PS4 DLC: feedback and discussion

Feedback/Feature Requests
1

Hi !

The last thread got closed (off topic comments) so I think a new one would be good to speak about this topic. Please only speak about the PS4 DLC and things related to it.

The situation:
Actually, the new update has no release date on PS4, the difficulty and bugs of the April update are still in the game after 5 months without update. Nothing new on PS4, no correction to the bugs and a game that is (it’s my personnal advice) so hard and buggy that it’s now boring.

The “reasons” behind the actual situation:
I think (again, it’s a personnal advice, not an imperial, objective statement) that the team behind GZ made a lot of mistakes, leading to the actual situation:

  1. April update was a mistake, as it generated a lot of bugs and a (too much) increased difficulty level that was unexpected.
  2. The team waited way too long to correct the difficulty level
  3. They paired the update (meaned to correct the April update) with a new big DLC and additionnal content. It means that any problem with one of those things lead to the delay of the whole package
  4. They released the whole package as soon as possible on PC, leading to spoilers for the rest of the community and letting consoles players wait longer to simply get a game with a more balanced difficulty. I personnally think that it was to quickly get money from the PC DLC at least. I’ll explained my advice on it later on this post.
  5. They delayed the DLC for PS4 one more time, without giving a new release date while announcing that Xbox players will get both the update and DLC next week.

My advice and feelings:
This part is personnal. I think they made a lot of mistakes and, even if they have some reasons, I think they shouldn’t hide behind things like the pandemic or the difference between PC/xbox/ps4. As a ps4 player, I’m not able to enjoy the game since April because of the bugs and the difficulty. It’s maybe hard to understand for PC players but the game is truly annoying in his actual state and it’s hard to overcome it after 5 MONTHS of our version being left like that. As a customer, I payed to play the game. I had a lot of fun and I would be happy to play again the game in his February or March version. It would be no problem if they just had “downgrade” the game to solve the April-update’s problems. Or at least made a small patch to solve the difficulty problem. But actually I own a game that became a pain to play, it’s broken since April because of the update, I can’t get a refund and there is no release date to know when the game will be “playable” again.

They delayed everything because the correction is bond to the DLC and new content. So it has been 5 months and nobody knows when PS4 will get the game back on tracks. Maybe “soon” but it could mean next month… Or next year. No information on that. But a lot of FEAR after the long wait and all the delay…

I (and maybe other, ps4, players ?) feel like the devs left me/us down. They still didn’t correct the bugs of April BUT they released a PAID DLC on PC first and now on Xbox. While we’re stuck with the April difficulty since months… I truly hope I’m false, but I feel like they cared more about getting quickly money from the DLC than solving the main game for everybody. Because they didn’t focus on solving the bugs first, they kept working on the DLC all along. I don’t want to rant the devs, it wouldn’t be constructive and I hope it’s clear to anyone reading this post. What I want is to communicate how I feel about GZ management and how I, and maybe other players, can see the actual situation. This way, maybe the GZ team could learn about what (some) players can think of their actual management and gain our trust back later.

I know that there are still a lot of players enjoying the game and many (PC players for example) will not understand the actual situation and how it’s a problem. If you enjoy the game I’m happy for you and I hope it’ll stay like that. I just hope too that you’ll understand that it can be different, and a disapointment, for other players, especially PS4 players right now. It’s not imperial facts, it’s a personal advice so you can disagree with me of course. I’m not writing this to say “my advice worth more than others”, I’m writing it to let the GZ team know how some players could feel after 5 months with what, I think (again, it’s personal), is a broken game.

I used to truly love the game and I played it a lot, so I may sound angry, I am actually, but, mainly, I’m sad because an awesome game is actually unplayable since months and corrections keep getting delayed…

I don’t trust the GZ team, because they just left the PS4 community with a broken game and they delayed the update many times. It means that, after all this disapointment, it will be hard to trust them if they give us any release date (for Fnix rising and for future DLC’s and updates). It also means that future updates won’t only generate “hype” about new content but it will also generate a lot of fear about new bugs and another months-long wait for their correction. At this point I would even find a way to “Block” updates for GZ. And I’ll also think twice before buying anything GZ-related (DLC, cosmetics) because I’ll remember those 5 months I was unable to play the game and I don’t want to buy additionnal content for a game I’ll may be not able to play for months again.

