CoD4 Patch Feedback, Patch Placebo, and Commenting Rant

Alright, the patch went live last Friday and all weekend long I’ve been tracking the feedback and response to it and I wanted to give you all a quick update on what’s happening on this end and what the team will be focused on today and I’m sure a few days to come. Overall the response to the new patch has been positive with the game pulling in record numbers on Xbox Live over the weekend. The new kill cams are working great, as well as the sniper rifle and ACOG scope tweaks have went over well.

However there are a few things that we’re currently looking at that some of you have wrote in to us about, whether by commenting on this blog, emailing us, or the forums that I wanted to let you know we are listening and addressing as needed. For example I’ve got some reports of players spawning in with their character faced towards a wall or looking in the sky instead of facing forward. We’re currently looking into that right now.

Regional specific Players

To our Australian players (or others effected) Don’t worry, I’ve heard your cries and thanks to all of our players who took the time to write me (comment, email, forums) and let me know about your concerns with matchmaking to other Aussies. Right now the host migration and optimized server selection is designed to choose the host with the best connection determined by a robust QOS (Quality of Service) check (regardless of region). That doesn’t mean it will always choose a US player, but I understand that the odds are typically stacked against some of our more remote players to be selected as host. We’re currently looking at options available that might help out with those odds and I’ll keep you updated on it.

CLAN TAG TWEAKS

Clan tags are having some issues that we’re looking into. There was a fix put in to prevent users from using the “Button Clan Tag Glitch” where they would put Left Stick symbols or other button images in their clan tags. That’s been fixed which also made it so you can’t use accented characters or symbols. That aspect of it is by design (no symbols) but it seems there are a few other wonky things happening with the clan tags that we’re looking at now.

QUICK MUTE INFO

Quick Mute. Note that quick mute is currently only available while in-game, regretfully we couldn’t link our quick mute solution and the built in Xbox Live mute functionality making it so quick mute is more of a fast temporary solution to an annoying player, so once the game ends and you have more time to actually fully mute the player you can via Xbox Live. I had spoke of a in-lobby quick mute in my previous blog post, I apologize for that as that was a fuck up by me, I was playing on a DLC build here at the office which has the new in-lobby quick mute that didn’t make it in for the feature patch. I’m hoping that will stay in for the DLC build.

PATCH PLACEBO

Other than that I see a lot of players talking about the weapons or damage weapons do in-game being changed which is completely not true. There was one bug with the P90 that allowed you to sprint for longer when using it that was removed, but no damage stats or any other stats were changed to any of the weapons so we can put all the Patch Placebo stories to rest, NO WEAPON STATS WERE CHANGED!! It’s always interesting to read the forums or be in-game after a patch hits because there’s lots of gamer lore going around or more elegantly put, Patch Placebos. A Patch Placebo is essentially a ‘fake’ change players think or is rumored to be made that was never made. I’m seeing all kinds of crazy things people think we changed that was never touched.

HOST MIGRATION FEEDBACK

As for Host Migration, what’s the overall reaction? I know it’s not in-game host migration where you never have to return the lobby, it was never intended to be that kind of feature implementation. Essentially the host migration keeps everyone together so you don’t have to go back to your private party lobby, re-search or re-invite friends, etc. etc. Besides the fact that you might prefer in-game host migration how’s it working for you guys? Having any troubles finding new hosts? Like it? Don’t Like it? Always feel free to leave feedback in the comments or write in to us. We’re receiving a lot, but keep it coming as it all helps us when planning future updates or tweaks.

COMMENTING ON THE BLOG

What else…. what else… ahh yeah speaking of comment sections on the blog. Let me start out by saying I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment or write into the blog and let me know what you think (about the game, me, life, etc.) However, for the 1% minority that likes to douche it up… Come on guys… let’s keep it civil. I’m 100% pro commenting and letting us know if something sucks or if somethings awesome, or if you’re pissed about something but don’t turn it into kindergarten with personal attacks or profanity or general bullshit like that. If you’re having a problem LET ME KNOW, post in the comments and say, “Hey fourzerotwo - I was playing and got this error…” or “Hey - I was on last night and this was fucked up, can you guys look into it?” or something similar.

Trust me, I read everything. I read all your emails (thousands of them), I read all your comments, I read all the forum posts (xbox.com, infinityward.com, charlieoscardelta.com, etc.) so don’t think you’re talking to some faceless suit that doesn’t actually care, because I care. I totally fucking care. This past weekend was a crazy one, as it was ‘moving weekend’. I just got a new place and had all of Saturday to move from my old place to my new place in Encino (where our studio is). So it was pretty stressful, to top it all off moving weekend was patch weekend so I was keeping close tabs on my blackberry and the emails coming in to see how you guys (the community) was doing, when I saw how many hits the blog was getting and there were lots of comments I stopped moving and came into the studio on Sunday to take care of it and make sure I was getting all the feedback you guys were leaving and ensuring those who needed to know were aware so we could tackle it first thing today.

So something that will really help me out, is if you’re going to post a comment, don’t be a douchebag. I know that out of 190 comments, there’s typically only 2-3 douchebags so I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to let us know what you think. So don’t take that as I don’t appreciate the non-douchebags, because I do. You guys totally make my day when I get on here and read the comments, but to the few douchebags that like to dick it up, cut it out. It doesn’t get anything done faster as you have a douchebag here (me) that actually cares and if somethings fucked up, I want to fix it, and if there’s a concern you need heard, I want to listen. So don’t feel you need to be rude or douche up my blog’s comment sections to get your issue heard, because you don’t. I listen to it all, good and bad.

DLC STUFF

Other than patch related stuff going down today, I took some screenshots of the DLC today (finally) that is being sent over to Marketing at Activision to do their thing as needed. It’s looking like there might be an extra map in the map pack than originally planned, making it a total of four maps, not 100% on that yet though as it’s early on but it’s looking like it might get finished in time to join the other three originally planned. I’ll keep you posted on that.

That’s it for now, I’ll keep you guys updated as things progress.

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