I have been here a long time..Since the beginning of Red Orchestra as a retail franchise and I make no apologies about being a fan of the games and of TWI as a company.
I played the original mod and remember "thinking what a great game this would make"..
RO1 did indeed turn out to be a very good game.
Although it was limited by its learning curve which made the game to difficult for many players to get that instant gratification they found with other games such as Call of duty or Battlefield.
But lets be honest RO1 was not a main stream game and did not command the sorts of player numbers as its more arcade based siblings.
None the less it still had a loyal fanbase who were feircly protective of TWI and the game and rightly so as I still believe that TWI offer some of the best support for their products I have ever seen.
So when plans were unveiled to release RO2 with the intention of making it more accessible to main stream players I think most players and fans thought great stuff.
Now RO2 is in the wild and TWI have admitted that the condition of the games release was not ideal.
Too many bugs, too many performance issues, I don't think anyone can deny that and neither have TWI.
But whats done is done, its no use crying over spilt milk.
We are all geniuses in hindsight and I doubt TWI wanted or indeed intended to release the game with that many issues.
The good news is that they have not scammpered off to hide underneath some rock but have instead taken the failings and criticism head on and begun patching like there's no tomorrow.
I find that in itself encouraging and the fact that they are publicly stating their intention to provide long term supprt for RO2.
We are not talking weeks or months here either we are talking a couple of years.
So what of the games future?
I have read a great deal about the game dying, about player numbers decreasing because some people feel the game has overstepped the "more accessible" mark or its not like RO1 or its maps are too small or the weapons are too powerful or the ranking system has ruined the game.
I'm not going to agree or disagree with peoples personal opinions for the various reasons as to why they feel RO2 is not the game for them.
Examining the biggest issue of player numbers on a wider scale is a more productive way of looking at the games future overall.
Was it ever reasonable to believe that RO2 would maintain the 9,000+ from launch?
No not really, many people bought the game to "give it a go" and found it not to their taste this accounted for a lot of players leaving the playerbase.
but the next biggest single issue by far has been performance.
Many people read the minimum spec and found their PC could not run it at a good enough reasonable graphics setting to enjoy.
Many others have great rigs and still had problems running the game.
Again a large portion of players have stopped playing because of this.
Currently player numbers are down to about 1500 at peak.
Many claim they were dropping anyway before BF3 was released.
Well in part true but then again anyone who thought that BF3 releasing a beta just a couple of weeks into RO2's release and then the subsequent release of BF3 would not impact on RO2's player base was not being realistic.
BF3 will impact on Call of duty MW3's release and playerbase let alone that of a small indie company.
So can we reasonably expect another slight drop?
Well considering that RO2 has even less in common with MW3 than BF3 this would seem unlikely but lets say it does have a minor impact and the player takes a small hit which would not be that unreasonable.
So we could be looking at something like 1200+ prior to christmas.
Looking bad enough for everyone?
So what now..Now the game has taken the worst of the hits from other releases and we can reasonably expect that this number will be solid..
We have been here before I seem to remember with both RO1 and Killing floor.
And yet both seemed to have survived in particular Killing floor made an astonishing comeback from under 1000 to present day 3000+
So can we expect the same for RO2?
Why not as RO2 is TWI's fastest selling game, if we can readily take the negatives I have stated as mostly the reasons for the state of the game now can we not expect that the future will hold the same consequences for RO2 if TWI perform as they have done in the past.
TWI will begin to clear all the last bugs and performance issues over the next few weeks and Campaign and co-op will hopefully get released just after Xmas,Clan match mode and SDK will be made fully functional around the same time I would expect.
New maps and vehicles will get released and I would not be surprised to see something before xmas and of course we get a few free weekends.
Will this all make a difference?
It has in the past so why not with RO2 and would it be that unreasonable to see player numbers to begin to rise once all the support and content begin to take effect and some players have had their fill of BF3 and MW3.
It is not in the realms of fantasy to expect an increase in player numbers way beyond the numbers now.
Finally I would say to all those vetrans of RO do not be so eager to dismiss your own input as being invalid or as not being heard.
The rantings will be ignored but reasonable argument and requests will not be.
TWI may not be perfect but they are not the personification of evil on earth they are just human beings like us with the same desires for success as each of us.
