3v3 is max for RTW

[Dionysus9]

I guess they figured the console crowd wouldn't know the difference, so had to dumb it down for them. Like most of the other "marketing" decisions that determined the featureless, control-less, and tactic-less realtime battles of RTW. Now everybody, no matter what experience level they are at, has a chance of beating anyone else. What fun!

I disagree with the last part of that statement (i.e. tacticless)-- at first impression--hell yes. Maybe the first 10 online MP games you play you are back to being a newb again because of the differences in control, units, interface, etc. Sadly, with the Crash to Desktop problem compounded by memory leak (necessitating reboot after every other game to avoid freezing up) it might take you 2 weeks to get in that number of games--which is the real tragedy.

But after you deal with the initial shock of the new format (and ignoring CTD for the moment) your old vet skills will start to make the difference. Already I am feeling acclimated to many of the changes (the lack of control is an atrocity, but it can be worked around--the lobby is also bad, but I can bear it until the patch)--I can see the hotspots forming, see the weaknesses in the main line, see the holes for flanking, etc. Units rout when they should, archers seem to work. Spears actually hold. Rock/Paper/Scissors seems to be better than even MTW:VI . . .

If everyone who was leaving was forced to sit down and play 15 3v3 games with good allies and opponents, you would have some hope for the future (as I do) and I'll bet you'd stick around. But, frankly, with the CTD issue STILL unresolved I really can't blame anyone for getting up and walking away.

Also, I think CA is truly surprised at our reaction to RTW-MP. Somehow I think they expected us to be happily surprised--whereas the opposite is true. I think the CTD thing was a SNAFU by gamespy and poor old CA can join the long list of companies that has been bitten in the arse by "gamespy" (i wont resort to name-calling even if they deserve it).

I dont think the developers ever truly understood the game, and that is even more true with respect to CA management. The more I think about it, it seems the Alt-left-click (move retaining facing) might have been a bug that we discovered and used as a feature (its nowhere in the docs, tutorial, etc.). The game between the devs and the community showed that the devs had no appreciable skill at playing and were essentially new players (can you expect them to code for 9 hours a day then go home and play?)...which explains why they themselves might look at the MP control in RTW and find it acceptable.

Anyhow, I really don't think this is a campaign to squelch out MP, or to destroy the community-- I think it is a problem of not truly understanding the game and rushing it to market, compounded by some Vice Pres. at the top who decided four years ago that MP wasn't worth more than 1% effort because he didn't want to take the risk of trying to open that sector of the market. It may be an attempt to move toward the console format-- but do you really think this debacle was intentional? Hell no, they thought we would eat it up with relish. Boy did someone screw up!

I tell you what--if I was in charge of the MP side I would have heads rolling in the streets and we'd have an announcement that an initial patch will be out in 2 weeks. The fact that that hasn't happened indicates, to me, where the problem really lies. Leadership, or the lack thereof.

It's not too late for CA to pull this out of the fire-- they need to make an announcement explaining what their plan is to fix the problems, immediately. (not some "we will make an announcement about the announcement about an eventual patch"). They need to make a community wide substantive announcement-- NOW--like last week. Even waiting another week is probably too long unless CTD is fixed before the weekend. Sadly, I think the problem with weak MP-end leadership (its the only thing that makes any sense) is not going to solve itself and therefore I have little hope for a quick command decision that brings the players back to the table.

My suggestion for a timeline would be Oct. 15th all CTD issues solved, new lobby format resembling MTW (ping, game details, greyed out players when in game, etc.); Nov. 25 (thanksgiving day) patch for better unit control and restoring 4v4 option; late January all other issues. Is that not workable? I would have the MP team working overtime until thanksgiving to fix this debacle and if they aren't up to it, well, they know where the door is.

I think that timline tests the limits of what the players would find acceptable--if that is not workable at the corporate level then I guess the MP side of the game will die afterall.

But there is hope, yet. There is hope. . .