What happened that this area suddenly got active with tons of people posting/fighting?
Game is popular or community is quite vocal?
The game has been dying a slow death for years and many of us who have been banned for our vocal crusades against the developers ideas over the years, along with many other former players as you can see, finally have a forum to talk about the game that isnt heavily censored.
By all means please go try the game for free and tell us what you think. 1 out of every 500 people who try the game do stay for a month or so, please do give us your fresh perogitive on the game if you do decide to try it
Game summary: basically cod with 1995 graphics for 17.99 a month that has barely 200 players on the server during its peak You will notice the game has a lot more to offer but you wont get a chance to see it because the developers never figured it out
And I dont visit in awhile and the loyal haters have let more fanboi garbage in here ...
axis, depot, this is uneceptable You had pete all under control and now this mess
Had I known cethemute and silecthedickbag were here causing trouble, I would of cum sooner They hate waiting for their treats
Hopefully we can come back to this post in a year and the game will still be chugging along.
If not, no skin off my teeth.
If it is I'll definitely remind all of you disgruntled hurt ex-players.
Well, it's not that hard to keep a game up and running when you're an independent company who's only paying about three people salary as well as server upkeep. So as long as there are enthusiasts buying builder accounts, subscribing to multiple accounts, or funding pledge drives this game will stay afloat.
Sure, this game might not be "dead" but it most certainly is in a vegetative state. The active playerbase could probably be counted in the low tripple digits and there's next to no development support for this game - be it present or future.
Oh I'm sure the game will still be around a year from now and maybe even 5 years from now. Hell, let's go in for another 10. Meridian 59 launched in the mid 90's and it's still up and running to this day. I looked through all of the games hosted here on MMORPG and I swear I haven't heard of any of them with the exception of the triple-A tittles from the big players. Most of them are probably like WW2OL - tiny companies with skeletal staffs maintaining a game that caters to a very small niche of the gaming market.
Maypol, Doc, Killer, Gophur, Bloo, will milk this thing for as long as they can even if it means shutting down the office and running the servers out Doc's bedroom on a residential Comcast connection. I'm certain they still haven't recouped their original investment after all these years but with no programmers and artists to pay they now get to pocket more money for themselves. To keep that income steady they have to keep doing what they've always done; allude to big improvements coming to the game (the carrot) but remind everyone of the consequences if they don't get enough subscribers (the stick).
1) DOC- That's a default answer. 2) Bugged 1.35 - Agree, but not enough to warrant a rage quit. 3) Lack of coders- So you unsubbed because of a internal CRS employment issue? lol, ok. 4) Player view limit- Not entirly sure what you mean. 5) Random CTDs- it's fixable with 4gb patch. Haven't had a CTD since. 6) Lack of players- 1 map axis have underpop and your raging? 7) DoC- Lame
Have your reasons man, not taking it away . I just feel that it's an excuse after excuse for most. If I ever unsub or rage quit. It will be for something of substance or a good reason, not because CRS doesn't have a coder lulz
1) DOC- That's a default answer. 2) Bugged 1.35 - Agree, but not enough to warrant a rage quit. 3) Lack of coders- So you unsubbed because of a internal CRS employment issue? lol, ok. 4) Player view limit- Not entirly sure what you mean. 5) Random CTDs- it's fixable with 4gb patch. Haven't had a CTD since. 6) Lack of players- 1 map axis have underpop and your raging? 7) DoC- Lame
Have your reasons man, not taking it away . I just feel that it's an excuse after excuse for most. If I ever unsub or rage quit. It will be for something of substance or a good reason, not because CRS doesn't have a coder lulz
And you still don't get it. Many smaller issues added together creates a major issue.
