PLEASE fix character/NPC 3D frame portraits!

[Hallsae]

Apparently this hasn't been fixed since September last year!! https://forums.lotro.com/forums/show...rame-portrait&

The issue is VERY noticeable and completely game breaking. Notice how part of the frame is cut off:





And it looks even worse with Elite Master, Arch Nemesis etc.



..Meanwhile, this is how it SHOULD look like:

[istvana]

"completely game breaking"

Not just partially game breaking? I guess we each have our own priorities.

[Pewpewmidget]

The issue is completely game breaking.

Ah yes, the portrait frames are where all the game content lies within.
I also suppose that portrait frames also create lag?

[Hallsae]

"completely game breaking"

Not just partially game breaking? I guess we each have our own priorities.

What do you mean 'priorities'? This is such an easy fix that could be completed as a little side patch.

[Hallsae]

Ah yes, the portrait frames are where all the game content lies within.
I also suppose that portrait frames also create lag?

So you don't care about aesthetics at all? Such as the issues with water textures not too long ago?

Thing is these fixes are so easy, but they chose not to go ahead because? .. I don't get it.

[TesalionLortus]

So you don't care about aesthetics at all? Such as the issues with water textures not too long ago?

Thing is these fixes are so easy, but they chose not to go ahead because? .. I don't get it.

If this was something reported through their bug system to begin with... then, yes, I agree, maybe I wouldn't exactly call it game-breaking nor terrible, but it's clearly something that was broken with one of their updates and thus should have been fixed by now.

But, as I recently found out in another thread I made, the devs apparently have their "fair" "priorities" = anything visual that they break with their updates (including outright graphical technical issues) gets flagged low priority because "is not game breaking" (just an annoyance, in their words) and thus we can wait forever, maybe it'll end up at the beginning of their queue someday... maybe... in 3 years or so... because correcting some objectives that were too annoying in some older quests or things that were triggering weirdly (...but still playable/able to complete with a little effort) sound far more important... That's the impression I got, take it with a grain of salt of course, but yeah, not sure what to think of these priorities of theirs. I've heard about players reporting and noticing some of the visual and graphical issues I run across (and report) but I don't see those getting fixed. They're like in eternal bug queue apparently.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

I would like to see this fixed, but I wouldn't call it "completely game breaking" cause not breaking anything at all, its just a small visual UI thats slightly off, and needs a fix.

[Once_of_Bree]

If this was something reported through their bug system to begin with... then, yes, I agree, maybe I wouldn't exactly call it game-breaking nor terrible, but it's clearly something that was broken with one of their updates and thus should have been fixed by now.

But, as I recently found out in another thread I made, the devs apparently have their "fair" "priorities" = anything visual that they break with their updates (including outright graphical technical issues) gets flagged low priority because "is not game breaking" (just an annoyance, in their words) and thus we can wait forever, maybe it'll end up at the beginning of their queue someday... maybe... in 3 years or so... because correcting some objectives that were too annoying in some older quests or things that were triggering weirdly (...but still playable/able to complete with a little effort) sound far more important... That's the impression I got, take it with a grain of salt of course, but yeah, not sure what to think of these priorities of theirs. I've heard about players reporting and noticing some of the visual and graphical issues I run across (and report) but I don't see those getting fixed. They're like in eternal bug queue apparently.

Do you think there are an infinite number of developers? Or that at some magical future date there will be no defects? Of course there's a list of issues & defects and of course it is prioritised, which in the real world means some "easy" fixes won't get done forever. I've been in software development for 30+ years and this has always been the case, regardless of the technology used, team size or methodology followed. It's also almost never the users or the devs that decide the priority but the business.

About this issue, I don't even know what the issue is and has zero impact on my enjoyment of the game, so personally I'm happy that the business has decided effort is allocated elsewhere.

[Pewpewmidget]

So you don't care about aesthetics at all? Such as the issues with water textures not too long ago?

Thing is these fixes are so easy, but they chose not to go ahead because? .. I don't get it.

Water textures are far more game breaking than portrait frames.
Honestly, I don't even pay attention to anyone's frame beyond their difficulty.

And btw, you are comparing apples to oranges.
You cannot just compare landscape graphics to a portrait frame that covers only a fraction of your screen.
If you focus on a frame more than the game itself then something is probably wrong.

[TesalionLortus]

Water textures are far more game breaking than portrait frames.

