Sugar Shack 12: Blast from the Past: My Scariest MxO Encounter Ever
My Scariest Encounter Ever
The creepiest mission contact, bar none, is The Coroner, last seen downtown near Baldwin Heights. And why is he creepy, you ask? Most exiles want money or power or intel, things we can all understand and empathize with. Not him. The Coroner tasks you with killing exiles and innocent bluepills solely to supply him with materials for his experiments. Be careful before taking his missions on; they are not a walk on the dark side, they’re a hyperjump! Only the first mission worked, but it was enough to give me the biggest freakout of my MxO career.
One day I was killin and chillin at Baldwin Heights when I ran into one of the people I admire most, the savvy and generous Lshink, from Children of Zion. He told me about a killer mission from the Coroner that had defeated him several times and invited me along for the fun. How could I turn down a chance like that?
The mission has three parts. Part one required us to seek and kill a retired policeman. His handful of tactical security guards did little to delay two upper-30s players like us. Part three only required us to kill some greyed out (!) gang members.
However, part two required the killing of a Level-50 vampire exile resident in a downtown high-rise. This exile had beaten Lshink before; we approached his office and started talking about how best to take him down.
While we were considering our strategy, he ran out and engaged us (Freakout #1). Together we got him down to 50% before we both died. I returned in and went to wait outside the mission area while Lshink made his way and the death effect wore off. But as soon as I stepped out of the elevator the vampire was waiting for me and immediately engaged me (Freakout #2). After a couple of exchanges I was down to less than 10% hit points, and I staggered into the elevator and headed for the second floor lobby to sit and rest up (no chairs/couches on the ground floor). Lshink was getting another friend, the awesome SthenViper (from the Jokerz) to help. I was okay with that and waited while my red line slowly, slowly crept back.
Suddenly the vampire was in front of me (Freakout #3)! He was fidgeting back and forth, moving to and fro, as though he couldn’t see me clearly. I didn’t dare move. I team-messaged Lshink and SthenViper, who asked me if I knew where the vampire was. “I don’t think finding him will be a problem,” I wrote back.
They were having trouble finding a way up, and I was freaking out as the vampire walked back and forth right in front of me. When he got stuck in a corner, I rose to run and jump down to the ground floor. But as soon as I stood, the vampire was on me; he’d lured me out (Freakout #4)! I fought. I did a little damage. I died. I watched my friends rush in over my dead body. We failed again.
I reconstructed and went back to the high-rise to wait for the team to regroup and my death effect to fade (this was starting to sound familiar!). While I was standing there waiting and looking at my nails, the vampire came charging out of the building and engaged me (Freakout #5)! Flabbergasted, flat-footed, death-effected, I fumbled my defense as he hacked away at me for a third time. In a few seconds I was down to less than 10% hit points, and Lshink rushed in, taking on the fell monster singlehandedly and telling me to get out. From a distance, SthenViper poured hacker fire down. I hyperjumped to a building top to sit for a few seconds, and jumped back down to rejoin the fight as they finished off the uber-vamp. The third mission was an absurd anti-climax.
This second encounter was an absolutely brilliant piece of work. At every turn the vampire was one step ahead of us, and he consistently out-thought us. We only won through sheer mass; we never out-smarted him. Props to the devs for such brilliance. But devs, please remember that brilliance is best in small doses.
Anyone else care to share scariest moments?
This memoir may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Sugar Shack 11: Mission Reviews: The Coroner: Grave Undertakings
Sugar Shack 11: Mission Reviews: The Coroner: Grave Undertakings
The Coroner
In past mishes I worked with gangsters and two-timers. With cold-hearted killers and hot-blooded flirts. But nothing prepared me for The Coroner. He stands out on the street in Baldwin Heights (-179/19/433) waiting for you to do his bidding. He looks like a butcher taking a smoke break, with the apron and the dour, fish-eye look. And he doesn’t make small talk. Other Exiles, like Beryl, always seemed to be by my side, offering insights and praise. Not so the Coroner. I ran his missions on hard, and found they lived up to the name. In fact, the first mission of his was one of the scariest times I’ve ever experienced in this game. More on this later.
1. Knock, Knock
For some Mengelian experiments, the Coroner requires rare materials. Unfortunately, these must be extracted from corpses. Worse, as he sheepishly admits, “these cadavers are not yet dead. Well then on your way.” All for science! The first target is a retired policeman with many elite guard friends; Devastation Field helped a lot here. The second is a 51+ level blood noble, an ancient guy who does not go kindly into the night. After these exhausting fights, the final hit, on a bunch of dog pounders, seems like a walk in the park. This mish features very hard fights, and lots of running around. And I have to admit that I did not feel happy about what I had done at the end. Maybe it’s cuz he didn’t pay all that well.
“Knock, knock” also has the distinction of being the scariest mish I ever ran in beta; more on this later in a separate installment of Sugar Shack to follow this one.
And maybe a bug remains. I killed the blood noble in one room with a guard. Apparently he had been wandering. Then I wandered into “his” room, saw a random corpse, and only then got the message that he was dead.
2. Falling Into Place
The Coroner specializes in weird science; he lets others handle the details. In this case, two incriminating surveillance tapes must be purloined and erased. These are stored in safes, so access keys must be obtained. This mish features some tough fighting with security folks. And not all that much running around, unlike the first one. Now, back in beta, this mish was famously bugged, and it is a serious pleasure to finally have everything running so smoothly. Our endless bug reports were not in vain, everyone!
3. The Last Time (significance of the name is not clear)
His lab is under attack (perhaps relatives of his subjects from the first mish?) and you need to stop it. At “Hard”, you are up against eight or so three-chevron Level 51s, who have awesome viral resistance. This maxed-out hacker died several times. We learn the story of their leader: Crow, a captain who left Zion to take up a mercenary’s life, apparently in the service of the Merovingian. She offers you a chance to walk away from this with no hard feelings; of course I spurned her gesture and slew her. There was much fighting in this mish and not all that much loot. And by the time you’re level 50, what do xps matter? So as I stood amidst the carnage, I was left with little except the satisfaction of making the world safer for the Coroner, a wan pleasure indeed.
