Carbonite 5.0

[pagandenma]

If you volunteer to do something, you don’t just drop the ball without an earth-shattering emergency on your hands. Otherwise, people will go elsewhere. I’ve volunteered many a time in my 40+ years of life and have done so now with my being my Guild’s GM. I replaced the old GM, who was leaving the game with his wife due to real-life issues and was wise enough to not simply let a then 4 ½ year old Guild simply die.

Even in game, Blizzard gives rights for a Guild to eject their Guild’s GM if they’re not on for 30 days. That’s ONE month, not several. And we GM’s don’t even get to solicit contributions to help us run the Guild; I know I give my time completely free (and I do it gladly; we’re a fun bunch!).

I was facing the possibility of being off WoW for a good chunk of time due to surgery, among other things. I called a Guild Officers meeting, kept everyone informed, and made sure I had people lined up to help me out if it was needed. It could have been very different if I’d had complications. But if that had been the case, I had backup – my excellent officer team for the Guild.

That’s how you run a volunteer project. I have 5 people other than me on my Guild leadership team. Don’t be stubborn about getting some more help for the project! Get some new blood and let them help you help the community. You and Carbonite will both be better for it.

[ezarra]

Originally Posted by carboniteaddon I did not know a patch was released, since no one actually said that in the emails. I don't play WoW anymore except for testing the addon.

*BOGGLE*

People I know who don't play WoW and have *never* played WoW know about Mists of Pandaria. Seriously, you didn't know?

Wow. Just… Wow.

[jc2470]

He said they didnt know it was patched, not that he didnt know about pandaria. I would assume that most of these people hating on the author are kids, I cant honestly believe an adult would be acting this way. I dont find anything rude in what he said, he simply stated it was there work, and didnt want anyone messing with it, and didnt ask anyone to mess with it, therefore a thank you isnt in order. Those that are saying rythals was working better, I beg to differ, I been using it since the first day and updated it with his following fixes and it never did work as good as it did pre 5.0.4 till the author just fixed it. Maybe u guys are messing up your installation by copying the other files to the old folder? I deleted old folders all together and put the new ones in, and everything is working great.

My map and cursor follows correctly now, zones i was having issues where it would be way off are fixed now, Distances to the quest in those zones are fixed now.

[Grewe02]

I would gladly pay to download this addon; that is, if it worked. When 5.0 patched and Carbonite didn't work, this is the first place I came. Not to curse to fix bartender, recount, or omen, but here to fix Carbonite. I was so disappointed to find that it had been abandoned by the author. Then I read in the forums about Rythal and his updated version. I downloaded it and tested it. After a day of using it, I was sold. Know what I did? I sent Rythal $10. Know what Rythal did? He emailed me and said thank you. That is how customer service is supposed to work.

I have used Carbonite for years. I don't remember exactly how long I've been using it, but I would have to guess since about 2008, maybe 2007. Like all others have said, it was buggy every time I downloaded a new version, but I still enjoyed using it. If Rythal doesn't make another update when the next patch comes out, I will be very sad. And like I said before, I would love to pay for this addon to be maintained. If it comes down to it, make a deal with the community to pay 1% of all donations to the original authors for creating the addon, and the 99% of the donations to the maintainer who fixes it.

[Grewe02]

Originally Posted by jc2470 He said they didnt know it was patched, not that he didnt know about pandaria. I would assume that most of these people hating on the author are kids, I cant honestly believe an adult would be acting this way. I dont find anything rude in what he said, he simply stated it was there work, and didnt want anyone messing with it, and didnt ask anyone to mess with it, therefore a thank you isnt in order. Those that are saying rythals was working better, I beg to differ, I been using it since the first day and updated it with his following fixes and it never did work as good as it did pre 5.0.4 till the author just fixed it. Maybe u guys are messing up your installation by copying the other files to the old folder? I deleted old folders all together and put the new ones in, and everything is working great. My map and cursor follows correctly now, zones i was having issues where it would be way off are fixed now, Distances to the quest in those zones are fixed now.

