Patching Plan Announced!

[Kalah]

<img src="/images/news/newshorn.jpg" align=right vspace=5 hspace=5>A comprehensive plan for the patching process of <i>Heroes VI</i> has just been announced on the <a href="/http://www.facebook.com/notes/might-mag ... ">Facebook page</a>. Over the coming months, several patches will be released, aiming to fix various bugs, features and balance, as well as improving the map editor. This is the plan as it is:



<ul><li>Patch 1.3 will be released the second half of March.

<li>Patch 1.4: end of April,

<li>Patch 1.5: end of June,

<li>Patch 1.6: end of July,

<li>Patch 1.7: end of August.</ul>



<b>Patch 1.3 contents:</b>

* Online features:

a) Invite Friends: you'll be able to invite players from your friend list directly in-game.

b) Official Map Tags: highlight official maps released by Ubisoft and the others in the map selection screen.



* Lots of Conflux, single- and multiplayer <a href="/http://www.facebook.com/notes/might-mag ... ugfixes</a>.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1330362746

[Angelspit]

Wow. It's a bit late for new year resolutions, but if they follow up on those commitments, I'll be impressed.

[Blueman]

What about tough things such as ... [reputation] balance

[jeff]

I will believe it after it happens, but without the campaign editor they can have patch 1.99999999 and I still won't buy it.

[Kalah]

Hey, jeff, I have a question for you: the only difference between the map editor and the campaign editor is being able to create maps in sequence, isn't it? (or did I misunderstand something?)

If this is the case, can you make separate maps and call them part of a campaign, like others have done in the past?

[Corlagon]

At a bare minimum, a campaign editor implies simple things like sequenced maps, carryover heroes (and other data), an overland campaign map, and maybe the ability to enable and determine story branches. Heroes II's fan mapmakers got by with numbering their missions way back, but it's 2012 now, so that approach should neither be necessary nor acceptable.

[Kalah]

I totally get the carryover thing.

[Dalai]

Someone posted a troubling news that Blackhole is on life support and about to go bankrupt. How are they going to stick to this plan if it happens?

[jeff]

Hey, jeff, I have a question for you: the only difference between the map editor and the campaign editor is being able to create maps in sequence, isn't it? (or did I misunderstand something?)

If this is the case, can you make separate maps and call them part of a campaign, like others have done in the past?

There are several reasons sequenced maps won’t work, but here are a couple. If I used sequenced maps I decide the hero setups, I would have to pick the skills and skill levels. I could set the starting experience level at the previous map’s maximum, but the player is forced to except the schools of magic and combat I chose. If you played Lamentia’s Story you would see the main reason that took so long was I left the quest choices vary based on how previous maps were played. This meant depending on the player preference key artifacts were found on different maps. A decision made on the first map of LS caused every map afterwards to have different setups and different storylines. In essence you could play the last 5 maps with a different story and different endings. Now I have no idea if anyone took advantage of this or not. I guess what I am saying is without linking I am forced to create a much more linear story, and that is not for me. Right now I can create a campaign that allows each player to have as close to a unique gaming experience as possible. Give me carryover heroes, artifacts and variables or give me the death of the series. Ok that was a bad paraphrasing of Patrick Henry. If you open either LS or Dragon’s Fate in an editor you will see five carryover heroes hidden in the later maps whose sole existence was to set the map startup parameters dictated by the player’s decisions in the earlier maps. If I can do this with an editor that is almost 10 years old, why can’t UBI supply a user friendly campaign editor now? In H-5 you could do things that we only dreamed about in H-IV, but its campaign ability was a joke and the editor itself was far too difficult for what you gained. Right now I would accept a campaign editor that was just like H-IV but with the H-VI tool set and preloaded scripts. Perhaps this gives you a slight insight to my frustration. I want an editor where I can take an RPG experience to where I haven’t been able to take it before. (Another bad paraphrasing of the star trek ending)

Someone posted a troubling news that Blackhole is on life support and about to go bankrupt. How are they going to stick to this plan if it happens?

It's simple, they can't and so goes the editor if it's true. Oh yeah bye bye expansions as well.

[ShadowLiberal]

In other news, I just decided not to install my copy of Heroes 6 I got for Christmas until at least August. If the list of bugs needing fixed is so bad it needs 5 releases, and the version number bumped up to 1.7, then that's pretty bad in my opinion. And I say this as a guy who does software development for a living (though not software development of games).

[Pol]

It's apparent that first bug free thought out version will be 2.1 released in the fall of 2014.

[Kelben]

heroes 5 vanilla went up to 1.8, just to say.

[Avonu]

I thought only to 1.6, 2.2 and 3.1.
IIRC patch 3.2 (and 1.7) was planned but never completed.

[cde804]

Dissapointed after reading what will be solved after so many patches, and what still wont. Expansion, ¿when shall it be released?

[Khelavaster]

If there's ever been a case of "too little, too late"...

[astral76minor]

What about a LAN mode? All the other Heroes games had it. I think using their server to play online is very risky and unreliable.



LAN mode bypasses the server and allows people to network their own server which is faster and more fun too. All you need is Hamachi, which is free.



They will likely never have a LAN mode. 2 cents.

[CloudRiderX]

If Black Hole goes under and is unable to continue work on Heroes 6, it would be a damn shame. To think that bland and cliche Heroes 5 got two expansions and refreshing Heroes 6 gets none...makes me sick to my stomach.

[Kalah]

Meh, Ubi can always find someone else to do the work.

@jeff: I see that your main requirement is carryover stuff. I will try to get that into my next Q&A; if not a campaign editor proper, then perhaps some kind of "carryover object/hero creator" based on specifications saved in separate files? Just a thought.

[Kalah]

Hey, jeff: check out question #8.

[jeff]

Hey, jeff: check out question #8.

Thanks for your efforts to bring the desire for a campaign editor out in the open and force UBI to address it. So let us see if they can fix this thing and then release a campaign editor that people like me can use.