Ah the "You cant compare COH with 7 years vs COH 2 with none" argument...
This is where logic is always great.
Wouldn't that 7 years of EXPERIENCE in COH be then APPLIED to COH 2?
7 years of experience doesn't equate to 7 years of game development, you can't simply apply 7 years of post-game support and patches to CoH2 that had a smaller development time and has barely been out for 2 months. Take into consideration also that if certain features and mechanics in the game are too similar too the original then they run the risk of the game not being unique enough, on the flip side the less the game is like the original, the more development and risk that is going to take so there has to be a balance.
I don't understand HOW ANYONE could be defending RELIC for NOT implementing BASIC RTS functions!?!?!? SERIOUSLY?!?!?! IF I told you a new RTS game was coming out tomorrow that had NO CHAT ROOMS, NO LEADER BOARDS, NO WAY TO SELECT/DESELECT MAPS, NO CUSTOM GAME FUNCTION and on top of that had BALANCE ISSUES how many of you would buy that?!
Not sure about others but I stopped using vCoH's chat rooms a long time ago, this multi player community evolved well beyond using the online chat rooms to communicate with each other, plus the fact that steam is a much better tool to keep track of your friends with, which doesn't require an online chat system like the original did. Plus you can even make group discussions within steam anyway and yet despite all this, Relic still say they are considering implementing a decent chat system into the game.
The leaderboards I can completely agree are a problem and should have been in the game upon release, but this issue has already been answered a while ago and is already being worked on as a priority from Relic. Unfortunately, obviously there were some difficulties with it getting released on time. Meanwhile the game is still able to match you up with players of your same skill level anyway, so the matchmaking system is working, the ladder is just not transparent.
LOL oh come on now -
Just because you toured their office and probably have some sickle swag laying around doesn't mean you can troll people with statements like that. Some people are just critical because they like the game and were hoping it would be a booming success instead of the sequel slump we all feared when the financial problems went public. Chat, leaderboard, in game friends options, map selection, custom lobbies, etc. were all features that were in the 1.0 release of vCoH which I continue to point out was 2006.
Well I don't have any swag or bribe or anything around here so I don't know what that statement was made up about. In fact I've probably, no, I know that I've been more critical of Relic than just about anyone posting here and I have voiced that to them over the years sometimes non-constructively and angrily but mostly constructively and helpfully.
Meeting people in real life and letting them know exactly what you'd like and what should happen and what should be in the game, and having them tell you yes we know, we're aware and we would love that as well, is far different than letting them know and them telling you that they simply decided not to do it and don't think it's worthwhile. Unfortunately this message is lost when you're a consumer and you're purchasing a product, and I completely understand that, customers will vent their frustration, and that's just the way things are right now.