I'm under no delusions and i have always understood that RO2 was to be the break into the mainstream - a big money earner for tripwire; as such I have never begrudged tripwire reaching out to a much larger audience and reaping the potential and deserved financial rewards of the MSU 1st prize.
A customer's money is just as valuable be it from a long time fan and forum regular or an unknown new casual player.
However...
At risk of pointing out something totally obvious, i thought the whole point of the different settings was to accommodate both parties.
As nimsky correctly points out-
Even if 99% of the total RO2 player base are arcade players......they will not suffer the slightest inconvenience from an optional game mode geared towards the realism crowd.
- even taking the figures of just what a minority we are as accurate - why aren't we worth the very little effort of adjusting loadouts to be more authentic, as was previously suggested?
Or at very least some indication that, while there are more urgent issues for the team right now, this will be addressed in time?
Indeed there is no acknowledgement that the concern is valid - rather we hear from certain staunch community members that there's nothing wrong in the first place (thou if so many long term Twi supporters clearly aren't happy surely something
must be wrong?)
Even worse we hear (from official sources) that being such a small minority makes your opinions effectively meaningless - and learn that that the whole realism/relaxed thing that we were previously reassured with is actually little more than HUD on/off option, and that as such the entire game is being developed with this majority in mind, whose only connection with TWi thusfar is their payment.
And that's my point -
Whilst it may well be true that the majority of players aren't posting here let's not forget one thing.
Twi's success, indeed their emergence as an independent developer, comes down to the implementation of a realistic and authentic fps experience.
Had they made a mainstream mod - however polished - i doubt it would have distinguished itself enough to win the contest.
But as much as I have applauded Tripwire in their efforts with RO, let's not forget part of it's success also required a following that had faith in this experience, and helped drive it forward when it was in it's early days, following it from release to release and giving enthusiastic support.
Support that continued long after retail release.
And a hell of a lot of these ppl are or have been forum regulars, they are the ppl who care enough to register and spend time in discussion.
They are the ppl who gave countless hours of their time to create maps - not just to win a new computer but to contribute to something they loved - maps which ended up being a very handy low-cost addition to bulk out the RO retail product.
They are the people who created mods, mutators and vehicles - for free - thus increasing the appeal and longevity of the title.
Ppl who's loyalty extended to other TWi games they may have not otherwise entertained.
Ppl who promoted HoS and tripwire in general with words not just here but on countless other boards, social media sites, on game servers, and also by creating clansites and organising ladders and competitive play.
The seeds of most of this work were sown right here.
The argument that the wishes of these forum regulars is markedly different from the silent majority is one i'm happy to accept - but indeed that only goes to show where the roots of RO lie.
If now these guys are reduced to a simple statistic, if the opinions of such a small minority aren't worth taking into consideration, and if the kind of player who posts here is going to effectively be labeled a misguided outsider - or indeed troublemaker - then why are these forums still up? What is the point?
Why not simply put up an FAQ and be done?
As said i have no grudge with tripwire regarding their choice of game.
I do not feel betrayed because i haven't bought it.
I may not have followed it's development as closely as others, but i have my instincts - which i trust - and they told me that all may not be as it seems, and i should wait and see how the game develops, for fear of disappointment.
Hence i have stood back from these early stages and have yet to decide if i am jumping on or not.
Tripwire owe me nothing, but neither do i owe them and if i feel they aren't offing me a gaming experience i desire then in days of fierce competition with literally hundreds of games on the shelves behind me i can easily do without Ro2 and with no hard feelings.
So if tripwire do insist on an inflexible non-authentic approach with this and future games, to appeal to this so-called majority, then i wish them good luck - but i will say this...
That target audience is a fickle bunch.
They may accept 'controversial' loadouts for the sake of entertainment, and other less realistic features but they
will demand a slick product.
They will reject strange bugs, glitches, dodgy animations and out of date visuals - things that the realism crowd - for all their reputation of being difficult - have and will continue to overlook out of respect for an authentic vision.
They will demand content - and don't count on them giving up as much of their time to create content for you to release as part of your product as was the case with Ro and kF - most of which was conceived on these boards.
So if you want to play in the big league - make sure you're up to the job.
Cos this majority wont show the loyalty you are used to - they will leave as suddenly and as anonymously as they arrived.
As Nim said-
(who may well abandon RO2 when BF3 comes out, I might add),
- if games with far more weight behind them that have the level of polish more fitting for this mainstream target audience
do consign HoS to the online wilderness, it would be sensible to ensure the same old faces
are still here to support you, by putting a little effort in to ensure their satisfaction too.