4. The Plan
One of his journals has been stolen by Hypatia, and the Coroner wants you to get it back from her storehouse before its encryption is broken. This involves substantial fighting, after which the encrypted journal just has to be dropped off. Not bad! Finally one where I don’t feel bad about winning!
5. Payback
Like every affronted Exile, the Coroner wants payback. In this case it is a little more imaginative than most. Hypatia will soon in negotiations with The Chef for something, and the Coroner wants to get him a file which will publicly and deeply embarrass her. You must deal with an organization called “The Network” to get the file. Some cute moments. One outspoken bluepill wonders what life is like in our world. Another claims to be the real brains behind a world-famous chef and her TV show. Finally, after much running around for substantial distances, the “meddlesome bookworm” has been dealt with.
And that’s it! No praise, no thanks, no nothing. Your patron barely glances at you as he returns to his bizarre researches. So, The Coroner’s mishes are not for the faint or heart or the weak of level. Completists will seek them out. Anyone loving tough action will enjoy them. And compared to many mishes, I found these quite intense, in tone as well as action. And they contributed to one of my most memorable experiences ever in MxO, as I will explain in the next edition of Sugar Shack.
Note: Special thanks go to my brothers and sisters in arms last night for their help with the last two mishes: Sattakan, Illyria1, Seraya, Roukan, and Blackfir3. They turned bloody drudgery into fun.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
The Coroner
In past mishes I worked with gangsters and two-timers. With cold-hearted killers and hot-blooded flirts. But nothing prepared me for The Coroner. He stands out on the street in Baldwin Heights (-179/19/433) waiting for you to do his bidding. He looks like a butcher taking a smoke break, with the apron and the dour, fish-eye look. And he doesn’t make small talk. Other Exiles, like Beryl, always seemed to be by my side, offering insights and praise. Not so the Coroner. I ran his missions on hard, and found they lived up to the name. In fact, the first mission of his was one of the scariest times I’ve ever experienced in this game. More on this later.
1. Knock, Knock
For some Mengelian experiments, the Coroner requires rare materials. Unfortunately, these must be extracted from corpses. Worse, as he sheepishly admits, “these cadavers are not yet dead. Well then on your way.” All for science! The first target is a retired policeman with many elite guard friends; Devastation Field helped a lot here. The second is a 51+ level blood noble, an ancient guy who does not go kindly into the night. After these exhausting fights, the final hit, on a bunch of dog pounders, seems like a walk in the park. This mish features very hard fights, and lots of running around. And I have to admit that I did not feel happy about what I had done at the end. Maybe it’s cuz he didn’t pay all that well.
“Knock, knock” also has the distinction of being the scariest mish I ever ran in beta; more on this later in a separate installment of Sugar Shack to follow this one.
And maybe a bug remains. I killed the blood noble in one room with a guard. Apparently he had been wandering. Then I wandered into “his” room, saw a random corpse, and only then got the message that he was dead.
2. Falling Into Place
The Coroner specializes in weird science; he lets others handle the details. In this case, two incriminating surveillance tapes must be purloined and erased. These are stored in safes, so access keys must be obtained. This mish features some tough fighting with security folks. And not all that much running around, unlike the first one. Now, back in beta, this mish was famously bugged, and it is a serious pleasure to finally have everything running so smoothly. Our endless bug reports were not in vain, everyone!
3. The Last Time (significance of the name is not clear)
His lab is under attack (perhaps relatives of his subjects from the first mish?) and you need to stop it. At “Hard”, you are up against eight or so three-chevron Level 51s, who have awesome viral resistance. This maxed-out hacker died several times. We learn the story of their leader: Crow, a captain who left Zion to take up a mercenary’s life, apparently in the service of the Merovingian. She offers you a chance to walk away from this with no hard feelings; of course I spurned her gesture and slew her. There was much fighting in this mish and not all that much loot. And by the time you’re level 50, what do xps matter? So as I stood amidst the carnage, I was left with little except the satisfaction of making the world safer for the Coroner, a wan pleasure indeed.
4. The Plan
One of his journals has been stolen by Hypatia, and the Coroner wants you to get it back from her storehouse before its encryption is broken. This involves substantial fighting, after which the encrypted journal just has to be dropped off. Not bad! Finally one where I don’t feel bad about winning!
5. Payback
Like every affronted Exile, the Coroner wants payback. In this case it is a little more imaginative than most. Hypatia will soon in negotiations with The Chef for something, and the Coroner wants to get him a file which will publicly and deeply embarrass her. You must deal with an organization called “The Network” to get the file. Some cute moments. One outspoken bluepill wonders what life is like in our world. Another claims to be the real brains behind a world-famous chef and her TV show. Finally, after much running around for substantial distances, the “meddlesome bookworm” has been dealt with.
And that’s it! No praise, no thanks, no nothing. Your patron barely glances at you as he returns to his bizarre researches. So, The Coroner’s mishes are not for the faint or heart or the weak of level. Completists will seek them out. Anyone loving tough action will enjoy them. And compared to many mishes, I found these quite intense, in tone as well as action. And they contributed to one of my most memorable experiences ever in MxO, as I will explain in the next edition of Sugar Shack.
Note: Special thanks go to my brothers and sisters in arms last night for their help with the last two mishes: Sattakan, Illyria1, Seraya, Roukan, and Blackfir3. They turned bloody drudgery into fun.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Sugar Shack 10: Mission Review: Argon: Bland Menace
Sugar Shack 10: Mission Reviews: Argon, Bland Bane of Two Girls
Argon is located near a bar on one of the upper floors of Club Duality, in Kedemoth (587/181/-913). Sugar Shack readers know him well, from my reports on the mish suites for Beryl (his girlfriend) and Anti-M (his rival), but when I approached the young-looking, demanding Exile, he did not seem to know of my past. He accepted me as a hired gun, and immediately gave me work against the very people who had recently employed me. I felt a vague twinge of conscience, sure, but work is work. His mishes were nothing out of the ordinary, and I kept thinking that more could have been done to liven them up and make them interesting. But perhaps the bland mishes are meant to reflect the bland simple malice of their sponsor. Well, it’s a charitable interpretation!
