War in the East Q&A

[kfmiller41]

Agreed, compared to many forums I have been on this one is the most honest and informative. Testers take there own time to answer questions and explain game mechanics in detail when they can. In some forums just getting customer support for real issues on released games is impossible. Keep up the fine work and know alot of people who rarely post (lurkers like me[:D] ) are waiting for this game and following these boards.

[Wild]

I agree completely with miller41. You guys have been great.
I may not post much but i read these forums everyday, and i really appreciate how open and honest you guys are.
Thanks to everyone involved!!!

[Shupov]

My sentiments as well. Nearly every question has been answered in a complete and honest way. The game appears to cover almost every imaginable aspect of this titanic conflict. I'll buy this game as soon as it becomes available!

[ComradeP]

Giving dishonest/false answers, or not answering questions at all, is no way to build and/or sustain a community. Developers and testers are trying to turn the game into something that will deliver a challenging, interesting and entertaining experience. Giving the community false expectations would only damage that goal.

We hope we can give you a good idea of what you'll be buying, to avoid any possible disappointment. As I'm also involved with testing for SSG, and having seen the "the price is too high" debates for Kharkov and ATD2 but also for a non-SSG title like BftB, honesty really seems the way to go as we don't want the community to be buying what they might eventually view as a dud, but instead hope you, as the community, will be able to enjoy the game with us right from the start and, like the testers, will appreciate the effort made by the developers both during the pre-release development cycle and the essentially infinite post-release improvement period (monster games are never truly "finished" in terms of development).

[janh]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP
Giving dishonest/false answers, or not answering questions at all, is no way to build and/or sustain a community. Developers and testers are trying to turn the game into something that will deliver a challenging, interesting and entertaining experience. Giving the community false expectations would only damage that goal.

Well written, ComradeP.

Everyone knows that nothing in the world will be perfect ("perfect" for oneself), but many big publishers today appear not to think the way people here at Matrix (and their studios) think. I get the feeling that especially big software companies have changed their strategy today from "the customer is king, and high product quality what sells" to "chain the customers with OSP/DRM, censor negative info on their company forums, publish and stretch only the few positive innovations that ever make it, and extensively reverse-engineer public opinion through crowd controlers (sorry, I forgot their euphemistic job title)". Until now those studios have complaint much about piracy killing their huge ROIs, though a good many studies (including the famous, recent FBI one) question the validity of those claims. Tomorrow they will attack customers for not buying. Would be nice if they could start looking for fault with themselves, their products and their service...

I am much happier to pay a little more for the very few games that I have time today to play, but get quality, innovation, and customer support. And find a forum where the developers are actually accessible to questions, and show that they care about their product, and where customer requests and complaints actually make it into patches beyond bug-fixing. I think it is necessary to point that out here!

[zbig]

I am looking forward to playing the game, but even if I did not intend on playing it, I would still buy it to support the devlopment of simulation games.

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: wg335910

Is it just me? or are all of you discussing a product that is not available. And does not seem to be available for the near future. I have not seen any new release dates. Come to think of it, I haven't seen anything official about this product all this year. If the product is going to be delayed, say so. After all, I may be only one customer. But I'm sure there are many others out there scratching their heads. I have been a loyal customer for several years. If I am mis-understanding the situation, I apologize. If not, can someone tell me when this product is likely to be available. I believe I deserve at least that much. And finally, when all is said and done, this whole situation is making Mr. Grisby look bad. This company needs to address this immediately. Thank You.[&:]

This just confuses me. Matrix is the most open game developer I know. There might be some small companies that are just as or more open but I can't think of any company their size or larger that even comes close. There have been a few Matrix games I have been disappointed with over the years, but I have been satisfied with the majority of them. And I have almost always been satisfied with the support and communication Matrix provides. The public development forums are an excellent example of the support Matrix provides. Players not only get feedback on how the development process is going, but they also get to provide some input to the process as well.

As to a possible release date, I understand why Matrix doesn't give them out, but anybody reading this forum can probably figure out from the testers and developers posts that it is almost certainly less than a year away (nothing is ever certain) but more likely in the low single digit months away. It would be nice to think it is single digit weeks away, but I would rather be surprised if it is released so soon instead of being disappointed it isn't. I have had too many experiences with poorly coded buggy games in my 30 years of computer gaming and would rather wait a little bit for the game to be as complete as possible before it is actually released.

