1 hour ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

My personal impression is, most of the bugs introduced seem to have resulted from knee jerk reactions to community demands for stuff like different night lighting, simple easier more stable auto pilots and better water. 

They need to stop listening to the community throwing tantrums and stick to a rational achievable schedule

What they did to the AP and the "performance optimization" is something difficult to understand. To me, the sim has made an important regression backwards after the latest update.

Cheers, Ed

I went for number two, and there was a good reason for that. Yeah we were blagged a bit with the sales patter and there's some work to be done to get the new sim fully up to snuff, but given that 2020 has been such an awful year for many reasons, a new flight sim, albeit one which does need some work, was a ray of sunshine in quite possibly one of the most depressing 12 month periods in living memory.

The fact that it was even possible to get it out of the door under some trying circumstances is itself to be applauded regardless of its present state, and we all know it will be sorted eventually. Personally, all I need is Air Hauler to work with it and I'll be happy to muddle along with it in its present form for however long it takes.

It seems to be in vogue to slag Asobo off a bit, but given that in recent months I lost my job with one aviation company, then lost my job with another one, then had to take another job, then another one after that, getting a new flight sim cheered me up no end and it continues to do so. I'm not suggesting we should all give Asobo a free pass on any stuff ups they make, but neither will I lay into them about everything, because on the whole I think they have done a great job under difficult circumstances.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Chock

4 hours ago, David Mills said:

I'm guessing that Microsoft was pressuring Asobo to release the sim early, both to provide an inflow of cash and to provide a broader field testing in preparation for the forthcoming Xbox release. 

Sounds plausible enough.

9 minutes ago, Chock said:

I went for number two, and there was a good reason for that. Yeah we were blagged a bit with the sales patter and there's some work to be done to get the new sim fully up to snuff, but given that 2020 has been such an awful year for many reasons, a new flight sim, albeit one which does need some work, was a ray of sunshine in quite possibly one of the most depressing 12 month periods in living memory.

The fact that it was even possible to get it out of the door under some trying circumstances is itself to be applauded regardless of its present state, and we all know it will be sorted eventually. Personally, all I need is Air Hauler to work with it and I'll be happy to muddle along with it in its present form for however long it takes.

It seems to be in vogue to slag Asobo off a bit, but given that in recent months I lost my job with one aviation company, then lost my job with another one, then had to take another job, then another one after that, getting a new flight sim cheered me up no end and it continues to do so. I'm not suggesting we should all give Asobo a free pass on any stuff ups they make, but neither will I lay into them about everything, because on the whole I think they have done a great job under difficult circumstances.

I like the big picture context of your overview, and see it very much the same way.  Plus, Asobo does have to work w/ MS and this makes slagging Asobo potentially very misdirected, especially w/o really knowing exactly the current dynamic between them.

Have I regretted any time I’ve spent with MSFS since release?  No.  Therefore my answer is very easy to decide on.

Sightseeing no.  Aviating, yes.

As a retail product I think it's wise to release something when it's ready, because baked-in expectations are different.

As someone who, if you had told me in August they were going to give beta access to anyone who pre-ordered the sim, would have jumped on that in a second and basically been in the position I'm in now anyway? I'm fine with it.  I've gotten a lot of fun hours out of this sim, in spite of the really rough edges here and there.

2 hours ago, Chock said:

I went for number two, and there was a good reason for that. Yeah we were blagged a bit with the sales patter and there's some work to be done to get the new sim fully up to snuff, but given that 2020 has been such an awful year for many reasons, a new flight sim, albeit one which does need some work, was a ray of sunshine in quite possibly one of the most depressing 12 month periods in living memory.

The fact that it was even possible to get it out of the door under some trying circumstances is itself to be applauded regardless of its present state, and we all know it will be sorted eventually. Personally, all I need is Air Hauler to work with it and I'll be happy to muddle along with it in its present form for however long it takes.

