It's been happening for over 10 years, and everyone says "OH ILL VOTE WITH MY WALLET THAT WILL WORK" and it never does.
Apathy? Sure, but only towards game companies for the first week of launch on a popular online-only title.
That's a pretty specific form of apathy.
I for one commend those who won't simply accept these kinds of issues and are requesting refunds. Just because something has been done the same way for 10 years does not make it okay. Hopefully this makes EA rethink the consequences of always online DRM.
As for EA themselves, I actually have to give them credit for owning up to their mistakes and offering refunds. Good for them. The broken piece of #### I got from Gearbox last month still hasn't even seen an official response let alone a refund.
The Following User Says Thank You to cDnStealth For This Useful Post:
Always online is here to stay. I suggest getting used to it rather than trying to fight against it.
The only thing you should hope for is that companies learn how to do a proper launch - maybe have a pool of servers so that they can handle the initial load, and then re-assign those servers to other projects afterwards as demand goes down.
D3 is about as reliable and smooth as you can possibly get now. Always-on isn't even noticeable. I've never had issues with SC2 either. And I play a lot of WoW as well, and aside from the scheduled maintenance, I don't think they've had an unexpected outage in years.
Always online is here to stay. I suggest getting used to it rather than trying to fight against it.
The only thing you should hope for is that companies learn how to do a proper launch - maybe have a pool of servers so that they can handle the initial load, and then re-assign those servers to other projects afterwards as demand goes down.
D3 is about as reliable and smooth as you can possibly get now. Always-on isn't even noticeable. I've never had issues with SC2 either. And I play a lot of WoW as well, and aside from the scheduled maintenance, I don't think they've had an unexpected outage in years.
Is that so? Because Ubisoft changing their minds on always online begs to differ:
“We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline.”
“Whenever you want to reach any online service, multiplayer, you will have to be connected, and obviously for online games you will also need to be online to play. But if you want to enjoy Assassin’s Creed III single player, you will be able to do that without being connected. And you will be able to activate the game on as many machines as you want.”
Just because Blizzard and EA have decided to include it in some of their games does not make it hear to stay. Hell, EA even recently back peddled on their stance of including micro-transactions in every game.
I think you guys should just give it a chance. Yeah there are issues but they seem to be working to fix them. Just my opinion, but this game is worth a bit of hassle and wait here at the start.
__________________
But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, leads to liberation and dignity. -Ricky Gervais
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to metallicat For This Useful Post:
I think you guys should just give it a chance. Yeah there are issues but they seem to be working to fix them. Just my opinion, but this game is worth a bit of hassle and wait here at the start.
Yeah, but by the time it's fixed the price might be lower. Or not, because EA is really slow on the price drops.
I'm contemplating taking advantage of the current situation and getting a refund. I logged back into my city last night and for some reason I went from +$9k/hr to -$8k/hr with no changes in population or demand. Couple that with screwy logic with emergency services and traffic, I find it extremely difficult getting the city to grow. My city once flush with cash is now floundering and I can't explain it. Is this what I have to look forward to?
Yeah I was tempted to ask for a refund now and buy again later once the growing pains were over, but I might save $10 even if I waited six months, and I'm way too lazy to go to that much effort to save $10.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
I think you guys should just give it a chance. Yeah there are issues but they seem to be working to fix them. Just my opinion, but this game is worth a bit of hassle and wait here at the start.
Not to defend the refund crowd or blast the game, but the issues and errors that they're talking about from Server and login issues to bad traffic logic, to unexplained revenue models to the city size limits really limiting game play. These are systematic issues of a poorly designed and executed game.
the logic issues are engine issues. It sounds like from here and other places that sure the game is pretty but its an exercise in making no sense.
the only way to ensure that they improve it is to vote with your wallet, not to buy it and then put it on the shelf two hours later with the intent of maybe playing it again months down the road.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Yeah I was tempted to ask for a refund now and buy again later once the growing pains were over, but I might save $10 even if I waited six months, and I'm way too lazy to go to that much effort to save $10.
$10? BF3 was selling for 50% off not even 2 months after it released.
We are continuing to do everything we can to address the server issues. In the meantime, so that we can give you as good an experience as possible, we are in the process of deploying a hotfix to all servers. This includes various improvements and also disables a few non-critical gameplay features (leaderboards, achievements and region filters). Disabling these features will in no way affect your core gameplay experience.
We will continue to let you know as we have more information. We know it has been said before, but we do appreciate your patience as we complete this latest update. Getting you playing is our absolute highest priority.
1. Make online social game.
2. Disable social features to make game work.
3. ???
4. Profit!
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
* Fix for crash caused most commonly occurring on servers experiencing lag. This crash would happen most often when claiming a new city when playing in a region.
* Fix for server select dialog not appearing on start-up if the server the player was last on is not available. * Disabled Cheetah speed. Cheetah speed is is now the same as llama speed.
* Crash fix for finding closest points.
* Crash fixes in transport and pedestrian code.
* A fix cities having processing problems associated with helicopters.
Just in case someone was able to play and wondered why cheetah speed didn't seem to work.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Well that kind of sucks because I always play on Cheetah. Just let's me build up cash quicker. I will take on for the team if it helps others access the game though.
