Lucy Bradshaw Answering Questions via Twitter

[jacksunny 741]

I haven't seen this mentioned on here yet, but in a couple of minutes (12:00 PM PST) Lucy Bradshaw will take over the official Simcity Twitter account and will be answering questions. Just tweet your questions with the hashtag #asklucy. I'll be updating this post with the questions and answers as it rolls along.

 

Question 1: How is this debacle something you didn't forecast? Can you explain the business rationale or justification for how this happened?

Answer: Metrics/beta was fairly conservative and live ops stressed our game server DB’s in ways that we did not experience in Beta or Load Test.

 

Question 2: When do you expect between city transactions in multi-player will function correctly, such as sharing city hall upgrades?

Answer: This is frustrating as it is core to the connected experience. This weekend we hope to crush this issue with more servers and optimizations.

 

Question 3: If I purchase PC version now, will Mac version be included when it's released?

Answer: We're focused on the PC version right now, but we'll have more info on Mac in early April, so stay tuned.

 

Question 4: How could you not anticipate server load on launch when you all your ads said "50 most anticipated games lists of 2013"

Answer: Load experience in beta and load test is different than live. We've adapted and put out servers with changes, already seeing improvements.

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

Question 6: At some point will there be the ability to migrate games and regions between servers?

Answer: We're definitely looking into this as we know it would improve your experience.

 

Question 7: Hi Lucy! I was just curious as to when players will have Cheetah Speed again? Thank you!

Answer: We're really working on responsive of our servers. and once we have that nailed, and stable, cheetah is coming back!

 

Question 8: When is eu west 4 going to be back up? 

Answer: EU West 4 is actually up right now. Just tried it myself.

 

Question 9: Hey lucy! Will you be offering larger city maps in the future??

Answer: Once we get stable, this is another one we're absolutely looking at. Our intention is to continue to support SimCity and surprise you.

 

Question 10: Any news / updates about real content patches? Many issues with Tourism

Answer: We put up a patch this morning that included some traffic fixes and other improvements. And we'll be making more. We'll check on Tourism.

 

Question 11: answer questions that are about refunds and offline mode

Answer: Origin doesn't offer refunds on digital download games. (http://bit.ly/10nbXyP ). I hope we keep your business by making service great. As I announced last night we're giving away a free game and are considering other ways to make it up to you.

 

Question 12: can you be specific about which game is that that you are giving away? Can we choose?

Answer: You'll be getting more information on the March 18th. And you will have choices.

 

Question 13: Does John Riccitiello CEO of EA actually play video games or have a past of playing??

Answer: Yes he is a big gamer and he is playing @simcity right now and giving us feedback

 

Question 14: So when are you going to give a real answer regarding offline modes?

Answer: The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible

 

Question 15: would it not have been smarter to have been over prepared, and have too many servers, rather than what y'all did?

Answer: Youre right. The combination of many players and server adjustments put us behind. New servers yesterday and more today

 

Question 16: Anything you would like to say to die hard fans of the franchise who will not buy this game due to a tarnished image?

Answer: I sure hope that after we right this ship, you will give the game a try. It is really good, worthy of the brand!

 

Question/Retweet 17: I don't blame your team, you made a really good game, it was just EA's bad business practices that ruined the game.

Answer: Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us. We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress

 

Question/Retweet 18: the game is wonderful, its just that its hard to get into it sometimes.

Answer: Thanks and yep. We added 120% capacity yesterday, more today. Better game experience a priority. Hope you have better time

 

Question/Retweet 19: Hey, no question here, just wanted to say that, if you guys can take control of your servers, you will have a sale from me

Answer: Thanks for your support - we're on it.

 

Question 20: Will regional play be fixed soon?

Answer: yes, we optimized and region trading improved, still making enhancements and will keep it up

 

Question 21: Will the removed features like achievements, return?

Answer: yes, features like achieves etc, will come back as we get to stability, soon.

 

Question/Statement 22: also it would be great if the game could keep track of what servers I do have cities on, and present that info to users

Answer: We are working on that right this minute. Hope to have a patch for it today, tonight latest

 

And that's all folks. 

