An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

[cook2s]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I love straferight servers, I play on them all the time.

great letter

[RocketChild]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I hate the mixed bag of waiting for something to come out, and only to find that you wish you had waited a bit longer. Someone earlier mentioned Halo and Quake3 coming out stable. Well, I recall iD and Bungie delaying the release of the game for MANY months because they wanted a quality release/refocusing the product.

I feel this patch was pushed out because AF and EF were finished for a long time and were sitting on the shelf, not getting any returns on their development.

With BF, I don't see a whole lot of bugs, rarely see the red/blue. But I do agree, there is little true demonstrations that DiCE/EA really care for their userbase. I recall seeing someone from DiCE/EA create an account here at TBF2 as a liasion to the company. Where did he go? Was that another halfassed attempt to keep us in bed?

Damn, we all love this game, and that is why this thread has gone so far. There is a passion for this series. CS, Halo, and Quake players have dropped to come to our game. They may not know the history of early revisions of DiCE games being buggy. But we as a community has stuck with the game for years now, since 1942. It seems though, fool me once, fool me twice, is really starting to take a toll on all of us.

I will continue to play BF2, but I don't see my money going to EA anymore. I was the first to purchase SF, EF, and was ready to get AF a month ago, but now...I am getting tired. Tired of old technology, poor support...yes, I said OLD technology. When BF came out, there was nothing earth shattering about it except the newness of it.

At this point though, it is going to be hard for DiCE to really keep what it has left of a fan base. Even if EA allows a lot of free goodies at this point, I think a lot of us are sick of sugar and want real substance. I am sure we are going to play for awhile, but when the new titles start rolling, with DX10 and better innovations, we will follow.

I have loved you so much DiCE, you brought me back to gaming after years of being bored of FPS. But, I feel like our relationship is strained for a new, hot-body, walking down the street.

[Cap`N Hagen]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I'm with you---Maybe the haters were on to something afterall

Is this when we are supposed to say I told you so.
These same arguments about the lack of bf2 support and launch of 2142 were being made the last patch mess up, and people were labeleled haters, and whiners. It`s unfortunate it took another bad patch for people to see there is a problem.
Ive been a huge fan of the BF series, but I often wonder if it had not been for Desert Combat would I have stuck with it. Hopefully the talented mod creators will do the same with whats left over after the butchers at EA are done.

[Divinity]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

On average our server crashes 3 times per day. The average punter doesn't understand. They blame us, think we have a crappy box or bad connection when it has nothing to do with that. Its crappy code that hasn't been fixed. We pay a premium for a dedicated box and only run 1 instance of BF2 so we can provide large 64 player maps with fully functional BR without any lag as well as a separate server for VOIP. This costs us a lot of money per month, $260.

If the server happens to crash at the wrong time of day or should I say night then it might not fill again till the next day, also due to the silly minimum players needing to start.

The server stability is a complete joke, I agree 100% with you. Improved server stability was claimed and was at the top of the list in patch 1.22. Are you kidding?

Patch 1.3 is yet again full of bugs and instead of concentrating on fixing these important bugs you keep messing with the game adding, so called "features", nobody asked for. We are already having problems with the vehicle drops. Commanders are exploiting this feature more than any other exploit that ever existed before and this is only day 1 of the new 1.3 patch. I can't believe you allowed these vehicle drops to be placed on uncaps like the carriers. The commanders are waiting for a heli to spawn then dropping them on the heli before the heli can take off. They are dropping them on the runway, before a plane takes off or whilst it is taking off. Again this is day 1 of this great new feature.

Now squad hopping is gone the game has slowed to a snails pace. You are forever walking over the map, its become boring, if a commander would only drop a vehicle where its needed rather than on a heli, runway or lone sniper. Squad leaders to play the way you seem to have intended are now being heavily penalised, yeah that inspires teamwork! To play a SL properly in 1.3 they are likely to score 2 points and do nothing for the whole round and get no reward for doing so and its extremely boring.

I can also see servers being dropped like a ton of bricks at a rapid rate as the support or lack thereoff and the game being dumbed down so much, changes being made that were never asked for and vast gameplay changes between each patch to where we are today, which is a totally different game from where it started.

Server instability, crap netcode (didnt they promise 128 players in 1942, also?) THE IMFAMOUS AND APPARENTLY UNSOLVABLE BY HUMAN HANDS 'RED NAME BUG', buggy and laggy server browser courtesy of Game$py, poor system optimization.

The biggest problem is that the quality of the game, if anything, seems to be going down. I suggest this is due to them pulling the whole dev team that built BF2 to go work on BF2142. Sure, some other DICE division gets to patch - code they DIDNT develop - sure they have it documented, but clearly the dev team would have been the fastest and most efficient.

Note to EA: I will never buy your mod packaged as a game that is 2142. Support this product if you want my money. I noticed BF2:SF is 10$ and direct to download now - I, and all the other ****ed off BF2 fans will gladly fork over 60$ to Id for QW:ET rather than give you another red cent.

[TheEn|gma]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

First of all great letter I totally agree along with many of my clan mates, I will also be voting with my feet by not buying BF2142 again because of the disgusting support from EA/Dice.

I have noticed that a there is a general consensus that this patch (1.3) has sent BF2 downhill however I fear that one community (as large as TBF2 is) will not have a substantial affect to their pockets. Is it just me that thinks that EA/Dice have destroyed the game for some people through CTDs and constant glitches/bugs.

Wake up EA/Dice, listen to the people that may or may not be buying your games in the future, stop treating your customers like something you just scraped off your shoe.

