I have already logged many hours running through the maps to check them out, as previously stated. I love the London Bridge layout, as it is a straight re-do of ET’s Goldrush. Played that map on ET a gazillion times, and love it. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to report on the game play mechanics, flaws, issues, stuck spots, choke points blah blah blah etc, if there are no players on to play. The dynamics of the game can not be corrected or improved upon, if you’re not playing, period.
Its like designing a new car, and all you can do is walk around and look at the car from the outside. You can tell the designer, hey would look great if you put a new mirror here, some pin stripes there, wider wheels etc etc etc. Until you can actually drive the vehicle in real world conditions, those things are nothing more then cosmetic fluff that you have pointed out to the car designer. And equally meaningless.
I did not mean for this thread to spin out of control, as it has, just wanted some answers as to what I was seeing in that screenshot, versus what seems to be showing in the browser. So my take from what I have read so far, is that people just have the game running in the background, and nothing more. I guess that’s cool and all, as I came in earlier and saw a peer connected and downloading the launcher from me, so it is good for that reason. However, if it is going to show how many players are online, why not add the ability to pull down the list of those that are online. So we can send them a textual poke and say “HEY wanna play?”
From what I have seen so far, population is remarkably low. Surprisingly low. I honestly would expect there to be much more excitement for this game. Granted, it is a huge chunk of money to be able to participate now, but still, for me it was worth it. I was quite happy to see a lot of what I saw.