The Disconnect between Players and Developers: Bug Reports Not Taken Seriously?

[Inoch]

I don't have much to add than been said but I support the OP, I hope it will gain some traction with the dev team and it'll be improved on.

[DRKoftheAzure]

Some of the main problems is that too many people who don't play video games in general and people who only care about getting a big paycheck are some of the main reasons why I can't take "community representatives" and "customer support" and "GMs" seriously... Just look at "game journalists" today, they don't even play video games and are very disrespectful to the point where I wonder if they got kicks out of bullying people a lot when growing up...

[Bacent]

Really wish they'd do more than just post if they're closing your post for 'not enough information'/moving the thread somewhere else, or just flat out ignoring it. I had multiple reports a few years ago where I had lost about 13 days of my game time, because I logged out of the Lav Beds, but when I tried to log back in the game would always crash back to desktop. They didn't once care to reply to anything besides a 'not enough information, so I'm closing this' when I gave them every bit of info I could get.

[Krindor]

From my experience of reporting bugs, there has rarely been a case where it has actually been an easy process. "Not enough information" being used on what clearly has enough reason. If a player knows what the reason for the bug is and it is clearly stated in the bug report. Why is it then that the team responsible for bug reports are unable to use that information? Ie, if the issue is a clear server side issue and the cause is not affected by anything on the client side, why is there a need to post computer information as well as network information to get it accepted? Or you have issues like Upheaval where the decision for the bug report is inconsistent. First one is that it's lacking information, the second one that it's working as intended and then when reported again, they're unable to verify it. With information provided by the players that clearly shows the issue.

I don't know where the connection between the players and developers break, but it's pretty clear that the reporting system is not doing its job, biggest offender being Ungarmax and while it ws stated something was going to be done about it, there still seems to be a pretty clear case where information gets blocked.

[Kitfox]

I find it quite strange that the Tornado Kick and Upheaval bugs couldn't be verified, because I made a very similar report about MCH Hypercharge potency (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...he-description). I compared damage ranges, just like in the reports linked in the OP, but in this case they fixed the tooltip. I wonder what makes Tornado Kick and Upheaval different. Maybe it really needs video, like Nemekh said...

[KageTokage]

Customer service in general is pretty weak when it comes to anything other then maybe select types of harassment reports.

Whether it's due to miscommunication, lack of concern, and/or lack of staff shall forever remain a mystery.

[DRKoftheAzure]

Does anyone know if cross world /tell is actually working like it's supposed to? I'm on PS4 and doesn't seem to be working like it should...

I did send bug report in-game but a GM had to respond to while I was AFK but they way they have the whole bug report setup right now... it's outdated and when people send a bug report on something that should be working correctly like cross world /tell when it's not even working like it should, then clearly I have no hope that world visit is even going to work like it should ESPECIALLY if you add people to friends list and you want to strike up a conversation with them only to find out that the social aspect of the game is not working like it should because no one actually tested this in an actual player environment...

Although Activision Blizzard and EA is an example of game companies not listening to their customers when it really matters in the long run... If World Visit ends up being a flop because of things not working like they should and the GMs don't think that we supplied enough info because they need to know the PS4 model # or something like that when people just want to know if the devs can replicate said bug/glitch using the systems that game is available on...

[KisaiTenshi]

Although Activision Blizzard and EA is an example of game companies not listening to their customers when it really matters in the long run... If World Visit ends up being a flop because of things not working like they should and the GMs don't think that we supplied enough info because they need to know the PS4 model # or something like that when people just want to know if the devs can replicate said bug/glitch using the systems that game is available on...

Oh, every company has certain levels of obliviousness. EA is absolutely horrible and I imagine anyone working for EA must feel utterly miserable from the decisions EA makes. EA doesn't pay QA people for example, they seek people to volunteer to QA at fan conventions and dangle free games over their head. Like, it cost more for a ticket to the convention than any free game you'd get from QA'ing, EA has to be completely unable to see their toes. Their mobile games are shameless wallet pinchers.

Activision-Blizzard decided to wreck one of their leading IP's by ... trying to make it a mobile game? Like far be it for the players to decide what the developer decides to make with their IP (Square-Enix does things like this too), but for Western Developers mobile is the cash cow, but the games made for mobile are utter soulness rubbish and only about putting their hands deeper into your wallet.

Bethesda's big problem is that they either don't QA at all, or their game engine is held together by gum and bailing wire. The game engine (Gamebryo) is the core, and in use since Elder Scrolls III (Morrowind) from 2002. Fallout 3, 4 and 76 all appear to use the same game engine technology as far as I can see, and one look at any page on any of those games Wiki's often links to a half dozen or more bugs, some game-breaking. You simply can't play any of Bethesda's games without hitting a game-breaking bug. My "high end system" in FO4, the pathfinding is utterly broken, and you can basically shoot melee mobs like fish in a barrel just by finding something to stand on that the pathfinding can't "jump" to (the mob will literately run all over the place trying to find a path to you) and you just pick them off with the sniper rifle.) The most brokenish combat is in the Vault 88 DLC, which you can basically just build three turrets and let even the boss mobs come to you. With Fallout 76 (which I haven't played), it's broken even worse than XIV 1.0. Despite that I still feel compelled to finish Fallout 4. I do not feel compelled to even download Fallout 76 because every game Bethesda releases is a buggy mess, and experience from 20 years of MMO games has shown that game-breaking bug filled, MMO games don't last very long before shutting down.

Square-Enix's problem is that they don't solicit feedback in the first place. FFXIV V1.0 is a clear example of a game made by accountants who didn't let anyone talk to each other. It was fun to people who liked the micromangement elements, and had overkill hardware to play it at release time, but that was a small and shrinking number of players. It was too slow paced to be fun, and to shut it down entirely would damage the Final Fantasy brand.


Bethesda and Blizzard should learn from how Square Enix fixed its Final Fantasy XIV problem, by Mike Fischer former CEO of Square Enix America.

No, really — listen
The FFXIV developers used the harsh feedback provided on outside forums as an independent source of input. This was by no means the only resource used, but it did help inform the decision-making, as did input from all the Square Enix subsidiaries around the world.

[Elamys]

If they'd at least explain what information is missing when they move it that would be nice.

I submitted a bug report a while back for the Blessed Boltkeep's Needle, which has had an animation bug since HW where it stops glowing when you use any action, as verified by others. I don't know how much more detailed I could have been in that post. I guess at this point they'd only want a video, but I have a very, very bad internet connection and even a video of a few seconds could take hours to upload. :/