Kingdom Reborn CD and patches

**Tabbitha** · 17-01-2008, 08:31 AM

'popps' posted his dissapointement regarding this topic.

I recently ordered and received the Kingdom Reborn CD.
I preferred paying for it to save me the hassle of long download times.

Well, to my disappointment, apparently the CD did not come with the most recent version but it still required, after installation, to download large patches which take up lot of time (I am on dial-up).

Wouldn't it be better if the KR CD sent to ordering customers had already the most recent version available at time of order ?

~~~~~~~~~

dhekke offered his explanation

Well, they have a bunch of pressed CDs of the first released KR client, so they all have to be sold and they got to order more CDs...
But to make those CDs up to date, they have to rewrite some of the installer, or make the patch files available on the CDs... it's not that easy.

But yes, it would be much better if it came more updated...

~~~~

to which popps replied

Personally, I think that little things like these are what in the end may help a Company be more or less liked by customers.

I mean, who are the perspective customers interested in a CD when the product is also available for free download ? I'd imagine particularly those who do NOT want to deal, for one reason or another, with download times.
They so much don't want it that even for a free product they still want to pay an amount (even as small as around 6 bucks) rather than have to have to deal with downloading.

So, leaving these customers with STILL having to face heavy downloading for patching the product they choose to pay money for kinda gets irritating and upsetting.

The Company could kindly take the hassle upon themselves to provide the CD with ALL of the files required at the time of purchase and so free as much as possible these customers from having to face any heavy downloading.

Not easy, but a nice behaviour which, I think, customers would appreciate, especially when they are still paying money for a free product....

That's my personal opinion on it.

~~~~

Mystic Cat advises people get 'digital downlaod' and get used to it.

The thing ya'll gotta realize is that this is an online game. When it updates, they aren't going to make whole new batches of CDs with the updates on them. If you can't download a few updates, why are you playing an online game that recommends a fast connection?

People who play UO seem to be stuck in the stone age. They don't want to upgrade their computers, they don't want to (or in some cases, can't, I understand that) upgrade their internet connections... I think forcing new requirements is a very good thing. It will get people to move forward past being in the mid 90s with their 600mhz processors and 28.8 dialup modems. The sad thing is, it's not even like the game demands the most recent graphics card or a quad core processor. You can buy a computer from Dell, HP, etc. for $200 that would be much more than is recommended to play.

All I can say is get use to it. Digital distribution is becoming the new norm since the typical connection speeds of everyday users can now handle large files.

~~~~

but popps still thinks EA could organise things better

I guess it is about how the Company wants it organized....

For example, cut CDs could be set as "short" lived. That is, new ones (with most updated files on) are cut, say, every month or so. Old ones get destroyed.

This way, ordering customers would still get reasonably updated files rather than files several months old which require lot of patching and large downloads.

It can be done, IMHO, it only requires organizing for it.

Personally, I think I would appreciate a Company that goes out of its way to reduce trouble to players like being organized to be able to provide updated files at time of order rather than have customers have to experience large downloads for patches.

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T'Amon [from work ] wrote

Er, tell me Everquest, WoW or any other CD/DVD-based retail game does NOT have this issue. You cannot hold EA up to that light unless you wish to hold a large portion of the industry to the same light.

It is a fact of life ... even now I get updates for a FREE game I play (formerly a pay-to-play). Guess what? No complaints from me as I am then assured the content is up to date.

~~~~

slasherofveils said

guarantee any game CD out there you buy will not be up to date, unless it just went gold and hit the shelf. Even then, sometimes you have to download patches.

Actually, any software in general.

When a software dev releases a product they produce X copies to be stocked in warehouses.

Now, UO hasn't been patched in a bit, but do you really think they are gonna pay the cost to destroy old copies, cancel and rewrite activation codes, and spend money to produce you a brandy spankin new CD for your thiry dollar purchase? Other products and games sometimes get patches as often as every month or more. It would cost them millions to do something like that. And for older games like UO, the game cd's for something that you can download (even if it is a loooong download) isn't exactly a company's top seller so they aren't gonna take the time and money to produce new copies every patch when they probably still have thousands collecting dust on a pallet two stories up in a warehouse.

*edit:* what they should be able to do is send you a cd of updates for a nominal fee (like $5 or something) if requested. But also its the minority on dial-up nowadays. You can even go to a friends or an internet cafe, bring a CD-R and burn the patches to it

~~~~
popps repplied to T'Amon

It is just that I don't seem to see it enjoyable for a customer on dial-up to perhaps have the need to leave one's own computer patching for some 10+ hours because the CD came with files quite old that the patching process would need long time to complete, when it would only need for any Company to set up new CDs with updated files periodically like every month or couple of months (or even every 3-4 months like 2 or 3 times a year) so to make sure that those customers getting CDs would not get versions too old requiring too much patching process.