 

[RyanMorgan95 144]

Lucy is doing a surprisingly good job if I'm honest. Doesn't look like she's skipping over the tougher questions either. Good on Maxis for striving to sort out this fiasco!

[jacksunny 741]

Agreed, she answered a lot more "tougher" questions than they have in the past Q & As.

[Dirktator 2,324]

I thought Lucy did a great job.

 

I felt the community not only deserved some answers but really needed to sense that they were being heard.

[§haÅ--Ñ€ §hÅŽo 370]

She did answer the hard questions, but I'm still frustrated that they refuse to offer an offline mode.

[Mystrelia 57]

Ms. Bradshaw has always been good at damage control. I would've loved to have seen a slight variation on this question:

 

Question 16: Anything you would like to say to die hard fans of the franchise who will not buy this game due to a tarnished image?

Answer: I sure hope that after we right this ship, you will give the game a try. It is really good, worthy of the brand!

 

As in: Anything you would like to say to die hard fans of the franchise who will not buy this game due to required internet connection?

 

Ah well, as I said in another post it's almost time for me to forget this one even exists.

[Cockatoo 2,257]

Yeah, good to see. I'm glad they've decided to try and dig themselves out a bit. These sorts of Q and A sessions are good, but only when the answers don't sound like they've been written by a politician. And Lucy's, for the most part, didn't.

 

The answer to Q5 is interesting. If they're not totally ruling out an offline mode sometime in the future, then that, combined with bigger cities (which they've also indicate could be possible), a BAT-type tool on top and who knows... in a year or so when we've all forgotten this current mess, we might just end up with a good platform to start building the game we want. Only time will tell...

[macvirt 361]

She is doing great at directing perception. She is really not answering any tough questions in a manner that shows an open and honest insight into strategy or policy. But that is smart, at this point turning the curve is within reach but still at a slight risk of creating negative trends that can be caused by customers realising what their position is within the strategies executed. 

 

Personally I would recommend her for an upcoming vacancy in one of the marketeering seats at EA this fall. 

[cirugo 1,889]

when her answer to question number 5 becomes a reality then I will stop my efforts against this game.

[Dirktator 2,324]

She did answer the hard questions, but I'm still frustrated that they refuse to offer an offline mode.

 

Well yah, just because we got some answers doesn't mean those answers are going to make everyone super-happy... but still she didn't outright rule it out. 

 

She is doing great at directing perception. She is really not answering any tough questions in a manner that shows an open and honest insight into strategy or policy. But that is smart, at this point turning the curve is within reach but still at a slight risk of creating negative trends that can be caused by customers realising what their position is within the strategies executed. 

 

Personally I would recommend her for an upcoming vacancy in one of the marketeering seats at EA this fall. 

 

They need to put her out front more; she speaks in a direct, no-spin manner and comes off as authentic. I didn't detect many "weasel" words, so she navigated that quite well, and while I don't feel great, I feel better.

 

 

Yeah, good to see. I'm glad they've decided to try and dig themselves out a bit. These sorts of Q and A sessions are good, but only when the answers don't sound like they've been written by a politician. And Lucy's, for the most part, didn't.

 

The answer to Q5 is interesting. If they're not totally ruling out an offline mode sometime in the future, then that, combined with bigger cities (which they've also indicate could be possible), a BAT-type tool on top and who knows... in a year or so when we've all forgotten this current mess, we might just end up with a good platform to start building the game we want. Only time will tell...

 

Yes, time will tell, and I have heart Maxis will surprise us (in a good way). It is worth noting that they're not ruling it out -- but I wouldn't hang on that with too much hope -- just sorta leave it as an open possibility, but a possibility it may not actually ever happen.

[Shadely 63]

Yeah, it's great and all but it just looks like lip service to me right now, particularly with this:

 

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

We have no intention of doing what you'd like but we still hope to earn your trust back....right.

 

Color me unimpressed.

