Quick Rant: (View the previous ones)
When I purchased Asheron’s Call 2, really, my first "online broadband experience," I was hoping for a time of fun and enjoyment. However, with their "monthly" updates to the game, only thing it seems like I am doing is paying $12.95 a month for the privilege of BETA testing the product! Take this month for example: "New content" was uploaded to the server for another "episode," however it introduced a bug that causes all crafted items to be "tier 1." For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game… that is "the worst item in the particular tree." As such, if you wish to craft a fine product for one of your friends, you must wait a week for the "bug fix" to this episode. Why was this not caught in testing?
Several other factors contribute to the BETA scene. Along the same lines as the "new" content, they announced that they do not have enough time to "develop new content once per month and meet the expectations of the players…" So, what do they do? Change it to "every other month." Seems to me that the game was "half done" on release and they decided to kick it out the door to get some cash flow. They then created the idea of "episodes" to justify the game not being done.
So, all that "new content" that should be happening, is getting "lighter" because "they do not have the time." Maybe, just maybe, they should have had all the "standard new content" that they knew was going to happen "eventually" ALL READY CREATED WHEN THE GAME HIT THE SHELVES! But no, that would break the tradition of MMORPG’s charging the public to be a beta tester for their "not even close to being finished game" when it is released.
Don’t get me wrong. I have been playing Asheron’s Call 2 for several months and I actually enjoy the game, but it would be nice to play a "finished" product rather than playing the "guess what is going to be broke next month" game.