PhilipJFry wrote:i don't think a single dev does this as their personal playground
they do it because they like this game and don't want it/the community around it to disappear
people like you talking shit might wanna step back and think more about how to contribute in a meaningful way instead of just accusing other people
And here we have gone full circle into what I call a "religious complex," in which any points that point out the developers shortcomings or negative aspects are immediately shot down by the devs themselves or their "followers." Note that it's not done by counter argumentation usually but by ad hominem, which we so strive to avoid.
But because I am a kind person, I will instead point out the many reasons why faf now is worse than zep's era.
1) Server switch was a disaster
Whether this was avoidable or not is debatable, but it still makes it a significant time in our client's history. For no less than 1-2 years, the main client's map and mod vault were completely broken (and the map vault actually continues to be broken to this day). It also significantly worsened connection problems which are also still unanswered to this day until ICE comes out a full 3 years later [from the switch]
(Notice how I emphasis years).
2) My statement on coding playground
There is a degree of experimentation that you have to do with code, yes, but the direction faf takes it is a little bit much. Stuff like viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14537&p=148511&hilit=Lobby+colors#p148473
which are simply done because "we can do it" despite the fact it was a serious downgrade from the previous incarnation of something. There are more examples, but the point is across.
3) Patch times
This also pertains to the time frame needed to fix basic features. Let's go over a list of features that zep had working to almost full capacity (if not full) that do not work as well today.
3a) Connections have significantly worsened ever since zep left with nothing much being done about it. At one point there was a minimum of 1 person losing connection every single game. While that has been somewhat alleviated today, it's still worse than when we had tcp and proxies.
3b) If something broke, zep fixed it almost immediately and without major problems (some exceptions here of course like coop) and would send out a patch no later than 1 day after. Meanwhile, here, they are just forgotten.
4) Broken and/or missing features
This part is what kills me to write. Here's a list of stuff missing or broken features after zep quit:
4a) galactic war
4b) team matchmaker
4c) ladder divisions
4d) tournament tab (though this was spaghetti before too)
4e) working map vault for the python client
4f) properly working moderator tools
4g) properly working avatar system
4h) ladder connections
There are quite major features that are still to this day, either not fixed or not fixed into its complete form, with instead a bandaid put over it to cover the wound.
5) Developer attitudes
This honestly deserves another essay of its own which I will write later.
Enjoy the essay lads