1. Bug the Broad
When we meet Argon for the first time, he tells us, “Listen up, Sugaree. I heard you been helping the other Exiles; well, I’ll let you know right now: you’ve been dealing with chumps. I’m the real deal, right?” And all his mishes underline the image of an aspiring Al Capone, seeking respect and validation. Here, in this first one, we must plant a bug in Beryl’s network because Argon worries about her and Anti-M (as well he should!). The entry and execution is straightforward, and at the end, as I was counting my info, he burst out, “You actually did it? Ahh, I mean, yeah, great work there, Sugaree!”. Thank for the confidence, bro!
2. The Phone List
Argon informs me at the outset that he worries that Beryl has been two-timing him. The distrustful gangster wants to know about Beryl’s social circle and socializing, which requires you to retrieve a copy of her contact list. Most people would hack for this, no? But Argon wants the personal touch, and perhaps some intimidating visuals as well. Otherwise, a break-and-enter. Having done all the mishes for Beryl and Anti-M, I could have just told him, but figured it would be better for him to find out for himself.
3. Dig Up Something Good
Exile Digger is on Argon’s blacklist, and your task is to steal three files from him. Not all the files are obviously accessible, but otherwise the mish is a standard break-and-enter. This is a notable mish because it is the only time we learn of Argon’s connections with other major Exiles. Tragically, we cannot read the contents of the files, and I was left dying to know what was in them. Argon’s praise – “Hey, that’s great, Sugaree. Top job.” – did little to satisfy my consuming curiosity.
4. Sending a Message.
Argons continues to feel the need to assert his disapproval of his rival. This time, he asks you to assault one of her offices and kidnap a beancounter. For this he wants someone who cannot be traced, and that’s you. Plus, Argon informed me, “he’s just a pencilneck and he knows better than to cross someone like you.” Yeah! What he said! This is an escort mish, and you have to keep your ward alive. It took me more than one try.
5. Set Her Up The Bomb
Now it’s time to “get serious” with Anti-M, says Argon. He then tasks you with planting a bomb in one of Anti-M’s operation centers. Nothing mind-bending: you travel there, deal with some guards, and plant the explosive.
These mishes are straightforward, bread-and-butter. We learn little of the relations among the exiles other than from his suspicions. And though Argon clearly styles himself “the real deal”, it’s not clear at all who he works with or against. It might be that these five mishes were originally viewed as preliminary, and once I had proven my worth from small domestic chores, he would accept me into the operations of his professional activities. But this has not come to pass. Basically, he seems like a thug. In essence, Argon’s mishes are lightly-adapted standard mishes, still a diversion from the standard ones while helping people powerlevel.
What could have made these even more enjoyable? Well, I had already done the mishes for his girlfriend and rival before contacting him. If the AI detected this and reflected this in its responses, it would be even better. More of a departure from the standard mish format would have been nice. More on Digger and the contents of the files would have wonderful. And some responses from Argon reflecting his surroundings in Club Duality would have been great, something like inviting me to have a drink, talking expansively about his business, etc. Standing impassively in the purple mists of Club Duality, he could have styled himself like the Merv, etc.
Argon is located near a bar on one of the upper floors of Club Duality, in Kedemoth (587/181/-913). Sugar Shack readers know him well, from my reports on the mish suites for Beryl (his girlfriend) and Anti-M (his rival), but when I approached the young-looking, demanding Exile, he did not seem to know of my past. He accepted me as a hired gun, and immediately gave me work against the very people who had recently employed me. I felt a vague twinge of conscience, sure, but work is work. His mishes were nothing out of the ordinary, and I kept thinking that more could have been done to liven them up and make them interesting. But perhaps the bland mishes are meant to reflect the bland simple malice of their sponsor. Well, it’s a charitable interpretation!
1. Bug the Broad
When we meet Argon for the first time, he tells us, “Listen up, Sugaree. I heard you been helping the other Exiles; well, I’ll let you know right now: you’ve been dealing with chumps. I’m the real deal, right?” And all his mishes underline the image of an aspiring Al Capone, seeking respect and validation. Here, in this first one, we must plant a bug in Beryl’s network because Argon worries about her and Anti-M (as well he should!). The entry and execution is straightforward, and at the end, as I was counting my info, he burst out, “You actually did it? Ahh, I mean, yeah, great work there, Sugaree!”. Thank for the confidence, bro!
2. The Phone List
Argon informs me at the outset that he worries that Beryl has been two-timing him. The distrustful gangster wants to know about Beryl’s social circle and socializing, which requires you to retrieve a copy of her contact list. Most people would hack for this, no? But Argon wants the personal touch, and perhaps some intimidating visuals as well. Otherwise, a break-and-enter. Having done all the mishes for Beryl and Anti-M, I could have just told him, but figured it would be better for him to find out for himself.
3. Dig Up Something Good
Exile Digger is on Argon’s blacklist, and your task is to steal three files from him. Not all the files are obviously accessible, but otherwise the mish is a standard break-and-enter. This is a notable mish because it is the only time we learn of Argon’s connections with other major Exiles. Tragically, we cannot read the contents of the files, and I was left dying to know what was in them. Argon’s praise – “Hey, that’s great, Sugaree. Top job.” – did little to satisfy my consuming curiosity.
4. Sending a Message.
Argons continues to feel the need to assert his disapproval of his rival. This time, he asks you to assault one of her offices and kidnap a beancounter. For this he wants someone who cannot be traced, and that’s you. Plus, Argon informed me, “he’s just a pencilneck and he knows better than to cross someone like you.” Yeah! What he said! This is an escort mish, and you have to keep your ward alive. It took me more than one try.
5. Set Her Up The Bomb
Now it’s time to “get serious” with Anti-M, says Argon. He then tasks you with planting a bomb in one of Anti-M’s operation centers. Nothing mind-bending: you travel there, deal with some guards, and plant the explosive.
