Profile of PingPing

Well - I'm glad I cancelled my pre-order in the close Beta to be honest.

The open Beta was enough to reinforce my decision - I don't see any reason to pay the big bucks for a game on opening day that I feel is really broken.

I'll get it later when they patch it accordingly - and when it's $10 or $20 rather than the $50 or $60 they're asking.

Right now - in its current shape - COH2 just isn't fun or a strategic challenge - they've taken away from COH what made it stand apart - oddly enough they took them away to make the game more approachable - which I think is the problem - COH was successful DUE to it's strategic nature and specific impacts of choice rather than this generic-ized mess we see now with some "commanders" thrown in.

Anybody notice how the commanders are all generally the same? Arty strike of some type - check - big armored unit - check - AT inf - check....there's pretty much zero differentiation - thus channelizing the way you'll play the game - thus shortening it's life span.

That's why COH was great - you not only had to master a faction - you then had 3 distinct ways to play that faction - now - you don't.

@PingPing, you do realize it was THQ who influenced any DLC plans? Sega joined them right at the end, when the beta started and release was near. You've got that wrong.

I agree with all of Tommy's points, these are changes I would welcome with open arms.

Doesn't really matter who made the decision - it's a poor one.

This sums it up extremely well.

For me however the structural change from Doctrine to the "Commander" that we've seen really is a key issue that's severely broken to the point I don't think it can be rectified with a patch.

The problem is as the OP indicated - in COH1 - the Doctrine defined the player - the tactics - everything. The doctrine used was essentially where a game was won or lost - it defined the whole WAY you played the game.

Now - I find myself seeing some blinking light on the bottom of the screen indicating I can chose a Commander. I think to myself - "oh - that's nice" - and then continue to ignore it and play without even choosing one - because quite frankly it makes absolutely no difference to how I play the game.

THIS IS BROKEN.

Whats worse - it makes me uninterested in the game strategically - I'm not thinking ahead of what direction my opponent is going to take and plan a counter etc, or how I can exploit their Doctrine etc - it makes ABSOLUTELY no difference anymore.

The reason they did this was obvious in today's DLC world of continuing revenue from games initially purchased - if they made the Commanders actually worth a d@mn strategically - players who paid for that DLC that was "good" would have an advantage over a Vanilla player who did not chose to "Pay to win".

So while ensuring that the DLC paying player wouldn't have an edge - they effectively made the whole system useless to make sure of it.

This makes me really sad in that Sega/Relic have basically hamstrung and handicapped the game to the point where it's a terrible strategic experience all so they could get an extra $1 for some DLC that might entertain some 12 year old because now his soldiers look "cool" in their new uniforms or now I have "on field" artillery vs a bomb dropped by some magic DLC plane that effectively does the same thing, it's just a "cool/bling" element.

This EXTREMELY short sightedness has limited the lifespan of the game incredibly.

Instead of making a rock solid game that doesn't require DLC - where it's all there - ready to go, making Doctrine/Command tree's that you can base your whole strategic play on - ensuring a large fan base continues to play the game for many more years, enticing new players to join in and buy it....Sega/Relic went for the "low lying" DLC fruit - get some easy $ upfront, but in the long run the game dies off relatively quickly, thus losing long term sales.

Well done Relic/Sega - you lost me as a customer with this decision.