I am 29 years old, have served in the military for 8 years, got out went to school and now hold a full time job supporting my family. Definitely not a child.

[jc2470]

If u are not complaining like a small little kid then it probably doesnt pertain to u. If u are then it is what it is.
Basically what most of these people are saying is, since it is digital property the developers have no claim to it, or they should just disregard all the work they put into it, and give it away. The Site says they have over 5000 hours into the project. That would be the same thing as someone giving me a old car, and all the stuff to restore it to new, or better than new for free, not costing me a single dime. I restore the car myself only costing me my own time, I leave the car sitting in a field and do nothing with it, so that car should be up for grabs for whoever wants it, because I wasnt doing anything with it. or better yet feel they are free to take parts off the car, because after all its just sitting there i havent touched it.

That sounds like something my little brother would do, or think he should be entitled to, since i wasnt doing anything with it, and thats only because he is a immature, selfish, spoiled little kid.

[Ashamam]

My view is the disconnect here is between the authors intentions with the original add-on and Blizzards intentions for addons. Clearly the authors do not see this as a community project. That is their right. Its also a missed opportunity for the authors to show their generous side but it certainly is their inarguable right.

But since this is a community website lets talk about community solutions.

TBH most of the functionality of carbonite can be obtained through other addons, especially with the work Blizzard has done in game.

For me I make do with the following.

Mapster - Scalable World Map
Pocketplot - Minimap makeover
Minimap Button Frame - Manage those pesky buttons
Gathermate 2 - Up-to date gather node locations
Routes - Node pathing - (A bit flaky in 5.04 - not sure on maintenance activity, but imo its actually better than carbonite when it does work)
MiniHuge HUD - The key to efficient gathering, puts routes and the minimap nodes front and centre.
Who Framed Watcher Wabbit - The best quest tracker mod imo. Relies on Blizzard quest automation, but thats probably a good thing as I have yet to see an alternative that either works reliably or is updated through patches.
TomTomLite - I actually find this a better alternative to the full tom-tom - This one 'just works'.
Altoholic - keeping track of alts.
Breadcrumbs - The past defines the future.

I don't pvp so I suspect there might be some gaps in alternatives for that side functionality.

Out of all the above routes is the only one that is worrying me atm, its a key part of the package.

I would love it if someone came up with an efficient mod that handled the zooming maps side of things, preferably complete with blobs! Big ask I know but whoever does it will immediately be in the 10's of thousands of downloads territory.

[Chmee]

Hm. Just downloaded most of these. Haven't tested yet, but...

Mapster - Should do
Pocketplot - probably conflicts with nUI
Minimap Button Frame - Almost certainly conflicts with nUI, which has this functionality built in
Gathermate 2 - Should do (I've used it before)
Routes - I hope this works for me. If not, I'll hope for an update.
MiniHuge HUD - Interesting. Don't think it'll work with nUI, but we'll see.
Who Framed Watcher Wabbit - I haven't tested any, but I was intrigued by screenshots of Sorhaquestlog on Ace the other day, so I'll try 'em both.
TomTomLite - Unfortunately, there's some stuff in TomTom that isn't in here (at least not yet) that I want
Altoholic - Already using this.

In case it's not clear , if it doesn't work with nUI, it's out.

[Agent Smith]

Originally Posted by jc2470 If u are not complaining like a small little kid then it probably doesnt pertain to u. If u are then it is what it is. Basically what most of these people are saying is, since it is digital property the developers have no claim to it, or they should just disregard all the work they put into it, and give it away. The Site says they have over 5000 hours into the project. That would be the same thing as someone giving me a old car, and all the stuff to restore it to new, or better than new for free, not costing me a single dime. I restore the car myself only costing me my own time, I leave the car sitting in a field and do nothing with it, so that car should be up for grabs for whoever wants it, because I wasnt doing anything with it. or better yet feel they are free to take parts off the car, because after all its just sitting there i havent touched it. That sounds like something my little brother would do, or think he should be entitled to, since i wasnt doing anything with it, and thats only because he is a immature, selfish, spoiled little kid.

