An Update On Episode 2

[azanelilybone.4089]

Take your time, I for one would rather have a good quality story chapter later than a rushed junky one right now. Thanks so much for keeping us updated so we know what's going on! The story has been particularly riveting, challenging, and fun since PoF and I want what comes next to have the chance to be just as good!

[samira.7639]

Thanks for the update! I had remembered a sort-of vague, "New chapters of Living World every 2 to 3 months" schedule put in place from back in season 2, and had mentally geared up for seeing another chapter drop soon-ish. It takes a lot of work for new chapters to be player-ready, and I'm only too happy to wait for the fine-tuned release.

[Ayakaru.6583]

> @"yoni.7015" said:

> The statement doesn’t say anything :-1:

 

It says enough

"There are things broken. We are going to fix it. We don't want to release broken content. "

[Moira Shalaar.5620]

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> Hmmm, last time we had a lengthy release, we got Balthazar and neo-Primordus revealed.

>

> Calling it now, reveal of Grenth disguised as Joko, and Scleritethin (aka Selbbub) will finally be revealed. All the while, we fight at the bottom of a whirlpool.

>

> (EDIT: Okay, that can actually be pretty kitten epic to fight the DSD in a small area of ground surrounded by roiling water that the dragon's head, claws, etc. pops out of to strike at us.)

>

> > @"yoni.7015" said:

> > The statement doesn’t say anything :-1:

>

> It actually says three things.

>

> 1) they wanted to release trailer today, but won't be

> 2) they won't be due to newly discovered issues that they're currently fixing

> 3) trailer and release date will come when issues are fixed.

 

In addition to what this post says, it also implies a couple additional things:

 

1) ANET is choosing to prioritize game stability over a set release date

2) ANET is paying attention to the forum requests for greater transparency and is attempting to do so without also divulging unnecessary details.

 

like many others here I am glad that they have chosen to let us know and help us manage our expectations.

[thrag.9740]

I appreciate the direct communication. Hope it isn't too much of a headache.

[Theros.1390]

Thanks for the heads up ! For sure, we all prefer being a little more patient and then, enjoy the content without problems like crashs/bugs.

 

Courage ! <3

[Fenom.9457]

So is it delayed by a week or will it come out sooner and not on a Tuesday? We're just as blind as to how close it is as before

[Zaraki.5784]

Ok, you don't want to release a broken content even if that means releasing it after the famous 3 months window.

I'm ok with that if this happens rarely but in that announce you didn't say the most important thing: WHEN will it come out? Next week? The week after? An ETA please.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

Well at least it's in the Quality Check phase, it's basically complete they're just squashing bugs, works out for me as my new main is still putzing around in Orr finishing up the Personal Story.

 

I'd rather have a quality patch than a bug ridden mess, thank you for respecting the polish ANet.

[ViolentMuffin.9573]

Take as much time as you need! <3

[blambidy.3216]

> @"Fenom.9457" said:

> So is it delayed by a week or will it come out sooner and not on a Tuesday? We're just as blind as to how close it is as before

 

Its delayed by how long it takes to fix the bugs which actually can be tomorrow or couple of days. What they were saying is they **(thought)** they were done and were going to release today. Since they saw some hiccups, they will fix the hiccups and then release it when its done. **(IF)** they finish by today they will most likely release it the regular morning schedule.

 

I think this is a good post to let everyone know whats going on. And honestly I thought it was going to be about this time that they were going to release the trailer, and then release ep 2 early march. SInce it will be delayed by bug fixes, and filler ins, its not going to be long till we see the trailer. I say waiting a day or two longer is just fine.

[Moira Shalaar.5620]

> @"Zaraki.5784" said:

> Ok, you don't want to release a broken content even if that means releasing it after the famous 3 months window.

> I'm ok with that if this happens rarely but in that announce you didn't say the most important thing: WHEN will it come out? Next week? The week after? An ETA please.

 

They may not be able to give an ETA. It entirely depends the nature of the issues they have encountered. If some code in this release broke content in other releases they have to either modify the new code or mitigate its impact on older code. It can take time to figure out exactly what is causing the problem, figure out possible solutions, code the solution and then make sure it doesn't break something else entirely different.

 

We are already dealing with a situation where they are not able to make a general pre-announced timeframe. If they give an ETA and then are also not able to make that release date, I suspect it would only cause more PR problems than the original issue.

[Akeno.4962]

Thanks for the heads-up! Is a sneak-peek to much to ask for?

[Ansatsu.2678]

Couldn't you have released the trailer while fixing the game? Or is something wrong with the trailer itself?

[Susy.7529]

> @"Moira Shalaar.5620" said:

> > @"Zaraki.5784" said:

> > Ok, you don't want to release a broken content even if that means releasing it after the famous 3 months window.

> > I'm ok with that if this happens rarely but in that announce you didn't say the most important thing: WHEN will it come out? Next week? The week after? An ETA please.

>

> They may not be able to give an ETA. It entirely depends the nature of the issues they have encountered. If some code in this release broke content in other releases they have to either modify the new code or mitigate its impact on older code. It can take time to figure out exactly what is causing the problem, figure out possible solutions, code the solution and then make sure it doesn't break something else entirely different.

