Hey all, I'm filling in for Apoc and his absence and wanted to post an update on what we're up to with Command & Conquer 3. I know some of you have a lot of questions so I'll attempt to address some of the most popular ones here. Before I do, though, let me reassure you--as I like to do--that even if members of the development team don't often chime in on the topics that come up on these forums, we do read them and have ways of making sure your top concerns get in front of us...even when Apoc takes some time off. Let's move on to the interesting stuff:
We're working on our next patch, which you can expect in July. This patch will be much smaller in scope than 1.05 and will address some of the key issues that remained or emerged after the patch, including certain exploits and issues with player disconnects. We're definitely aware of the issues some players are having with the most recent version of the game, and while not all of them will be addressed in the next patch in the interest of time, we will indeed get to additional fixes in a future update after that. In other words, patch 1.06 will not be the last time we update the game.
We intend to reset the ladder rankings right around the time we release patch 1.06. To be clear, you will not lose your stats--your position on the 1v1 and 2v2 ladders will simply be reset. We'll have other details about the ladders closer to the time of the reset, so stay tuned.
We're working on the Mod SDK, which will allow players to create new content and heavily modify the game, in general. I can't give you a specific date for the release, though I can say it's far along in development and is in the process of being tested and documented.
We're working on the BattleCast Viewer, which will allow people who don't even own a copy of Command & Conquer 3 to watch replays and live BattleCast matches. The BattleCast Viewer's release will be part of our initiative to help make sure C&C3 remains a lively, interesting competitive multiplayer game over the long haul.
We're listening to your feedback about play balance and watching your replays, in an effort to identify ways in which we can improve play balance in the future. As with the changes in patch 1.05, we will go about making future balance changes deliberately and methodically. We're certainly aware of some players' concerns about things like the Scrin Mothership, or the Nod Stealth Tank. Having said that, we ask for your patience as we gather all the necessary information in order to make the best possible decisions about balance. We hope most of you are generally pleased with the direction that the balance took in patch 1.05 and we do intend to continue along that same trajectory, which involves making sure that all three sides are evenly matched against each other, and that all the units, abilities, and support powers on each side have a clear benefit throughout the duration of a battle.
Thanks to those of you who've continued to show such care and dedication to Command & Conquer. Please feel free to ask questions or post comments about anything I've said here, though as always, we ask that you be constructive with your criticism and respectful to anyone on these forums whom you might disagree with. In other words: Please, not in the face!
