I love how you just dimiss everything I say because some vocal majority "has" to be right. Sure theres issues but the least of which are the ones are people are most vocal about... You know why?
Perhaps its because people boot the game once or twice and dont even get down to the nitty gritty problems which are actually more of an issue that what 75% of the complaints Ive heard are.
My point about enjoying the game is perhaps one of the biggest ones and you shrug it off like my point was my enjoyment of a game, not the fact that Epic are improving the game. Which was the main point at hand, Epic cant go anywhere but up from here right? You get it now? or you still wearing your jade goggles!
Well, you have obviously misunderstood what i said, and this post reads like a knee-jerk reaction, fact is, we actually agree on a great many things you and i, and i am no more happy about any of this than you are.
My point is very simple, no game has ever survived not getting played, this is automatic death for any game, and especially online games are vulnerable, thats pretty self evident yeah?
It is simply about numbers, if there are not enough players to go around, then the game does not get played, and no players means death, many good games have suffered this fate, for one reason or another, but when it happens, its like a cancer, the problem fuels itself, like a downwards spiral, and death is not far behind, unless you take very drastic and very smart steps twords fixing it.
Thus, it really does not matter how much a dedicated fanbase loves a game, if there is too few of them, and they cannot attract more, the game will slowly but surely die out.
And UT3 does not have wide appeal, this much is apparent by the player counts, and if you look at what people have of complaints about UT3, it is thankfully not the formula that is wrong, but the state of the game.
This is good news my freind! it means that UT3 can still have a shot at it! but it will take work.
But i must correct you when you say this: "the nitty gritty problems which are actually more of an issue that what 75% of the complaints Ive heard are", if so many people sees thease things as a big problem, big enough that they apparently wont even bother playing the game, then they BECOME a big problem, and it doesen't matter if you or i find them trivial or unimportant, they have become important! because they are obviously seen as important by a great many people, who choose not to give UT3 a chance as a result.
Thus, if UT3 is to have a chance, they absolutely must be addressed, or all the people who feels they are a big issue wont get into UT3.
Again, it is a simple matter of numbers, we need numbers! so we cannot, by any means, afford to turn our backs on thease issues that are apparently preventing many people from getting into UT3, even if we do find them trivial, it doesen't matter, all thease people feel it is important, and we need them abord the UT3 train.
And trust me, i know all too well how much it sucks to be part of the minority, i'm a big realism freak, and we are a rare breed indeed, nobody makes games for thouse of us who feel CoD and MoH is too unrealistic, and when a rare gem actually does emerge, too few people play them, and it sucks! but majority rules, and i have had to come to terms with that, you will too.
If you think your getting anywhere near UT2k4's content levels soon you are in for a big shock, even Epic took 3 years getting all the content for UT3 together so the next one will be out in... 2010? at the earliest. **** just takes time hey, why not go do some modding yourself if 40 maps and all the characters etc arnt enough for you. I'll agree the game needs players online but more content alone isnt going to do that.
Now you are just not reading what i wrote, i specifically stressed the point that thease fixes and additions will take time!
I think you are getting a bit emotional about this, i did not intend my post as an attack in any way, i am simply looking at the big picture here, but it just so happens that the big picture is not a very pretty one.. not unless something smart, and big is done to turn things around.
The thing is, the amount of content in itself seems to be a small issue, even all the "whiners", though they where not thrilled about it, could deal with that at large, because we all know content can be added, and this is the sort of things people hoped to see in bonus packs.
The real problem is a compounded one, it is that as a whole, UT3 just seems rushed in allmost all areas, and there is so much that must be fixed before we can even think about adding content and enjoying it, and that seems to be where the film snaps for people, thats where they write it off and say "fix it or i aint playing it".
We're 2 patches in now, but far from enough has happened, it'll take more to win back hearts and minds.
And mods wont cut it, if people have to reinstall, patch, and go find a bunch of user created mods to make the game not seem broken, well.. they wont, this stuff needs to be official.
It is speculation because while you scream bloody murder there is alot of people out there enjoying the game, but noooo thats impossible right? The thought of an unvocal majority playing the game offline isnt even on the radar, well lets take some real stats from Epic themselves for 2k4 and say that 50% of players didnt take 2k4 online. If that trend continued in UT3, perhaps even went up to 75% or more is it that much harder to believe?
It is not speculation, read what people say about UT3, its all right here in black and white, people have been very vocal about what they see as problems and what they want fixed, extremely so i think we can say.
And yes, obviously people do play UT3, i have never disputed that, again this seems like an emotional knee jerk.. but how many? player counts where dissapointing from the very start, and they have declined ever since, currently it is looking rather grim, and even a Steam release and a big price reduction has not fixed this, and if the trend continues, and it might very well, the game will die, even you wont enjoy UT3 if you have nobody to play with.
Hence it is well overdue to start looking at how to fix this, instead of burrying our heads in the sand and saying "but UT3 is a great game, its just fine!", because apparently, not enough people feel that way.
And mind you, i myself am an Offline player, so then you might ask, why should i care about online numbers? because i know all too well that this is the pulse of an MP shooter, if this side of the game fails, the offline portion does aswell, because people will abandon it, they will stop making mods and move on, and thus i have every reason to care, its a symbiotic releationship, and if the host dies so do i.
I'll agree the game could use fixes but hows about actually contributing some useful discussion on problems that are "unknown" instead of using this imaginary army to back you up! Theres about 20-50 people spamming the same god damn **** 1000's of times, its not tens of thousands of people making 1 post!
Unknown problems are not what's holding UT3 back, they are all very well known, and in our faces, now they just need to be fixed.
But you are using a strawman here, this is not about the forum community, thats just a symptom of the desease, this is about the game, and why so few people actually play it online, because that is the bottom line, that is what makes or breaks an MP shooter, and things are hardly looking good.
I have allready told you what i feel will fix this, all you have retorted with is "but i really like it as is, so its just fine!", but where are all the people then? why is UT3 having a good night if its actually pushing a few thousand players globally? there are ****e HL2 mods that are more popular than us!
The numbers speak for themselves, i dont really have to proove anything here, its all on the books, the game is not popular, and all i see here is people dug into to their little foxholes, flinging poo at eachother, trying to blame it on various scape goats, anything except the game itself because that would hurt their feelings..
) is IMO one of the reasons too.
