Will you continue your Planet Offer if the features and gameplay remain same...

[mrmaye 0]

This poll and disussion is for people who have the planet offer. I want to know, with what you have seen so far (Good and the Bad), if after your Planet Offer expires, will you continue to your subscription? Post what you feel...

---MC We hope you read this and take notes.

[zwr100 2]

I expect to get my $ worth in improvements.  I don't expect/want massive changes every month, but I think it's fairly obvious that the players and MC are not happy with the current state of the game.  Trade has already improved, hopefully memory leaks will get resolved, and MT will find it's way into the game in a timely manner.  For me it will be a matter of if, when, and how changes are implemented.  I'm willing to wait if I percieve improvements.

I don't feel like I've explored a fraction of the existing game yet considering there are so many maps, and infinite ways to play them in an already dynamic economy.  I think I'll do a three month subscription to explore the game and decide whether to renew for 3 months (if I'm satisfied), 1 month (if I'm dissapointed), or not at all (if it's unacceptable).  In other MMOs I've gotten to the point of 1 month renewals a couple times, but that's almost always followed by cancellation (and sometimes much later renewal).  I bet MC has researched MMO subscription renewal trends and will do everything they can to at least maintain an acceptable game while releasing content to create new excitement - that's just my perception of the business reality of MMOs.

[sbtop 0]

I decided on Friday not to renew my subscription when my 5 free days ran out .. but then today (Monday) I renewed for 3 months.

There is promise in the game. It's far from perfect but if my £12 or whatever for 3 months can help improvements being coded then I'm in. At that price I can afford to sub to my main MMO (Champions Online at the moment) and to Cities and play whatever takes my fancy. After years of heavier MMO's these 2 "lite" ones are prefect for me.

[Naviss 0]

I have 3 months worth as it stands and since I bought the 3 months worth I've played maybe twice. I really don't care to play the game anymore till they do something with pollution.

They speak of having content packs out at least once a month, An I hope this is true along with a few gems before my 3 months runs out. If that's not the case however I wont renew! At least till there is new stuff. Mainly Mass transit....

[mrmaye 0]

I must say Mass Transit (or the lack thereof), is my major issue for me. It doesnt make sense to not have Mass Transit in a "realistic" city builder. This game has 10 star potential but is performing on a 6 due to the lack of sooooo many critical city building tools and features. Not to mention the amount of feedback the was provided originally for it to all go to the waste side. I will give them until the end of my subscription to get this game back on track with at least an 8.5 star rating.

[gyzzzmo 0]

I wont extent if theyre not doing major changes. But i also think that theyre not exactly having a vacation atm, and that theyre working very hard to get everything running.

[Rakeesh 0]

I most definitely will, and am for that matter. 3 months recurring. The game is very much worth it and I'm having fun, and really that's all I need to justify it. :3

[El_Presidente 0]

I'm considering maybe going for a month suscription once my free trial runs out, because the tiny bit of me that still believes in the good will of humanity thinks that this game could end up pretty awesome from its currently mediocre state. However, the vast majority of me so far isn't impressed. I haven't followed the game development at all, just thought i'd buy the game because it looked pretty good. Coming into a game that was only released just over 2 weeks ago and finding so little input from the developers so far leaves me very concerned. The lack of official Monte Cristo forums concerns me even more. I don't really feel comfortable subscribing to a game when the developers seem to care so little about the community or communicating with them. Doesn't really give an outsider any hope when it comes to a bright long-term future.

[jeremy12 0]

I am paying for 3 months at a time, thats $6 a month i think, i lose that much in change each month, and after playing World of Warcraft for 5 years, i don't notice the cost, and the only bug that really bugs me is the improper trading of workers, to witch i contacted MC and they said they are working on the fix, it has not even been 1 month just give it time, after dealing with blizzard you learn to be patient and some of the bugs in that game way out do bugs here in scale

[rhenry 1]

I signed up for planet offer yesterday and then I logged on and chose a location from all the crappy ones that were left (I like good and flat with a nice body of water for bridges and such and then at least one start of the good resources but there were none of these available from what I could figure out) and then I made my stupid avatar which was wildly disappointing in it's limitations.

