Scattered Shots: Understanding the PTR process
by Brian Wood 
Jan 17th 2011 at 9:00AM
The patch 4.0.6 PTR process has been a volatile one for us hunters. We went from gentle nerfs and buffs to OMG HORROR nerfs and WHEE BUFFAGE buffs, then had those scaled back a bit. And I have to tell you, I don't think the ride is over yet.
Any time Blizzard announces changes, there's always a very reactionary response, and I suppose that's just part of the game. But lately I've been getting more and more emails and comments from hunters complaining about how the PTR is run or clearly not understanding the purpose of the PTR.
Why does Blizzard release clearly buggy abilities? How can the designers not see that this is OP/useless now? Don't they even play the game? Well, I'm going to suggest that these are not problems with the PTR or the designers but instead a problem with expectations. Join me after the cut for some clarity on the PTR process and why hunters have had such a crazy ride recently.
WoW is a constantly changing game
The first thing we have to understand is that WoW is a constantly changing and evolving game. Unlike, say, chess or Carcassone, an MMO is an incredibly complex set of interacting mechanics. The comparative value of those mechanics, the game balance, changes based not just on everyone's abilities but also on the kind of content that's currently available.
You'll note that no MMO is ever "done" or somehow balanced perfectly, even within any given expansion. Each expansion in WoW lasts about two years, and for the entire duration of that time, tweaks and changes are continuously being made.
The thing to understand here is that if something in the game is not balanced ideally, Blizzard can just change it in the next patch or hotfix it. This is an important concept for how the PTR works, and we'll be coming back to it.
Of designers and coders
Another thing to keep in mind before we start talking about the PTR itself is that the designers, the guys who are responsible for class balance and new abilities and raids, are not the guys doing the actual programming. While they can easily go in and tweak some changes, other changes are very complex and require the programmers to go in and overhaul the code.
There's no telling which is which -- sometimes the simplest seeming changes are the most complicated to implement. And just because something works one way in one place doesn't mean that the current code supports the same functionality in another place. Code is complicated and fickle.
When changes are considered, the design team gets together to discuss them. There are about 10 or so designers handling all our class changes, and all of them pay attention to all of the classes. There is not a designer for each class -- a hunter designer, a warlock designer, etc. There are just a bunch of designers doing it all together, so they have a better understanding of the big picture, how the change to one class could have repercussions to other classes.
Certainly there might be one designer who plays a priest as his main, and the guys are going to give his analysis more weight since he might know that class a bit better, but they all are familiar with all the classes. So they discuss what they think needs to be done and generally make their decisions by consensus, rather than voting or the big GC stepping in and saying how it will be. When a change goes through, it's usually because the design team as a whole agreed that it was needed, or at least worth testing out.
Now that they've made those decisions, all those changes have to get passed along to be actually implemented in the next PTR build. So there's a delay between making the decision and when the decision actually goes out on the PTR. Oh, yeah, and someone has to write them up for the patch notes.
Decision and implementation delay
Another thing to understand is that Blizzard wants to get things on the PTR as quickly as possible. The longer it's up on the PTR, the more testing is going to get done and the more likely Blizzard is to discover some of those pesky, hard-to-pin down bugs.
If the designers decide to make, say, 361 changes in a patch, they might go ahead and put the PTR live when only 283 of those changes have been implemented. For hunters, we saw the slight SV agility nerf and some gentle MM and BM buffs when the PTR patch notes were first released. Then a couple of days later, we saw more SV nerfs and more BM and MM buffs. It's entirely possible that these were all decisions made from the get-go, but it just took a bit longer for some of them to get implemented.
Likewise, there's this mysterious haste code change that we keep hearing about. It made it into the patch notes but wasn't actually implemented on the server. The code guys are apparently still working on it.
