There have been many complaints about the state of the game: lacking depth, missing features, not enough communication, possible ideas, etc.. Some of them are solid concerns but many are completely missing the mark. In my humble opinion, those arguably 'misguided' complaints are mainly due to unrealistic expectations; and contradicting common recognition, those unrealistic expectations have very little to do with 'the game is just in EA'. Therefore, it is very important to adjust your expectations, especially for the new players.
I think this is what happened: TW is a small indie studio (maybe not in size or profitability anymore, but definitely in organization and management) that happened to create a successful formula that attracts more attention and expectations than it can possibly handle. It's simply not within their capacity.
They will finish the game in due time. But it will most likely be very basic and 'depth deprived' as many people would call it. This is how native M&B and Warband have always been - a good formula that constitutes a good foundation. Bannerlord would most likely follow suit. The finished product would still miss most of those fancy mechanics, some of which are actually expected by many to be basic features, and for those to be realized, we need modders' efforts. M&B titles are good games, but what made them great are the mods. Mods don't complete the game, but they did lead M&B to where it is standing now.
All in all, my suggestion is: adjust your expectations and hope for the best. Every paid customer is entitled to a finished product. We could push the devs to make the game better (considering it's in EA and not finished), and that never-ending bargaining process and chess game are how the market economy works. However, try to be reasonable and control your expectations. Getting too frustrated because of unrealistic expectations won't help the state of the game, and more importantly, it won't help your life experience, which is what really matters and why we play games in the first place.
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Edit: I have been following the discussion and found some interesting points. I found people have some interesting ideas about the relationships between the native game and mods. And people are comparing TW with other game devs in terms of communication and business model, which I think is part of the 'unrealistic expectation' problem. The following are some general approaches adopted by certain game studios concerning their release model and how they treat mods. Hopefully, this will help the discussion and help adjust people's expectations.
1. Tale World model: create a successful formula that constitutes a good foundation; the base game needs to be expanded by mods.
2. Skyrim model: an already fairly decent game in its own right; mods are used to enhance the game experience and satisfy the demands of certain groups of players.
3. Paradox model: create a successful formula that constitutes a good foundation; the devs are capable of expanding the games by themselves and sell these as DLCs.
4. Total war/Civilization model (mainly pre Warhammer): an already fairly decent game in its own right; the devs are capable of expanding the games by themselves and sell these as expansions.
Modern AAA game as a service model is a very different approach thus would not be covered here.
The point is most of us have played a wide range of titles, had experience with multiple game studios; but TW has their own way of doing things - mainly constrained by their capacity imo - therefore, it is not helpful to expect the same or similar response from TW as from other devs.
I think this is what happened: TW is a small indie studio (maybe not in size or profitability anymore, but definitely in organization and management) that happened to create a successful formula that attracts more attention and expectations than it can possibly handle. It's simply not within their capacity.
They will finish the game in due time. But it will most likely be very basic and 'depth deprived' as many people would call it. This is how native M&B and Warband have always been - a good formula that constitutes a good foundation. Bannerlord would most likely follow suit. The finished product would still miss most of those fancy mechanics, some of which are actually expected by many to be basic features, and for those to be realized, we need modders' efforts. M&B titles are good games, but what made them great are the mods. Mods don't complete the game, but they did lead M&B to where it is standing now.
All in all, my suggestion is: adjust your expectations and hope for the best. Every paid customer is entitled to a finished product. We could push the devs to make the game better (considering it's in EA and not finished), and that never-ending bargaining process and chess game are how the market economy works. However, try to be reasonable and control your expectations. Getting too frustrated because of unrealistic expectations won't help the state of the game, and more importantly, it won't help your life experience, which is what really matters and why we play games in the first place.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit: I have been following the discussion and found some interesting points. I found people have some interesting ideas about the relationships between the native game and mods. And people are comparing TW with other game devs in terms of communication and business model, which I think is part of the 'unrealistic expectation' problem. The following are some general approaches adopted by certain game studios concerning their release model and how they treat mods. Hopefully, this will help the discussion and help adjust people's expectations.
1. Tale World model: create a successful formula that constitutes a good foundation; the base game needs to be expanded by mods.
2. Skyrim model: an already fairly decent game in its own right; mods are used to enhance the game experience and satisfy the demands of certain groups of players.
3. Paradox model: create a successful formula that constitutes a good foundation; the devs are capable of expanding the games by themselves and sell these as DLCs.
4. Total war/Civilization model (mainly pre Warhammer): an already fairly decent game in its own right; the devs are capable of expanding the games by themselves and sell these as expansions.
Modern AAA game as a service model is a very different approach thus would not be covered here.
The point is most of us have played a wide range of titles, had experience with multiple game studios; but TW has their own way of doing things - mainly constrained by their capacity imo - therefore, it is not helpful to expect the same or similar response from TW as from other devs.
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