Massive Driver Earning [KNOWN]

[grimreefer24601]

If it's a known issue, how do we prevent it upon the final 1.39 update? Is it going to be fixed by then? Is there an easy way to send my drivers home before I update? It completely ruins the economy of the game.

[RaduH]

This needs to be fixed and a new beta pushed out. It is as game breaking as it gets.

I tried the beta briefly until I encountered this bug, then reverted to the released version for not wanting to mess up my progression. This means I won't be testing the broken game at all. I'm sure others also give up on beta testing because of this bug.

In the current test, the existing beta is likely only receiving superficial testing from the community. You should fix it and push a working beta if you want the community to test it (more thoroughly).

[Madkine]

It's been in the game for several major releases now. I'd say there's less than a 5% chance of it being fixed.

The only way to avoid it is to not have any drivers on jobs when you upgrade to 1.39.

And an economy bug is hardly game breaking and will have minimal impact on participation for the following reasons:
a) The economy is ATS (and ETS2) is broken by default with massive over-earning anyone who plays vanilla quickly builds up many millions of dollars.
b) Many people test the beta using specific test profiles and therefore don't care about any economy impact.

**A game breaking bug is one that literally makes the game unplayable, this doesn't even come close.

[RaduH]

Sure, the hardcore, dedicated beta testers will jump through some hoops to test this software (idle all employees and set up a separate game instance). Using a separate profile is of no help for those with a plain setup (one computer, one steam account), because as soon as the beta binary runs on the "real" profile, it will screw up it's economy. I suspect most players fall into this category (plain setup, but willing to give the beta a go as long as it doesn't "corrupt" their normal progress).

Regarding game breaking. Suppose in a game a chess, a bug allows pawns to jump everywhere on the board in one move. It would not make the game "unplayable", but it would make it unchallenging and unenjoyable to play, therefore not worth playing. A game of chess where one aspect, like the pawn movement mechanics is broken, is a broken game.

The economy of ATS, "broken" as it may be in vanilla, is nonetheless functioning as designed and intended. The game is easy by design, but it is not trivial by design. Earning millions and unlocking all garages at the beginning of the game makes the game trivial, completely unchallenging, and renders the "economy" non-existent, as it can be completely ignored. The game itself may start and appear to function, but if one core aspect is broken, I argue the game as a whole is broken.

Speaking for myself, I am a capable beta tester, but unwilling to be a dedicated, unpaid tester. I would test the new version and submit high-quality bug reports, but I would not sacrifice my enjoyment of the game entirely in order to provide this unpaid work. Here is at least one beta tester opting out, with reasons given.

Beta testers should be looking for subtle, obscure, hard to find bugs, not obvious-in-your-face bugs, which should not even exist in a "beta" release.

[Madkine]

You've missed the point 99% of players don't care about the extra earnigns and will put no effort into attempting to avoid it (in beta AND the liver version).

Secondly, you should never jump into a beta on your main profile until you are 100% sure the beta won't mess it up. Doing otherwise is asking to have your save destroyed and having to start again. As plenty of others have said, beta is for testing, not early access.

Your chess example is extremely flawed. A few extra dollars in your account is not the same as a change to fundamental gameplay. An equivalent to your chess example here would be all trucks being restricted to 30km/h or having a minimum spped of 60km/h, both of these would be gamebreaking bugs. Extra money is not gamebreaking (the release where drivers lost lots of money had the potential to be gamebreakign for players early in their career as it could plunge them massively into debt. Extra money is simply an issue from a role playing issue and has no effect on game play.

Additionally there are mods out there to allow you to dump money. If the extra money annoys you so much, simply install one and dump money. If you don't like mods, simply buy and sell and expensive truck a few times and watch your money decline.

I agree it's an annoying bug (I run a hard economy mod), but there are mod free ways around it.
A bug that has no game impact for 99% of players and can be worked around in the vanilla game for other players is not objectively game breaking, no matter how you feel about it.

[RaduH]

Madkine, I don't have access to the playerbase statistics like you do, and don't know with any certainty what 99% of them care or don't care about.

I am a new player, and a few extra million would mean I could unlock all garages nearly instantly. To me, this is game breaking. I would not be playing this, nor would I install mods or spend time buying and selling to undo the effects of this bug. It's a very easy bug for the devs to fix, and it's been known for some time, and I see it as disrespectful that I'd be expected to overlook it and work around it, just to be a willing tester for this company.

Trucks being limited to 30km/h would not make the game unplayable, so it would not be a game breaking bug, per your own definition. Kindly be more consistent with your own ideas. Maybe bugs that bother *you* are game breaking, but bugs that bother *me* are not game breaking. I gather that's the gist of your response. It's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

To me, an economy that does not function as designed, is a game breaking bug; not least of which but it renders comparisons to other player's achievements impossible. It is meaningless if another player says that have such and such, anyone can get $$$ by switching versions back and forth a few times.

Keep in mind that while some people might play for the joy of driving, others play for the scenery, others for the business simulation, others for the management challenge. One bug affects different player's enjoyment of the game in different ways.

I just asked that this bug be given higher priority and a new beta be pushed. It is not a request that requires your input or approval, although I have taken your opinion under consideration, and I disagree with it. This forum is not a discussion forum, but a bug report forum, where the company can gather feedback. If you want to debate further, I suggest a forum other than "Bugs" is the place for such a debate; however I have no interest in debate at this time.