These mishes are straightforward, bread-and-butter. We learn little of the relations among the exiles other than from his suspicions. And though Argon clearly styles himself “the real deal”, it’s not clear at all who he works with or against. It might be that these five mishes were originally viewed as preliminary, and once I had proven my worth from small domestic chores, he would accept me into the operations of his professional activities. But this has not come to pass. Basically, he seems like a thug. In essence, Argon’s mishes are lightly-adapted standard mishes, still a diversion from the standard ones while helping people powerlevel.
What could have made these even more enjoyable? Well, I had already done the mishes for his girlfriend and rival before contacting him. If the AI detected this and reflected this in its responses, it would be even better. More of a departure from the standard mish format would have been nice. More on Digger and the contents of the files would have wonderful. And some responses from Argon reflecting his surroundings in Club Duality would have been great, something like inviting me to have a drink, talking expansively about his business, etc. Standing impassively in the purple mists of Club Duality, he could have styled himself like the Merv, etc.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
SugarShack 09: Reflections on QA: Where Can We Go Now?
Sugar Shack 09: Reflections on QA: Where Can We Go Now?
For more than a year now I have played MxO, through various builds, character wipes, and twists and turns. Two things have struck me about the QA evolution of the game: it has not evolved, and it is not effective. Fortunately, there are simply, relative cost-free solutions, which will help sustain the land we love. But some things done by the devs will need to adapt. Now, here I will be using the term devs broadly. Strictly speaking, the devs are the folks who sit and code features and content all day long, as distinct from content designers, artists, mission designers, world architects, combat architects, etc. For the sake of simplicity I’ll be referring to them all as devs: the people who provide the game.
To begin with, here are four examples from recent history. Believe me I could provide a whole lot more, but it would be painful and superfluous.
1. The SaiKung Shuffle: Endless running between three or four close buildings permitted people to rack up fast, vast xps. Apparently, the devs did not think about this. Since running from one place to another is not an exploit (nor, by the way, is efficiency), this must be attributed to bad planning and poor design.
Key problem: No tester thought like a player, to find a way to level as quickly as possible. Bingo! Lack of contact with customer!
2. Sudden instability in items. Walrus thoughtfully gives us a long list of items suddenly and silently affected by quick decay. “Lack of communication” prevented this from being conveyed until many people had seen items start to unravel almost before their very eyes. And these are items _not_on_Walrus’_list_.
Key problem (likely): No tester characters were prepped like real characters: with tons of junk. No one noticed the effects on other items. They only focused on the items on the list, and never thought about others. See the methodological problem here?
3. The mission timer. Remember this one? Players were penalized for being efficient, and rewarded for being disorganized and slow! Is there anywhere else in the universe where this happens? What were the devs thinking!
Key problem: No one played like players do, and no one thought about how players would respond to the hamhanded communications (or lack thereof).
4. The /afk emote. Remember this? Announced and documented, and DOA/MIA. How hard would it have been to test this and make sure it worked in the final patch build before sending the patch out? Apparently too hard, because no one did.
Key problem (likely): No one tested it, or no one communicated it. Either is a dismal choice.
These are to my mind representative, not definitive. And they have gone on for more then a year, so it’s hard to say “Oh, it was due to team turnover” or “management transition” or whatever. So, having pointed to a problem, I would like to suggest a solution.
One, the devs need to spent more time in the game.
We all occasionally hear of clans that claim to have devs or admins in them. Or, anyway, people who claim to be devs. Sure could have fooled me! Were this to be true, more realistic feedback to the devs would have prevented calamities like the ones I have described. Remember back in beta when some of the devs came in to play their own game, and got soundly whipped? That’s a symptom of a dev team inadequately experienced with their own creation. And it is seldom a recipe for success.
Two, the QA team needs to use characters for testing which model real characters.
In fact, they would do well to simply copy or model various existing characters from the game. This would have identified, for example, the problem with items decaying. Clearly they tested it with the items on the list. Clearly they did not test it with other items. Testing with characters outfitted the way real characters are would help avoid mistakes like this.
Three, in many areas the players know more then the devs do, when it should be the reverse.
For example, there are people in my clan and other clans who have spent months and months tinkering with builds to get the right combination of skills at the right level for any occasion. They are more cognizant of this than the devs are. The devs need to find a way to approach, learn, and assimilate this knowledge. Otherwise, they will be inventing the wheel, and there’s no guarantee that theirs will be round.
Four, the devs need to be more systematic and disciplined in QA and testing.
Most of the problems I have discussed so far stem from inadequate testing. But how can testing be improved? Make it more systematic and more realistic. In the Software Development LifeCycle, you have what is called unit testing. You try each piece of code or each process individually, and then in small combinations with others to make sure that they do what they are supposed to do, without unintended consequences. This is easy to do with a few modules. It’s very hard to do with dozens or hundreds. But there are standardized tools, called test scripts, test plans, and test cases, that help focus on likely problems. For example if you want to make sure that an item has an accelerated rate of decay, you might:
- Have a test character with the item and nothing else run in circles for hours and establish a baseline rate of decay.
- Have the same character with a new instance of the item run through 100 hardlines (25 from each major area) and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character use the teleporters in dungeons 100 times, and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character email the item back and forth 30 times and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character transfer the item to someone else and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character jack in and out a few dozen times with the same item and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have a computer with the same character suddenly lose its network connection or get hard-rebooted a few dozen times, and see if the decay rate is present, and consistent.
- Have a coder decompile and recompile the item 10 or 20 times, and make sure the recreations are all uniform.
Then do the above with other buffed or non-buffed items to establish a real baseline, and make sure it works. Each of the above is a test case. All of them together form a test plan.
Maybe some of these cases are irrelevant, maybe the numbers of test instances are excessive, but you get the idea that you have to test something in as many relevant circumstances as can be imagined, in order to make sure that things go the right way. Monolith did some things along these lines in beta- remember the hordes of numbered little bots that ran around and did things? That was more server load testing, if I recall correctly. And there are many automated test tools available for quality assurance work.
Now, many people reading this will say this is too expensive and too much hassle. I encourage them to review the performance blunders noted above, and reconsider. After all, in life the cost of not testing is all too often much higher than the cost of not testing. Think of the Pinto, the O-Rings, and any number of air crashes.
