Item Stack Resale Exploit

Ive seen people say things like "I AM STREAMING AND NEED THIS BUG FIXED RIGHT NOW!"

and then we get the CS report 2 days later
and then a bug goes in the DB
And then that fix is debated between 3-4 Devs over a few days
And then the first attempt to fix is put in... It might not work
And then we retest it, if its fixed it goes in the next patch, if its not fixed it stars over from step 3 if the fix breaks things worse then its another *****torm while devs try and fix it as best they can
And then it comes back to us for testing...

BTW thats all IF as a QA tester we were able to reproduce it with little more than "GAME IS BROKEN PLZ FIX" if not the bug goes in the DB as a tracking issue which gets tried a few times and then we wait for more reports to come in with more info...

I dont test for this game, EA or Bioware, but its the same process in all game studios...

It is the ONLY way to go.
A line needs to be drawn which says "You exploit in this game and you will be removed from it".
It is the only way future exploits will be reported and not used. A slap on the wrist - no, that is simply saying "Oh you naughty boy, please don't do it again". That isn't enough for those who have made millions/billions of credits over this.

Are you *********** kidding me BioWare? It took you six weeks to make decorations "bind on pickup" and make it so you couldn't buy more than one decoration or companion gift at a time? That's the extent of the fixes that correct this exploit.

Six weeks!

For that.

As a side note, do whatever you are going to do to the exploiters. But take some *********** responsibility for the poor quality control this game has had since launch.

The level of ineptitude BioWare has shown lately has truly been breathtaking. You go into an expansion with half the classes unbalanced. You spend all this time on creating this amazing story arc that has terrible replay value due to almost zero variation from character to character, regardless of class. The bulk of the repeatable content in the expansion is a horrific grind fest called the Alliance system with cost cutting character interactions that scream "we ran out of money or got lazy, take your pick." Banking your expansion on story only works if it makes people want to replay it. Without that it's group content that keeps people coming back. This expansion has neither. I've noticed that those Cartel Packs, complete with RNG nightmares are still coming out with precision regularity. It's easy to see where the developers priorities are.

And Jesus ****. Fix Revan's mask. It clips through every hood in the *********** game except the Eradicator Warsuit. It clips through Malgus's armor's hood too.

As a programmer for well over over a decade, then a team lead for years after...then a project manager of a team, then a general manager of several teams....who has had and heard every excuse...who has hired and fired a whole lot of QA testers...who has been kept late, kept my team late, and who knows very well what a mission critical action item is?

Six weeks. Youtube videos. Multiple reports to Bioware. Simple bug. Easily reproducible.

But hehehe at your QA tester cred

The fix seemed pretty damn simple in this case. The time it took to do it was ludicrous.

People should state their opinions and feelings on subjects where those matter and affect what happens in the long run. When has that ever been the case with punishments they decide to employ in these situations? Can you name even ONE instance where a punishment suggested by a player on the forums was what they went with in terms of what they were going to do about people who exploit? If you can, I will stand corrected. Reread the rest of this thread first though, and see how many people are complaining about "lack of punishment" in previous episodes of this kind of stuff and know that nope.... they do not listen to what the players think they should do or else there wouldn't be complaining in almost every post about how the punishments were not enough in people's opinion. I don't see it accomplishing anything but making one group of players be ugly and hateful to another group of players. When you poison the well we all drink from, no one escapes the effects of that.

However, I think your second sentence couldn't be more wrong. Not because I think Bioware doesn't listen to players, but I certainly hope they don't listen to the "rip their hearts out and eat them for lunch" crowd that always comes in droves with ridiculous idea after ridiculous idea about what Bioware should do (and I still argue that they not only don't read post after post of venomous people calling for blood, but they recognize too that most of the suggestions are entirely ridiculous). In some cases, player feedback is helpful and should be listened to, but in this case it never has been and rightly so. Punishing players should be left to the developers, NOT the raging, hyperbolic masses... and thank all that is good that this seems to still be the case.

Edited to Add: Before people start jumping down my throat, I also believe that they have not handled these situations effectively in the past, because obviously they haven't really nipped these issues in the bud. Should the punishments be more severe? My opinion is yes, where it is appropriate (multiple proven offenses, etc.). But so should the development team's effort at squashing exploitable bugs BEFORE they are in the game for almost 2 months, and swifter moving responses when they inevitably DO make it into the game (because no one is perfect). It's a double edged sword, and both edges are too dull to be effectively used as a sword.

Meh then you know simple fixes can break more than they fix... there's a reason why it took that long and I don't pretend to know why... but I hope you know it wasnt laziness or some other "IM OUTRAGED AND KNOW NOTHING OF GAME DEVELOPMENT" reason right?

Punishment is the only thing that BioWare takes their time on. It can / has a direct impact on their bottom line. Banning loyal, long time subscribers who are a source of revenue isn't something they take lightly. Nor should they. Gamer's have been exploiting bugs in games since the medium began. The fact that BioWare takes no responsbility for these exploits only further compounds the problem. If they react with a scorched earth policy the way several people in this thread wanted them to it could do more harm than good. Especially in cases where a huge portion of the player base is guilty of using the exploit. BioWare must weigh the severity of the offense, how many times each offender has offended, and decide how to proceed in a way which discourages the behavior without alienating people (and losing money) unnecessarily.

I've seen bugs and security vulnerabilities patched in complex applications and operating systems in a third of the time it took BioWare to make decorations bind on pickup, and prevent you from shift+clicking on companion gifts / decorations and buying more than one at a time.

While simple fixes sometimes have intended consequences you can't honestly tell me that this fix was likely to be one of those.

Thats fine but 6 weeks to resolve it!!

I hope at the very least all companion influence for the exploiters is reset back to the base level for ALL of their companions, as well as suspensions. Plus removal of other gains, this has to be the minimum punishment. Just suspension isn't enough considering they can use companions with max influence in the future to their advantage if influence isn't rolled back.