[pompack]

What RocketMan said [:)]

[kfmiller41]

someone also mentioned DRM earlier and I wanted to chime in here as well. I own 17 matrix titles (yes I counted them[:)]) and have never once had to call anyone, e-mail anyone or beg to get a serial number. I made copies of my down loads (if i didn't buy the disc) and they are always available if i feel like playing and I always have access to my serial number. Why others don't use this system amazes me considering that because of how easy it is (assuming of course you save your game disc or download). It is another reason I buy from matrix, they trust me not to copy and give away there products and I return that buy buying them. Seems like a good system to me anyway.

[TPM]

ORIGINAL: pompack

What RocketMan said [:)]

I agree...not quite understanding what wg335910 is talking about.

[Neal_MLC]

Matrix games and 2X3 games have a lot of things but one thing they do not have is a bad image. I use both of these companies as examples of how to do business in the management and business classes I teach.

[Capt Cliff]

Kudo's for Matrix and 2x3 for being so open with all their game developement, their ability to listen to suggestions and their frankness in telling peeps just where to place dumb ideas. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

[knilli]

I find it amazing that someone is complaining about the fact that we can/are able to discuss a game which is not yet released. But where we are able to ask questions and are also able to voice our opinions during the making process.

just for wg335910: this particular part of the forum is called "coming soon and in development". let's guess what that means?

[pompack]

ORIGINAL: knilli

I find it amazing that someone is complaining about the fact that we can/are able to discuss a game which is not yet released. But where we are able to ask questions and are also able to voice our opinions during the making process.

just for wg335910: this particular part of the forum is called "coming soon and in development". let's guess what that means?

An excellent point Knilli.

As I re-read wg335910's post again, I have to admit that the phrase that confuses me most is highlighted below:

ORIGINAL: wg335910

"Is it just me? or are all of you discussing a product that is not available. And does not seem to be available for the near future. I have not seen any new release dates. Come to think of it, I haven't seen anything official about this product all this year. If the product is going to be delayed, say so. After all, I may be only one customer. But I'm sure there are many others out there scratching their heads. I have been a loyal customer for several years. If I am mis-understanding the situation, I apologize. If not, can someone tell me when this product is likely to be available. I believe I deserve at least that much. And finally, when all is said and done, this whole situation is making Mr. Grisby look bad. This company needs to address this immediately. Thank You"


Delayed? It is in Alpha (or maybe finally Beta this week [:)]). How can anyone imply that a game in Alpha that has never had a completion date announced can be delayed [&:]

[Schmart]

Will the game have a human v human (non-pbem) mode for solitaire options?

[SGHunt]

Yes

[randallw]

It seems to me that the admin points system could be a major bottleneck in getting a player's forces into the fight.  Is this something a real theatre commander would have to deal with, to this level of constriction?

[Graycompany]

ORIGINAL: wg335910

Is it just me? or are all of you discussing a product that is not available. And does not seem to be available for the near future. I have not seen any new release dates. Come to think of it, I haven't seen anything official about this product all this year. If the product is going to be delayed, say so. After all, I may be only one customer. But I'm sure there are many others out there scratching their heads. I have been a loyal customer for several years. If I am mis-understanding the situation, I apologize. If not, can someone tell me when this product is likely to be available. I believe I deserve at least that much. And finally, when all is said and done, this whole situation is making Mr. Grisby look bad. This company needs to address this immediately. Thank You.[&:]

Pretty much just you.[8|]

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: randallw

It seems to me that the admin points system could be a major bottleneck in getting a player's forces into the fight.  Is this something a real theatre commander would have to deal with, to this level of constriction?

Why? According to beta testers it's not as initiative rolls in WbtS, but works rather like admin points in WitP. That concerns at least the Axis side, while the Sovjets also need those points for production purpose. Finding the right balance between a maximum of freedom, while, on the other hand, not blowing up Russian forces too much might be a challenge though and will become subject to arguments once WitE is released.

The one gripe I have about Gary's desing concepts is, that he wanted to attract casual gamers with his later releases. The WaW series was an epic fail from a grognard's perspective, WbtS had become a better game again, but wore out too fast due to restrictions, pace and lack of details. However, people still play Steel Panthers and WitP AE marks the pinnacle of wargaming. I hope 2by3 learned from this.

[jjax]

Maybe it's early morning fog, but please do not tell me this item from the product page is true

10 scenarios range in length from 10 turns to 25 turns

10 scenarios....very good, the longest scenario is 25 turns...not so much. Somehow I suspect it should be over 200.