My personal expectations:
-I expect the bugs will be fixed soon.
-I expect that the devs will never wait so long again to solve important issues, even if it means delaying DLC and new content. It also means that I hope they’ll never pair again bug-fixing and additionnal content in the same way they did with Fnix Rising.
-I hope future updates and DLC will be released for PC and consoles AT THE SAME TIME.
-I hope for some new, fully fresh content for the whole community (PC+Xbox+PS4) as Fnix Rising feels “old” for PC players (they played it already) and for some consoles players too as it has already been discovered (and spoiled) by the PC community. And it would be nice to have a fresh start for the whole community to discover together, at the same time.
-I expect the GZ team will remember how they left down the consoles community, especially the PS4, and will actually do MORE than just saying “We apologize”. They lost the trust of many players and they won’t get it back with words only. (But PLEASE, no PS4/Consoles exclusive “sorry gift” or “sorry event”, the whole community has to be put together again as a WHOLE).

Thanks to anyone reading this post, I hope you understand how it feels and that I want to constructively share my point of view and feelings to help the GZ team getting the players’s trust back and avoiding new bad management that could lead to disapointment of (ps4) players. Actually I’m not even sure that GZ will get back on tracks on PS4 (it has been a long and hard time GZ on ps4 and maybe some players gave up on GZ because of that) but I still have some hope that it will be good again. I uninstalled the game but I truly hope that one day GZ on PS4 will be fixed and, then, I’ll may download it again.

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2

Thanks for keeping constructive feedback.

With the release of FNIX Rising, I think it basically boils down to the devs being forced to make a circumstancial choice. With the summer’s being what it’s been, the most economically sound strategy would seem to be to release the DLC when they could, instead of holding it off and suffer a huge loss in sales.

It’s certainly not ideal and it’s bound to displease people regardless of how it’s done but it’s the only reason I can think of that makes sense considering the times.

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Good post, I agree with most of what you have to say.
It’s really mixed emotions about this whole thing, but I think that we at least deserve an honest explanation of why things went this way.
I do understand that the team is focused on fixing things, but I also think that information has been too sparse.

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I think the worst thing any company can do is to let their business and development be dictated under pressure by customers. In dire times companies sometimes have to make decisions that will not be pleasant for all customers, but are necessary to keep the business afloat. It is a delicate balance, keeping the backlash at a minimum (because negativity affects sales) and getting enough revenue to not go bankrupt.

I also suspect that the problems we have in the world are not over by a longshot. And that that and the the backlash, the constant posting how bad the game is, will make it very hard to secure a financially stable future.

I like this game, and I play on PC solo, but I can tell you that even after the last update there are still bugs on the PC version. If we want this game to be successful, (see more of the story) we should never ever add to the negativity. And have trust that in the long run it will be fixed.

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Cannot agree more. The number of game developers that I see across social media, that are sick of gamers dictating what they should do with their own game, and how to develop it. Ever heard of Dr.Disrespect? And the war he went to with PUBG and BlueBalls…

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Hey buddy,

and thanks for a really well put post from you. A lot of great feedback in there. I really understand your frustration!

Im not going to go in on every single point youve made, but i want to clearify some parts of your post.

April update was not a ‘mistake’. Even though the difficulty was set a bit high, we redid a whole lotta things behind the scenes, how the machines work and think, which really turned out good for everyone (but maybe not noticed). However, as you know, the diffuculty was set a bit overambitious. This is now fixed (yet not released on PS4). The process of just “fixing” a bug like that isnt as easy as one might think and if it were possible to just push a fix for that we would have done it. I promise. The work with MS and Sony is quite complex and you can not just push things to their platform however you want while on Steam you pretty much can.

