CA-SEGA. EXCEED customer expectations,

[Humble Warrior]

Your announcement of a minor patch is a nice gesture (though we wait to see the actual substance).

But if you really want to get the customer and fans on your side, don`t just make a cheap, minimalistic BAI Patch. Make a GOOD Patch as good as NTW`s BAI.

Don`t just patch BAI, but make Fort walls repairable. Surely an easy job.

Don`t just make Fort repairable, but allow the Campaign AI small armies the ability to retreat against larger forces.


This would exceed expectations.

I`m not even going to ask for your terrible Sieges or diplomacy to be fixed in ETW, but if you really wanted to impress the customer, guess what you could do...?

You know, we, the customer, are not as stupid as you might think.

Hope you get the message.

[Der Angelsachse]

From the title, I thought this was going to be a critique on the community reaction to CA putting out a patch. lol

[Sir Winston Churchill]

From the title, I thought this was going to be a critique on the community reaction to CA putting out a patch. lol

I don't know, I honestly thought it was about a complaint against a recent magazine/game blog post that declared ETW to exceed all customer expectations or something.

But yes, here here! This announcement for a slight fix to the BAI is a small tip-toe in the right direction for CA. Now if they followed through on everything Humble said, it might actually make ETW passable in my book.

[Orry]

When I think back to some of the things people were saying about their not being able to get any worse before the release of Empire they did exceed our expectations - nobody thought things would be as bad as they have turned out.....

[Lord Dakier]

One would be wise to do what he says.

[leonn]

and if ca REALLY want to gobsmack everybody how about a steam free option? i await with baited breath!

[Humble Warrior]

and if ca REALLY want to gobsmack everybody how about a steam free option? i await with baited breath!

Hahah! Oh how I would love that, but not even I expect CA\SEGA to listen to the customer about that! I have spent a year complaining to them about it, been banned (twice) over it - and STILL they haven`t even responded to Steam-Only concerns. Did you know that in my 10 years or so on forums I had NEVER been banned before? Not even temporarily?

They absolutely do not care for the person who wants CHOICE.

From the title, I thought this was going to be a critique on the community reaction to CA putting out a patch. lol

I post everything with a double meaning to get those looking who otherwise wouldn`t.

[intrepid]

It would be a nice sign that they really want to improve their games. CA needs more of this gestures to recover trust after ETW.

[Beggar]

On the other hand they already exceeded them, because most of the people didn't expect a patch to be released. Though I obviously can't disagree with you on this.

[Lowes]

Hear hear Humble old boy! I rather like your cautious optimism in the face of CA's rehabilitation, but yes, I am inclined to agree, you blokes at CA have gotten your clothes on, but you need to get out of bed on your promises, if you'll allow me the metaphor. Lets see what the blighters shall cook up for us, and let us all collectively pray that it shan't leave a bitter taste in our mouth.

Though, I must admit that as much as I was pleased to read the announcement of an additional patch, time to reflect and think upon it has led me to a single conclusion, so listen up lads, Lowes' cogs turn slowly but finely: If you're going to do something, do it right, make it grand, and make it prompt. Simply put; don't just settle for CA fixing the BAI - no one can deny this is a welcome relief, but you must adress the variety of problems brought to light in kind CA. I, for one, can suffer for quite some time under the current conditions of the game, if I know you boys are crafting up a patch that fixes not only BAI, but sieges, diplomacy, and repair options for forts.

Hmmm, constructive criticism leaves me all a flutter! I shall retire to my quarters, till our next discussion lads, cheers!

[emperor77]

I agree with Humble Warrior, making the BAI tolerable is a step in the right direction, but Empire is still a bugfest. At least the obvious bugs like the repair bug, tech tree mess up and other bugs that everyone will notice 5 minutes into the game should be fixed.

[Aeneas Veneratio]

Do we even have any proof of the quality of the NTW's BAI yet? Sounds like I am missing some news update.

Other than that, I agree with the things about the forts.

[CharlestheShort]

The tech tree bug seems to have been fixed with the release of EUE. I have verified this myself. I wonder if the repair bug was fixed.

[dmcheatw]

an example: i moved to raleigh 4-5 years ago, and was unsure what mechanic to take my car to. This one guy gives me an estimate for 200 dollars for a new starter. everyone else gives estimates of 200-220. He fixes my starter, tops off all my fluids, and gives me a bottle of break fluid, stating that it looked like there may be a leak in my master cylinder, and charges me 180 for the whole deal. Few months later i have a new problem, he diagnoses it, quotes a estimate on the low end, then actually charges me LESS than the estimate, AGAIN. Next time i come i'm having trouble finding a ride to take me home after i drop my car off.... he has one of his employees drive me home. When i return, again i find the price he is charging is 10 bucks less than his estimate, and he's washed all my windows and checked the pressure in my tires... just for the hell of it.

the point here is that the guy always delivers in excess of what he advertises or says he will do. If he says he'll have my car ready when i get out of classes in 2 hours... my car is ready. end of story. If he says the repair will cost 200 dollars, then it costs 200 dollars or even less. If a product he installs breaks, he'll fix it for free on the spot. This is why i only take my car to him, and this is why he's been in business for 30 years.

