FTB Infinity Evolved Skyblock

Magzie

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2014
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To bad you are so close to finishing it. It would be nice since you are having a mod made for island gen you could have done a contest for people to post Cobble Generator builds so you could have the islands spawn with 1 of 2-3 different cobble Generators if you are going to start everyone with lava and water at the start anyway. Just a off handed thought.
 

UlaMZP

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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While I see the Benefit of waiting for the pack to be as polished as possible before release it is, alas, inevitable that it will be perfect and bug free. As I see it, by limiting the number of people that are able to play, no matter how experienced and diligent they are at bug finding and reporting, you are limiting the number of bugs that will be found. The more people playing the more likely you are to find bugs, due to play style and thought process. Thus I Believe, especially if it is already so close to being finished, that is is of greater benefit to release it to the general public sooner rather than later. On another note, I am thankful that we are at least getting progress updates from the developers.
 

Pyure

Not Totally Useless
Aug 14, 2013
8,334
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Waterloo, Ontario
As I see it, by limiting the number of people that are able to play, no matter how experienced and diligent they are at bug finding and reporting, you are limiting the number of bugs that will be found. The more people playing the more likely you are to find bugs, due to play style and thought process.
As someone who writes software for a living, I can tell you that getting "more" bug reports during an alpha stage is not always helpful. If you have, say, 10000 testers dumping in reports, you have to pay someone to properly go through those reports and distill them into something that someone can actually work with. For more meager budgets...for instance people working for, say, nothing...10000 testers isn't more helpful than 100.

That said, things get different in the latter stages of a product. I don't personally know the exact state of the pack so I have no opinion at all on whether a full beta release is sensible at this time or not (nor should, really, anyone else who isn't directly involved in the pack)
 
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UlaMZP

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Jul 29, 2019
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I see your point. I was perhaps a bit more explicit in what I said, than what meant to say. From an outside perspective, sometimes it seems as though it should be much more simple.
 

GrimJahk

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Jul 29, 2019
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<snip> As I see it, by limiting the number of people that are able to play, no matter how experienced and diligent they are at bug finding and reporting, you are limiting the number of bugs that will be found. <Snip>
As I mentioned before, they are doing testing in a controlled environment. Using Streamers AND their audiences, to test out many things and alternative methodologies. By controlling the environment (AKA on a secure server) you don't get the creep-in of other mods or players that want to tweak things to their own tastes. The main problem with a general release and Open Beta is that you lose all control of the environment. The way it runs now, there are frequent updates where the server is shut down, updated, restarted. Open Beta testers are usually too busy having fun to focus on keeping the build up-to-date. (VERY guilty of this myself)

Lets explore it further, let's say they switch to Open Beta and only do updates every other day...
Covering SOME of the variables introduced:
  1. 50% the players stay diligent and update their files correctly. (super huge stretch here)
  2. 15% have underpowered or improperly set-up hardware
  3. 12% change the Mod Lineup by adding or removing a mod to their taste
  4. 5% actually modify recipes (because they have a better idea

As @Pyure said above, if the number of bugs reported were to jump drastically you have several things to calculate...
  1. how many of those bugs are duplicates/redundant/fixed in current build (possibly half of the users are not running current build)
  2. how many are the result of environment changes? (3 and 4 above)
  3. This is the big one, how many people submitting "Bugs" have extensive reporting experience? All the extra effort trying to decipher these submissions is a killer (especially when combined with the above 2 points)
 
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PKMartini

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Jul 29, 2019
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Ive watched a ton of lets play. im OK waiting for the logged bugs to be addressed. Something like this needs to be perfect and bug free. What a group of people they have assembled to test this. As always The FTB folks know how to test things. My vote is i can wait. I really don't like to update the server every week with new bug fixes.
 

Waisse

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Jul 29, 2019
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Using streamers was a double edged sword anyway. Testing and internet fame have nothing in common, that's why people are getting salty over this. It feels like they use streamers to promote their platform.

1.7 is dying. This pack will be the last before we move to 1.9. What you guys are doing is killing something that will be short-lived anyway. Some of your streamers are already getting bored from those extensive "testing", same for their viewers. At this point I would seriously consider if letting it go is better than hoping for a flawless release in time. If your streamers had time to make 30 episodes on your pack it's time to move on. My opinion, your choice.
 
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Nedrith

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Jul 29, 2019
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Using streamers was a double edged sword anyway. Testing and internet fame have nothing in common, that's why people are getting salty over this. It feels like they use streamers to promote their platform.