1) DOC- That's a default answer. 2) Bugged 1.35 - Agree, but not enough to warrant a rage quit. 3) Lack of coders- So you unsubbed because of a internal CRS employment issue? lol, ok. 4) Player view limit- Not entirly sure what you mean. 5) Random CTDs- it's fixable with 4gb patch. Haven't had a CTD since. 6) Lack of players- 1 map axis have underpop and your raging? 7) DoC- Lame
Have your reasons man, not taking it away . I just feel that it's an excuse after excuse for most. If I ever unsub or rage quit. It will be for something of substance or a good reason, not because CRS doesn't have a coder lulz
Isn't an MMO with no coder an MMO with no prospect of bug fixes or improvement? Seems to be a reasonable reason not to invest your time in its future.
Originally posted by CeTheGreat Is one needed? Sure . Is it a reason to unsub, or at least add to a list of reasons? No
In an immersive MMO you invest your time into it, developing characters and skills, you suspend reality to enter that world. If you believe the future is not there then it is perfectly reasonable to choose to stop investing your time as the spell of the virtual world is broken, others might play more whilst it still exists. Both approaches are justifiable.
1) DOC- That's a default answer. 2) Bugged 1.35 - Agree, but not enough to warrant a rage quit. 3) Lack of coders- So you unsubbed because of a internal CRS employment issue? lol, ok. 4) Player view limit- Not entirly sure what you mean. 5) Random CTDs- it's fixable with 4gb patch. Haven't had a CTD since. 6) Lack of players- 1 map axis have underpop and your raging? 7) DoC- Lame
Have your reasons man, not taking it away . I just feel that it's an excuse after excuse for most. If I ever unsub or rage quit. It will be for something of substance or a good reason, not because CRS doesn't have a coder lulz
I know right, what kind of an excuse is it to stop paying $18 a month over not having a coder lol. Coders don't develop games, artists and producers do. KFS1 was a waste of space anyway. What did he do? Server coding?!? That isn't important in developing an online game. I agree with you ce
Originally posted by CeTheGreat Is one needed? Sure . Is it a reason to unsub, or at least add to a list of reasons? No
A lack of programmers means there is no real work done with the game. That means no bug fixes, no game improvements, no new content - no nothing. You don't think that's reason enough to unsubscribe? To unsubscribe from a half baked game that has no real future?
Not everyone is like yourself who will play the game year after year. It gets stale, old and boring. Some sooner than others. And here in the real world people aren't going to convince themselves to enjoy what they don't find fun anymore simply because this game is one of a kind and there isn't anything else on the market.
I was asking the members of my squad that still respond about the game and they gave these reasons:
Abusive staff
Bad infantry combat - particularly being killed by players before seeing them turn corners
Reduced game play - no manual resupply/behind the lines action, meaningless RDP raids (high risk, low reward)
Latency issues
Diminished player base
Less excitement/reduced team play
My personal reasons are a culmination of these things.
A lot of players used to identify with brigades and certain areas of the front. This is only good if you have the players to cover the front. Unfortunately when the Allied players became unified, many of them felt lost, mainly players that enjoyed their British persona. This resutled in a lack of cohesion amongst squads and HC where before it existed. Players followed their respective Brigade officers and squads worked together, well, no longer. Players became increasingly divorced from HC. HC became a job of not leading the players into combat but of managing the map and absorbing abuse from the disgruntled community members that should have been aimed at CRS.
Resupply: The thing that gave me the most pleasure was trying to predict when and where the Axis would try to overstock/ bring relief columns. Intercepting those convoys brought some nice little battles/counter attacks and made the battlefield a deeper and more dynamic place.
RDP/Radar: RDP was another big draw for me. The ability to affect the opponent's combat power is virtually unheard of in games. I was quite frankly disappointed by the lack of participation by the Axis given they had such a phenominal platform for delivering ordinance in the He111. The times I played Axis I felt it was a joy to fly and wished the Allies had something comparable. It wasn't so much that they reduced that ability as they coupled it with map wide radar making it absolutely pointless to attempt RDP raids. No longer did we need to fly immersive combat air patrols searching for the enemy, no longer need we bother organizing raids into enemy territory. Another aspect of the open battlefield gone.