[Jumintiger]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Great letter. Like someone said, I fear that it will, as many other letters like this to EA and DiCE have, fall on deaf ears that are covered by the ear's owner's hands. Since this latest thread about the "conspiracy theory" of EA making BF2 crappy so BF2142 looks better COMPARED to it, I am inclined to believe that 1.31 will be the last patch ever released for BF2. As many people have said, EA just has given up the ghost on BF2, and it is real disappointing. As I have stated in other forums: "BF2 is a very good game...until it crashes. Fix up the ameteur game you made, first, before going on to even harder stuff.

EA I DON'T TRUST YOU TO MAKE A GOOD GAME WITH MY MONEY. YOU WON'T GET IT FOR THIS NEXT GAME

[one ill mother]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Well said.
I'm not one to complain about patches, but 1.3 is bad for this game and will do more harm than good in the long run.

The serious gameplay issues that need to be addressed (red name bug & Swiss cheese APC's) were not even touched.

A gameplay feature virtually no "pub" players were complaining about was removed (squad hopping), while putting the screws to bf2 league play royally in one swift stroke.


The droppable vehicle thing is a nice idea in theory, but there should have been some thought (as well as heavy testing) put into it before implementation.
In it's current form it is nothing more than a way to harass pilots and snipers with one-ton air drops.

Supposedly squad hopping was removed because the developers felt it was "not being used as originally intended"....

Can anyone honestly say vehicle drops are being used just as the developers intended them?


Personally, this patch does not bother me a bit, I'll adjust to whatever comes along.

But taking an unbiased look at this release, it's hard for me to say I'm seeing anything positive coming out of it.

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Woah, I'm glad I read this thread before I installed the patch. I'll just go ahead and cancel the DL. Anyone with me?

By the way, I wish you the best of luck, Craig, and hope you and your community get what you (and most of eveyone else) want from EA/DICE.

[TheEn|gma]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Woah, I'm glad I read this before I installed the patch. I'll just go ahead and cancel the DL. Anyone with me?

I would be, but my favourite servers are running 1.3 and I can safely presume not many servers are running 1.22

[RocketChild]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I would be, but my favourite servers are running 1.3 and I can safely presume not many servers are running 1.22

Ya, I hate to say it, but my favorite servers are running it as of this morning, and they were really jacked up. Can I roll back without have to reinstall?

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

I don't think so.

[TheEn|gma]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Ya, I hate to say it, but my favorite servers are running it as of this morning, and they were really jacked up. Can I roll back without have to reinstall?

Not to my knowledge mate

[RocketChild]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Lame, because I reinstalled on Friday because of the "modified content" error.

*sigh*

[one ill mother]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

The stuff with the server browser alone should be enough reason to recall this patch (yes developers do it, id just did it a month or so back with a quake 4 beta patch).

The browser alone is pretty screwed up, but the overall stability of public servers, as well as the client/server network protocol seems totally messed up.

I've seen more "there is a problem with your connection" (and it's not just me, I'm talking to my friends on ventrilo and we all get it) messages and total server crashes in the last 24 hours than I have in the last 6 months total.

Gameplay issues aside, there is something seriously wrong with the network protocol in this release.

[sR Craig]

Re: An Open Letter To EA/Dice From StrafeRight

Wow...

First off, thank you so much to all of you for your kind and supportive posts and thoughts with regards to strafeRight and its community. We are proud and humbled to be thought of so highly by a community that we, in turn, hold in such lofty regards as that of the worldwide BF2 community. You are truly the cream of the crop in the land of online FPS games with your intelligence, maturity and overall care for the world around you. Truly, thanks for such a display of unity in this difficult time for those of us that love the BF2 community and game so much.

I've had a long day in the real world to reflect upon my thoughts from earlier today in the cyber world of BF2. I never meant to spark such Anti-BF2142 retoric with my post and I truly hope that those who are responsible for the creation, marketing and distribution of this product are successful in terms of what they set out to do. I would never want to see anyone who loves what they do come up empty handed but that surely would be the case for those that work in the creation studios for EA on BF2142 if said product is on par with that of BF2.

I'll lift the veil a bit about myself and admit that I work in big business. I understand budgets, deadlines, project team management and all of the other variables involved in between the process of taking an idea from the mind of a few to the homes of millions. It seems evident to me that BF2 has simply run its course with regards to sales for EA. They are a large company that is run by shareholders (much like my employer) who don't care about DDoS attacks or Red Name bugs. They care about a solid return on their investment dollars.

When the scales tip in favor of the red side of the spreedsheet it is very simple to the accountants, that essentially run any company of this size, it is time to move along to the next product launch that will help spur revenue once again.

So they started subbing out the beta testing to groups like BF2RS and the like in the attempt to slash overhead and keep costs to a minimum. I would not get down on BF2RS that hard for the last few patches as, after all, they're not a professional beta testing entity of any sort. They're just a group of gamers trying to help.

EA then pulled the initial game dev team over to another project and pushed off the support of the game to a smaller group that, although they are surely talented writers, simply cannot do all of the work thrown at them...especially on code they never authored in the first place. Again, all pretty basic business management steps that I fully understand and can appreciate as a business management professional.

It has become obvious to me, and many others, that we are at the end of the BF2 life cycle and that was all I really meant to express with my initial post. Please do not take offense if you are affiliated with EA/Dice in anyway. You have proven to be very good at what you do in many other aspects of the video game market which is why so many of us hardcore FPS'ers feel left out.

If we're at the end, just tell us. We've spent the money on this product and deserve at least that much respect as your customers.

I especially think the GSP's should be commended for their hard work and dedication in trying to walk the thin line of keeping their customers and EA happy at the same time...I can tell you that is a tough gig to have right now. My hat is off to all of the GSP's that are still in the hunt.

Thanks again for all of your support in this thread...with such a great community we're all sure to find one another in this or the next game that comes along to once again begin the glorious, tedious and everlasting task that is 'building gaming communities'.

-Craig