Dragging thier feet

[Gwayne]

This is one of the best games I have ever played,but after buying the
expansion for an exhorberant price and being let down considering the
cost. I anticipated the free downloadable add-on wich they have indicated
as being all but complete now for over a month It is quite
annoying when companies dangle things in your face and than dont produce
on thier commitments. This also is out of my almost 300 posts the
most negative post I have ever made but this delay of a commitment to the
loyal consumers of thier product just pisses me off!

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[Xod]

Just be glad that they decided to go ahead and do a free add-on in the first place! Very few companies would do this!

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"This place will be your tomb."

[Wulfere]

Most definately Xod. It actually restored some of my faith in them. I was disappointed at the length of HoW. But, I did like the game and figured I would have bought it anyway, even if I had known. With the download coming it will be even better. But, I do wish they would get off that stick and put it out.

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[Fljotsdale]

If it is late it is cos of 2 things:
1: they are fixing problems with it
2: they are also working on pay-for games!

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[Gwayne]

I do agree with some of your statements but thats not the point I was
making read my post! It all boils down to Integrity! This company
decided to do this for no other reason but to "save face" they realized
30.00 dollars U.S was an over price quickly after the reviews they recieved
concerning the ammount of play offered by this add on simply put it was
basically a "rip off" I payed that much for a game that lasted 10 times
longer than this one so dont make it sound like they are doing "me" any
favors! "they are just saving thier Integrity.

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[Leafy]

I agree; they do seem to be dangling something. I recall, BG was first but it only went to 9th level. Swords Coast was pathetic in that it only gave you one more level (it should have been to at least 15 or 20) but it did correct things like giving you more scimitars and stuff. Then IWD came out with it's 17th level max and a real action oriented feel. Then BG2 came along; the awesome engine with a 17-21 level max and new class kits! and the dual weapon dilema from IWD was resolved in BG2! Which is why i was sorely upset with the IWD expansion which came out months late and didn't even resemble the BG2 engine! I wanted class kits! i wanted dual wielded weapons! why didn;t they give us that? it's like making a 2001 Pontiac and then next year's 2002 model is exactly like 1999's. Why didn't they give us the benefit of technology already implimented by Interplay? was it too much... work? pppffftt.. it's too much... money, if you ask me.
What's worse, is that the expansion was too expensive. and is soooo slow! what's up with the sluggishness in the new areas? are they just extremely fat or what? even the level with the seer is soooo slow! and i know there can;t be a lot of complex computations going on cuz there are no containers and only one NPC on that whole area. The 'expansion' was basically another case of the "swords coast" in a way; except they got it right and gave us 10 more Exp levels; that and it's like the 'OFFICIAL, official patch upgrade.' But patches are freely downloaded from their site. And IWD is just an engine that anyone should be able to create areas and adventures for (why haven't they relenquished control to the user so they can create their own multiplayer adventures? sure, you'd have to create new areas; or maybe you could just change NPC's and quests and such within the limits of preexisting areas and items. ) Neverwinter Nights promises such freedom; but last year they said it was to be released in May. but it wasn;t until sometime in mid to late May that they decided it would not be out until September. so i'm guessing January of next year it will be available.
So Interplay is trying to save some face in light of the terrible reviews of HoW and are offering downloadable expansions. but they came up with the idea and announced it simply to combat the negative publicity of a poorly packaged and under developed "expansion" so that die hard fans would not feel they were taken advantage of. But have they completedthe expansions? have they even started? and what about those who cannot download or have no interent but have purchased copies of IWD and HOW? will they mail CDs to these people as they should? probably not. right now, i think they're just trying not to get angry mobs tarnishing their name.
I even went to RedQueen once. that's where the interplay game designers hang out and chat. i made one negative message complaining about the shortness of the expansion and about the bugs in it (with thieves and such) and they simply erased my message and deleted the account! Nowe, i was upset and i mentioned how i felt ripped off, but i was not flaming or insulting anyone. though i suppose those programmers probably took offence to someone on THEIR message board knocking on their product. They struck me as arrogant or suspicious when that happened. So, i think they KNOW what they're doing when they dangle these half assed products in front of us. Their just trying to wait us out and see what we'll put up with. Heck, if they gave us a quality product all in one package, how could they make any followup money on the people who are already hooked? Heck, even drug dealers are smarter than that; so these 'geniuses' must have figured that part of the game out. They're playing us right now.

of course, there may be other more beaurocratic things behind this. Perhaps the IWD crew of the Interplay team is being diverted to this Throne of Baahl expansion cuz BG2 was so successfull? They might WANT to give us more IWD, but have put it on the backburner so they can promote the already popular game as opposed to the unpleasant task of digging themselves out of a 'i want more, you ripped me off' hole in IWD.

[Lifetime]

Oh quit your bitching. True that Interplay is responsible and answerable to their customers, but I, and I know many others have experienced worse deals in games and game publishers and developers.
It may be that HoW is unbearably short and expensive, but it does not warrant a whole ton of your cynical bashing. If you persist in looking at everything Interplay does negatively, then I challenge you by looking at it from another angle. Interplay listened to gamers who enjoyed the product, gamers who wanted MORE of a good thing. HoW was very good, with high production values, but it was short. Interplay is devoting time and resources to an add-on that will reach the majority of gamers. True that they cannot afford to ship out CDs to customers who don't have the game. But how ARE they supposed to know of these customers who don't have the benefit of internet access? By asking Door-to-Door?
Interplay could have gone on and developed other games and left IWD in the dust, and people would still have bought the games because of Interplay's good reputation and game licenses.
HoW alone adds more play value to IWD that most other custom user-made items and spells and characters and such available. You can ask, why gamers who develop their own mods for games like IWD and BG2 don't ship their mods out to gamers that don't have the Internet. Why are they doing it? Because they want to add gameplay to a game they enjoy!
And unless you are genuinely part of the development process, keep your comments that "they are not fulfilling promises" and such to yourself, because they are not representative of everyone on this board. Sharing an opinion is fine, but there is no use to it if you will just persist in bashing the company and the game just for the sake of mindless expression of frustration. They ARE fulfilling promises, they HAVE completed the Addon, they WILL release it when it's ready! How many of us would release a project that we've poured hours and resources into without making sure that it's perfect as it can be and that the people we release it to will appreciate it? Interplay is saving itself even more bashing from people that only know how to complain by playtesting and balancing it. Some people will always find the faults, but Interplay is trying hard not to give those people too many faults to find.

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Why?