Just like the Allies didn't overstock, the Axis didn't do RDP and so just because players on one side chose not to participate in each, both were gone.
Despite these changes, I soldiered on. I struggled to reinvent myself as a player, setting up mortar teams and playing other support roles. I still tried to communicate and cooperate with HC which became increasingly difficult until it ceased altogether. Despite the dwindling player numbers I tried to find enjoyment in a game that was growing smaller with every patch, moving toward the size of a shoebox without the fit and finish expected from such games.
The final straw for me was when the staff began to be abusive in the forums and moderators stomped on any thread or post that was in the least bit negative, even of well thought out and non abusive posts that were well within the TOS. Ultimately I cited lack of funds in the exit poll, I have a very limited budget, but really it was these things that led me to unsubscribe.
I had almost forgot about the RDP raids, I flew a few of them myself in a Bf110C4. I even tried the HE-111, but I couldnt stand its SLOW climb rate. But I spent most of my time on the ground in my StuG.
The thing about the He111 is that it is fast, just you need to be at around 6km and going fairly straight and level for a few minutes to get up to speed. If you are in any sort of climb you will be puttering along at 250km/h or less and be really easy bait. Get at 5.8km or so behind the lines, form up and when you cross the front you will be quite fast, at least for tier 0.
That's what sucks about the AWS, you cannot fly anywhere for five minutes without a big beacon going off and alerting everyone, even if you are way back in an rear airfield. Hell there are so few Luftwaffe pilots on outside of JG51 squad nights that two yellow squares set off the bored allied pilots. There's no way to gain altitude behind the lines, and it's proof that AWS is kept in for the spoiled instant-action babbys rather than to keep bombers from skirting and heading to the factories.
I just remembered that CRS went to all this effort to build a separate freaking game, yet something as small as altering the multicrew permissions was too much work; there would be a lot more multicrewing if player #1 had priority over positions, or if they could set who could go where. A lot of veterans would love to take new players up, new guys would like to tail gun but the crew member has to be in the important bombardier position.
Anyway I figured out what a producer at CRS does, their prime duty apparently is to post walls of text in the forums lambasting everything from the gaming market to their current financial situation to their detractors. Any sort of coding work or new content, however, is clearly out of the question.
I just remembered that CRS went to all this effort to build a separate freaking game, yet something as small as altering the multicrew permissions was too much work; there would be a lot more multicrewing if player #1 had priority over positions, or if they could set who could go where. A lot of veterans would love to take new players up, new guys would like to tail gun but the crew member has to be in the important bombardier position.
...
iirc, wasn't one of the big reasons to take newbies up was to build their rank? Flying had to the be the worst learning curve lol. Not only is it technically more complicated than any other unit, not only were you up against pro's who've been flying combat for years, you also always had the worst plane unless it was at the start of the map due to rank.
It was a pity, I often wanted to go as I was semi AFK, but would have tailgunned if someone shouted on comms that there were incoming hehe.
One of those CRS crazy decisions. I also thought not giving binos to new recruits was a horrible idea. It was a big game with lots to learn. Going into a tower with a set of binos just to observe while folks talked to you, would have been a great way to get a quick feel for the game (plus would have looked cool for the players as they'd see so much more). Instead without them, newbies were rifle bait without the capability of even seeing what's shooting at them and having to burn through those 10 min boring defend missions to gain quick rank.
