Patch 1.06 for C&C 3 Coming Early Next Week

[Sonic 296]

Community manger, APOC, has posted a detailed update on the Official C&C 3 Forums. Firstly the 1.06 patch for Command & Conquer 3 will be released on Monday (Tuesday for fans on this side of the world). No exact time for when this patch will be available at this stage though. APOC also discusses some early info about patch 1.07 in his update as well.

 

Hey guys,

 

I apologize for not providing this update yesterday, but I wanted to make sure our plans were solidified. We just got QA sign-off on patch 1.06 last night, a day later than expected, and are prepping it for release.

 

Patch 1.06 will be released this Monday. The time-window for deployment is uncertain, so stay tuned to the message boards for when I say it is officially LIVE. Hopefully I can beat out the sharp-shooters on here that eye-ball our FTP servers 24/7.

 

And just a reminder, patch 1.06 is a small patch with NO balance changes. However, it does address the invincibility exploit and will greatly increase disconnect reporting so we can better track disconnect frequency amongst all users and suspend and ban accordingly. Patch 1.06 will also fix the Cloaking field bug that was taking away too much money from you. There are other minor changes in 1.06, but the ones noted above are the most significant.

 

On Tuesday we are going to finally reset the 1v1 and 2v2 ladder. Here is exactly what will be reset:

 

- Your Ladder Rank

- Your WIN/LOSS LADDER record

- Your ladder Elo score

- Your disconnect/desync stats

 

Your historical stats will not be touched. These are the stats you can see in your Persona Profile under "Overall". This means that your overall win/loss record will be disproportionate to your new 1v1 and 2v2 record after the reset. We did not want to reset your historical stats, but if popularity is high enough, we can do this in the next ladder reset. Please note, everyone will be taken off the ladder after the reset. You will not be put back on the ladder until you play at least one ranked online match.

 

And now for a Patch 1.07 + Ladder Season Update, please read this in full

 

Patch 1.07 is well underway and is going to encompass a number of critical components with it. This patch is going to enable full in-game functionality with our MOD SDK. Yes, that means the MOD SDK will be released exactly the same time as Patch 1.07. This patch is also going to hone in on 10-15 critical bug and balance changes. As I've stated in the past, we are looking at creating smaller but more critically efficient patches that we can produce quicker as well. This is why I am looking for the top 5 balance changes across the community. We'll certainly take a hard look at the Mothership/MS combo, Pitbull spam, and tier 3 defense usability, and other popular balance changes. Our goal will be to fix a small but critical combination of bugs and balance changes.

 

We are hard at work on patch 1.07 and are trying to output it quicker than usual. When I have a better sense of the time- frame, I will do my best to provide that to you, but please know that we are trying to speed up the process, especially given the MOD SDK and our first incoming ladder season. I WILL keep you posted.

 

I'll end this large update with more specifics about our up coming first ladder season which we have spoken of numerous times.

 

I know we have tried to launch this earlier, but getting it al l in place with world-wide legal rules and big prizes... phew, its a challenge the first-go-around.

 

The 1st season of the C&C 3 ladder season we are targeting for around the patch 1.07 release. This is because patch 1.07 will have critical balance and bug changes and will also put a new level of security code on current cheats. This also means that we will reset the ladder AGAIN when the season begins.

 

The ladder reset we are doing on Tuesday is meant to wipe the slate clean and start helping us get a good picture of players disconnect frequency, and furthermore, handing out suspensions and bans as needed. We understand there may be some initial flak for such a quick second ladder reset, but when you start a ladder season, this is of course necessary. It will also help us suspend or ban people abusing the system, and thus making them permanently ineligible for our first ladder season, yes permanently.

 

The 1st ladder season for C&C 3 will be announced once we have world-wide legal rules in place and prizes locked down. What I can tell you is we are not going to make this some measly prized season, we plan to put cash prizes in place and give players real incentive to fight online to climb the ladder.

 

So, that is your big APOC update. I think this is a real opportunity to start fresh and between patch 1.06/1.07, the MOD SDK, our first ladder season, further taking action on disconnectors and cheaters...there is a lot to be excited about here for Command & Conquer 3.

 

Thanks,

APOC

While "excited" is not the word I would chose, I'm sure there are many of you who find all of this interesting. Click here for the original post.

[TheBlackOut 7]

Mod SDK okay. Balances okay. No way to stop spammers and asshats in lobby. No sign of this "review watcher", not a word! At least TELL US if it's scrapped EA. EA has a nasty habit of telling us of all this cool stuff, and when they don't deliver, they don't tell us, they just don't do it and hope the users don't notice. No news on updated and more efficient Battlkecaster on the website for downloading replays. (I've yet to find one of my replays yet I search player name: Highbuzz)

 

Yay for 1.06 but boo for EA keeping silent. They can tell us and hype us all for this great game yet when it comes to telling us about features they promised us they're dead silent. Nice.

