It’s no secret that Chapter 4 launched with a lot of bugs and glitches. Countless reports of visual issues, performance issues, bugs, glitches and exploits, across all game modes.
Normally, Epic would address these issues, either by publicly acknowledging the issue and are working on a fix, disabling of certain features, hotfixing things, or deploying emergency patches, as soon as they see reports coming in about the issue.
However, since Epic launched the new Chapter in December, and only gave themselves 8 days between launch and the first update of the Chapter and final update of the year, they couldn’t fix many of the issues before the next planned patch, and before they went on holiday break.
Then, we’re just left in the dark, waiting for Epic to come back from their break, so that they can actively work on fixing a lot of the issues that are plaguing the game for a lot of people.
It wasn’t until recently have Epic began to re-enable and disable items and features more frequently, because they came back from their holiday break. During the holidays, their social media was almost dead silent, only giving us tweets about Winterfest challenges and showing the same image of Sgt. Winter.
I think launching Chapter 4 at some other time of the year would’ve been better for both Epic and the community.
Imagine, if Epic had launched this Chapter at some other time of the year, away from holiday break and summer break, and worked on fixing issues immediately after launch and address them with bi-weekly updates, like any other season launch. I think sentiment on the Chapter would be way more positive and many more would agree that this Chapter/season is top tier, gameplay wise.
Chapter 3 Season 1 also suffered from the Chapter launching in December.
Something else I should point out as well, is that last year with Chapter 3’s launch, it also had issues that Epic couldn’t address in time before the holiday break. It wasn’t bugs, even though there were a few… it was game balance. It launched on December 5th and gave themselves about 7 days before the first major update dropped, and was also the last update of the year. That’s not enough time to address issues, listen and act on community feedback, before going a month without any updates or changes.
Chapter 3: Debates on Weapon Balancing
Around this time last year, both this sub and the comp sub were being flooded with posts, requesting for the MK-Seven and SMGs to get nerfed, as well as the Spider-Man Web Shooters mythic.
All these posts came up during the time at which Epic were on holiday break, and just like our current situation with bugs and glitches, they weren’t addressed until a month after the last update, after Epic comes back from break. We’re basically reliving this, except people aren’t yelling at each other about game balance, but rather, most people are in agreement that the bugs and glitches need to be addressed ASAP because they are hurting the game experience.
Chapter 2 had a much smoother launch, however…
Chapter 2 had a much better launch, because of it launching in October, so any issues that came up at launch were addressed more quickly. Though the reason why Chapter 2 Season 1 wasn’t viewed as great season, was due to the 2 month season extension. It was originally going to end in December 8th or 9th, before Epic announced an extension in November. Because of this, the season suffered from lack of updates, content and changes.
However, I’d like to point out that it was during the time at which Epic were reworking their development cycles, to avoid crunching their developers, and as result, extended season to give them more time and less stress, which is good.
With Epic’s current development cycle, they give themselves more time and less crunch, but clearly it’s not ideal either, as not enough time was given to them for Chapter 4 before going a month without updates.
”Just play test the game bro.”
Before any one says “they should’ve just fixed the issues during testing, it’s their fault for not testing their game,” understand that the introduction of Hurdling, Reality Augments, and a Hammer Weapon in BR, as well as a New Vehicle type, and the introduction of new Unreal Engine 5 tech/graphics, is gonna create a lot of issues, even if a lot of testing is done. And sometimes, fixes couldn’t be implemented before their deadline. A lot can go wrong between them finalizing the update and releasing the update to the live game on many different platforms and systems. It’s how game development works.
Conclusion
So TLDR: I think it would be beneficial for both us, the community, and for Epic’s sake, that these new Chapter launches happen at some other time of the year. That way, we don’t have to be waiting over a month for fixes and balance changes, but also for Epic, to not see their fantastic launch of a Chapter be ripped apart by some people because of the issues, while they can do nothing but watch while on their holiday break.
I would be disappointed if we hear later on this year or whenever the next Chapter is, that they’re launching it in December. It would just be a cycle that is gonna get frustrating to sit through again and again.
I ask for you guys to be civil about the feedback and topic. Do not attack or harass any Epic developers. Their jobs are not easy and it likely wasn’t their call to leave the game in the state that it is in currently.
Submitted January 13, 2023 at 06:54PM by Alphasilverhawk https://ift.tt/cqE7I42 https://ift.tt/ENlcX6j
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