These approaches will yield a better game. But there is likely no budget for more testers (assuming there are any!). But who needs more paid testers when they have us?
How can the community help? If SOE ever re-establishes a QA server, we need to invest serious time on it. But simply having us all transfer our characters over there is of limited value. A flood of 50s tells the devs nothing about how low, intermediate, and developing levels experience any proposed changes, and they are the new markets the game must cultivate. I’m willing to roll up a new character for this (named prettyprettyprincess), and I hope others are as well.
So I would like to challenge the devs to prepare tasks for us on the QA server. Try new abilities in various combinations. Try new items in various actions and combinations. Try new mishes individually and with groups. Try emailing this and that. Etc. In essence, simply opening a QA server will not yield the input the devs need, They need a more disciplined, systematic approach to QA. There is likely no budget for a flood of testing staff (even timeshared with other SOE games), but careful and constructive use of the user community can achieve much the same effect.
This might all sound negative, so let me hasten to say they have done some things well. The Halloween stuff, very tightly focused, went very smoothly. And the Pandora’s Box mish arcs have been well-planned, imaginatively conceived and written, and not unbalancing at all. Grats grats to all involved, for showing that it can be done! There has clearly been some QA success in MxO; we can only hope that some best practices are percolating through the rest of the game team.
Conclusion:
- Devs need more time ingame. Serious time!
- QA has been dismal, and needs a radical re-think.
- QA needs to be systematic and disciplined
- The QA server is a fabulous opportunity but it must also be used in a systematic manner.
This will avoid past catastrophes, enhance dev control and contribute to excellence in execution. What’s not to like?
For more than a year now I have played MxO, through various builds, character wipes, and twists and turns. Two things have struck me about the QA evolution of the game: it has not evolved, and it is not effective. Fortunately, there are simply, relative cost-free solutions, which will help sustain the land we love. But some things done by the devs will need to adapt. Now, here I will be using the term devs broadly. Strictly speaking, the devs are the folks who sit and code features and content all day long, as distinct from content designers, artists, mission designers, world architects, combat architects, etc. For the sake of simplicity I’ll be referring to them all as devs: the people who provide the game.
To begin with, here are four examples from recent history. Believe me I could provide a whole lot more, but it would be painful and superfluous.
1. The SaiKung Shuffle: Endless running between three or four close buildings permitted people to rack up fast, vast xps. Apparently, the devs did not think about this. Since running from one place to another is not an exploit (nor, by the way, is efficiency), this must be attributed to bad planning and poor design.
Key problem: No tester thought like a player, to find a way to level as quickly as possible. Bingo! Lack of contact with customer!
2. Sudden instability in items. Walrus thoughtfully gives us a long list of items suddenly and silently affected by quick decay. “Lack of communication” prevented this from being conveyed until many people had seen items start to unravel almost before their very eyes. And these are items _not_on_Walrus’_list_.
Key problem (likely): No tester characters were prepped like real characters: with tons of junk. No one noticed the effects on other items. They only focused on the items on the list, and never thought about others. See the methodological problem here?
3. The mission timer. Remember this one? Players were penalized for being efficient, and rewarded for being disorganized and slow! Is there anywhere else in the universe where this happens? What were the devs thinking!
Key problem: No one played like players do, and no one thought about how players would respond to the hamhanded communications (or lack thereof).
4. The /afk emote. Remember this? Announced and documented, and DOA/MIA. How hard would it have been to test this and make sure it worked in the final patch build before sending the patch out? Apparently too hard, because no one did.
Key problem (likely): No one tested it, or no one communicated it. Either is a dismal choice.
These are to my mind representative, not definitive. And they have gone on for more then a year, so it’s hard to say “Oh, it was due to team turnover” or “management transition” or whatever. So, having pointed to a problem, I would like to suggest a solution.
One, the devs need to spent more time in the game.
We all occasionally hear of clans that claim to have devs or admins in them. Or, anyway, people who claim to be devs. Sure could have fooled me! Were this to be true, more realistic feedback to the devs would have prevented calamities like the ones I have described. Remember back in beta when some of the devs came in to play their own game, and got soundly whipped? That’s a symptom of a dev team inadequately experienced with their own creation. And it is seldom a recipe for success.
Two, the QA team needs to use characters for testing which model real characters.
In fact, they would do well to simply copy or model various existing characters from the game. This would have identified, for example, the problem with items decaying. Clearly they tested it with the items on the list. Clearly they did not test it with other items. Testing with characters outfitted the way real characters are would help avoid mistakes like this.
Three, in many areas the players know more then the devs do, when it should be the reverse.
For example, there are people in my clan and other clans who have spent months and months tinkering with builds to get the right combination of skills at the right level for any occasion. They are more cognizant of this than the devs are. The devs need to find a way to approach, learn, and assimilate this knowledge. Otherwise, they will be inventing the wheel, and there’s no guarantee that theirs will be round.
Four, the devs need to be more systematic and disciplined in QA and testing.
Most of the problems I have discussed so far stem from inadequate testing. But how can testing be improved? Make it more systematic and more realistic. In the Software Development LifeCycle, you have what is called unit testing. You try each piece of code or each process individually, and then in small combinations with others to make sure that they do what they are supposed to do, without unintended consequences. This is easy to do with a few modules. It’s very hard to do with dozens or hundreds. But there are standardized tools, called test scripts, test plans, and test cases, that help focus on likely problems. For example if you want to make sure that an item has an accelerated rate of decay, you might:
- Have a test character with the item and nothing else run in circles for hours and establish a baseline rate of decay.
- Have the same character with a new instance of the item run through 100 hardlines (25 from each major area) and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character use the teleporters in dungeons 100 times, and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character email the item back and forth 30 times and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character transfer the item to someone else and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have the same character jack in and out a few dozen times with the same item and see if the rate is present, and consistent.
- Have a computer with the same character suddenly lose its network connection or get hard-rebooted a few dozen times, and see if the decay rate is present, and consistent.
