@meroviel [Mod Edit]
Hit registration is not a "key priority for the team". If it was, it wouldn't be a known issue for as long as it has. As a software developer with 10 years experience, if I created a bug that made customers like the software less and it took me this long to figure out how to undo it, I would have been let go a long time ago. Plain and simple. This is why development teams have code repositories, where they can go back to previous versions and check what the difference is. This issue was introduced in a particular patch a long time ago. Hit registration was practically perfect before that, as it should be.
I see three possibilities here:
- The current developers do not have the expertise to solve the problem. Maybe an original developer who wrote the code has left the company and nobody remaining on the team understands how it works. It's a relatively common problem. Programmers hate writing documentation. I get it, but this is why it's important. Either hire the previous person back or find someone more qualified.
- This is not actually a priority to management. The development team is able to push out hotfixes for horribly broken tall tale mechanics in a matter of days or even hours, when it suits them. Hiring developers is expensive and their time is spent wisely where the money is, aka tall tale sponsors and the Pirate Emporium. I believe this scenario is most likely.
- This change was 100% necessary for some other reason, but had this side effect, with no apparent workaround. Ok fine, but if you haven't figured out the solution by now, then own up to it. It's working as designed. Sacrificing one thing for another is a design choice.
Either Rare is unqualified, indifferent, or naïve on this particular issue. Don't get me wrong though. I like Rare and I love this game. I just hit 100 days played. I just know that they can do better. Either spend more resources to fix the issue or stop calling it a bug and own up to it as "working as designed".