New Patch Fail

[dave68124]

So all of the hard work put in to launch a game that had some pretty good buzz and support is now in the process of laying a giant turd. The fact it takes almost a month (and still counting) to get the first patch released after submission by the developer, not even a feature upgrade patch, to the market is a massive fail. You guys just pissed away all of the mojo you had working in your favor to help drive the game and now many of us waiting for the patch will move on and the daily checking for the update will eventually become weekly then monthly and ultimately never.

I really hope someone pulls their head out and gets it back on track and the faithful scenario builders don't give up. If not, 10 years of effort just pissed away in 3 1/2 weeks. Talk about winning the battle and losing the war.

To be fair, I really feel bad for Peter. Just goes to show you that individual developers will likely not be successful on the future when they are forced to work the likes of Matrix that obviously won't give their product the attention it deserves.

[E]

To be fair, the first two weeks of that time was spent building the installer and awaiting Peter's return from vacation to approve the final patch (I'm not sure why they're waiting for the middle of this week to make it available, as Peter gave final approval on 30 May).

Be all that, as it may, Peter has said he'll be making beta patches available in the future.

Not to mention, we could all take advantage of the Scenario editor if we go through NSWS (New Scenario Withdrawal Syndrome).

Not to put too much pressure on Matrix, but if the patch isn't out by Wednesday I know where there is a good tree and some rope...

[GJK]

Boo-effing-hoo children! Geezuz, play real ASL and you'll learn to know what waiting for product is like.

[lhmg]

While they are developing the free upgrade why dont we try to develop some patience. [:D]

[Yogi the Great]

Personally I'm not a fan of Beta Patches. Have seen too many problems with them and things can get worse instead of better. Even official patches are known to do that but they at least have a better track record. I also prefer to use the check for update system and to stay with the official last issued version. I've been a beta tester and hat is where beta versions belong until approved. That said I do understand why many of you want quick beta updates and fixes.

[kylania]

ORIGINAL: kodiak

While they are developing the free upgrade why dont we try to develop some patience. [:D]

Paid $50 for this game. There's nothing free about it.

Anyway, it's been six days since Peter had posted deep in an unrelated thread about the patch coming out tomorrow, probably. Him, his moderators and Matrix Games (Danielle?) have all had plenty of time to post an official update about the ETA for the patch but none of them have. It's perfectly reasonable that someone that doesn't read every thread and post of this forum would finally make a thread like this one. It is absolutely a marketing and customer service fail.

[MorningDew]

ORIGINAL: kylania

Paid $50 for this game. There's nothing free about it.

Anyway, it's been six days since Peter had posted deep in an unrelated thread about the patch coming out tomorrow, probably. Him, his moderators and Matrix Games (Danielle?) have all had plenty of time to post an official update about the ETA for the patch but none of them have. It's perfectly reasonable that someone that doesn't read every thread and post of this forum would finally make a thread like this one. It is absolutely a marketing and customer service fail.

He posted last week that it would be released sometime this week. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=4075718 The message you reference said he was going to test the update tomorrow. It never said it was coming out tomorrow.

That said, getting the patch released has been a very long process.

[E]

ORIGINAL: GJK
Boo-effing-hoo children! Geezuz, play real ASL and you'll learn to know what waiting for product is like.

What does real life have to do with the internet, Gary?! You know that there is NO correlation!

ORIGINAL: kodiak
While they are developing the free upgrade why dont we try to develop some patience. [:D]

[rico21]

"Lose is the opposite of "win." "Loose" is the opposite of "tight."

A new TOWNSFOLK, E?

[Gerry4321]

How long does it take to set up an installer for Pete's sake. They do this all the time.

[parusski]

ORIGINAL: kodiak

While they are developing the free upgrade why dont we try to develop some patience. [:D]

10 AMENS and 20 HALLELUJAHS kodiak[:-][:-][:-]

[dave68124]

Patience has really nothing to do with it. You build and sell games into the real world, not some fantasy world of an internet forum where people are supposed to have never ending patience. If they don't hear the displeasure from their customer base, then honestly, they don't know what to fix in the future. Successful companies fall on their ass all the time, but they are smart enough to not repeat their mistakes. Bankrupt companies repeat their mistakes over and over again.

At the end of the day, this is just business. They got the hard part done - create a marketable product. They are failing at the easy stuff - marketing and managing their message. Here's hoping they take back some lessons learned and not repeat the mistake again. If not, it won't matter if they have the greatest game EVER, nobody will know it or care.

