Jump to content

Maybe it is time for new QA Testers?


TheSlayerNL

Recommended Posts

Considering the ridiculous amount of bugs and things one would expect people to try out during testing, is it not a good idea to get some new testers? Flying inside the caves, able to tame the wolves inside the caves, feeding titans with kibble to keep them alive. One would think those things would be tested for sure? What are people's thoughts on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TheSlayerNL said:

Considering the ridiculous amount of bugs and things one would expect people to try out during testing, is it not a good idea to get some new testers? Flying inside the caves, able to tame the wolves inside the caves, feeding titans with kibble to keep them alive. One would think those things would be tested for sure? What are people's thoughts on this?

They would have to have Testers in the first place for them to get new ones.  They just slap expansion packs together and toss them out and hope for the best.  Nobody told the devs they are not in early access anymore I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Wildcard were far more concerned with preventing themselves from becoming even more of a meme for never releasing something on time that they did everything they could to stick to their deadline, even if it means overlooking certain things that should have never made it through in the first place.

I'm not saying issues like these were not commonplace in past DLCs or even just general updates, but a lot of these feel like the kind of oversights you'd expect from a company cutting corners to make a promised release date and I think that's what we got here.

I'm glad we got it 'on time', but it's not really worth it if we don't get to play the map as intended. I mean, how long do I have to wait until I can finally unlock the Tekgrams I keep picking up from the orbital drops? So much Extinction content is locked behind the Tek Replicator and I have to wait for them to fix a bug to have a chance at getting to any of it. That's not very satisfying, honestly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's likely that their QA team has a similar issue to a lot of QA teams, in that they test to make sure things are working if they follow the script. Do ThingA, then ThingB, and result should be ThingC. A really good QA team requires a different kind of thinking.

To really test something YES make sure that it works as intended, but then try to break it. Intentionally, and in as many ways as you can. I can tell you from experience, there are not enough QA people in the world with this type of mindset. The ability to strictly follow instructions does not often coincide with the desire to throw the instructions out of the window.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think its time for a new design philosophy. The whole bigger is better approach hasn't really worked out and in any case has reached its zenith. For the next expansion they will have to add a Colossus species that hits the sky box and covers half the map in order to out shine the Titans as the new bigger bader super dino to get those sales going.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ForzaProiettile said:

I think its time for a new design philosophy. The whole bigger is better approach hasn't really worked out and in any case has reached its zenith. For the next expansion they will have to add a Colossus species that hits the sky box and covers half the map in order to out shine the Titans as the new bigger bader super dino to get those sales going.

I think this is an unfair criticism.
It's true that Ark has been making 'bigger, badder' creatures through its progression but I don't think that's necessarily out of the argument that bigger is, actually, better. I think Ark just feel like they're obligated to give us certain things with each map, and those things are 1.) At least one giant new creature to act as a main hazard for the map (Rock Elementals, Reapers, and now Titans, I guess) and 2.) New bosses. I think combining the two can create the illusion that the Titans exist simply to outshine what preceded them, but I think their existence boils down a little more to something else - and that's an over-reliance on influence. I think the problem is that Wildcard seem like they're trying to base their DLCs off of other franchises and essentially copying what made them special. They weren't exactly cryptic about the Alien inspiration behind Aberration, and boy does it ever show, and now - while not saying so directly - it's quite clear that the newest DLC is heavily inspired by the kaiju genre and, in my opinion but maybe it's just because of the Meks, Pacific Rim specifically.

I don't think it's fair to say the Titans are a sign that they're just going to keep trying to get bigger and bigger, though. I think they're just an attempt for Wildcard to support that thought we all had when playing the original Island map: "What if you could tame the bosses, though!?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Akherousia said:

I think they're just an attempt for Wildcard to support that thought we all had when playing the original Island map: "What if you could tame the bosses, though!?"

Maybe so but at the time they should have asked "what about the balance though if we allow this?"

I bought this game because it was an Open World PVP game. Having dinosaurs that you could control was a nice and fresh touch to the genre. I'm a bit disappointed the way has diluted into some odd sci fi thing with balance thrown to the wind. I preferred the game when it first came out the balance just seemed a lot better. Most bases were made out of wood since metal was hard to come by. The max level was 30 for players and dinos  and tamed dinos weren't so strong as they are now. 

For me the first signs of flawed design and poor balancing were the continuous introduction of flying dinos that rendered ground dinos rather irrelevant for transport and even in many cases for combat. It started with buffed Argents and Pteradons, then Quetzals were thrown in allowing players to farm the entire map without having to land. Then they added Wyverns that could hop from one side of the map to the other in seconds, did huge damage and were still quite tanky. Then lastly they added Griffins which not only could one hit most players in a dive bomb but also dominated the sky and the ground as the players could shoot rifles from them. In the latest iteration of OP flyer we have the Snow Owl that can do really good healing and give you Xray vision so no one can really hide anymore.

For land dinos it wasn't much different. They began by adding the Giga which was the instant win button to beat all other land dinos. Then a Titanosaur and now Titans and Meks.

For water dinos its the same story. Plesiosaur then Mosasaur and then finally the mighty Tuso. Same pattern bigger bigger bigger.

You can forgive me for thinking that perhaps they do believe bigger is better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, ForzaProiettile said:

Maybe so but at the time they should have asked "what about the balance though if we allow this?"

To be honest, I don't at all disagree with you.
I just think Extinction is a case of over-indulgence in one's influences rather than constant upsizing. I think, in this case, upsizing is a byproduct of that influence because they're drawing inspiration from kaiju films with Extinction.

Another thing to note, though, is that a lot of the additions you've mentioned came alongside dozens of smaller additions, too. We've received so many tames of various sizes between all of these large behemoths you're so concerned about and while I'm not saying that makes your claim entirely invalid, I do think you're cherrypicking the additions that support your preconceived idea rather than looking at the big picture.

I do agree that Wildcard has a tendency to create redundancies with their new additions, however, and they are also quite fond of adding an abundance of new features to any and all new creatures which tends to render a lot of the older ones obsolete. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, but it honestly makes me feel like Ark is more of an amateur dev's experimental sandbox than anything actually geared to be a game. I'm of the belief that Aberration and Extinction were not pre-planned whatsoever and are story arcs we got on a whim of inspiration and creativity, not things that were planned and developed since any early point in Ark's conception. I'm pretty sure even well after Scorched came out, Wildcard seemed to want to continue with the route of each DLC being another extreme biome - and then they just went totally left-field and gave us a borderline Alien Copyright Infringement.

I think the fundamental issue here is that Wildcard do not plan or think thoroughly about their additions, whether they be small additions like tames or large ones like entire DLC packages. I don't think there's any real rhyme or reason of 'bigger is better', but definitely a philosophy of 'more is more'. Sometimes, that translates to size. More often than not, it just translates to bonus abilities - and, often, those abilities just aren't really thought out enough to make sure they're right for the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...