a few words from a CA staffer

**Hooahguy** · 03-15-2009, 14:51

found this on the official forums, addressed to the community:

Originally Posted by Granville69

Please have faith in us. The campaign AI team are fixing invasions and other issues. The battle team is fixing fort pathfinding and naval avoidance and boarding etc. The sound team are fixing sound issues and the graphics team are fixing display issues. We've fixed the video problems. We do have a presence on these boards contrary to what has been said. I have posted a number of times.
This isn't the Medieval II team, this is the Empire team and we'll deliver patches via steam quicker than for any previous total war game. Yes we recognise steam has created it's fair share of problems for some people but one great advantage of steam is we can get fixes to you much quicker.
I can't give you a list of every fix that's been done, because I don't have a definitive list, that is forthcoming.

btw Granville69 is a CA staffer.

**pevergreen** · 03-15-2009, 15:24

Already been posted, but thanks for the thought.

**Hooahguy** · 03-15-2009, 16:22

o really? oops.

**Skott** · 03-15-2009, 18:20

The thing is that many of the bugs should have been caught and fixed *before* release. The obvious ones anyway. CA has a long history of this type of problem in their Tw series. It doesnt matter wether its a new team or an old team. They are still doing business the old way and this is what is making the TW fans angry.

**Melvish** · 03-15-2009, 18:42

Originally Posted by Skott

The thing is that many of the bugs should have been caught and fixed *before* release. The obvious ones anyway. CA has a long history of this type of problem in their Tw series. It doesnt matter wether its a new team or an old team. They are still doing business the old way and this is what is making the TW fans angry.

I agree that buying a buggy software kinda suck, but i also understand the dilema of software development. It is the big war between the dev team and the marketting team and the root of the conflict is that most of the time it is the marketting/publishing team that set the dreaded deadline (i myself is working on a sunday right now to meet a deadline) and that the dev team have little to say about it although they make all the real work to achieve the deadline.

So long they keep pumping the patch at the pace they did in the past weeks, they have my full support and recognition for the good work they're doing. (So much games never got properly fixed)

I wonder if they get the same ads when they come to this forum: the "Visual Studio Team System": an orc smash to bits an old style clock symbolizing the deadline. DIE deadline

URGGG!! Always make me laugh.

**tibilicus** · 03-15-2009, 18:45

And still no mention of plans to fix the MP connection problem.

Pretty much shows CA don't care about MP. They should really just leave a MP option out in future instead of offering a half arsed poor excuse for MP.

**Melvish** · 03-15-2009, 18:54

Originally Posted by tibilicus

And still no mention of plans to fix the MP connection problem.

Pretty much shows CA don't care about MP. They should really just leave a MP option out in future instead of offering a half arsed poor excuse for MP.

Don't worry they'll get to it (if they are not already working on it!), it just right now they kinda have their hands full with all those bugs in the list. It's not because Granville69 did not mention it in his short post that they are not planning to fix it (or are in the process of fixing it). If it as been reported and it affects lots of people you can bet it is pretty high up on the todo list.

I know i sound a bit enthusiast about this game but it think, IMHO, that ETW is the first step (gameplay wise) in the right direction since MTW1/VI .

**NimitsTexan** · 03-15-2009, 18:55

Originally Posted by Skott

The thing is that many of the bugs should have been caught and fixed *before* release. The obvious ones anyway. CA has a long history of this type of problem in their Tw series. It doesnt matter wether its a new team or an old team. They are still doing business the old way and this is what is making the TW fans angry.

It's the standard in software development, period. If companies delay their games till all their bugs were fixed, the lack of revenue would probably have a negative impact on that project, as well as any future ones. Not to mention, limited Beta Test teams aside, alot of problems (both bugs and design flaws) are going to show up once you exponintially expand the player base with a release.

And, before we get all sentimental about the way things use to be, the number of games that release in an almost completely bug free condition are quite small. Some of Sid Meier's projects come to mind, and some early Microsoft-published games. On the other hand, most ambitious and complex history-themed games (sims and wargames alike) from any era of computer publishing, were chock full of bugs. I am think of, among others: Fields of Glory, American Civil War, Wargamer: Napoleon 1813, Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic, Falcon 4.0, and the list goes on.

I am not saying I like the fact, but I believe it is the inevitable price we pay for more complex games.

**Beskar** · 03-15-2009, 19:42

PC games have never been that stable, compared to that of a game console.

If you want games that never basically required updating, dust off the ol'console games. (Xbox360, etc not included as they got updates via xbox live)

**Fisherking** · 03-15-2009, 19:50

Ha ha!

The first computer game I ever played was on a TRS 80 and it was on a cassett tape. And it was buged.

In the early days of computer gaming we didn’t have patches!

In the early days we didn’t have internet and on-line meant going to a bulletin board. Patches were almost impossible to distribute and games with bugs kept the bugs and you lived with them or found a way around.

At least today patches are easier than ever and this level of support is unprecedented. And they listen to us instead of ignoring all the moans and complaints for months.

**HRE_HeinrichV** · 03-16-2009, 12:15

yur old dude!

**Gargravarr** · 03-16-2009, 13:05

So am I! I remember my first modem. 1200/75 baud each bulletin board had a different phone number you had to dial. No way you could download anything. Ah the fun of games on audio tape, fiddling with the volume control at bad points on the tape so you could get the damn thing to load! Ah the memories!