January 30, 2010, 19:32:56 |
#1
Too many bugs!
Greetings everyone!
First, let me clear myself: i do not intend to be a flamer or some kind of uneducated rater crying for nothing. I played on the Dofus open beta around 2005, and since then had great respect for Ankama Games. I am not that much of a power-gamer, and neither had the chance to absorb the whole development of the series around these years, but this has always been one of my favorite game-brands. Recently a friend of mine called me to play on the Waku open beta, and so here i am.
I started my run here some time around the .20 patch, and really had a good first impression. Since i got some spare time lately, i have been online a lot playing the game. Or should i say trying to play the game? This is an open-beta, i know, there are lots of bugs, which are the main reason for betas anyway. However, for the complexity of concepts and game design that Wakfu aims for, the game is lacking a lot on the basics.
I comprehend the whole 'player-ruled' game and ecosystem thing, and i really liked it! Ok, maybe some things still make me scratch my head or frown, but it seems to have a lot of potential! As so, i will focus on the bugs, and not suggesting changes to the game. Furthermore, i always try to keep up-to-date with the french forum, which is more active, by using google translate and a bit of mojo, so i am aware of things being discussed there.
Before proceeding, i would like to add i am not a native english speaker and am a little irritated at the moment, so pardon me for confusing speak and bad grammar.
Bugs that bugged me most at .21 patch:
- Characters that have no base-gem:
Some of my characters were created without a central room on the Havre-sac, for apparently no reason. I saw some discussion on the topic at the french forums, but realized it was easier just to re-create it properly.
- Monsters spawning on inaccessible areas:
Just commented this on other topic, happened before .21 and is a major-issue in my opinion. You cannot have an ecosystem when the individuals are forever trapped over a hoof or something like that. Heavily being discussed on both forums, no definitive word on it yet, slowing most of game activities.
- Random teleports:
Ok, now just what is this? Never happened to me on .20, and i heard only some cases of people being changed to Mork and stuff like that. On the last 2 days, i felt like the jumper or something. Sevamore! Random dungeon! Out of the dungeon! I know that things like joining a party inside a dungeon teleport you outside, but did not know idling on the street could teleport you inside a dungeon. Yep, happened more than once. Was just hanging around, minding my own business, suddenly: LAST ROOM AT LARVA DUNGEON!
- Disconnections:
Its an international server with lots of load, being hosted far, far, from my home, i know. But should it lag and disconnect for me, it should for someone using my LAN, sitting next to me, right? Mostly, yes. But i have seen this being reported by several people i talked, who suddenly can see no more characters and monsters, just walk around a static scenario, out of nowhere. When they try to reconnect, it seems like the connection has been cut, so just restarting the game will help.
This is mixed with the parallel universe and end-fights, or at least seems to be of the same nature, since i can relate some symptoms.
- Parallel universes:
Now, this is the family of problems who has most bugged and intrigued me. Whenever on a group, after finishing a fight some players seem to be affected by that, so the others on the group see them idling where the fight took place, and for the targets, things seem statical. Sometimes they can see the rest of the group and even send messages, but cannot interact with the scenario, join fights and stuff like that. If they are on a dungeon, they cannot advance to other rooms, it seems like they are locked in the current level. I have noticed that your life appears as full after a fight you have undertaken damage, just before this happens.
This has spoiled lots of group dungeon runs and hunting with my friends, and i have lost dozens of dungeon keys that way. There is no way to fix the group, just making everyone relog, reenter the dungeon and hope it does not happen. But it always does.
- End-fights:
You are there, smashing a sure-win mob, when suddenly the result window for the battle pops: and you are in defeated group! Sometimes you can stay in the game normally (back at your local graveyard), but your fighting mates see you as if you had quit the battle. Other times, you seem to be locked in the parallel universe.
- Stuck-squares:
Knows no time and place, just loves to grab you by the ankle in the start or in the middle of a fight. You just know you cannot click to move, neither in or out of battle. If you happen to have a displacing skill such as teleports and jumps, they seem to fix the problem if you use them soon. However, if you are alone and this happens, the only exit is /suicide.
- Xelor's Summons:
Since one of my main characters is a Xelor, this made me grow some white hair. The first time it happened, i was being agressed, so it was a tense situation. I happen to be a Sinistro summoner, and at the current time my build was set to the limit of four summons. For those of you who have player Xelors, there are two conditions to summon a new one: available hour square and number of summons lower than maximum allowed. Should you try to summon it without one of the conditions, the one you are violating will appear in red, indicating what is the problem.
The bug happened after 10 minutes of fight, when two of my four Sinistros were killed, and i tried to summon another one. I had the Cauldron on, so i had enough hour-cells, but when i clicked on the target square, nothing happened! On the spell description, the sentence for no hour cell available was glowing, but when this is the case, you cannot even target the cell! It should appear as no-range! To make things more confusing, after one of the remaining two died, i could summon another one on any hour-cell, as if my summon limit was forced to two by this bug.
I should stop here for now, before the topic goes too long. I have been wanting to post this here for some time, but never had the courage. What made me change my mind was the lost of two arach dungeons due to the teleport and end-fight bugs less than ten minutes, just now. So, for those of you that reached this part of the post, feel free to post your bugs and comment on mine. Maybe this should be moved to another forum, because i really feel people should take a look at this, bot because of the bug details, but on the overall tone of the post.
I want to keep playing Wakfu and contributing to the open beta, but it is hard to convince my friends and myself to do so with so many bugs. I plead to whoever has the reach to fix this, to consider with care specially the parallel universe and dungeon problems. On the past few days the game experience has been frustrating and unpredictable, and a game with so much depth and quality should not be spoiled by this. That said, i think i should get a drink, lay down and cool my head.
