Thoughts about Friday's update

[csThor]

I don't want to join the choirs of nay- or yay-sayers. I merely want to remark on a few things I've read here.

1.) Maddox Games today is not the Maddox Games which produced the original Il-2 line. It's a new team which has yet to prove it's up to the task.

2.) Expecting them to fix CloD on the nebulous premise of gaining more buyers for CloD is ignoring the realities of the market. IIRC a game that earns its RoI in the first week (or few weeks) or it doesn't, anything after is merely nice to have but will not turn the fortunes. The bosses of 1C know this logic and the business issues are what drives their decisions.

3.) Reputation-wise CloD is already dead. It's gotten so many deserved bad reviews that turning around the trend is not possible.

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by vranac

Maybe something like this?

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...FFIYHhgs6nLQhw
I hope that this online war will be ready soon )

That is amazing, thanks!

[Slipstream2012]

Originally Posted by csThor

I don't want to join the choirs of nay- or yay-sayers. I merely want to remark on a few things I've read here.

1.) Maddox Games today is not the Maddox Games which produced the original Il-2 line. It's a new team which has yet to prove it's up to the task.

I couldn't agree more!

2.) Expecting them to fix CloD on the nebulous premise of gaining more buyers for CloD is ignoring the realities of the market. IIRC a game that earns its RoI in the first week (or few weeks) or it doesn't, anything after is merely nice to have but will not turn the fortunes. The bosses of 1C know this logic and the business issues are what drives their decisions.

What are good "new buyers" if they lose half of their current community because they released Clod too early to bad reviews, and have yet to patch the game to a suitable level in over a year, not to mention the lack of communication. All business depend on two types of customer, the new and the current, and word of mouth is the oldest but still most valid form of advertisement.
Now if the current customers are upset over a faulty product it doesn't take long for word to get around that a company should be avoided like the plague, especially on the internet, and even if their next product is the best thing on the planet there are going to be many that think "once bitten, twice shy"
Its about track record.

3.) Reputation-wise CloD is already dead. It's gotten so many deserved bad reviews that turning around the trend is not possible.

Agree totally, however I want what I paid for, as do most of us here, not for it to be abandoned in favour of BoM. I spent 2 years flying the Eastern Front in the original IL2 over ten years ago before FB, ACES, PF & 1946 expanded the theater, so when the "award winning IL2 team" announced Clod I bought it because it was relevant to me being English, allowing me to finally experience flying my own theater.

If they do what Luthier said in the update and merge BoM with Clod, and integrate & improve it equally along with the other theaters, I will obviously wait for reviews before buying it, and if its up to standard I will buy it and enjoy flying both fronts.
But however they do it, they need to do right by their customers and keep clod alive with the sequels, if not, I for one will be gone.

It's frustrating to see a game with so much potential lost & a community in such turmoil.

[csThor]

Originally Posted by Slipstream2012

What are good "new buyers" if they lose half of their current community because they released Clod too early to bad reviews, and have yet to patch the game to a suitable level in over a year, not to mention the lack of communication. All business depend on two types of customer, the new and the current, and word of mouth is the oldest but still most valid form of advertisement.
Now if the current customers are upset over a faulty product it doesn't take long for word to get around that a company should be avoided like the plague, especially on the internet, and even if their next product is the best thing on the planet there are going to be many that think "once bitten, twice shy"
Its about track record.

I was merely arguing against the misguided idea that "fixing CloD" would produce new buyers in a way that 1C (the mother corporation) would notice.
As for the rest: You are correct on reputation and all that. However, those at 1C (not at Maddox Games but above them) don't care. Either a design studio produces revenue or they'll be "restructured", reassigned to a potentially more profitable project or simply closed. The guys at Maddox Games would surely like to fix the mess (who likes leaving behind something that isn't up to specs?), but those who pay MG's wages don't think along these lines. For them it's merely $$$-€€€-£££, plain old money.

[Rattlehead]

...Really just seems more and more to me that we're being strung along until the bubble pops altogether.

Like many, I pre-ordered Clod to show support for the series, and 18 months later, after so much drama in the interim, this title is still half broken.

I can appreciate that the development team has been put in a difficult position and has probably been between a rock (IC Company) and a hard place (we the consumers) since the start, but at the end of the day, we have not got the product we paid for, end of story.

The tentative promise of further patches, provided we buy the next game, does not sit at all well with me. Isn't this promise of 'better' and 'fixes' been something we have put up with for 18 months already? And to be honest, what do we really have to show for it?

So forgive me please if I don't buy into further promises of patches and fixes hook, line and sinker. Those days are over, sorry to say, as are the days of me buying a product with 'IL-2' adorning the cover and expecting a classy, quality game. Those days are also over.

Now, everything that's said and promised is going to be met with a healthy dose of skepticism, and I certainly will not be buying anything this team puts out until I know for a fact that it's 100%.

Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

[Jam66es]

i think that the average guy goggles a couple of critics of the famous review sites and is guided by that.

[Essef]

Well im a brand new customer to this sim and so well placed i think to comment as my opinion is'nt tainted by past occurences.

Ill not go into to much detail as no doubt you,ve heard all the bug/steam complaints before.

But you,ve more chance of marrying Elvis than you have of getting a single sheckel out of me for any sequel or similar software.

Its taken 5 days to get my download to install and operate somewhere near a playable state, both the seller and steam have not offered one ounce of tech assistance and to date my ticket stands unanswered.

Essef

[Robert]

Originally Posted by Essef

Well im a brand new customer to this sim and so well placed i think to comment as my opinion is'nt tainted by past occurences.

Ill not go into to much detail as no doubt you,ve heard all the bug/steam complaints before.

But you,ve more chance of marrying Elvis than you have of getting a single sheckel out of me for any sequel or similar software.

Its taken 5 days to get my download to install and operate somewhere near a playable state, both the seller and steam have not offered one ounce of tech assistance and to date my ticket stands unanswered.

Essef

I don't mean to appear rude, but there is an excellent community here that would assisit you in any way to help get the game sorted for you. This was also true for the original IL2 series. That's mostly how it's been done with 1C's flight sims. I hope you got the basics sorted out, Esser. With the release of the new patch just minutes to a few hours away, you're just in time to hopefully see if this game is stable and contains the needed improvements.

Better flying ahead...... or in my case..... better dieing ahead!

[Essef]

Thanks Robert
I,ll be taking you all up on the advice, had i got here 5 days earlier then i would,nt have been so frustrated .

Essef

[Robert]

Originally Posted by Essef

Thanks Robert
I,ll be taking you all up on the advice, had i got here 5 days earlier then i would,nt have been so frustrated .

Essef

yeah, I don't have the game installed at the moment because of an inadequate PC or I'd give you specifics, but make sure anti-epilepsy filter is off and the UBI Soft splash animation is removed. I know there are a few posts about those two issues and they will direct you to the appropriate folder for the UBI splash animation. Most beginners don't realize these and wonder why they get issues..... and who could blame them.