But the air was some of the coolest stuff. I remember as a defender being at the receiving end of BIG bombing runs on a city. More done for fun as divebombing 111's was more effective than mass bombing (no supply impact etc.), but boy did it look so cool heh.
im not a day 1 player, but i am a month 1 player. ive seen the whole evolution of the game. CRS has been crapped one since day 1. Strategy First forced them to release the game when it was in a pre-alpha state, not even really stable yet. the ISP failed them to the point of lawsuit. flying tanks, infantry running faster than the flying tanks was the norm. a big battle and you would get 1 fps.
then came the cheaters. we had 2000+ of the best cheaters/finders of exploitation anywhere,and find they did.
clipping into walls was the worst, everyone did it,you had to. ei would attack the AB by clipping into the walls. you couldnt see or shoot them,but they could see and shoot you. we had to clip into the walls in defense.every time a new feature came out, someone would quickly find an exploit for it. when paras first came out, it took mere days for someone to figure out you could crash the plane into a building and throw all your troopers into the building unharmed.
CRS spent the first 2-3 years doing nothing but plugging up all the cheats/exploits. all while trying to turn a pre-alpha game into an open beta.finally they were able to start adding new features like depo spawning and brigades and "no linky-no cappy".
but every time they added a feature, they would make someone mad and unsub. you just cant make everyone happy,its impossible.
i am a fanboy becuase ive seen what CRS has been through,and i know the potential of the game. there is nothing anywhere that can even dream of coming close to wwiiol. so i look past the politics,and do what i can to try and make wwiiol survive.
in the 2nd-3rd year, they still had the server population counter up, and population averaged 1800 on a weekday evening (Central U.S. Rat time) with weekends seeing 2000-2100 (highest i saw was 2300+).
if we that many people playing with todays features, new free-to-players would be awestruck. and battles would not be epic, they would be legendary.
Comments
The game has been dying a slow death for years and many of us who have been banned for our vocal crusades against the developers ideas over the years, along with many other former players as you can see, finally have a forum to talk about the game that isnt heavily censored.
By all means please go try the game for free and tell us what you think. 1 out of every 500 people who try the game do stay for a month or so, please do give us your fresh perogitive on the game if you do decide to try it
Game summary: basically cod with 1995 graphics for 17.99 a month that has barely 200 players on the server during its peak
You will notice the game has a lot more to offer but you wont get a chance to see it because the developers never figured it out
And I dont visit in awhile and the loyal haters have let more fanboi garbage in here ...
axis, depot, this is uneceptable
You had pete all under control and now this mess
Had I known cethemute and silecthedickbag were here causing trouble, I would of cum sooner
They hate waiting for their treats
You guys do realize who stug is right? Just look at posting history and maybe you will figure it out.
And play for free won't fix a broken outdated game such as this, close the doors and move on.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Hopefully we can come back to this post in a year and the game will still be chugging along.
If not, no skin off my teeth.
If it is I'll definitely remind all of you disgruntled hurt ex-players.
Well, it's not that hard to keep a game up and running when you're an independent company who's only paying about three people salary as well as server upkeep. So as long as there are enthusiasts buying builder accounts, subscribing to multiple accounts, or funding pledge drives this game will stay afloat.
Sure, this game might not be "dead" but it most certainly is in a vegetative state. The active playerbase could probably be counted in the low tripple digits and there's next to no development support for this game - be it present or future.
Currently Playing:
nothing
Oh I'm sure the game will still be around a year from now and maybe even 5 years from now. Hell, let's go in for another 10. Meridian 59 launched in the mid 90's and it's still up and running to this day. I looked through all of the games hosted here on MMORPG and I swear I haven't heard of any of them with the exception of the triple-A tittles from the big players. Most of them are probably like WW2OL - tiny companies with skeletal staffs maintaining a game that caters to a very small niche of the gaming market.
Maypol, Doc, Killer, Gophur, Bloo, will milk this thing for as long as they can even if it means shutting down the office and running the servers out Doc's bedroom on a residential Comcast connection. I'm certain they still haven't recouped their original investment after all these years but with no programmers and artists to pay they now get to pocket more money for themselves. To keep that income steady they have to keep doing what they've always done; allude to big improvements coming to the game (the carrot) but remind everyone of the consequences if they don't get enough subscribers (the stick).
edit: Exactly what UristMcDwarf said.