[Saracen 16]

I thought you'd be used to all this by now, we've had almost 5 years of it now!

[Gben 20]

While excited is not the word I would chose, I'm sure there are many of you who find all of this interesting.

 

you're funny sonic!

 

-gben

[rEdaSbLood 1]

again, yet another example of 'you know what.' but, a mention of MOD SDK is greater than no mention at all. lets hope following through becomes a game-makers trend.

[TheBlackOut 7]

Yes because mods of EA games are usually better than the games themselves!

[Luk3us 63]

Fortuantely I only ever ran into the invicnible mammoth trick once. But still it'll be nice to know it won't be happening after this.

[Thierry 0]

Mod SDK released? Before the expansion pack? W-T-F? :|

So like any progress you make with SDK will basiclly be completely lost when they 'update' SDK for the expansion.

 

(For instance, you give Unit A a new upgrade using its last upgrade slot when the expansion does that as well)

[Sonic 296]

While excited is not the word I would chose, I'm sure there are many of you who find all of this interesting.

 

you're funny sonic!

 

-gben

Shock and horror..... I wasn't trying to be funny. How the hell can I be all excited about a patch that doesn't really change anything for me, for the Mod SDK that I'll never use since I'm not into modding.

 

I know I should report the news from a neutral viewpoint, but damn it I'm tired of APOC hyping this stuff up when its clearly not exciting. Most of the stuff he goes on about should been released in March when C&C 3 hit store shelves.

[TheBlackOut 7]

Yes they should of not rushed this game. I'd rather have C&C 3 released now if it felt complete then in March. =

[Saracen 16]

The problem is time costs money, and money is what makes EA go around. These updates are those that'll appear in the expansion, and it's most probably more financially viable to put in any unreleased material into this expansion, and get the money for it instead.

 

Not that they're short of a huge bulk of cash anyway. :roll:

[TheBlackOut 7]

Pfff, they should create a WoW killer, consume the monthly updates and not rush a game like Blizzard.

[Gben 20]

While excited is not the word I would chose, I'm sure there are many of you who find all of this interesting.

 

you're funny sonic!

 

-gben

Shock and horror..... I wasn't trying to be funny. How the hell can I be all excited about a patch that doesn't really change anything for me, for the Mod SDK that I'll never use since I'm not into modding.

 

I know I should report the news from a neutral viewpoint, but damn it I'm tired of APOC hyping this stuff up when its clearly not exciting. Most of the stuff he goes on about should been released in March when C&C 3 hit store shelves.

 

This is an example of why the *NZ* is important in CNCNZ. It's our unique viewpoint. (Perhaps I should have used a more obvious reference to sarcasm in my earlier post, but oh well).

 

[You can't blame APOC for hype - it *is* his job description afterall].

 

And despite my lack online gaming, and my apparent lack of gaming-skill *period*, I'm enthused... well interested anyway!

 

(Off topic, you'd think completing the SP missions on hard difficulty would translate better into skirmish gaming... but no. Bring on the wodden spoon!!!)

 

 

-gben

[Saracen 16]

[You can't blame APOC for hype - it *is* his job description afterall].

 

Believe it or not mate, we can. Before Apoc, and the numerous other poor excuses for EA community managers, we had real Westwood talent, like Chris "Delphi" Rubyor. Without question this guy was the best community manager this community has ever had. He would tell the news like it was and made sure it was the games that did the talking.

 

Ted "Virtual Ted" Morris was another great guy who once adopted the community management role, he was very similar to Delphi, and did his job extremely well. The fact is both these guys did the job with passion, they marketed the game well and told us about things that would make final cuts. No lies, no hype, just great pillars of support who got their marketing right.

 

Sure they made a few mistakes along the way, because that's human error for ya. But Aaron Kaufman is just so god damn awful at what he does, I'm suprised he hasn't been ousted. Cos he can talk the talk, but when he tries to walk the walk, he falls over into the middle of the road and gets run over by a huge truck every time.

 

Relic's community manager is a solid guy who keeps their communities going by giving the community most of what they want. Blizzard's new RTS community manager Kevin "Karune" Yu (Previously SageKing at Petroglyph) is one awesome community manager that caters and looks after all areas of the community, and is well focussed on giving every site that follows the company a little something to call their own.

 

The fact is, a truly great community manager is one who should live and breathe games, and be 100% tied to the franchise they're marketing and the community that follows it. It means treating the whole community equally, sticking to guns, and not straying from the job at hand. I thought Kaufman was going to be one of those guys who could be good at what he does. But he's failed miserably, cos he fails to tick any boxes that makes a good community manager.

