Criticisms of CA... again

[Servius]

Just to clarify a few things,

"Servius, the problem with less polite approach is that you won't provoke any CA response earlier. In fact you’re likely to provoke a non-response."

I agree, turning hostile is irrational because of the reason you mention. It still happens though, and reason in a way reinforces the move to hostility because before you get there you are often of the impression that the devs aren't listening anyway, so they aren't hearing your harsher tone either. At that point, subconsciously I guess, it's more of a venting experience for the poster, rather than an attempt to actually get something changed.

"Servius, You bought the game, not their lives. You have a right to the game, as played, and support from a (paid) customer support service to adress any issues you have with the game. Any responses by developers (ie: people who make games, not tech support / customer support people) is an extra service. I think we should be damn gratefull for every post those CA devs make on this forum. I know i am."

I agree completely. I never (at least never meant to) imply that the devs 'owed' me or anyone else more posting on here, and certainly not their lives. I guess my response here would be to say that a BIG part of why I'm such a fan of the TW series is a) the relatively easy moddability of many parts of the game, and b) my impressoin from STW and MTW that the devs were cool with our tinkering, happy to help, and happy that we enjoyed the game enough to put so much effort into it.

Most of my negativity has come from a relatively new perseption that the devs HAVEN'T been encouraging or helpful in our modding attempts. Maybe I haven't been reading the right threads, that's totally possible, but I've only read 2-3 dev posts so far on RTW, and one was the CA-started one about the MP patch and another was the post by Captain above.

Lastly, I understand patching isn't easy or quick. I agree there is a difference between things I think are bugs (problems with unit pathing around bridges and such) and balance or preference things (like unit speeds, etc.) and 'other' (like an in-game option to disable the timer, etc.). I'm not frustrated by a lack of patches. What I would like to see more of is more CA posting (and again, maybe I'm just reading the wrong threads, it's totally possible) but DEFINITELY I'd like the devs to make one post about the codes/files that points us to the variables that we can mod to affect certain things like individual unit speeds and such.

Providing such information would, in my opinion, save everyone a lot of frustration. We as players could mod to our heart's content things like unit speeds and such, bringing those parts of the game in line with our personal preferences, while the devs worked on patches for pathing bugs or adding in those neat options like disabling battle timers and such. I think it would also help to see a CA post, pretty close to the one Captain provided above, that elaborated on "So where we are at the moment is this: we're collating material for a patch and looking at the issues that need to be addressed." It'd be great to hear what those issues are that they're looking at. Cause like I said, I don't need a patch today, I'd just like some reassurance that the common issues posted on these boards are those CA is looking at too.

I fully believe CA is working on patches as fast as they can. I don't have a problem with that. An acknowledgement of player concerns about particular issues and a modding primer would be just wonderful.

[monkian]

Insults come in many guises. Is this one acceptable then? If it is supposed to be a joke I for one am certainly not laughing

......Orda

Well I thought it was funny....

[Tamur]

Jokes come in many guises. Recognising them as such takes patience, perserverance, and if I may say it, a certain panache. Or is that pinche? I can never remember...

[d6veteran]

Well I thought it was funny....

Ya, Fishpants was being facetious ... I can appreciate that.

[Blodrast]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that the game is a very good one.
Far from perfect, of course, but if one were waiting for perfection, expect disappointment each and every time.

Bugs and imbalances ? Of course: it's a piece of software !
Hell, I curse a certain company every day for making a %^#$-y OS, but I didn't see anybody here complain about _that_... you just live with it, even though you paid (or should have) money for it...
BUT, they ARE working on it: there's already been one patch when I'm not even sure the game was released everywhere yet, and the second one is in the coming.
And, as usual, things depend on other people, too (as was well pointed out in a previous post, about the delays incurred by superior levels of the company).

Do they get involved ? Do they post around here ?
Well, have a look around. Of course they do.
It's not enough ? _Of course_ it's not enough. Monitoring the forums is _not_ their job, and _I_ can't follow all the threads these days, nor am I able to figure out which contain useful stuff (i.e., insight from the game, humor, game experiences or questions, or merely (unjustified) complaints). It will _never_ be enough, their level of involvement. Of course I'd like to have the devs at my disposition day and night, and to order them around to change this and that over night, but it's not reasonable and we should all be aware of it. So let's act reasonable then, and be content that they have a higher-than-average (imho) level of involvement.

As for attracting their attention by impolite or strong statements, well, let me put it this way: how would _you_ like it if some beggar on the street would stab you in the back (literally) to "get your attention", so you can spare some change ?
That would most likely get your attention, all right, but you wouldn't be exactly happy about it...

I'm all for criticism, and _everybody_ wants a perfect game (or as close as we can get, anyway ;) ). Criticism is good, suggestions and ideas are great, and bugs should definitely be pointed out.
But if we expect to be treated as reasonable people, and if we expect them to keep coming over here to read our issues, we should at least treat them with the respect they deserve for having created a game such as this.
I emphasize the point (although it's been done by others, before) that it should be obvious that people will come visit more often in places they feel _welcome_ and _appreciated_, not cursed and treated disrespectfully, and shown a severe lack of appreciation.

To conclude my rant, and I apologize for wasting your time with this if it was obvious to you in the first place, kudos to CA for their work and thanks their support and presence on these boards.

Blodrast

[Longasc]

One could also say, as long as they are , they are caring!

[Encaitar]

Servius: Try reading the R:TW General modding forum here (in the Dungeon) if you want more info on modding. The Devs have make quite a few posts in there so far, and have also said that they are working on a Modding Guide (and the possible release of modding tools) to help us.

[Servius]

Yeah, I do check in on the mod forums quite a bit. I've got the 1/2 movement and 1/2 kill rate mods going, which have helped battles some. The only think I'm sure is a mod issue and not a bug is the movement and kill speeds, but no one seems to be able to find the unit-specific movement variable yet. Most all of the other things I'm having troubles with I THINK are bugs. From what I've seen of the new data format though, I think I'll wait for the modding guide/tools you mentioned because they don't look like something I can easily fix with Excel anymore.