At time of release this game was criminally defective. An unabashed exploitation of consumer confidence in a "finished product" released for retail sales.
I have never been so appalled, infuriated, disappointed in a product I have purchased. If this game sets the standard for playabilty at release, what a travesty. It was sheer fraud.
Why am I here? Well, to me 12 bucks a month is nothing. 2 shots and a nice tip to the barmaid, no big deal. Also I had other games to play while paying customers suffered for me.
AO is my 2 am booty call, nothing I really like, but when bored always available.
If you sense anger, it comes not from the defective product, but from the response, or rather lack of response from those responsible. I have old posts on this, no need to repeat myself.
I just found Darkbanes post so naive that the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I suffered flashbacks from July 01, I bled into my stomach. The CS department is the nidus from which all antipathey has developed.
Had they understood communication, the attitude of players would have been: Yes, the product has major problems, but WE( Funcom and the players) will work together to solve these problems, and not "What the f**k are these retards doing now!?"
Please note that I am not talking AT ALL about profession balance or NERFING, these topics are unsolvable for all, and my sympathies to Funcom for having to figure out which whines are real and which are crap(99%).
So if AO wins game of the year, it only tells me that it is the most well formed ball of feces in a big load of crap.
Consumers, never let a game be released as this one. The success of this game indicates the the means justifiy the end. Yes, we can play it now just fine, just we killed alot of paying guinea pigs along the way.