Your New UFC / WWE THQ Community Manager

[Phobia]

For the guys that want to see what Tank has been saying the last couple days. Basically we are all screwed and UFC 2010 is going to remain in this state. 2011 is our only hope for them to fix all the issues. The community is in such a uproar it is crazy. I have not seen this much hostilaity towards a company in a long time (EA.....LOL).

Quote: Originally Posted by tank

Guys, First off, I've been a Community Manager for 6 1/2 years at EA on a franchise called Command & Conquer that had levels of hostility that would make you sleepless at night. I'm not a guy that just stepped in to this role with no experience and doesn't understand your anger and frustration, but there is something you guys respectfully need to understand about me: I am not feeding you BS. When I say the reason we can't implement the stats screen in this patch is because of the MSFT 4MB patch limit, that is the honest to god transparent truth. We can't patch Sony with a stat screen and not PS3, the patches need to be exactly the same, of course. And adding a stat screen is not a 1KB size fix, its a graphical addition and is larger. Either way, adding this in puts us over the limit and its MSFT policy that you can only have 4MB of patch data for a game at any given time. We have zero control over that. The stat screen not being there at launch was an unfortunate mistake, one that we in truth apologize for. That all said, I have not given up pursuit or hope for this. The idea of trying to slip it in with DLC or free DLC is novel, but our DLC plans are not meant to happen immediately and getting them bumped up is not possible due to contract issues for the content we have been looking at. I don't want to give u guys excuses, I want to give you guys reasons that are part of our development and business at the moment. Yes, it absolutely sucks for the players of UO. Yes, this will not be an oversight next time. And yes, its not completely out of the question, I just can't promise we will find a way to make it happen for this year's game. How do I feel about that personally? Terrible. All I can do with this hardcore community is look forward, and ensure we do everything possible to support this game from a non-patch perspective (i.e. supporting and promoting your leagues, upgrading our website, fighter stats, etc), seeing what might be possible for a future patch (which is by no means ruled out), and do every last thing possible to collect and understand your feedback for the future. I've only been here a month, but nothing is more important to me than becoming your best friend, your best ally, and doing whatever it takes to connect your voice to our dev team. None of that means I will always be able to fulfill every last desire, or even something that may be the highest priority to you. Please understand, neither myself or the dev team can always come through, and it has nothing to do with a lack of understanding or expertise as much as some of you would like to claim and flame us to hell for. Our dev team sweat blood making this game and poured as much passion as you have for the game and sport and more to make it your ultimate fighting game. It certainly has its share of issues and errors, and I will bet you any amount of money our competitors will have their own share at launch as well. Maybe less so or moreso, its unpredictable. All I know, I will fight for you daily, and do what I can, and now that the UFC team has me, you can rest assured you will help us shape the future. So my sincere apologies on some things that have come up short. If I can find a magic way to get this stat screen fixed, I'll find it with the dev team. I have not given up on it. -Tank

Quote: Originally Posted by tank

Entombed, the patch was not botched. It fixed everything we set out to fix and were very transparent about. We didn't fix or add everything everyone wanted, but that would be an impossible task. The online for PS3 should be significantly better now. Like any exploit in any game, someone somehow will always try and destroy the system. Any online game you can think of has its share of hackers, exploits, and issues. For all the online players MW2 has, its chalk full with exploits. Red Dead, not having it easy either. We felt pretty confident our solution to fixing Super CAF in this patch would work well, but its not Fort Knox. So if someone has found a crafty workaround, then instead of flaming us, give us ammo to FIX IT. I realize being in your customer shoes for what you want right now isn't great, but building a audience to just engulf us in flames doesn't help us build up motivated energy to fix. Moreso, its tough when specific steps that are easy to understand are not communicated, and everyone who hasn't even tried it out, jumps on board. But that's a community mob, I get it, trust me =) I'm not here to convince you to come back next time, that is your choice. All I have to believe is if we do everything in our power to support and involve our community in the game, and learn from these issues, we'll be in a much better place. Thanks Kassidy. -Tank

