Hello Uthgard staff,

I've have quite some discussion with some of you regarding why and how trackers are asigned and so on, so I thought it'd be the best for every1, especially the ones interested in getting their stuff fixed, to know how the bug-fixing is done...

let me first explain how i'd love to see it done and then how it seems to be done:

my prefered way:

1. bug is posted
2. staff asks for missing info if necessary
3. bug is verfied and gets a tracker
4. bug is assigned to the current fix-queue (until then months may pass, but that's just fine)
5. bug is being worked on
6. bug fixed - appears in changelog

how it seems to be done:

1. bug is posted
2. staff asks for missing info OR tumbleweed is rolling through the thread
3. bug is verified by the staff as no additional info is requested
4. when some stuff member finally decides, that the bug is important enough to be fixed it gets a tracker
5. it will some day be added to the fixing-queue
6. bug is being worked on
7. bug fixed - changelog updated


however, i'm not sure if it really is like it seems, so maybe an actual staff-statement would be nice

In before "It's done when it's done. Every bug gets fixed. Sooner or later." General response to threads like this.

I dont seem to see a difference between your preferred way and the way you think its done now.

Abydos wrote:I dont seem to see a difference between your preferred way and the way you think its done now.

There's one more point in the 2nd list !

Available real life time.

Abydos wrote:I dont seem to see a difference between your preferred way and the way you think its done now.

the major difference is, and according to our discussions it is the way it works:

in "my" list the tracker is assigned as soon as the bug is confirmed...

in the "seems to be"-list trackers are only assigned if they are likely to be fixed soon...i asked you personally why this or that bug hasn't got a tracker and you answered with (not literally ofc) "bug are not fitting to the current fixing queue"...

imho trackers should be assigned very fast, so ppl know "ok, this bug is known and tracked and can't be forgotton...or can't really be forgotton...no matter if it's a low or high prio bug...tracker assignment should be completely independent from any priorities or whatever...and according to what you told me back then this isnt the case

that's why i wanted clarification on this point..

Rajnish wrote:Available real life time.

that should only have influence on the time it takes to fix a bug not on the priority or the delay of adding trackers to some threads (while other threads already have a tracker much faster)...

I think you're mistaken what you feel is confirmed. Often times players feel as though something is confirmed, when in fact, vital information may yet be missing. Don't always have time to explain what this is, hence the delay in "confirming" or asking. As previously explained, bumps are a way to keep it in view. 1 bump per day is sufficient.

Jezzmin wrote:

Rajnish wrote:Available real life time.

that should only have influence on the time it takes to fix a bug not on the priority or the delay of adding trackers to some threads (while other threads already have a tracker much faster)...

Serious? you think we can sit there and troll forum all day with free time waiting to research if something is indeed a bug, ready at a moments notice? Add in time it takes to wade through irrelevant wall of text/rants people pollute threads with and your "x minutes" of available time has been sapped.

Abydos wrote:Serious? you think we can sit there and troll forum all day with free time waiting to research if something is indeed a bug, ready at a moments notice? Add in time it takes to wade through irrelevant wall of text/rants people pollute threads with and your "x minutes" of available time has been sapped.

WELCOME TO UTHGARD TROLLUMS!!!!!

abydos...i don't expect you to be here every minute nor do i think that it's easy or doesn't take a lot of time to do the things you do...you're doing a good job...

but what really annoys me is the randomness that you have for bug-reports...or at least i really don't see any pattern by which you decide which bug gets a tracker, in which thread there's a request for more info or whatever...

there's tons of reports that have never gotten a tracker nor any staff-reply, while seeming (to me at least) good reports...

on the other hand there's many examples of threads that have a tracker or at least some staff reply for more info and then a tracker within 1 week or something....this seems so utterly random, that it is very demotivating for ppl to make bug reports...you never know whether your report is on the "i like" list of the staff...if not: it doesn't get a tracker any time soon...

if you'd fix 1 bug a week with a clear pattern I'd prefer that a thousand times over fixing 2 bugs a week without any visible pattern...

note: critical bugs that are game breaking or can be abused easily are not taken into account here...they sorta stand out of this ofc...

it seems boring enough for the GMs to be tracing the picture of live servers.
at least let them pick what they feel up to and not force some repetitive chronological process.

as one of the bug reporters, i think its your responsibility to stress the eagerness of a bug.
big things get changed, even though about 14/30 of my bugs got fixed in the last 2 years.
i cant say that i get upset, in fact most peoples bug reports made RvR a lot better.

be subjective and let other people have a chance :p

it's not about what to fix and what not...it's about assigning tracker numbers, so ppl know that the bug is acknowledged...

without a tracker a bug reports seems pointless, as it seems like the staff either doesn't care, doesn't know or just doesn't know how to handle it...anyway it seems like the report is useless...besides without any staff-input it's hard to know whether the report is finished and just a tracker is missing or there's missing info but the staff doesn't know which or there's missing info and the staff just doesn't care to tell...

apart from my personal preference for certain classes I don't care which bugs get fixed first and which second or third or 347850439th..but I DO care about how random tracker numbers are assigned...

If you think your bugreport requires more attention keep bumping it to keep it in view.

I also said that bumping is a kind of voting procedure. The more different ppl bump a bugreport the more it can raise in priority and worked on more soon.

Blue wrote:I also said that bumping is a kind of voting procedure. The more different ppl bump a bugreport the more it can raise in priority and worked on more soon.

ok, let's face it:

this thread had a tracker within 2 weeks - 5 ppl + the original poster (abydos taken out) bumped it:

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=30337&start=15

these two threads (just examples, so no wonder i'd pick my own threads) have been on the forum for months and have 5 bumpers / posters each:

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=28665
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=29579

these are just examples and i could point out a lot of threads like the 3 i mentioned...if bumping was the only criterion then many a bug would be fixed not and others wouldn't have...so where's the "fairness"?

again: I would love to know how or who or what decides which bug is to be fixed when and why before another one...

Just my personal (completely non-staff) opinion on why I'd _personally_ prefer to fix #1 first instead of #2:

The heal proc one has a simple statement "variance of 20% to 125% is missing" or something, whereas your post requires the reader to read through 30 different single statements in order to get the hint of what has to be done. After that, each of the statements in that report has to be confirmed separately, which takes much more time than just checking for a single small feature.

Fixing a simple bug which can obviously be confirmed & seen right away in screenshots can be a fast thing you can do before lunch; Implementing an entire new feature which requires you to look at 200 different screenshots, and do calculate some regression curves is something which will take another day ...

Easy & clear bugs will get a tracker more immediately. A tracker is only assigned if everything is absolutely clear and no further questions required. The creator of the ticket has to fully understand what is the bug and what is the solution.

But always keep in mind that creating a ticket in the bugtracker is also work. So it can happen that through lazyness or lack of time it will not get a tracker immediately.