Requests for weekly updates. | Forums

[obliviondoll]

OK.

We get it.

You don't have an update for us. Presumably because you're "busy with AC3" or something. In spite of that NOT being a valid reason to abandon something like this without warning, lets move on. Put this mistake in the past, and we won't hold it against you (but we won't forget, so it WILL come back to bite you if it happens again).

Obviously, there's been no word about an update next week. If there isn't one, I'll consider this project abandoned. Which is a pretty clear statement of intent for the Assassin's Creed Multiplayer experience. Support for long enough to make good initial sales, then break it and run away until next time. In that case, good luck EVER getting my good will back. You've already got a lot to prove to many of us, myself included.

I'm not going to rage at you here though. This isn't about threats or venting or rage. There are other threads for that.

The last Weekly Update thread got locked because of the "rage" being posted. MOST of the comments there were actually NOT rage, but were constructive criticism. Yes, there was some rage, there was a lot of frustration, and there were some people venting their frustrations. That's fine. It's normal for people to be upset when SOMETHING WE PAID FOR GETS BROKEN BY THE PEOPLE WHO SOLD IT TO US. You wouldn't sell someone a car, then fill the petrol tank with sand and claim you were "trying to make it go faster" because they'd never buy anything from you again even if they didn't sue you. This is no different. The seats still work, and the roof still keeps the sun off my head, but I didn't buy a car JUST for a place to sit in the shade. I also want it to MOVE. Your multiplayer, for BOTH games that have it now, is moving about as well as a car running on sand.

So, in lieu of an update this week, we have a rage thread using the appropriate name. While that's nice, and gives us a place to vent, it's ALSO not very productive. I'm tempted to post there, and might have to after this so I can let out all the things that I didn't want to clog this thread with. But the point is, we need something PRODUCTIVE and we need to give the forum staff, and the game developers, something CONSTRUCTIVE as well.

So, here's my list, and I'll add more to it as we go, until the next update.

• What are the weekly updates for? When you first started doing weekly updates, we were led to believe that you would be actually providing some form of feedback to the players on questions and issues we bring up. Last week's update provided precisely NOTHING relevant to the feedback you were receiving, which is why we were upset with it. A lack of update this week just adds fuel to that. But the point is, if you're going to offer us feedback, GIVE US WHAT YOU PROMISED. Even just a token "we're working on it" or 'we're looking into it" response to some of the major complaints is better than complete silence.
• Weekly updates means WEEKLY UPDATES - not "if we feel like doing it this week" updates, and not "unless we're too busy working on a sequel and can't be bothered talking about the current game" updates. This is pretty self-explanatory, really. DON'T LEAVE US HANGING AND EXPECT NO REPRISALS. Customers get ANGRY when ignored. And that gets supercharged when we're ignored AFTER BEING PROMISED AN UPDATE. Even if you don't have good news, make sure you TELL US SOMETHING.
• Problems with ACR patch. You've heard all this feedback, I'm sure. More of the changes in the patch had negative effects than positive ones for most players. Saying "we'll be doing X to fix it" or "we're planning to reverse the patch soon" or "we'll let you know soon" is a good response. "here, have some new maps which aren't really new and some of which are so old they're even in the previous game" is NOT a good response. And complete silence 2 weeks later is VERY DEFINITELY NOT a good response.
• ACR matchmaking. The problems with putting together a team in ACR have been around since before the game came out. A team of less than 4 people is almost impossible to find games with, and it's literally impossible for two teams who are searching separately to be paired against one another. This was a problem in the beta of ACR. It wasn't addressed then, and hasn't been addressed yet. It got a LOT of complaints though. There was even a promise made last year that it would be fixed "by next year" (which sets the deadline MORE THAN THREE MONTHS AGO). Obviously, that never happened. There has also been no further acknowledgement of those complaints, and no reason given for why this fix never showed up.
• ACB. This, as has been mentioned MANY times, is an ongoing issue that has now passed its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. There was even an acknowledgement of the some of the problems in June, and an official thread about it that got abandoned in July, when the patch apparently stopped being worked on. While the current state of ACR is getting a lot of players going back to ACB, it might be time to start looking into this again. Given the obvious parallels between the two games, both running on the same engine, and both pretty obviously sharing a lot of the same netcode, it SHOULD be possible to address some of the issues in BOTH games simultaneously. I don't know that for sure, obviously, but I expect that at least SOME of the problems in ACB would be relatively easy to fix, and it definitely still has enough players to be worthwhile looking into. I'm not going to say this HAS to be fixed, but it DOES need to be ACKNOWLEDGED. I'd rather not have to, because it's completely ridiculous that this was IDENTIFIED AS A PROBLEM and still NOT FIXED. Even if we get a token "it can't be done" or even a more vague "it's not an option right now" type reply, at least we know you're actually PAYING ATTENTION. I'd rather hear something UNHELPFUL about this than continue to have NO RESPONSE. My support ticket WILL remain until the game is fixed, though. Even if you restore my faith and Ubisoft's future titles are perfect and full of rainbows and sunshine, I won't stop asking for ACB to be fixed. And if you shut down ACB's access to your servers, I'll be making a new support ticket for that, too.

