2010-09-24, 03:33 AM
If they read the forums, they don't read them enough.
The VIP Crossbow is proof of that.
Also, and while they avoid discussing hacks for reasons of security, they should have someone knowledgeable (i.e., a programmer, not a "gm") keeping close watch on hacking forums. The time it takes them to realize a hack is around, to figure out how it works, and to block it, suggests they don't do that, either.
Finally, they need more in-game experience. There are way too many things that "every player knows" that Nexon seems oblivious to. This includes everything from missing hit boxes to hackers' favorite haunts. I suppose the MWLB was supposed to be this, but it seems useless. Everyone in Kradia knew Temple of Time was full of hackers, and yet they went unbanned and their hacks unpatched for a long long time. A whole guild of ksers and dc hackers terrorized the server and even put up a boasting thread on SW, yet nothing happened to them for months, until the guild master tried to dc-hack a GM during an event...
Other than that, I agree this blog is useful in informing people who don't know how these things are done. As a developer myself, I'd have liked to see more about their code review practices (the thing that helps prevent some bugs from ever happening), version management software (the thing that supposedly prevents locally-fixed bugs from coming back on the next KMS update), and bug prioritizing (who decides what to fix ASAP and what can stay untouched forever).
The VIP Crossbow is proof of that.
Also, and while they avoid discussing hacks for reasons of security, they should have someone knowledgeable (i.e., a programmer, not a "gm") keeping close watch on hacking forums. The time it takes them to realize a hack is around, to figure out how it works, and to block it, suggests they don't do that, either.
Finally, they need more in-game experience. There are way too many things that "every player knows" that Nexon seems oblivious to. This includes everything from missing hit boxes to hackers' favorite haunts. I suppose the MWLB was supposed to be this, but it seems useless. Everyone in Kradia knew Temple of Time was full of hackers, and yet they went unbanned and their hacks unpatched for a long long time. A whole guild of ksers and dc hackers terrorized the server and even put up a boasting thread on SW, yet nothing happened to them for months, until the guild master tried to dc-hack a GM during an event...
Other than that, I agree this blog is useful in informing people who don't know how these things are done. As a developer myself, I'd have liked to see more about their code review practices (the thing that helps prevent some bugs from ever happening), version management software (the thing that supposedly prevents locally-fixed bugs from coming back on the next KMS update), and bug prioritizing (who decides what to fix ASAP and what can stay untouched forever).