I think we've all gotten our moneys worth, and I don't think SV is really a crooked company or anything. For example, they definitely are not in the camp of MMO shyster pipedream devs like the Chronicles of Elyria people, or something like that. In fact, like most people here to some degree, I really like SV as a game developer, and like you're saying, love what they're trying to do... The only problem is, and you hear it time and again because it's true, the delivery-- and I'd even be more specific and say the 'project management'/'directorship' end of the operation.
It's completely understandable that people question the vision of development at this point when so much of what should be the core gameplay features of the game remain unfinished, unrefined or completely unimplemented, and it seems like the main priority is always pumping out new content. Even just considering that they decided to go with the official launch at a time when the core of the game was obviously incomplete, and the servers couldn't even come close to accommodating the playerbase... Or, when you consider these same server issues that they allowed to fester until pops fizzled out without making any executive action to correct the situation-- which could have been as simple as standing up more servers ASAP, even if it meant merging later.
The fact that the management/assessment skills just aren't there should be pretty evident. Archery isn't even fully implemented, for example, and instead we are getting necromancy. Clade-gift trees are not implemented, yet we are hearing talk about sailing...? Many core features regarding PvP are obviously unfinished, or if they are finished should be evidently unacceptable to development and be reworked entirely, and instead we get some half-hearted bounty-hunting feature to work within that unacceptable framework...?
So, yeah, definitely agree that people are real downers here, and I do think almost everyone on these forums have gotten their $50 worth and then some-- but as far as being pessimistic about the trajectory of the game, as an IP and standalone MMORPG, that much is understandable. Personally, I bought in knowing that SV has questionable project management skills from MO1, so I'm not really sore about it-- just wish they would look at core things and get the core features of the game in good shape before moving on, but again, can't say I'm surprised.
It's too bad they don't have better project management skills. For example, they could start with just an arena map beta where you load-out with maxed skills in various stuff w/ whatever armor & weapons, focus on just combat and just implementing combat, making sure everything in terms of combat is balanced and fun and fully implemented from a 'core' standpoint before moving on... Then, implement your PvP mechanics, do rounds of testing just on the flagging/rep etc., see how it fits into the picture... Then, work on fleshing out the world, implement all your points of interest, cities, crafting etc... Get that done and working as a holistic system on its own... Then, you can start working on server stress testing, and TC & sieging and that type of thing... Each step of this ideally should be within an open or closed alpha/beta window, and shouldn't be over as a phase until the mechanics being looked at are fine-tuned to where they should be, and everything surrounding them is implemented enough to provide a holistic system... That's the ideal way to move forward development of a game as complex as an MMORPG without ending up with a mosaic of half-implemented features & systems that do not complement one another.
Instead it seems like development has a 'everything everywhere all at once' philosophy, and nothing ever gets any polish, while things that obviously should be implemented by official launch are still not implemented 6 months hence... Instead you have too many half-implemented mechanics, and basically systems that don't work in a holistic framework because most of the time they aren't even fully implemented. You have systems that obviously did not get the kind of oversight they needed, nor the attention given to their ramifications on gameplay, because frankly they were just 'tested' live. Just standing up a test server and approaching development from a 'one holistic system at a time' approach could do so much for the trajectory of the game, but I doubt we will ever see it.
Still, I 100% understand getting tired of all the bitching and moaning on the forums, as it does get hard on the head... Because, the game is fun, and I do think we've all easily gotten our moneys worth at this juncture-- but it just feels bad that no system within what is ostensibly a sandbox pvp MMORPG ever gets the attention it deserves, and instead it's always on to some new shiny thing. Sandbox MMORPGs need dynamic interplaying systems to work; and for these dynamic systems to interplay properly, the care has to be taken to implement mechanics fully and to the desired gameplay loop and player interaction... And obviously many people don't feel that care is being taken.