Quote: Originally Posted by tank

Guys, If anything I said offended you in "your house", trust me, that was clearly not the intent. When I was at EA, for C&C, the top RTS multiplayer site was www.gamereplays.org, and still is. They live and breath hardcore multiplayer RTS, leagues, etc. When I got C&C in to the World Cyber Games and other e-sports leagues, they were the first to go berzerk with excitement. When we would patch the game, they were the ones screaming about balance issues and exploits, cheaters, and the like. And most importantly, they were the ones whose respect I spent years working hard at gaining in an effort to show EA and the C&C team how important our small, but niche core community of multiplayer gamers were. I get it... For me, Undisputed Online is my new GameReplays.org, if that makes any sense at all, and if it does, I hope it is a sign of respect. I came in to your house to help further explain and be more transparent about our processes, and to start getting your feedback for the patch, maybe a future patch, and the future of the franchise. I did not come in to your house to offend you or make you think otherwise. I did not come in to your house to make concrete promises other than becoming one of your best friends, listeners, and connectors to our dev team. I wish I had a magic wand to do whatever I told it to! But I also am not a dead weight or someone who will speak to you like a PR robot, I have an opinion, a little fire in me, and its always in my best interest to be "real" with you. So in all sincerity, my apologies if you felt anything I said offended. Its not easy to understand anyone when its a wall of flames and hate. In the best interest of UO, I would strongly advise in my friendliest manner that you guys start your leagues. No reason to delay with the patch out and the core gameplay exploit issues fixed (i.e. automatic takedowns) And I would love nothing more than to support that however Joker, you, and the rest would like. I can't patch the game myself, but I can promote, help with prizing, and in general work to get the community more involved in your slice of heaven here. You guys represent the hardest core of our community. I know the importance of that stat screen and how much it hurts to not have it. I realize some of you will do whatever it takes to find a way to produce another Super CAF to further the cause of us fixing it permanently. If UO leagues are run with integrity and honesty as they always are, then lets get them started. I hope you can further welcome me in to your home here, I may not be able to bring the exact above fixes you want, but that is only because I came in after this game launched. I won't relent in ensuring you are heard for the future, and we continue doing everything possible to support 2010 on any level. Thanks, Tank

Mod who responded before closing the thread.

Quote: Originally Posted by joker

Enough with this thread. I apologize for the hostility Tank but as you can imagine we are very very disappointed with the product this year. In my eyes the thought of "an unfortunate mistake" leaving the stats screen out is inexcusable to us and makes everything the UOC worked for last year come to a halt. We will be unable to preform at the high level we were last year as we cannot guarantee any type of fair play this year and it means that us as a fansite and league will have to lower our standards and become what the other 40 leagues are with no diversity and no originality which is what set us apart last year. There is no doubt in my mind that the dev team and yourself would love to accommodate our request but the fact of the matter is that something as simple as the stats screen was left out of online play forcing players to "guess" their opponents stats which is unfair to begin with. With the ability to continue creating these "super cafs", as they have been crowned, we are still at square one where we were last year. The game is fantastic in most other aspects aside from the takedown glitches and exploits but those are simple things we can all avoid. Not having a stats screen and super cafs digs a dagger into the heart of this fan site and community. Problems expressed throughout the undisputed community were still not addressed and I dont argue with anyone on these forums who is upset with the product. The fact of the matter is, the UOC takes the brunt force of these errors and it inevitably leads to lack of interest from players and damage to this league in the end. End result, UOC gets burnt. I appreciate you taking the time to explain things to us and we all know that it isnt in your hands and its not in the hands of many developers either. But please understand that we are all very upset some even angry and its a shame that we will not be able to preform on the level we were last year. In the end we will figure something out of course but the confidence of many is lost. Thanks again Tank, any q's please feel free to email me or pm me. As for this thread I dont think its necessary anymore, im tired of all the negativity and hostility so to the bottom of the forums it goes.

