Mythic owns up to Warhammer Online contribution problem
by Kyle Horner 
Dec 6th 2008 at 1:30PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Warhammer Online, News items
So it's all mostly on the humorous side with Barnett starting off by explaining that a tiny piece of crazy code originally intended for Public Quests was supposedly removed from the game prior to ship. It turns out that wasn't true, and the code found its way into the RvR influence system only to muck up the whole game from it's cozy new home. Unfortunately, Mythic is only able to say that the patch fix is coming "soon" and leave us hanging until then -- hopefully "then" and "soon" end up being sometime this month.
Still, good on Mythic for owning up to the mistake It would've been easy enough for them to just fix the code quietly and move on, but they decided to be honest and upfront with the community instead. You can find Paul's video after the break, or catch Lum's lengthier breakdown of the video on Broken Toys.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Leshrac said on 2:22PM 12-06-2008
They probably missed the code because Paul was recording his 25th video that week, I swear this guy is more interested in being a goofy shithead then he is with being behind a keyboard. Stop trying to be a fucking celebrity Paul.
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Mr Angry said on 3:27PM 12-06-2008
Really couldn't have expressed this any better myself hahaha
Reader said on 4:02PM 12-06-2008
I'd agree, except that he did bring a ton of attention to Warhammer before it was released. I enjoyed watching his original podcasts that revealed mechanics of the game and I know many others did as well. I agree he has less of a place now though and should probably get back to what he was originally hired to do.
ymrar said on 4:26PM 12-06-2008
Among other things, he is one of their PR guys.. I'm pretty sure this video is something he'd rather not do unless he was told to. I mean, come on.. "Hey, we have this rather awkward information to deliver.. volunteers?"
rulez said on 2:50PM 12-06-2008
There are bugs in live code? Seriously?? And someone is responsible for putting bugged code in there??? What has the world come to... :(
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James Egan said on 3:43PM 12-06-2008
That *is* uncomfortable, Kyle. And my .02... not cool of them to handle it like this.
I mean, it's good that they didn't try to gloss over it or outright deny the issue, but I don't see how a video interrogation is the right way to go either.
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Simons said on 5:39PM 12-06-2008
I think the idea was to take a confession that's obviously no fun to talk about and which many people are very upset over and only likely to get more upset over now that it's confirmed and try to lighten the mood a little with some silliness. (And it WAS supposed to be silly.)
This is nothing new - they did the same sort of thing (not an interrogation, but the humor) when they had to announce the four cut classes. Heck, they do the same thing when they have to announce GOOD news, usually. This off-the-wall kind of humor is a facet of their way of being upfront and informal with the community, of approaching people with their defenses down - and while it looks like I'm in a minority judging by the general negative sentiment towards this game, I found it and find it endearing.
InfamousBrad said on 4:05PM 12-06-2008
Fascinating. It means that both the paranoids and those of us dismissing the paranoids were partially right. It really was random. It apparently really was based heavily on what order you showed up in the zone in; he doesn't quite admit that part, but does admit that the "tie breaker" code that was supposed to kick in on tie scores was "retarded," not a smart design for a tie-breaker, and that would be consistent. On the other hand, they really do have a working contribution system for keep sieges -- it just /wasn't turned on./ (*head desk*)
This goes a long way towards explaining one of the patch notes buried very, very far down in the preliminary patch notes for 1.1, the version that's expected to go live this coming week: "Keep/Fortress Contribution: ... All enemy kills, both Player Character and Non-Player Character, will now contribute towards the Public Quest for taking a Keep/Fortress. Other actions that lead to taking a Keep/Fortress will now result in contribution toward the Public Quest for taking a Keep/Fortress." That had some of us scratching our heads, since we always thought that that was how it was supposed to work in the first place, and not a few of us were pretty sure it *was* working that way the first month or two the game was out.
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Arashikou said on 6:10PM 12-06-2008
You know, both detractors and defenders being a little right seems to happen a lot in MMOs. :P Far more often than one or the other side being totally right.
What's rare is for the developer to come out and explain themselves. Usually, between not wanting to admit a mistake and not wanting to admit how the math behind the illusion works, devs just quietly gloss over these kinds of problems.
Brian! said on 4:15PM 12-06-2008
At least they are working with their customers, not against them like many MMOs. Mythic seems genuinely interested in making a solid game.
