Although I do +1 Phil's post, I am not at the stage of throwing in the towel just yet.
I do feel aggrieved that so-long after it's initial release we are still at Alpha/Beta patch release to try and fix the release day issues.
It does also grate with me that while players have been waiting to get a stable version of the release day software, 1C proudly talk about/advertise the new software they want us to buy.
The sad thing is most of us are here because of the rose tinted glasses we have for IL2:1946, which is still going strong due to TD, but UP and HSFX Mods have made the online servers a niche place where on occasion, one Mod pack will work on one Server and so people can't be bothered to switch. The old-days where everyone could join any server as the patch numbers were the same has sadly long-gone!
So now the online WW2 playing community is looking for the next great thing and CloD promised/promises to be that.
It seems a lot of the crashes I read about are online though and once-more this means the online community is suffering.
I have posted before that loading up 1946 and taking a flight in a large battle at 10000m, with contrails all around, made me grin like a Cheshire Cat and I hope that one-day I'll fly a P-47 or Mustang in CloD on an escort mission.
My irritation at 1C is the prolonged wait to even get the initial release stable, when we already know it shouldn't have been launched.
If anyone remembers the original IL2, just look at how many missions and options and aircraft came with that. I mean 31 flyable aircraft and 40 non-flyable!
Compare that to CloD. Yes I realise that the detail is much greater but after the development time I would have hoped for a few more aircraft and one of them NOT a G.50!!! So many aircraft that took part in BoB and we get a G.50?
Anyway, as we have sat and waited for the next (if you build it they will come) patch hopes get raised that we can touch the nirvana of IL2 and then once more they are dashed on the concrete runway.
I honestly feel that once the launcher issues have been fixed.....that's it until the BoM. If they can stop the game CTD, then they will say "the players are satisfied and now we can let them have the features we promised in the original.....by paying for the sequel!"
Now hand on heart, I am stupid enough/brave enough to actually buy the sequel as I want to fly the best simulator out there. There isn't a sim (ww2 of-course) that can touch the level of detail. Honestly the first time I hit some Hydraulics on an enemy aircraft and the undercarriage started to lower....and then I burst the tyre, I realised that this was the detail I wanted.
The thing is, if they are spending most of their time creating the 'new' BoM and making sure it includes the dynamic weather, the fixes, the extras, the blah, blah, blah, well I don't think that there is any reason not to give it a 'punt'.
I am concious and aware though, that for me that will be last-chance saloon for 1C in my book. If it doesn't include those features, if it doesn't fix all that they promised, then that will be it. How can you trust a company that takes your money and doesn't provide what it said it will. I think too that there would be recourse as it would surely be a case of obtaining money by deception?
However, it's not done yet, the patch is not complete, the BoM is not complete........nothing is complete?
I will be greatly annoyed though if the main bug fix that really does fix everything, just happens to come along at the right time for it all to work nicely with the BoM update...that would be a stroke of sheer coincidence....surely?
However, for now I can play the waiting game. I have IL2, I am Beta testing War Thunder, I have other games i can play but I also have CloD, installed on my hard drive, waiting for the next patch and although the wait will hurt.....what else can i do? Moaning and winging about it wont make a patch come any quicker, it'll just make me frustrated for longer.
So, I'll wait for the patch and I will buy BoM but I think deep down that is because 1C have me on "The Hook"
http://fliiby.com/file/857807/9dcf8jxqdg.html
I will however be honest (why not) and say that tree and lensman do have my upmost support, because as much as I am a lover of the 1C creation, I do think there is so-much more that could have been done to stop so much animosity.
MP