That's how I see it.

~~~~

On the subject of dial up,Dol'Gorath said.

Dial Up is a dying technology.
You have to get used to the fact that current and future online and even single-player games are going to release LARGE patches of 250 mb or more on a regular basis. Amazingly enough WoW does have dial up users and they don't complain about the average patch being 250-350 mb, because they have gotten used to it.

No company is going to destroy old CD's [thus costing more money] to release more up to date ones. Hell at least they are even offering this service, They could just make it digital distribution only and you'd have to download all 6 GB of KR. *shrug*

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JCBuilder informed us

There is a case to be made for the CDs but the online download hasn't been updated since August 15, 2007. There have been 7 Kingdom Reborn patches since and none for over a month now.

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Dermott of LS wrote

...

Quote:

the online download hasn't been updated since August 15, 2007. There have been 7 Kingdom Reborn patches since and none for over a month now.

To be fair, I think they've had a bit more important things to be worrying about in that month. Though I'm sure if you sent Jeremy a note of Feedback, they'll attend to updating the download file.

~~~~

As the debate on dialup continued Raina Kanath added

Honestly none of the arguments about Dialup being a dieing technlogy matter. The fact is that EA/Mythic and UO advertise UO as being useable on dialup. That's it, end of argument really. To me, 48 hours downloading patches is not useable.

What they are doing with KR is exactly what they said they wouldn't do, which is have large patches. It's a main reason that there was never a lot of static content updates to UO, and why most 'new things' were all simply recoloured versions of existing ones. KR Breaks that promise, and worse than that, they are breaking the 2d client to do it. But I digress, that's another topic. Point is, it's against their own reasoning.

Since KR is stated by the company as being a dial-up service, they are shootin themselves in the foot. KR/UO Does NOT say it REQUIRES Broadband. Especially considering the broadband penetration in the rural US, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot. How difficult is it for them to provide a CD with up to date patches on it when they ship a KR CD? Marginal other than the fact that they'd have to actually do something, which is, as we've learned, not the companies strong point.

There are many 'appropriate' solutions that would seriously help customers that will almost certainly never happen with EA/Mythic. That is nobody's fault but theirs, and the customers (in this case, the ones stuck on dialup) have to suffer for it. That's really about what it comes down to in the end.

~Rai

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Jeremy responded with.

We have to make a new executable to update the disks, and we just ran out of time with Pub 48 going out right before everybody left to go pack. It's not been forgotten about, though.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

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Dol'Gorath a little harshly ,i thought, wrote

Useable on dial-up means it plays on dial-up. For that matter WoW is useable on dial up too and you don't see people complaining about the 300+mb patches.
If you don't want large patches by all means stick with 2D. New clients have alot of data to update to and there will continue to be large patches till the client is polished.

and Ill end with Cogniac's two cents worth.

I think I'm going to be even more harsh than Dol here and say: if you are on dialup, just give up on KR now. KR will continue to have giant patches even after it is polished. As Dol has said, WoW has huge, 300mb+ patches, and being from Blizzard, it was polished the day it originally shipped. Just being polished to a state of "completion" is not going to prevent further massive client patches. Improved graphics take their toll.

(P.S. I do not want to get into a giant, thread-derailing argument over the definition of "improved graphics". Thank you and good night.)

**kitiara** · 17-01-2008, 08:37 AM

I'm with Mystic Cat 100%. I just gave that same spiel last night to my intro to web development class.

Merion · 17-01-2008, 09:31 AM

I second this!

17-01-2008, 08:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
kitiara Polar Bear Queen Join Date: Nov 2006 Shard: Atlantic & Lake Austin Posts: 4,103 Thanks: 4 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Kingdom Reborn CD and patches I'm with Mystic Cat 100%. I just gave that same spiel last night to my intro to web development class. __________________ [UOCraft.com] - [Photography: Blog - Photo Gallery - Flickr] - [Other Blogs: Bird Blog - Geek Blog]

17-01-2008, 09:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
Merion Join Date: Jun 2007 Shard: Drachenfels Posts: 274 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Kingdom Reborn CD and patches I second this!

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