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HexDSL said on 4:58PM 12-06-2008
Paul Barnett is a dick. that video is proof!
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dualdot said on 5:45PM 12-06-2008
I appreciate their admitting of the problem and that it is being fixed.
I completely understand that in making a huge puzzle (the game) you sometimes put pieces in the wrong places.
Their only humans right?
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Graill said on 5:36PM 12-06-2008
Sad they would even show this. The obvious intent is well met but on a professional it had the wrong result.
....sigh, i miss the days of Quality control and firing developers that were to flippant in their approaches to mistakes and explanations.
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Graill said on 5:37PM 12-06-2008
...gah, add the word level in there. :P
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MightyIdle said on 6:38PM 12-06-2008
It's all in good humor, folks. Lighten up a bit.
I know most people don't get humor unless it involves a fart or sexual innuendo, but some people do have a bit more in them than that.
Hell, it's nice to have a MMO designer own up to a problem, talk about why the problem is there, and inform you that a change is on the way quickly for a change. Most will simply stonewall you and tell you to be patient. That is, if they even admit to a bug in the first place.
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Arashikou said on 9:03PM 12-06-2008
Amen to that! I'd rather have a silly video owning up to a mistake than months of "working as intended" and then a stealth fix or even a staid, professional announcement owning up to the mistake. Mythic's not some deity - untouchable, lofty, ...uh, mythic. They're just some wacky joes, except they're trying to manage a massive online world.
For those who aren't familiar with them: Mythic is not and has never been one to take themselves too seriously. This is just par for the course for the company. :) And if you don't care for the humor in it, then I hope you can at least see past that to realize that they have identified and acknowledged the problem and a fix appears to be on the PTRs as we speak, which is a level of honesty and promptness I haven't seen from any other MMO developer.
Zelmor said on 6:48AM 12-07-2008
Dude looks so tired and desperate, I thought he'd start to weep.
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Mr Angry said on 10:37PM 12-06-2008
OK, I don't like WAR, and I agreed this guy was a bit of a dick, but I've had a rethink.
You know, he loves MMO's, he's trying his hardest and yep, it might be misjudged and make a bit of a mockery out of their core systems and ability to communicate, but he's trying, just too hard. If someone lives and breathes these virtual worlds, I have nothing but admiration for his devotion to his work. Compare this to NCSoft, who just don't give a fuck and would rather just forget about a game?
The amount of times I've screwed up at work, is pretty astonishing you know, the amount of time I've had to give bad news about the screw ups is pretty big too. It's a screw up, and the lesson is that this could have been caught and fixed a lot sooner as it's been pretty common knowledge for a while, even to non players!
I've given Mythic a lot of crap here about WAR, I just don't think it's a very good game right now. I take great schadenfreude in the fact that I used to do absolutely nothing in these quests and still do just as good as if I'd bothered macro'ing every keypress and maximized my dps. I just coasted along, pretty much avoiding damage to armor as I don't like paying for repairs when others are so eager to volunteer.
They may seem serious about making a solid game, but surely a serious message is a way of reaffirming that? The lack of communication or forums hurts Mythic as the people who keep playing are fans, they need to share information in a more appropriate way. Broadcasts like this, I just don't get, it could have been explained much better and then opened the channels up to communication and feedback, rather than a comedy short.
But you know what, I'd have probably have done the same as him. When it comes down to it, for me, this never was such a big deal, there are more fundamental issues with the overall design of the game I'd like to see addressed. I don't think anyone would quit over this if it's going to be fixed, and if they do, well they were shitty customers anyway.
So sorry Paul, I don't think you are a 'shithead' I just think you misjudged this one a little. I think Mythic need to utilize your talents to make people enthusiastic about WAR rather than PR like this. Why not guest on some podcasts, the rather excellent virginworlds for instance and share that enthusiasm in a more measured way rather than video shorts, which can come across a little glib?
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Hardy said on 8:19AM 12-07-2008
This brings two funny things up.
1. It's funny that an MMO developer is so open to it's customers and willing to admit problems when it's there.
2. It's HILARIOUS that some people think it's easy to spot bugs in the code for MMOs as if it's just a 2 page essay and not 7 encyclopedias.
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Jack said on 10:42AM 12-07-2008
If you write code any code you will known there also slip a bug tru.... whatever what I think of warhammer online its a big thing a deliver or a pr guy confess there is a bug...
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