Ok if we go with your scenario, then at least be accurate. The little brother donated his money for you to fix that car with the agreement we could drive it. But now you left that car sitting in the field until it rusted over, and you're complaining that you don't have time to fix it anymore, and you don't make anything off of fixing it. So we find a mechanic to fix the car and you freak out because it's your car. Well, yes, it's your car but we just found someone to fix it for you for free. That means you don't have to slave over it, and you and your little brother get to drive it.

And since you're questioning the ages of people posting here, I'm 29 and a graphic designer. I understand copyright infringement and intellectual property theft all too well. I also understand that when opportunities arise that could help you and many people who depend on you, you don't spit in the face of the person or people offering you the help.

[hawk1178]

Faatal, I wanted to thank you for attempting to do an update for the addon. I live by carbonite and when it did go down I very much considered whether I would continue the game. I absolutely hate the in game one. I was greatly appreciative of Rythal's update to keep it running. I can understand, especially since you have left the game, that you did not get an update up quickly. I do hope you fix the problems with your update, and get it back up and running. Thank you again.

[Violentdlite]

thank u so much for the update i am so happy to have Carbonite back Faatal u r awesome

[vixenkitsune]

yay finally carbonite is back and i am oh so happy thank you thank you for bringing it back, please keep it up to date as mop is about to come out i really dont want play without carbonite it just makes things more enjoyable. the two mini maps makes life so much easier i love it. please keep up the great work.

[schizophrena]

Originally Posted by Agent Smith Ok if we go with your scenario, then at least be accurate. The little brother donated his money for you to fix that car with the agreement we could drive it. But now you left that car sitting in the field until it rusted over, and you're complaining that you don't have time to fix it anymore, and you don't make anything off of fixing it. So we find a mechanic to fix the car and you freak out because it's your car. Well, yes, it's your car but we just found someone to fix it for you for free. That means you don't have to slave over it, and you and your little brother get to drive it. And since you're questioning the ages of people posting here, I'm 29 and a graphic designer. I understand copyright infringement and intellectual property theft all too well. I also understand that when opportunities arise that could help you and many people who depend on you, you don't spit in the face of the person or people offering you the help.

A couple of problems with your analogy. 1) The big brother (Carbonite) never accepted the little brothers (the users) donations (I use the word donation - not subscription) under the stipulation that they would drive the car. The big brother bought the car, fixed it, enhanced it and now let it sit in a field. Little brother comes along, contracts out (or does it himself) to have the car fixed a certain way. Big brother has two options - be thankful that little brother did a lot of work and big brother can use it. *or* be upset because big brother didn't want anyone else touching or restoring that car, it was *HIS* project and passion. Now, in both the automobile and the software examples, many people would absolutely hate for others to work on "their baby" - their project. I know of a few people who have run down vehicles that they have as a project to fix up "some day", they aren't fixing it up today, but if someone went in and fixed it up for them, they would be pissed off.

Now in terms of Carbonite, I don't believe they were furious at the fan update. But they want the users (community) to understand it is still their baby and they have not asked for another person to take it up and update it. I haven't seen where they have berated Rythal specifically for continuing the addon.

[Agent Smith]

I get that their license says they don't guarantee we can use it etc etc. However, what keeps people donating to their project is the fact that it's something we use on a regular basis and wish to show our support for the continued support and development of it.

That said, it seems like a pretty clear if unwritten understanding, we get to drive the car. And no, they didn't exactly berate Rythal, but I maintain my point that neither did they thank him or take advantage of an opportunity to lighten the load from their clearly full plates, by bringing him in on it. I'm a graphic designer and the one thing I live by is "don't marry it." Yes, I may have taken on a project. Yes, I may have worked on it for a long time to get it to where it is. But in the end, it's about making the client happy. That means taking feed back, sometimes taking on extra help from a colleague, and above all else showing appreciation to the client and to the person that helped me finish out the project.