Now this isn't to say that everything that happens on the PTR was planned from the beginning. After all, we saw the 25% Explosive Shot nerf and the Serpent Spread nerf reduced or reverted in a later update. That was clearly a reaction to the massive hunter outcry. Alas, we have no way to know which changes are in response to us, the players, which ones are in response to PTR data that Blizzard is seeing, and which ones were planned from the beginning.
Why don't they just wait until it's all done?
A fairly common complaint that I get is, "Why doesn't Blizzard just wait until all the changes are done and working before they put up the PTR?" This is where we get back to the very first concept we discussed: WoW is a living, constantly changing game.
If Blizzard waited until everything for a patch was complete and working ... then that would be the patch. Not the PTR. Since the game is constantly changing anyway, if it turned out that something was unbalanced or exploitable, it could then just fix it in the next patch or hotfix.
So the PTR, by design, exists in this "in progress" period before everything is done.
It's good for Blizzard because the designers get more eyes on the proposed changes and more bodies testing and finding bugs. And because the PTR exists during this "in progress" phase, it doesn't delay the patch from actually going live. It's good for us because we have a chance to voice our opinions before the changes go live in the game, and sometimes our feedback changes design decisions (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse).
What does this all mean?
Well, other than the fact that it's interesting to see how Blizzard works, I hope that this helps informs how to respond to PTR changes a bit.
Since Blizzard is only telling us the changes that are implemented on the PTR and don't tell us what is coming to the PTR a few days from now (and for good reason -- maybe the designers'll change their minds about those coming changes), we can only respond to the changes that we see.
However, because we know that what we're seeing isn't the whole picture, we can give feedback in a more reasoned way. If we think a change is bad, we can calmly explain why we think it's bad, rather than reverting to hyperbole and name-calling and threatening to quit playing because our class is unplayable if we're in the middle of the pack. Keep in mind that the nerf that we're seeing may well have been planned because of a buff that just hasn't been implemented yet.
It's easy to fixate on one thing that sucks -- Explosive Shot being nerfed -- and lose sight of the big picture. And of course, the big picture is that hunters are awesome and continually becoming awesomer.
Scattered Shots is dedicated to helping you learn everything it takes to be a hunter in Cataclysm. From leveling your hunter to optimizing for heroics to gearing up with pre-heroic loot and pre-raid loot, we've got you covered.Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
IrrelevantMoralizing Jan 17th 2011 9:21AM
PTR stands for Public TEST Realm. If people can't figure out what that means then I weep for humanity. I work as a programmer myself 9-5. No matter how much you test, plan, etc, nothing compares to getting a feature out in front of hundreds, thousands, millions of people. I'd wager that they usually have an idea if something is broken or not, but need to see just how broken and then fine tune the change based on what they see as people on the PTR beat on it.
I think a lot of people pay their $15 a month not to play the game, but to whine about Blizzard and anything they do. I think it's an inexpensive form of therapy for them.
Elmouth Jan 17th 2011 1:16PM
Guy's got a point.
"Does everything sucks in your life? Your wife left you? Nobody will play with you? Your cat stinks? Well hey! At least you can bitch about blizzard for 15 bucks a month :)"
Fubika Jan 17th 2011 9:24AM
I like the post very much, but one thing i'd like to point out is that most of the complaints are not about the PTR but the actual game itself.(At least for those who are not concerned about the classes not being balanced etc.)
For example the beta went on for months, and still when the game came out a large amount of the heroic encounters were buggy(or could be exploited >> Commander Springvale
Fubika Jan 17th 2011 9:27AM
The second part of my comment that didnt seem to made it on the first try :
And then you hear someone saying, but hey this is a huge game theres no way they can find all the bugs and exploits, but well they should at least try to concentrate on the content that is the focus of the majority of the players(heroics, raids, class mechanics).
And so the PTR itself would be a great place to do that.