That's it for now. If any new points are made constructively and politely, and have points other than the ones here, I'll add them. Please, Ubisoft, do the right thing, and in next week's update, GIVE US SOME ANSWERS. Please?

[n00bfi_97]

Lawng poast.

Good points btw. One rational person on dis borde.

[Just Krispy]

I wonder how long this one will last before they lock it. I don't understand what is so hard about doing a meaningful weekly update. Guys Bungie did one for years while they were still maintaining Halo..they had them while developing Halo Reach.. its not that hard,

[Just Krispy]

The sad thing is that this game is only 4 months old....

[Lethalla]

As one of the aforementioned people who has grown tired of the constant rage-inducing problems in ACR and switched back to ACB, I'm going to add my voice to this plea.
We want an update on what is going on, not an announcement of watching Devs play while they spruik the patch that "fixed the problems", and the announcement of "new" maps that are only for the DLC Map Pack that the few of us who forked out for can rarely get games on anyway. And yes, we know that AC3 is the main focus, but surely you can - across how many continents - find a team of staff to work on fixing the issues we have. There is ample evidence on YouTube of what we are talking about, if it is more proof that you need.

And I have to ask: What exactly would it take to get the problems fixed? Because ACB is far better than ACR but there are still problems with it. We were falsely promised the issues would be fixed last July, as obliviondoll has stated, yet when we bothered to open Support tickets and update the relevant thread that existed at the time, we were told there weren't enough responses.
We have tried asking nicely, we have tried complaining, we have tried raging, all to no avail.
However, if, at this point, we were asked to open another Support ticket, I would do so - because I love ACB and I should dearly like it to work just as it used to pre-DLC 3.0 patch.



Now, I have started playing Skyrim recently, and I have to point out that the level of interaction between Bethesda staff and players far outstrips Ubi's. Frankly, that wouldn't be hard to achieve, since the interaction most of us have with your company is usually limited to a Mod telling us to be civil, or your Support system - which is just rage-inducing as the games' problems. If I'm reporting a problem, why should I have to keep telling them it's not fixed? And again, as obliviondoll has pointed out, it is difficult to remain civil when we feel we are being completely ignored. Furthermore, Bethesda not only acknowledge the glitches and problems in their game, but are actively working to fix them - perhaps not all as fast as some people would like, but hey, these things take time. They are currently working on their 5th patch - and Skyrim came out four days before ACR. There's really no comparison.

I don't care what is offered in the Pre-order editions of AC3; I'm not handing over any money for it until either ACB/ACR are fixed, or AC3 has (mostly) positive reviews from people who have bought it. And, I know I'm not the only one. In this difficult financial climate, and with the recent troubles of gaming retailers and companies, it would make good business sense for you to actually listen to the people who pay you = US.

I fear, however, that this is once again going to fall on deaf eyes.

[Collinwood01]

I hate to say it but I think others opinions of UBISOFT being money hungry and not caring about the MP experience the way we do(since we already gave them our money!) is correct. Its sad but I think the love for the series is fading fast. It seems there are less of us on the forum to vent or offer constructive criticism. It seems harder to find a game in ACB MP and even harder to find a lag free session in ACR MP. Im actually disgusted every time I think about trying to play either MP because I know it will be nothing but garbage. I still try. I usually rage quit after just one session now because Ive been dealing with this garbage for over a year so I have no patience anymore. Maybe this is the way the gaming community works: Buy the game, play the game, dont like the game, complain, quit playing the game, buy another game, play the game...(You see where this is going). Maybe the big companies have it right. We dont have an attention span long enough to really care about a game so we'll just throw our money away, complain a little and then move on. Thats why big companies dont care, because we dont stick together long enough to show we care. Id say they arent going to try and do anymore patches and Ill say this...IF, and I mean IF, I decide to buy the next installment, IT WILL BE USED! I like the story mode and dont care about the MP anymore so I dont need the "passport". There isnt meant to be any rage in this statement. Im through with raging over this game. This is just me venting my opinion. Carry on the good fight if you are so inclined and good luck! Later fellow agents.

