Hey, VALVe: Slow Down! - Games

After all this drama, I've come to realize something. VALVe has been slipping recently. The recent class updates have been met with less community acceptance, and then there's all this faffery with items and idling and random drops. It's strange, isn't it? Things were going so well. The Medic update is widely viewed as a great success, and the Pyro update brought us the airblast, flaregun, and axtinguisher- things beloved by those who play the Pyro. The Heavy Update was less successful, but the sandvich is funny and they didn't create anything really rage-inducing. And then comes the Scout Update. Oh, boy. Every item in the Scout update has been widely panned- the FaN is nooby, Bonk! is useless, and the Sandman is a terrible idea to begin with. Even now, there's debate over whether these items are good or bad, especially the Sandman. Talking about it is almost guaranteed to start a mini-flame war. The Sniper/Spy Update was better-received; there are people who hate the Sandman and think the Cloak & Dagger makes Spies useless, but they're not as prevalent as during the Scout update. No, instead, the Sniper/Spy update brought something new to be hated: The random drop system. VALVe's reasoning makes sense. They wanted to stop achievement farming and make sure that new players don't miss out on items because they don't know about them. The problem is that they pushed out a buggy, mostly unfunctional, and frustrating system that everyone hates. The random drop system has undeniably caused more problems than its solved. First, it clogged up your server list with idlers. Second, it created Steamstats.exe. Finally, it's divided the community, created lots of resentment within a large segment of the playerbase, and brought back idle servers. VALVe knows full well that their system is unfinished, frustrating, and widely hated. They know this because we've all told them. But, it seems strange, somehow. Isn't this the kind of thing they used to find out via playtesting? I remember walking through the Portal commentaries. One of the common themes was "Here's how we adjusted this level after our playtesters found things confusing." Shouldn't VALVe have adjusted the drop system after finding out it's frustrating? Shouldn't they have realized this back before they pushed it out? Wouldn't it have made more sense to put out a complete system with trading, crafting, et al.? The problem facing TF2 right now is that VALVe is enamored with their swift update speeds. Let's face it, we all are. Almost no other company keeps any of their products as swiftly and consistently updated as TF2. The thing is, the updates are simply [i]too[/i] fast and [i]too[/i] often. They're getting sloppy. You see it in almost every update- they inevitably seem to break something. Sure, it always gets fixed within a week or so, but it shouldn't have been broken in the first place. The TF2 team needs to slow down on the updates. They need to take their time with each one, playtest it thoroughly to make sure the community isn't going to hate it, and do a lot of QA to make sure they don't introduce new bugs. They need to have some kind of cross-section from the community that can find out and evaluate potential changes before they get instated (fortunately, they have this now). They need to get better at predicting backlash. This idle debacle should never have happened. They should have released the system with trading, crafting, and a way to get hats that doesn't feel like being kicked around by a malicous Random Number God. I'd be more than willing to have slower updates if it meant they didn't break twenty different things. It almost seems like they're abusing their ability to update like this- instead of releasing unbroken updates, they're almost saying "Whatever, we'll put it out and when they find bugs we'll fix 'em and get a patch out Thursday." VALVe needs to start slowing down their update schedule, thinking things through a bit more thoroughly, anticipating the community's reaction, and actually finishing things before they get released. If they don't, TF2's community- already stressed pretty hard due to the "Cheater's Lament" shitstorm- is going to become even more divided and broken. People will still complain, of course, but I'd rather have them complain about not getting enough updates than complain about getting broken updates.

I don't hate the drop system.

I read the title, and all I could think about was Valve kicking us in the face with their energy legs.

Yeah and what can you do about it besides rage and complain?

What is up with all these long threads all of a sudden?

[QUOTE=Daimao;17099825]I don't hate the drop system.[/QUOTE] Yeah it's alright, only for cosmetic item through.

This is a very unique look at things. I think you're completely right. The random drop system isn't TOTALLY bad, but you're right that at the moment it's very frustrating and incomplete...and we've had to deal with it that way since it came out. Valve only JUST NOW changed the drop rates for hats, and took the bold step of announcing yet another mysterious promise for it (crafting). Who wants to bet we won't see crafting until 2010?

stop complaining its free shit

[QUOTE=NotPigeon;17099819] VALVe needs to start slowing down their update schedule, thinking things through a bit more thoroughly, anticipating the community's reaction, and actually finishing things before they get released. If they don't, TF2's community- already stressed pretty hard due to the "Cheater's Lament" shitstorm- is going to become even more divided and broken.[/QUOTE] The community is going to bitch that there are no new updates in this case. They're going to bitch no matter what and you know that.

[QUOTE=Balduran;17099855]The community is going to bitch that there are no new updates in this case. They're going to bitch no matter what and you know that.[/QUOTE] Of course they are. If I was giving the impression that this would magically stop people from complaining, I apologize. The thing is, I'd rather have people bitching about lack of updates and a well-balanced, functional game than people bitching about broken updates and a buggy game.

[QUOTE=wommle v2;17099845]stop complaining its free shit[/QUOTE] There's a difference between good free shit and bad free shit.

Valve isn't really at fault, if you look at what they've done for us before, anyone can see they're awesome. I just hate it whenever the community whines over everything Valve didn't do right. It's like a spoiled child who whines over the one thing they didn't get.

[QUOTE=wommle v2;17099845]stop complaining its free shit[/QUOTE] Not it's shit that is shitting up something I originally payed for. I expect balanced classes and fucking class based combat. Not hat drama, halos and over powered faggot items.

[QUOTE=64k1;17099826]I read the title, and all I could think about was Valve kicking us in the face with their energy legs.[/QUOTE] Me too! [img]http://thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hi.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=Bautista;17099833]What is up with all these long threads all of a sudden?[/QUOTE] Yea, all those words. It hurts my brain.

wearing a halo is advertising: HEY LOOK AT ME YOU CAN SEE WHERE I AM NOW IM GOING TO BE HEADSHOTTED! if you get what i mean

[QUOTE=-Jake-;17100372]Me too! [img]http://thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hi.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] That image should say: "Place midget hand here for internet high-five." And I don't mind the drop system.

The drop system's okay, but the hats should be for having a certain playtime on that class.

we are the playtesters

Maybe Valve is getting a little cocky. Or at least the TF team.

It's a fucking game, if you don't like it: go away and stop playing it.

The random drop system actually made me play Team fortress 2 more.

[QUOTE=Max of S2D;17104218]we are the playtesters[/QUOTE] And the TF2 beta was the best thing since sliced bread. It was IMO. The Sandman is probably the most hated unlock that I've had done to me, especially as a Sniper.

I completely agree with the TC.

I agree with the balancing thing. Bugs are unavoiable in a huge program like TF2, no matter how much playtesting you do. They fix it quickly, you can't bitch at them for that.

Everyone's discussing the "crafting" like it's real. Wasn't that a joke, going with the "MMO" theme?

I would rather see an update come out in valve time than when it does in this dimension. Congrats, valve, you just lost yourself a customer! I'm gonna play some fucking Fallout now.

[QUOTE=postmanX3;17105039]Everyone's discussing the "crafting" like it's real. Wasn't that a joke, going with the "MMO" theme?[/QUOTE] It may be a joke, or it may not be a joke. Think "Jarate".

Wah

[QUOTE=pod;17105119]I would rather see an update come out in valve time than when it does in this dimension. Congrats, valve, you just lost yourself a customer![/QUOTE] Can I have your games?