Community Test Group

  • piink  kewlness


    This patching farce has gone on long enough. GF clearly don’t want expensive options, so here’s a cheapish one.


    I suggest for all future updates a new test server is created where a group of community volunteers have a number of accounts copied over. They can then test how the game plays and report back any issues. No rules on the server to allow the testers to test thoroughly. Hopefully some of the more experienced community members will do this out of what is best for the game.


    gameforge CANNOT keep implementing untested/barely tested updates. It’s destroying morale.


    I’d also suggest similar consultation groups on major updates so we don’t get more dumb scenarios where a 100 trillion point account can merge into any server at any time without vmode or attack block.


    feedback appreciated

    Space Pyrate

  • Serious question: When have companies ever really bothered with the feedback from test servers, both in regards to balance & bugs?


    This is always a good idea in theory, but in practice I have a feeling that with the what feels like the lack of a dedicated team & QA-analyst, it'll change even less than what you see happening when something major is found in PTR's of i.e. League of Legends & World of Warcraft.

  • At the end of the day it's down to the managers and Directors of GF to run their business, they need to understand that their developers are a joke and to sack the incompetent ones, if these guys were writing commercial software such as an ERP system they would be out of business and in the courts being sued by their customers ...

    Asimov_Laws.jpg

    Best Solo - 21.1 bn Profit - Uni1.org
    Best ACS - 320 bn Profit - Uni1.org

  • Dont forget that time then they had pioneers for the MCO and they didnt listen when they said expeditions were broken...


    C'mon guys, we've been complaining about this long enough. Time to make changes.

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  • It's a good idea andy, but there's a catch.

    GF has already outsourced all game/forum support to volunteers.

    They get miserable coupons every few months, like really not useful at all until you stacked them up for a year and wait for 50% discount on DM.


    With that said, are we supposed to be outsourced by GF to, once again, do the job they should do?

    Become the volunteer QA department?

    I say fuck no, get your shit together or ogame will die.

    Ogame is GFs product, they should take care of it, period.


    They don't care about players obviously, since only an idiot would release these patches we have received the last few months, so why should we care about them?

    Yes, a point can be made by saying that we would volunteer (sacrifice our time and nerves) so we and all other players can enjoy the game.

    But guess what, that's GFs primary job, to provide a fun, functioning game.


    Not a shitfest of bugs.

    Goodbye old friend.

    It has been a good run (2005ish - 2020).

  • You all know we have a PTR right? But no one uses it

    yes, cos who wants to build an account from scratch in the test server. It’s been said many times they should copy accounts over to allow testing.


    also, let’s face it. This hot fix never went anywhere near a test server. You don’t break sending fleets and not notice in any form of testing.


    nanogram whilst I’m inclined to agree with your sentiment. I do just get the feeling the game is starting to spiral downwards faster than it ever had before and I’m probably just flogging an arthritic horse with one good leg left on a conveyor belt heading relentlessly towards the glue factory…

    Space Pyrate

  • nanogram whilst I’m inclined to agree with your sentiment. I do just get the feeling the game is starting to spiral downwards faster than it ever had before and I’m probably just flogging an arthritic horse with one good leg left on a conveyor belt heading relentlessly towards the glue factory…

    Sadly criticizing anything about the current situation only leads to warnings and bans on the forum. Deal with it or move on, you're wasting your time writing any of this.

    2rabnrop.png

    Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.


    Developer of AntiGameReborn - Link to the AGR Discord


  • I get what you're saying. And not just game, board too.


    I would like that players like Andy ( experienced, and knowledgeable ) to be heard and acknowledged. Discussed with.



    I’d also suggest similar consultation groups on major updates so we don’t get more dumb scenarios where a 100 trillion point account can merge into any server at any time without vmode or attack block.


    feedback appreciated




    Why not involve this community?


    It would increase moral as Andy pointed out, and give them time to process any argument GF has for doing something.




    If there are vets playing this game for 10+ years that means they are leaders of this community. How many players were mentored by them. Advice and insights given on this board... countless




    GF could benefit... as I've been told Piink was active on this board , showed initiative to be actively involved in this community before being employed.


    I hope that passion is still there and supports staff behind curtain.