[najzere]

According to vgchartz.com (no idea how accurate they are) these are the unit sales for the series:

• Assassin's Creed: 10,120,000
  
  
  • Xbox 360: 5,080,000
  • PS3: 4,350,000
  • PC: 690,000
  
  
• Assassin's Creed II: 9,890,000
  
  
  • Xbox 360: 4,750,000
  • PS3: 4,910,000
  • PC: 230,000
  
  
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: 8,470,000
  
  
  • Xbox 360: 4,120,000
  • PS3: 3,960,000
  • PC: 390,000
  
  
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations: 6,780,000
  
  
  • Xbox 360: 3,280,000
  • PS3: 3,200,000
  • PC: 300,000
  
  

Granted these are to date, so the earlier games have had longer to sell, but does anyone see a trend here? Can't wait to see what Assassin's Creed III's numbers will look like. I think given Ubisoft's track record with the series, we'll see a lot more hesitation to buy this game new if it doesn't get an overall rating of 9/10 or better. In particular, fans of just the multiplayer will need to a see a very strong beta or really good reviews and will be less likely to pre-order. In fact, I wish I could see the numbers on how many pre-orders each game got. AC3 is going to a have a lot of hype on its side and excitement of a brand new gameplay, but I still think Ubisoft's handling of this series has had a negative impact on their sales. Although we're a miniscule population on these boards in comparison to their overall sales, we also speak for a much larger portion of the gamer community that doesn't care about the series enough to find its forums or contact Ubisoft. Real shame what they've done with this promising IP by ignoring their hardcore fans on the boards.

[BLineDesigns]

After watching this cycle since the first day Brotherhood was released, I honestly think that the only thing that Ubisoft would remotely care about anymore is bad PR. Having their face smeared all across the gaming community and exposed for just how much they have abused their customer base is likely just about the only way to get Ubisoft to sit up and pay attention. They laid this massive dump out on the table for us, and forcing them to stick their nose in it and sniff seems like the only way that they'll learn. The rest of us have been forced to smell it for more than a year now. Maybe it's about time someone got the story out there.

I used to be an avid fan; Brotherhood's multiplayer was unique, innovative and it drew me in so powerfully. Now I'm just tired of this. The only thing corporate entities like Ubisoft cares about is bad PR. It's not like Valve, a company that clearly cares about the integrity of the product they put out (even if they're waiting to release it until after the second coming.)

[Chronomancy]

OK.

We get it.

You don't have an update for us. Presumably because you're "busy with AC3" or something. In spite of that NOT being a valid reason to abandon something like this without warning, lets move on. Put this mistake in the past, and we won't hold it against you (but we won't forget, so it WILL come back to bite you if it happens again).

Obviously, there's been no word about an update next week. If there isn't one, I'll consider this project abandoned. Which is a pretty clear statement of intent for the Assassin's Creed Multiplayer experience. Support for long enough to make good initial sales, then break it and run away until next time. In that case, good luck EVER getting my good will back. You've already got a lot to prove to many of us, myself included.

I'm not going to rage at you here though. This isn't about threats or venting or rage. There are other threads for that.

The last Weekly Update thread got locked because of the "rage" being posted. MOST of the comments there were actually NOT rage, but were constructive criticism. Yes, there was some rage, there was a lot of frustration, and there were some people venting their frustrations. That's fine. It's normal for people to be upset when SOMETHING WE PAID FOR GETS BROKEN BY THE PEOPLE WHO SOLD IT TO US. You wouldn't sell someone a car, then fill the petrol tank with sand and claim you were "trying to make it go faster" because they'd never buy anything from you again even if they didn't sue you. This is no different. The seats still work, and the roof still keeps the sun off my head, but I didn't buy a car JUST for a place to sit in the shade. I also want it to MOVE. Your multiplayer, for BOTH games that have it now, is moving about as well as a car running on sand.