- Have a coder decompile and recompile the item 10 or 20 times, and make sure the recreations are all uniform.
Then do the above with other buffed or non-buffed items to establish a real baseline, and make sure it works. Each of the above is a test case. All of them together form a test plan.
Maybe some of these cases are irrelevant, maybe the numbers of test instances are excessive, but you get the idea that you have to test something in as many relevant circumstances as can be imagined, in order to make sure that things go the right way. Monolith did some things along these lines in beta- remember the hordes of numbered little bots that ran around and did things? That was more server load testing, if I recall correctly. And there are many automated test tools available for quality assurance work.
Now, many people reading this will say this is too expensive and too much hassle. I encourage them to review the performance blunders noted above, and reconsider. After all, in life the cost of not testing is all too often much higher than the cost of not testing. Think of the Pinto, the O-Rings, and any number of air crashes.
These approaches will yield a better game. But there is likely no budget for more testers (assuming there are any!). But who needs more paid testers when they have us?
How can the community help? If SOE ever re-establishes a QA server, we need to invest serious time on it. But simply having us all transfer our characters over there is of limited value. A flood of 50s tells the devs nothing about how low, intermediate, and developing levels experience any proposed changes, and they are the new markets the game must cultivate. I’m willing to roll up a new character for this (named prettyprettyprincess), and I hope others are as well.
So I would like to challenge the devs to prepare tasks for us on the QA server. Try new abilities in various combinations. Try new items in various actions and combinations. Try new mishes individually and with groups. Try emailing this and that. Etc. In essence, simply opening a QA server will not yield the input the devs need, They need a more disciplined, systematic approach to QA. There is likely no budget for a flood of testing staff (even timeshared with other SOE games), but careful and constructive use of the user community can achieve much the same effect.
This might all sound negative, so let me hasten to say they have done some things well. The Halloween stuff, very tightly focused, went very smoothly. And the Pandora’s Box mish arcs have been well-planned, imaginatively conceived and written, and not unbalancing at all. Grats grats to all involved, for showing that it can be done! There has clearly been some QA success in MxO; we can only hope that some best practices are percolating through the rest of the game team.
Conclusion:
- Devs need more time ingame. Serious time!
- QA has been dismal, and needs a radical re-think.
- QA needs to be systematic and disciplined
- The QA server is a fabulous opportunity but it must also be used in a systematic manner.
This will avoid past catastrophes, enhance dev control and contribute to excellence in execution. What’s not to like?
SugarShack 08 Mission Reviews: Lotus!!!
Long, long before my turn at beta ever came up, I used to peruse the MxO site regularly, studying every word that Tyndall wrote about Megacity and its inhabitants. I longed to learn more of the Library and its books that would open portals to realms unknown, and dreamed of indenturing myself to the Librarian to learn his secrets. (To this day, I believe the construct access books were originally intended to be obtained from him, not some random bookstore.) Others too, caught my fancy in those dark days of ignorance, illuminated only by my imagination. The foremost of these was Lotus, sultry songstress of the International.
Tyndall herself admitted to fascination with Lotus and her haunting slogs; I daydreamed of meeting her on missions and talking to her, imagining myself sitting in the tea house, sipping Formosa Oolong, intoxicated with her melodies, perhaps studying the Librarian’s mysteries… Oh, what a rush it was, like reading Keats while listening to Enya or something.
Alas, I got into beta, stayed with the game for more than a year, and never had either opportunity. The Librarian is nowhere to be seen, and until very recently, Lotus was merely a cut-out for Tyndall. And when she turned up at The Jade Room (Jurong, -120, -6, -199) recently, I could not bring myself to talk to her initially, so great was the inner burden of my expectation. But speak to her I did, and give me critical missions she did. I report on them below. This was a very special occasion for me.
Mish 01: Carry a Tune
This is fairly straightforward; I was tasked with carrying a music CD from Bouzerah to Minnie. Minnie, it turns out, has been seriously injured during a fight with enemies of Lotus, and _needs_ the power of Lotus’ compositions, Track 9 in particular, which possess a healing effect. This is a very creative idea; it would be good to see more done with imaginative notions like this.
Mish 02: Change of Tune
In this mish, initially quite similar to the first, you recover an illegal copy of Lotus’ music from a server and take it to someone who needs its palliative effects. However, this copy has been tainted, so instead of healing it does something quite different! You must stop it before too much harm is done. This time, Lotus is angry! And who wouldn’t blame her? It’s as if you put on a CD labeled Tracey Chapman, and out comes Eminem!
Mish 03: Dissonance
You plant a bug (perhaps using the Sony rootkit!), and then find the thieves who have stolen the mix. You find them and get the tape. But others need its healing immediately, and you must quickly get it to them.
Mish 04: Suicide Notes
Lotus has heard of some experimental work being done with the neural network effects of music, and needs you to obtain some samples for her. These are then delivered to some other appreciative exiles, who don’t show the congenial response you might expect.
Mish 05: Crescendo
This mish must be a record industry executive's fantasy. Together with a team of Lotus’ operatives, you must overcome a group which has been pirating Lotus’ work. “You’re the only one I can count on” Lotus told me breathlessly. There is a crunch with Blood Drunks, and many a /throat gesture. When the tape has been put on, one burly Elite Guard blurts “I like flowers” (apparently some mods in some games take their inspiration from the elite guards- go figure!). In addition to eliminating the pirates, you must reboot their server.
At the end the cryptic Lotus gushed to me, “You’ve exceeded my expectations again, Sugaree. There’s something special about you, I just cannot put my finger on it”. I wish I could say the same about this suite of missions. Granted, my expectations were so inflamed with anticipation that perhaps no one could have satisfied me. But more feedback from Lotus during the mishes would have been nice. And more backstory would have been nice: why people were stealing her music, what her goals were, her relations with other exiles, etc. The textual allusions to music, mostly in the mission titles, were witty. If the designers had actually, you know, _used_ some special music for these mishes (just two or three five-second segments), the effect would have been delightful. Also, since the story brims with parallels to the music industry’s efforts to squelch music sharing, some more direct allusions, ironic or heartfelt, would have been good.