 

With him it's all about favouritism, and only hearing from the community what he wants to hear. Even if everything in C&C was perfect but the music, and I still made a constructive critical comment just about that music, he still would have had a go at me for tarnishing the EA name. But these days, if you wanna have a go at him, he'll just ignore it and blank you out.

 

He's probably the only community manager who will not take it like a man and give as good as he gets. A good community manager would take it, and then come back with a rather calm direct approach attempting to interpret the criticism (no matter how harsh) and even say thank you for raising it. Others will even go a stage further and fire it back in your face in a witty and intelligent manner, that will shut you up, because the response is so damn clever, you end up respecting him for not being able to volley the criticism back. And that's one thing Delphi did well.

 

Aaron Kaufman is someone who reads off a corporate autocue and follows the corporate guide which ends up making him getting it all wrong I'm afraid. He's strongly bound to sticking on the rails and not doing his own thing like a community manager should.

[Alphabear 11]

So thats where Sageking went.

[Sonic 296]

This is an example of why the *NZ* is important in CNCNZ. It's our unique viewpoint. (Perhaps I should have used a more obvious reference to sarcasm in my earlier post, but oh well).

What does the site name have to do with it?

 

I'm sure CNCNZ.com has fallen off Mr Kaufman's favourite list now anyway. But it really doesn't matter what is said about C&C 3 on these forums. He never visits them anyway.... his last logged in visit was 3 months ago.

 

Trust me Gben, everything that Saracen posted above is true. The guy is to difficult to work with so we don't really have any association with him.

 

So I'm sure you can understand my point of view the ho-hum news about a patch for C&C 3 comes through with all this so called excitement attached to it..... when clearly there is not excitement at all. Its just another patch for the game that people will pick apart, over analyse and find fault with.

[TheBlackOut 7]

So thats where Sageking went.

 

I lol'd at this post. Not because it was funny. Just Saracen made that huge ass post (good post I might add, I notice Petro's community managers have DROPPED BY and more) and you write that! Classic.

 

 

Now, as the community, how many people like him? I only see him on gamereplays.org (great site to get feedback for multiplayer, but the game itself, ha!) and even then, rarely. Does this guy do his job much? I mean if I ran a company like EA I'd be inspecting people now and then, doesn't any supervisor on EA look around the community and see the lack of communication? Meh...

[Guest Rabbit]

I know I'm not supposed to tell you guys this, but, I don't care anymore. I'm not under NDA to hide it.

 

Aaron Kaufman is going to release his command as community manager in about a year. It was supposed to be between "me and him," but he's been pissing me off too.

 

I gotta make this post fast though, I'll explain more later.

[TheBlackOut 7]

I know I'm not supposed to tell you guys this, but, I don't care anymore. I'm not under NDA to hide it.

 

Aaron Kaufman is going to release his command as community manager in about a year. It was supposed to be between "me and him," but he's been pissing me off too.

 

I gotta make this post fast though, I'll explain more later.

 

Wow, he must be doing something to tick YOU off.

[Saracen 16]

This is probably one of the best threads in the history of CNCNZ!

 

So I'm sure you can understand my point of view the ho-hum news about a patch for C&C 3 comes through with all this so called excitement attached to it..... when clearly there is not excitement at all.

Aaron Kaufman is going to release his command as community manager in about a year.

 

Wow! They're doing patches for community managers!? Now that is going to be a patch we all will get excited about! :wink:

[Mario 0]

[You can't blame APOC for hype - it *is* his job description afterall].

 

Believe it or not mate, we can. Before Apoc, and the numerous other poor excuses for EA community managers, we had real Westwood talent, like Chris "Delphi" Rubyor. Without question this guy was the best community manager this community has ever had. He would tell the news like it was and made sure it was the games that did the talking.

 

Ted "Virtual Ted" Morris was another great guy who once adopted the community management role, he was very similar to Delphi, and did his job extremely well. The fact is both these guys did the job with passion, they marketed the game well and told us about things that would make final cuts. No lies, no hype, just great pillars of support who got their marketing right.

 

Sure they made a few mistakes along the way, because that's human error for ya. But Aaron Kaufman is just so god damn awful at what he does, I'm suprised he hasn't been ousted. Cos he can talk the talk, but when he tries to walk the walk, he falls over into the middle of the road and gets run over by a huge truck every time.

 

Relic's community manager is a solid guy who keeps their communities going by giving the community most of what they want. Blizzard's new RTS community manager Kevin "Karune" Yu (Previously SageKing at Petroglyph) is one awesome community manager that caters and looks after all areas of the community, and is well focussed on giving every site that follows the company a little something to call their own.

 

The fact is, a truly great community manager is one who should live and breathe games, and be 100% tied to the franchise they're marketing and the community that follows it. It means treating the whole community equally, sticking to guns, and not straying from the job at hand. I thought Kaufman was going to be one of those guys who could be good at what he does. But he's failed miserably, cos he fails to tick any boxes that makes a good community manager.

