Tough love

    So as the title suggests, I'm gonna give some tough love. Because I love this game and wanna see it continue to do great. But I gotta say there needs to be a focus on current problems and current developments and perfecting them before rushing on to the next one. It seems like the development team it falling over themselves trying to to come up with new updates. There are many big changes happening at the same time which wouldn't be problem except for the fact that the ones before aren't being tended to. The app was a huge change. ARFF is a huge addition. The mission upgrades. All these big changes. Meanwhile the app is very poor quality. It refreshes for anything, something as simple as my phone getting a low battery notification. It doesn't have a link to the forum. It doesn't have many of the click features of even the browser mobile site. The app is barely functionable on the acceptable spectrum. And before that the mission upgrades. Those have been completely forgot about it seems. I'll dispatch 30 calls and leave the game for a bit and come back to find that 5 room fires are now building collapses, yet nothing ever does downgrade from a building collapse to a room fire if you know what I mean. And no one is gonna buy 5 mobile command units for one city. And then thats just left like that and the development moves on to the next upgrade. So therefore what's going on is with every new major change the game is getting significantly worse. And it's only because the problems and issues that are already at hand aren't being taken care of and development is in too much of hurry and not taking care of what needs to be taking care of. They are great ideas but aren't gonna work if they aren't kept up. And for anyone who wants to get mad and or rant as a result of this post, I'm only saying what I see is going on and what is true in the nicest best way possible. I want to see the game do good

    Your thoughts are respected and I'll go as far as agreeing with you.


    You mention development team; that is one person who is responsible for MissionChief and it's 'sister sites'. The issue we have is MissionChief is a small game compared to its bigger sister which is the German version (for every 100 players here, there are 3400 there). It then becomes a case of the single developer managing his work load between the two and considering what actions to take. Sebastian, the developer, does this for a living and runs a business so it's a decision only he can make in terms of how he uses his time. He's also recently become a father so perhaps doesn't get as much time at the desk. There's reasons personal to Sebastian why he has not recruited more staff or developers.


    In terms of new features. Often the German version will get a new feature and that can be translated and copied into MissionChief. So while it may appear a lot of new features are being fired out its often a case that the German version wanted it and an extra 5-10 minutes work and it's also available in MissionChief.


    With the precious time we have for Sebastian to work on MissionChief we can only introduce ideas very slowly. He does not like stacking his work load so a new idea or change cannot be introduced until he's finished his current project or development (this could in larger examples be weeks or even months).


    We, the community team, who are simply players of MissionChief volunteering to help Sebastian by representing the voice of the community, collate ideas, monitor interest and await the day Sebastian asks "what's next?". We have lined up some changes to tweak some things and downgrading calls is one of them, but calls often escalate more than than going the other way in real life hence why the setup is like that. I agree it could be balanced better, however.


    Your feedback regarding the mobile app is the first I've been aware of any problems or concerns. There's some translation issues that need sorting but otherwise feedback has been good. I use the iOS app with no problems and much prefer it over the browser based version. So, the reason no one has looked at making any changes to the app is simply because no ones raised a concern yet.


    We also get frustrated knowing the potential for MissionChief but sometimes it's a case that Sebastian doesn't want to implement a change or idea. We feedback those to the community. But it's a slow process.


    MissionChief has been around a few years but it's greatest development has been over the last 6-9 months which has pushed to see it more popular. I can only iterate that the more popular the game becomes, the more time Sebastian can spend looking at it. I know what you're going to say - "make it better and it'll come more popular". I assure you we are doing our best to make MissionChief many times better but some patience is required.

    @Nickynickdispatch in regards to your downgrade comment it doesn't make much sense, you wouldn't have someone phone 999/911 and report "there has been an explosion and my house has collapsed" or " A building just fell down in front of me" to get there to find only a room fire however you might get someone phone the fire service reporting a room fire and by the time the fire service get there the room fire has weakened the structural integrity of the premises causing a partial or total building collapse.

    @TACRfan ok first of all that's not even the point of this thread so why bring it up? Second of all, I'm not sure where you live, but here in America, it's actually more likely for someone to call 911 and exaggerate a call then to understate it. Very many times firefighters receive a call that describes a huge pileup and people are dying, and they arrive to find a two car accident no one injured and the two people are arguing about damages. And then there are those calls that say "help my house is gonna burn down" and they just burnt their dinner. So what you just said doesn't happens actually happens all the time. People freak out and exaggerate things. So like an industrial fire could be downgraded to a waste bin fire, or a building collapse could be downgraded to a room fire. If the caller says the roof just caved in when really a beam fell and made a loud noise. See what I mean? Calls downgrade upon arrival much more often than they upgrade.