About the class imbalances, the thing when they removed arp, and didnt buff those melee classes wich were relying on it, well that showed me how much the game designers concentrate on this aspect of the game(Im not trying to be a troll just pointing out that there are several fairly obvious mistakes being made from time to time, and that these could be avoided if the develorpers were to spend a little more time thinking about the impact of the changes instead of just throwing em at us).
Uff, i spoke.
SamLowry Jan 17th 2011 10:37AM
I'm quite certain no one sent a brand-new 80 into Vash, based on the number of corpse runs I made in the first hour I was there (if not for all my heirlooms being damage-proof, my repair bills would've been enormous).
Seriously, if you're going to create two entirely new races AND implement a 90% xp cut on anyone willing to enter a Wrath heroic the moment they hit 80, don't act surprised when some of the people entering Vash or Hyjal have an average ilevel of 170. And to add insult to injury, us constantly-endangered noobs have to spend a half-hour doing quests for gold before the quest-givers are finally willing to toss us some new gear.
Thanks for making me feel like a mercenary, Blizz, and a severely undergeared one at that.
Jesse Felt Jan 17th 2011 10:39AM
This is exactly the point that Frost is trying to make. If people don't understand the point of the PTR or Beta they are wasting Blizzard's (and their) time. If more people understood that the PTR and the Beta weren't for happy fun time but for testing the changes blizzard could potentially have smoother releases.
Ronin Jan 17th 2011 12:03PM
@SamLowry I agree, that zone was not balanced for people freshly leveled to 80. I went in with Wrath quest gear, and got my, er, hat handed to me multiple times. And I spent several hours there and only got _one_ upgrade-- my shoulders.
It got so frustrating (due to this and the way the zone is laid out, and other issues) that I got my seahorse and left. Went to Mt. Hyjal and never looked back. Got fully re-geared within a few hours, it seemed.
They need to have pre-made characters that aren't tricked out in awesome gear when the PTR is testing things like this. They specifically should have had some lvl 80 pre-made characters with Wrath greens and blues, just to make sure that people leveling through WotLK content and going straight to Cataclysm, wouldn't get torn apart.
icepyro Jan 17th 2011 1:35PM
Sorry, but nearly all of the deaths my toons in Vashj'ir were due to not understanding the zone (there's up and down to deal with too!) and accidentally overpulling as a result. Once I got used to the zone and how it works (especially once one toon finally made it to the end), it was a breeze and I've taken all my toons thus far through it.
Does that mean it's easier than Hyjal? No. Working in 3 axes is always more difficult than 2 (or 2.3 given terrain?). Still, that doesn't mean it was overtly difficult, and honestly I now prefer it over finding a mob in a cave crowded by those who are scared of Vashj'ir.
Also, quest rewards only 2 or 3 item choices per quest. Thus some get geared sooner than others. When I was on my shammy I kept seeing all this amazing hunter gear and was getting nothing towards the end. I hopped on my hunter and soon realized that most of the earlier gear was for shammies, so i went longer for the good stuff for my hunter. By the end of the zone for both, both were fairly evenly geared.
Bapo Jan 17th 2011 1:36PM
@Sam
Be thankful that they didn't keep the damage output of mobs as high as they did in the beta. You thought it's bad now? If you were melee, every pull you had to pray that you didn't get an extra mob pulled. Remember the quest where you had to kill the little octopus guys with the caster naga? Yeah, they would both cast mind flay, and each one was ticking for 5k a piece. It was a nightmare.
SamLowry Jan 18th 2011 2:47PM
Bapo, I just found it painfully odd that I was constantly slammed from all directions in the Vash starting area, yet once I moved on to the next hub the enemy density was far lower, and it remained that low for the rest of the zone. That makes no sense at all, considering the devs should've known undergeared players would be starting off at a disadvantage to begin with; parceling out new gear only much later on adds even more insult to (repeated) injury.
Simple solution? Make the eels yellow. So why didn't any of the devs think of that?
thedoctor2031 Jan 18th 2011 11:28PM
The devs were thinking that they made gear so easy to get that most people starting cata would have 251s or wouldnt hit 80 for a few days to weeks after cata came out. They did balance it to make the item level of quests on the way to 80 make people end up at around 264 ilvl.
