119 réponses à ce sujet

[Akhilles]

Jesse van Herk wrote...

Thank you for your feedback, I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy.  I would however like to point out several items:

• Forum search has been re-enabled for over a week.
• managing characters is expected to be re-enabled later this week, once the backend server issues at EA are resolved
• 95% of the character updating issues we have investigated were due to the game not having uploaded the data - nothing to do with the website. Workarounds have been posted elsewhere.
• 70% of the users of this site are running with < 1500px wide displays, and the layout is optimised for that group. 
• this forum software was purchased - BioWare is not reinventing the wheel, we are avoiding doing so.

Overall, this site is a work-in-progress, and BioWare is definitely listening to any and all feedback.  Thigns are being fixed/improved as fast as humanly possible. 

Generally, it's not too bad. The menus are nice.  Question... where's all the tags listing the many Bioware games I registered? Or is this an EA/Bioware site and past Bioware games aren't allowed to be listed here?

I love the Bioware forums we've been using for years.  They feel much lighter... frothy... kinda like a nice waffle.

[Jesse van Herk]

We've resolved the backend issues, and managing characters/screenshots has now been re-enabled.



Additionally, anyone claiming that the old forums were better has clearly not read any of the posts on those about how much *those* forums suck. Indeed, the number of complaints there contributed directly to the decision to switch to new software.

[Kelston]

Snoteye wrote...

Kelston wrote...

What was your complaint with the previous forum setup that was so monstrous the only viable solution was to move to one that deleted all the useful features normally seen in customer service forums? You know... like a search function that could search beyond thread titles. Or a function that lets you click to the first unread post. Or a function that lets you click to the first developer post.

You may want to re-read my post. You will find that this is not what I said.

You said exactly that. That you had lots of problems with the old Dragon Age forums.

So i'm curious, list one such problem so monstrous that it made sense to switch to a forum that is completely bereft of meaningful functionality.

Additionally, anyone claiming that the old forums were better has
clearly not read any of the posts on those about how much *those*
forums suck. Indeed, the number of complaints there contributed
directly to the decision to switch to new software.

I'm actually curious. Feel free to link me to that discussion since it was claimed the old forums would be archived.

What major problems resulted in moving to forum software that:

• Has a laughable search function (only searches thread titles)
• Has no means to jump to first unread post
• Has no means to jump to a developer post
• Has a personal post history that merely links you to the thread you posted in without being able to jump to your post
• Is lacking the standard option to subscribe to a thread from the reply form
• Takes multiple refreshes of a thread to update it with your own reply
• Lacks a functional view count

Modifié par Kelston, 23 novembre 2009 - 07:20 .

[Snoteye]

Kelston wrote...

You said exactly that.

This is not correct.

Kelston wrote...

That you had lots of problems with the old Dragon Age forums.

This is correct.

One example is the inability to (easily) hotlink single posts. I'm dying to find out how Maximus figured that out.

[Kelston]

Snoteye wrote...

Kelston wrote...

That you had lots of problems with the old Dragon Age forums.

This is correct.

One example is the inability to (easily) hotlink single posts. I'm dying to find out how Maximus figured that out.

So you traded a meaningful search function for the ability to link a single post?

You could have just found that single post with a search function that allowed you to search past the thread title.

I would love to link you to my own single posts... if only I had a personal post history that didn't require me to scroll through 30 pages threads to find my own post.

Modifié par Kelston, 23 novembre 2009 - 07:24 .

[Adaram]

I hear your pain and your concern, but I would hazard to guess that these features will be forthcoming, and furthermore, much better once they are here. I know it's a bit of a pain while we wait for them, but I believe that we will be much better off here, in the short to medium term, than we were on the old forums.



Just my 2 cents

[Akka le Vil]

Jesse van Herk wrote...

We've resolved the backend issues, and managing characters/screenshots has now been re-enabled.

Additionally, anyone claiming that the old forums were better has clearly not read any of the posts on those about how much *those* forums suck. Indeed, the number of complaints there contributed directly to the decision to switch to new software.

