FTP Answers 6/7

[FTPDoug]

For reference, previous answers thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=9996307

First, some notes on today's update:

1. The first thing you'll probably notice is the addition of time banks. Not that I need to say this, but post any issues you see with this feature. One difference from other sites is that you always have to manually press the Time button to activate your time bank, it will never activate automatically. So multi-tablers watch out for that. For those of you worried that the addition of time banks means fewer hands per hour, let's take a look at note #2.

2. Hands are dealt faster and the "standard" decision time is shorter (the time before the game beeps at you and starts counting down your rainbow). The "feel" of the game should be pretty much the same as you're used to, we tried to only make subtle changes. Hopefully the games are no slower with both 1 and 2 together, and if you get a bunch of fast players together it should be a decently faster paced game.

3. If you need your poker even faster but hated our speed tables, they now have animation! It's fast animation, but it's there. If you couldn't stand the "jerkiness" of the no animation speed tables, give these new ones a shot. They're still just for limit hold'em games, but if people think they would play well at NL I wouldn't mind putting a few in as an experiment. Also, speed tables are different from regular tables in a new important way: They don't have disconnect time banks. Which brings us to...

4. Disconnect time banks. Totally separate from your regular time banks, this is a global time bank that only gets activated if you lose your connection. You can check your disconnect time bank balance from the "Requests" menu.

Those are the obvious things in the update. There are also a number of login security enhancements (mostly groundwork for what's to come), a "Register Now" button from the main tournament lobby, and hopefully some more performance improvements (we're still working on a more complete performance solution). And there are a couple of more minor changes scattered around.

On to the (mostly older) questions:

1. What are your thoughts on the fairly large bot thread (Mr. Gatorade etc etc...)?

- I'm no expert, but I've seen some of the evidence, and it looks damning to me. I can't publicly share that evidence, but I'd be willing to provide someone like Mike Haven with a sample of what we have and he can post his opinion.

2. LAG LAG LAG LAG LAG

- The bad news is that it's probably not fixed for those of you experiencing it (although some improvements have been made). The "meh" news is that we're still working on it. The good news is that now with disconnect time banks you shouldn't get folded out of a big pot because of it.

3. Anybody have table stealing focus issues? Mine seem to steal focus even when the cards are being dealt.

- I think that's an issue with PokerAce HUD, actually. I've heard people say that this happens with PAHUD running and doesn't happen when they shut it down. Maybe this has already been fixed, I don't know. Josh probably knows.

4. 2/4 and 3/6 HU razz please

- Done.

5. Please change the "Highlight Bet Amount" behavior. I understand that people were previously upset that the betting window was stealing focus while they were trying to chat. This is obviously an annoyance. Now, however, I have to click in that box every time I want to type a bet unless I've made another window on my desktop the focus since I last bet.

- Yeah, we're definitely going to fix this. Unfortunately, I don't know when it will get in, as other monster projects have taken priority (see http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/the-big-project for a taste). I'll keep bugging people until it's in.

6. Any chance you could add $33 & $55 - 45person SNG's ???

- Maybe!

7. Also...how about a time bank for those of us who actually like to think our actions though.

- Okay.

8. God no

- Whoops, sorry.

Doug