Combattente
2010-01-23, 07:10 AM
Description of Issue:
Global MapleStory's Public Test Server, Tespia, which was opened more than one year ago through an event in which you had to submit your application for a random selection to be chosen, was closed on July 2008 and since then it wasn't opened anymore. The reason of this is simple: it didn't work as intended and the official patches kept containing bugs. And it's bugs the major issue I want to talk about now. Global MapleStory lacks of thorough patch testing by NEXON's Staff, which results in patches introducing various bugs in the game every time.
Why this issue needs attention:
It's a matter of fact: each single content patch (excluding bug-fixing ones) brings more or less important bugs to MapleStory. It's also a matter of fact that NEXON workers don't have the time to browse each MapleStory forum to notice which bugs were added to the game and need to be fixed. Also, there is way too much spam in the "bug report" section of their forum, making it almost useless.
People almost always have to wait until the next patch to have most of the bugs fixed, unless they are major ones (in that case, an Emergency Patch is made).
All these bugs could easily be avoided if there was a thorough content testing of patches by the NEXON Staff. Apparently, this is not the case, and bugs of all kinds keep being introduced in the game with every patch.
Desired Action or Resolution:
The only solutions to this are two: more thorough testing by NEXON's testing staff (and possibly choosing tester staff which is really experienced with the game itself), which would undoubtedly help, or hosting another round of Public Content Testing. The ex-NEXON worker NxProse said that the reason of the closure of Tespia was the fact that many people abused of the report page and sent spam / useless messages, making it really hard for the development staff to identify the bugs. This problem could be easily resolved in many ways: one of them would be, obviously, making the page private and only viewable from testers, which wasn't implemented before, as everyone could see it and send reports.
A second way would be making the selections for Tespia more strict. This means making MWLB-like applications, and being almost as strict as choosing MWLB members. This way, no random people who don't have enough experience of the game itself will be able to get in, and there won't be so many false reports anymore. Also, put more and more restrictions, for example: 'having an account older than 2 years' or 'having a character over level 120'. Not everyone should be able to get in, as only people who have enough experience of the game will be able to test the new content correctly. Also, with the level 120 restriction, the chances of people using Tespia just to have an high-leveled character will be reduced. Another suggestion would be letting Cody level you up a certain number of times, based on the level of the new content which needs to be tested and not making him always give you 162 levels. This will also reduce the amount of people only using Tespia for personal purposes, and not for real testing.
Finally, hiring staff members who will read through all the reports and report them to the developers, who should possibly try to fix them before the actual patch in the official servers. Therefore, there should be a Content Testing round before every official patch, just like it was before Tespia was closed, and, as always, people who report the most legit bugs should be entered in the next round automatically, while people who didn't send any report or sent false ones should be restricted from joining Tespia again. This way, the Public Content Testing Server would most likely work, and the users wouldn't have to deal with such a large amount of bugs every patch (especially after big ones).
Whatever way NEXON Korea uses with Tespia.. they just succeed on making it a successful test server. NEXON America should do the same: just follow NEXON Korea's pattern, and Tespia should finally work as intended.
Global MapleStory's Public Test Server, Tespia, which was opened more than one year ago through an event in which you had to submit your application for a random selection to be chosen, was closed on July 2008 and since then it wasn't opened anymore. The reason of this is simple: it didn't work as intended and the official patches kept containing bugs. And it's bugs the major issue I want to talk about now. Global MapleStory lacks of thorough patch testing by NEXON's Staff, which results in patches introducing various bugs in the game every time.
Why this issue needs attention:
It's a matter of fact: each single content patch (excluding bug-fixing ones) brings more or less important bugs to MapleStory. It's also a matter of fact that NEXON workers don't have the time to browse each MapleStory forum to notice which bugs were added to the game and need to be fixed. Also, there is way too much spam in the "bug report" section of their forum, making it almost useless.
People almost always have to wait until the next patch to have most of the bugs fixed, unless they are major ones (in that case, an Emergency Patch is made).
All these bugs could easily be avoided if there was a thorough content testing of patches by the NEXON Staff. Apparently, this is not the case, and bugs of all kinds keep being introduced in the game with every patch.
Desired Action or Resolution:
The only solutions to this are two: more thorough testing by NEXON's testing staff (and possibly choosing tester staff which is really experienced with the game itself), which would undoubtedly help, or hosting another round of Public Content Testing. The ex-NEXON worker NxProse said that the reason of the closure of Tespia was the fact that many people abused of the report page and sent spam / useless messages, making it really hard for the development staff to identify the bugs. This problem could be easily resolved in many ways: one of them would be, obviously, making the page private and only viewable from testers, which wasn't implemented before, as everyone could see it and send reports.
A second way would be making the selections for Tespia more strict. This means making MWLB-like applications, and being almost as strict as choosing MWLB members. This way, no random people who don't have enough experience of the game itself will be able to get in, and there won't be so many false reports anymore. Also, put more and more restrictions, for example: 'having an account older than 2 years' or 'having a character over level 120'. Not everyone should be able to get in, as only people who have enough experience of the game will be able to test the new content correctly. Also, with the level 120 restriction, the chances of people using Tespia just to have an high-leveled character will be reduced. Another suggestion would be letting Cody level you up a certain number of times, based on the level of the new content which needs to be tested and not making him always give you 162 levels. This will also reduce the amount of people only using Tespia for personal purposes, and not for real testing.
Finally, hiring staff members who will read through all the reports and report them to the developers, who should possibly try to fix them before the actual patch in the official servers. Therefore, there should be a Content Testing round before every official patch, just like it was before Tespia was closed, and, as always, people who report the most legit bugs should be entered in the next round automatically, while people who didn't send any report or sent false ones should be restricted from joining Tespia again. This way, the Public Content Testing Server would most likely work, and the users wouldn't have to deal with such a large amount of bugs every patch (especially after big ones).
Whatever way NEXON Korea uses with Tespia.. they just succeed on making it a successful test server. NEXON America should do the same: just follow NEXON Korea's pattern, and Tespia should finally work as intended.