Then I went to my city and I hated it so I deleted it and found another that was better but was really a map from single player and not one of my favorites to play one.

Then I started building and I just wasn't feeling it. I was watching that chat box and for the life of me couldn't figure out what the heck I would have to say on there, ever and then I realized I had just wasted 10 dollars on nothing. I went to visit one person's city and it was ugly. Just a gigantic grid of skyscrapers which I am just not sure why you would find it fun to just throw down an etire map of grids but there is was and there I was and I was most irritated by the fact that it was on my favorite Single Player map which I was not able to find (how do you get a better map?) and was going to waste by being misused by this person.

then I logged off and thought, how stupid. I couldn't even trade because there was something wrong where I would click on the icon to buy or sell and nothing would happen.

and I don't even know if I'll ever go back.

I'm just glad I didn't buy 3 months worth. Unless they improve it drastically I just cannot imagine it being worthwhile. I actually played SIms 3 all weekend and found it a lot more fun.

I felt silly being a grown man playing SIms 3 but it's entertaining none the less.

[Androv 6]

I expect things to improve gradually. That wasn't an option in the poll.

[pipvac 0]

With something in the order of 60+ active contracts, and a wealth of gameplay tips and knowledged shared in the chat, I think I see the advantage of the planet offer. However, it does not represent value for money by a long way, yet.

There are some fundamental issues, most of which are covered elsewhere.

Ignoring the obvious gameplay bugs which do not involve the PO, there are a number which need urgent attention:-

1) Trade - the trade window is outrageously slow; open to abuse by players accepting then immediately cancelling contracts; people can place offers without the necessary freight to accomodate them, meaning they wont 'accept' and the screen just leaves you refreshing until you reload; trade ignores your bank balance, and focuses soley on cashflow; occasional bug where ALL your contracts reset to leave you with huge deficits; contracts are only 5 days max;

2) Tutorial can over save your planet city - yea this is a doozey. If you go from the tutorial to planet mode, you can lose your city save on the planet, as it gets replaced with the tutorial;

3) Where are the blueprints !????

4) Web page trading not up yet

5) So much for live updates on your webpage, as its now only updated once per week (I think)

My advice to anyone not yet subscribed.... don't... not yet.

Don't get me wrong... I actually love the gameplay challenge. Its much more tricky than I was anticipating. However, the only online feature which is actually working is the chat window. Offline, there are an enormous number of gameplay bugs... staggering number in fact. Again, I enjoy the game even after all that. Unless you are blessed with the same patience and goodwill that I am, you would be better off spending your time threading a fine needle blindfolded, whilst being electricuted each time you missed the hole... it would be less frustrating than CitiesXL is right now.

If MC can fix all of this (a big if), then there is one hell of a game to get excited about here.

[SimBurger 0]

Im definitely renewing. $6 a month is pocket change for such a comprehensive, complex game and the insane number of hours you get for that six dollars and the fun of interacting with others at the same time.

Its still version 1.0 and anyone who knows anything about software development knows that the only direction to go from here, is up.

Just like the other guy above said - if my $6 a month will help them make this game awesome, then I'm in.

SB

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The expected improvements (posted on the website) if all released this year will convince me to subscribe June-August but the improvements will need to continue.

[mmm11105 0]

I will probably subscribe just for the extra content. (But Monte Cristo, get Custom Content working in online multiplayer and I will pay you WHATEVER you want)

[Kittani 1]

I was all ready to sign up, but then I read the post that all the good cities are taken and only the slag hard-to-build-on ones are left... cinches it for me... it'll be like villas in AC... you either have to buy one someone's selling on e-bay or wait till someone quits to get a descent one. 5 planets? they must not be expecting many people to play this game... a few hundred players maybey? It's ok I was irritated with the tutorials not even working right and crashing my computer hard-core. I got a descent graphics card and an i7... runs like garbage. Oh well... maybey in a few years when they release Cities XXL or something...