One logical objection to all this is that Lotus could simply have emailed her music to any and all who needed it. Perhaps she was worried about network traffic analysis, and wanted the human touch to minimize the chances of detection. But making excuses for mission features is outside the scope of this review.
Tyndall herself admitted to fascination with Lotus and her haunting slogs; I daydreamed of meeting her on missions and talking to her, imagining myself sitting in the tea house, sipping Formosa Oolong, intoxicated with her melodies, perhaps studying the Librarian’s mysteries… Oh, what a rush it was, like reading Keats while listening to Enya or something.
Alas, I got into beta, stayed with the game for more than a year, and never had either opportunity. The Librarian is nowhere to be seen, and until very recently, Lotus was merely a cut-out for Tyndall. And when she turned up at The Jade Room (Jurong, -120, -6, -199) recently, I could not bring myself to talk to her initially, so great was the inner burden of my expectation. But speak to her I did, and give me critical missions she did. I report on them below. This was a very special occasion for me.
Mish 01: Carry a Tune
This is fairly straightforward; I was tasked with carrying a music CD from Bouzerah to Minnie. Minnie, it turns out, has been seriously injured during a fight with enemies of Lotus, and _needs_ the power of Lotus’ compositions, Track 9 in particular, which possess a healing effect. This is a very creative idea; it would be good to see more done with imaginative notions like this.
Mish 02: Change of Tune
In this mish, initially quite similar to the first, you recover an illegal copy of Lotus’ music from a server and take it to someone who needs its palliative effects. However, this copy has been tainted, so instead of healing it does something quite different! You must stop it before too much harm is done. This time, Lotus is angry! And who wouldn’t blame her? It’s as if you put on a CD labeled Tracey Chapman, and out comes Eminem!
Mish 03: Dissonance
You plant a bug (perhaps using the Sony rootkit!), and then find the thieves who have stolen the mix. You find them and get the tape. But others need its healing immediately, and you must quickly get it to them.
Mish 04: Suicide Notes
Lotus has heard of some experimental work being done with the neural network effects of music, and needs you to obtain some samples for her. These are then delivered to some other appreciative exiles, who don’t show the congenial response you might expect.
Mish 05: Crescendo
This mish must be a record industry executive's fantasy. Together with a team of Lotus’ operatives, you must overcome a group which has been pirating Lotus’ work. “You’re the only one I can count on” Lotus told me breathlessly. There is a crunch with Blood Drunks, and many a /throat gesture. When the tape has been put on, one burly Elite Guard blurts “I like flowers” (apparently some mods in some games take their inspiration from the elite guards- go figure!). In addition to eliminating the pirates, you must reboot their server.
At the end the cryptic Lotus gushed to me, “You’ve exceeded my expectations again, Sugaree. There’s something special about you, I just cannot put my finger on it”. I wish I could say the same about this suite of missions. Granted, my expectations were so inflamed with anticipation that perhaps no one could have satisfied me. But more feedback from Lotus during the mishes would have been nice. And more backstory would have been nice: why people were stealing her music, what her goals were, her relations with other exiles, etc. The textual allusions to music, mostly in the mission titles, were witty. If the designers had actually, you know, _used_ some special music for these mishes (just two or three five-second segments), the effect would have been delightful. Also, since the story brims with parallels to the music industry’s efforts to squelch music sharing, some more direct allusions, ironic or heartfelt, would have been good.
One logical objection to all this is that Lotus could simply have emailed her music to any and all who needed it. Perhaps she was worried about network traffic analysis, and wanted the human touch to minimize the chances of detection. But making excuses for mission features is outside the scope of this review.
SugarShack 07: BlueLile: Blood and Betrayal
SugarShack 07: BlueLile: Blood and Betrayal
Months and months ago, someone named BlueLile applied to The Collective on the strength of recommendation from a close friend of hers in another clan. Many people find strong solidarity in our clan, and he felt that she would fit in well, and enjoy the generally supportive atmosphere. She applied, charmed us all, was accepted, and joined my crew on Packetstorm. Over the weeks, she was not on all that much, due to the pressures of life that we all experience.
During this time, a leader from another clan extracted her account information for our server, and used it to rummage around, copying ideas and apparently anything else that caught her fancy. We detected this and put a stop to it. BlueLile publically apologized:
This other clan leader, named by BlueLile, then jumped in trying to claim she had been BlueLile all along:
Then she started posting on the MxO forums asserting that she and BlueLile were the victims. I posted as follows:
For the record, here is Sattakan’s definitive account:
I want to address what is going on over at the main boards. I think it is just pathetic and I want everone to get this timeline down. Currently Gothique is playing the victim role and making it seem that The Collective is harrassing and smearing her and Bluelile. That is laughable so let me get this straight.
*Gothique let's her cousin Bluelile use her secondary account.
*Gothique writes Bluelile's application to join TC
*Despite Gothiques obvious connection to Blue we give her a chance and let her in the clan
*Gothique uses Blue's password to these forums to gain access to private sections
*Gothique is able to view everything and does indeed steal and leak our ideas and plans. There is no coincidence that our Iacea event and her events were similar and we new we had a leak, we just didn't know from where.
*Bluelile was a valued member of our clan, we had nothing against her, I even favored her.
*Sneaker makes the discovery that two separate IP's were using Bluelile's password and was traced back to Gothique
*Gothique has been banned from our site 2 times already, yet still found a way to gain access. I call that harrassment
*Bluelile is informed that Gothique used her access to infiltrate our clan.
*We remove Bluelile's access to our private forums and Bluelile leaves the clan. We think Blue made a mistake and did not intentionally mean to harm anyone in this clan. We know how manipulative Gothique can be.
*Gothique finds out about it and sends me a message. She is surprised that I am even talking to her after what she did, her own words by the way.
*Bluelile posts up that she is leaving on TC general boards, and nobody smeared her.
*Gothique logs on as Bluelile and pretends to be her once again. She then says she was Bluelile the entire time. Then she changes her story to say that Bluelile is her cousin.
