T_Immortalus

I cut out the other GM's name, but GM Redacted needs to be fired.
Every time he answers a support ticket he responds with some insane "answer to a question that was never asked and will never be asked".

/MystifiedByHisInsanity

1) I witnessed a bug after issue 18 where Syndicate attacked each other(NOT IN THE CIVIL WAR STORIES). These were clearly, according to the story, all allied Syndicate.
They still attacked each other.

2) I saw that "civil war bug" spread to other enemy groups, most notably the Legacy Chain.
It definitely "became more widespread".

3) Enemies started attacking "blue"(allies to us players) NPCs that they were meant to be "guarding".
This prompted bug reports like "I can't rescue this NPC because they die before I can reach them".

4) The developers want to fix the bug where NPC hostages get killed by their captors.
One of them gets the "bright" idea to make them enemies, thus allied with the enemies, until the captors are killed.

5) I witnessed, as well as others witnessed, commonly the results of that "fix" where hostages would no longer die to enemy hands, but they would now sometimes die to our player attacks because they are no longer allied with us and still flagged as "vulnerable to attack".

6) After that bug became way to common, a new bug how now emerged where the hostage formerly set to enemy to fix a bug will now STAY enemy, at least in a few cases, even after they are supposed to switch to ally.




So, the problem is not that "this is uncommon".
The problem is THIS HAPPENS AT ALL AND IS A RESULT OF A RATHER WIDESPREAD PROBLEM of hostages being classified as enemies.

Sure, it "worked" for the game to play as intended most of the time, but it doesn't fit the story for allies to ever be classified as enemies and certainly didn't "stay working as intended" as this bug and the number of NPC hostages that we can damage is proof of.




So, don't tell me "this isn't a widespread problem" when my point is "it will be if they don't stop it now" because it "never would have been a problem" if they had properly fixed the previous bug instead of the "hey, let's make them enemies until rescued" "quick fix".

I'm well within my rights to be angry about this progression of bug creating bug and getting worse and making more bugs.


They would also be completely stupid to ignore the issue when it is guaranteed to result in loss of revenue as things get worse, let alone revenue stagnation if things simply "stay the same" without improvement.

As a company out for profit, they don't seem to know how to make money. You don't make money by going backwards over time. You make money through progress.





Edit:
I fully expect to see this bug again sometime, even if it is "very uncommon".

My problem is not "a very uncommon bug that I won't see again". My problem is "a bug I never want to see again but will likely see again and will see the bug that caused it every time there is a hostage/escort in a mission".

Essentially, this bug is just one domino tipping with quite a few before it that already fell and a LOT after that will fall if they are not stopped now.
I want all the dominoes back up. I don't want the original bug, but certainly would at least be happy with the current worst bug fixed, until the next bug gets in my way of enjoying the game.

no no no no no

I'm claiming the "inevitable reality" that "if something is impossible then it is probably possible, and if something is definitely possible then it is likely more common than we realize".

I noticed this once, on one of the first, maybe, 10 rescue/escort missions that I have run since issue 22 and maybe one of only 25 I have run since issue 19, because I hate escorts like everybody else because they move slow and hate stealth.


I'm saying....
I found this bug really quickly. I'm expecting to see it again as I go through stories instead of just running task forces for badges.

1) I already restrain myself. When I say "obvious" I mean "I just saw you put your hand in that person's pocket and steal their wallet plus I have it on video from 3 angles".

2) How do you think NPCs become ally or enemy?
I'm pretty sure it's a "on or off" or "ally or enemy" flag in the database they use to maek this happen. It just so happens that the code that "flips the switch" broke so that the NPC didn't become an ally when they needed to.

3) I reset the mission and tried everything 3 times. It wasn't a "one time thing". It happened every time.



I'm not an idiot. I can test things and figure them out without "absolute knowledge of the details" simply because I know a few facts:
1) how I would make something like this work
2) how it apparently worked before(not so hard to deduce from a program with visible results such as a game)
3) how things changed
4) how things finally became bugged


And, I know one thing. I've noticed at least some of the GMs do not read support requests(even before Freedom) and apparently don't play the game to even see these issues either.
The GMs often seem as knowledgeable as my mother who doesn't even play this game or any MMO.

I know more than quite a few of the GMs just because I play the game. That should be a mandatory requirement for GMs to play every week at least a few hours, just to know "how things are".
1) That would mean they could see issues and report them that players may not think of reporting, or may think is too much of a hassle to report.
2) That would mean a lot less sifting through reports, pulling out the important ones, as they would see issues and send them up the chain of command to be fixed before most players even know they were issues.

It makes sens, but I doubt they work that way because it makes "too much" sense.

1) I run into NPCs in need of rescue/kidnap/escort every few missions. That is a lot more often than "once every 3 days".

2) This code that makes NPCs enemies until their captors are defeated is....REALLY COMMON. So, I expect this bug to occur somewhat often.
I don't think that's a crazy assumption, even if I haven't proven it yet by runnign another mission with such an NPC.

I just happened to report this and post to the forums immediately, since I knew it would happen again. I'm going to go back to playing through the missions I want to, and we'll see if I am right.
I hope this was a "one in a trillion" event, but it would be insane to think that likely.

I did, but that hasn't made them fix anything blatantly obvious and simple before, let alone ever add it to the known issues list.

You know that Sister Solaris known issue? It's still "only sister Solaris" after they updated it even after we bugged other occurrences in game(before it was a known issue) and told them on the forums that "it's not just her".

They either intentionally ignore us or they're inept or both. I'm inclined to believe "both".


Edit:
If they had me as a tester for this game they would have a hell of a lot longer known issue list, but that list would be empty really fast as the solutions to most issues are so obvious.

It's slang for "what just happened?!" when you end up injured/dead "instantly".

I personally prefer "OHMYGODINSTADEATH!" which I coined in a particularly hilarious mess in Halo 2.

I wasn't replying to your post either.
I was just pointing out that the forum settings being off doesn't surprise me at all.

Well, other guides can go in "player questions". This one is specifically technical.
And, I know I always look for the technical forum whenever I have a technical question, not to mention all the posts I have seen asking "need advice on new gaming computer" here.

I just don't know why that would happen, unless there is some option in City of Heroes where you have "asked it" to check for driver signing or whatever every time you login. Which I would disable because I know better if my drivers are up to date or not than a program designed to play a game, not update the computer.

It doesn't always work. Praetoria is notorious for "playing telephone" with contacts as well.

I really just want the bug fixed and I'm pretty sure they broke it, partially at first, when they added those annoying coins over the contacts' heads, that are never the proper size when grey, and contacts would no longer automatically get a "return to contact" marker/waypoint after exiting a mission.


They're just breaking systems that seemed foolproof and worked perfectly before, with every patch now.

I wouldn't be surprised if this game is unplayable by this time next year and has to close down, all because they are unwilling to focus on the code and fix it better than some simple quicky fix that will break next patch.

You have to have a shortcut call the CoH exe file up. I think.
Try exactly what Aggelakis posted.

I have never seen that, and up until about a week ago I was running 285.xx drivers. lol
Weird.

Well, I didn't know that, but they sure did a hell of a lot better job on Windows 7 than Vista.
Vista is a pain on the other computers my family has, but I have rarely ever had an issue with 7, even if it isn't my ideal operating system.

I can't wait to see what Windows 8 offers since I heard it is intended to be more streamlined so that it can also work on tablets.