Regarding the petition...

[rojimboo]

I was about to sign but then realised I wasn't sure what it was I was signing.

Can someone clarify what this petition is about with regard to HOMM VI?

Because as I understand it, the 3rd party DRM that Vicarious mentions must be Uplay. But to bypass Uplay completely you can just play in offline mode without having to connect in the first place (unlike Steam btw). You miss out on all Dynasty traits and weapons and other goodies but they are kinda imba and some are (still) broken like mana weapons and Arachne's life leech so whatever right, as long as you've logged in at least once to your Uplay game.

Or, do we want to get rid of all these server-integrated features, redesign the game (whose developers left already btw) to be offline only and still get all the goodies? I think it's safe to say that that's not going to happen.

Or is this calling for the removal of the initial serial key activation in Uplay, for the Steam version only? Now this is the only sensible petition I can think of regarding HOMM6. I can understand that Ubi have Steam as only one of their distributors - after all there is the retail version, and the non-Steam digital version to think of, but Ubi should realise how popular Steam is and will be in the future. To save grief they should at least let Steam handle the initial binding and offline game part. Then, if people want the goodies, they can bind the game to a Uplay account. This would solve a lot of user's problems I believe.

Also, I'm not sure why non-Uplay games sold on Steam should be boycotted. One, I like them, two it is counterproductive as the message sent is that the version without UbiDRM is bad too. I thought those were the good ones, like say Rayman Origins or AC1. We shouldn't paint with such broad strokes.

[InsertCoin]

wel they can't remove the drm because the ubi drm is intergrated into the game, so they would have to re-code it, 'sides people need to stop ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it actually works, and its a good game, if you don't like it, don't play it, that simple :D

[Statue]

Originally posted by tehface:

wel they can't remove the drm because the ubi drm is intergrated into the game

I doubt it's beyond Ubi's capabilities to remove their own DRM; others have managed to do so just fine after all, and it took very little time to do.

[Dampfschnuller]

Originally posted by tehface:

wel they can't remove the drm because the ubi drm is intergrated into the game, so they would have to re-code it, 'sides people need to stop ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it actually works, and its a good game, if you don't like it, don't play it, that simple :D

You´re a liar.
Simple as that. Nothing works, you´re permanently getting kicked out of the game without warning. Or you can´t use the "conflux" and without that you´re not able to use the whole game.
It´s bugged from the launcher to the game-core. Freezes, glitches and bugs bigger than an elephant.
And then they want !YOU! (the customer who has paid well for that stuff) to grade back your graphics driver and crap like that.

So, as stated before: You´re lying. Why, i dont know.

[rojimboo]

Originally posted by CalmerThanYouAre:

Originally posted by tehface:

wel they can't remove the drm because the ubi drm is intergrated into the game, so they would have to re-code it, 'sides people need to stop ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it actually works, and its a good game, if you don't like it, don't play it, that simple :D

You´re a liar.
Simple as that. Nothing works, you´re permanently getting kicked out of the game without warning. Or you can´t use the "conflux" and without that you´re not able to use the whole game.
It´s bugged from the launcher to the game-core. Freezes, glitches and bugs bigger than an elephant.
And then they want !YOU! (the customer who has paid well for that stuff) to grade back your graphics driver and crap like that.

So, as stated before: You´re lying. Why, i dont know.

Am I lying too?

Is my Steam profile lying too?

Is GabeN lying too?

Where does it end?

[Vicarious]

Sorry it took me a few days to get back to you Rojimboo, work has kept me very busy.

Anyway with regards to your post. You might be shocked but I very much agree with you. When I created the post I was frustrated with Ubisoft, and didn't want to be extremely specific.

I knew that by keeping the petition's message short and sweet I would be more likely to attract a large number of supporters. If I could go back in time I would have more likely suggested to have only HoMMVI removed from the steam catalog until it was properly patched. Since then I have been given the Assassin's Creed games by a friend, and I've had no issues at all with them. So it obviously isn't Uplay itself that is causing the majority of the trouble. After doing more research it is the coding done on HOMMVI.

I think you have an incredible idea right here by the way.

Originally posted by Rojimboo:

is this calling for the removal of the initial serial key activation in Uplay, for the Steam version only? Now this is the only sensible petition I can think of regarding HOMM6. I can understand that Ubi have Steam as only one of their distributors - after all there is the retail version, and the non-Steam digital version to think of, but Ubi should realise how popular Steam is and will be in the future. To save grief they should at least let Steam handle the initial binding and offline game part. Then, if people want the goodies, they can bind the game to a Uplay account.

I think that this would be the best resolution that the two companies could possibly come to.

In all honesty I have thought of amending the petition to reflect these new changes, but that would really invalidate all the signatures up to this point. I've talked with friends and decided to leave the current petition thread as is.

If you've got any ideas I'd love to know. If you wanted to create a new petition that reflects the ideas I quoted you on, I'd gladly be the first to sign.

[rojimboo]

To be honest, if back in May I had been locked out of a game that barely worked if you managed to login to both Uplay and Conflux, I would be pretty upset too and look for some outlet to convey those feelings. And thanks for getting back to me.

I'm glad you have thought abouth those issues - that in itself makes me want to sign the petition - however in its current state I still disagree with boycotting all Ubi games. Mainly because I like them and buying a game is the only option for me to play it. The other route is just unthinkable as this is my favourite past time and I don't want to harm PC exclusive gaming anymore than people are already harming it due to piracy.

