Bug Report: The EA / Maxis Development Team is broken.

Ulfric_Grimbrand · December 2018

[OPEN] Can't hire a gardener
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Can-t-hire-a-gardener/td-p/6873925
Open since June 2018
(Notice it says Solved: (Open)

[OPEN] [V] Vampires Harvest All/Tend Garden for only one plant
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-V-Vampires-Harvest-All-Tend-Garden-for-only-one-plant/td-p/6909428
Open since July 2018

But here's the big one (for me anyway)
[OPEN] Player Trait Broken
2 Threads
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Player-Trait-Broken/m-p/6911759
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/ARCHIVED-Player-trait-doesn-t-work/td-p/4670227
Originally opened July 2015

Can someone look into this Development Team Bug?

Seera1024 · December 2018

Some bugs are easier to fix than others and they have to prioritize the bugs they fix.

Just because some bugs take forever to fix does not mean the EA/Maxis Development team is broken. It just means one of the following:

Bug is hard to replicate. This is usually the case when there's a note that they need more people to come forward with details of how they've run into the issue
The fixes they've tried have broken other stuff.
The fixes they've tried have not worked at all.
They can't figure out what it is that's triggering the glitch even if it's easy to replicate.

And of course there's the prioritizing of the bugs to fix.

Top priority goes to game breaking bugs (you can't play the game at all kind of bugs). Lowest priority goes to inconvenience bugs. I'd call the gardener one an inconvenience once since you can still hire one as long as one of the plants needs tending to.

The player trait I would put somewhere in the middle and I'd imagine it's probably just hard to fix since it seems to be fairly easy to replicate the bug. Yes, it's frustrating that some bugs take forever to be fixed. But just because some bugs take forever to be fixed doesn't mean the bug fixing team is broken.

Cupid · December 2018

The first issue is being looked into, as written by the developer.

As for the second two, it's easy to guess why they are low priority. The second one is hard to reproduce; I've been playing a vampire with a garden for months now and have never had that happen. I do remember the player trait not working properly, but that hasn't happened to me in a while. This is in addition to the fact that nobody has left any feedback on that topic, and it has been up there since July..

In order for bugs to get fixed, they've got to be able to replicate them.

Ulfric_Grimbrand · December 2018

@Seera1024
This garden needed tending, and it wouldn't let me hire a Gardener, it is NOT just an "inconvenience" when their solutions don't work:

Saying nothing about trying to Harvest as a Vampire.
If you notice, it is 8:16AM Game Time, he's been working on trying to get things done in the garden since 4AM Game Time.

@Cupid As for the Player Trait, I believe most have given up since it's been 3 1/2 years since it was reported broken.

And I do know how it "works" with Bug Fixes. But give me a break, 6 months for major bugs, and 3 1/2 years on the Player Trait?

Goldmoldar · December 2018

Ulfric_Grimbrand wrote: »

@Seera1024
This garden needed tending, and it wouldn't let me hire a Gardener, it is NOT just an "inconvenience" when their solutions don't work:

Saying nothing about trying to Harvest as a Vampire.
If you notice, it is 8:16AM Game Time, he's been working on trying to get things done in the garden since 4AM Game Time.

@Cupid As for the Player Trait, I believe most have given up since it's been 3 1/2 years since it was reported broken.

And I do know how it "works" with Bug Fixes. But give me a break, 6 months for major bugs, and 3 1/2 years on the Player Trait?

You are correct some of these bugs have been around for quite awhile. Looking at EA/Maxis track record on working them is terrible and looking at the bugs in previous Sims games those never got fixed. No one here can say how EA/Maxis prioritize bugs to be fixed unless they mention it otherwise it is nothing more than speculation. True, some bugs are harder to fix because it may require an certain routine to trigger it. Now glitches which is not an bug persay it is more likely to occur due to an situation where an system may not recommended or below system requirements, sometimes an program may run even if it does not meet the specs but at the same time have more glitches which are harder to replicate.

Reksoh · December 2018

They wrote that they're fixing the gardening, the vampire gardening seems obscure and player trait has zero response. You say its because people gave up reporting it but i doubt that. People to this day are still reporting old bugs. The trait worked fine for me when I was trying to fo my 100 baby challenge with it though

theres bugs that are way more common, way more gamebreaking and have been around way longer than these too. i would be complaining about those instead lol

simgirl1010 · December 2018

@Ulfric_Grimbrand have you tried contacting the QA gurus on Twitter? I know this is the official forum but sometimes it's quicker to reach them on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/SimGuruNick?lang=en
https://twitter.com/SimGuruArvin?lang=en
https://twitter.com/SimGuruIcarus?lang=en

Ulfric_Grimbrand · December 2018

No, I've been posting it on EA Answers HQ, just getting tired of waiting, and waiting, and ....

Oh, and @simgirl1010 I don't use Twitter (my Arthritis makes it very hard to use Smart type phones). I use an older flip style phone.

