Thank you Stardock for all your hard work

Seconded.

Agreed.

Elemental is not perfect, but I have reasonable expectations that Stardock will improve the game.  Perhaps Brad should have released the game in February instead of August, but I recall that, for, example, Civ IV out of the gate was a complete and utter mess.

The idea and features of this game are like custom tailored for me. Totally enjoying it even though it clearly has bugs and glitches and I suffer from bad performance (win7 64bit & ati).

Get some rest and continue on it!

It's good to remember that those who enjoy the game are playing it, rather than hanging around here. And also every launch seems to have a fair share of naysayers. Borderlands, Modern warfare 2? Oh the shitstorm.

Also agreed.

I've only had the poor performance with 3D-objects annoyance, no crashes at all after 10+ hours played. Yeah the game isn't 100% finished, but so what? I'm expecting to be playing Elemental for years to come, what's couple of days, weeks, or even months? Turn based fantasy strategy games are about as rare a breed as possible when it comes to PC games, I'm just glad someone is still making them!  

Same here I just can't see what the trolls are saying is wrong with this game. I'm going on my 3rd day of fun an enjoyment. This is a fantastic game and it's right up there to MOM to me now. I will definitely play it a lot. Not many games keep me interested even this long anymore. Like the crappy Total War series or Paradox games. Finally someone put something new an innovative out there and some people want to rant about it because it has a few little bugs. I think some people (mostly kids and unloved adults) just love to complain. They are not happy unless everyone else is unhappy. They live to make the world unhappy. They are pitiful people with pitiful lives. We should pity them....awwwwww poor pitiful people. :))

Having a lot of fun even with the current issues! 

Yep. I'm quite satisfied even though there are some bugs affecting me (FPS drop with 3d objects - please fix asap) and some improvements I'd like to see (better magic for one). But I have faith in Stardock and I know that there's only so much the devs can do in one day. Don't give up and just keep bringing out those patches.

It's all good as long as we know you guys are working on our issues.

I wouldlike to agree but what can I say if I have CTD every few minutes?

Then you should post in the support forums so someone from stardock can help you 

With the exception of the beta 3d and 1.01 releases I haven't had significant problems with the game. As it is I find it playable and a lot of fun.

I appreciate all the extra work everyone has put into it to get it ready for release, and expect even better improvements in the future.

I don't regret the buying Elements and from a software viewpoint I have seen far worse releases by far bigger companies (one of which I worked at).

agree with OP 100%

Like every job that is unfinished, there is still work to be done.

Stardocks reputation for making games is really on the line here. This is an emergency. Forget about Elemental being profitable, every penny coming in needs to be thrown back in so that in 6 months you have the game that was promised to us and more. If Elemental is less than we expected, it had better be alot more than we expected within the next year, or Elemental's inflated budget is going to be the least of your problems.

I, also, agree 100% with the OP.

Stardock employees and the CEO himself have worked very hard and long hours, last evening + last night, to not only produce version 1.05, but additionally, to hot-fix it with extreme diligence (to 1.05.016).

This 

Enjoying the game and looking forward to playing it for a long time.  My friends are also very interested and will be getting in game in the near future.

Luxx

It might be a good idea to take ownership of your expectations and opinions with "I" statements, instead of throwing around "we" and "us" willy-nilly.

For example: I think, in my opinion, that some people had unrealistic expectations.

I agree. This is my first Stardock game - I only found out about Elemental last week.  I pre-ordered on Saturday.  I'm really enjoying the game so far and have seen the Stardock staff working very hard the last few days with patches and trying to deliver the game they envisioned.  Thanks! 

I've been gaming since the very first pong consoles, and I've never seen a reaction this bad to a game. I knew it would be bad but not this bad. My opinions on what could be different don't even matter at this point. If one's expectations came from the dev journals over the past year, I'd say were about half way there if that.

This doesn't mean anything other than you haven't seen it. I have Heck, compared to Demigod this is pretty smooth sailing.

Hear Hear! Very happy Stardock customer as well. I'm an old school 'MOM' player so I couldn't pass up Elemental. Initial release was somewhat buggy but since the 0-day patch and the hotfix I've been having a blast playing the game bringing back memories of 'MOM' but with a hell of a lot better graphics and sound. I was amazed with the modding utilities bundled with the game allowing for so much customization. Really looking forward to this game's future potential with what modders can do with it! In a time where gamers are hit with crippled modding potential in games due to intrusive and downright annoying DRM schemes its good to have a fine release where I feel rewarded for being a customer rather than punished (thanks to very quick support responses via patches, hotfixes and no irritating DRM)! Thank you everyone at Stardock for the effort and long hours put in to making Elemental's release a positive one despite the initial hicups!

I would just like to say thank you also. Yes the game has its issues atm but I am loving it even in its current form. The prospect of what will hopefully come over the next few weeks and months blows my mind.

Also amazed by all the devs hard work. It's impressive how much the game improved from 1.0 to 1.5 in the short amount of time that they had!

You guys deserve a few   

Or Age of Conan.  Or Star Trek Online.  Or Spore.  Or about a couple hundred more.  Heck, even WoW was a crapstorm when it first released.  And if you want to see rabid flaming and trolling, go check out the D&D forums about Essentials.

+1 to all of the above posts.

Edit: Didn't see the troll posts on the first read through, so let me say that again: +1 to all of the above positive posts.

You could add Hellgate: London to that list.  I was there every step of the way with Hellgate: London through alpha to beta to release and after, and let me tell you, Elemental out of the box (yes, version 1.00) is miles better than Hellgate: London was after twelve-months and half-a-dozen patches.