I'm curious about which complaints about the previous forum were resolved with the new one
The colours are worse, the layout is worse, the functionnalities are worse, the modifications (messages and editions) can take several minutes to actually appear, even the smileys are worse...

Honestly, I really wonder.

Snoteye wrote...

This is a myth established by a laack of
alternatives as far as the printing press goes. This current layout
isn't optimal, nor either is white on black, but black on white is
actually not a very good combination either.

Well, I
disagree. At least for me, I invariably find the clear font on dark
background more tiring than a dark font on clear background.

Edit : one thing I also hate in the forum : how it adds constantly return lines when you cut'n'paste from another answer box. See the result just above...

Modifié par Akka le Vil, 23 novembre 2009 - 08:13 .

[Demetrious]

Hey Jesse - what about a quick jump to Developer Posts on the Jump To: Menu - that would be a clear step up from the last site.  I guess I'd still like to see an option for list of the posts rather than threads -  It would be the same request for My posts as well.

Thanks for the continued work on the site.

Modifié par Demetrious, 23 novembre 2009 - 08:09 .

[ArnakSoulseeker]

Jesse van Herk wrote...

We've resolved the backend issues, and managing characters/screenshots has now been re-enabled.

Additionally, anyone claiming that the old forums were better has clearly not read any of the posts on those about how much *those* forums suck. Indeed, the number of complaints there contributed directly to the decision to switch to new software.

Claiming the old forums were better is not hard to do when compared to this piece of CRAP.

Here's a hint, next time you switch to a new forum, try to at least have most of the features the old one had and if you can try and get one with more options.

The old forums were far from perfect but these are even worst, you at least had a way of tracking Dev posts in big threads,

There's a bunch of great Open Source out there, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a great forum, but I guess having SocialNetwork in the title is more important than functionnality, after all Social Networks are in these days.

[Sarakinoi]

Does anybody have a screenshot of the old forums?

If yes please contact me using a PM.

[Xandar_Xam]

I can't stand the fact that the forum searching is so limited. No advanced features and...I think it only searches titles? Can't even sort the results. At least let google index it! As it is I find it impossible to locate most info on here, so I have to go to other sites. The old forum had tons of useful info readily available.  Even more frustrating, the old forum is still in google, so I find some result that's clearly discussing exactly what I'm looking for... and then it just brings me here where searches dont get you anywhere and the old content has either been destroyed or hidden.

There's free forum software out there that can handle all of this just fine. Why stick us with this half-baked mush? You're only going to drive fans away from the site, which is the exact opposite of what you were trying to do with this new site.

Modifié par Xandar_Xam, 23 novembre 2009 - 11:43 .

[Sarakinoi]

Yes indeed it is a shame about the old site SEO... it was extremely well indexed by search engines, and using Google to find answers was very easy.

[Kelston]

Adaram wrote...

I hear your pain and your concern, but I would hazard to guess that these features will be forthcoming, and furthermore, much better once they are here. I know it's a bit of a pain while we wait for them, but I believe that we will be much better off here, in the short to medium term, than we were on the old forums.

Just my 2 cents

That old adage is one step back, two steps forward. The method we're seeing here seems to be 300 steps back, 1 step forward which still places you 299 steps behind.

At least we can single link posts. Now if only we could find those posts.

[AshedMan]

Kelston wrote...
I'm actually curious. Feel free to link me to that discussion since it was claimed the old forums would be archived.

What major problems resulted in moving to forum software that:

• Has a laughable search function (only searches thread titles)
• Has no means to jump to first unread post
• Has no means to jump to a developer post
• Has a personal post history that merely links you to the thread you posted in without being able to jump to your post
• Is lacking the standard option to subscribe to a thread from the reply form
• Takes multiple refreshes of a thread to update it with your own reply
• Lacks a functional view count

I would like answers to these questions as well.  

[Mills Entari]

Well, I have to agree that a lot of things are wrong with this site right now and maybe as customers we deserved better when the flood gates were opened.



