Originally Posted by
XtrmJosh
Please watch your manner when making statements like this. You're effectively calling us liars and swearing at us. It's really not appreciated. Anyway, to defend against your onslaught...
We are working on it. I don't see what more I can do to prove this, but if you'd like we can stick some screenshots up... It doesn't really look any different, there will be a few new features since more information can be obtained from the client, and there are bits and pieces here that will come.
It will be released soon. If we do not release it "soon", we will not have anything which can actually be used. It's highly unlikely that CIP will maintain the old client after the winter update, so we are on a very tight timeframe.
The latest details are crucial. Every time CIP released an update it has been a huge rework of certain features... Examples are the new hotkeys, changes to battle list, and other big things. While they may look small to you, restructuring the battle list in such a way adds all sorts of data which needs to be debugged and analysed in order that we understand what it is for - we then have to consider the hacks we might have to implement in order to stop the bot from breaking if a user has their battle list filtered, or we have to address the fact that for instance sending text might require us to first press the enter button, depending on the chat toggle state, etc. The updates break everything, and it takes a long time to fix that.
We are testing some final features. When Lucas first gave us a beta build of the bot, it came with new features, and existing features were broken. We have had to very carefully step through what each of the changes means and work out if it is functional or not. Further to that, we have a huge library of pre-existing scripts. If the functionality of the client changes, we need to ensure that the changes which we make don't break any of those existing scripts. Treading carefully here is hugely important as shortcuts will make life harder in the long run. Not just for us, for everyone from scripters to end-users.
We will release when we can. We originally said we hope to have a build out within a week, then the hotkey update came (or one big update, at least). This held us up a lot as you seem not to be able to imagine. Following that, as mentioned, were other updates which just broke everything. Then there were patches on the old client, which meant the old bot needed updating... If we were here to piss people off, yes, we would wait intentionally to the last minute before releasing. We are not. We are here to serve customers, and it does not make any sense for us not to deliver unless we know that you would be disappointed with the product as-is.
Also, yes, this is a job for us. When Lucas originally said he would try release something within a week, he started to make plans to recover his social life after spending the best part of the year upgrading WindBot for the new client. When the updates came for Tibia 11, he has had to once again set his social life aside and crack on for his customers. Such is life. He takes it very seriously, and us moderators take our job very seriously. We have, after all, constantly posted updates with progress - while we say very soon, we do feel like the new version is almost ready for release, but it's those details which are often the biggest problem.
Software companies recommend that you don't use old Java versions for security reasons, mostly. This is inherited from the fact that a lot of them are US based, and if you put a security hole on someones computer in the states, they will take you to court for every penny you have. This is a bot, for an MMORPG. There are very few "security flaws" as it is a significantly smaller product than, for instance, Java. The vast majority of people are actually very reluctant to upgrade to new versions of software because it often breaks backwards compatibility. It is only thanks to the huge effort that's gone into WindBot that you would actually trust to use a new version upon release.
Finally, I'll say this. We have never lied, and we continue to try our best - we never promised a delivery date because we never knew we could keep to it. We are happy to take criticism where it is appropriate, but we are not happy to be insulted for things so insignificant when what we are trying to prevent is effectively a major catastrophe. There will still be bugs in the final release, and you should be aware of this before you eventually use it, but we are working to provide the most stable product we can with the functionality and quality you've come to expect. The journey will be difficult, but I can assure you this is the place where it will go most smoothly of all.
There is one other thing which we really need to consider. If we release the new version tomorrow. Let's say 12/11/16. What happens when 60% of players switch to using the new client on the same day? What do CIP learn from this, and what happens to all your accounts? I can tell you now the answer is that they see that the biggest bot on the market was updated, and they delete everyone. I'm not saying that they will, but there is a high probability that they will start to watch all of us and pick us off over the coming weeks. There are ways to work around this, most of which involve a gradual release over the course of a week or 2. We are not only having to deal with the complexities of a new client, but also we have to plan to avoid the potential negative impact to our customers.