So, in lieu of an update this week, we have a rage thread using the appropriate name. While that's nice, and gives us a place to vent, it's ALSO not very productive. I'm tempted to post there, and might have to after this so I can let out all the things that I didn't want to clog this thread with. But the point is, we need something PRODUCTIVE and we need to give the forum staff, and the game developers, something CONSTRUCTIVE as well.

So, here's my list, and I'll add more to it as we go, until the next update.

• What are the weekly updates for? When you first started doing weekly updates, we were led to believe that you would be actually providing some form of feedback to the players on questions and issues we bring up. Last week's update provided precisely NOTHING relevant to the feedback you were receiving, which is why we were upset with it. A lack of update this week just adds fuel to that. But the point is, if you're going to offer us feedback, GIVE US WHAT YOU PROMISED. Even just a token "we're working on it" or 'we're looking into it" response to some of the major complaints is better than complete silence.
• Weekly updates means WEEKLY UPDATES - not "if we feel like doing it this week" updates, and not "unless we're too busy working on a sequel and can't be bothered talking about the current game" updates. This is pretty self-explanatory, really. DON'T LEAVE US HANGING AND EXPECT NO REPRISALS. Customers get ANGRY when ignored. And that gets supercharged when we're ignored AFTER BEING PROMISED AN UPDATE. Even if you don't have good news, make sure you TELL US SOMETHING.
• Problems with ACR patch. You've heard all this feedback, I'm sure. More of the changes in the patch had negative effects than positive ones for most players. Saying "we'll be doing X to fix it" or "we're planning to reverse the patch soon" or "we'll let you know soon" is a good response. "here, have some new maps which aren't really new and some of which are so old they're even in the previous game" is NOT a good response. And complete silence 2 weeks later is VERY DEFINITELY NOT a good response.
• ACR matchmaking. The problems with putting together a team in ACR have been around since before the game came out. A team of less than 4 people is almost impossible to find games with, and it's literally impossible for two teams who are searching separately to be paired against one another. This was a problem in the beta of ACR. It wasn't addressed then, and hasn't been addressed yet. It got a LOT of complaints though. There was even a promise made last year that it would be fixed "by next year" (which sets the deadline MORE THAN THREE MONTHS AGO). Obviously, that never happened. There has also been no further acknowledgement of those complaints, and no reason given for why this fix never showed up.
• ACB. This, as has been mentioned MANY times, is an ongoing issue that has now passed its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. There was even an acknowledgement of the some of the problems in June, and an official thread about it that got abandoned in July, when the patch apparently stopped being worked on. While the current state of ACR is getting a lot of players going back to ACB, it might be time to start looking into this again. Given the obvious parallels between the two games, both running on the same engine, and both pretty obviously sharing a lot of the same netcode, it SHOULD be possible to address some of the issues in BOTH games simultaneously. I don't know that for sure, obviously, but I expect that at least SOME of the problems in ACB would be relatively easy to fix, and it definitely still has enough players to be worthwhile looking into. I'm not going to say this HAS to be fixed, but it DOES need to be ACKNOWLEDGED. I'd rather not have to, because it's completely ridiculous that this was IDENTIFIED AS A PROBLEM and still NOT FIXED. Even if we get a token "it can't be done" or even a more vague "it's not an option right now" type reply, at least we know you're actually PAYING ATTENTION. I'd rather hear something UNHELPFUL about this than continue to have NO RESPONSE. My support ticket WILL remain until the game is fixed, though. Even if you restore my faith and Ubisoft's future titles are perfect and full of rainbows and sunshine, I won't stop asking for ACB to be fixed. And if you shut down ACB's access to your servers, I'll be making a new support ticket for that, too.

That's it for now. If any new points are made constructively and politely, and have points other than the ones here, I'll add them. Please, Ubisoft, do the right thing, and in next week's update, GIVE US SOME ANSWERS. Please?

Itz a wall of text...

[THE_REAL_LOKi]

the weekly updates are a myth to pacify you while they leak daily small amounts of AC3 poison into your subconscious. Soon you will forget, they have lured you into their incognito bonus kill, gaining themselves £49.99 pre-order bonus points.