What we’re doing to fix broken Time Portal pulls
Admiral Prince
✭✭✭
Greetings, Captains,
Last week, we updated the Time Portal to include many of the 4-star and 5-star crew we’ve released in the past couple of months. After the update went live, you told us you weren’t seeing any of the new 4-star crew, only the 5-star ones. We checked the data and tested it again, and found no issues.
You continued to report that new 4-star crew were not appearing, so today we had the entire Timelines team go through thousands of pulls. It became clear that despite what the tests and game data were saying, something was wrong. After a deep dive, we identified the issue. The cause of the issue was that there was an undocumented fix that caused regular game processes to become interrupted. This has been fixed and verified in-game. Our marketing drone even completed 100 pulls to confirm. Don’t worry: we airlocked all of their new crew.
This was our error. Here’s how we’re going to address it:
1) We are adding a new pack to the Time Portal, 4-Star Apology, which grants one new 4-star crew (no Beholds). This pack will not cost Dilithium, and you will be able to purchase it for Honor. The pack will be available tomorrow and remain up for one week.
2) Everyone who redeemed Premium Portal pulls since the crew list was updated last Wednesday, October 11th until today, October 18th, will receive a number of these new packs based on the number of pulls during that time period. For every 10 pulls of the Premium Portal you made, we’ll give you 1 pull of the 4 Star Apology pack. (If you made between 1 and 10 Premium Portal pulls you get 1 4 Star Apology pull.) We will award this compensation tomorrow.
3) We are performing a thorough investigation of our build processes so we can do a better job of catching these bugs in the future.
We appreciate your Starfleet-level investigation and persistence with reporting this issue. Mistakes will likely happen going forward as game development is complex, and we’re not perfect. No matter how we refine our processes, involve advanced tools, or utilize our talented team, tardigrades will find a way of sneaking in.
From this situation, I’ve learned that we can’t take anything for granted, especially your trust in us. I apologize for this issue, and I won’t ask you to take my word for it; instead, I’d like to ask you to keep an eye out and judge us by our actions. And please, if you see us stumbling, I welcome you calling us out. By working together, we will be able to keep making the game you love playing.
Thank you,
Admiral Prince
Game Director, Star Trek Timelines
Edited: to explain what happens if you made fewer than 10 Premium Portal pulls.
Last week, we updated the Time Portal to include many of the 4-star and 5-star crew we’ve released in the past couple of months. After the update went live, you told us you weren’t seeing any of the new 4-star crew, only the 5-star ones. We checked the data and tested it again, and found no issues.
You continued to report that new 4-star crew were not appearing, so today we had the entire Timelines team go through thousands of pulls. It became clear that despite what the tests and game data were saying, something was wrong. After a deep dive, we identified the issue. The cause of the issue was that there was an undocumented fix that caused regular game processes to become interrupted. This has been fixed and verified in-game. Our marketing drone even completed 100 pulls to confirm. Don’t worry: we airlocked all of their new crew.
This was our error. Here’s how we’re going to address it:
1) We are adding a new pack to the Time Portal, 4-Star Apology, which grants one new 4-star crew (no Beholds). This pack will not cost Dilithium, and you will be able to purchase it for Honor. The pack will be available tomorrow and remain up for one week.
2) Everyone who redeemed Premium Portal pulls since the crew list was updated last Wednesday, October 11th until today, October 18th, will receive a number of these new packs based on the number of pulls during that time period. For every 10 pulls of the Premium Portal you made, we’ll give you 1 pull of the 4 Star Apology pack. (If you made between 1 and 10 Premium Portal pulls you get 1 4 Star Apology pull.) We will award this compensation tomorrow.
3) We are performing a thorough investigation of our build processes so we can do a better job of catching these bugs in the future.
We appreciate your Starfleet-level investigation and persistence with reporting this issue. Mistakes will likely happen going forward as game development is complex, and we’re not perfect. No matter how we refine our processes, involve advanced tools, or utilize our talented team, tardigrades will find a way of sneaking in.
From this situation, I’ve learned that we can’t take anything for granted, especially your trust in us. I apologize for this issue, and I won’t ask you to take my word for it; instead, I’d like to ask you to keep an eye out and judge us by our actions. And please, if you see us stumbling, I welcome you calling us out. By working together, we will be able to keep making the game you love playing.
Thank you,
Admiral Prince
Game Director, Star Trek Timelines
Edited: to explain what happens if you made fewer than 10 Premium Portal pulls.
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Comments
That said, with both this and the #justice4Geordi snafu, testing and fixes were put in place before an error was communicated. Frankly, once something is identified, BEFORE a fix goes live, you should tell us. It shouldn't be incumbent upon us to a) identify mistakes and b) identify when they've been corrected. When you've developed a server push to fix the issue, please pump the brakes on letting us buy broken stuff.
Proud Former Officer of The Gluten Empire
Retired 12-14-20. So long, and thanks for all the cat pics!
I think the loss of confidence here is a real problem. Most people at least accept the fact that we don't know the exact chances of pulling X, but if we can't trust that there's ANY chance people will just pack it in. It's one of the basic foundations of this game.
This is the way I’m reading it. I did 10 10x pulls last night + 1 community pull from over the weekend so I’m thinking I get 11 of these?
The way I read this, they are making amends to everyone. Tomorrow, compensation in the form of free sorrypacks will be sent to everyone affected. That will likely include a version of this post.
Won't everyone see the new pack and that they have free pulls when they show up in the time portal tomorrow as indicated.
I truly hope this is the case.
Free? they're going to cost honor.
My read of #2 is that everyone will get a number that equates to their pulls sometime tomorrow; #1 is just saying the pack will also be available to purchase for honor (presumably for those who didn't purchase because of the error)
3x 4* apology pulls
Yeah, I understand it like that as well...
2 of these 4* apology pulls
1-10x 10 pull = 1× 4* apology pull
11-20x 10 pull = 2× 4* apology pull
21-30x 10 pull = 3× 4* apology pull
And so on
Proud Former Officer of The Gluten Empire
Retired 12-14-20. So long, and thanks for all the cat pics!
I don't think you meant to write it that way, but it's definitely not 1 "for every 10 10x pulls"... rather, it's one 'sorrypull' for every 10 premium pulls, period. Here's the actual quote from Admiral Prince:
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
If you bought 110x 10 pulls then you get 11x 4* apology packs
I'm taking this as a gesture of goodwill for those not getting compensation for pulls they did because they didn't pull any. So everyone has a chance at these 'new crew only' pulls.
No dilithium required.
If you bought 11x 10 pulls then you get 2x 4* apology pulls