>

> We are already dealing with a situation where they are not able to make a general pre-announced timeframe. If they give an ETA and then are also not able to make that release date, I suspect it would only cause more PR problems than the original issue.

 

The "E" of ETA means "Estimated" and almost everything in the universe can be estimated.

(Not necessarily a strict date, but surely a +/- 1/2 week can be afforded by anet).

[Syreas.8403]

> @"yoni.7015" said:

> The statement doesn’t say anything :-1:

 

"... this morning we were hoping to unveil the Episode 2 Trailer along with the announcement of its release date. However, as we were preparing the episode for launch we discovered issues that we want to take additional time to address".

 

"Once we have... started the process for moving the build to Live... we will release the trailer."

 

Just because it doesn't give a set date doesn't mean it doesn't say anything.

 

 

[Healix.5819]

> @"Susy.7529" said:

> The "E" of ETA means "Estimated" and almost everything in the universe can be estimated.

 

Some people take everything ArenNet says as a promise. Colin's big problem was revealing stuff months in advance, even when it was just an idea. When he left, their policy changed to only talking about it when it's ready to ship, so they're not going to give any estimations.

 

They have delayed just the trailer before by a few days, so it could still launch on schedule. If they do delay it by a week however, episode 3 will have the opportunity to line up with E3.

 

 

[Zedek.8932]

Sometimes I wonder how many of the forum people work in real life. I usually have to hide my slowly developing anger issues when my customers permanently ask me "Why, Why? Why? Why? When? Why?" when I just told them it's a logistical problem we can't do anything about in the local branch. "But when..." Argh!

 

**IT'S DONE WHEN IT'S DONE!** - 3DRealms

 

Excelsior.

[Elothar.4382]

Appreciate the note. Thanks.

[Zaklex.6308]

> @"yoni.7015" said:

> The statement doesn’t say anything :-1:

 

It also says one more thing that I haven't seen anyone mention yet. As I said in another thread, those 2 weeks off at the end of the year aren't included in the schedule as no one is working, which means you can't use 12 calendar weeks as a definition of 3 months.

[Moira Shalaar.5620]

> @"Susy.7529" said:

> > @"Moira Shalaar.5620" said:

> > > @"Zaraki.5784" said:

> > > Ok, you don't want to release a broken content even if that means releasing it after the famous 3 months window.

> > > I'm ok with that if this happens rarely but in that announce you didn't say the most important thing: WHEN will it come out? Next week? The week after? An ETA please.

> >

> > They may not be able to give an ETA. It entirely depends the nature of the issues they have encountered. If some code in this release broke content in other releases they have to either modify the new code or mitigate its impact on older code. It can take time to figure out exactly what is causing the problem, figure out possible solutions, code the solution and then make sure it doesn't break something else entirely different.

> >

> > We are already dealing with a situation where they are not able to make a general pre-announced timeframe. If they give an ETA and then are also not able to make that release date, I suspect it would only cause more PR problems than the original issue.

>

> The "E" of ETA means "Estimated" and almost everything in the universe can be estimated.

> (Not necessarily a strict date, but surely a +/- 1/2 week can be afforded by anet).

 

while I have vast swathes of ignorance on many subjects, I was and am actually familiar with that ETA is short for Estimated Time of Arrival. You are right on both accounts in your first assertion, and yet while "almost everything in the universe can be estimated", there can be varying degrees of ACCURACY to an estimate. I am simply suggesting that Mike Z has chosen not to post an ETA because of a concern that the potential backlash should an ETA turn out to be inaccurate. Hence I am not in agreement with your second assertion. Given the various things that have frustrated the player base in the last 6 months, I am not sure they can afford to miss a second ETA.

 

Inaccuracies in an ETA can come from numerous things including in this case: factors outside of their control, and the inability of someone (or a group of people) to foresee all the ramifications of changing code which in my opinion is not entirely unreasonable with the huge body of code they are dealing with.

[Vahkris.6847]

Thanks for the update, Mike! Hope those issues can be resolved soon.

[fivebrights.7359]

Aww no episode trailer on my birthday like I'd hoped. Ah well :) If it's anything like the standard that was set in S4E1, it'll be worth the wait.

[Zxander.1837]

So we should expect this to be the best launch without any bugs hotfixes or anything of that nature. Looking forward to it.

_~~a very doubtful player~~_

[WZC.7910]

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> Hmmm, last time we had a lengthy release, we got Balthazar and neo-Primordus revealed.

>

> Calling it now, reveal of Grenth disguised as Joko, and Scleritethin (aka Selbbub) will finally be revealed. All the while, we fight at the bottom of a whirlpool.

>

> (EDIT: Okay, that can actually be pretty kitten epic to fight the DSD in a small area of ground surrounded by roiling water that the dragon's head, claws, etc. pops out of to strike at us.)

>

> > @"yoni.7015" said:

> > The statement doesn’t say anything :-1:

>

> It actually says three things.

>

> 1) they wanted to release trailer today, but won't be

> 2) they won't be due to newly discovered issues that they're currently fixing

> 3) trailer and release date will come when issues are fixed.

 

More likely Lyssa is the next villain