Imo, Popularity do matter a lot. More popular it is, more people will see it, and will likely buy the game, Leading to more funding for the Devs, so in general more content in longer run.
I should not have to seek-out the developers to find-out what’s going-on - that’s not how this works - I just play the game, play other games, wait for things to happen…
My post is a summary of how I feel about LE based on my own experience - even if they released MP and 0.9 this year (100% not happening) I feel they’ve missed their chance to establish their game before the next-generation of Diablo and PoE arrive and that’s going to hurt the game in ways they can’t undo.
Look at the forums, reviews and the comments thrown at the announcements of the developer stream - people think it’s a scam or an endless EA and no-one is saying otherwise…
As for multiplayer - even if you NEVER play the game with anyone else it’s 100% essential to a title which intends to sell cosmetic content and fund indefinite development through that (both stated aims of LE from the start) so the fact it’s “hard to do” after years of work is inexplicable.
Without robust multiplayer and robust server-side character storage those things won’t ever work - right now you can edit your savefile to give yourself any item or any stat so you’d never need to buy anything - you’d never need to grind for anything - what were they thinking?
Also - to be clear - I’m calling no-one incompetent or lazy - what I’m saying is that I feel EHG prioritised things wrongly and have taken FAR too long to get the game out they promised FOUR YEARS AGO
I also think they’re doing a terrible job of explaining what’s going-on in a world full of developers who just ‘disappear’ leaving unfinished games all the time
D4 is going to be big even if you don’t play it - games like that change the landscape - PoE is also evolving and those 2 are the games LE needs to compete with to be the “endlessly developed ARPG” they promised all those years ago and that seems less likely by the hour…
Is my point in a nutshell
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im the only one that think that they dont even work on this game anymore? 9 month zero content really? when MP take so long to work on it, they should give the community any content, maybe a pre season or some other stuff while we waiting. i have 1k hours in this game so i wont say rip money.
They spend alot of time/effort/dev time on actually porting out the patches. So they dont really wanna release a patch piecemeal when they are so close to just being done.
its sorta like if your car needed its breaks, transmission, and A/C fixed, and they kept telling you to come pick it up after 1 thing had been fixed.
They would rather just keep it in the shop to finish it all in one go.
Bizzare reading through some of these comments by people who have been playing for a while now who think the game is dead/never going to finish or release from EA. (here and on the discord channels).
I have been playing for over 2 years (2k+ hours in game) and actively participating on the forums and Discord and I honestly have no idea how these players have reached these conclusions. Without defending anyone or past delays, I feel the devs have been very forthcoming in what they are doing, the game has had a lot of progress with only the most recent being delayed (again explained by the devs) and devs respond on discord almost daily, Mike has streams weekly and they drop info/update information regularly. The community testing program is so oversubscribed they havent been able to process all the requests and from what I understand (without breaking non-disclosure agreements) that its going well (as well as things like this go).
Its almost as if we (myself and those who feel otherwise) are experiencing totally different games by totally different developers. It really is odd.
Sure I am waiting patiently for updates and would like to get my hands on new content but I dont have the same negative feeling that some of these other players do.
Perhaps its because I understand how the dev process works. Perhaps its because I view this as a game and have had more than my monies worth in entertainment value already. Perhaps I am just far more relaxed about all of this and are simply more patient. Perhaps I dont feel like I am entitled to anything more than I have already received and dont feel the need to demand anything more.
Definitely amazed. Its just a game, surely there is no need to let it affect yourself to a level of such negativity and dissapointment. That cannot be healthy.
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I will say as someone who has chosen not to partake in the CT program to not spoil myself.
I sorta would like to point out that if you do have access to it, you are sorta skipping the waiting part as small or as large as it may be.
I hold no ill will to the devs, but I guess I sorta thought we were skipping a patch cycle to get MP done, which I was fine with. But it feels like its coming close to skipping 2 even potentially 3 cycles of content for this patch.
I can definitely see how its getting to the point where people are going “is this really happening?” And judging by responses in the dev channel on the CT program, at this point they have gotten well more then they actually need to test. it feels like they are just letting people in so people dont feel left out because its taking quite a long time(But this could just be speculation on my part.)
I just sorta feel like so much is happening behind closed doors still that it makes it feel like nothing is happening at all.
Im happy to wait, but I wish we could get more roped in as a community instead of having to wait for insider access.
I’d say that even if people won’t get tired of ARPGS because of D4 & PoE 2, LE’s Early Access has been too long( will be 5 years in 2023) and the game has been in it’s mostly bland state for so long that whoever has been interested in this game or genre, has already chewed through it’s gameplay and loop enough to not be interested in it anymore.
It’s kind of like how these simulation and colony games end at a save that you were supposed to finish later but you never do because while the game isn’t bad, there isn’t really that much new stuff that you can imagine to justify the time expenditure.
Not hating, just how I see it.
I am not part of the CT program by choice. I am in the same boat as all normal players.
Honestly, and I am not trying to be contrary here, I dont understand the “is it really happening” attitudes based on what I have perceived over the years.
