The Great Big Rant Thread

[HotLipsHRonaldReagan]

With the impending expansion pack, I feel it necessary to begin this thread for some valuable (and hopefully used) feedback regarding the MOW series.

Let me start off by saying, your game is fantastic! There are a lot of subtle touches that make this my favorite RTS game. The sloping system in tank battles, the destructible buildings and even the fog of war are all, dare I say, unique and unheard of when this game was released. Unfortunately, so was your paltry matchmaking system, almost non-existent support and the most egregious distribution system I have ever turned my nose up to.

When I purchased MOW, I went through Gamers Gate. I must say that was lucky for me, since it seemed that the game wasn't released in stores until well after I had been playing and those who bought from stores got their patches incredibly late due to Aspyr(?), the distributor in the USA. I still am not even sure who actually produced the game, Digitalmindsoft or 1C. I know there may be some red tape due to the fact that the game was not developed in the US but come on. How many distributors and developers do you actually have? Or need?? Maybe a little consolidating for the next title release may be in order. Now, I have no idea how to run a company such as yours. I really don't. But, I can tell you that the way it was run when I began playing this game was frustrating to say the least and probably turned off a significant amount of people who could have swelled your fan base to record proportions. Think of your customers before your wallets and the first will take care of the latter.

Now, the matchmaking system. You'll find that people tire very easily of the single player missions and you may get more bang for your buck if you stopped releasing expansion packs before you fix what you already have. If Gamespy isn't working out for you, perhaps it's time to sever ties. So far, you are one of two titles I am required to host my own game on and while I know it's to no fault of your own that high pings and performance go hand-in-hand with unplayable lag, is there not any adjustments that can be made? And using the matchmaking system is not even understood. I have yet to find a game using this system and I am not sure if it's due to lack of use by other players or that it just doesn't work. Furthermore, I don't even know if I am using it correctly since it's layout leaves something to be desired. And, what happens when a player decides things are not going their way and quits? Nothing. Why can't the AI take over? It has no problem overwhelming me in the single player mode. Is this a scripting issue?

All in all, I really want to love you. I really do. But, there are some glaring discrepancies that are keeping your fans and your product at odds. If these are addressed, I will happily purchase and recommend your titles to others. But, I think you'll find that it will speak for itself when the right adjustments are made. Thanks for the sympathetic ear.

End rant

-A concerned fan