know of these issues and I'm sure have people working and discussing how to fix these issues as well. Just because they are planning new content doesn't mean they are ignoring the old stuff... It's not one guy sitting in a room doing everything. They have teams of people working on different aspects. Just be patient, Eorzea wasn't built in a day...

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Originally Posted by Engineer

I think I might freeze my account til 2.1 comes out if it's months away. I'm not going to waste my sub time waiting.

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Im not sure if you were just rushing all those level 50's or what but you obviously did something to wrong. With all those jobs at 50 it's cool and all but you haven't "beaten" the game yet. Go finish coil, help fc mates finish endgame, go take slick screenshots of the world, socialize, etc. This is an mmo, there are lots of things to do after you cap so many jobs, but if you think lvl 50 on several jobs is beating the game i guess un-sub and cya in a few months.

oh and it looks like you still need to finish out your first set of endgame armor/jewelry so that's something you can do until the next patch.

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Originally Posted by Evangela

so the minor patches will be 2.11, 2.12, 2.13... right?

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

More like 2.1a, 2.1b, 2.1c...
Or
2.1 ver - date - format

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If they're numbered, I would think it'd be like what Reinheart said. Or they'd be 2.1.1, 2.1.2, etc.

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Originally Posted by FutanXIV

From how I'm reading it, I don't think they'll be numbered.

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But I'm thinking he's right ^

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Originally Posted by Sidious

Good to know.

Hope it's REALLY major.

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Yea... like put counter measures for botting tools... it's getting really out of hand where they are warping to monsters and killing them for items to monopolize the markets

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Originally Posted by Volux

be patient

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It's nice that they're working on old stuff too... Don't get me wrong. But if they're going to wait till 2.1+ on implementing some sort of meaningful change that prevents these exploits, they will be losing a good deal of customers who have been patient, seen next to nothing happen in a month, and are getting sick of the waiting game and how little has been done.

The game is good, the world is rich, but the service stinks. I'd prefer those in charge know that the reason why many people will not be renewing their memberships is not because of any problem with the game, but rather with how they appear to be handling those issues which severely threaten the quality of that experience.

OK, update:

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October 11, 2013 5:44 AM
[Maintenance] All Worlds Maintenance (Oct. 14)
At the following time, we will be performing maintenance on all Worlds that goes along with the patch 2.05 HotFixes. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn will be unavailable.

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A lot of software companies use "false decimals" to number versions. That is, "2.1" indicates 2 separate numbers, not a single value of 2+(1/10). So 2.1 comes after 2.0, but 2.10 is "two-point-ten", is different than 2.1 and comes after 2.9.

Here it looks like SE is using actual fractions with <0.1 indicating a fix rather than a minor version. So 2.0 < 2.05 < 2.1. That should lead to hot fixes on 2.1 being numbered something like 2.11 rather than 2.1a, but like I said before, there's no actual rules in software version numbering. We'll know what the next version number is only when SE announces it. :)