Cinebar · December 2018

Ulfric_Grimbrand wrote: »

No, I've been posting it on EA Answers HQ, just getting tired of waiting, and waiting, and ....

Oh, and @simgirl1010 I don't use Twitter (my Arthritis makes it very hard to use Smart type phones). I use an older flip style phone.

You might want to PM or contact @Crinrict, she is the one who brings these complaints to the developing team's attention. It's at her discretion and if she can reproduce them and other factors.

Seera1024 · December 2018

Ulfric_Grimbrand wrote: »

No, I've been posting it on EA Answers HQ, just getting tired of waiting, and waiting, and ....

Oh, and @simgirl1010 I don't use Twitter (my Arthritis makes it very hard to use Smart type phones). I use an older flip style phone.

Twitter is not a phone only app. You can access it via a web browser.

crinrict · December 2018

Cinebar wrote: »

You might want to PM or contact @Crinrict, she is the one who brings these complaints to the developing team's attention. It's at her discretion and if she can reproduce them and other factors.

Lol. You make it sound like I had the power to tell them what gets fixed and what not. That's never has been the case, never will be.

EA/Maxis does their own forum reading. I do forward almost every thread (except mod issues) but that doesn't mean they only read/are aware of those. There's also many other channels where bug reports come in that also need to be taken into account.

The only thing that's at my discretion is whether stuff gets added to the compiled list. The compiled list is basically an index of things that have been reported for faster finding. Doesn't have anything to do how QA works.

As for testing: I test stuff because I'm a visual person and need to see issues for myself to really understand what's going on. That's is important to maybe find a workaround and also to be able to merge the same threads if necessary. Also, I'm trying to get ahead of QA by collecting info from you guys.

Just needed to clarify that so there's no wrong impression

Cinebar · December 2018

crinrict wrote: »

Cinebar wrote: »

You might want to PM or contact @Crinrict, she is the one who brings these complaints to the developing team's attention. It's at her discretion and if she can reproduce them and other factors.

Lol. You make it sound like I had the power to tell them what gets fixed and what not. That's never has been the case, never will be.

EA/Maxis does their own forum reading. I do forward almost every thread (except mod issues) but that doesn't mean they only read/are aware of those. There's also many other channels where bug reports come in that also need to be taken into account.

The only thing that's at my discretion is whether stuff gets added to the compiled list. The compiled list is basically an index of things that have been reported for faster finding. Doesn't have anything to do how QA works.

As for testing: I test stuff because I'm a visual person and need to see issues for myself to really understand what's going on. That's is important to maybe find a workaround and also to be able to merge the same threads if necessary. Also, I'm trying to get ahead of QA by collecting info from you guys.

Just needed to clarify that so there's no wrong impression

But doesn't your forwarding things to them bring it to light and get fixed faster? I thought it did.

Ulfric_Grimbrand · December 2018

Cinebar wrote: »

crinrict wrote: »

Cinebar wrote: »

You might want to PM or contact @Crinrict, she is the one who brings these complaints to the developing team's attention. It's at her discretion and if she can reproduce them and other factors.

Lol. You make it sound like I had the power to tell them what gets fixed and what not. That's never has been the case, never will be.

EA/Maxis does their own forum reading. I do forward almost every thread (except mod issues) but that doesn't mean they only read/are aware of those. There's also many other channels where bug reports come in that also need to be taken into account.

The only thing that's at my discretion is whether stuff gets added to the compiled list. The compiled list is basically an index of things that have been reported for faster finding. Doesn't have anything to do how QA works.

As for testing: I test stuff because I'm a visual person and need to see issues for myself to really understand what's going on. That's is important to maybe find a workaround and also to be able to merge the same threads if necessary. Also, I'm trying to get ahead of QA by collecting info from you guys.

Just needed to clarify that so there's no wrong impression

But doesn't your forwarding things to them bring it to light and get fixed faster? I thought it did.

No, it doesn't necessarily expedite the process. @crinrict had me open the second issue on the Player Trait because it had not been fixed in over 3 years. The Seasons EP really did a number to Vampires. Currently, I have a game going where I have a "Human" Sim tending garden, but the Vampire Sim working on the same garden is gets a message nothing needs tending. Off to EA Answers Headquarters to update that bug thread

crinrict · December 2018

@Ulfric_Grimbrand Would be good if you bumped the player trait if it's still an issue.