That said, I sympathize with the difficulties they face, from the problems caused by their own doing and the problems they didn't have anything to do with (e.g. EA changing a critical API in the backend). Stuff happens sometimes and you just need to roll with the punches. Perhaps I'm more understanding as a developer myself, but nothing is perfect and I'm certain they will make things right.



It's good to be critical, but not crazy

[Vorxnyx]

Dear Bioware, I know EA probably put you up to all this but having to go online, register an account so that EA knows my email, and redeem codes that I had to transcribe from within Steam was a very painful and awkward way to activate the whole Deluxe Collector's whatever. I probably would have just stuck with the cheaper version had I known you'd made the process this lengthy. Steam's been able to manage DLC very well for quite a while now and EA doesn't seem to be much good at it.



That said, the game was worth it. Thanks for the good work, Bioware!

[Akka le Vil]

I really have to get out of my chest how insane the slow refresh drive me.

It's the FIRST TIME in all my life I ever seen a forum when you have to wait several minutes to see a message you posted finally appear in the forum.

Seriously.

[Akka le Vil]

Just to illustrate : at the moment where I write this message, my previous one is still not displayed in the forum, and the one by Vorxnyx is still supposed to be the last one of the thread.

[Forsakerr]

Jesse van Herk wrote...

Thank you for your feedback, I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy.  I would however like to point out several items:

• Forum search has been re-enabled for over a week.
  
• managing characters is expected to be re-enabled later this week, once the backend server issues at EA are resolved
  
• 95% of the character updating issues we have investigated were due to the game not having uploaded the data - nothing to do with the website. Workarounds have been posted elsewhere.
  
• 70% of the users of this site are running with < 1500px wide displays, and the layout is optimised for that group. 
  
• this forum software was purchased - BioWare is not reinventing the wheel, we are avoiding doing so.

Overall, this site is a work-in-progress, and BioWare is definitely listening to any and all feedback.  Thigns are being fixed/improved as fast as humanly possible. 

where is that workaround for character update stuff you are talking about ? the only characters showing are the ones i created with the caracter creator before the game came out and i m playing since release day and none of the ones i created in game are showing here

Modifié par Forsakerr, 25 novembre 2009 - 12:09 .

[sophee]

Jesse van Herk wrote...
Additionally, anyone claiming that the old forums were better has clearly not read any of the posts on those about how much *those* forums suck. Indeed, the number of complaints there contributed directly to the decision to switch to new software.

Guys, feel for Jesse here. Bioware bought a toyota, thats all they could afford. Eveyone one knows how kids love their toyotas. Evey toyota kid raves about how cool their car is.  Not knowing what a real automobile like a BMW/LEXUS/MERC is actually like.

[tanerb]

worst forum ever, no question

[ArnakSoulseeker]

AshedMan wrote...

Kelston wrote...
I'm actually curious. Feel free to link me to that discussion since it was claimed the old forums would be archived.

What major problems resulted in moving to forum software that:

• Has a laughable search function (only searches thread titles)
• Has no means to jump to first unread post
• Has no means to jump to a developer post
• Has a personal post history that merely links you to the thread you posted in without being able to jump to your post
• Is lacking the standard option to subscribe to a thread from the reply form
• Takes multiple refreshes of a thread to update it with your own reply
• Lacks a functional view count

I would like answers to these questions as well.  

Ya, any answers ? ETA ?

[Jesse van Herk]

New features and bugfixes will be implemented as time permits - some things like showing only developer posts are already underway.

[TinBlue]

So why did you choose to use SocialEngine for PHP? £500 off the shelf? I can see you have customised it but SocialEngine is renowned for its awful architecture underneath and its very poor performance when handling large traffic.



Really is a step in the wrong direction considering the nice design/engine used at bioware.com/neverwinter nights etc..



Whoever green-lit the use of Social Engine made a BAD mistake.



My advice? Ditch it and get a bigger budget than £500.

[Rynas]

$500? vBulletin is $200 and phpBB is free, and they *both* have search functionality that actually, you know, lets you find what you want. I just don't get it.