    Quote from Nickynickdispatch

    @TACRfan ok first of all that's not even the point of this thread so why bring it up? Second of all, I'm not sure where you live, but here in America, it's actually more likely for someone to call 911 and exaggerate a call then to understate it. Very many times firefighters receive a call that describes a huge pileup and people are dying, and they arrive to find a two car accident no one injured and the two people are arguing about damages. And then there are those calls that say "help my house is gonna burn down" and they just burnt their dinner. So what you just said doesn't happens actually happens all the time. People freak out and exaggerate things. So like an industrial fire could be downgraded to a waste bin fire, or a building collapse could be downgraded to a room fire. If the caller says the roof just caved in when really a beam fell and made a loud noise. See what I mean? Calls downgrade upon arrival much more often than they upgrade.

    I get people exaggerating calls and in the case of a traffic accident it makes sense however no one (or very few people) would phone 999/911 for a building collapse if it's just a room fire, if people smell and/or see fire/smoke they panic so this is a detail that would definitely be mentioned in a phone call, it's this panic that firefighters are trained to overcome.

    @TACRfan ok well I just disagree. Granted it may happen less often with building collapses, but then if you look at how often building collapses happen I this game it's very unrealistic as well. So maybe there could be like a probability ratio where out of ever 5 dangerous goods truck accidents, 1 was only a road accident. And out of every 20 building collapses, 1 was a downgrade. And then you also can think about the fact that dispatchers can misinterpret, so if someone says oh something just fell ok my kid, or the wall inside my house gave way, the dispatcher might assume more is going on or mishear the caller and send for a building collapse when really it's only something minor. I just think with all the scenarios that happen, how often we get building collapses and other major calls in the game, and how often the upgrade, they oughta be able to downgrade.

    How realistic do you want this game to be in terms of calls? In one thread, you're arguing for volcanic eruptions to happen everywhere. In the next, you're saying there's too many building collapses. If this was perfectly realistic, 70% of the calls in the game would be purely medical, and you'd only get something fire related every few weeks. That seems boring to me, and this is a game.

    Quote from Gavin876

    How realistic do you want this game to be in terms of calls? In one thread, you're arguing for volcanic eruptions to happen everywhere. In the next, you're saying there's too many building collapses. If this was perfectly realistic, 70% of the calls in the game would be purely medical, and you'd only get something fire related every few weeks. That seems boring to me, and this is a game.

    First off, if you're going to quote and reply to what I put on here can you at least not make false statements and exaggerate what I have said? If you will read the many posts I put in the volcano thread, it clearly says that i DO NOT want them happening everywhere, it would be alliance initiated, and would only happen once a month. Secondly, you are going off the deep end. I'm saying the game needs to improve what it already has, I never said anything about realism in the post. Third of all, of you have 50 stations in a big city like I do you'll get fire related calls multiple times a day. And it's about the ratio. The game moves fast, so if it were 70 percent medical, so be it- there would be plenty of fire. I was simply addressing possible improvements, as is my RIGHT on this forum. I am very grateful for Jason's professional, encouraging response, and would have hoped you as a moderator would have done the same. And I checked- this response breaks no rules. So I hope it doesn't get taken down.


    I would like to ad that I am quite hurt and shocked by Gavin876's response. I really want to see this game succeed and wanted to share my frustrations and concerns, which is what the forums are for, and I got an aggressive, uncalled for response from a forum moderator, instead of an answer and reassurance that addressed the thread. I'm not sure what I did to upset Gavin876 but he is obviously upset with me. The response wasn't really even to the idea of why I started the thread either. You'd think he would try and address the concerns or at least stay on topic, but he did the opposite of both. Not really sure what I did to deserve that...

    Aw someone's feelings were hurt. Bud TACRfan is right. No one calls to report a building collapse only for the fire department to arrive and find that their couch was on fire. I mean honestly let's just think logically. I agree this game could use a bit of work but the moderators are volunteers who work to put up with us annoying people and pitch ideas to a developer who has this game on the back burner (not a tear-down, just fact). I can totally see why gavin said what he said. As for you, don't go attacking someone who volunteers to out up with our crap without pay. He doesn't need to be here but without him and the others we wouldn't have any updates at all (or even dare I say, a game)

    Quote from letsgohope12

    Aw someone's feelings were hurt. Bud TACRfan is right. No one calls to report a building collapse only for the fire department to arrive and find that their couch was on fire. I mean honestly let's just think logically. I agree this game could use a bit of work but the moderators are volunteers who work to put up with us annoying people and pitch ideas to a developer who has this game on the back burner (not a tear-down, just fact). I can totally see why gavin said what he said. As for you, don't go attacking someone who volunteers to out up with our crap without pay. He doesn't need to be here but without him and the others we wouldn't have any updates at all (or even dare I say, a game)

    Only person attacking anyone is you. If you wanna rant I'll report you. And yes people call and exaggerate things all the time. You best keep your mouth shut. And once again not the topic of the thread.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login