Bug Thread usefull in the current form?

[NTJedi]

Endoperez said:
Whilte the Patch Improvements thread is very nice, it's not everyone's opinion. It's "how many forum users think they want to see this added to the game".

I completely agree, but this forum is the best tool Illwinter has for identifying what gamers enjoy, want or dislike. I wish I could encourage all the silent readers to take two minutes and drop their opinion within the patch improvement thread.

Endoperez said:
What about this major/minor distinction? Bugs that directly affect at least one whole nation could be major. Miasma bug would be major. .... What about a bugged unit? A bugged sacred unit? A bugged capital site (i.e. EA Abysia having no heat-spreading sites)? A mage with bugged random stats?

Coming from a software company I would recommend setting a severity status for each bug.
Severity_1 = Can occur during any game causing the game to crash or unable to continue.
Severity_2 = Game bug which effects an entire game when using a nation such as the Miasma bug within C'tis.
Severity_3 = Bug on a specific spell, magic site, building, item, or unit.
Severity_4 = Description not matching qualities/characteristics of a unit, item, or spell.

[Edi]

That severity level thing is a good idea. We might as well use it. Especialy if we also get a bug report and discussion subforum, it'll make maintaining a concentrated bug report thread easier.

Edi

[calmon]

I'm not sure how much benefits a subforum would bring to us. A discussion thread and a well maintained concluded buglist in the first post (maybe second and third as well) should do the thing. The only big advantage i see is that we could link from the buglist to a thread which explains the bug more detailed but this should work in other ways likewise.

Working in a software company too i also prefer categories for bugs. I would combine your severity 1 and 2 to just 'major bugs'. I don't think that there are that much Severity 1 in future and johan acts very fast in such a case. Using 'major bugs' everyone knows on first look what it meant.

Severity 3 would be just 'bugs' ('minor bugs'? Sounds like peanuts )

Severity 4 would be 'description bugs'. Maybe including typos but its also possible to do simple typos in an extra thread.

There should be a fourth category for 'mod bugs'. But i would seperate this bugs in another thread. Maybe we can've such a bug list in the mod subforum.

In moment i'm analysing the bug thread. When finished i would write a list and try to categorize the bugs. This list will be as compact as i could do it. I'll try to group bugs to one if possible. Bugs which aren't reproduceable wount be in the first run of the list. We could discuss/analyze such phenomena.

I'm not sure when i've finished a first version. Most likely between christmas and new year.

[Sheap]

Edi is right - the problem with the bug thread is that there is too much in it that is not bug reports. I'd recommend converting the current bug thread into a bug discussion thread, and distilling the actual bug reports into a new bug reports only thread. Only actual code bugs confirmed to exist but not yet fixed should be allowed in that thread. Then, patrol that thread so absolutely no junk gets into it. This would be useful for developers and players, since a thread with only actual bugs would be reasonable to read and keep track of.

I'll have a few hours on airplanes next week and might tackle the bug distilling job (or I might not, heh) but am not a moderator.

[NTJedi]

Sheap said:
Then, patrol that thread so absolutely no junk gets into it. This would be useful for developers and players, since a thread with only actual bugs would be reasonable to read and keep track of.

I completely agree... I would love to dive into the current bug thread and remove all the non-bug related posts. Unfortunately only moderators have this power and none of them seem interested in helping Illwinter.

Sheap said:
I'll have a few hours on airplanes next week and might tackle the bug distilling job (or I might not, heh) but am not a moderator.

Yes a moderator is best for maintaining a useful bug thread. If you do have time to create the new bug thread make sure to get approval from one of the moderators so they can make it a sticky and remove the old bug thread. Also make sure you have the first two posts under your name so you can add stuff or provide updates as needed.

[TruePurple]

Something I've seen elsewhere like trillian forum (though poorly updated) is a a line of text summerizing the suggestion (or bug) which also served as a link to the page the bug was mentioned on. Something you guys might consider.