I am ok with it being a work in progress as long as it is moving forward..But I am really getting sick of having to reconfigure some settings over and over. I may take a break and come back to it later... it looks good and it was kinda fun in the beginning but the wow factor has worn off and having to spend so much time adjusting this and that is getting tedious.

I voted option 2. There was no guarantee if we did wait a year or more that we wouldn't be in exactly the same place as we are now. Might as well just get on with it. 

 Poll: would you have preferred to wait another 6-12-18 mon for a more mature product?

No, but I am doing it anyway....

Well, I can still wait, right?

I'm glad they released it when they did.  I've really enjoyed the scenery and community mods make some of the airplanes at least hand flyable so we can enjoy that fantastic scenery.

I don't think another 12-18 months would have helped aircraft systems, nor do I think they will be much better in another 12-18 months after release if they keep the same development model.   It seems their process is not grounded in any knowledge or guidance from the aerospace industry.  Programmers in the aerospace industry are given very explicit performance requirements to code to.   Asobos requirements seem to be "here's a list of buttons, have them do something".

Asobo should focus all of their efforts into enabling community/3rd party aircraft developers the (deep SDK) tools they need to make realistic aircraft systems and stop trying to figure it out themselves.   They can then learn/borrow from what the community does to improve the default aircraft.   There are a lot of very knowledgeable people in the open source community and 3rd party developer space.

I "fly" all the time (way more than any normal person should...) and I've seen good and bad with this product.  I don't regret buying the prem-deluxe version at the beginning, though I do admit I wish for some things that were better or different, especially for people who had long used the older versions to find the with the new MSFS lots of things were gone (like maps, ability to change aircraft without using dev more,) or changed.

I also know software development is a long, slow process, but it would be nice if things could be dealt with more quickly 😉

So I guess I'm not in the first or second, but also not in the third category.  So I guess I'd vote four?  Or maybe five?

 

Hmmm...

Hi I am happy it was released when it was like it was.  However it would be good if customers had the choice of not updating each time a new update is offered.  Therefore the less brave of us could delay a update for a while if we are satisfied with the current build.

I know of other products who do this.  It is basically a open beta project where customers can chose to be part of the testing etc.  Others can hold on until the update better tested / more stable. 

Just my thoughts

Best wishes

Bob

I wish products like this had to meet a higher standard of completeness and quality before they ship. The entire software industry, especially the game industry, is getting away with shipping half-baked products and drip feeding updates that often break more than they fix. Rarely, if ever, delivering on the expectations set by pre-launch marketing. 

Part of this problem is the scope of these projects are now so enormous and ambitious that they can’t possibly do everything even remotely well, but rather than really nail some aspect, they usually do a poor job at everything.

Compounding the issue, is this bizarre practise that has evolved where pre-ordering a game is a thing. Like it’s somehow supply constrained or something and people feel compelled to pay for it long before they know if it delivers on what’s promised. When a company merely has to put out some announcement accompanied by some glossy videos made on high-end render farms that in no way resemble the final product and then open up preorders and then book a fleet of armoured trucks to take the money to the bank, there’s something wrong.  What’s their motivation to deliver a stellar product if they’ve already made millions in pre-order revenue?

Case in point... MSFS water masks and LOD and texture details are still not close to pre-launch marketing videos. It’s possible they never will be. Let’s face it, rarely do companies actually use their own game engine for marketing - it’s all hand-crafted renders. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that someone picking up this hobby in 18 months is going to have less frustrations and a better experience than I am. But I have full control over this myself. I can choose to take a pass and come back in 18 months. It’s looking increasingly like that’s what I’m going to do. In fact, if Asobo had not reached out to FBW earlier this week with the A320 AP fix, that’s exactly what I would have done. I may still yet take an extended break. Even the scenery, which is the clear strength of this game, is not compelling in urban areas to make a “world tour” satisfying right now. Maybe in a year or two when most of the main areas are covered by photogrammetry and Asobo has covered much of the planet with their world update polish, it will be worth doing a world tour, but not now. It’s not very good for IFR with ATC as it is, and the only suitable study level plane is the FBW A320 but it’s super fragile as we’ve seen and there’s still issues trying to add an approach without doing a ridiculous u-turn.

I’ve also been waiting for months for my Honeycomb bravo... I really pitty anyone just entering this hobby now with peripherals completely out of stock everywhere indefinitely. 

So yeah, I wish things were different. No doubt about that. 

Edited December 2, 20205 yr by Virtual-Chris

Third option for me : abstention.

What we wish the past was, is irrelevant . Akin to another human activity which common wisdom says, makes you deaf.

What interest me is the way to the future. Space out multi GB updates, tighten the release quality and focus on what is important to polish (aircraft mostly) to bring a true flight simulator out of our good MFS. 

1 hour ago, Dominique_K said:

Akin to another human activity which common wisdom says, makes you deaf.

Eh?

11 hours ago, Ron Attwood said:

Eh?

I think he may be talking about eating too much chocolate.  Not sure, but I think so.  😜

Voted #2.

Had it been a minor update to an existing sim, I would have been relatively happy to wait, but as it was effectively a brand new sim, head and shoulders above what was already in existence (in terms of like for like basic installation), I simply would have been so frustrated trying to wait for its release, especially if I couldn't be selected as a tester (just as I wasn't in reality).

Plus, I don't have a whole lot of cash to through at hardware and software, but that's one thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has made easier. Normally, I would have been spending most of it on necessary travel and the other aspects of my personal life, but with those sadly on indefinite hold, I've been able to indulge financially in MSFS (far too much in fact!). Had we been waiting another year or more, I might not have had that luxury.

MSFS may ne a work in progress, with us as testers paying for the privilege, but I'm far happier with the positives than I am disappointed by its shortcomings.