Although I am waiting eagerly for the patch, I would like to dispel the myth that all of us who are seasoned gamers are totally frustrated by the game in its current state. I've been playing the campaign with joy since release, and while I quickly learned to adjust to some of the bugs (never allowing two generals close enough to each other to create an AI-controlled reinforcement situation, for example), overall I have to say that the bugs really don't cause me grief. My experience with the previous Total War games has me knowing pretty well what to expect: a nice patch will come out, and the game will be greatly improved, and then a nice expansion will come out, and the game will be even more greatly improved.

And as far as the beta testing complaints are concerned, while I don't disagree, I point out that it could be worse. I slogged through Star Wars Galaxies for about a year, constantly hoping that it would get better with each patch, and finally (mercifully) I got fed up and stopped. Yes, it's a drastic comparison (awful vs. not-too-bad-but-needs-improvement), but there are many good games released with far worse bugs than RTW.