The OP's bug may not be as important but... you mean the water textures that they've broken themselves in the first place because "water wasn't blue enough" "bug" reports were prioritized over other actual bugs? Or the missing soft edges that they've neglected for 1,5 year (or more?) ? This is clearly a neglect, the way I see it, and not very smart. It's like they want their game to be ugly or something, but at the same time they talk about these graphic updates. I don't get it at all, honestly

[TesalionLortus]

Do you think there are an infinite number of developers? Or that at some magical future date there will be no defects? Of course there's a list of issues & defects and of course it is prioritised, which in the real world means some "easy" fixes won't get done forever. I've been in software development for 30+ years and this has always been the case, regardless of the technology used, team size or methodology followed. It's also almost never the users or the devs that decide the priority but the business.

About this issue, I don't even know what the issue is and has zero impact on my enjoyment of the game, so personally I'm happy that the business has decided effort is allocated elsewhere.

You don't really have to make excuses for them, honestly. The only issue I raised here is why they're not fixing TECHNICAL issues and even those are stuck in bug queues. You can have priorities but also care to have some balance, so you don't end up in a situation where all these graphical issues in particular pile up to the point when they'll never get fixed. OP's problem may not be in any way major but I pointed out they seem to treat all graphical issues overall like these don't matter which is quite frankly insane in a PC game... and that includes issues far more severe and noticeable than what OP described

[Pewpewmidget]

The OP's bug may not be as important but... you mean the water textures that they've broken themselves in the first place because "water wasn't blue enough" "bug" reports were prioritized over other actual bugs? Or the missing soft edges that they've neglected for 1,5 year (or more?) ? This is clearly a neglect, the way I see it, and not very smart. It's like they want their game to be ugly or something, but at the same time they talk about these graphic updates. I don't get it at all, honestly

I meant that on graphical bugs are more game breaking than his portrait frame complaint.
I did not actually mean that they were game breaking at all.
I did not even notice any rough edges on the water until someone pointed it out for example.
But I did notice the stretched out rocks, mountains, cliffs, etc.
They have not touched those far longer than you mentioned either.

[TesalionLortus]

I meant that on graphical bugs are more game breaking than his portrait frame complaint.
I did not actually mean that they were game breaking at all.
I did not even notice any rough edges on the water until someone pointed it out for example.
But I did notice the stretched out rocks, mountains, cliffs, etc.
They have not touched those far longer than you mentioned either.

Which is bad. Again, these things should be getting slowly fixed, over time, not just never moving up the queue. Though some stretched texture issues in particular places (I guess these are past mistakes? Not something that was outright broken?) pale in comparison with features that worked and were nice but... got broken as a result of SSG's own updates and improvements. When things are broken as a result of work they've done - good things, and it outright renders the game globally uglier in the process no matter the zone, to the point where these new features they introduced can hardly compensate for the loss - this should be something delegated to higher priority and getting fixed over time, before they do more of such technical upgrades that may break even more things


IMO very silly approach to the situation. So you didn't notice rough broken edges from the nineties and couldn't remember LOTRO's water and its shores used to be soft, calm and beautiful? Doesn't matter. It's a massive glaring issue for anyone who actually cares about their game graphics and their game looking as nice as possible, with good crispy AA - AND A BAD PR FOR THE GAME... when they ignore stuff like that and let newbies see it when they first log in! The thought that they even released Swanfleet with these nineties edges is quite the level of insane, given that water features prominently and it was a starter zone.

[Pewpewmidget]

IMO very silly approach to the situation. So you didn't notice rough broken edges from the nineties and couldn't remember LOTRO's water and its shores used to be soft, calm and beautiful? Doesn't matter. It's a massive glaring issue for anyone who actually cares about their game graphics and their game looking as nice as possible, with good crispy AA - AND A BAD PR FOR THE GAME... when they ignore stuff like that and let newbies see it when they first log in! The thought that they even released Swanfleet with these nineties edges is quite the level of insane, given that water features prominently and it was a starter zone.

I am not disagreeing with you but I do not really notice anything wrong with the water until someone pointed it out.
I focus more on what's ahead of me and on a more eye-level approach.
I agree that they do have to focus more on the graphical errors, past mistakes and stuff that they break each patch.

It took them until when Anor and Ithil got Rise of Isengard to fix the Ring of Shadow/Darkness bug where Saruman wouldn't flash purple.

They're more focused on what to monetize next, new content, how many more wallet currencies they can add and the next frustrating grind that nobody wants to be THAT grindy.

[TesalionLortus]

They're more focused on what to monetize next, new content, how many more wallet currencies they can add and the next frustrating grind that nobody wants to be THAT grindy.

Well, true, that's undoubtedly the case. Yet still, they have their bug cycles and makes me wonder what exactly is getting prioritized there over all these other bugs that can't be fixed for X years despite being quite visible - and on top of that they invest money/effort into graphical upgrades... currently in the works... but the old graphical/lightning features are still ridden with unaddressed bugs... so how does it work and where is the logic?