ATG VII?

The more I have considered yesterdays announcement by SOM of the pending release of ATG VII, the more it appears to me to be a purely reactive response by SOM, intended to quell the recent rumblings of community discontent. It's now been quite some time since we were even updated as to where things are at with: manager ratings, new cards and the live draft and it certainly would then seem that little or no progress has been made on these issues.

To me this has the same feeling as the initial bogus and widely mocked offer of recompense by SOM for the utter fiasco that has been the transition to this new web site. That approach to doing business seems to be -just toss the whiners a bone and hope they shut up and keep buying teams. Later SOM came back with a real offer -- the current discount which was well-received, and thus probably saved the online game. I would have hoped they learned from that experience but this announcement strongly suggests otherwise.

We are told that they intend to give us 200 new cards - the precise amount that they should have been giving us since February when Bernie initially reneged on his promise to the community of monthly additions. Then they will add the shuffle feature as a further bone, even having the temerity to frame that as an oft requested item by the community. I recall no posts ever on the ATG forums about this. Which leads me to wonder are they deliberately disingenuous or just clueless (i.e. stupid, incompetent or both) ?

It really seems that whatever positive measures this company takes to improve the customer experience is always followed by a reversion to their baseline of not communicating and not doing the stuff they say they will to make the game better (or even restore lost functionalities).

This latest offering is little more than crap, packaged and sold as chocolate ice cream.

See my reply on Geekors thread: essentially I have to nod my head as to whats been said.

There seems to be an assumption that the only effective interaction the company has with the customer base is via these boards.

Let me assure you--that's a false assumption.

I agree with Petrosian though on his assertion that updates have been sparse--though it's in comparison to the feel-good updates we would get from one individual who rarely followed through anyway.

I think expectations are being much more properly managed, and the interaction is much more professional and less
"garage-y". Of course, just my opinion and assuredly everyone has one.

BTW: No I did not privately request a shuffle feature and never heard of it. I'm not nearly that invested in the game to think that creatively.