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Should EA mention what is broken on each expansion/stuff/game pack before selling.

I have recently purchased Moschino Stuff Pack with no knowledge that the freelance photography wasn't working correctly. The task/actions bar don't show a task that is completed even though it has been done. Like uploading a photograph to simstagram - that approved photograph is now gone, I can't reupload it to simstagram.

I basically purchased myself a pack that isn't 100% working and possibly have to wait a month for this to be fixed.

Do you think EA should advertise whatever is currently broken on the pack - some of these features are the main gameplay of the pack. If it is broken? What's the point in selling something that is faulty without the costumer's knowledge? Even if it is going to be fixed in a monthly update.

Comments

  • DoloresGreyDoloresGrey Posts: 3,490 Member
    edited May 2020
    Such product shouldn't be able to buy in the first place. It is like selling a burnt stove. Sorry not sorry.
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  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    I don't know how they would do that.

    There are some things that are broken on specific platforms: something that works just fine on PC but doesn't on Mac even, let alone between those and console. Sometimes things break because of a combination of packs that someone has.

    The QA team at the moment doesn't have a connection to the sales front. What already is there is Answers HQ and the lovely folks there who are maintaining the known bugs list. So we already have a way to check if there are any major bugs in a pack before purchase.

    The bugs are annoying (and at times game-breaking) but realistically, maintaining that sort of information doesn't seem viable due to the sheer variety of reasons for the bugs.
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  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    It would help. Hard to tell what will break when any game goes live. I have found bugs months before other Simmers noticed them with the base game. There are still base game bugs that have needed to be fixed for six years now.
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  • x4m1r4x4m1r4 Posts: 3,901 Member
    Finbar659 wrote: »
    I have recently purchased Moschino Stuff Pack with no knowledge that the freelance photography wasn't working correctly. The task/actions bar don't show a task that is completed even though it has been done. Like uploading a photograph to simstagram - that approved photograph is now gone, I can't reupload it to simstagram.

    I basically purchased myself a pack that isn't 100% working and possibly have to wait a month for this to be fixed.

    Do you think EA should advertise whatever is currently broken on the pack - some of these features are the main gameplay of the pack. If it is broken? What's the point in selling something that is faulty without the costumer's knowledge? Even if it is going to be fixed in a monthly update.

    Although it is ideal for us, but it is a bad move for any company to tell the consumers/customers that they're selling a "broken" product. They're not only selling a product, but they are also forming a trust between seller & buyer. Towards the end, whenever any brands are selling their products, they believe that the products are of the highest quality, set by the company. Once the product is released to the market, the best thing that they could do is, to acknowledge any problem arise & try to solve it ASAP, just like what they're currently practise.

    Just wondering, would you be okay to buy IF they're promoting the pack by saying, "The Moschino pack has a lot of interesting features, but the photography career is not working properly, hence, purchase at your own risk". ;)

    Anywho, as a consumer/customer, we should be able to tell & perhaps do a little bit of research before we purchased the product so that we won't be disappointed. Moreover, the bugs are known, hence those who purchased it later should be aware of the consequences when they bought the product.
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  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    The closest thing we have are reviews that we can post on steam, if we could get something similar for origin that might help. They have a system to show if reviews have changed to negative recently so that people can't abuse it too much. It's very useful actually when you are considering buying a game and you can look at the recent reviews and see people post things. For example people often change their review score to negative if the developers released an update that made the game worse, like causing a lot of bugs.

    If nothing else, I think at least their marketing should be aware, I was pretty annoyed when their twitter had this advertising thing with celebrities recently and they showed animations from get famous, a pack where the career does not work.
  • izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
    That is just like shooting themselves in the foot
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  • SERVERFRASERVERFRA Posts: 7,108 Member
    They could give us a warning for buyer beware.
  • ddd994ddd994 Posts: 418 Member
    Hmmm.. Obviously it would be marketing suicide as everybody has mentioned, but I think what OP is getting at, is that it’s kinda scammy to sell faulty products?

    Interesting point to think about really.. I guess the fact they have an ongoing bug team gives them a grey area, as surely there’s laws about this kind of stuff?
  • PhantomflexPhantomflex Posts: 3,607 Member
    ddd994 wrote: »
    Hmmm.. Obviously it would be marketing suicide as everybody has mentioned, but I think what OP is getting at, is that it’s kinda scammy to sell faulty products?

    Interesting point to think about really.. I guess the fact they have an ongoing bug team gives them a grey area, as surely there’s laws about this kind of stuff?

    Indeed. The best course of action would be to not release a product/service that has bugs and to resolve to fix them when they do arise.
  • PlayerSinger2010PlayerSinger2010 Posts: 3,267 Member
    What if they aren't broken when EA puts them out?
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    I'm not sure how it would work, some people say that they have bugs I've never experienced and the other way around too. I think you should check the developers reputation before buying something, and I don't think EA's reputation is worth buying anything from them (sorry dev team).
  • NindigoNindigo Posts: 2,764 Member
    This is such a typical business situation. To my knowledge, it isn't customary to tell buyers about the flaws of a product as it would decrease the chance of getting it sold and making money on it. A lot of business conduct is far removed from what could be called normal ethics. It's just the way it is, sadly.


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  • LiELFLiELF Posts: 6,439 Member
    Another thing to consider is that bugs are very tricky and not universal. Sometimes there is a code clash with a specific pack, so that people who don't own that pack don't have the bug. Sometimes the bug can't be found. Sometimes the bug is specific to the player's own use of mods and CC, or even just something that borked in their own game or on their computer. I imagine this is why they don't have cautionary messages for "bugged" packs.
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  • TS1299TS1299 Posts: 1,604 Member
    I just wish that they would release Packs especially EP not are not full of bugs at release. The Last EP that has the less bugs in which almost every feature in the pack was functioning correctly at launch was Get Together.
  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    I always research the functionality of a pack before I decide to buy. Known issues are also documented at EA Answers HQ. Not everyone experiences every glitch. I think that they are reasonably up-front about what is not working as intended, but if you do encounter a bug, it is incumbent upon you to report it, so that the QA team have all the specifics they need to fix it.

