How are you feeling about the progression of the Alpha?
I check back in periodically and the thing I'm consistently bummed out about is the lack of people playing and it seems to directly stem from how slowly Epic is working on the map and client features.
I know it's a small team, but I feel like they're going to get their lunch eaten by other arena shooters like Overwatch and Lawbreakers due to how few resources Epic is seemingly putting in this thing.
Sry for answer time.
Well, personally I don't even categorize this game as a "Pre-Alpha" game now. It's like, I don't know, it's just a game being worked on with new things added months by months (approximately). If I say this, that's because every time I'm launching this game, I'm really enjoying it despite the fact that maps are not finished. The Pre-Alpha state isn't bothering me at all. I also think that there is a lot of people playing it (I speak for Europe), or, well, at least it's complicated to be alone. But sure there isn't 5000 people connected every evening.
I know it would be even better with Onslaught maps, VCTF, etc... But it didn't seems to be the main focus now. I saw someone from the staff saying that these gamemods including vehicle wouldn't appear before next year.
In fact, the thing that I don't understand is why Epic seems to be more focusing on advertising/working on games such as Paragon despite UT, a game which have, for me, a solid fan base structure since the end of the 90's. I know a lot of people are playing MOBA, etc... But I think that UT is a name knows by a loooot of people, so I don't understand why they aren't placing UT as the no.1 game to develop at Epic. As I say, this game is just a "Pre-Alpha" and it's totally gorgeous (at least for me) ! Just imagine what it could be with more developers.
I know also that they are counting on modders, but sometimes, I met people really enjoying UT and modding UT back in the days, but they didn't even know that a UT4 in being created. So, that's complicated. But for sure, I know some modders are on it.
Another thing that is bothering me is the reactions of some people on the game forum. Some of them are really annoying insulting the staff or getting in trouble with other user. I feel sad for the staff members sometimes. Everyone wants its own version of the game, but that's complicated. I know the staff can get over this and create a wonderful game for everyone !
I think the actual main direction is really great. The gameplay is fast & dynamic, and the maps design is modern while remembering me some great UT99/UT2K4 elements. People shouldn't also forget that they can create their own vision of the game themselves, Unreal Engine 4 is a really powerful and easy to access tool thanks to Blueprint.