1.7 is dying. This pack will be the last before we move to 1.9. What you guys are doing is killing something what will be short-lived anyway. Some of your streamers are already getting bored from those extensive "testing", same for their viewers. At this point I would seriously consider if letting it go is better than hoping for a flawless release in time. If your streamers had time to make 30 episodes on your pack it's time to move on. My opinion, your choice.

Honestly, I think some of it is promotion, it sounds like that is partially what the FTB stream team is about. I don't see any wrong with it However, long-time streamers will likely be better testers than just opening up to the public and random people. Like Grim said random people usually disagree with how a pack is made and put together and will likely either not update or change parts of the pack. Having a bug report that says while playing the FTB infinity skyblock I encounter x bug is unhelpful when the report doesn't specify the version of the modpack or the fact that they added 2 other mods because they though the pack would be better with them. Sifting through a ton of these reports and a ton of reports that mention the same bug because random people don't generally read the ton of bug reports before them is a large use of time. The next bonus to picking streamers is that streamers have a good reason to get far in the pack. Pick a random person maybe even a person who is commonly seen helping out on these forums and they might get bored of the pack. The FTB Stream Team is made up of streamers who atleast have some reason to finish it so that they don't leave their fans with a half done pack.

Personally I think at this point though the FTB team should release the skyblock however. They should release it, mark it as alpha and state that no support will be given, basically the same treatment that unstable 1.8.9 was given. This will allow people like myself who feel confident enough that I can play the pack without support to play it, it allows the FTB team to continue to ignore bug reports from people like me and they can still run the official server with the streamers and concentrate on only their hopefully more accurate and more useful bug reports. Rather than updating the pack daily the public version could even just be updated weekly or just give us a version to play on until the pack officially releases.
 
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Celestialphoenix

Too Much Free Time
Nov 9, 2012
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Tartarus.. I mean at work. Same thing really.
The quality of bug reporting is more important than quantity of bugs reported.

With open testing, you're dealing with large number of [frankly] idiots who don't (or can't) understand error reports, demanding tech support or just plain haven't a clue.
Useful bug reports get drowned in "Y U NO WURK!!" or "XMOD is awsum ADD XMOD 2 PACK!! PLZ! x0x0x0x".... argh!!writing that physically hurt :(

Closed testing with trusted individuals who know their stuff. Not every bug will be found, however almost every bug report will deliver useful information because said individuals know what their doing. The added advantage of streamers/LPers is the video footage gives a lot of extra feedback on the immediate player dynamics/opinions/reactions that'll get missed with written feedback.

Open tested is useful later on, when the sheer number of players can hit all the weird and wacky combinations to root out the more obscure issues once the main ones have been addressed.

Aiming for [near] perfection is good, but to achieve those high standards the team needs quality feedback.
Its all about that signal to noise ratio my friends.​
 

Magzie

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2014
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Using streamers was a double edged sword anyway. Testing and internet fame have nothing in common, that's why people are getting salty over this. It feels like they use streamers to promote their platform.

1.7 is dying. This pack will be the last before we move to 1.9. What you guys are doing is killing something that will be short-lived anyway. Some of your streamers are already getting bored from those extensive "testing", same for their viewers. At this point I would seriously consider if letting it go is better than hoping for a flawless release in time. If your streamers had time to make 30 episodes on your pack it's time to move on. My opinion, your choice.
Just because you want modded 1.8 isn't going to make it stable any faster. Most of the mod dev just started updating to 1.8 and it is no where near close to being able to release a good pack the likes of which we are used to. Dead, ROFL Bacon is having his team work on 2.5 Skyfactory with 3 no where close to future release. You are pretty .much stuck with 1.7 till more get updated and stable. All those videos you talk about don't show the more then 3 times that behide the cam with them working with both the mod dev and the pack devs to get it out ASAP. I'd they were to release 1.8 packs right now they would be crap so the wait until it is of a quality they are used to putting out. :)
 
T

Thrasher1237

Guest
Just created an account, been playing FTB since FTB Ultimate was in beta in 1.4.7. Just wanted to send a thank you to all of the dev team and streamers that have been keeping us up to date on the skyblock progress. I for one cannot wait to start a server for the skyblock myself. I heard on one of the streams that one of the issues still is the AE2 presses and that there was no way to currently get them except go to the starting area chest. These are the types of bugs / issues that need to be resolved before release and I understand that. Maybe set up a way in the assembly table + some obscene amount of RF to create each type of press for the inscriber, just a thought. I know I am now asking a lot, but is there a way you could get overgrowth seeds to have a chance to drop out of the thaumcraft loot bags, or maybe have a way to get a bee to produce them? The only way to get them as far as I know is to find them in dungeon chests.

Any way you could maybe cross out things as you guys finish them off the list in the original post of this thread so we know the progress :D.