If they had talked to Rythal, they could have released their official release minus the bugs that people are reporting again and focused instead on what Rythal was still working on. Pride and closed mindedness in conjunction with short snarky answers are just turning people away to find addons to replace Carbonite. I think in very short order donations and download will slow to a crawl, and then they WILL just stop developing it. There were a ton of people just waiting to donate if the creators made an official announcement that they were going to continue updating. Now those same people are renouncing carbonite and listing addons to replace it. For want of politeness the kingdom was lost...

[MADhase]

Now what's that?? Its not working for me... replaced all folders and it just stops working while logging in.. Error error... off...

Why didnt you continue Rythals work??? RYTHAL!!!!

[Meganbtoo]

Originally Posted by lindawing Goodness, yes! Agreeing with Animalm4st3r! This is the best add-on I've ever used, and I'm just happy that this team has chosen to keep up with it. I've been very happy, in the meantime, for the fan update that has been provided to fill in the gap, because I was NOT having fun finding several different programs to do just half of what Carbonite does for the game! Thank you, development team, for a wonderful add-on, and thank you over and over again for going on with it, now!

To you and all the scrawlers - this addon has been updated, without errors by someone over the last few weks. The only reason the original authors shifted off their butts was to hope you would send money - their only concern. I have managed to find addons to replace theirs, using less memory so I will not be back, but I look forward to the one the guy who managed to make this work far faster than the original guys creates. Don't forget - when this was created you had to pay for it, until Blizzard stopped the leeches. That is why they take so long to maintain it every patch - they do not get the one thing they care for - money ^^

[Rooboy]

As always you guys have done an awesome job updating the addon.
Thanks
Rooboy
Purgatory - Tich

[failcon]

I have enjoyed this add-on for a while. I have thought about donating with each patch, but every time there is a delay for an update, and lil response/replies from the authors about those waits or bugs. I have no issue with someone claiming intellectual property and donating for such, but you have to also honor those whom you want money from.

If the task has become either more than you can handle or you are so far removed from the game as to be unable to timely and effectively maintain the add-on, then you either need to open it to the community, which has paid you, or add someone to your staff who still has a vested intrest in the game and will keep your team appraised of upcoming changes.

This is a loved add-on by many and improving the response time to patches and to the community will only further serve to increase donations from those like me who are willing but reluctant.

[ABURECALL]

Originally Posted by carboniteaddon It is our addon. We did not ask, nor do we want someone else modding it. I won't tell you to work for free or give your property away, so please don't tell us what we should do with our property. I think my answers have been direct and to the point, but that is just my opinion.

Did you even read the thread where Rythal told everyone to STILL send YOU the donations? His "FAN UPDATE" shows he was a dedicated player with good coding knowledge. Did you try even looking at what he did before you came up with your own update? Good coders never reinvent the wheel when writing code. He still gave you all credit and wanted you all to continue making money off of Carbonite so he has been instrumental in keeping Carbonite going. He does deserve your thanks.

[kindbuddy]

Originally Posted by Meganbtoo To you and all the scrawlers - this addon has been updated, without errors by someone over the last few weks. The only reason the original authors shifted off their butts was to hope you would send money - their only concern. I have managed to find addons to replace theirs, using less memory so I will not be back, but I look forward to the one the guy who managed to make this work far faster than the original guys creates. Don't forget - when this was created you had to pay for it, until Blizzard stopped the leeches. That is why they take so long to maintain it every patch - they do not get the one thing they care for - money ^^

Most of your comments regarding author simply shows how most of you simply feel entitled and can't see past that. All you're doing by berating author and cheering Rythal is creating a huge rift. Now you're putting the author in the awkward position where he's updating an addon for a user base who is throwing him under the bus. I wish most of you would've shut up and waited patiently for an update. Put things into perspective...... you all were complaining about not being able to use an addon when MoP isn't even out yet. Rythal is right. You guys have to have your carbonite like "crack", and when you don't, you react like addicts and become rude and forceful like you've shown towards the author.