 

With him it's all about favouritism, and only hearing from the community what he wants to hear. Even if everything in C&C was perfect but the music, and I still made a constructive critical comment just about that music, he still would have had a go at me for tarnishing the EA name. But these days, if you wanna have a go at him, he'll just ignore it and blank you out.

 

He's probably the only community manager who will not take it like a man and give as good as he gets. A good community manager would take it, and then come back with a rather calm direct approach attempting to interpret the criticism (no matter how harsh) and even say thank you for raising it. Others will even go a stage further and fire it back in your face in a witty and intelligent manner, that will shut you up, because the response is so damn clever, you end up respecting him for not being able to volley the criticism back. And that's one thing Delphi did well.

 

Aaron Kaufman is someone who reads off a corporate autocue and follows the corporate guide which ends up making him getting it all wrong I'm afraid. He's strongly bound to sticking on the rails and not doing his own thing like a community manager should.

 

King you should know by now that nothing is ever the same or as good as it used to be

[Gben 20]

[You can't blame APOC for hype - it *is* his job description afterall].

Believe it or not mate, we can. (snip)

 

Wow long post, which ignores my point and goes off on a tangent.

 

I merely pointed out his job *is* to hype up every bit of news that comes out. I wasn't try to defend/attack his performance, nor the substance behind such news.

 

I don't interact with him on a one-to-one basis. I don't see the lengths that you guys go to communicate with him directly, and the response or lack of response that you get.

 

But what I do see is you guys dumping on him at every opportunity, in this and other threads. And whether it's deserved or not, it strikes me as being very similar to puniswisps comments on the lego videos. Sure the guy should be able to take criticism, but if that's all he hears - why should he visit. Everyone wants to be liked...

 

Personally, he's done nothing to "light my fire" as the DOORS would say, and the PREDATOR posts at the EA forums that I did see... were absurd in their level of childish responses... which well... disgusted me. (A matter of stopping down to their level childishness)

 

I agree with most of the comments you made King about what a community manager should be... but may I say - these are also the sort of qualities that I expect from community leaders likeyourself.

-coming back with calm, direct approaches

-interpreting criticisms/faults and looking for the positives

-responding in witty/intelligent manners... that are so damn clever we respect you

 

Lately everything is just negative... and it doesn't have to be. This is the sort of attitude that will lead to site closures, which is why the joke is not funny!

 

You guys seem way too tense/uptight/obsessed about this, it's just a game. Just entertainment. Relax. Do whatever it is to de-stress: get drunk; get laid; get stoned; find religion; play solitaire whatever... or maybe all 5!?!

 

So anyway, APOC may not be the best, but he's what we got - and it's not fair to criticise him for doing his job - hyping up the news.

 

I don't know... I'm thinking of the honey attracting flies proverb right now. Sure it's his job to nurture your relationship of community leader, but it should be your passion for the game that inspires you to foster one with the current IP holders of the game that made such an impact in your lives.

 

-gben

 

p.s.

 

Sonic the NZ reference was to a post that I had made earlier, in another thread.

 

You set the tone for this community, and it's entrenced in a cultural outlook on the world. The people who have joined your community have agreed/responded to that viewpoint - and hence the community you have collated.

 

And why, in my opinion, that the "NZ" in the title *is* important to the identity of this place.

 

 

EDIT: WHOAH!!!

Downloading now... 134mb for an uninteresting patch!?!

[TheBlackOut 7]

His job really is to hype, but also develop feedback from all the community sites and get some opinions, pal around, and develop somewhat of a relationship. Has APOC done this? No. Also, you can hype something. But don't hype it if it ain't gonna come or going to be delayed. (IE, ModSDK, Battlecaster, Replay viewer)

 

I'mma wait for Saracen or a Sonic post, hopefully it'll be epic.

[Gben 20]

I'mma wait for Saracen or a Sonic post, hopefully it'll be epic.

 

LOL. My short and curlies are all quivering in anticipation.

 

-gben

[Sonic 296]

I gave APOC every chance to forge a working a relationship between us, I e-mailed him questions, concerns and so forth and they all fell on deaf ears. Its like talking to a brick wall.

 

When he offered me a free a copy of the Kane Edition I said thanks APOC and glady accepted it, but really I wish I had said no because it took weeks for him to send it.

 

I don't need his support, and based on his actions, he doesn't seem to want anything to do with me or CNCNZ.com. Perhaps I'm wrong but he is more than welcome to come on these forums and interact with you guys. Maybe even answer to some these harsh criticisms put forth in this thread..... but like Saracen said since its putting his job, C&C 3 and EA in bad light he won't.

 

I could say a few more things but you guys should know by now that I prefer to keep things professional. I've already "broken character" by going off in this thread a bit.