    Lately i see this passion from Kewlness, Cassandra and that gives me comfort at least not everything is lost.




    Having regular conversations with that consultation group is best idea i have seen in this board.


    Hopefully this transcend to other community's


    ( Some of them don't receive reply after 4 months )



    Sadly criticizing anything about the current situation only leads to warnings and bans on the forum. Deal with it or move on, you're wasting your time writing any of this.


    You probably have seen it all before and you are 100% right.

    But it's still good to see him try.

  • You all know we have a PTR right? But no one uses it

    yes, cos who wants to build an account from scratch in the test server. It’s been said many times they should copy accounts over to allow testing.


    also, let’s face it. This hot fix never went anywhere near a test server. You don’t break sending fleets and not notice in any form of testing.


    nanogram whilst I’m inclined to agree with your sentiment. I do just get the feeling the game is starting to spiral downwards faster than it ever had before and I’m probably just flogging an arthritic horse with one good leg left on a conveyor belt heading relentlessly towards the glue factory…

    You get 4 or 8m DM, doesn't take long to get what you want for testing

  • Honestly, this is already starting to go down the path of the same arguments as why people should not volunteer to join the volunteer staff.


    But, for those who are interested in contributing there is already a public test server (PTS) named Bermuda:

    https://lobby-pioneers.ogame.gameforge.com/en_GB/servers


    The more people on the server testing things the better it is.

    Part of the problem with testing is there are not enough people who know this game inside-out actually testing.


    I fully support the idea of a community test group.

    If pirate andy or others can convince people it is a good idea to join then go for it!

    It is true, the test server does get wiped occasionally but Gameforge hands out loads of DM to help you rebuild your account.

    Remember, you are testing things so do not get attached to the account.

    But your bug report could make all the difference.

  • I guess my Crux point was that even with DM it takes time to build up. I personally have always hated the start of the game. Even if copying an account is too much effort, if you could start with 10+ planets, decent mines and a big chunk of res it softens the time blow.


    I could be wrong, but I’m also fairly convinced the hot fixes don’t get put on the test server or anyone would have spotted yesterday’s issues in an instant.


    the current mechanisms aren’t doing to job required, they need an update

    Space Pyrate

  • I fully support the idea of a community test group.

    We had this pre-MCO. Gameforge invited a bunch of experienced players and tool developers to a closed beta server to test the new classes and features and provide feedback. While I do appreciate the good will behind it, there were two fundamental issues:


    (1) Everything was almost fully developed, and we were essentially just trying to damage control. A lot of the new features were just for the sake of implementing new things, and it was incredibly difficult to design them in a way that wouldn't break the game balance. The Reaper can be named as an example for this, being only added because "the two other classes have an exclusive ship, so the General needs one too", being too overpowered in its initial design (almost as fast as BCs with higher fire power than a destroyer and incredible RF) and being irrelevant in the current state. Thankfully we could convince Gameforge that not capping the amount of Crawlers one could build because it would "regulate itself by players attacking eachother for the Crawler DF" was a very very bad idea.

    (2) While we were getting a good amount of feedback from Gameforge in the beginning, that communication waned very quickly to the point of us being ignored,, leading to the Discoverer being added to live servers in a broken state. The main reason for this was because all of the coordination basically rested on WeTeHa's shoulders and he was quickly overwhelmed with that.


    That last point is also the reason behind the whole miserable state of the game design. All of the new game design ideas basically stem from one single mind.

    2rabnrop.png

    Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.


    Developer of AntiGameReborn - Link to the AGR Discord

  • I am not arguing there were issues at all.

    I am aware of what happened and I wish it had gone better.

    I absolutely understand there is a valid feeling of being ignored.

    Trust me, I know it from personal experience.


    I cannot make it better.

    I can only offer what I have as a solution which in this case is the public test server.

    I cannot force anybody to listen or decide for a better course of action.

    I would hope more active players on the test server would help in this case.

    But I absolutely understand the frustration and looking at my statements as overly optimistic.

  • Thank you for this insight.


    I absolutely understand there is a valid feeling of being ignored.

    Trust me, I know it from personal experience.

    My intention is not to sound negative.


