Thanks to all the beta testers for the SU4 patch!

[kaosfere 3,115]

51 minutes ago, fogboundturtle said:

Can you not stop the endless rant for 1 day ? Asobo works based on priorities that people vote on their forum.

To be clear:  Asobo uses votes on the forum to inform their priorities.   Jorg's repeated statements that what is focused on is determined by the users is completely true.  But the roadmap isn't 100% tied to the community feedback.   There are actual strategic plans and business realities to be addressed, too.

That probably goes without saying, but I wouldn't want someone to read that and think "Such-and-such has been near the top of the list but they haven't worked on it yet.   Why aren't you listening, Asobo?!".   Although, someone will, anyway. 😄

It's nice to see such positive feedback from the community on this one.  We have our own internal team of dedicated volunteer QA folks, and were able to get them access to the beta as well.  It's still a work in progress, but there's definitely a focus on increasing the value of the beta phase.

Kaizen.   Continuous incremental improvement.

Edited May 26, 2021 by kaosfere

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

1 minute ago, kaosfere said:

To be clear:  Asobo uses votes on the forum to inform their priorities.   Jorg's repeated statements that what is focused on is determined by the users is completely true.  But the roadmap isn't 100% tied to the community feedback.   There are actual strategic plans and business realities to be addressed, too.

That probably goes without saying, but I wouldn't want someone to read that and think "Such-and-such has been near the top of the list but they haven't worked on it yet.   Why aren't you listening, Asobo?!".   Although, someone will, anyway. 😄

It's nice to see such positive feedback from the community on this one.  We have our own team of dedicated volunteer QA folks, and were able to get them access to the beta as well.  It's still a work in progress, but there's definitely a focus on increasing the value of the beta phase.

Kaizen.   Continuous incremental improvement.

I understand but his endless rant on this forum will not get him anywhere. Forum voting bring visibilities to issue that needs to be address. 

[Bobsk8 12,735]

1 minute ago, kaosfere said:

To be clear:  Asobo uses votes on the forum to inform their priorities.   Jorg's repeated statements that what is focused on is determined by the users is completely true.  But the roadmap isn't 100% tied to the community feedback.   There are actual strategic plans and business realities to be addressed, too.

That probably goes without saying, but I wouldn't want someone to read that and think "Such-and-such has been near the top of the list but they haven't worked on it yet.   Why aren't you listening, Asobo?!".   Although, someone will, anyway. 😄

It's nice to see such positive feedback from the community on this one.  We have our own team of dedicated volunteer QA folks, and were able to get them access to the beta as well.  It's still a work in progress, but there's definitely a focus on increasing the value of the beta phase.

Kaizen.   Continuous incremental improvement.

I think many were surprised that since the beginning  of the updates, Beta Testers were apparently not used, until people started really complaining about it. I have been a beta tester for several products, and we have always found bugs that were fixed before the final release of the update. The fact that Asobo could eliminate this necessary  phase, I find difficult to understand. I am glad they finally listened, which will save us all alot of grief. 

[kaosfere 3,115]

Just now, fogboundturtle said:

I understand but his endless rant on this forum will not get him anywhere. Forum voting bring visibilities to issue that needs to be address. 

Oh, totally.   I agree with you 100%, that wasn't meant as a corrective.   The boundless negativity from some quarters gets really tiring.  

Having worked on a number of popular open source projects over the years, I have repeatedly been privileged to witness the impatience and the sheer outrage some people show when their own sense of entitlement isn't satisfied -- even with something they get for free.   Sometimes days it washes right over you;  other days it's totally demoralizing.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be."  😄

[abrams_tank 7,424]

14 minutes ago, kaosfere said:

To be clear:  Asobo uses votes on the forum to inform their priorities.   Jorg's repeated statements that what is focused on is determined by the users is completely true.  But the roadmap isn't 100% tied to the community feedback.   There are actual strategic plans and business realities to be addressed, too.

That probably goes without saying, but I wouldn't want someone to read that and think "Such-and-such has been near the top of the list but they haven't worked on it yet.   Why aren't you listening, Asobo?!".   Although, someone will, anyway. 😄

It's nice to see such positive feedback from the community on this one.  We have our own internal team of dedicated volunteer QA folks, and were able to get them access to the beta as well.  It's still a work in progress, but there's definitely a focus on increasing the value of the beta phase.

Kaizen.   Continuous incremental improvement.

Since you are talking to Jorg and Sebastian every other day, let them know how much the community wants even more beta testers and an even longer period for beta testing.  Thanks!

[abrams_tank 7,424]

10 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I think many were surprised that since the beginning  of the updates, Beta Testers were apparently not used, until people started really complaining about it. I have been a beta tester for several products, and we have always found bugs that were fixed before the final release of the update. The fact that Asobo could eliminate this necessary  phase, I find difficult to understand. I am glad they finally listened, which will save us all alot of grief. 

The weirdest thing is that after a lot of feedback from the community that beta testing was needed, Asobo did beta testing for the VR release but then stopped beta testing after VR was released.  The lack of beta testing led to several bad patches in Q1 of this year with annoying bugs, and some of them required hotfixes.

[leprechaunlive 1,852]

2 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

I don't know why they wouldn't let developers into the beta.  Just make them sign an NDA.  Every developer would want to help test because the patch can affect their products.  But a few days before isn't really enough time.  They should give more beta testing time, even for the developers.

im saying a few fays before the BETA drops 🙂 then i think we had it for 3 weeks. maybe 4 not sure.

[AKStirling 44]

OK ........ all sounds pretty reasonable ..... so, to boil it down, what's the best thing i can do to assist the beta program in moving toward a resolution of the problem ??

[abrams_tank 7,424]

1 minute ago, AKStirling said:

OK ........ all sounds pretty reasonable ..... so, to boil it down, what's the best thing i can do to assist the beta program in moving toward a resolution of the problem ??

Well, if Asobo for some reason decides to abandon beta testing again, like they did after the VR release, put the pressure on Asobo to bring back beta testing.

We also want “opt in” beta testing, which is the holy grail of beta testing.  It would allow any player to join the beta testing before a patch release.

[AKStirling 44]

as a rank and file user, how would i put pressure on Asobo??

 

[bobcat999 8,484]

I also wish to thanks all the Beta Testers on this. 

This is obviously a more solid release thanks to some of the things you caught and suggestions you made, and I know they also got the developers involved as well.  Thanks to all of you for your efforts - much appreciated! 

[abrams_tank 7,424]

17 hours ago, AKStirling said:

as a rank and file user, how would i put pressure on Asobo??

 

For the monthly Q&A, you can create a new topic in the MSFS forums and that topic can be upvoted.  If it's a top upvoted topic, it will be asked at the next Q&A and Asobo has to answer the question.  At the same time, you can also upvote topics yourself. 

So if Asobo stops using beta testing again, just participate in the Q&A topics, write a new topic on why Asobo is not using beta testing, and upvote it.  

[bean_sprout 1,201]

I believe the point of opening up beta testing to a wider audience is to exercise the code on more Windows installs.

Probably not needed (so much) for the XBOX version.

Regards

bs