You know why developers arent to keen on posting a roadmap? Because people will take it as gospel and whine and moan when things arent met on time or when they feel like things arent done fast enough.
That's not a reason against a roadmap. Because people
already complain development is too slow. And they're right. Bannerlord is nowhere near finished despite the store page saying it was estimated to release a month ago. It's not going to kill TW to hear the truth.
Also, the OP post doesn't have any deadlines in it.
If anything, I think a comprehensive long-term plan will reduce the total amount of complaining. Look at the immediate positive reaction from normally negative posters when Duh_ posted in this thread. Personally, I'm happier knowing that the game will be delayed and properly completed, than not knowing if the game will be delayed
and never get properly completed.
Either way whether people complain or not, TW owes it to their paying customers to keep them in the loop, considering they failed to meet the expectations they created.
Or they will complain that things that they perceive as high priority arent high enough on the list.
If you actually read the OP, you would see it solves that problem by keeping prioritization very general. "High priority: Implement features that buyers were indicated would be in the game, and fix what is already in the game. Mid priority: Expand existing parts of the game that lack purpose. Low priority: Everything else."
Or they will complain about things that are on it. Or they will complain about things that aren't on it.
The majority of complaints people make on these forums are entirely reasonable, coming from Taleworlds not yet having delivered the product as they created the expectation it would be. Only a minority are looking for something out of Bannerlord that TW was never obligated to give, and only a really tiny minority are just looking for an excuse to complain as you are implying.
Don't disparage the reasonable majority just because of the unreasonable minority.
Everyone seems to forget this, but a global pandemic is still kind of a thing.... Even if the team can work from home, they wont work as quikly or effeciently as when they are all in the office. Communcating with teams or simular software is very different from communicating face to face. This delays the process.
Sure it would be a factor, but software dev is one of the easiest industries to do from home. You can't really believe that the difference between talking on Zoom and talking in person is the reason that Bannerlord is going so slowly.
Even before covid-19, Bannerlord's development took
eight years. They told us they were "putting on the finishing touches" back in 2016. If you read Glassdoor reviews from former employees,
https://www.glassdoor.com.au/Reviews/TaleWorlds-Reviews-E443487.htm they show that communication, organization, and lack of long-term planning have always been a problem at Taleworlds. Clearly the pandemic was never the main reason for delays.
Its a very silly thing to complain about whats going on behind the screens when you have absolutely no idea WHAT is happening behind the screens.
It is justified to complain about the pace of Bannerlord's development, considering it has been almost 10 years and is way behind schedule. If something is going on behind the scenes TW should just be more transparent. That is what people are asking for.
Heck anything can be used as an excuse for a complaint so why bother giving people more ammunition?
Because
when people bought this game, they were told on the store page TW was going to work closely with the community and engage with them on the forums to make the game to their expectations. TW made money by giving people that expectation, now they should follow up on it.
Also, like I said in the OP, and also evidenced by this post, Taleworlds needs a plan they can stick to because their development is apparently a disorganized mess.
It is very common in software development to have roadmaps to stop feature creep and confusion and endless delays.
Let me ask you a question now: Why are you so against TW having to be accountable, when they have made hundreds of millions of dollars selling something they have not yet provided? How does it benefit you to stick up for the big guy who is in the wrong?