The big part of the delay for console has been specific issues connected to their respective platforms and how our new multiplayer mechanics work. This was not an issue on PC and therefore the release there was pushed live while console had to wait. Still, i totally get that it sucks to see other players play what you yet cant.

As a last note, these issues have been solved for PS4 and its on its way out. It shouldnt be much longer now.

Any questions? Just hit me up!

pontus

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Thanks for the update, it’s really appreciated!

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I understand and that’s a good point. I’ll still keep this thread opened because I think it’s the right place to share our negative advice: It’s not on a social media, it’s on the game forums, where players could specifically share their advices and expectations.

I agree about the fact that devs shouldn’t be dictated by players most of the time. They should focus on what is better for the game and sometimes customers are wrong. Maybe I am wrong and it’s okay. I just shared a personnal point of view. As you said, it’s a delicate balance. Actually, after all the negativity (bugs, delay) for consoles/ps4 players I think the dev should bring back the balance with some kind of “positive management” with ps4 players. As I said, the whole situation affected the trust of players and if the team don’t take care of that, I think it could become an issue for the game: Customers don’t trust, they don’t buy and then the balance will be broken. We’ll see what happens, I hope you’re right and they’ll manage it the good way.

I know that,personnally, if they just deliver the update and DLC, without any compensation, I’ll only remember the long delay. But if they offer a (small) compensation, I’ll think that, at least, if new problems happens in the future, at the end we get a positive compensation and I would feel safer about the game. So maybe I’ll buy new dlcs and cosmetics. And maybe I’m not the only one to think like that ?

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Thanks for the answer, it’s really nice to get such news and some explanations on the situation !

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I don’t think compensation should be necessary, because the delay was not the cause of unwillingness from the devs or bad management from the managers, but it was because of unforeseen (global) circumstances and bugs whose causes are very hard to track down.
I bet you that many PC players would also want compensation, there be no end to it. It would be better for you to turn that frown upside down. Be that brave warrior, that robust resistance fighter, who will keep going against all odds. Be a hero.

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Well, focusing on the update then and one thing I never understood. Will the FNIX structures and buildings come with the update, or will that part require the new DLC?

Regards
/Stoopid79

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Should have delayed for all platforms, instead of making 1/3 of your profit source feel like the step kid that dad hates, and tells them to “just deal with it!” while giving the other two kids donuts, and leaving the 3rd with Crumbs. We were day one players for the game and alpine dlc, but doubt we will even spend the money to purchase something that is spoiled by every player on YT. Not good customer service, and I have spent most of my career in customer service & public relations jobs. Bad form old sport!

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I get the people are disappointed they have to wait, but spoilers can be avoided. I never saw one spoiler if I didn’t wanted to. What you are saying is that no game can ever be worth buying a year after release because of the many spoiler videos and fora. That’s is a strange point of view.

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Sorry for the late reply. Couldn’t pull myself away from exploring GZ. :wink:

No, I never heard about that, but I can imagine what it was like. I can probably find it if I look for it.

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Yeah, and considering he was YT streamer of the year 2019 if anyone had a chance at getting something into game it was him

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With this, i agree with @Gysbert. It’s not that you are forced to watch spoilers to ruin the game for you.

For example, when FNIX Rising DLC came for PCs, i was so busy managing the flood in the forums that i didn’t have time to play the new DLC for at least a week. And while there were topics discussing the new content, i didn’t read those to spoil the experience for me.

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You don’t get suggestions in your youtube flow? You have the ability to see but not read text? Personally I don’t mind spoilers anymore as I won’t purchase anything else from Avalanche.

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No what I am saying is, I am not interested in playing a game that the “surprises” and “twists” are blasted right in your face at the beginning of a “review” that has become a spoiler reveal. I do not care to know how a game ends before I even play it.

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You’re not interested in the game anymore? Whaat!

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Taken totally out of context of what I said, but it’s ok.

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