Hu Jan 17th 2011 9:25AM
There was a lot of this on the Beta too, and each and every time someone had to tell the complainers that "you're on the Beta, stop complaining, start testing and give proper feedback".
Haimdall Jan 17th 2011 9:29AM
Considering how well I've been doing in comparison to my guildies, I'm perfectly content with the nerf as it is. It takes away some of the sense of accomplishment when I top damage meters when I know that part of that is because I've got something of an unfair advantage to begin with.
photofire1969 Jan 17th 2011 10:50AM
You are HunterAwsomesause...of course you have an advantage of the other classes.
Sedna Jan 17th 2011 11:41AM
Exactly. I want to be top-shelf DPS because I've earned it, not because the game is giving me an unfair advantage.
crschmidt Jan 17th 2011 9:58AM
Great article -- though I'd recommend in the future that articles of this type be put out under a general WoW Insider banner, rather than under Scattered Shots, since this is definitely applicable to all players, rather than just the hunter crowd.
Noctune Jan 17th 2011 10:00AM
Yes its the Public test realm there is several reasons why they nerf / buff classes
i belive the biggest problem Blizzard got is they have not 31 specs (10 classes 3 specs + dual feral specs) they also got to keep an eye on the PvP balance as the PvE balance.
basicly a class can be fine for PvE but in a horrible state for PvE how do you handle it?
the real answer is they can't this game can never be equal on all terms UNLESS you have two effects on all spells/skills one for PvE and one for PvP. there is no way you can balance two sets of 30 specs and make them compedative in both PvE and PvP.
A good example is the druid.
from a PvE perspective Feral DPS & Controll is fine
from a PvP perspecive Feral DPS is to high due to the bleeds doesn't need hands on
combined with the movability of the druid.
Now blizzard wants to do the logical thing from there point of view: nerf the movability / controll on the druid (messing with both fear immunity & snare removal).
How do the druids react? ALOT of negative posts about how strange this is. Removing not just one but both of there ways to gain controll.
How do blizzard react on this? well they give Restoration druids snare immunity.
My own tought on the matter above.
solve this in 2 steps
step1 if you shift form when snared (to free you) the mana cost is multiplied to prevent it to be use to often.
step2 if the feral dps is to high from bleeds nerf the 2 main bleeds and buff the direct dammage of thoes skills.
my sugestion whould have keep the druids happy, keep there overall dps in place but made it easer for the other classes to get away from them. after all powershifting shouldn't be missused to always be mobile but making the druids be stopped by everything is not the way to go. remember feral druids needs to be mobile to catch there target. and most druids with the change suggested by blizzard made them thing well blizzard only love Frost mages as they are the hardest class to catch for Paladins etc. This was ofcourse not the intention by blizzard but intead probobly as i said above.
So what am i after.
# so a change hit the ptr Test it
# did it affect your role in pve / pvp? how what was negative/positive
# how can they improve it?
# consider why they did the change
# find a post on the forum for the update give your feedback in atleast decent english no gibberish and yelling how Overpowered or unfair it is.
PS
and on the AP removal post above you should take in to account when Blizzard tried it it didn't effect as mutch as it does now its a known fact that many of thoes classes that was hit by this nerf was classes that scale best on there weapons while spellcasters scale on stats this means in the begining of a expac. casters is often in a better place then melee are in the end of an expac. (this is jut my personal belief)
DS
BigDamage Jan 17th 2011 10:29AM
Obvious troll have keep obvious
SillyString Jan 17th 2011 10:57AM
I read this five times and I'm still not sure what he's trying to say. Some more punctuation and better sentence structure is desperately required.
anjeney Jan 17th 2011 11:15AM
ahem.. well it has to do with Druids.. after that.. it's greek to me