There are trolls - and then, there are fanboys. I'm not sure which is worse.

Its a shame because if you like a company or game, which i assume people in these forums do, then surely a little respect is in order when saying you have found a problem with the game.

Not ... "This is terrible" which strikes me as a pathetic way of putting a point across.

I have no doubt that the game will have bugs and some of them will be game breaking for some people. But they will get fixed. The people who experience them just need to raise the issues (politely) here and chances are the bug will be looked into ASAP.

It bothers me that one of the better PC games companies should get this much abuse from people who only hours ago were praising them.

I have no idea what posts you're referencing, I'm just speaking in general. Saying something is terrible isn't rude... it's more akin to being too lazy to properly identify why something is problematic.

I have been reading these forums today, both before and after people began to comment on the game, and I haven't read any that I would class as rude or insulting.  The guy who posted that he got a duplicate map was raising legitimate disappointment over the fact that he got the exact same geographic map after only four tries.  He wasn't rude in his protestations, merely communicating quite clearly how upset he was over at having lost a very fun part of the game:  exploration.  For a game that prides itself on replayability, it won't be much fun to begin the game, ask "I wonder what's under the fog of war over here?", take some turns and then realize "Oh yeah, it's THIS map.  Now I know where all the mountains and lakes and such are already."

However, to dismiss his concerns as summarily and casually as you have done, Dariune, IS insulting, as far as I am concerned. 

Having not even played the game, I will reserve judgment on whether or not there are enough random map seeds to prevent the scenario I've described from occurring.

There are fanboys who would defend this game if it crashed every turn (it doesn't) and there are people who would attack it viciously despite it being a fun game (it is).

I voiced concerns the last few weeks about the state of the game and was basically told to STFU because I didn't know what I was talking about (not by Stardock).

With those two extremes in mind, you have to remember the forum is made up of Stardock customers whose concerns about the game Stardock would ignore only at its own peril. It is okay for people to not like the game 100%. It gives the designers an idea of what their customers want. The hard part for us as customers is understanding the difference between bugs and design decisions and accepting that everything we want we won't get. It evens out because sometimes we get things that are cool and didn't think of but work well.

Elemental won't be my ultimate game because the things I love the most aren't present in the game. Stardock favors single player over multiplayer and the lack of truly random maps is disappointing. THAT being said, however, there are some neat looking tools included with the game that I plan to tinker around with later on. The game appears to be moddable enough that it can be a fun little toy with lots to do if you think outside the box.

It burns me inside because I paid for the game already, but I think realistically we need to look at what they have now as a real starting point and see what things look like 6 months from now. I'd like that version now but there are other games to play meanwhile and less important stuff like, you know...work, girls, and such.

Are you sure it's the same people? The game just came out, there's a lot of new people around.

Plus we're still discovering what didn't make it in (random maps and faction customization are two I just learned didn't make release), and people are disappointed.

Hardly insulting. I have said that there are better ways of raising a complaint. I have also said to relax. Because calling something terrible and ranting about it doesnt do any good anywhere.

I havent said stop complainin, i have no doubt that there is plenty of bugs i just dont think its worth getting upset about. Rather than getting cross just come here, say the problem and it will either get resolved or explained.

I stand by my request for some to grow up though. (Aimed only at those who are ranting)

Well, the higher ones expectations - the bigger the risk of being ever so slightly disappointed.

I wouldn't worry yet though, provided the game mechanics are sound and the gameplay is addictive there is - if what we've been told about the modding tools is correct - so much potential for creating something epic here. However I can't yet comment of mechanics or gameplay since my download has only gotten to about 60% (at a mind-numbingly slow ~200 kB/s - being at the arse-end of the internet sucks!).

I'm very much looking forward to trying out this game, however, I am also very aware that it will have to be very good indeed in order to meet my expectations. Bear in mind that what people expect this thing to compete against is Master of Magic - and although MoM is about 16 years old and has got dated graphics, it is still one of the best games ever published, and published by one the greatest game companies ever (yes, that is my subjective opinion). And expecting that the 0-day release of a - relative to today's standard - low-budget PC game is going to be one of the best titles ever published... maybe a tad optimistic. Would you not agree? ...still nothing wrong with hoping.

I might be wrong, but it IS still the 23rd. Perhaps we will be getting a patch on the official release date which will include what is missing, and fix bugs. We are on a "early-release" version after all.

But I think that is just high hopes...lol

Realistically we're on a version that is at the oldest, the gold disk version (and might be newer). It's not the 24th patch, but it's not beta 4 either. There won't be a patch coming tomorrow that adds random maps, faction customization, and all the stuff that was cut from multiplayer.

Faction customisation is in! Just requires xml editing now but means you can have a lot more freedom. I'm aware some may be intimidated by xml editing but you really shouldn't be, if you sit down and actually use it you should have the basic idea in five minutes. Though of course this is less accessible than the previous in-game editor.

Overall my opinion is: Good game but in a year or two, with more polish and maybe two expansions (this Is a sd game ) it'll be a game of epic proportions.