Ashes Cricket General Discussion

[Spoobir]

The question isn't whether they will return and patch the game. I'm sure they will. It's whether theres any possibility for them to improve the game in a consistent manner. That's what I doubt, based on everything I've seen with the game so far, I don't have any confidence.

Didn't you say the game was pretty awful when you first played the beta? They managed to improve it then didn't they? Also quite a few people actually are doubting that they will ever come back to Ashes so I was mainly addressing that.

 

[blockerdave]

Didn't you say the game was pretty awful when you first played the beta? They managed to improve it then didn't they? Also quite a few people actually are doubting that they will ever come back to Ashes so I was mainly addressing that.

No it wasn't awful. It was dbc17 with face scans and new animations.

Yes the game improved, but regressed at the same time. I don't believe they have appropriate systems to control the process. Case in point - from a point in the beta, pitches deteriorated visually and it was saved and kept on reload. By console release it had disappeared. No control of the code.

There are many other examples. At no point in the process was the slog to go at 3.5 so extreme as now. It crept in because there is no control of the code.

We have asked questions e.g. about how pitches should behave. The answer from people who's job is to make sure the game works as intended is they don't know.

You cannot make consistent progress with such a system.

I don't say patches won't improve the game. But I am saying they will be more or less a fluke, and possibly go hand in hand with regression in other areas.

Notwithstanding I had a bloody great 25-over "ODI" tonight. I lost by 4 runs. Was going great guns until I lost a wicket and had to stick to the batting order of the real life game i was playing where they randomly promoted 2 bowlers... lost momentum. May not have been going so well if I hadn't batted most of the powerplay against the field with everyone in the ring of course.

 

[Langeveldt]

The question isn't whether they will return and patch the game. I'm sure they will. It's whether theres any possibility for them to improve the game in a consistent manner. That's what I doubt, based on everything I've seen with the game so far, I don't have any confidence.

Is there the physical ability to go back to the first real patch (the good one) as a base?

 

[Rumple43]

This is my biggest issue right now. When batting, there is simply no risk. In my experience, you could defend every ball and unless you got bored, you could probably bat out all 5 days. I'm with you, it's a lapse of concentration that gets me out. Perhaps that's the skill? Idk.

I'd say that 50%? 60%? 70%? of all test match dismissals come from a defensive shot. An edge to the keeper, slip, gully, or playing defensive and getting trapped LBW, or you get a bat pad to a spinner as the ball spits up, the list goes on. But on here, using defensive shot is as safe as it comes.

When you know you've always got that to fall back on, why wouldn't you just smash away in test cricket? Why do test batsmen leave the ball so much in real life? I'd imagine because playing any shot, even to defend, carries a risk. But in Ashes Cricket, that's been removed and it makes batting a lot less authentic in my opinion.

You only have to look at the India SA Test that just ended to show (albeit pretty extreme) that sometimes, batting just to not get out, forgetting about scoring runs, should still be very difficult. When you block anything that comes your way, that won't happen.

Not sure of a solution, or perhaps plenty of others have no issue and it's just me and my experience? But until batting carries genuine risk, and you lose wickets due to quality bowling that beat anything a batsman could do rather than getting the timing wrong on your 99th aggressive shot out of the 100, it's always gonna be an issue.

For only my 2nd time ever tonight, I saw a dismissal off a defensive shot. Guy plonks down his bat on the line of off stump, ball finds the edge and gets taken at slip.

So it can happen!!

I'll get the video up when I can.

Apologies, please carry on with the patch/no patch discussion again now

 

[Nathaus]

With regards to attributes and mentalities not having an effect, I had an Epiphany on the matter late last night... Could it be that the mentalities dictate what attributes make up the batsman's ability? Hear me out...

E.g. a Brute would only be affected by the Strength, Attacking attributes
Conservative would only use Timing and Footwork

Something to these lines, hence why changing certain attributes is not reflecting in a change in batting ability for the AI, unless those attributes are relevant to the mentality for that batsman?

Just a thought.

If not, then I will guess that attributes are only relevant for human control and have an effect on timing windows, more forgiveness in footwork selection, and ability not to edge on defensive or offensive shots. AI is utterly random or governed by some set of attributes that can not be seen

 

[Deleted member 185125]

 

[asprin]

how is speculation? it's observed fact.

The speculation was for the priority part, not the patches. Until and unless one is a part of the BAS team or are privy of their internal plans, it would be unfair to say for sure that one game is getting priority over the other. For all we know, maybe work is going on simultaneously on both games and perhaps they want to get all things right in one patch (for Ashes) and hence the delay in releasing it.

equally, i respect and defend the right of us as a community/individual consumers of the game to interpret the haphazard nature of the support ashes has received, particularly the post-release regressions, as evidence of a company not in control of their own codebase, and to withdraw optimism and benefit of the doubt.

To make myself clear, I'm not turning a blind eye to all the issues that are currently at play in Ashes Cricket. All I'm saying is that I've faith that they will get fixed at some point or the other. Many here are getting restless because of the time factor but in my case, that doesn't affect me. And that comes from a belief that BA will deliver.

