Agreed, its an overhaul on the game. But its not as simple as that. It's an overhaul on a small fraction of the game. It's an overhaul on how infantry reacts during a battle. Not much more. Theres absolutely no addition to any other aspects of the game minus one new map. Its not exactly the product that you want to use as your "look, its a brand new game, come back and play it PLEASE!" device. It has merely changed the basic gameplay. Nothing else. No new weapons, no new maps, no new tanks, no new nothing besides the basic infantry experience.
It's a step forward, but its NOT the thing you wanna put out to the world as an example of what your game is. That is why I disagree with the free weekend strategy that TWI has adopted so hastily.
Again, did you read the changelogs? You're basically saying that suppression system (and maybe stamina fits into that category) was the only thing that was overhauled. Vast minimization there. Go back to the changelogs. But your point about gameplay vs. content is fair enough; that's an interesting perspective, but I must say I pretty strongly disagree nonetheless.
This is
exactly the type of thing that calls for a free weekend. Because for the people who try the game for free,
all the content is still new to them, but if the game is still the same old buggy, sluggish, and not what players are looking for in terms of gameplay title that they heard it was back last fall/winter, several new maps and vehicles won't hide it or be good for lasting player numbers. New content without this type of sweeping pass to address so many of the game's other issues would be pretty hollow for so many "players" of this game.
Don't get me wrong. I actually loved RO2 from right away. But I acknowledged some things that even I didn't like, and as the beta developed lately, I even changed my mind about some things I didn't think needed changing at first but once they were changed I was very satisfied (examples: Lockdown tweaks, and suppression enhancement). RO2 lost more players on gameplay aspects than on the amount of content, that seems clear. I understand that we who have been playing RO2 since launch are starting to itch for new stuff. But the content is coming. Maybe I just have a longer attention span than the average player. I'm still having fun on all the maps. They don't seem tired to me. I'd love to see more tanks and a couple of transport vehicles, but I'd rather show people how good the game can be first, then add content. Because new maps and vehicles will not change people's minds about the way the game plays or make them forget the bugs. If a game is unplayable for someone, the number of maps means squat.