Elway358

As it should be. Let's get real, the vast majority of people commenting, reporting, asking questions about 1.1 care only about which of their personally used mods they can use to PLAY 1.1. They don't give a rat's ass about any bug testing. Even most of the "media team" I've watched so far care only about how many more gigantic ships they can launch of their own and learn to fly them better. They directly brush off any concerns in their chats about performance or usability enhancements and even get annoyed by people asking about it. This isn't a bug find release. It's early access plain and simple for those who bought the game from a real company(Steam) . This game has been in a "beta" state since the beginning of it's lifetime because it's an easy out for sloppy work. That same "beta" "wip" card will be pulled long after the "official" release of 1.1. If they truly want to find bugs then yes, it should be a closed test using actual people who care about finding bugs. The fact is, no matter how many people here want to try and defend it, this is a simple prerelease to the customers who were smart enough to not trust some indie dev's storefront.

Sure did. I was informed before purchase by squad staff about 1.1 being released soon as the "actual" full release version and that I could rest assured that I would be upgraded to that version as part of my purchase. -snip-

Except that it's not a $20 game and they're not giving anyone anything "for free" No matter how you wanna try to declassify this pre release as a promised feature during the purchase process, promise of being upgraded to the actual release version (1.1) WAS absolutely factored into that purchase price. Oh, and for the record, of course I personally would never dream of downloading pre release 1.1 from the flood of torrent links that will appear in any average torrent app.

Doesn't take a crystal ball. Just a tad bit of common sense. The game was already extremely easy for someone even such as myself who is very unfamiliar with torrents and PC gaming/pirating in general to get for free. Throw in liquided off users who ARE extremely fluent at this stuff and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what that will get you.

I originally discovered this game by accident from browsing youtube vids. A mediafire link was included in the video to download version .90. After being informed that version .90 was not included in "older" versions that could be downloaded free, I did the right thing and purchased a copy from the store. In between these 2 actions, I received links to fully download version 1.0.5.1028. Had I wanted to not do the right thing, I could have easily kept my money and been playing the game right now in it's current stable version without having spent a dime. What do you think is gonna be the decision for a number of people after being treated like second class citizens by Squad in this instance? You better believe the fact that they have locked out access to what will be the most recent build to half of their customers will ensure a good day for torrent apps. After people get the "beta" build for free do you really think they will go back and buy the game? LOL Squad basically guaranteed that their version 1.1 will be one of, if not the most "pirated" version to date.

Just for a "for the record", my post wasn't directed towards moderators per say as I personally don't consider them part of squad as a company. In fact, I'm actually surprised(and delighted) to see certain moderator's speaking their true feelings even though it may not coincide with what squad's vision of "fairness" may be. As I said before, my primary purpose is to remind those who wish to say more than "squad stinks", that there are other avenues and ways to make their opinions known.

My opinion on this has been clearly stated so I wont even go back into just how poor of a company I feel squad is over this. What I will suggest is to let your opinions be known elsewhere. These forums are a place for Squad to tailor these opinions how they want them. They couldn't care less about the opinions of half of the users here as plainly evidenced by their unscrupulous actions. I plan to spread the word about this situation anywhere possible to any and all gaming rags, forums, streams, etc that I can in the next week or so in addition to the personal actions I have already taken towards my own compensation. I also plan to lobby against the PSN version when it is listed for release on the blog throughout the playstation network and throughout my own large network of friends/gamers on the PSN. I suggest anyone who truly feels the same about this issue to do this as well. Will this bankrupt squad? Of course not, but it will cost them a few sales and maybe shed some light on their true nature. For anyone holding onto squad's pants leg like a pet and wanting to rescue the poor squad damsel in distress again, please save the replys. This is simply a suggestion to those who are unhappy about not getting equal treatment for equal payment.

Quote 1) It would release at whatever the internal release date was anyway, full of bugs. Everybody moans a'la 1.0. My only reply here is I think it's a preeetty safe bet that there is gonna be an equal amount of moaning amount bugs at the "actual release" regardless of pre release "testing." Obviously this is pure speculation and opinion on my part; Although a pretty fair assessment based on historical facts surrounding this product.

Actually it's you who that isn't understanding. You can word it experimentals, beta, pre release, whatever you please. The fact remains that by the time steam users get a hold of this, the real "experimentals" will have been completed. From the OP... "This time around though, things will get even more interesting after Experimental testing! Given that update 1.1 will be unlike any update we’ve seen to date in terms of widespread changes to pretty much any significant and underlying system in the game we're planning to provide an optional pre-release branch of update 1.1."

Except that unless you consider getting the game sooner being much longer, you're totally incorrect based on your own quoted post... "The alternative would be to have no pre-release branch available at all, which would mean we'd tack on at least one more week of experimental testing..." 2 weeks of pre release or one more week of experimentals.....maths That would mean that only the actual "official" testers and modders would be there and not a bunch of rando users based on their place of purchase(which is how it should be).

$40 but yeah, you're starting to get it...