If only there was a Once a Week/Fortnight , small little report on where they stand and what they are busy with , then you at least feel that something is happening.

Fair enough. I agree with this too.

 

[hammadahmed88]

So much discussion, but the fact is simple enough really. When a consumer pays full price for something, they expect a fully finished product. When that isn't delivered, they're within their rights to criticize. That coupled with a lack of, nay, an absence of communication exacerbates the issue. A simple, "yeah, we're working on it...this is our anticipated timeline....these are the issues we're hoping to rectify" etc on this forum should take absolutely no time whatsoever from a company. Given however that they have any coordinated plans to do such things. I'm still hoping that this'll be cleaned up, somewhat wishful thinking perhaps. I hope they deliver, I would personally love to support smallish companies even if their CEO has come across as incredibly rude. I understand how a lot of people's bread and butter comes from them. It's their livelihood so I hope they deliver simply for that alone. I guess there is no option except to wait.

 

[BMB45]

Good day I can't seem to download any tems from The Academy in my ashes cricket, can someone tell me Why And how can this be fixed.

 

[Kass D]

I sold my ashes copy for 60$ .. yay.. now its some one else's problem

 

[wasteyouryouth]

With regards to attributes and mentalities not having an effect, I had an Epiphany on the matter late last night... Could it be that the mentalities dictate what attributes make up the batsman's ability? Hear me out...

E.g. a Brute would only be affected by the Strength, Attacking attributes
Conservative would only use Timing and Footwork

Something to these lines, hence why changing certain attributes is not reflecting in a change in batting ability for the AI, unless those attributes are relevant to the mentality for that batsman?

Just a thought.

If not, then I will guess that attributes are only relevant for human control and have an effect on timing windows, more forgiveness in footwork selection, and ability not to edge on defensive or offensive shots. AI is utterly random or governed by some set of attributes that can not be seen

If mentalities only used certain skills then setting all batsmen to Balanced would mean they should use all the skills. I think mentalities do work, not very well, but they just do what they say in the descriptions in the academy while maintaining a rough strike rate. Big problem is they are fudged by the targeting run rates.

My experience batting is that the only things that matter in human control are strength, confidence and human ability. Also, I'd say a lot of people, consciously or otherwise, probably bat differently depending on if they are using Steve Smith or James Anderson. I know when I get down to the bowlers I can't be bothered trying to bat normally. It may be that a batsman with a higher rating is easier to bat with, timing could be more forgiving, but it certainly doesn't seem that any individual batting skill has any noticeable effect. I scored 190 all out in a 50 over game vs a team with bowlers all rated to the max with batsman all rated at 1 for batting skills and physical skills. The only problems I had were getting the ball out of the circle and my taking too many risky singles. That was on legend and hard batting.

I reckon if you created two batsman, one with 100 for all batting skills and 1 for strength, the other with 1 for batting skills and 100 for strength, and were able to test them blind (e.g. the person doesn't know which is which) they would find it easier to bat with the latter.

 

[Acid Burn]

Interesting that the Owner of Planet Cricket Website , seems to now exclusively Post on Bigant`s Forum.

Has Ross cracked the whip on him ?

Maybe explains why we dont even have a dedicated Online section for Ashes , and any inside info from our Man on the team.

Sad really.

 

[Nathaus]

Interesting that the Owner of Planet Cricket Website , seems to now exclusively Post on Bigant`s Forum.

Has Ross cracked the whip on him ?

Maybe explains why we dont even have a dedicated Online section for Ashes , and any inside info from our Man on the team.

Sad really.

I'm not surprised to be honest. While special consideration may have been given to drum up enthusiasm in the community prior to release, as soon as things start to go sour, as a good PR exercise, you'd want to reign all official communications in to your own controlled channels be it facebook, twitter, or your own forum - not a forum that, while owned by a staff member, has to (be seen to) remain impartial to developers and can't remove damaging or disparaging comments against a developer.

I hope once things get back on track they will recommence engagement. I can't begin to imagine the 'crisis mode' BA would (should) be in at the moment.

 

[blockerdave]

I'm not surprised to be honest. While special consideration may have been given to drum up enthusiasm in the community prior to release, as soon as things start to go sour, as a good PR exercise, you'd want to reign all official communications in to your own controlled channels be it facebook, twitter, or your own forum - not a forum that, while owned by a staff member, has to (be seen to) remain impartial to developers and can't remove damaging or disparaging comments against a developer.

I hope once things get back on track they will recommence engagement. I can't begin to imagine the 'crisis mode' BA would (should) be in at the moment.

yes and no. i think most reasonable people here will understand that the reception of AO tennis has probably changed their original plans somewhat. a comment along the lines of "we hoped to be back on ashes by now, it's gonna be pushed out a little" would probably have been met with sympathy and retained a lot of goodwill, and would have taken all of 5 minutes.

 

[Nathaus]

yes and no. i think most reasonable people here will understand that the reception of AO tennis has probably changed their original plans somewhat. a comment along the lines of "we hoped to be back on ashes by now, it's gonna be pushed out a little" would probably have been met with sympathy and retained a lot of goodwill, and would have taken all of 5 minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree - but I'm not surprised by the chain of events and to a degree understand it.