If i'm not entirely wrong thats Rob aka "hey carnut" and if its not him then I
apologize for the misunderstanding.
That aside, I've had a lot of respect for Rob especially for his phenomenal comments and inputs in the Crosshair shows, however as of late he has come through as quite the whiner that for some strange reason continues to bash the HOS/RO developers and fans hard.
(yes the
respectometer for you is going down steadily rob)
My first *wtf are you serious moment* from this dude was when he mentioned something along the lines that TWI somehow alienated its competitive crowd with the freeaim system shortly after the TS3 conference. (like somehow not appealing enough to cod/bf style competitive scene)
As for the keynotes in the blog they need some serious tweaking.
First of all you buy a game like RO for the immersion, the realism and the gameplay first and foremost. Having bought both BC2, Crysis 1 and 2 I can't say that their gameplay is anything other than a techdemo + mainstream magnet that honestly isn't original at all. It also happens to be that both series have a terrible netcode which is something I'm sure you know quite a lot about. (yes i'm running around a corner and im getting killed 3 seconds later...and where is my autoknife dammit!)
I'm sorry to say but while I'm sure RO2 will be a lot more accessible and mainstream(tdm mode, unlocks and mainstreamed mechanics) it isn't your average five minutes match-making session. I'll suggest a less serious title such as Call of Duty those kinda gaming needs.
As for playing with friends it seems to me that TWI has done quite a lot to support this with squads and more, hence i fail to see why it's an issue at all. I'd also like to add that while you keep mentioning the negative aspects and hype around RO i'd take a minute and list why it's superior by default and that's even without discussing the game itself.
*Mod Tools
*Mods in development
*Free updates/content
*Dedicated servers
*Public server files
*PC only with true GUI
*Admin/console capabilities
*Server/client setting capabilities
*Competitive support
*Active and caring developers
*PB custom + VAC
And as you can see the list could go on further, but apparently you're gonna vote with your wallet AGAINST the one and only true PC FPS since half a decade ago. Call me a fanboy but if you seriously can't recognize what TWI is doing for the PC crowd the maybe you should go hug DICE, IW and 3ARCH instead.
I've myself been active in the bf,cod community and their competitive scenes since around vCod and I've seen the true decline of support, care, modding and competitive possibility over the years. Now I am astonished that you apparently haven't.
*Rant mode off* But it wasn't that harsh right?