    You , Tirnoch and others all have priority and that is real life

    ( family ,job... ) you invest time that you don't have. I would've appreciate that.


    Obviously recycling same polemic is needed.

    I wish that those who can't, could have they're say.


    I realize that i don't know much. I don't know what is going on in inner circle of staff and COMA.

    Or what Tirnoch and others did for us.

    I think it's good to have some insight.

  • Just as an introduction, Tirnoch also known as RiV, is the maintainer of a tool about which you might have heard: AntiGameReborn (or AGR).

    He is the one who probably has the most visible struggle with Gameforge after all the updates they have done.

    I am not going to get into too much detail, but it is an old code base which ran stably on version 6.x for years.

    Once version 7 came, everything changed but there was no way for Tirnoc to actually compare the differences.

    All version 6 servers were closed and everything was suddenly running version 7.

    It is quite an understatement to say his struggle with Gameforge has been real.

    I will also say, he is not wrong and has a very understandable and legitimate reason to be angry.


    As for the inner circle of staff and CoMa, you will not hear much.

    I can tell you the four CoMas with whom I have the most contact care a great deal about this game.

    I can tell you I have a very friendly relationship with the CoMas.

    Piink, the CoMa for this community and I talk every day (except weekends).

    I cannot speak for the other Admins, but I suspect you would hear a very similar statement from them.


    I will also tell you several of the CoMas I know actually play this game.

    They understand first-hand the frustrations this community (and others) are experiencing.

    Their position is not an easy one and people who rage at them are merely shooting the messengers.

    They provide feedback to other levels of Gameforge but are not the decision makers.


    All of the people mentioned in this post (and there are many more not mentioned) fight for this community regularly.

  • You all know we have a PTR right? But no one uses it

    yes, cos who wants to build an account from scratch in the test server. It’s been said many times they should copy accounts over to allow testing.


    also, let’s face it. This hot fix never went anywhere near a test server. You don’t break sending fleets and not notice in any form of testing.


    nanogram whilst I’m inclined to agree with your sentiment. I do just get the feeling the game is starting to spiral downwards faster than it ever had before and I’m probably just flogging an arthritic horse with one good leg left on a conveyor belt heading relentlessly towards the glue factory…

    You get 4 or 8m DM, doesn't take long to get what you want for testing

    in addition to the DM there are limitless ressources on the inactives just waiting to be farmed, i am talking about building 1 or 2 million of RIPS in a matter of a week or two

    I am makeing Silverwind's days

    And I am savage now!

  • It has taken Microsoft, a much larger company, the need to introduce a brand new product (Windows 11) to alleviate their catastrophic update woes.


    After a good decade and a half playing my one and only account here (and having used windows since 3.1.1) I notice the very same issues:


    Add crap for the sake of being seen to be doing something and to a timeline that makes any meaningful testing moot.


    IMO theres zero point in helping identify bugs. Instead merely take all stuff added to the game over the past several years and make a brand new game with it. Perhaps call it Ogame: playground edition where everyone wins.


    I prefer the old days when this game was simple yet responsive. I used my brains and imagination to prevent myself being wiped out in one sitting. Risky was what made this attractive, daring and fun.


    Instead we now have so much bloat that no wonder it takes an eternity to load everything for every click we make. And the bugs that come with every new feature stink to me of good intentions gone bad.


    For some considerable time now I haven't been playing this game, I've just been existing for the sake of having grown my account for so long. I can't be bothered to farm inactives and I barely remember to do anything else than remind myself how sick I am of wasting my time clicking and waiting here.


    Just my 2 cents I've been meaning to write for awhile now

  • Don't want to start a new thread, and since I have an idea in mind that is related to this topic, could someone maybe send me an gift code for Bermuda with a developed account.

    I don't wanna start from scratch, just need good account if anyone has a spare.

    Thank you.

    Goodbye old friend.

    It has been a good run (2005ish - 2020).

  • kewlness

    is this still a thing?

    could something be done about this?


    i know i was against this at first, but I need to exercise some Cypress and ogame could help.

    Maybe setup a git repo with tests or something.

    There's a downside ofc, such public repo could give some people ides to automate stuff that shouldn't be.

    Goodbye old friend.

    It has been a good run (2005ish - 2020).