A good idea is a good idea and if it makes sense to change things and it can be done then don't expect that it will not be.
I played the original mod and remember "thinking what a great game this would make"..
RO1 did indeed turn out to be a very good game.
Although it was limited by its learning curve which made the game to difficult for many players to get that instant gratification they found with other games such as Call of duty or Battlefield.
But lets be honest RO1 was not a main stream game and did not command the sorts of player numbers as its more arcade based siblings.
None the less it still had a loyal fanbase who were feircly protective of TWI and the game and rightly so as I still believe that TWI offer some of the best support for their products I have ever seen.
So when plans were unveiled to release RO2 with the intention of making it more accessible to main stream players I think most players and fans thought great stuff.
Now RO2 is in the wild and TWI have admitted that the condition of the games release was not ideal.
Too many bugs, too many performance issues, I don't think anyone can deny that and neither have TWI.
But whats done is done, its no use crying over spilt milk.
We are all geniuses in hindsight and I doubt TWI wanted or indeed intended to release the game with that many issues.
The good news is that they have not scammpered off to hide underneath some rock but have instead taken the failings and criticism head on and begun patching like there's no tomorrow.
I find that in itself encouraging and the fact that they are publicly stating their intention to provide long term supprt for RO2.
We are not talking weeks or months here either we are talking a couple of years.
So what of the games future?
I have read a great deal about the game dying, about player numbers decreasing because some people feel the game has overstepped the "more accessible" mark or its not like RO1 or its maps are too small or the weapons are too powerful or the ranking system has ruined the game.
I'm not going to agree or disagree with peoples personal opinions for the various reasons as to why they feel RO2 is not the game for them.
Examining the biggest issue of player numbers on a wider scale is a more productive way of looking at the games future overall.
Was it ever reasonable to believe that RO2 would maintain the 9,000+ from launch?
No not really, many people bought the game to "give it a go" and found it not to their taste this accounted for a lot of players leaving the playerbase.
but the next biggest single issue by far has been performance.
Many people read the minimum spec and found their PC could not run it at a good enough reasonable graphics setting to enjoy.
Many others have great rigs and still had problems running the game.
Again a large portion of players have stopped playing because of this.
Currently player numbers are down to about 1500 at peak.
Many claim they were dropping anyway before BF3 was released.
Well in part true but then again anyone who thought that BF3 releasing a beta just a couple of weeks into RO2's release and then the subsequent release of BF3 would not impact on RO2's player base was not being realistic.
BF3 will impact on Call of duty MW3's release and playerbase let alone that of a small indie company.
So can we reasonably expect another slight drop?
Well considering that RO2 has even less in common with MW3 than BF3 this would seem unlikely but lets say it does have a minor impact and the player takes a small hit which would not be that unreasonable.
So we could be looking at something like 1200+ prior to christmas.
Looking bad enough for everyone?
So what now..Now the game has taken the worst of the hits from other releases and we can reasonably expect that this number will be solid..
We have been here before I seem to remember with both RO1 and Killing floor.
And yet both seemed to have survived in particular Killing floor made an astonishing comeback from under 1000 to present day 3000+
So can we expect the same for RO2?
Why not as RO2 is TWI's fastest selling game, if we can readily take the negatives I have stated as mostly the reasons for the state of the game now can we not expect that the future will hold the same consequences for RO2 if TWI perform as they have done in the past.
TWI will begin to clear all the last bugs and performance issues over the next few weeks and Campaign and co-op will hopefully get released just after Xmas,Clan match mode and SDK will be made fully functional around the same time I would expect.
New maps and vehicles will get released and I would not be surprised to see something before xmas and of course we get a few free weekends.
Will this all make a difference?
It has in the past so why not with RO2 and would it be that unreasonable to see player numbers to begin to rise once all the support and content begin to take effect and some players have had their fill of BF3 and MW3.
It is not in the realms of fantasy to expect an increase in player numbers way beyond the numbers now.
Finally I would say to all those vetrans of RO do not be so eager to dismiss your own input as being invalid or as not being heard.
The rantings will be ignored but reasonable argument and requests will not be.
TWI may not be perfect but they are not the personification of evil on earth they are just human beings like us with the same desires for success as each of us.
A good idea is a good idea and if it makes sense to change things and it can be done then don't expect that it will not be.
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