@Cinebar From past experience, I'd say, threads that are active and get lots of voices are the ones that get fixed faster. They can't ignore it if 300 people say they are affected and annoyed by it (see aging issue with the GF patch)

hotshocolate · December 2018

I'm not sure where to post but this thread seems the most relevant, has anyone else experience the bug where vampires stop receiving points after they reach grandmaster level? The purple bar just fills up but they are stopped from receiving any more vampire points even though the bar is full, and there is no way around it. Many people have been tearing their game apart thinking it was a mod issue but it is a base game issue, that all of a sudden appeared from the last patch and is very frustrating since with every new pack release/game update they introduce a variety of new bugs that were never there in the first place. This happens literally every single time there is a new release and it makes me feel like the packs are rushed since every time so many game-wrecking bugs appear that aren't even caused by mods or cc, just the game itself. I'm sorry for being frustrated but it's been years of the same story with every update and pack release. I just hope we get a patch soon to fix the issues. My sim's celebrity tile also disappeared into thin air when i tried to place it and i can't get it back lol

Zasz · December 2018

@hotshocolate There is a thread for it. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-V-Not-able-to-level-up-gain-points-past-Grandmaster-level/m-p/7223577#M79358

EA_Mai · December 2018

Hi everyone,

I understand you want the team to get certain bugs fixed, but keep in mind bug reports are now hosted on Answers HQ. If you want to report or add information about any bugs -even if just to comment 'it's been a while, this is still an issue for me'-, please, visit Answers HQ. More info on why this change here.

Everyone has a list of 'bugs that I want fixed asap', because there's many different ways of playing The Sims.

Pressing 'Me too', adding information or answering our questions on the bug reports on Answers HQ that are most important to you is the best way of letting us know. This helps us identify and prioritise what to fix next, because, as @Seera1024 tried to explain, there's many things to consider and the date in which a bug was reported is not one of the main factors.

@hotshocolate, you can find the thread for the issue you are experiencing here.

Ulfric_Grimbrand · December 2018

@EA_Mai Waiting over 3 1/2 years for the Player Trait seems a tad ... well ... 3 1/2 years. While not "game breaking", it is story line breaking, and destroys household friendships (romance is left alone, but the spouse and the person with the Player Trait take a major friendship hit) when it shouldn't be effecting the Sim with the trait at all!

Take a look at this thread on EA Answers HQ
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Player-Trait-Broken/m-p/7219958

And then the other thread it originated from (I had been asked to open a new report on the Player Trait because it had been so long)
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/ARCHIVED-Player-trait-doesn-t-work/td-p/4670227/highlight/false

Same issue, no resolution.

Yes, I am getting impatient, I know that, but between the Vampire Gardening issues, not being able to hire a Gardener, and the Player Trait not working correctly, my main Sim becomes unplayable due to frustration at getting things done that I want to do. Things I used to be able to do in the game.

I absolutely love this game, especially CAS beating The Sims, and The Sims 2 hands down. Yes, I've been playing The Sims since the beginning. Things in a new release not working correctly, I can understand better. But things that used to work, get broken, and then don't get resolved within a few months becomes aggravating.

Seera1024 · December 2018

Ulfric_Grimbrand wrote: »

@EA_Mai Waiting over 3 1/2 years for the Player Trait seems a tad ... well ... 3 1/2 years. While not "game breaking", it is story line breaking, and destroys household friendships (romance is left alone, but the spouse and the person with the Player Trait take a major friendship hit) when it shouldn't be effecting the Sim with the trait at all!

Take a look at this thread on EA Answers HQ
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Player-Trait-Broken/m-p/7219958

And then the other thread it originated from (I had been asked to open a new report on the Player Trait because it had been so long)
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/ARCHIVED-Player-trait-doesn-t-work/td-p/4670227/highlight/false

Same issue, no resolution.

Yes, I am getting impatient, I know that, but between the Vampire Gardening issues, not being able to hire a Gardener, and the Player Trait not working correctly, my main Sim becomes unplayable due to frustration at getting things done that I want to do. Things I used to be able to do in the game.

I absolutely love this game, especially CAS beating The Sims, and The Sims 2 hands down. Yes, I've been playing The Sims since the beginning. Things in a new release not working correctly, I can understand better. But things that used to work, get broken, and then don't get resolved within a few months becomes aggravating.

Because maybe that glitch is not a very high priority due to number of players who have spoken up about being annoyed by it on the official channels. I'd imagine that if everything else in the priority list is equal, I'm sure that's when time factors into things. But there's only so much time in the day and only so many employees. They have to give priority to things that have more of an effect on the game itself and/or annoy more players. Regardless of how old a minor glitch is.

Or maybe it is and they keep getting setbacks on possible solutions when they find them.

And new code breaks old code all of the time in software development. And the more code that gets added the higher chance of something older breaking and being harder to fix due to the layers and interdependencies. If A effects X, Y, and Z. If A gets buggy, then solutions would affect X, Y, and Z. Now imagine if Z effects 1, 2, and 3 and then seeing a problem in A.

The more complicated the code gets the harder it is to troubleshoot, but they can't suspend production of new material for the game until they are done with the series. Especially not for things that aren't game breaking.

Tiarella · December 2018

@Ulfric_Grimbrand - I me-too'd your thread. I remember my surprise & disappointment when I finally got a sim to achieve the Player trait, and he took that huge Friendship hit. What's the point of the trait? I didn't even realize it was a bug; just assumed that the trait protected the romantic relationship. The other sims were still attracted to him, but they didn't like him so much anymore. Not what I was expecting. I don't have many Player sims; not much fun to play 'em when the trait doesn't work as expected.

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Bug Report: The EA / Maxis Development Team is broken.

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