Yo, I'm new here, so let me tell you that I am still a backer since 2014, Concierge and participant of past PTUs 1st wave as well as the current "PTU". I've been active on the Issue Council (IC) and did my best to play QA in my free time for years. Now, don't judge, hear me out.
I've been following Derek's Twitter and links to his rundowns of recent events ever since that guy first spoke up, and frankly I have nothing bad to say about all that if he continues to leave the Germans out of it. A singular, slowly dying game magazine that's mostly written by and for idiots does not represent us, and I think this point gets lost easily if you live way across the pond.
I've gotten the invitation to this PTU second hand after Evocati because somehow I am still a reliable person for CIG to give me access to 1st wave without spending a dime. Huge shitstorm, by the way, because some Concierge and recent Subscribers were promised that they could just buy their way into Testing and guess what? It didn't happen for a few days because fuck you, that's why.
So let me tell you some things about this PTU from my perspective, after being actively involved since 2.0:
People on Spectrum have found excuses and talk about priorities all the time, that doesn't change some facts.
Fact1: PTU 3.0 is one year late, and CIG have in house QA testers plus Evocati, who I think may have adressed the unplayable state these builds are in.
Fact2: If PU 3.0 goes live with this kind of performace... the community, the press, Reddit and certain individuals (yeah, you too) will have a field day and controversy will spark to never before known levels, no matter what is and what isn't planned for 3.1, that won't matter any more then.
Oh, and about the Netcode issue... here's another fact: Around 400 people working on this game, but
that mostly explains it. This game is too artistically heavy. Almost no one is working on codebase. Network code optimisation requires alot of manpower.
But of course, I've read there are plenty! There is at least one "Bug Smasher" I've seen on AtV, parked away somewhere in a cellar, with a screen full of code in front of him.
For a game of that scope, I fear even 20 won't be enough. Unfortunately, these 20 don't paint ships you can sell or draw up some procedural stuff to go along with marketing. From a financial point of view, these are nerds who only cost money and always interfere with the "vision" by saying things like:"Guys... this won't work."
But seriously, while Designers and Marketing dream up new worlds and features and sell virtual property on a virtual "vision", the very foundation of anything remotely playable is screwed. I know because I've tested every build for years on end.
If I was a publisher, I'd close the studios and kill off the project before more damage is done. After 5 years, it's too late to start from scratch with an adjusted "vision". This time, Microsoft won't step in to immediately park Roberts on the viewer ranks and then save what's left of the franchise. It will be Daikatana all the way, I fear, just much much bigger.
So I hope at least we're in for a PTU phase long enough to adress at least the issues which already, after a few days, got 1K plus votes over at the IC before shit hits the fan. Finding long winding explanations why these builds are so broken and being totally understanding if not ass-kissing may be very nice, but it won't help anyone. It looks more like Stockholm Syndrome at this point.
And by the way, I won't get banned for writing with mostly sane people outside of Spectrum for a change, don't worry. Nothing will happen to me or my account after posting this, since the overall reception of PTU 3.0 resulted in an uproar by people who just bought a subscription and/or some ships to cross the border to Concierge only to find, well, this. Apparently no one told them about QA work for free in a game they've already payed for years ago.