[simlink 1,098]

She is definitely doing a good job - good on her. I may not like all the answers, like some have said, but her reassesses feel very genuine. I found it very interesting she owned up to the fiasco being on Maxis, not EA. I found that very interesting. It is much, much easier to blame someone else. But you also don't really want to insult the company that employs you...

If larger tiles eventually come along, with an offline patch, I would feel better. Some things still bugs me about this game, but those fixes would sway me a little more.

[xfalcon12x 8]

We should not have to beg for offline mode, I paid for this game thinking in years to come I could have my cities and work on them add expansion packages and constanly tweek them.. If I do not have an internet connection all the time, then your basically dictating to me when and when not I can play a game that I bought and own!!!! I'm not renting this game I own it, but that is what it seems like.  If I have to worry in the future that my city is not going to be there because the server is being retired, I'm not going to put the time or effort into this game nor is anybody else. You can do all you want to the servers now, but in time people will feel the same and just keep playing their simcity4 or other games. I remember when sim societies was supose to be a big hit to replace sc4 and I waited and it never happened. I lost money on that game, but I remained patient that this mistake would be fixed in the future.  It is a really big shame, because simcity 2013 has potential to be a hit from what I've played. Like I said if I do not have an offline option soon, I'm not going to put the time into it. I will have to write it off as a loss, like sim societies and go back to sc4.. So I will sit back patiently one more LAST time to see happens with this game, and I hope the outcome is good. If not, I will definitely be careful when I pick up a game in the future with the label EA or Maxis, and take a second look not to buy them...So please don't take this negatively, you have a chance to save this. Hint: I had this problem one time with General Motors and they did not fix their problems or heed the warnings from their loyal customers like me, and they almost failed. They wanted to blame the market, and everyone else instead of just suckin it up and fixing their problem..We all know how that  story ended with a bailout. To this day I will NEVER buy their cars no matter how much they changed.   PLEASE don't let this happen to you. Make it right, and in the long run everyone will be happy!!!! So again I will wait patiently one last time and hope in the near future I'll look at the clock and wonder where the time went and say WoW  I've been playing simcity for hours...Best of luck!

[crashx 18]

Yeah, it's great and all but it just looks like lip service to me right now, particularly with this:

 

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

We have no intention of doing what you'd like but we still hope to earn your trust back....right.

 

Color me unimpressed.

 

If they designed the game to be a online multiplayer game that gets it's information from the servers then even if they wanted to do that I imagine it wouldn't exactly be easy to do.

[Charizard 284]

Yeah, it's great and all but it just looks like lip service to me right now, particularly with this:

 

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

We have no intention of doing what you'd like but we still hope to earn your trust back....right.

 

Color me unimpressed.

 

If they designed the game to be a online multiplayer game that gets it's information from the servers then even if they wanted to do that I imagine it wouldn't exactly be easy to do.

 

I don't see how most of the simulation is done on EA's servers when people have been able to play the game for 20 minutes without being connected to the Internet. Plus this is 2013 we're talking about so any modern gaming rig should be able to handle all of the computations. I am pretty sure they could release and offline patch if they wanted to.

[crashx 18]

 

Yeah, it's great and all but it just looks like lip service to me right now, particularly with this:

 

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

We have no intention of doing what you'd like but we still hope to earn your trust back....right.

 

Color me unimpressed.

 

If they designed the game to be a online multiplayer game that gets it's information from the servers then even if they wanted to do that I imagine it wouldn't exactly be easy to do.

 

I don't see how most of the simulation is done on EA's servers when people have been able to play the game for 20 minutes without being connected to the Internet. Plus this is 2013 we're talking about so any modern gaming rig should be able to handle all of the computations. I am pretty sure they could release and offline patch if they wanted to.

 

Well it's what she said, you can play the game offline for a bit but that doesn't mean the game is designed that way.

 

Unless she is flat out bold face lying about Question 14, people can play their games a bit offline but she said the regions are simulated on their servers not just the cities. I'm sure they could release a offline patch too, but if they designed a game around it then it may not something they can easily do.