    We see game patches with fixes about once a month. Things take time.
  • Lucy_HenleyLucy_Henley Posts: 2,943 Member
    There have always been bugs in Sims games - just think of the Ottomas family glitch that corrupted whole hoods before it was fixed in a patch. Not all bugs are the same. And yeah, not every Simmer is affected by every bug. So it's difficult.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    You probably didn't know the freelance career was broken for months because how many go over to answers.com to see if anything is still broken in a pack before they buy it if they don't already have it. It was stated so the devs could find the bugs better in one organized spot why they moved all complaints about bugs off this site. But it also hides all the problems that have yet to be fixed.
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  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited May 2020
    There have always been bugs in Sims games - just think of the Ottomas family glitch that corrupted whole hoods before it was fixed in a patch. Not all bugs are the same. And yeah, not every Simmer is affected by every bug. So it's difficult.
    There have always been bugs in Sims games - just think of the Ottomas family glitch that corrupted whole hoods before it was fixed in a patch. Not all bugs are the same. And yeah, not every Simmer is affected by every bug. So it's difficult.

    But that bug was fixed within one month never to return. ETA: Any EP bugs were on schedule to be fixed within the month of release of an EP for TS2. ETA: It also didn't corrupt entire neighborhoods. The bug was the family relationships were matched to stray dogs etc....very little corruption and could still play the hood for years.
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  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    Now why would they tell the consumer what is broke and does not work? It would hurt their sales if they did that. EA/Maxis has an bad track record when it comes to fixing bugs and they feel the modders will fix it for them even though it may break when there is an new update or new pack.
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  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    edited May 2020
    I don't think ea will never advertise about broken features in packs. But i get op's frustation. I love the acting career and can't play it for a long time. And i don't want to have one more mod to fix it (i have a very limited amount of mods). It's the only career and one of the main features of Get Famous. It should have been already fixed.
    Cinebar wrote: »
    You probably didn't know the freelance career was broken for months because how many go over to answers.com to see if anything is still broken in a pack before they buy it if they don't already have it. It was stated so the devs could find the bugs better in one organized spot why they moved all complaints about bugs off this site. But it also hides all the problems that have yet to be fixed.

    True. Once i noticed a bug that i wouldn't find anyone complaining about and i got very surprised that i needed to go to a different site to point it out. I didn't even know about that site before. There should be a bug category here in the forum. My mind went exactly there: it's harder to keep track of existing bugs and harder to point them out. And it shouldn't be imo.
  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited May 2020
    Such product shouldn't be able to buy in the first place. It is like selling a burnt stove. Sorry not sorry.
    Yeah. It would just be counterproductive to try selling a pack with disclaimer "hey people, the marketed gameplay is mechanic in this stuff pack so reconsider purchasing this pack". Most logical sense, though not really plausible to come from EA, is would be too pull that DLC, like the one we're talking about that revolves on a main selling game mechanic, out of the retail shells and Origin. Though that's only something that I see nintendo would do.
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  • SimsLovinLycanSimsLovinLycan Posts: 1,910 Member
    I just wish that they would invest more time into bug testing for this game. You know, recruit more testers using different systems and pack configurations to make sure that any new features or packs they add work properly on home consoles, Macs, and a good representation of the spectrum of PC configurations out there--from monster gaming desktops to the mid-range laptops they claim to have been trying to accommodate with TS4. Test your game more thoroughly and for a longer period of time and with a wider range of player types.

    After all, sometimes people encounter a bug that is triggered by the way that they play, not just what kind of system they're on or what packs they have installed. Someone who never plays families will never see the glitch where the "Play" animation will turn into a horror show of arms pointing straight at the floor while the legs and torso spin around and the Toddler stands on the floor if the action is carried out in a narrow space. Someone who plays families at least every once in a while will see that glitch, especially if they also play in houses that are full of narrow or crowded spaces (as one will no doubt end up doing in TS4 with how tiny most of the lots are...20x30 is TOO SMALL!!). Or the "demon Baby" glitch that was happening shortly after launch. People who weren't playing families were not seeing it, even if they did have those Intel chips in their computers, but people who had the Intel chips and played families were seeing it. This is why diversity of hardware, playstyle, and pack configuration is so important for testing TS4.

    I know I can be a little long-winded sometimes, but my point is that this game and its DLC doesn't need a warning label to tell everyone what's broken, it needs better pre-launch bug testing and more time and development dollars invested in fixing the bugs that crop up during testing in order to ensure a smooth and satisfactory content launch. You know the old adage, "A stitch in time saves nine."
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  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    Is there some kind of company or initiative that will hold video game companies accountable for releasing titles with flaws in them?

    I feel like each game platform needs a QA department that actually plays the games it allows on its stores to verify all elements are working as they should be.

    I was reading an article the other day where this game developer was upset because his game got removed from the Switch shop in some countries because his game rating changed. He was responsible for releasing an update to the game that would drop the rating back to E for Everyone instead of 12+ or something like that. I like the idea that platforms are constantly reviewing things.
  • BohoFlowerBohoFlower Posts: 143 Member
    I agree they shouldn't be sold but even if fixed they don't add much to the Base Game so i'd save your pennies, Get To Work aka Open For Business has always been the most broken since TS2 they just shouldn't be able to resell that pack but they have cos it seems like almost anything goes these days, i don't know if they'll fix most of the bugs in the game.
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