The more I think about it the more I think it just boils down to understanding the development process from being involved directly with it in my professional life. So my attitude to everything comes from a place of understanding the devs perspective.
I dont think that the game has been in a bland state for the 2k hours I have played. Yes, its got issues and I have reduced my playtime in anticipation of 0.9 and the changes it will bring, but I have enjoyed the time I have spent on it so far.
Perhaps that is a good point - what is considered too long for EA state of a game?
Dev projects of this level of complexity can take years and years of effort - far longer than 5 years. From that perspective, I dont think LE is taking that long. I consider EA as simply just a different name like alpha and beta - which are usually just states/milestones in the development cycle. Sure they (EHG) have by their own admission had some missteps in their planning cycles and directions, but honestly, thats all NORMAL in dev projects. Especially with new teams/first time products/changes in scope are expected and where estimating deadlines are nothing more than guesses - hopefully educated guesses, but still guesses that can sometimes be wildy wrong.
Now for a normal person without this experience, EA may seem like its an “almost done” state of the game. I dont consider it to be. I consider it to be more of a “here is a working version of our game, please support us so that we can carry on developing it”. And with that the risk of the simple fact that the game may fail anyway. The only difference to me is that in the past, when EA didnt exist, people did the work behind closed doors and eventually launched (or failed) without anyone knowing what was happening - and probably struggled financially while they did so.
The part of this that I find so odd is the emotional response that people are having. Perhaps I am just wired differently.
Perhaps, like i said, Its not really ill will towards the devs, more just so addicted to game and wish I didnt have to wait 12 months for a patch 
Though to be fair, Atleast in the time ive been playing, this is the longest content drought I think?
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That is speculation on your part. More bodies helps test MP things better.
It’s just people being impatient, nothing unusual about that, as the below quote shows. It’s totally normal & understandable.
That’s 'cause you’re not a multi-trillionaire uber-CEO who can kill PoE’s pinnacle bosses while everybody’s still queuing to get started in a league.
And 0.9.0 patch is exceptional with time it requires you can figure when jumping from
0.8.5 → 0.9.0. Its not in the same boat with other “content patches” we got average every 3-4 months.
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That is why there is a signifier before that adjective. It was pretty bland in 2018 - 2020 which is where most of the players experience lies.
I work as a programming development project manager so I understand that but that does not change anything in how people perceive the game. This should be a variable in making decisions, not an excuse.
Most of all people play games for entertainment and nothing more. The point of my post wasn’t that there will be hordes of people who will complain that the game has failed, but worse - that people won’t even come back because they’ve played the game through already 1-2 times. Indifference, not anger.
I think losing interest for multiplayer after waiting for 5 years and it being at least 2 years late is very reasonable.
Yup, as I said in the following sentence to the word you quoted. It is normal and understandable.
Mate ive been around here for years now, this is the slowest game ive ever had and I play lots of EA games, to the point the motivation has gone
Core Keeper/Slormancer - 2 games I bought recently have released a stream of content since I got them, PoE has released like 9 leagues and had immense changes since I picked up LE
The problem now is for me personally is other titles have now/will come along meaning I wont even have time to play LE ‘properly’
I am really enjoying Torchlight Infinite but this game will have to be put in the backseat for PoE - you have no idea the control GGG still have over their players, ontop of that Diablo 4 is coming and I am definitely going to be playing that I actually have a feeling its going to be decent
Ontop of that games like Elden Ring come along and demand 1.5 months of your time but at the same time…you quit Elden Ring because once again PoE releases a new league
PoE new league in December / Torchlight new season in January / D4 in April - where is LE going to fit in this? Torchlight have said they are doing a Pirate/Treasure league next with new class/new skills etc
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Funny you should mention that. I backed Grim Dawn pre-kickstarter in April 2010, the kickstarter campaign happened in April 2012, the alphas started being released in May 2013 and the game was released in Feb 2016, nearly 6 years later. Waiting those first 3 years without anything was hard, then when they did bring something out there was so little and I really didn’t play it much before release.
@Shrukn Slowest game ever. Somehow I doubt that very much. Perhaps in your personal experience. Ok.
Honestly dont understand your frustrations, I have none of them. I simply dont care. I have more than enough RL activities to keep me entertained and when a game is released or updates has very little impact on me. I will play it when I have the interest and time and if its available. I have said this before in other threads but I dont jump when publishers launch games, I will play it when it suits me.
So worrying about all the games and choices I may have when they release and when I will be able to “fit” in game time to play doesnt matter to me in the slightest. I just leave it on a wishlist and when I feel like playing something new, I pick one. How long something is delayed doesnt matter to me at all. Its not like waiting for a slot for heart surgery.
I also make it a point not to ruled by games/game publishers etc.
Obviously others are.
ps.
Hmm… dont know what to say about this but I suppose everyone derives enjoyment in different ways. Whatever floats your boat.
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another Diablo immortal crossplataform ? I rest my case.
LOL!
Someone asked me a few months ago what animal would I not want to be reborn as in my next life and I said an earthworm but I’m going to change my answer to a human being who cannot find enjoyment in anything other than what the gray mass approves.
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