Thanks again for all of your hard work in getting this to release no matter how many haters are out there, there are just as many of us that appreciate what you are doing.
 
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DeathOfTime

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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I really enjoy(ed) Infinity. I played a lot of instances up to at least the mid game. I found I enjoyed "Standard" mode the most. "Expert" mode just wasn't anything I was interested in. I tried it and found my self not even bothering to do any progression. If I wanted something I couldn't find through adventuring I might do the bare minimum progression on infrastructure it took to get it. I spent about half a month on that instance and never even made it to machines. I think the blast furnace was the farthest I got with infrastructure.

I am looking forward to the sky-block version. Not looking forward to expert mode. Well give it a try though.
i am just happy there is finally a forum where i can track the progress of this modpack.
scouring the internet for information was getting tiresome.
It is usually considered distasteful to create a post with just "+1" in it and referring to another post. So I will pretend I was making this post for a different reason.
 
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Hambeau

Over-Achiever
Jul 24, 2013
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I really enjoy(ed) Infinity. I played a lot of instances up to at least the mid game. I found I enjoyed "Standard" mode the most. "Expert" mode just wasn't anything I was interested in. I tried it and found my self not even bothering to do any progression. If I wanted something I couldn't find through adventuring I might do the bare minimum progression on infrastructure it took to get it. I spent about half a month on that instance and never even made it to machines. I think the blast furnace was the farthest I got with infrastructure.

I am looking forward to the sky-block version. Not looking forward to expert mode. Well give it a try though.

It is usually considered distasteful to create a post with just "+1" in it and referring to another post. So I will pretend I was making this post for a different reason.

+1 ( :D )
 

BanzaiBlitz

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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Just created an account, been playing FTB since FTB Ultimate was in beta in 1.4.7. Just wanted to send a thank you to all of the dev team and streamers that have been keeping us up to date on the skyblock progress. I for one cannot wait to start a server for the skyblock myself. I heard on one of the streams that one of the issues still is the AE2 presses and that there was no way to currently get them except go to the starting area chest. These are the types of bugs / issues that need to be resolved before release and I understand that. Maybe set up a way in the assembly table + some obscene amount of RF to create each type of press for the inscriber, just a thought. I know I am now asking a lot, but is there a way you could get overgrowth seeds to have a chance to drop out of the thaumcraft loot bags, or maybe have a way to get a bee to produce them? The only way to get them as far as I know is to find them in dungeon chests.

Any way you could maybe cross out things as you guys finish them off the list in the original post of this thread so we know the progress :D.

Thanks again for all of your hard work in getting this to release no matter how many haters are out there, there are just as many of us that appreciate what you are doing.
I have to agree with that idea, at least as far as it would be reasonable in regards to issues we in the general public may or may not have knowledge of. A standing task list, not locked down, so it can be updated as the dynamics of development may sometimes reveal unexpected issues, or even solve several problems at once by discovering a deeper root cause. It would be a kind of short form method of letting us all know how things are going, but not require a whole new post or some such thing. A Gdoc or spreadsheet with the primary items holding off the release would be both easy to update, and possibly minimize all the antsy overeager anticipation so many of us are feeling by having a place to check.

Of course, it also means something else to keep track of and work on any way you slice it, so it is simply one more idea out of many options in the ocean of possibilities available.

The dedication to the established quality of FTB modpacks is the primary reason so very many players are eager to get their hands on the Expert Skyblock. And considering you guys and gals pretty much do all of it for free, I will reiterate the expression of gratitude and say thank you for helping us all have so much fun. :)
 
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weardo05

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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I have to agree with that idea, at least as far as it would be reasonable in regards to issues we in the general public may or may not have knowledge of. A standing task list, not locked down, so it can be updated as the dynamics of development may sometimes reveal unexpected issues, or even solve several problems at once by discovering a deeper root cause. It would be a kind of short form method of letting us all know how things are going, but not require a whole new post or some such thing. A Gdoc or spreadsheet with the primary items holding off the release would be both easy to update, and possibly minimize all the antsy overeager anticipation so many of us are feeling by having a place to check.

Of course, it also means something else to keep track of and work on any way you slice it, so it is simply one more idea out of many options in the ocean of possibilities available.

