A little disappointed.

[goodwoodrw]

I am a retiree now and I have become sensitive in how I spend my money. I put off the purchase this game for a couple of weeks after reading a number reviews and comments, after seeing a major patch was prepared by the developer, it was assumed by many it would released late last week or as the days went on sometime this week. As I saw it the reason I hadn't purchased the game earlier was of some issues with the game that will be addressed in the coming 1.04 patch.
I have been a Matrix purchaser and fan for a very long time now and they get things right most of the time, however this occasion they have wandered off the track a bit. Yes it is the silly season, yes there has been a few new releases and yes there has been other games that have needed patches, but I feel Matrix has left the developer dangling a little bit, all week he said he has done his bit, but the patch hasn't arrived. There may be some communication issues here between him and Matrix and either or both may be at fault. From a customers prospective it looks bad. What magnifies the issue is no one from Matrix got on this forum to address the issue and as busy as everyone may be there CMO has had 3 beta patches this week, but I'm not comparing. Even tomorrow I may not even bitch, but today I felt I needed to. Thanks for listening (reading).

[budd]

Well, your not wrong[:)]. Seems like Matrix's part shouldn't take longer than the dev takes to put it together.

[Michael T]

Totally agree with your sentiments OP.

[PanzerMike]

This is slightly dissappointing. Not Matrix finest hour. However, I am not worried. Alvaro is supporting this game very nicely and that is the most important of all. It is not his doing that Matrix is so slow to come out with this patch. He too will probably be a bit frustrated, just like we all are. Well back to modding it is for me then. Fingers crossed for a Friday release.

[demyansk]

I rather have a finished patch than being a rush job. Under promise over deliver. I don't want the auto mechanic to rush the job on my brakes, take an extra hour to fix them. Just my two cents but Matrix or anyone else when a deadline is announced, be fairly sure it will be done. Under promise- it works but over deliver. I do it all the time.

[newheart]

I suspect this is a lower priority for Matrix than their higher profile releases. Shame, and I feel sorry for Alvaro. Come on Matrix...

[tigercub]

3 campaigns waiting that need to be restarted! i feel like most here a little let down!

[MorningDew]

While I agree this has really taken too long, I will point out that Matrix did post about it:

fb.asp?m=4732215

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: goodwoodrw
I feel Matrix has left the developer dangling a little bit, all week he said he has done his bit, but the patch hasn't arrived. There may be some communication issues here between him and Matrix and either or both may be at fault. From a customers prospective it looks bad. What magnifies the issue is no one from Matrix got on this forum to address the issue...

I don't have this game, but I wanted to let you know that this is not only an issue with this game...there was the same issue with TOAW IV, until the patch magically appeared yesterday.

I'm not sure how hard it is for Matrix to prepare the patches, but I wish that they would improve the process, especially the communication part.

[PanzerMike]

I do hope it will come today (even tough Friday is rapidly coming to a close in my timezone). Meanwhile, I will use this thread to shamelessly plug the new version of my Unit mod. Available for download in the modding section of the forum. Check it out.

[newheart]

Its a great mod Panzermike - will be all the sweeter with the new patch. Fingers crossed...

[AlvaroSousa]

At this point I suspect it will be Monday. But hey I get to fix more stuff.

[Michael T]

Alvaro, could it be the case that every time you add in more fixes (and therefore upload a new file), that matrix have to begin the QA process again?

I mean there has to be more to this than we can see.

[Michael T]

So perhaps stop uploading new files until 1.04 comes out, work on 1.05.

[PanzerMike]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

At this point I suspect it will be Monday. But hey I get to fix more stuff.

So the bug stomp continues. That at least is the silver lining. Are you still updating the v4 list of fixed bugs in the thread?

[AlvaroSousa]

It is not the case. They are literally backed up. It is the holidays.

Very likely one of their big money projects or a new game had an enormous problem and they had to work on that above all other working games. If you put out a game initially and there is something seriously flawed it can drastically impact sales as people start talking.

Most of the money games make are in the first month. So from a business standpoint I understand where they are coming from.

Could also be someone quit all of a sudden that was important and they literally didn't have enough people.

I can tell you as a game publisher they have treated me really well and took a chance on a no name risky game model. If anyone publishes wargames I will always suggest going through Matrix/Slitherine.

Trying to market, code, test, support yourself it very hard and time consuming. You need to know everything.

[tyronec]

At this point I suspect it will be Monday. But hey I get to fix more stuff.

Alvaro can you not sort this out with Matrix and find out what needs to happen to get the patch uploaded.

I have been waiting to start a new game for well over a week now, waiting for the patch that you/Matrix said would be out at the beginning of this week. It is bad enough that it takes so long, worse that a time line is given and not held to.

'If you put out a game initially and there is something seriously flawed it can drastically impact sales as people start talking' - this is exactly the position that Warplan is in now, it does have things that need fixed and the fixing is just not happening in a timely manner.

[hansondavid4]

I think people have to be a little more patient. I am as anxious as everyone. We have a very active developer in AV and probable receive more inside information than would be typical. I for one prefer a patch to have some quality control exercised. If that takes time, be it directly or as part of a queue waiting to be acted upon, I for one am willing to wait. My biggest complaint with the current state of affairs with the game is the research (way to accelerated which creates some real issues for lower resource positions). It was broken in the previous patch and would have been best to have discovered before that release. If something like that gets avoided by waiting, it would be an improvement.

I am happy to have an active dev on the site. I am hoping that we do not create an atmosphere wear Matrix gags him.

[AlvaroSousa]

I have done everything I can.

It is not about putting out a game in a rush that is flawed. Every game has problems. There are so many things that can go wrong because you can't see every possible thing that may happen. If you want to make PacMan then there are almost no bugs.

But a complex game like this with lots of human interfaces yea there will be problems.

Personally it's fine for me if the game gets better over time. If there isn't a super boost of sales as long as the long term quality gets people to buy it

[sdplate]

Dear Matrix Team,

I’m really angry about the missing patch. I appreciate that quality goes before speed, but Alvaro send his files on the 2nd of December. Now, after 10 working days, the patch is still missing. I can’t understand why it is not possible to do the QA and upload the patch to your server, within this timeframe. As a paying customer my expectation is clearly, that has to be done in a shorter period.

I know you have to keep many games up to date and you had several new releases. And yes, it is always a question of resources and manpower. Nevertheless, I feel 10 working days are far too long.

I would appreciate some kind of explanation to get a better understanding for your problems.

Regards