Maybe the wait is worth it

[Endoperez]

We all know that Dom3 is supposed to go gold sometime soon. July was mentioned. However, we don't know if that really will happen - and judging by the version number 2.86 and the speed with which the new versions have appeared, it might not.

However, this is not a bad thing. I am using Opera. It's a web browser that makes very good use of tabs, it allows Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y in text fields, and is easy to customize as far as where the various buttons and toolbars are. That amount of customization is enough for me, I am accustomed to it, and I had no reason to change into anything else. Then I downloaded the new release version 9. It was as buggy as the beta I had tried few weeks ago. As an example, when I browse this forum, the unread messages are shown as unread when the page loads, and as read after the page has completely loaded. It's annoying. It's worse than what the version I used. I'm not going to change to another browser just because of this, but now I have a reason for the change.

I hope Illwinter doesn't feel they have to release the game uncompleted just because there are now more people that want to play the game. If anything, it should mean that they should take their time to make sure the game is as good as possible.
I'm not sure whether they should polish the game or not. I am using the new Opera 9 to write this, even with its bugs. It is not perfect, or even good enough, but familiar with small improvements and lots of annoying little things, and the patches are removing the last ones. Is "good enough" enough? With Dom3, I'm not sure, even when the browser's bugs are really annoying. Probably not for new users, but for the old players? I hope so. I think so. And while I want to have the game in my hands, I'm afraid we should just wait.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, said a red gargoyle in a children's cartoon.

[Beorne]

The developers should give the game to the market when it is ready, it is obvious.

But to hype the new release a year (if all goes well) before is a bad marketing move. The players want more addition if they wait more time, it is obvious too.

And now all the Dom fans that will say "No, it is good to wait more, more to wait means more quality and more content" ... what a nonsense.

Hoping the developers don't take any programming breaks making log-rolling matches in the just unfrozen northern lakes ...

good work.

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont see any reason it cant be released on time. Everything is apparently working.

Of course they are continually making changes but I dont think Kristoffer and Johan (and this entire dominions community for that matter) will ever declare the game to be done/finished/perfect. For gold release it only really has to be playable without crash bugs.

Altho it does seem lately that descriptions are bing filled in so there might be a number of descriptions that say something like "fill this in later". But the fact that the game works well enough to be filling those in now speaks good things of a release date, not bad ones. IMHO

[DominionsFan]

We wait if we must wait, not that we can do anything in this topic. We all want to play with Dominions 3. as fast as possible, but the game is not out yet. Its gonna be released when the devs feel, that the game is completed.

[Psitticine]

Illwinter seems pretty content to work on things post-release (like the entire modding system and the two or three nations they added after Dom 2 was released) so I suspect they'll try to get all the current content straightened up first and then worry about new features later. It seems like the progress list thing supports that; I'm not seeing much new stuff now as opposed to work on what's already in there.

So, that means, I think, that they must be pretty close to on-schedule. If they weren't, they'd probably still be adding huges piles of new stuff.

[Archonsod]

Most of the recent updates were more in line of minor bug fixes and balance tweaks.

The game will never be perfect. Even assuming Ilwinter manage a world first and manage a bug free release, your still going to have balance tweaking. It's not something you can fix with more time - half the exploits/imbalances aren't apparent until the product is released and you get 'fresh minds' trying out stuff that would never occur to the developers/testers.

[majama]

Always better wait longer than meet dissatisfaction and say to game "good bye" once for all.

[Caduceus]

Major releases in the last six months spring to mind - Civilization IV and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion - having bugs that shouldn't have made it to consumers. Overall, probably didn't affect sales for these two products. I don't think that Dominions 3 has enough folks buying it to suffer a hit like this. In a community this small all it takes is a few "don't get it, its buggy" threads to kill a title.

I'd rather wait for stable gameplay and evaluate it on its merits rather than instability issues.

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont think there will be any crash bugs. If there are then it will be from the temptation to add a majorly kewl feature at the last minute. Looking at the progress page.. at most Im expecting to maybe find some descriptions that didnt get filled in.

[Nerfix]

I think it's a bit funny to think if the wait is "worth it" since our only option is to wait. It's not like they can push out a product that is still by technicalities a version of Dom 2.