Gaming Random Thoughts - Printable Version

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(I am aware some fault may fall on EA, however Respawn are the core developers so I will be addressing them.)
I'm as happy as the next person about the Titanfall 1 multiplayer servers coming back online, however this does not excuse Respawn's terrible behavior.

1. Lack of Action
Multiplayer servers for Titanfall 1 and 2 got taken down by a hacker. Occasionally they would let players of some devices play, but the state of multiplayer was completely at their mercy, and multiplayer is essentially unplayable. Fixing these attacks takes time and I get that, however Titanfall 1 had to wait 2 years (The first recorded attacks started July 2019). It's not even been completely fixed as some players think, they've just made progress. However 2 whole years of waiting for dedicated fans is inexcusable. Not only that, but Titanfall 1 is a multiplayer only game, meaning the entire game was essentially unplayable for 2 whole years. Reminder they continue to sell the game at full price. Titanfall 2 isn't as bad, but it is still concerning. Titanfall 2 has a offline single player campaign, so the entire game isn't unplayable. However it's been 3-4 months since multiplayer was attacked, and absolutely nothing has happened. Again, I get it takes time, but imagine if ay other popular multiplayer game went through this, like Call of Duty. It would be an absolute disaster, everyone would hate the developers.

2. Lack of Meaningful Communication
Respawn devs were constantly updating players about them fixing Titanfall 1 and 2's multiplayer. The problem is that it was the equivalent of radio silence. All they said is that they were currently fixing the game. Every single time. This was around when the Titanfall 2 attacks started by the way, so Titanfall 1 fans had it the worst in wait times for updates. However them saying they'll fix it is fine. But did they? Titanfall 1 has had 2 years of available time for it to be fixed, nothing. Titanfall 2 had to wait a few months, and they've still done nothing at the time of typing this. You can just say "Don't worry, we're doing this" over and over again for months and months while nothing is happening. Why even take into consideration what you're saying? Actions speak louder than words.

3. Lack of Important Information
As I said, Respawn's communication with fans was very poor. However another big issue is there, lack of info. Normally you would outline specifically what was going on, so everyone could understand. All they said was attacks. Someone may think, "My Titanfall's working, did they fix it?". Second, they would outline the exact amount of time it would take to fix the game. 24 hours is reasonable. Afterwards, they would get to work. If it took longer, they would put out updates along the way detailing the reason for delays and about how long they had left till completion. All we got for reasons why it was taking so long is "It takes awhile to fix servers". Yeah it takes awhile, but it's been 2 years for Titanfall 1, that's plenty of time. It has also been multiple months for Titanfall 2.

4. Lack of any Meaningful Attention
So, Respawn is fixing Titanfall after 2 years. Why's it taking so long? Despite them just not caring, a big reason for the delays as well is the fact they have 2 devs working on Titanfall 1 and 2. 2 people in a 300 employee job, having to take on issues for the entirety of each multiplayer server, as well as how to fix issues for each device (PC servers where attacked with bots, Console servers were attacked with ping.) Why would Respawn allow this? Not only do they have thousands of players waiting on end, but only 2 people would very obviously result in overwork. This is just mind boggling.

In conclusion, Respawn finally fixing Titanfall 1 and 2 is nice, but they have still not proven to anyone that they can competently handle these games.