I think the blog is a good step - it shows that CA shares some of the concerns voiced at the Org about the ETW AI. The daily diary was already a novel attempt to try to engage with the community, but now that things are slowing down, that format is less attractive. The 1.4 and 1.5 patches are promising too, suggesting it is not just words.

The blog all but confirms the charge that ETW was rushed out the door for monetary reasons before it was ready. Perhaps the concerns expressed about the negative impact of community feedback on sales will give the money-men reason to pause before repeating that mistake.

Looking at the metacritic user ratings, I was struck by how many 0s and the like were given by users who suffered from CTDs or just could not get the game to run. My impression from the fansites is that those problems were not so common (I've never experienced one). In that sense, I suspect the 6.7 may be unfair: there may be a negative selectivity, of people with technical problems being more likely to rate it.

Quote Originally Posted by Monk
What score do you think Empire deserved, CA? Now. I'm not speaking of the Empire of today, version 1.4. That Empire has certainly come a long way ...
That's an interesting question, but also largely rhetorical. No one is playing 1.0 anymore. Just as no one is playing RTW 1.0. As the "revolutionary" step in the TW series, there were bound to be more teething troubles - just as RTW had more patches and problems than M2TW. I am reminded of the P-51 fighter or the Panther tank of WW2, which when they first came out were seen as very problematic due to poor technical performance, but then were revamped and reworked to become world-beaters.

What I am interested in, is what ETW will be like after the dust has settled (1.5+?) and what NTW will be like? Replaying RTW, I find it hard to avoid the conclusion that - despite the splendour of some of the mods - it is terribly hamstrung by the woeful strategic AI. Just trying hitting "end turn" for 20 turns in a row mid-way in a campaign to see what I mean. I confess I've put ETW to one side until it stabilises (was going to try 1.4, but with a 1.5 coming, am not sure it's sensible). But from the feedback in the Org to 1.4, I think there's a good chance ETW will end up leaving a better legacy.