1) DOC- That's a default answer.
2) Bugged 1.35 - Agree, but not enough to warrant a rage quit.
3) Lack of coders- So you unsubbed because of a internal CRS employment issue? lol, ok.
4) Player view limit- Not entirly sure what you mean.
5) Random CTDs- it's fixable with 4gb patch. Haven't had a CTD since.
6) Lack of players- 1 map axis have underpop and your raging?
7) DoC- Lame
Have your reasons man, not taking it away . I just feel that it's an excuse after excuse for most. If I ever unsub or rage quit. It will be for something of substance or a good reason, not because CRS doesn't have a coder lulz
And you still don't get it. Many smaller issues added together creates a major issue.
Isn't an MMO with no coder an MMO with no prospect of bug fixes or improvement? Seems to be a reasonable reason not to invest your time in its future.
It's about paying for a game I enjoy
It's no deeper than that
SWG > Aces High > WWIIOL
In an immersive MMO you invest your time into it, developing characters and skills, you suspend reality to enter that world. If you believe the future is not there then it is perfectly reasonable to choose to stop investing your time as the spell of the virtual world is broken, others might play more whilst it still exists. Both approaches are justifiable.
Are you implying it's a Rat? I suppose a moderator could see if the accounts are posting from the same IP.
As for wwiiol it's great people are talking about it. Personally, I read the points above and think hmmm...everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
However, on my death bed I won't be thinking "Darn it! If only I had hated a computer game more....."
I know right, what kind of an excuse is it to stop paying $18 a month over not having a coder lol. Coders don't develop games, artists and producers do. KFS1 was a waste of space anyway. What did he do? Server coding?!? That isn't important in developing an online game. I agree with you ce
You don't need an excuse to stop playing a game you're not enjoying any more.
Some people keep their subs active hoping some changes are made that can peak their interest in the future.
Some people unsub and because they feel they've been short changed, they need the whole world to know about it.
We are trying to encourage new players to try the game.
If they try it and don't like it, wouldn't the normal person just uninstall and move on?
A lack of programmers means there is no real work done with the game. That means no bug fixes, no game improvements, no new content - no nothing. You don't think that's reason enough to unsubscribe? To unsubscribe from a half baked game that has no real future?
Not everyone is like yourself who will play the game year after year. It gets stale, old and boring. Some sooner than others. And here in the real world people aren't going to convince themselves to enjoy what they don't find fun anymore simply because this game is one of a kind and there isn't anything else on the market.
Currently Playing:
nothing
There are no coders at the present.
Their intentions are to hire new staff to replace the ones that left.
Thats the reason for the increased marketing efforts by CRS and it's players.
It's really kind of simple.
When a company loses a skilled and knowledgable employee I don't think thety just replace them with any Joe Schmo, do they?
I mean do you really think many of us will be here pulling for CRS if they don't hire someone to code and get 1.35 soon?
I would assume they are trying to get some revenue built up, while trying to find the right person for the job.
I was asking the members of my squad that still respond about the game and they gave these reasons:
Abusive staff
Bad infantry combat - particularly being killed by players before seeing them turn corners
Reduced game play - no manual resupply/behind the lines action, meaningless RDP raids (high risk, low reward)
Latency issues
Diminished player base
Less excitement/reduced team play
My personal reasons are a culmination of these things.
A lot of players used to identify with brigades and certain areas of the front. This is only good if you have the players to cover the front. Unfortunately when the Allied players became unified, many of them felt lost, mainly players that enjoyed their British persona. This resutled in a lack of cohesion amongst squads and HC where before it existed. Players followed their respective Brigade officers and squads worked together, well, no longer. Players became increasingly divorced from HC. HC became a job of not leading the players into combat but of managing the map and absorbing abuse from the disgruntled community members that should have been aimed at CRS.
