Minerva, I know you have issues with CGL and how they conduct themselves, from earlier posts, so I'll keep this as short as I can, so we don't go completely off topic.
CGL do outline when they have issues, Leviathans being the best case, where they own the property outright. With BT/Shadowrun, I assume they play it closer to the chest for the following reasons:
1. They don’t own the property outright;
2. Uniformed fans with larges axes to grind, for no really valid reason, in my opinion, tend to scream about the sky falling when ever they get the opportunity; and
3. They have likely learnt via hard experience that too much/too little communication, are as bad as each other with the BT fan base.
However, they can be masters at it when they choose to - Wars of Reaving, Interstellar Operations fan input and Leviathans being prime examples.
When there are issues they are open - The box set for BT, they told us what they could, when they could, Randall even blogged about it. Leviathans issues are an open book (check their blogs/forum), and the issues with the company funds in the early days were explained as openly as you could expect. Release dates are not given ‘till they are known, which is the best way to go, in my view.
As to communications in BT, I can't see what else you could want, as shown below:
BattleBlog (
http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=159) - averaging 2.7/month, which is not bad;
Coming Releases (
http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=474) - updated as needed;
Battle Chat (
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,26155.0.html) - monthly chat with the LD, where he answers what he can;
Catalyst Asks You threads (
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/board,84.0.html) - players involved in assisting with development;
Catalyst Interaction Boards (
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/board,34.0.html and
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/board,41.0.html) - Asking your niggling questions made easy; and
The forums themselves (
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php) - Where the main developers (Herb, Ben Rome, Paul, Oystein et al) answer many, many questions, even outside of the official interaction boards.
So, if that is not enough for you, or you have issues with a particular person, I can't see how that means that CGL is a catastrophic failure as far as communications go.
Never forget, CGL are not a massive corporation like GW or others, so don't expect the same level of corporate communications, as you are just setting yourself up for disappointment.
As to 3250, that was not, in my eyes, a fiasco. They started to tease about the new era, to get interest up, as was done for WoR, but then a small, but vocally idiotic section of the fan base went completely berserk. It was like watching Fox News in BT. The only ones to blame there were the hard core pain-in-the-arses, who regularly go out of their way to make the CBT forums an unpleasant place from time to time and like to take whatever the Devs say, be it a little or a lot, and twist into something ugly, no matter what the occasion.
There, that’s my rant, little longer than planned and apologies for that.
Now back to our regularly scheduled Alpha Strike, which I wants NOW, as being a limited table top player, the advantages of a fast play BT game, supported by its own line of supplements appeals to me greatly.
Really can't wait for this one.