*Gothique asks me and Sneaker to remove Blueliles post from our general boards because she is embarrased. She says we were harrassing and attacking Bluelile. We never attacked Bluelile. Gothique said if we do not remove it she will take it to the main MxO boards.
*Gothique then makes a post on the main MxO boards which started all the drama over their and getting Mods involved. What does the rest of the community have to do with Gothique lying and spying on TC?
*Gothique claims we are smearing her. Look how the story has changed and been misdirected. She takes no responsibility for her actions, but the big bad Collective are the bad guys here.
One can only wonder why anyone would go to such lengths to find out what we are thinking. Is her clan so dull? But to treat people related to her this way goes way beyond contempt. When will she give up on the drama, just play the game, and let others do the same?
Months and months ago, someone named BlueLile applied to The Collective on the strength of recommendation from a close friend of hers in another clan. Many people find strong solidarity in our clan, and he felt that she would fit in well, and enjoy the generally supportive atmosphere. She applied, charmed us all, was accepted, and joined my crew on Packetstorm. Over the weeks, she was not on all that much, due to the pressures of life that we all experience.
During this time, a leader from another clan extracted her account information for our server, and used it to rummage around, copying ideas and apparently anything else that caught her fancy. We detected this and put a stop to it. BlueLile publically apologized:
I understand why Sugaree and possible everyone else is mad at me :-(...she spent alote of time with me along with upstream and Saty aswell as Remy....and Sugaree was always so sweet and nice to me..so I understand what she is saying becouse she probobly feels that I am something im not..I left the faction all I had to repay you all for what you have done is a lousy $4.000.000 and I wish I could do more :-\...but looks like ive already done enough damage,and to Sugaree..I am a klutz for doing that to you all..but ive not lied and I have done what was asked...and have left the faction and I only wish I could give you back the time you have given me...but it was all my fault becouse I should of said no and didnt :'-(, and becouse so ive done something bad and was stupid,but Gothique will not go without me saying my peace with her and what she has caused with my family and friends..but to answer those questions you might have...1.I am not Gothique.2.I am no longer her friend.3.I do not "work and or spy" for her..4.I only have one account.5.I am Christie and only Christie..the reast is up for you to beilive or not but ive never lied,not even to Sneaker when he asked..and if you dont then I dont really know what to say but it is for you to decide...im just so sorry..I know im not on a whole lot but..when I do it was early on,so you might not have seen me..and I am honestly upset and hurt by what has happened :'-(,maybe over time you can forgive me for my stupidety..
This other clan leader, named by BlueLile, then jumped in trying to claim she had been BlueLile all along:
well yeah the account is technically mine although a relative using it. I have no clue why she came up with this story (rp with a forum account? how can i do that?). I never logged in game impersonating her, so don't hate me for something i didnt do.
I am already very busy and dont have time for this type of rubbish.
I don't trick people into spying for me, but I dont deny loging on this account in the forums since i cant retrieve mine for some reason. I hope this thread is deleted and allegations of me tricking people into giving away details are cleared, because i am not like that.
please stop making so much drama about it, with all this alt business, every faction has some sort of "spying" going on. There are no evil plans to bring TC down.
Cheers
Then she started posting on the MxO forums asserting that she and BlueLile were the victims. I posted as follows:
Indeed, we will miss her [BlueLile’s] charm and warmth. Regrettably, Gothique abused BlueLile's account on our clan's server. She misappropriated Blue's logon information, and used it to rummage on members-only areas of our server. Blue felt terrible after this and posted an apology.
We are all sorry about this. Sorry that Blue's account was abused. Sorry that Blue's trust was abused. Sorry that our clan's trust was abused. Sorry that my own trust in Blue was abused. Sorry that Gothique would take advantage of someone's innocence, for no valid reason.
Not that there is any valid reason for what you did you her, Gothique. And now you have the nerve to post like this about it, rubbing salt in a wound.
For the record, here is Sattakan’s definitive account:
I want to address what is going on over at the main boards. I think it is just pathetic and I want everone to get this timeline down. Currently Gothique is playing the victim role and making it seem that The Collective is harrassing and smearing her and Bluelile. That is laughable so let me get this straight.
*Gothique let's her cousin Bluelile use her secondary account.
*Gothique writes Bluelile's application to join TC
*Despite Gothiques obvious connection to Blue we give her a chance and let her in the clan
*Gothique uses Blue's password to these forums to gain access to private sections
*Gothique is able to view everything and does indeed steal and leak our ideas and plans. There is no coincidence that our Iacea event and her events were similar and we new we had a leak, we just didn't know from where.
*Bluelile was a valued member of our clan, we had nothing against her, I even favored her.
*Sneaker makes the discovery that two separate IP's were using Bluelile's password and was traced back to Gothique
*Gothique has been banned from our site 2 times already, yet still found a way to gain access. I call that harrassment
*Bluelile is informed that Gothique used her access to infiltrate our clan.
*We remove Bluelile's access to our private forums and Bluelile leaves the clan. We think Blue made a mistake and did not intentionally mean to harm anyone in this clan. We know how manipulative Gothique can be.
*Gothique finds out about it and sends me a message. She is surprised that I am even talking to her after what she did, her own words by the way.
*Bluelile posts up that she is leaving on TC general boards, and nobody smeared her.
*Gothique logs on as Bluelile and pretends to be her once again. She then says she was Bluelile the entire time. Then she changes her story to say that Bluelile is her cousin.
*Gothique asks me and Sneaker to remove Blueliles post from our general boards because she is embarrased. She says we were harrassing and attacking Bluelile. We never attacked Bluelile. Gothique said if we do not remove it she will take it to the main MxO boards.
*Gothique then makes a post on the main MxO boards which started all the drama over their and getting Mods involved. What does the rest of the community have to do with Gothique lying and spying on TC?
*Gothique claims we are smearing her. Look how the story has changed and been misdirected. She takes no responsibility for her actions, but the big bad Collective are the bad guys here.
One can only wonder why anyone would go to such lengths to find out what we are thinking. Is her clan so dull? But to treat people related to her this way goes way beyond contempt. When will she give up on the drama, just play the game, and let others do the same?
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