Do playtesting before release

[FalcoGer]

I know this shouldn't have to be on a wishlist, since one would think it's pretty much a standard for software development that you actually test something before you release it.

But since for ED it's apparently not, I would like to make my request now.

 

Please do some playtesting before releasing a new version. And test exactly the version you are going to release.

 

The last 5 updates have all broken something, and it wasn't just minor things that would've slipped by you if you had tested it just a little.

 

For example: pressing certain buttons would end up entering text in the multiplayer chat without the chat being open.

or with the latest patch and update: the aim9 reticle is vanished from both hud and hmd. and the ddi map is now half white and half black.

Then they released the MSI feature for the FCR page, put it in the changelog and everything. And then the version that we got didn't actually contain that feature until the next update, in which it didn't work properly.

 

Then using the radar elevation wheel on the tgp changes the radar elevation along with the zoom.

this is the new feature! it's not like it's been working before now and now something sublte has broken it. it's released broken after it should've been tested. And something as blatant as that sure has to be noticed, you'd think.

Then there is the not despawning missile thing that went through 3 versions without being fixed.

 

Then for quite some time now, nato hornets get assigned russian callsigns now? Heck, even in wags new video where he showcases the new targeting pod you can hear the AI call him by three numbers. Has no one noticed that bug yet?

 

I don't know what's going on in ED's quality control but please do some testing? I'd rather wait another week to have a half working feature than to get a half working feature and a buggy mess of things that broke around it.

 

Besides, how can it be that the introduction of the TGP breaks the map and the aim 9 reticle? It's beyond me. the three things are completely unrelated. at best you'd do a function call on the hud/hmd/ddi to draw an extra symbol on there where the tgp is looking. it shouldn't require a major rewrite that breaks things like that.

 

My point:

Had ED done any playtesting they would've found those bugs.

 

My conclusion:

Either

- ED didn't do any play testing, or

- ED's play testing was of incredibly poor quality and they missed the bugs, or

- ED noticed the bugs and decided to release it anyway.

 

 

Yes, mistakes happen. I'm a software developer myself. Bugs are fine, even in releases. All you gotta do is get on it and fix them as they are reported. I get it, DCS and DCS modules are complex pieces of software. But you could expect at least a little bit of quality management, couldn't you?

 

I suspect something is very wrong with the organization of ED. How else could you explain 5 updates being this horribly broken in a row?

 

I do suggest that you use some kind of version control software. new features should be branches. you finish the feature, you merge in the branch. you can test your feature in your branch, then you test your feature in the dev branch. and when everything is fine, you merge all of that into the beta branch where we get our paws on it.

any other bugs that come up then are fixed in more branches, merged into dev, tested again, then pushed to beta/stable as needed.

Edited August 3, 2019 by FalcoGer

[BIGNEWY]

The Hornet is early access, things will break, open beta gives ED a chance to test their work in the public.

 

Participation in early access products is not compulsory, if you are not happy testing and having early access I would suggest waiting for full release for future products.

[NineLine]

Just to add to what BIGNEWY said, Open Beta is exactly 100% for just what you requested, play testing, we couldn't hire or set up a better testing system than having it out in the wild like this. The issue for many is that most servers have now adopted Open Beta, and I know this forces some users that don't want to test, to test, or to use a version that is less stable.

 

Also, don't assume that no testing is done before a release, many many bugs are caught before release as well, the focus is usually on new features or current bugs, so sometimes new ones can pop up unnoticed, but again, this is why we have Open Beta.

 

Open Beta and Early access are not for everyone.