this is the real way a business should treat its customer, not the way CA (or game companies in general) tend to treat people. (your car isn't ready but it will be "soon;" I know we said we'd replace your alternator with a new brand name one that performs like hal 9000, but it turns out all we had was a used one in the back without a warrenty, and it's gonna cost you 40 dollars more than our estimate; I know i fixed your car 2 weeks ago and despite the fact that this alternator failed we've moved on to other projects and cannot continue to support our product and labor any longer with regard to you car, however if you'll come back to us for your next repair we'll make everything right, we promise... etc)

[emporor]

Agree with what others are saying here. it was a nice surprise to have update and i admit i was confused when it started updating. BUT other fixes are needed and other things need to be added like the diplomacy, with abilities to create coalitions after wars have started and the 'negative diplomacy' (which is in napoleon but for some reason not empire). the ability to get other factions to attack each other was in Medieval 2 and i think in Rome. Its like everyone for 100 years forgot how to negotiate to get other factions to attack each other and to join against a common enemy.

[irish437]

Any improvements ontop of the BAI fix would only increase goodwill for CA. If something is easy and relatively resource light to fix, they would be wise to do so.

[Yojimbo]

an example: i moved to raleigh 4-5 years ago, and was unsure what mechanic to take my car to. This one guy gives me an estimate for 200 dollars for a new starter. everyone else gives estimates of 200-220. He fixes my starter, tops off all my fluids, and gives me a bottle of break fluid, stating that it looked like there may be a leak in my master cylinder, and charges me 180 for the whole deal. Few months later i have a new problem, he diagnoses it, quotes a estimate on the low end, then actually charges me LESS than the estimate, AGAIN. Next time i come i'm having trouble finding a ride to take me home after i drop my car off.... he has one of his employees drive me home. When i return, again i find the price he is charging is 10 bucks less than his estimate, and he's washed all my windows and checked the pressure in my tires... just for the hell of it.

the point here is that the guy always delivers in excess of what he advertises or says he will do. If he says he'll have my car ready when i get out of classes in 2 hours... my car is ready. end of story. If he says the repair will cost 200 dollars, then it costs 200 dollars or even less. If a product he installs breaks, he'll fix it for free on the spot. This is why i only take my car to him, and this is why he's been in business for 30 years.

this is the real way a business should treat its customer, not the way CA (or game companies in general) tend to treat people. (your car isn't ready but it will be "soon;" I know we said we'd replace your alternator with a new brand name one that performs like hal 9000, but it turns out all we had was a used one in the back without a warrenty, and it's gonna cost you 40 dollars more than our estimate; I know i fixed your car 2 weeks ago and despite the fact that this alternator failed we've moved on to other projects and cannot continue to support our product and labor any longer with regard to you car, however if you'll come back to us for your next repair we'll make everything right, we promise... etc)

Great analogy i love businesses like that. The word of mouth and good will makes up for the little bit of money he loses. Knowing a business will go that extra mile to please customers makes me like them right away and i tell people about them.

[Axe27]

Things I'm never going to buy:

Another SONY game.
Another SONY-made console.
Mac in any shape or form.
Another Sega/CA game.

Nice job retards. You really blew it.

[Thoragoros]

Things I'm never going to buy:

Another SONY game.
Another SONY-made console.
Mac in any shape or form.
Another Sega/CA game.

Nice job retards. You really blew it.

Dude, first and foremost PS3 is awesome.

Second off, unless you want to get in trouble with the moderators, I suggest refraining from using language many may deem offensive.

Also, the mods frown on pointless name calling and insults.

[big_feef]

Things I'm never going to buy:

Another SONY game.
Another SONY-made console.
Mac in any shape or form.
Another Sega/CA game.

Nice job retards. You really blew it.

This one made me laugh...

Sony Studios makes much better games overall than MicroSoft Studios... But that is purely subjective.

The PlayStation 3 is a superior console to the XBox 360 in every way. I've had one PS3 since the beginning of '07; I've had 6 XBox 360 consoles in that same period; and 5 lost to RRoDs. Oh, and 4 of those consoles were the supposedly RRoD-free Elite models. The 5th console still hasn't been fixed because that 3-year warranty they tout to fix consoles that have RROd'ed? Well, the 3 years start from the day of manufacture; not the day you actually buy it. To get the same capability on my current XBox 360 that I have on my PS3 is just not possible (mine has a Seagate 500GB @7200 rpm HD which cost $90). Since you can't ever change the hard drive to anything more than 120GB (which costs $170 last time I checked) and their wireless adaptor costs $110... You end up paying more for a comparable XBox 360 than you would a PS3. Meh! The list goes on...

I find Macs to be much better machines; and OSX is a superior OS to Windows 7; but again, that's subjective.

SEGA/Creative Assembly... *sigh* The Total War series had a special place in my game list because of the amount of time I could spend playing and modding the games. Now, their behavior over the years; capped by their recent doings has destroyed any trace of fan loyalty I've had for them. Yes, they've done a very good job of destroying a great franchise; sad to see it go, but all good things must come to an end.