If you've ever had to file these types of complaints, I certainly have on more than one occasion, you would know the burden of "proof" is on the company providing services. Like it or not, these procedures are here to protect the CONSUMER first and foremost. I can tell you with 100% certainty that I WILL have the charges reversed back into my banking account. What finally comes of the paypal investigation will remain to be seen but I can promise you, they will act on my claim/refund and THEN iron out the details. That's the way things work down here in earth's atmosphere. Again, not tryng to convince anyone here of anything they don't want to pull their heads out of the sand for. Simply letting you know "why I'm still here." Unfortunately not.

Believe what you will my good man. It's not my burden or desire to try and convince you or anyone else here. There are services in place to protect consumers from this type of practice despite what some would have you believe. They are quite effective in fact. I will be sure to let you know the results as my going away post.

Which is the basis of my entire rant. Their service is evidently just short of a garage ddosers setup which is pitiful for a supposed "company." No business wants to spend extra resources obviously because it's about the bottom line. The difference is, a real company sucks it up and provides what's needed to ensure equal processes and privaleges for all of their consumers. Squad is not that. You all wont need to worry about my "crying" once my process of being refunded and/or fraudulent claims to paypal and my financial institute are completed. For now, I am simply gathering necessary support towards that and trying to warn some naïve users of past and now present bad business practices and support from this "company."

TL;DR They WONT handle it. The same way they aren't handling the pre release for all their users and the same way the entire game hasn't been handled properly as it runs like pure hell still as a released, retail product. Instead, they're proceeding like amateurish monkeys. I expect horrible service for actual release as well based on previous documented "meltdowns" of their service for virtually all of their releases.

Abernathy was my go to for the longest time until half of my tomato plants glitched out somehow and I couldn't get em straightened out. I moved main camp to the drive-in after that D'oh I guess off-topic mini text is only really effective hidden in other text eh

I've been in many many beta tests as well. I wouldn't call you the "average user." Those like you will be the exception to the rule in this pre release other than the actual mod devs. Half of these users who will be eligible haven't even read the OP as evidenced by the "where do I sign up" and "I cant find the download." The large majority are screaming nothing but IGITZERLYZ as they run to the start button. (speculation of course but again, common sense). I've also seen the frequent build releases of various games and experienced how stable these early builds can be, NDA(since that seems like a good blanket insurance add-in). The "I'm gonna play it and do my duty but I wont like it cause it's gonna be miserable." really is played out at this point. Pretty sure nobody is buying it but I can assure you I know better.

Are you seriously suggesting that if they gave all customers access to pre release we would end up with a more buggy product and less stuff in the finished version because of resource allocation?. You seriously think that average players are gonna change the face of the game that much with some phenomenal bug finding skills? There have been testers all over this and still more to go at it before tom, dick and harry get to "test" it in pre release. Again...come on man. There is no amount of speculation you can throw that's gonna stick on this one because it's NOTHING but wild speculation. This game will be what it will be regardless of how many people are or aren't in this pre release other than actual mod devs. You can bet anything we WILL be getting patches very shortly after release regardless of this pre release to fix bugs. This is a pure early access for a select group of users who purchased at a specific retailer.

Should we all post screenshots of our $40 confirmation payments for the game and then throw on the others who paid less than that from all the other outlets? That would mean just about as much as this screenshot you posted. I didn't buy the game expecting equal support and privaleges "if it's not too expensive."

The additional money condition is the one most troubling at this point tbh. I certainly don't think it's at all unreasonable for extra expense to be made to deliver on their commitment to customers. There certainly was no problem accepting our money under the premise that place of purchase had absolutely no bearing on our level of support. No matter how minimal some of those who have not been slighted try to make this, it IS a slight none the less.

this thread. Would you rather Squad simply not allow anyone to take part in this? It CAN happen. It's that Squad is CHOOSING for it not to happen that is my issue. there are multiple options that would allow all paying customers to take part in this as laid out throughout this thread.

Of course it doesn't "make me feel any better." I'm not advocating that steam users shouldn't take part in this. I'm advocating that ALL customers who paid for the same product be given the opportunity to take part in it.

"BASED ON WHERE THEY MADE THEIR PURCHASE" Yes, it is odd when you partial quote and take my words out of context to try and continue to bait me for some type of reaction to your post. Far too childish and troll-like for me to continue with you. My issues have been clearly stated.

I'm not trying to "prove Snark wrong" although his "facts" are no more so than anything I've posted. Not that he ever stated they were but since you seem to need to white knight for him. The issue is, NO ONE should be excluded from any type of aspect of this game or development including testing/input based on where they made their purchase. The excuse that the developer has resources that are incapable of that is no fault of the users but ALL of the developers. There ARE ways that they could rectify this as given throughout this thread, but they made a conscious decision to exclude half of their paying customers instead. I'd love to flip the switch in the other direction and have only Squad store purchases be eligible just to see the reaction differences...I don't think anyone has to imagine how it would go.

No matter the spin you try and throw on this, nobody is "better off than they would have been if squad wouldn't have done this" other than those who purchased through Steam. This will not be a bug ridden alpha that's being released. it's an already majorly tested, near release version of the game. This game would be released at the same time regardless of this pre release. Again, stop with the spin doctoring. If they can't provide an equal experience for all of their paying customers, then it shouldn't happen period. don't try to glorify early access users as some bug finding heros because I think you and anyone with any type of sense knows better.