The dedication to the established quality of FTB modpacks is the primary reason so very many players are eager to get their hands on the Expert Skyblock. And considering you guys and gals pretty much do all of it for free, I will reiterate the expression of gratitude and say thank you for helping us all have so much fun. :)
Their is a reason why their are so many antsy and upset, the ftb team created what amounts to a media saturation campaign in the minecraft community. They started this campaign nearly a month ago during which time they also gave an eta that of 2-3 weeks.This ETA currently looks like it may be on its way to being doubled "they have said several times that the giving out the eta when they did was a mistake trust me i know how that goes". but i would say far and away the worst part has been the lets plays which is in no way the Youtubers fault. their job is to make content we will enjoy and that's what they did however this has just feed the drive of players who want to play the game. so now we have people watching what appears to most players to be a very stable pack built on top of and existing stable pack and being repeatedly told soon and to top this all off we were left with no way at all besides searching Reddit threads to find out when it was being released. Now last week they created this forum thread which was a major push in the right direction and now their is a single place to check but that means that their is also now a single place to complain. and people our complaining which this is the internet that's to be expected. the FTB team and associates has taken to responding with in some less then professional ways which is severally disappointing you are paid employees of a company and should behave as such "well besides slowpoke I'm not sure who is and Isn't on that front". Now I'm not entirely sure how you make money, also I do recognize that i do not buy these packs from the ftb team, However I do realize you make a living off of doing this and as such our held up to a higher standard then you typical mod or mod pack developer. I do not in any way think that any of this was on purpose or that you are being money grubbing to be honest i find that idiotic we don't buy the packs from you. I do hope you have learned why game company's have embargo's on their products "it sucks to watch someone play with a toy you cant have especially at a time like now when were at a lul in minecraft waiting for 1.8 or 1.9". I don't know this whole post has become a bit rambaly and disjointed so....

TLDR: FTB thanks for the awesome work you do and im looking forward to I.E.M.S. but you are a company and should but a little more thought into your advertisement and pr. also in the future a little more communication is appreciated.
 

Magzie

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2014
1,395
210
78
Their is a reason why their are so many antsy and upset, the ftb team created what amounts to a media saturation campaign in the minecraft community. They started this campaign nearly a month ago during which time they also gave an eta that of 2-3 weeks.This ETA currently looks like it may be on its way to being doubled "they have said several times that the giving out the eta when they did was a mistake trust me i know how that goes". but i would say far and away the worst part has been the lets plays which is in no way the Youtubers fault. their job is to make content we will enjoy and that's what they did however this has just feed the drive of players who want to play the game. so now we have people watching what appears to most players to be a very stable pack built on top of and existing stable pack and being repeatedly told soon and to top this all off we were left with no way at all besides searching Reddit threads to find out when it was being released. Now last week they created this forum thread which was a major push in the right direction and now their is a single place to check but that means that their is also now a single place to complain. and people our complaining which this is the internet that's to be expected. the FTB team and associates has taken to responding with in some less then professional ways which is severally disappointing you are paid employees of a company and should behave as such "well besides slowpoke I'm not sure who is and Isn't on that front". Now I'm not entirely sure how you make money, also I do recognize that i do not buy these packs from the ftb team, However I do realize you make a living off of doing this and as such our held up to a higher standard then you typical mod or mod pack developer. I do not in any way think that any of this was on purpose or that you are being money grubbing to be honest i find that idiotic we don't buy the packs from you. I do hope you have learned why game company's have embargo's on their products "it sucks to watch someone play with a toy you cant have especially at a time like now when were at a lul in minecraft waiting for 1.8 or 1.9". I don't know this whole post has become a bit rambaly and disjointed so....

TLDR: FTB thanks for the awesome work you do and im looking forward to I.E.M.S. but you are a company and should but a little more thought into your advertisement and pr. also in the future a little more communication is appreciated.
No one had a problem with them doing this when expert mode came out and they told everyone they had a list of streamers and youtubers that were willing to test and record play on the pack. I believe the issues that most the players that are mad have is that they can't play the pack and has little to do with the way it is being handled.
 

Kane Hart

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
121
1
1
I stream and record and have a decent community but at the day I'm a no one and never will be and that means I will never be able to help test these packs etc. But my biggest issue is you have already burned my community out... Wait what how does one burn a community out? Well by playing the pack for a month+ Before release and hyping people out for so long and then they crash. I made a visual aid on this since words don't always work.

tTzefLx.png


For me it's more about the bad PR methods and it's fine you don't just get born into understanding the ins and out of PR but it's a sadly a very common and dangerous effect on people. Not only they got burned out waiting but they ended up watching someone else play it for so long that they just gave up on it because they seen it "all" sort of deal.

The impact is so annoying as a server admin that 99% of the players that will play day 1 of the server launch will all copy everything Direwolf or another big youtuber has done. Without a ton of variety out there it's like wth what is the point of playing if your copying everything from someone else.

This is why some companies end up having an embargo closer to the release date and also some just do it because they don't want the masses seeing the negative reviews haha.