It seems to be in vogue to slag Asobo off a bit, but given that in recent months I lost my job with one aviation company, then lost my job with another one, then had to take another job, then another one after that, getting a new flight sim cheered me up no end and it continues to do so. I'm not suggesting we should all give Asobo a free pass on any stuff ups they make, but neither will I lay into them about everything, because on the whole I think they have done a great job under difficult circumstances.

I think this is a healthy perspective.  The whole pandemic aspect of this past year is kinda taken for granted.  I can't imagine how challenging it is to try and release software this huge and complex at a time in which your entire team has been working from home for months.  We've seen a bunch of games slide out of 2020 because of pandemic-related issues.

Asobo were doing something technologically unprecedented with modeling the world - something they (mostly) succeeded at.  I'm more than happy to give them some breathing room while they put out post-release fires and get the core platform to a truly stable status.

Also, sorry to hear this year was such a bummer for you.  I got lucky, in that the pandemic really didn't change anything in my day-to-day whatsoever, except having to wear a mask everywhere.

Voted number 1

Granted the RC wasnt all that bad but ive seen enough posts  stating that Asobo were not really taking on the feedback from the testers. I would have preferred them take the feedback and work out the kinks and the sdk.

But that's just my own opinion on the matter. Its already released so the issue is moot.

Whats more pressing is the QA issue for updates.. thats the most pressing issue right now.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Maxis

Voted number 1, I would have preferred a more stable and mature version, I have other hobbies so I could have waited.

9 hours ago, Noel said:

The current discussion around foilbles post-patches, the sense MS/Asobo isn't paying attention or acting on what is being suggested, the sense overall quality is deteriorating post initial release, are arguably valid concerns.  I'm curious though, would YOU have preferred to wait until 1, various issues such as AP/Garmin/ATC/Flight Characteristics/SDK were more fully mature and capable?  Or 2, do you prefer to be able to sample MSFS of Aug 18th, and standby to see how it evolves to that same endpoint in option 1 above?

Personally, I will vote option 2.  I've had a ball with MSFS so far, can easily see its shortcomings and look forward to it evolving to a more mature state.  MS/A has said, I read, they are in it for the 10y haul and will not forget hard-core simming folks' needs, which often ties in directly w/ 3rd party developer needs as well.  

 

 

I am glad it was released and I would have been happy to play the alpha and the beta too (I had no luck with the dxdiag lottery).

What's disappointing is the regression we are seeing patch after patch, when it's supposed to be a path of improvement.

Option 2 gets my vote and is a logical choice for most. However the question clearly states ‘with an expectation it’s shortcomings will be addressed over time’.

As it stands, it’s shortcomings are not being addressed. We have seen fairly consistent and persistent regression over time. That simply is not a part of the concept of early access software.

Even of Asobo/MS had placed the “Early Access” title on this sim, it would not justify the direction it has taken since launch, nor the current state after Patch 7.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by RaptyrOne

Here's a nearer look at insider information I've seen--hints at some things for sure:

 https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/589974-pmdg-update/?do=findComment&comment=4412307

 

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Noel

4 hours ago, Noel said:

Here's a nearer look at insider information I've seen--hints at some things for sure:

 https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/589974-pmdg-update/?do=findComment&comment=4412307

 

I don't really see anything there, aside from a little bit of frustration that there's this massive new market that PMDG basically can't work on tapping without waiting for things outside of their direct control.

Honestly, considering how slow going it's apparently been, Randazzo is still very complimentary of the sim (and Asobo), and understanding that they are still working though stuff on their end.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Scottoest

9 hours ago, Scottoest said:

I can't imagine how challenging it is to try and release software this huge and complex at a time in which your entire team has been working from home for months.

Far more difficult than most people realize. I’m going through it right now, though with an enterprise application instead of a game (hence my “work from home hell” reference in my original post). I know my troubles pale in comparison to those who have lost jobs or have health issues, but it’s the most challenged I’ve been in my career.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Hyperfocal

5 hours ago, Scottoest said:

Honestly, considering how slow going it's apparently been, Randazzo is still very complimentary of the sim (and Asobo), and understanding that they are still working though stuff on their end.

Yep, that's what I gleaned out of it as well.