5
I know WG wants to make this a very popular game on the Xbox 360, but they are not doing a very good job at making their game appeal to new players. The first problem, of course, is the awful package system. Many tanks would not even have close to the excruciating grinds that we have to go through currently. For example, the T29's first package costs 48,200 exp to unlock if you came from the Sherman Jumbo or 34,200 coming from the M6 because they decided it was a good idea to upgrade everything about the tank in one package. The T29 stock is quite useless, especially if you are fighting higher tiers. On the PC you can immediately mount the 90 mm gun coming from the M6 or grind out just 14,000 coming from the Sherman Jumbo. Here is a direct quote from the wiki for the PC about the T29: " The 90mm Gun carries over from the M6 (or if you previously played the T20) and should be installed immediately. The 76 mm is insufficient for anything at this tier. Free XP is strongly recommended if you came from the E2 Jumbo Sherman and don't have the 90mm M3." The wiki even tells you to avoid, at all costs, playing the T29 stock! I know some players have accepted the package system, but why should we when there is no viable reason for it. I have not seen one instance where they have put packages together intelligently. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The VK 36.01 H is a good example of this. Its first upgrade package gives you the Konisch 7.5 cm gun, which is by far the best gun for that tank. The last two packages offer two separate guns that are worse, but you now get the Maybach HL 230 P45 engine, which is the best engine. No one in their right mind would equip a tank with anything but its best modules unless it comes to a preference of gun choice; it seems that WG has done that though. Currently there is no possible way to play the VK 36 with its best configuration. If you think about it, the excuse that we could make "bad builds" for tanks if we had modular upgrading is really just a ploy for them to make more money; their philosophy is probably something like: More frustrating grinds means a player will be more likely to spend money to skip the grind. On the contrary, I think if we had modular upgrading there would be more players that stick with this game and more would spend money. I can see a player converting 1,000-2,000 gold to 25,000-50.000 free experience so s/he could get a high tier module for his/her tank that could make it decently playable. When a player sees that it would cost 4,000-6,000 gold to get the 100,000-150,000 experience to get a package full of expensive modules, his/her likely response is, "Nope! No way I'm spending that much!" That would be on a single tank! S/he would be more likely to just accept the grind or quit this game altogether. Now I do understand this could also have been influenced by Microsoft because Microsoft will get a percentage of all purchases made on this game. It's still a bad business practice either way. Which is would earn you more money, 1,000 players who spend $50+ on the game or 50,000 players who spend $10-15 on the game?
The second thing is the bugs this game released with. Specifically the account lockout bug. This bug kept many players, beta veterans and newbies alike, from playing this game for hours or days at a time. I know many players on Xbox like to try new games when they release, but if the game won't even let them play it they move on.
The third issue is that we have an utter lack of communication from the developers. Patch 1.0.3 came out yesterday, and we only heard about it a day prior. We were given no information they were releasing the Super Pershing or the Jagtiger 8.8 on March 1. It would be nice if they would give us some useful information well in advance, so we're not kept in the dark feeling like we're in limbo the whole time. People want to know what's going on, or they may not stick around. Even if new content was not coming for another month or more, at least we would know and have something to look forward to, which brings me to the last issue.
When are we going to get new content? I'm not talking about one map here, a two new premiums there, but the finishing of the American, German, or British trees, a new nation, or maybe a couple of maps. All I ever hear or see from the devs on the forums is the word "Soon", and a tweet they sent out yesterday said, "Good things come to those who wait, but we have no details about future content at this moment." Well, when are you going to have any information? A new patch came out with no new content. Players are getting bored here. This game has been virtually the same since the last two months of the beta, minus a couple of bugs. Let's face it, the players from the beta still make up the core of the dedicated community, and we're getting burnt out on this game.
In the end, a game should be fun to play in all aspects. It's not fun when a game becomes frustrating to play, has a game-breaking bug, and has a lack of communication about patches and new content. How is this game going to draw in new players when there are many other games out there that are fun to play from the start and stay fun all throughout.
Disclaimer: The paragraphs contained herein are my opinions and I have expressed them to the best of my knowledge and ability. If any person has a disagreement or issue my claims, please express your concern with respect and politeness.