[rybolton 135]

 

Yeah, it's great and all but it just looks like lip service to me right now, particularly with this:

 

 

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

We have no intention of doing what you'd like but we still hope to earn your trust back....right.

 

Color me unimpressed.

 

If they designed the game to be a online multiplayer game that gets it's information from the servers then even if they wanted to do that I imagine it wouldn't exactly be easy to do.

 

I don't see how most of the simulation is done on EA's servers when people have been able to play the game for 20 minutes without being connected to the Internet. Plus this is 2013 we're talking about so any modern gaming rig should be able to handle all of the computations. I am pretty sure they could release and offline patch if they wanted to.

 

My current home PC pretty much is a server in terms of capabilities, though it is single proc, it has 8 logical cores and 24 GB of RAM.  My next one (parts arriving Monday) will have 12 logical cores and 32 GB of RAM.  There's no way they're computing, for me and my 15 region friends, more data with one of their servers than I can do for the group if I have a client/server system running on my local machine.  The reason this is true, even if you don't have an extremely powerful PC, is that the server is also doing that (and whatever the hell else it's doing) for the thousands of other players that are connected to it.

 

They could have designed the game to operate like an online multiplayer shooter and built it as a client/server application that allows people to host regions, and invite others to play.  They could have provided a matchmaking service instead of hosting the entire system.  That design wouldn't have prevented people from playing alone without an internet connection, or playing over a LAN with friends, or the internet with strangers.

 

They keep saying that they designed it to be an online game from the beginning, the problem with that statement is that it's very misleading.  Had they taken any queues from other online games that have a strong single player component, they should have followed the model listed above.  It accomplishes the goal of having an online game, and at the same time allows the freedom of modding, offline saves and single player.

 

The always online design decision is different and I believe it is intended to be a form of control over the product.  I don't believe it was simply a DRM decision.  I believe that the always online requirement is a business model decision.  It is a way to keep the core product locked down and protected so that they can charge us money for things the community could (and would) do for free.  I don't blame them for trying to create themselves another revenue stream, I don't blame them for wanting to put out DLC and make money with updates, new regions, buildings, scenarios, or what have you, but I don't appreciate the method they've chosen to implement it.

 

The fact that Lucy didn't address any of the reasons behind the decision, other than the canned response that it was planned to be an online game from the start, just annoys me more.  Of course if she had, Maxis and EA would come off looking like the greedy children who run everything starting with a little i directly followed by a capital letter.

[Archangel9 28]

Jacksunny thanks for this thread- I tried reading all this on twitter...but yeah navigating twitter is like trying to read shakespear out of alphabet soup.

 

I made the mistake of supporting Diablo3 on day one (60$) so I learned my lessen to wait this time, and good thing I did. I want this game so bad, but I mostly used SC4 as an artistic creator, not a game. I prefer going into god mode and building sprawling beautiful cities, without having to hear constant buggy whining about issues that arent real *from the ingame advisors and citizens (traffic bugs) And gosh darn if i wanna make a metropolis without any hospitals, let me!

 

To me it seemed like this was the company picking a high up SC2013 dev to toss to the wolves. The twittwolves. Good on her for answering all the questions

 

*edit for clarity

[Bipin 3,403]

The answer to question five is akin to a single light in a large room cast in shadows; it's not too effective on its own, but its a step int he right direction and opens up new doors; implausible but no impossible.

[commanderkai 38]

Question/Retweet 17: I don't blame your team, you made a really good game, it was just EA's bad business practices that ruined the game.

Answer: Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us. We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress

 

Does anybody believe this? I mean, do people really think this whole always online system was Maxis' idea, and not forced upon them through EA's policy to make everything an online, F2P game?

[Shadely 63]

 

Question/Retweet 17: I don't blame your team, you made a really good game, it was just EA's bad business practices that ruined the game.

Answer: Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us. We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress

 

Does anybody believe this? I mean, do people really think this whole always online system was Maxis' idea, and not forced upon them through EA's policy to make everything an online, F2P game?

