we eschew issues?

[Scarlet Shocker]

So yesterday's update was pretty damned big and comprehensive. I've not actually had an opportunity to check it out and see all the goodness but the reading of the patch notes took best part of the evening... I guess they typed slowly. 

 

It seems to me that this update was larger than a lot that even dropped on live and certainly one of the largest since sunset so far as I can tell and yet it was one page out of seven of the current issue, I27

 

I get micro-patches, stuff that contains important updates, be it in content, QoL fixes etc get called pages but with the 6 previous pages and this, surely there's more than one issue here.

 

I'm just thinking that with pages and issues things are gonna get confusing here, especially when referring to the issues/pages of the magnitude of I27 as it's seeming to be.

 

I think my fundamental question is what do we think an issue is these days? On live it was always a big update, often coinciding with an important game occasion. Personally I compartmentalize game memories within issues - when things changed and updates that happened, stuff that improved game play in some way but I must confess that the years aren't always as kind to my mnemonic systems as I'd like, so I'm not always recalling with the sharpest clarity. I have a reasonable collection of Trade Paperbacks (TPBs) which I use as guides to remember my favourite stories and I see a direct analogy here.

 

But what we had drop yesterday was way bigger than many issues, especially I15 which was the smallest live release IIRC, and bigger than most others pre-GR I'd argue.

 

I understand why the move to pages took place but is that going to be the norm from here on in? Is there a case for having volumes as well as pages and issues (for example there's a good case to say the aforementioned I15 could easily have been I14.5 or I14 volume 2)

 

I'm not complaining in any way, but I'm curious as to what the imagined publishing path moving forward is envisioned to be, doubly so as we are now official.

 

And yes, I know somebody's gonna say it so getting in first:*

 

 

*looking at you Healix

[Shenanigunner]

And, of course, the patch notes are incomplete. Some new stuff had to be dug out of the code. 🙂

[tidge]

Imma confused. Is the question about naming these as "issues/pages" or is the question about QoL issues?

 

I like that we get new "comic book" content, although I am less invested in the Lore than others. I do think there are a few QoL "issues" that could be looked at, for example: henchmen had their collision boxes removed (for players), but many pets still have them. Umbra Beast likes to pin teammates (and owners) into corners!

[Scarlet Shocker]

3 hours ago, tidge said:

Imma confused. Is the question about naming these as "issues/pages" or is the question about QoL issues?

 

I like that we get new "comic book" content, although I am less invested in the Lore than others. I do think there are a few QoL "issues" that could be looked at, for example: henchmen had their collision boxes removed (for players), but many pets still have them. Umbra Beast likes to pin teammates (and owners) into corners!

 

It's about how we label updates generally.

[Snarky]

[Scarlet Shocker]

"said Snarky to Mrs Snarky as he turned out the lights!"

[Greycat]

Quote

we eschew

 

Gesundheit.

[Scarlet Shocker]

5 hours ago, Greycat said:

 

Gesundheit.

 

danke sehr

[twozerofoxtrot]

I'm not certain but I think new issues have to drive the game plot forward significantly and that's why we've been at issue 27 for several years now.

 

But honestly the plot has moved forward a lot. The Goldbrickers almost became pan-dimensional overlords. Crey is clearly up to something big, and we're in for a world of hurt when their ominously hinted at uber clone gets loose. That's to say nothing of the Dixie Flatlined former Vahzilok sleeper agent who's only barely being kept on a leash by a techno-anarchist former Freakshow heavy.

 

If you haven't been keeping up with the lore and more subtle plot beats, some of this might sound surprising but it has been there for you to discover. The problem is that it's been spaced out over 2-3 years and seven pages now, so it's kind of hard to see that.

 

This doesn't even touch on the bevy of powers changes, challenge modes, and new sets since i26 ended.

 

So yeah, I have no issues with turning a new page on how we define future updates. Maybe with our all-volunteer dev team which grows and shrink due to invidual real-life demands, and their passion projects along with, it makes sense to move to a different naming convention.

Edited February 24 by twozerofoxtrot

[Techwright]

Just my personal take on it. YMMV:

 

Not sure we need "volumes" unless that would be how expansions like "Going Rogue" would be labeled.  Something massive and expansive map-wise, likely adding large chunks of new territory with associated mission. 

 

27/7 seems quite dense. I've been up with insomnia reading all the notes for the last hour and that was with skimming of those notes in the spoiler boxes. They definitely didn't use double spacing when writing this "page".  I get why it was done: lots of stuff to celebrate "official" status, wrap up the Piecemeal story, etc.  If it weren't for the connections to the other pages forming I-27,  I'd have felt this had the weight to be the tentpole for another issue, #28.  

 

Maybe its just that I'm just an old dude now, but absorbing all this is going to take some time and effort.  I'd have been happy to have it fed to us in 4 pages spaced a week apart, to give opportunity for smoother adaptation.  I've no real problem with what's been given, and I think I like it.  It's just that it's a Dagwood sandwich, a lot to take in.

 

In summary:

"Volume" = major expansion?

"Issue" = massive drop starting new theme/arcing story

"Page" = meaty, but manageable chunks expanding/exploring the Issue as well as giving the latest bug-fixes

 

It does at the moment feel more like:

"Issue" = introduce new theme/arcing story, regardless of size of material added

"Page" = material added small or massive.  Occasionally advances story.

[StarkWhite]

The next update will, as far as I know, be Issue 28 Page 1, for what that's worth.