[TheShizNo1]

Ive never been this dissapointed in a AND see so many othery share the same opinion

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheShizNo1

Ive never been this dissapointed in a AND see so many othery share the same opinion

Basically all his responses say is this.

"We screwed up, left things out, and mangled other parts of the game. We can't fix them because of issues with 4Mb patch sizes. So you guys are going to have to forgive us and make do with what you bought"

So pretty much the mess they made they are attempting to repair for 2011. But honestly I am not pre-ordering and buying day 1 like i did with both 09 & 10. I will rent it first and THEN if I think it is up to par will I buy it.

Currently all my hope lies in EA's MMA title. Maybe that can redeem my year for MMA.

[CYST2000]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phobia

Basically all his responses say is this. "We screwed up, left things out, and mangled other parts of the game. We can't fix them because of issues with 4Mb patch sizes. So you guys are going to have to forgive us and make do with what you bought" So pretty much the mess they made they are attempting to repair for 2011. But honestly I am not pre-ordering and buying day 1 like i did with both 09 & 10. I will rent it first and THEN if I think it is up to par will I buy it. Currently all my hope lies in EA's MMA title. Maybe that can redeem my year for MMA.

I just won't buy it next year, period! This goes to show that no video company is interested in making good sports products anymore, because if this game had minimal flaws than the corporate b******* think we would only buy a new version every other year. Watch, next year they will have stats, and a new server for online, but will not touch the offline game or the mechanics.

[TheShizNo1]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here on what I think happened:

I think 09 appealed to casual gamers yes, but really appealed to the hardcore MMA crowd. Your fights could be real in depth if you had two players that knew what they were doing.

Well, THQ caught wind of EA coming out with a game and thought EA was gonna take away their casual pick up and play gamers. To try to prevent this, THQ infact, made them game more for the casual pick up and play gamer. Then end result is a game that isn't really either of anything other than a failure.

I think EA bitched out THQ

[Gotmadskillzson]

I am surprised we can say the word bitch on here but can't say ***. LOL We can say arse, but not ***. Just something I noticed.

Now on to THQ, I don't understand how you can go from an ultimate game one year, then do a 180 the following year.

They took out slams from triangles, saying it was unrealistic, when in reality those fighters who are strong enough to do it, actually do it in real life.

Took out sweeps from the bottom, which was the DUMBEST decision they did on this game. Makes the ground game completely handicapped if you can't sweep from the bottom. It is like why even put butterfly guard in the game if you can't sweep with it ?

Why play as a Judo fighter if you can't sweep or have judo throws to yourself ?

Why play as a muay thai fighter if EVERYBODY can do a muay thai clinch and throw knees ? Or the fact that muay thai leg kicks don't do anymore damage then a wrestler's kick ?

Don't know what they were thinking or drinking or smoking when they came up with the game plan for this year's game.

Sure they did some things right. A lot of fighters, cage interaction, different venues, different refs.

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheShizNo1

I'm gonna go out on a limb here on what I think happened: I think 09 appealed to casual gamers yes, but really appealed to the hardcore MMA crowd. Your fights could be real in depth if you had two players that knew what they were doing. Well, THQ caught wind of EA coming out with a game and thought EA was gonna take away their casual pick up and play gamers. To try to prevent this, THQ infact, made them game more for the casual pick up and play gamer. Then end result is a game that isn't really either of anything other than a failure. I think EA bitched out THQ

LOL nice conspiracy theory shiz. But I have to disagree lol.

I think they just screwed up in the mechanics and gameplay tuning. I think the deadlines that developers are put under hurts the new wave of games. Every game should come out ONLY when it is completely made and works as intended. Instead they are put under pressure to meet a deadline and with that you have a rushed product with missing features, broken areas, and sloppy game tuning. Later trying to be fixed by patches which never take care of the core issues.

Welcome to gaming in the new age. This is why new IPs do so well. They are designed to come out when finished and that is it.

Lets look at a couple example of new titles that came out ONLY when they were finished.

Bioshock
Crysis
Left 4 Dead
Gears of War
Uncharted