[voodoo02 0]

There needs to be some big improvements and fixes. Biggest problem I have is pollution in a city of 600,000+ people also traffic, plus the education bug. I am still learning the ins and outs so far and it is still a buggy game, I played the closed beta and the game still feels like it... The interface is a bit cleaner tho. Realistically I will cave and probably subscribe this Friday..........

[Rakeesh 0]

Originally posted by: Kittani

I was all ready to sign up, but then I read the post that all the good cities are taken and only the slag hard-to-build-on ones are left... cinches it for me... it'll be like villas in AC... you either have to buy one someone's selling on e-bay or wait till someone quits to get a descent one. 5 planets? they must not be expecting many people to play this game... a few hundred players maybey? It's ok I was irritated with the tutorials not even working right and crashing my computer hard-core. I got a descent graphics card and an i7... runs like garbage. Oh well... maybey in a few years when they release Cities XXL or something...quote>

This isn't true.  The most commonly unused maps tend to actually be the easier maps to work with.  Like High Lands, Mountain, Beach, etc.  It's harder to find full star maps on crowded planets, but that's why we have plenty of planets.  And as they don't plan to delete cities until 6 months of inactivity, it's a solid bet they'll open more planets as time goes by and people will have the opportunity to pick and chose once again.

There's actually 2 planets per region/language right now.  So still plenty of choice for those who hunt for their favourite map.

[Androv 6]

That's actually 4 English-speaking maps because you aren't limited to the Euro servers if you're in America and vice versa.

[MINIggy03 227]

what's the point in paying $6 a month anyway when you're going to have to pay extra for the new content? It's a $40 game, on top of $6 a month, on top of whatever they decide to charge for GEM's and mini expansion updates.

I say everyone wait until the game is worth the admission. Otherwise you're just throwing your money away on promises.

[DazzaDazza 29]

i have been thinking about it, but it sways from day to day depending on how the game annoys me that particular day, one minute I think to my self "I wouldn't spend a cent on this tripe", then the next day I find something I like about it and I think , Ya it not that bad a game, but I know one thing I wont buy the planet offer until the game is more complete,

[Kredit 0]

I don't mind paying for the PO, however I'm missing an option in this poll: "Yes, provided the keep improving the game enough".

The game's been out for what, 19 days now? They've had one real issue so far (trade) which was solved in an ok fashion. I'd expect the first "release" around the 1 month mark, which could now be blueprints and some small fixes/changes. Then MT after that? So far I have no reason to think that MC will "fail" at providing enough updates, but they haven't proven anything either. So I'll have to wait and see.

One thing that I could see potentially causing me to cancel my PO is the 5 city limit... I've got 5 cities on Caliban now... I don't want to desert them (because I always grow strangely attached to my digital creations...), but I do want to start some new cities on Prospero (because I want to use what I've learned so far to build better, more efficient and more compatible cities there), which I can't now... I don't see any reason why they wouldn't allow us 5 cities per planet, instead of in total.

[rhenry 1]

Originally posted by: Rakeesh

Originally posted by: Kittani

I was all ready to sign up, but then I read the post that all the good cities are taken and only the slag hard-to-build-on ones are left... cinches it for me... it'll be like villas in AC... you either have to buy one someone's selling on e-bay or wait till someone quits to get a descent one. 5 planets? they must not be expecting many people to play this game... a few hundred players maybey? It's ok I was irritated with the tutorials not even working right and crashing my computer hard-core. I got a descent graphics card and an i7... runs like garbage. Oh well... maybey in a few years when they release Cities XXL or something...quote>

This isn't true.  The most commonly unused maps tend to actually be the easier maps to work with.  Like High Lands, Mountain, Beach, etc.  It's harder to find full star maps on crowded planets, but that's why we have plenty of planets.  And as they don't plan to delete cities until 6 months of inactivity, it's a solid bet they'll open more planets as time goes by and people will have the opportunity to pick and chose once again.

