..I'm deliberately going to double post, because when people read the first part of my reply, they're going to skip the rest in order to post about random guy X to prove that console gamers are (not) lame.
As annoying as it might be that Epic will not reply to complaints while we have supported them for a long time, I do think it's the best way to go right now.
As an example I will use Battlefield 2/2142. DICE is infamous for overly nerfing every single item in their game because uberPr0 clan X complains about it for a while, then completely reversing their course of action because clan Y start complaining, and after that the general public starts complaining about baserape or overpowered weapons or w/e.
After about 8 patches, this resulted in a very odd game balancing in BF2. This was continued in BF2142 where any kind of skills were prohibited by severly dumbed-down game mechanics. Camping with a sniper and spamming claymores everywhere was the ultimate strategy because there was no possible way of outmaneuvering or outwitting them anymore.
My point is: The public is not always the best source of information about your game. The people at Epic have been making games for decades. They've studied game mechanics in-depth for years. They've been working on this game for years as well. If anyone knows what needs to happen to their game, it's them.
We've been
playing games for decades. Not developing them.
Again, an example from BF2. At first, the blackhawk helicopter was a really valuable asset to your team. It did considerable damage, and could take a blow. As such, it was awesome for transporting squads across the map.
People just couldn't get it into their heads that MAYBE they should start using the anti-air, and that was the beginning of a vicious anti-blackhawk campaign.
DICE caved in. They reduced turret damage, and gave it less HP.
Admittely, the blackhawk was now easier to take down, and you didn't die on sight of it. However, a nasty side effect was that it was now TOO easy to take down, and it not having any weapons beside anti-infantry turrets made it jet- and attack heli fragbait, as well as pretty vulnerable to HUMVEE turrets and APC cannons.
Result: noone used blackhawk anymore. It's suicide.
BF2 had now turned into an infantry only game for the most part, with the addition of tanks and jeeps. Aerial transport was now non-existent.
*Map dynamics takes a critical hit: map flow -500, linearity +20*
While there is of course a difference between the dude playing BF2 with shotguns only once a month and then complaining about snipers and people who are very skilled at UT games that tend to hang around here, we might not be a very reliable source of feedback for Epic.
How are they going to differentiate between someone who sucks with the shock rifle and thinks it should be nerfed because they hate being beaten with it, and someone who has real, valid complaints?
Add to that that most people are sheep and will blindly repeat the opinions of others, and you can see why having multiple flame threads about the same subject in one forum is bad.
Most likely, Epic knows what needs to be fixed. They've been playing this game for a long time before it was released. They know every nuance, every slight difference between versions, etc.
They released too early. They must have had a very good reason.
Maybe it was a bad decision. I think it was. Too much competition in your genre + unfinished release is mostly bad.
But does that mean that Epic think we are retarded for stating our opinions about this game, or do they think that their game is perfect?
I don't think they do.
--
One of our largest complaints is the small playerbase
Is having thread after thread after thread of flaming the game about issues Epic is already aware of really going to help that?
No. It's going to make the playerbase smaller if anything.
My final point:
If we want this game to be a success, we need to STFU.
Every complaint has already been stated ad nauseam. Every rant has already been ranted. Keep this up, and whatever they do, Epic's efforts to save this game will fail.
In the case that they actually do not do any damn thing about the game and leave it the way it is, well .. that would suck.
However, would it get us our money back if we complained about it 24/7?
It wouldn't. It
would cost Epic all 580(
) of us as loyal customers and most of it's modding community, so I don't think they're going to opt for that.
Give it time, ignore Epic's stance on the forums and accept it as a necessary evil, play the game, or if the menu layout really bugs you that much get CoD4, TF2 or keep playing UT2k4.
All I can say about this....