How Closely will CA monitor the Tech Support Forum after release?

[Gmoney39513]

I know CA puts a lot of hard work into these games and they owe it to themselves to make sure their customers can enjoy the game without issues. Just take a peek at the tech support forums every now and then.

I rarely saw any CA activity the tech support forums following ETW's and NTW's release. I just want CA to be aware of bugs, performance/driver issues so they can make their game the best it can be.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Well a patch is out in 2-4 weeks so from the start we're going to have tech support. DX11 enabled.

[Gmoney39513]

Well a patch is out in 2-4 weeks so from the start we're going to have tech support. DX11 enabled.

The question is, how much?

[Spaxspore]

your guess is as good as mine. Let it ride.

[duhsveti]

Well CA has been really active with the community lately. I imagine they will do their best to monitor the tech support, because if they manage to fix peoples problems, it would give incentive to people that haven't already bought the game to buy it. Damn i hope that sentence wasn't too confusing.

[AnsbachWolf]

Their activity of late means jack. If they weren't here the week before release, your hype machine would die down, and instead of whining about DX11 you'd hear (rightfully so) whining about community interaction.

They'll probably be looking over the threads, but I doubt you'll see any meaningful back and forth.

[Ataegina]

i hope they do better this time, in etw was a disgrace. on the bright side is good that they've addressed and work on the DX 11 the only downside is 2-4 weeks when it should be on release or perhaps being reasonable should be in a 3-5 days after release patch

[Gmoney39513]

The problem is it's pretty difficult to solve your customers issues if you don't see them.
It would be nice to know that CA is actually seeing the problems we are having playing the game so they can work with us to fix them.

[ChomeChome]

CA definitely looks over message boards, on TWcenter as well as on the official forums and even yuku. Otherwise they wouldn't have any idea about what's going on or the feedback they get. Having met people from CA, they wowed me with just how much they knew about what the community was saying about their games. Not just Shogun 2 but they knew with amazing clarity how much and what exactly people were saying about their games all the way back to Shogun 1 until now. Craig in particular is very good at recalling the massive outcries that inevitably occur every time they release a game.

Craig is also very very aware that they have to be incredibly careful in how they word things because they realize that once certain things are taken out of context, it can end badly very quickly.

For example: After announcing they would be polishing DX11 instead of letting it go out the door with no pants, some people accepted this as a good thing and a step in the right direction for tech support, but some took this as a clear sign that the game would come without DX anything. Some people even went as far to say that with DX 11, CA was taking out other things as well and everything would end in a crash and a beautiful fireball.

CA has extensively patched their games in the past and they follow up on their projects. Whether or not people choose to acknowledge that their work is enough or not doesn't change the fact that they do put in effort and do try. What they can't control is the public reaction so we should follow actions instead of the words of others and decide for ourselves. But of course I don't need to tell you all that.

Cheers.

[BunnyPoopCereal]

The question is. Do they get paid enough to work it overtime?

[Shabby_Ronin]

They never monitor it after release, or at least when the initial sales die down. Every game they will give vague answers to only the most pressing problems and completely ignore most others... and the tech support forums are run by volunteers, who then funnel it to CA, who then ignore it. I'm waiting to see the user reviews before I touch this game. I personally don't care about DX11...I just have to see a very stable, balanced game before I shell out any more cash.

[Gmoney39513]

Alot of my problems for ETW & NTW were driver issues and not game issues. Do you think it would be possible for CA to tell ATi to fix their drivers ? I contacted ATi a week ago and they put me on the line with an Indian Guy named Shampu...

[Shabby_Ronin]

Alot of my problems for ETW & NTW were driver issues and not game issues. Do you think it would be possible for CA to tell ATi to fix their drivers ? I contacted ATi a week ago and they put me on the line with an Indian Guy named Shampu...

Both games still have terrible flickering shadows and ridiculous lod switching and the most hideous sprites known to man.

[ChomeChome]

Both games still have terrible flickering shadows and ridiculous lod switching and the most hideous sprites known to man.

Seems good on my end. I don't have any of those problems (^ ^)

[Fratyinside]

I think it's not a question of if they will monitor the support forums but....how long they can keep up with monitoring the support forums xD j.k

[Greve Af Göteborg]

No less than 5 cm and no more than 20 cm.

[Mr_Cyberpunk]

They certainly read bug reports, but as to their action on those bug reports they usually don't do the right thing. Most of the bug reports I submitted resulting in actual features being removed from the game (this was ETW- referring to the found Night Battles that were hidden in the game- they disabled this as they were causing a major crash and couldn't fix it.).

Their course of action towards support in some cases results in them not exactly doing the right thing- just fair warning.

[Zane]

If they already have a patched planned, I would imagine they will be monitoring it closely (although they make not make it known). Patches cost money so if there are other critical issues, I am sure they would like to get them fixed in one patch rather than with many over time.

[Shabby_Ronin]

Seems good on my end. I don't have any of those problems (^ ^)

Yes you do, you cannot escape the lod switching and sprites in ETW or NTW, the only thing is, you may have a low end machine and just not noticed them. If you have a modern card, you cannot escape shadow problems.

They do not really interact with the community on any issues beside hyping the game and making chummy posts or half-hearted apologies on forums like this one before or immediately after the release. The tech forums are manned by volunteers, if you persist and email them directly till you get a response, all it will be is blaming everything under the sun except their program.

[dutch81]

Well we already have a patch on day 1 planned and another in about 4 weeks ... that seems like pretty good support to me.