There's actually 2 planets per region/language right now.  So still plenty of choice for those who hunt for their favourite map.

quote>

I can't speak for this other person but for me the mountain and beach maps are the worst. "Best" maps to me doesn't have that much to do with the resources. I like one that's interesting where I can follow a nice shore line with a road and have it be attractive. I think mountains and hills are just ridiculous because you're buildings look horrible on them. I like the wetlands maps but they are always taken because I am sure I must be in the norm with my preference for them.

Beach maps just don't look good to me.

Another thing that would actually be cool is if you could actually visit the map and preview it before claiming it. I hate how you have to create the city before seeing it. The descriptions are never helpful. The map is never what I am expecting from the description.

As for there being lots of planets. Are we sure about this? When I signed on I got the impression that different planets were being offered to different parts of the world. I was offered 2 planets. One that was 75% full and one that was over half full and neither had any good maps left.

I wanted to build on some new maps. Some different ones that single player mode but the only decent one I could find (I am sure I could spend hours creating and deleting cities if I really want to scrape up a good map but I have to pay attention to my dog now and then.) was the same one I have on single player mode.

I'll check back in later this month or next week but I am not convinced. I'll probably cancel until they get buses.

[rhenry 1]

Originally posted by: MINIggy03

what's the point in paying $6 a month anyway when you're going to have to pay extra for the new content? It's a $40 game, on top of $6 a month, on top of whatever they decide to charge for GEM's and mini expansion updates.

I say everyone wait until the game is worth the admission. Otherwise you're just throwing your money away on promises.quote>

I don't know where you guys are playing at but I paid $10

[Stef42 0]

I might buy the PO but then always for three months, maybe within 3 months there is a new content pack and mass-transit!?

[zerosugar 0]

personally if im not convinced by the first feature pack, then i wont be paying again, cos if they release it for the sake of content and not to fix the issues it has currently then they obviously care about there own creations than listening to us

[ice444 1]

They need to make some improvements (i have subscribed for 3 months).

1 - Fix the trade in solo mode - if solo mode is fixed more than likely people will then subscribe!

2 - Fix pollution - I understand it was designed this way, however it is annoying - implement parks or something that can fight it!

3 - Fix the numbers - Tell us exactly how much electricity we need etc. - not that we need some!

4 - Implement mass transit sooner rather than later

[smg77 0]

This thread is hilarious. Every single poster except for one who is currently paying for PO says they are doing it not because of how fantastic the game is and how many benefits they get from PO but just because they hope that somewhere down the road the game will improve.

That's not how these kinds of things are supposed to work. If a company puts out a good product then you reward them with your patronage. You shouldn't be paying more money for something that you aren't happy with in the hopes that the company will maybe, some day fix the problems. If people continue to blindly hand over money to shady developers we'll just continue to see more half-baked games with nickel-and-dime profit schemes.

[Androv 6]

I'm happy with the planet offer currently , and I hope it gets better as well Unfortunately that's not an option, as I stated above.

[0wn3d 2]

Originally posted by: smg77

This thread is hilarious. Every single poster except for one who is currently paying for PO says they are doing it not because of how fantastic the game is and how many benefits they get from PO but just because they hope that somewhere down the road the game will improve.

That's not how these kinds of things are supposed to work. If a company puts out a good product then you reward them with your patronage. You shouldn't be paying more money for something that you aren't happy with in the hopes that the company will maybe, some day fix the problems. If people continue to blindly hand over money to shady developers we'll just continue to see more half-baked games with nickel-and-dime profit schemes.

quote>

I'm paying for PO right now and have no issue with it, of course if in 2 months when my subscription is up the game hasn't improved well then I might not subscribe again.  This doesn't mean that I don't like the current state of the game, it means that by paying I expect the game to get better.  Do you think that all 12 million WoW subcribers would've continued subscribing if Blizzard barely released patches and NEVER released a content patch.

When you pay a monthly fee and expect to have improvements, it does not mean that you are not satisifed with the current state of the game, it means that you want the game to change over the time of your subscription.  You don't want to pay $5 a month just to have access to PO, you want to pay $5 a month to have access to PO AND get GOOD updates with lots of content.