With the recent interview MMORPG.com had with Nathan in mind, I am amazed how the journey of EC has been so far. I'd like to describe my personal observations and the conclusion I've come to. The reason im doing this is to give a more precise acount of what happened up to this point, so people who joined in later might get a better idea where players who got involved from the very first moment are coming from. This isnt about BHVR, Devs, or whatever, I write this purely for the community so one might get a more clear picture of how things happened. I keep reading way too many misconceptions on these forums. Keep in mind, im writing things down from my perspective as a common gamer, not a technerd or a warhammer 40k fanatic. THE INFAMOUS MIGUEL ERA 2013, EC was anounced...sweet! I'm following it, visiting the site every now and then to see each faction revealed and reading the descriptions. (before forums opened) forums opened at one point. Twitches started, devteam was passionate, lots of interaction etc. With me (and tons of others for that matter) the following vision for EC materialised: the planetside version of warhammer 40k with the slogan " Experience what its like to be an elite soldier in the 41st millenium". Open persistent world, teamwork, players leading the factions, directing resources. Sounded pretty good right? And they even had their eyes set on some novel mysterious tech named Pikkotech that allowed for this to happen! FFW: Pikkotech wasnt happening, Miguel is leaving, several other keymembers aswell. During Miguel's last twitch Nathan got introduced as the new chief. Now keep in mind, something REALLY CRUCIAL: This game was sold (literally so) as a fully functioning game upon launch which would be expanded upon and the founder's money was used for additional extra cool stuff. It was by NO MEANS crowdfunded or a kickstarter. BHVR made it clear on numerous ocassions this game was already fully funded. Now with this behind us, and Nathan at the wheel, things went fast: Open world could not be a possibility. This caused anger, dissapointment and so on amongst players, and refunds were offered. But there were many other aspects that came with the package: community hubs, razer voip (with voice modulators, remember that promise?) personal bikes for certain founders packages, personalised such and so, too many stuff to list. Gradually as time progressed, one thing after the other got postponed to...'the near future'. They werent canceled, they were...postponed. Steam EA started in what...september 2015? With launch roughly a year later. Now the people who in good faith pre-ordered the game to show support, find themselves in a kickstarter like situation. That was not the original deal, simple as that. At no point did BHVR take a clear stance where they said: okay guys, listen up, this is how it's going to be... So people were perfectly clear just how bareboned the game would be for the foreseeable future. Hell, just a month or even less before launch Nathan said on twitch they didnt even have a launch date. By the time the actual state of the crusade crystalised it was too late to get a refund, as most have played more hours than is allowed to be able to get a refund via steam. Because thats how you reward players who keep hoping against all odds the game will take a turn for the worst. Personally my breaking point came with the map. It wasnt that the interactive map wouldnt be in, it was the fact they were trying to fool us by claiming it was interactive. At no point in time did any dev take responsibility and unambigiously state that the game was not going to work. They chose to chip off feature after feature gradually. Many people kept playing it, grinding their characters and their teeth in the idle hope that eventually the game would shape up. Except it did not. What we have had going on, and what is still going on is promises and talks about plans for the future, while the game that has been launched is barely a shadow of the initial goal. Many questions arise some of them: wtf happened to the funds? if this is the game at launch you been working for over 3 years on, what have you been doing with all that time? These questions dont need to be answered, there's not much point. When you see what's being said and you compare it to the output, I have zero confidence in EC. You can see it by looking at the numbers, you can read or listen to it in the reviews, this game is not good as it is. The people who do actually defend it usually dont do so by mentioning whats ingame now, but by 'whats coming in 3 months'...or in 6...or in 1 to 3 years...(1 to 3 years is direct quote from mmorpg.com) Could this game be great in 3 years? Well, Nathan isnt an amateur, so yeah could very well be. Except I did not get involved with a game back in 2013, to have it launch in 2016 with the idea of it reaching its potential in 2019. At some point something's gotta give. I honestly think an amnesty in the form of refunds is justified because strictly seen the game did not deliver. It actually tried to change the contract and move the goalposts to seem like it did. (see 'interactive map', for example.) And that to me, and I suspect a shitton of other early adapters is the issue with EC now and the spins the devs make.
I cant remember the devs ever promising voice modulators, I think that was something the forms pushed and the devs said they'd look into it. But yeah, this is a straight rundown of the main problem with EC, there is so much potential, yet nothing is done. My personal issue is that the game has barely changed over the years its been in development, and we've made many recommendations, so many issues that existed days, weeks, even months ago still exist... and the devs dont seem to care to solve them.
yeah so, i keep reading shit like: thats what you should understand when entering crowdfunded games/ pre ordering. or: 'just come back in another 6 months and its probably improved.' its just insanity to say these things because its not how it actually happened.
Really? You don't remember Miguel mentioning it in many Twitches, how you could sound like a Space Marine and all that Razer voice comms integration bullcrap? Tbh I still think Miguel was a little overzealous in his vision to this day. He was aspiring to the heights of Star Citizen, but all the tech stuff never came together. The game he was 'dreaming of developing' would have been in development till at least the end of next year.
Id honestly like to know where the money did go. Because very early into the founder program being advertised it was clearly stated by the team that the game was fully funded. Fully funded based on its current goals. We have significantly less than those current goals, so where did the funding go and where did the founders dollars go? Because theres almost no customization available to you just on purchasing the game. If I found out that the founder money was spent completely on development of RTC items and future RTC items, I will be extraordinarily angry...
Even trolls get butthurt when people don't respond to their immature drivel. After all, if they don't get a reaction, they lose and they hate to lose. Actual reality or facts or reasoned discourse mean nothing. But the sheer LUNACY of someone like THIS posting about Ethics really made me laugh. Like he would know an ethic if it bit him on the ass. What is next? Vladimir Putin posting here about basic human rights?
Shrug. It's a fun lobby shooter that brings my 40k tt figures to life. And it's got a coop pve that let's you play with friends. And they keep fixing things and doing their best to present a transparent development timetable and sticking to it. So yeah, I would recommend it to my friends. Costs less than the new bf1, cod, and Titan fall2. So it's not the complete campaign and rpg game that was started in 2013. It is a complete game right now. How can you not call it a complete game, it offers everything that any other lobby shooter offers and more. For less money. And with all dlcs included in the price tag. And without the bullshit of online private servers or paying 50 bucks a year for psconnect or Xbox gold.