Resupply: The thing that gave me the most pleasure was trying to predict when and where the Axis would try to overstock/ bring relief columns. Intercepting those convoys brought some nice little battles/counter attacks and made the battlefield a deeper and more dynamic place.
RDP/Radar: RDP was another big draw for me. The ability to affect the opponent's combat power is virtually unheard of in games. I was quite frankly disappointed by the lack of participation by the Axis given they had such a phenominal platform for delivering ordinance in the He111. The times I played Axis I felt it was a joy to fly and wished the Allies had something comparable. It wasn't so much that they reduced that ability as they coupled it with map wide radar making it absolutely pointless to attempt RDP raids. No longer did we need to fly immersive combat air patrols searching for the enemy, no longer need we bother organizing raids into enemy territory. Another aspect of the open battlefield gone.
Just like the Allies didn't overstock, the Axis didn't do RDP and so just because players on one side chose not to participate in each, both were gone.
Despite these changes, I soldiered on. I struggled to reinvent myself as a player, setting up mortar teams and playing other support roles. I still tried to communicate and cooperate with HC which became increasingly difficult until it ceased altogether. Despite the dwindling player numbers I tried to find enjoyment in a game that was growing smaller with every patch, moving toward the size of a shoebox without the fit and finish expected from such games.
The final straw for me was when the staff began to be abusive in the forums and moderators stomped on any thread or post that was in the least bit negative, even of well thought out and non abusive posts that were well within the TOS. Ultimately I cited lack of funds in the exit poll, I have a very limited budget, but really it was these things that led me to unsubscribe.
Well said Anfiach.
I had almost forgot about the RDP raids, I flew a few of them myself in a Bf110C4. I even tried the HE-111, but I couldnt stand its SLOW climb rate. But I spent most of my time on the ground in my StuG.
So much crap, so little quality.
The thing about the He111 is that it is fast, just you need to be at around 6km and going fairly straight and level for a few minutes to get up to speed. If you are in any sort of climb you will be puttering along at 250km/h or less and be really easy bait. Get at 5.8km or so behind the lines, form up and when you cross the front you will be quite fast, at least for tier 0.
That's what sucks about the AWS, you cannot fly anywhere for five minutes without a big beacon going off and alerting everyone, even if you are way back in an rear airfield. Hell there are so few Luftwaffe pilots on outside of JG51 squad nights that two yellow squares set off the bored allied pilots. There's no way to gain altitude behind the lines, and it's proof that AWS is kept in for the spoiled instant-action babbys rather than to keep bombers from skirting and heading to the factories.
I just remembered that CRS went to all this effort to build a separate freaking game, yet something as small as altering the multicrew permissions was too much work; there would be a lot more multicrewing if player #1 had priority over positions, or if they could set who could go where. A lot of veterans would love to take new players up, new guys would like to tail gun but the crew member has to be in the important bombardier position.
Anyway I figured out what a producer at CRS does, their prime duty apparently is to post walls of text in the forums lambasting everything from the gaming market to their current financial situation to their detractors. Any sort of coding work or new content, however, is clearly out of the question.
iirc, wasn't one of the big reasons to take newbies up was to build their rank? Flying had to the be the worst learning curve lol. Not only is it technically more complicated than any other unit, not only were you up against pro's who've been flying combat for years, you also always had the worst plane unless it was at the start of the map due to rank.
It was a pity, I often wanted to go as I was semi AFK, but would have tailgunned if someone shouted on comms that there were incoming hehe.
One of those CRS crazy decisions. I also thought not giving binos to new recruits was a horrible idea. It was a big game with lots to learn. Going into a tower with a set of binos just to observe while folks talked to you, would have been a great way to get a quick feel for the game (plus would have looked cool for the players as they'd see so much more). Instead without them, newbies were rifle bait without the capability of even seeing what's shooting at them and having to burn through those 10 min boring defend missions to gain quick rank.
