..just another open letter to Luthier, Oleg and 1C

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Yet this "Huge Fan" can't be bothered to support this game financially. While there's merit in your words, I think the opinion just lost any weight. Go buy the game, then continue your criticisms...

That's your assumption. I bought every single edition of Maddox Games IL-2 series, also have CoD, just don't have the rig for it.

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by Chivas

I thought Maddox games has been letting us know where they stand. I know they have been working almost 24/7 to improve performance, fix bugs, and canceled their May holidays. They hoped to have another patch this week, but I figure its quite obvious that they've run into some technical difficulties, and doesn't require an immediate update.

"don't really appreciate your patronizing attitude anymore" doesn't sound that constructive either.

Chivas, you have been around long enough to know that things have been like this for YEARS.

The (in)famous "the patch will be out in two weeks" pun is legend on the IL-2 related forums, they never made an effort to make their comms more effective. I know they're rushing, but if they want to be taken as a serious gaming company they need to get down from their "we're simulation rockstars" pedestal and interact with the community more, and I'm not necessarily talking about questions and answers, cos it can wear you off over time, I'd be very happy with a one way regular output, i.e. "these are our long term plans, as things are now this is our potential, we're looking for these things, we don't need these other things; these are our short term plans, etc.."

Many people came to the conclusion that we bought a late beta and that we're helping them tweaking it before the release to the US market, but that's just an assumption, nobody ever bothered saying "sorry, we kinda screwed up, we delivered an incomplete product because our distributor is a pain in the ass, but hey, we're working on fixing things", instead we get quick updates, with swift and sometimes sarcastic explanations of what has been fixed (an example is the explanation of the instrument flicker thing, where many of us people with flying experience said "nice, but it's overdone" and the reply we get on the patch is "Replaced every tachometer in every British and Italian plane with an electrical type, since some people find needle movement on the mechanical type not what they expected." )

To me it looks like the work of someone that doesn't wanna be there, but has to and leaves sarcastic comments based on his frustration.

I know it's probably not the case, but the sarcasm doesn't really make things better.


As for the patronising, it's always been like that, and I'm sorry if my comment doesn't help, but the guys have been proven wrong several times and never admitted it or apologised. Again don't get me wrong, I love what they do, but the guys really need to make an effort to come out and talk about the fantastic features of the sim.

Little gems like the machine gun tapes coming off on spits and hurris after you shoot, or the plane's paint wearing off as you proceed your career are things that should be highlighted on and on because that's what makes the difference between what they do and the rest of the crap that is out there.

[von Pilsner]

Originally Posted by synti

That kind of caught my eye too... People who have supported the game financially get called trolls for speaking out their frustration, but praising the devs whether owning the game or not seems allways be +100.

This is a strange, strange forum...

You hit the nail on the head, sir!

It's a great start, but the forum ought to be a place where fans can voice their concerns and criticisms to help the devs know what aspects of the game to work on.

[Skiiwa]

They ARE working their butts off as far as I can tell. Game gets better every other patch or so I would wrather get 1 messge from Luthier than 10 messges from a PR agent.

Just my 2 cents.

Chris

[Chivas]

We know the long term plan is much the same as IL-2. Develop most of the major air theaters of WW2. They have also hinted that the sim can go as far as a combined forces sim, but thats a long way off.

We know the short term plan is the finish COD.

We know the game was forced out the door before it was ready. UBI/IC/Maddox games aren't stupid enough to release the game in this condition with the unprecedented poor publicity that would entail, unless it was absolutely necessary.


Yes, UBI/IC/Maddox games could have been honest and let everyone know that the state of the game before it was released, but that also could have curtailed enough sales that the sim would have to be canceled anyway.

Personally I much prefer beta testing COD now than having the game canceled. Yes its a pain, but there is enough usable content to keep me entertained as the updates improve sim. Atleast its much more entertaining than never having COD, or waiting for the next sim from Gaijin, Microsoft, Micropose, Rowan, or 777 Studios.

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by Rattlehead

Communication can be better, but it's a double edged sword in a way.

I agree that it would not hurt one bit for Luthier to quickly pop on here and say: "Sorry, no patch this weekend...very busy right now...got to run."

But on the other hand, do we expect him to lay out a roadmap for the next two or three months? That can get messy.
If he commits himself to saying that (for example) engine sounds will be implemented in the next two months, people are going to consider that written in stone and hold him to that.
Then some problem crops up, maybe something nothing related to sound, but it puts the schedule behind by a few weeks.
Then people start compaining that they were lied to, that this game will never be finished etc.
You know how it goes.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Rattlehead, these guys aren't doing this in their spare time, they're doing it as a job and they're expected to have a roadmap and respect the promises they do. It's a hobby for us, not for them. The sounds example is classic, they haven't made any comments on it AT ALL, that's simply unacceptable.

[the Dutchman]

Just thinking out loud;
I think it's above their heads,they ran into the border of their and/or the game's abilities...
Does the Ubisite also already approve mod threads?
If so i think they gave up,it's not even out yet in the USA,just my thoughts...

[Rattlehead]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

Rattlehead, these guys aren't doing this in their spare time, they're doing it as a job and they're expected to have a roadmap and respect the promises they do. It's a hobby for us, not for them. The sounds example is classic, they haven't made any comments on it AT ALL, that's simply unacceptable.

Yeah, I must admit that after reading your posts on this thread a few times over (for clarity) your point makes sense.
It would be comforting to know what the score is (pardon the pun) on the sound issue, that being one of many examples.

[Luftrofl]

Originally Posted by Skiiwa

They ARE working their butts off as far as I can tell. Game gets better every other patch or so I would wrather get 1 messge from Luthier than 10 messges from a PR agent.

Just my 2 cents.

Chris

Another example of "game works fine for me anyone angry is a whiner".

Have you really managed to overlook all the guys having WORSE performance after the patches?

[Luftrofl]

Originally Posted by Chivas

We know the game was forced out the door before it was ready. UBI/IC/Maddox games aren't stupid enough to release the game in this condition with the unprecedented poor publicity that would entail, unless it was absolutely necessary.


Yes, UBI/IC/Maddox games could have been honest and let everyone know that the state of the game before it was released, but that also could have curtailed enough sales that the sim would have to be canceled anyway.

I for one would have given them more money by buying a box edition in addition to downloading if they had been up front about the condition. I doubt that I'm alone. Instead though, they pretty much hid how bad it was and launched it as a finished product. This move cut down dramatically on the respect I have for them.

I'm sure the game will be fixed in time. My issue is with them not coming clean beforehand as well as the terrible PR afterwards. I KNOW they are not too busy to log in at least once a week and give an update on patches.