Also, I think one petition is enough, and it could never compete with yours ;) and I fully understand you cannot change yours now with what a few thousand signatures already. So I think this is where these ideas will remain - a random Steam forum thread - an outlet for frustrated gamers.

[Fire Walk With Me]

Its not like Ubisoft or Steam care one way or another about the petition. You are essentially signing nothing. Valve cares about money not about Ubi's DRM.

[Crowseye]

Regardless of any of this the petition serves a good purpose, for HOMM itself, or any other Ubi game that uses Uplay. It's a good indicator for Ubisoft to see what not to do next time. And perhaps to be a bit more careful about how they release games in the future.

One way or the other it's a good way to, in the least, make an effort to solve future problems.

So, to completely condemn it simply because it may not solve one immediate problem, doesn't reflect on what future problems it may help to prevent.

A bad product should be petitioned. As a consumer, you should have the right to provide your feedback. And that's exactly what the petition is in essence.

[Crowseye]

For me it matters not what order it goes in. Uplay with or without steam is a problem for me and many other comsumers. And not all of us have the time, or access to research materials before purchasing every single product we buy from the many companies that we purchase things from. Most of the Uplay products I have purchased were not on steam. Yet, Uplay still caused me nothing but headaches. Most of these products didn't have a "warning: bloatware" posted on them either.

It shouldn't bother you, from the outside, that people petition bloatware like Uplay. If you would like to help people refine their criteria for an acceptable solution, do that. Otherwise, you're just being pointlessly critical, and behaving benevolently whilst you also exhibit "useless" behavior.

Pointing your finger at people and calling them stupid is also a pretty moot practice.

[rojimboo]

Speaking of the petition - what happened to it?

Also - anyone who thinks Uplay is the major problem with this game is quite wrong. The game itself was broken for most of the time of its release for Nvidia users, nevermind the dozens of serious gameplay bugs like the dynasty weapons mana cost bug. Uplay has nothing to do with those. So at least rage at the right target - Ubisoft and the original developers of the game.

[Crowseye]

Just search for the petition in steam forums. They made a topic that shows where they moved it to. It wasn't removed by steam or anything, they just decided to bring it to a bigger audience on the web and remove it from steam. Actually, I'll just not be lazy and search it for ya, just a sec...

[Crowseye]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/48220/discussions/0/810924133936797598/

[Segovax]

Originally posted by rojimboo:

Speaking of the petition - what happened to it?

Also - anyone who thinks Uplay is the major problem with this game is quite wrong. The game itself was broken for most of the time of its release for Nvidia users, nevermind the dozens of serious gameplay bugs like the dynasty weapons mana cost bug. Uplay has nothing to do with those. So at least rage at the right target - Ubisoft and the original developers of the game.

Uplay is to Ubisoft as Origin is to EA. It's their digital distribution platform.

The problem with Uplay is that up until a certain point, every single Uplay enabled game made by Ubisoft required an Internet connection and if you lost link, you were kicked. Assassins Creed 2 was actually patched to save your game if you were dropped from Uplay - and yes, the Uplay servers would go poop just plenty often enough with players Internet connections just fine, so it definitely was a problem. There were plenty of games lost because CONNECTION TO CONFLUX LOST FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Uplay is as crap a platform as Ubi is a developer. I'm not a fan of Origin or EA but they look like paragons of virtue next to the dimwits involved with this debacle.

That HOMM VI was a crap game from design and coding perspectives just compounded the issues.

[Statue]

Originally posted by Crowseye:

Just search for the petition in steam forums. They made a topic that shows where they moved it to. It wasn't removed by steam or anything, they just decided to bring it to a bigger audience on the web and remove it from steam. Actually, I'll just not be lazy and search it for ya, just a sec...

Not sure removing the original thread was a good idea. Plenty of people that signed that won't be randomly searching for a new petition to sign online, a thread about it, or anything to do with the issue as what they know is: there was a petition, they signed it, they had and have no reason to assume it would get removed or that they'd need to go looking for a replacement one at a later unspecified date... the only reason I'm aware of it is due to having posted in *this* thread earlier and seeing these updates in it today that happened to mention and direct to the new petition, and given this thread is relatively tiny, that fortunate set of circumstances won't be falling on many of the people that signed the original petition that has gone.

There was around 2500 signatures on the original petition there that have been wiped out of existence. Most of the people having signed it will be unaware that it's even gone. The new one on change org has just topped 100. I'm sure it'll get more, but to me removing the original one just threw away a bunch of signatures without ensuring that those having signed it would be aware of any requirement on their part to sign a new one in order to show support for it.

[Crowseye]

Actually, come to think of it, after reviewing the changes of the petition, and seeing the direction it's gone toward, I'm inclined to agree with those who are annoyed at it at this point.

I signed the original, out of annoyance at Uplay. Wishing for a change in the Uplay "scheme."

But I don't want steam to remove all my Ubisoft games because HOMM doesn't work, I don't even own that game. I read about it first, hence my not purchasing it. I have a lot of games that use Uplay that I love. I wish they would remove Uplay, but I still want my games nonetheless. So, I won't be "re-joining" the petition.

It appears to me, with the 100 votes it has now, and the updated ridiculous demands it's asking for, that it's basically just gonna sit there and rot. I want a change, but not like that.

They need to make a better solution than what they're demanding. Oh well. *shrug*