"End of the Week" is Back

There are a lot of things that have happened since my 'disappearance' and 're-appearance' in the (DDO-ish) blogging world.  It has, after all, been (more or less) a year.  I even have a rumbling in my head of "Why Now?" for my return.  I may actually post something on that - perhaps even next post (but maybe not) - but as I'm up late and looking over the DDO fora (sorry, "forums") I see that "The QA Guy Formerly Known as 'Major Malphunktion'" has put out a new "end of the week" post in his new incarnation as "Produktion Malphunktion" (being recently promoted to 'producer' status; granted, it may be an assistant producer, but a producer, nonetheless).


I have missed the "End of the Week" updates (I've even said as much in some DDO forum threads), so I'm glad they are back.  Hopefully, they will be recurring and this is not just a one-shot.  Still, it never ceases to amaze me how...(oh, what's an appropriate word here..."stupid"?...sometimes accurate, but no...perhaps we'll just go with...) "uncivilized" the populace of the fora (sorry, "forums") are.  Not all, of course, but there does seem to be many - and while they are generally in the minority, they sometimes appear to be the rule, not the exception.  Yes, the web gives us a measure of anonymity, but that is no excuse for disrespectful and bad behavior.  I find it a sad commentary that even people of my generation - those who grew up with the very first PCs - stoop to this misbehavior.  But I digress...this is not a post about proper etiquette (or the lack thereof).

So what was in this week's post?  The first in a long awaited weekly update post?  "Known Issues" that have been fixed and will be removed from the 'known issues' list.  Unfortunately, there are also new bugs that may be added onto the list.  And at the very bottom, there is the schedule of "things to come"...well, perhaps "currently scheduled" would be a better phrase...and I suppose "to Lamannia" should be added.  (Speaking of Lamannia, if you didn't know, it is now the official "public testing" server, and not just a "preview" server.  Gone is the formerly 'super-secret' private testing program code named "Mournlands".)  And below that, ProMal'on encourages people to "ask any questions you want" and says that he'll "be checking in over the weekend".

If you go to the "Dev Tracker", you will see that ProMal has not only been checking in, but addressing many of the questions people have posted (including the forum-trolls [not to be confused with "Teh_Troll"]).  It's only Saturday (well, Sunday morning as I'm writing this) and there are 17 (as of "right now" while I'm writing) responses.  And check the time-stamps on those responses - many are last night/early morning times.  That's what I call "dedication".  No one can question that (OK, OK - of course one *can*, but one shouldn't).

I do find it interesting that he mentions "the other game" (I guess "know your enemy" or perhaps, "know your competition", right?  Nothing wrong with that).  If you don't know what "the other game" is, it's Neverwinter Online (NWO).  How do I know?  Because I have the "portable store" artifact ProMa mentions on a couple of my characters in NWO.  What?  You think DDO is the only online game I play?  Nope - but it is my favorite, even if it is 8-years old; and it was my very first MMO (but not my first online game, though).

Anyway, I seem to be wondering all over the place.  Not too surprising, given the time of day it currently is (past "midnight-thirty" here) and that I'm just a wee-bit tired.  So, I suppose I should wrap up.  Thanks, ProM, for returning "end of the week" to us.  Hopefully, we'll have many, many, many more to come.

{Apologies for that last link - I think YouTube is broken...}