Version 1.55 !?!?!?!

[Tad Carlucci]

   

Someone else said something a few days ago about slowing down on the updates.

This afternoon Charm logs in to find ANOTHER update .. 1.55 .. and is complaining about having to replace all her docks, yet again.

Let's see .. 1.49 came out on 23JAN. Today is 10FEB. Ignoring the -a and -b versions over the past few weeks, that's at least 6 point-updates in 19 days. That's an update every 3 days! And that's not counting the letter patches!

This does seem a bit excessive.

Maybe y'all really should hold off and do a bit more testing? Or does the picture, above, say it all?

[Ellen Ireland]

I also heard that there was a version 1.55 of the cattery dock, but when I went to get it earlier today, there was only 1.52.

[HikariItsumo Resident]

I guess if the KC team does that it's because they have to do it and not with the aim to only annoy everyone.

It's probably as disturbing for them as it is for all of us, if not much more.

[JC Aferdita]

It's impossible to find all the bugs before release, that's why whenever there is an update from a major company, think windows, adobe, autodesk, blizzard, trion, ncsoft and a bucketload of other companies, you always shortly afterwards get another update. It's more common with the gamedev. studios than anything else. Because it's online against a server, and new bugs creep up when you release it to the masses and let them make a billion mistakes breaking everything you never even thought was breakable.
And since it's only the dock being updated and not the updater itself, it isn't even a needed update. Unless you are experiencing whatever bug that might've arisen and the newer versions fixes that. If your cats work fine you don't have to update them. And if you use the dock, it should send you the updated version to use automatically.

[Tad Carlucci]

The problem is that, with the information vacuum we see from KittyCatS, we have know way of knowing if we need an update or not. We have no idea what the bug is which is being fixed; so we have no way of judging if we need the update. The only 'safe' assumption, then, is to get a new dock, or an updater (when one is put out).

For many people, that may not be a major hassle. If you only have a dozen cats and only one dock, updating is easy. But if you have a lot of cats and several docks, it can take quite a while to run around all your shops, deleting the old docks and replacing them, then cycling all your cats in and out of the Cattery. And, why? Because we DO NOT KNOW if the problem being fixed effects this cat, or that cat, or all of them, or only those who do one thing, and not those who never do.

To address this, KittyCatS SHOULD post a change log. This would go a long way to telling us whether a change is something we need to worry about.

Remember, however, that many want to SELL cats. So, sure, maybe the changes from 1.49 to 1.55 are minor and only effect a very small number of people. But sellers face a problem. If they do not update their cats, prospective purchasers who look will see it. And they, not knowing what has changed, will, quite naturally, presume that those older version are, somehow, defective; meaning, all things being equal, they're more likely to purchase a 1.55 cat than a 1.49. Reasonable sellers, therefore, will ensure their offerings are as up-to-date as possible.

As to testing, major players have hundreds, if not thousands, of programmers working on their software. Testing such massive systems is a major issue, but testing cannot occur without change management. They need to know what has changed to even know to test it.

Don't get me wrong. Personally, I *like* 'slipstream' updates using the Dock (in fact, I advocated it long ago when the Docks first appeared). It allows the user to control and pace the updates (as opposed to the all-at-once process of an Updater).

But there should be a limit. There is no need to put out a new dock every few days. That smacks up sending out updates for very minor problems, as if we're seeing one update for one change.

For times like the past month, following a Updater update, when we're likely to see a lot of small changes, rather than releasing as soon as possible, KittyCatS SHOULD set a schedule.

Microsoft, for example, does Patch Tuesday. Unless a critical security issue arises, all changes are rolled into a Tuesday batch. Often, those updates are applied without our even noticing; it's rare, nowadays, for a Tuesday patch to even force us to reboot our computers.

KittyCatS should do something similar. Rather than slipstreaming changes into the Docks every few days, they should hold off, gathering changes and only putting out a new Dock every week or so. Eventually, things will settle down and there won't be any need for a (bi-)weekly Dock update, skipping cycles until a need arises; which likely won't be until the next major Updater update.

[Callie Cline]

Hi all

Thanks for your comments.

KittyCatS! version numbers are really only version numbers, not updates. A different version means that there is something different, but not necessarily better. In some cases the change may not even apply to your cats or boxes, as it is targetting a specific issue or addition for for example a collection. Several versions have not even been released in public.

Some of you like to keep their KittyCats at the "latest" version, but in some cases this may makes no difference for your cat.

The current required version for in world cats is 1.49.
The current required version for a dock is 1.52.

Dock version 1.51, 1.53 and 1.54 actually even never existed.
There is no updater newer than 1.49, that's the last one we've done.

The highest available version number for the dock is 1.55.

All 1.50+ versions were unrelated to the 1.49 update.

If we want you to update your cats, they will show a red "update me" tag. If we want you to update your dock, we will provide one.
(with the exception of the dock update for version 1.49 to 1.49B or higher because of a problem we did not anticipate on, for which we apologize)

Hope this helps!

[Tad Carlucci]

A change log would expose this information. You *REALLY* should consider doing one.

[Oselkhandro Resident]

I am still unclear about all the updates. Do I need to rez every cat out of the online Cattery every time there is an update? I thought that the online Cattery automatically updated all the cats and boxes; if not, it could be quite onerous to have to bring dozens of cats (and/or thousands of boxes) inworld to update.

[Tad Carlucci]

Occasionally, the Dock has a newer version of cats.

By definition, all cats in the Cattery are always at the latest, most-current version.

Updaters and/or new Docks are needed only for in-world cats.

An updater will update all cats in the area.

Cats pulled in-world from the Cattery get the version from the Dock. Which is why it's important to have the most-current version of the Dock.

When the Dock has a newer version for in-world cats, you can update your in-world cats by sending them to the Cattery, then pulling them back in-world. Conceptually, this is the same process as an Updater, but it's under your control, so you can pace the work. For instance, this can make it much easier to re-set the prices since you only need remember one price at a time.

Apparently, the 1.55 Dock version still uses the 1.49 Cat version. So, this is a moot point, today.

[Melodie Jigsaw]

(02-11-2016 03:45 PM)Tad Carlucci Wrote:  Apparently, the 1.55 Dock version still uses the 1.49 Cat version. So, this is a moot point, today.

*glances in mirror and watches her head spin around...