 

Heck no. I mean, how long do you think she'd keep her job if she said, 'This is all EA's fault."?

[snake117 18]

 The always online design decision is different and I believe it is intended to be a form of control over the product.  I don't believe it was simply a DRM decision.  I believe that the always online requirement is a business model decision.  It is a way to keep the core product locked down and protected so that they can charge us money for things the community could (and would) do for free.

Completely agree with you on this. If it was solely based on piracy, they would've learned from past fiascos, like Diablo 3. Instead, they are using piracy as a cover up to add DRM.

 

 

Question 12: can you be specific about which game is that that you are giving away? Can we choose?

Answer: You'll be getting more information on the March 18th. And you will have choices.

 

I'm going to take the free game and run. I had problems with the launch of Battlefield 3 and now SimCity, two titles that I have always enjoyed playing and both with poor launches because of EA's actions. No one should have to suffer a headache when they pay premium price for a game. Plus, when you get a statement like: "SimCity possibly one of the worst rated Amazon products in history"  or a petition on whitehouse.gov, that is a sign of just how careless, corrupt, and controlling the companies are nowadays. I'll keep trying out SimCity 2013, since they already have my money, but no more purchases through EA/Origin unless there is a huge overhall in management and they get their act together. I'm sorry if this sounds too radical, but enough is enough.

[macvirt 361]

 

Question/Retweet 17: I don't blame your team, you made a really good game, it was just EA's bad business practices that ruined the game.

Answer: Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us. We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress

 

Does anybody believe this? I mean, do people really think this whole always online system was Maxis' idea, and not forced upon them through EA's policy to make everything an online, F2P game?

 

No, it is a nice display of how people who do the actual work are seperated from the levels where strategic decisions are made. EA gives its directives, studio execs translate those in a guided format to the grunts, and those get to work. And EA's directives have been clear for ages, it is something they always present at investor briefs.

 

What is accurate though is that the Maxis leads still take the original Spore model as a grand example of inspiration for next steps. They embrace the directives. They cater to them. That a coder or an artist is not aware of that is a requirement of operational management. 

[fiver 306]

Question 5: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?

Answer: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.

 

The only thing I'd reply to her is, "Then good bye, I hope you'll be fired soon" :-|

 

Do not be naive, please -- right now she is saying anything to temper down the boiling rage of the buyers. Anything that might seem genuine and making you think she's promising you something while in fact there's no proof she does. The only believable promise is "no offlining any time".

 

Each reply is pre-calculated becasue they are well aware of what they'd be asked. I wish they put as much time and effort in really thinking of their customers (or at least in pre-calculating how many servers they'd need). Bad technical side but excellent PR.

 

A month or so ago they masterly managed to lull the concerns of many as to how the launch would be. Needledss to say, they lied. And look now: the same people come up with the same "genuine lullaby" and very convincingly say that this time they will definitely do all right and you all will be happy. Because they know that people actually want to believe that...

[macvirt 361]

Indeed, just look at the very first question.

 

 

Question 1: How is this debacle something you didn't forecast? Can you explain the business rationale or justification for how this happened?

Answer: Metrics/beta was fairly conservative and live ops stressed our game server DB’s in ways that we did not experience in Beta or Load Test.

 

Let's be honest, constraints on infrastructure for release is a deliberate decision part of a school of thinking in marketing & sales as well as general service management where you guide behavioural patterns based on the presence of bottlenecks providing constraints to the various user types and categories you market to. It's one of the few instances where the view is longer than instant validation, because it is in service of stabilising and guiding desired trends. It shakes off the users that tend to cost you over time (in various forms) and is always buffered by symbolic service management to strengthen the influx of the desired user types from a volume market.

 

But that aside, even more simple. Projections based on demo rounds (which today are called beta's) are a very simple thing. You tally the already calculated prospects, the various channels of purchase, the ratios of those for registrations, and so forth. It is really fundamental and stupendously simple modelling that enables you to work out exactly what the minimum requirements are going to be for an online infrastructure in service of a release. It is bog standard industry modelling. It is absolutely impossible to screw up these kinds of projections. 