But the air was some of the coolest stuff. I remember as a defender being at the receiving end of BIG bombing runs on a city. More done for fun as divebombing 111's was more effective than mass bombing (no supply impact etc.), but boy did it look so cool heh.
Why I unsubbed in no particular order:
Low Population
Invisible EI/Collider Bug going on 20 months.
Multicrew Explot Bug going on 20 months.
No bugfixes/content/release for 20 months
Broken stats (Seriously how hard is it to insert records into a database and run queries against them?)
FRUs (there was nothing wrong with the truck MSP)
High subscription price for value
Catering to the COD crowd who move on after a few weeks
Abusive staff (DOC, xoom)
Hypersensitive forum moderators
Favortism towards certain lapdogs and yes-men
Lack of direction
Server resets (They didn't use to happen)
CRS influence in the campaign outcome (I've had my map moves overruled and this was back in 2008)
HC where you either do nothing, do admin work, or have the entire map dumped on you
TOE (ruined interdiction and I loved to move supply. I rememeber when we had people who did nothing but move supply)
CRS war on squads
DOC's Christmas "If you are on the fence about unsubscribing, please hold out a little longer" post
HERO subscriptions and Tier pricing
Rapid Assault bait and switch ($100 down the drain)
Ordered the box set in 2005 when CRS was begging for money, never got it.
Ordered t-shirt that never arrived
Invisible EI/Collider Bug going on 20 months.
This started for some players after the intro of 1.34 in Dec of 2011.
Not everyone experiences it.
Not 20 months, so untrue
Multicrew Explot Bug going on 20 months.
Again, not 20 months, so untrue
No bugfixes/content/release for 20 months
Fixes were released in early 2012
Again not 20 months, so untrue
Broken stats (Seriously how hard is it to insert records into a database and run queries against them?)
It's been stated over and over again that the stat compilation has to be contracted out to an ex-employee Ramp.
Why, after all these years no one else can learn how to do it is beyond me , so I'll give ya this one as a semi-untrue
Notice, I only commented on things you stated that were not true.
The rest is your opinion and I can't argue with you over how you feel about certain gameplay issues,etc..
I happen to agree with you on most of the other issues yoiu've pointed out.
Please don't take offense by me correcting those few mistruths.
S!
Why I unsubbed in no particular order:
Low Population
im not a day 1 player, but i am a month 1 player. ive seen the whole evolution of the game. CRS has been crapped one since day 1. Strategy First forced them to release the game when it was in a pre-alpha state, not even really stable yet. the ISP failed them to the point of lawsuit. flying tanks, infantry running faster than the flying tanks was the norm. a big battle and you would get 1 fps.
then came the cheaters. we had 2000+ of the best cheaters/finders of exploitation anywhere,and find they did.
clipping into walls was the worst, everyone did it,you had to. ei would attack the AB by clipping into the walls. you couldnt see or shoot them,but they could see and shoot you. we had to clip into the walls in defense.every time a new feature came out, someone would quickly find an exploit for it. when paras first came out, it took mere days for someone to figure out you could crash the plane into a building and throw all your troopers into the building unharmed.
CRS spent the first 2-3 years doing nothing but plugging up all the cheats/exploits. all while trying to turn a pre-alpha game into an open beta.finally they were able to start adding new features like depo spawning and brigades and "no linky-no cappy".
but every time they added a feature, they would make someone mad and unsub. you just cant make everyone happy,its impossible.
i am a fanboy becuase ive seen what CRS has been through,and i know the potential of the game. there is nothing anywhere that can even dream of coming close to wwiiol. so i look past the politics,and do what i can to try and make wwiiol survive.
in the 2nd-3rd year, they still had the server population counter up, and population averaged 1800 on a weekday evening (Central U.S. Rat time) with weekends seeing 2000-2100 (highest i saw was 2300+).
if we that many people playing with todays features, new free-to-players would be awestruck. and battles would not be epic, they would be legendary.