Eyes read: “6 Sim Updates and 6 World Updates announced for 2022”
Mind interprets it as: “Thousands of bugs are coming my way”
But that’s OK, as long as Reno works most people won’t complain.
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An update roughly every 2 months (stability permitting) could be fine if Asobo changed their code management and testing methodology. They need very focused groups of testers that test specific aspects of the sim using a very strict system. A thousand people with zero relevant experience flying over their house with everything set to easy is useless. They need focused teams. For instance, one group tests avionics, one group tests physics, one group tests weather, one group tests scenery, one group tests audio, one group tests multiplayer, one group tests bush trips etc. And each group goes through a detailed checklist of very specific things to check and report back on. If necessary, the groups could even have a single group leader who culls and submits any problems found directly to Asobo for fixing.
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Forgive but I;m kind of new to this stuff . So if I have a question who should I ask? Some say that Zendesk . But you say they are really not responsible for answering questions
My main question was Are the bush trips fixed ?
So the question is and/or are Are they fixed? Are they going to get fixed? When? Why did they get broken? Why can’t you fix them?
Also there is talk at the forumns that they got fixed or partially fixed with Update 7 .
So in your infinite wisdom who should I have asked>?
Do you really think trying to divide beta testers into groups for particular subsystems, and having them perform specific test cases is really going to work? That is how you would test subsystems inside a business. But all testers are paid to perform their job. These are beta testers in the public. Some people will just want to get in the beta to test the things that interest them, then go on to play in the simulator. Results would be highly suspect that you don’t have some element of some users just saying Pass, Pass, Pass, Pass, Pass just to be done with it and sending in the results without actually testing anything in their list. And frankly, just doing that is going to involve many of those groups you suggested anyways. How do you do a flight that you aren’t going to experience sound, avionics, physics, scenery, etc. Each user is going to be doing different things that aren’t covered in a test case script. For example, I take off from Womderboom a lot. For a week, there was a cloud that obstructed visibility over the airport, but the rest of Pretoria and Gauteng providence was sunny and clear. Subsystem testing has already been done within Asobo, beta testing is about finding out what doesn’t work for users with their normal usage.
Precisely, it’s all ultimately about Quality Control which has been severely lacking since Day One. But the trouble is MS will have set deadlines for some updates (Top Gun DLC for example), so with past Deadlines that Update may well be poor and riddled with bugs going on recent history (SU5 with Xbox, SU7 with Reno).
Time and time again I and others have made it very clear that they need to improve the whole Beta Testing and Quality Control areas pre Update release, it always falls on deaf ears, lessons are not being learnt and that is a massive issue.
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I agree with this 100%. 2 Sim Updates for every World Update. Man… that would be awesome. At least for 1 year to see how stable the Sim is using this cadence.
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And yet remains the correct way to raise bugs and has, if you read through the forums and many of the zendesk articles, helped a lot of people. Raising threads in this forum is not the best way to get issues fixed - mainly because people don’t provide near enough information to help the developers identify the issues. Don’t expect to get immediate fixes installed on the back of your Zendesk tickets - that’s not realistic. However providing structured feedback with details, screenshots and other information is the way to make sure Asobo have the information to fix the issue. Everything gets triaged of course.
Seeing this kind of behaviour already in the open beta - especially people raising their pet bug that’s been around for ages rather than testing what they are being asked to test and cluttering up the beta test forum pages and asking for new stuff to be added
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This is a good point. There’s no one place for people to go to get a definite update on a problem. You may or may not get a response from zen desk. You’re then left to trawl the forums to see if someone else can give you an unverified answer The once weekly updates have become vague and just a voting list. We need a service status page. Not something that’s voted on. A definitive list of known issues that also contains at the top the current status of the live comports weather / online play / Xbox live / etc etc. At least that way we could go there and see if a. A problem has been accepted as a true sim issue and b. Where they are with fixing it.
The devs in the Q&A
I am sure Asobo would not deliberately deliver a faulty update and so wider spacing of updates only slows down the process so I would prefer more smaller ones.
I submitted a couple of bugs early after release and found it extremely cumbersome to deal with. Filling it out felt like it was taking ages. I didn‘t look for personal support, all I wanted was to report a couple of bugs. I‘m sure others did that too. It took me a whole while and after that I was so discouraged that I‘ve never went to Zendesk again. Needless to mention that these bugs haven‘t been fixed for more than a year.
I hate it when month are wasted on trees and the fact that Asobo falls victim of the loud but tiny in numbers folks.
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Well, the purpose of this beta is to verify the main items that were fixed, if they are resolved for each users, and verify that nothing new that can be considered a show stopper is introduced. People can submit things that weren’t on the list, but as long as there aren’t any show stoppers, it will mean that the beta is a success
Think im going to be needing to upgrade my 2TB SSD by next summer then
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I second this. 8 weeks between these updates gives the team a ton more time to iron out issues and gives us users some breathing space between updates too. We barely sort out small issues, the odd hotfix, get it running good and with our busy lives…here comes the next update. Its like drinking through a fire hose.
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I’m not a betting man, but if I had to bet, I’d say it won’t be.
Windows 11 , new install , working prefect , no bugs excepted low ceiling clouds
So, to match your snarky reply… No, Zendesk is not there to answer questions like that. Absolutely not in any way shape or form will Zendesk respond about whether bugs are fixed. Zendesk is a tool to gather information, format it, and send it to the appropriate people. It is NOT a help desk, and has zero visibility into the development plan. It is not a two way communication system.
If you have a problem installing the software, a Zendesk report will get you pointed to the people who can help you with that. That’s about the only communication you would receive through Zendesk (other than, thanks, we received your report).
For the sort of information you are looking for, what’s the state of requests for new features or bug fixes, you can rely on the Development update Blogs, Release notes, and other information in the Community News and Announcement forums, as well as asking here on the forums. You can also participate in the Dev Q&A’s and ask questions. There is usually a forum post meant to gather questions from users for each Dev Q&A. Obviously, they’re not going to answer every single question they get, unless you’re a super special person.
I hope that helps Sparky…
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While it may seem cumbersome to you, all the information they gather is required. Please remember, the ONLY way they are going to be able to fix whatever bug you report is if they can reproduce it. The only way that happens is typically if they can understand your exact setup, ESPECIALLY when it comes to reproducing CTD’s.
And please also remember, with millions of copies of the games in the field, you can imagine how many resources it would take to respond to every single question asked by users. Not that this is what you did, but, as a general theme for what seems to be the expectation out there, to expect them to personally respond to every single question about when this or that bug will be fixed is ridiculous, it would take 3 or more times the staff to do that than are actually working on developing the product, and those developers would never get anything done because they’d be constantly answering questions. That’s what release notes are for, and to me, the Dev Q&A’s are an amazing thing they are doing. They cost a significant amount of money, require a significant staff to support, and the people involved all have many other responsibilities every single day in producing this product. We’ve got a long way to go.
But, please, take the time to create bug reports. They matter. And put effort into describing exactly how to reproduce the issue. Without that, your report will pretty much go straight to the circular file on the floor.
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