 

Sure, there are differences between various types of tests and scenarios mapped for projections, and there is always the variables of a technical nature. but that is what this kind of projection modelling in our industry also takes in to account. It is extremely easy to buffer against the most severe of issues, it is just a decision to allocate the resources to create those buffers. Anything other than a catastrophic failure of a DB cluster on a hardware level can be mitigated in advance. 

 

So forgive the bluntness, but any statements along the lines of "we underestimated" are bull. The situation is a result of conscious decisions. Ofcourse that is something we cannot give customers insight in, because that would undermine the willingness of volume markets to spend money without thinking (after all, who likes having customers who use their brains, pesky and costly), so we once again use the instrument of marketing to try and guide the messaging and the narrative. That last part is the only thing of prime interest to EA, narrative control.

 

That this costs customers now is fine, and is part of strategic modelling. After all, those customers who use their brains are costly, it is far more desired to focus on volume markets where you have shedded these types and can just hook up those who follow. 

 

I know, in many ways this is insulting, but this is the reality of our industry. We're not an exception in that regard. Most industries that have a direct market connection with consumers function this way, or strive to achieve such functioning. It is reality, a reality maintained by consumer behaviour. 

[blaqsk8 45]

Not a single question about Subways or future Highway expansion...Seems like the Q&A had just enough angry questions to seem like they took on the tough issues

[theBrad 25]

She didn't state this in this twitter Q&A, it must have been a
corporate statement - but am I the only one who finds this statement
contrary to what SimCity is about?

 

"I'll keep this short since almost everyone who cares is busy building cities and making friends in SimCity ."

 

Not meaning to knock people who are engaged in the social aspect of this
new version of SimCity, or who typically participate in social based
games.  But I'm an introvert, & what she is describing is a game
developed for extroverts.  That is a big deal to me, because SimCity, as
well as the Civilization series & new games such as Cities in
Motion have traditionally appealed to the analytical types whose
idea of what is most entertaining is what goes on in their own mind, not
through the interaction of others.  Indeed games that neccessitated
social interaction or lacked the ability for the gamer to control how
the game develops (another favorite game type are sand box RPGs, such as
Elder Scrolls) are an instant turn off.

 

Again, if
you are an extrovert & enjoy interacting with other gamers, kudos
& I do realize you can play solo in SimCity.  But it does appear
that the future direction of this beloved game will be oriented toward
social interaction rather than the virtual lego game I have long adored.

I haven't purchased this game yet, besides the fact many are unable to
even play after purchasing as well as the small tiles, and likely will
purchase it as I have since the first SimCity for PC but as likely been
stated thousands of times here - Maxis / EA are turning their back to
the quiet geeks like me that want a game that allows them to create
daydreams.

[bergerrunner 41]

The impression I get from Ms. Bradshaw, as well as many other players, is that once the server issues get fixed, the game will be awesome and sales will increase. However, I think she's glossing over a ton of issues. Yes the servers are a big issue of course, but behind that there are a myriad of bugs and graphical issues and glitches that needs to be sorted out. Granted, I don't have the game, I watch Haljackey's streams as much as I can. That said, I'm sure the game sales will increase as the server situation gets under control, but I think that will just refocus the lens of criticism on the bugs and glitches and lack of features

[StoNe220022 159]

I have not bought this game.

 

...and yet what bothers me most is the reason I won't buy this game, DRM and always online, isn't one of them.  it's more about the mechanics and gameplay that bother me.

 

Someone said it beautifully in another thread; The server issues are fantastic for Maxis/EA as it has distracted everyone from how bad a game it actually is.

 

They honestly think that once the online component is fixed, all game reviewers and fans will have to start liking the game again.

[Anderson Xeyed 23]

She did answer the hard questions, but I'm still frustrated that they refuse to offer an offline mode.

Me too. I would like to play this game offline, while on trip to countryside. I would play it on my notebook. It will cost them a lot,  just to keep this game running smoothly.