Found this gem on Spectrum...think it sums up things pretty well...
Moto20@Moto20
WITHOUT A CHANGE, I WILL TAKE MY MONEY ELSEWHERE
discussion
Yesterday at 21:13
Feedback
Note to the Devs. You're probably not listenting but I'm gonna tell you what your dad would tell you
I have known about this game for quite some time. FInally took the plunge about a week and a half ago. Did the $45 starter, then spent another $100 on a ship. Also subscribed at $20/month. It's beatiful both visually and conceptually.
But after 10 days or so of regular and repeated disappointments and the loss of progress due to disconnects and bugs, I'm finally at my wits end. It's incredibly frustrating to grind ALL DAY/NIGHT losing everything 1-4 times to a 30k error or bug. But struggle to make some progress anyway. Then login in the next day to pick up where I left off and lose it all. This has been a recurring cycle since the beginning.
Case in point. Yesterday htrough today. Played yesterday from maybe 14:00 - 03:00 Built up $80k despite a several crashes, 30k's, etc. The most I've been able to cache thus far.
Logged in today to continue and after about 90 minutes lost 50k euc to a 30k error. Logged back in and lost the remaining 30k 10 minutes later to a bug (ship expoded in QT). Now back to 0 euc. Let me break this down for you.
I've spent $150 and committed $20/month.
I've been playing roughly 8-12 hrs/day for over a week. Grinding.
I have virtually nothing in-game to show for my effort.
PS: Dont bother with the "It's an alpha" argument because we're all paying Release/Prod dollars.
Some may think I'm just bitching and whining. But it's people like me, who are able to spend $ and commit to subscriptions, that an MMO needs. And it's people like me who you're disappointing.
With all the time you've had to get to where you are, I implore you...
Stop adding content and features - You're only adding more unfinished and broken content and by extension creating more ways to fail.
Find a way to ensure continuity - No more losing all our stuff when bugs happen. Commit to disk. Recover it with insurance. Invent a way.
Prioritize server stability above all else - Every time one crashes is an opportunity to disappoint DOZENS of customers.
Release a finished (not alpha, not beta) product - Even if it isn't everything you've ever dreamt up. Sell upgrades and DLC to monetize the content you had to cut.
I know the grand vision is to have a massive, all encompassing masterpiece of a game. But the fact is you you have a working financial model today. The way you lose it is by never releasing a finished product. Mark my words, you'll wind up running out of money and selling the codebase to a bigger publisher who's going to strip it down further or just trash it all and steal only the best IP.
Get to release ASAP. Those in the current user base can A) Choose to stay on a beta instance and deal with some issues while enjoying future features. Essentially what we have now. or B) Move to the release instance and have stability. Where I'd rather be This also allows you to start taking on "regular" customers and growing your base.
What you cannot do is continue to pump out shaky client and server code and expect people to keep spinning in circles grinding and losing everything. It's a surefire way to lose your alpha user base over time, while simultaneously poisoning the well of future release customers who are still angry about their alpha experience or know someone else who is and conviced them that your product is bad.
