I know these forums are inhabited by even the most hardened of Stardock fans, and i am one too. But if you love something you can't be blind to criticize it. Already we have a thread saying don't complain so I know how this thread will turn out but i'm really hoping for an actual dialogue that won't be met with rampant fanboyism.
Anyway I just read this article and while I know there is a zero day patch coming, i'm a little worried about exactly HOW much they fixed in such a short amount of time. It seems like there are a lot of bugs/typos/mistakes and I think as a paying customer it's okay to say this.
A note from Frogboy on this
Hi guys,
Let me add some points here:
1. Tom Chick is one of the top gaming journalists in the industry. He's not just some guy.
2. He is reviewing the gold version (he is NOT playing the day 0 version). I.e. He is NOT playing a beta.
3. While I would quibble with some of the content (yes, we multiply bonuses. We multiplied them in Entrepreneur, we multiplied them in GalCiv, and we multiply them in Elemental and have throughout the beta).
4. I agree with Tom that the Hiergamenon page should make it more clear that those bonuses are being multiplied and that there is a text bug in the description of Educated that was since addressed.
5. The math system under the hood does work as designed, even in the gold version. It's not buggy but I think Tom brings up a valid point that the way it is explained to the player needs work (I think Tom would also agree it's light years ahead of how we "explained" the math in GalCiv II which was, essentially we didn't).
6. This isn't a review, it's a diary. Please read Tom's other works. It doesn't mean he hates the game. He is pointing things out that he thinks can be improved in the game and we can all benefit from it.
Anyway here is the article and some snippets:
http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/08/elemental_in_a_world_of_dragon.php
I'm trying to like Elemental. I really am. But the version I have now, and the version you're probably going to get to start playing tomorrow if you pre-ordered, is in pretty sad shape. A patch should be available by Monday. I hope it's a big patch.
My problem isn't just the way Elemental assumes you know things you would have no way of knowing, or the amateurish mistakes in the interface, or the crashes, or how alt-tabbing kills the game, or the way the Farming Guild increases metal production by 100%, or that I didn't get the leather armor I was promised when I researched it, or even this picture of the dreaded Umberdroth Pack, which either has cloaking technology or is so skinny it can hide behind a palm tree.

Actually, maybe the Umberdroth Pack is the palm trees. I suppose there's no reason you can't have a tropical ent.
All those things are frustrating enough. But I'm a bit worried that I simply can't trust the game to do what it says it's doing.
All I ask is for you guys to just read this and not to flip out on me for criticizing or worrying about the game or wondering exactly HOW much this zero-day patch is going to fix.