First, let me clear myself: i do not intend to be a flamer or some kind of uneducated rater crying for nothing. I played on the Dofus open beta around 2005, and since then had great respect for Ankama Games. I am not that much of a power-gamer, and neither had the chance to absorb the whole development of the series around these years, but this has always been one of my favorite game-brands. Recently a friend of mine called me to play on the Waku open beta, and so here i am.
I started my run here some time around the .20 patch, and really had a good first impression. Since i got some spare time lately, i have been online a lot playing the game. Or should i say trying to play the game? This is an open-beta, i know, there are lots of bugs, which are the main reason for betas anyway. However, for the complexity of concepts and game design that Wakfu aims for, the game is lacking a lot on the basics.
I comprehend the whole 'player-ruled' game and ecosystem thing, and i really liked it! Ok, maybe some things still make me scratch my head or frown, but it seems to have a lot of potential! As so, i will focus on the bugs, and not suggesting changes to the game. Furthermore, i always try to keep up-to-date with the french forum, which is more active, by using google translate and a bit of mojo, so i am aware of things being discussed there.
Before proceeding, i would like to add i am not a native english speaker and am a little irritated at the moment, so pardon me for confusing speak and bad grammar.
Bugs that bugged me most at .21 patch:
- Characters that have no base-gem:
Some of my characters were created without a central room on the Havre-sac, for apparently no reason. I saw some discussion on the topic at the french forums, but realized it was easier just to re-create it properly.
- Monsters spawning on inaccessible areas:
Just commented this on other topic, happened before .21 and is a major-issue in my opinion. You cannot have an ecosystem when the individuals are forever trapped over a hoof or something like that. Heavily being discussed on both forums, no definitive word on it yet, slowing most of game activities.
- Random teleports:
Ok, now just what is this? Never happened to me on .20, and i heard only some cases of people being changed to Mork and stuff like that. On the last 2 days, i felt like the jumper or something. Sevamore! Random dungeon! Out of the dungeon! I know that things like joining a party inside a dungeon teleport you outside, but did not know idling on the street could teleport you inside a dungeon. Yep, happened more than once. Was just hanging around, minding my own business, suddenly: LAST ROOM AT LARVA DUNGEON!
- Disconnections:
Its an international server with lots of load, being hosted far, far, from my home, i know. But should it lag and disconnect for me, it should for someone using my LAN, sitting next to me, right? Mostly, yes. But i have seen this being reported by several people i talked, who suddenly can see no more characters and monsters, just walk around a static scenario, out of nowhere. When they try to reconnect, it seems like the connection has been cut, so just restarting the game will help.
This is mixed with the parallel universe and end-fights, or at least seems to be of the same nature, since i can relate some symptoms.
- Parallel universes:
Now, this is the family of problems who has most bugged and intrigued me. Whenever on a group, after finishing a fight some players seem to be affected by that, so the others on the group see them idling where the fight took place, and for the targets, things seem statical. Sometimes they can see the rest of the group and even send messages, but cannot interact with the scenario, join fights and stuff like that. If they are on a dungeon, they cannot advance to other rooms, it seems like they are locked in the current level. I have noticed that your life appears as full after a fight you have undertaken damage, just before this happens.
This has spoiled lots of group dungeon runs and hunting with my friends, and i have lost dozens of dungeon keys that way. There is no way to fix the group, just making everyone relog, reenter the dungeon and hope it does not happen. But it always does.
- End-fights:
You are there, smashing a sure-win mob, when suddenly the result window for the battle pops: and you are in defeated group! Sometimes you can stay in the game normally (back at your local graveyard), but your fighting mates see you as if you had quit the battle. Other times, you seem to be locked in the parallel universe.
- Stuck-squares:
Knows no time and place, just loves to grab you by the ankle in the start or in the middle of a fight. You just know you cannot click to move, neither in or out of battle. If you happen to have a displacing skill such as teleports and jumps, they seem to fix the problem if you use them soon. However, if you are alone and this happens, the only exit is /suicide.
- Xelor's Summons:
Since one of my main characters is a Xelor, this made me grow some white hair. The first time it happened, i was being agressed, so it was a tense situation. I happen to be a Sinistro summoner, and at the current time my build was set to the limit of four summons. For those of you who have player Xelors, there are two conditions to summon a new one: available hour square and number of summons lower than maximum allowed. Should you try to summon it without one of the conditions, the one you are violating will appear in red, indicating what is the problem.
The bug happened after 10 minutes of fight, when two of my four Sinistros were killed, and i tried to summon another one. I had the Cauldron on, so i had enough hour-cells, but when i clicked on the target square, nothing happened! On the spell description, the sentence for no hour cell available was glowing, but when this is the case, you cannot even target the cell! It should appear as no-range! To make things more confusing, after one of the remaining two died, i could summon another one on any hour-cell, as if my summon limit was forced to two by this bug.
I should stop here for now, before the topic goes too long. I have been wanting to post this here for some time, but never had the courage. What made me change my mind was the lost of two arach dungeons due to the teleport and end-fight bugs less than ten minutes, just now. So, for those of you that reached this part of the post, feel free to post your bugs and comment on mine. Maybe this should be moved to another forum, because i really feel people should take a look at this, bot because of the bug details, but on the overall tone of the post.
I want to keep playing Wakfu and contributing to the open beta, but it is hard to convince my friends and myself to do so with so many bugs. I plead to whoever has the reach to fix this, to consider with care specially the parallel universe and dungeon problems. On the past few days the game experience has been frustrating and unpredictable, and a game with so much depth and quality should not be spoiled by this. That said, i think i should get a drink, lay down and cool my head.