Customers can handle bad news without walking away from a product. What customers won't tolerate is no news. I believe it was United Airlines that used to do this in training, but they would put a group of employees in a room for a meeting with some senior executive. However, they would make them wait around for a good 30 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start without a single word of where this executive was at or why they were late. Once they showed up and the employees were pretty pissed off, the punch line was now you know how it feels to be forced to wait and not be provided any information on what was going on.

[GJK]

Does my copy of the EULA say that I'm entitled to continuous and free updates/fixes after the purchase? I dunno, I'll have to look. Seemed my copy of the game works just fine. Is there some things that could work better? Sure. Could it use some more features? Sure. Did I know what I was getting when I paid for it? Yes. I don't think Peter or Matrix owes you or anybody a patch of enhancements/updates on anybody's schedule but their own.

[Peter Fisla]

Sorry guys, I was told middle of this week so I'm really hoping it's today or tomorrow!

[E]

We believe you! While I don't really have a rope (or a torch)(but I do have a parrot that thinks he's an impatient vulture?), I'm getting that there is some actual frustration going on with Matrix... with at least one poster.

(Although I am really looking forward to the display fixes so that I can enjoy the game... anything else is icing on the cake here! *grin*)

[rico21]

HAPPY END!

[fuselex]

All good Peter , It will be there eventually and until then I still have a lot of scenarios to play

[MorningDew]

Updater updated me

[zakblood]

tm.asp?m=4079824

released

Version 1.0.2.7 Changelog

Bug fixes:
• Resolutions 1200 x 800 and 2560 x 1440 should be now properly working (this was part of Zero Day Patch)
• AI, Immobilized turret-less AFV will not try to look for target outside of its covered arc
• or engage enemy outside of its covered arc
• AI, some half-tracks would not have defensive fire marker when they defensively fired
• AI, sometimes AFVs had hard time taking objectives up hill
• Improved AI AFV pathfinding (this was part of Zero Day Patch)
• Improved LOS processing, fixed blind hexes and other issues
• Pinned units cannot rout in Rout Segment
• Broken/Broken+ units cannot move in Advance Segment
• Selecting Ordnance that is not attached to a personnel unit should not crash the game
• The following British AFVs don't fire AP, only HEAT: CHURCHILL V Heavy Tank,
• CHURCHILL VIII Heavy Tank, CENTAUR IV Medium Tank, CROMWELL VI
• Medium Tank and CROMWELL VIII Medium Tank.
• AI, Only Leaders may pick up Radio Support Weapon
• For resolutions 1024x768 and 1200x800, the action log window was resized
• AI being stuck in infinite loop
• When Ordnance/AFV runs out of HE round, the Infantry Target Type button on the
• Target Type dialog will be disabled
• Terrain.png, one of the stone buildings had incorrect mask
• AFV being stuck in Close Combat
• Pinned Personnel Unit can still fire ATR support weapon
• Terrain.png, Assault Fire should be associated with 1st Line SMG (and not 1st Line) for
• the Russian Side
• A Leader may fire Bazooka, Pazerschreck, Panzerfaust and PIAT
• Updated manual, 8.2.2 Support Weapons list - what support weapon may be used by A Leader
• KV-2 rotating turret issue
• When OBA fires off the screen, the game should now scroll to the location
• When an AI unit routs and becomes visible, the game should now scroll to the location
• A Leader may fire a support weapon or direct fire but not both
• AI/Player Personnel Units that are Out of Command may still fire into adjacent hex during enemy Movement Segment.
• AI, if a scenario has both Human player and AI Exit hexes feature, AI will focus on its own exit hexes first.
• Campaign Game, during the day part or the night part the scenario Attributes dialog will correctly show day or night icon.
• Setup Zone Hexes will not properly show covered arc symbol.
• AI, improved personnel units movement in attack scenarios.
• Scenario Editor tiles placement and validations
Note: This is not a complete list, just the major items.

New Features:
• Added keyboard shortcuts
• Added Menu accelerators
• Added support to disable all sound effects (speeds up gameplay)
• Added transferring Support Weapons/Ordnance between two personnel units in the same hex, in the Administrative Segment only (activated by the < w > key on the keyboard)
• A scenario LOS visibility can be now set up to 26 hexes in the scenario editor
• Added white dot graphical feature for display (can be turned on/off)
• Campaign Game, for every new day; all personnel units, AFV will be in good order. All Support Weapons, Ordnance and AFVs will have their weapons repaired. Immobilized AFVs will check for Immobilization Removal.
• Scenario configuration dialog, made "scenario ends because a side lost all of its units" feature optional
• Jump Map will now be displayed until dismissed by right clicking anywhere inside the Jump Map window

[Peter Fisla]

I have already started working on Uodate2, cheers!