>>716185523
Youtubers and Russians.
>youtuber streams super secret valve game to discord friends
>discord friend uploads clip to internet
>valve has to open up a closed alpha playtest to people
>stupidly decide the alpha period should not be time limitted
>spreads like wildfire
>absolutely no quality control
>people do not treat it as a playtest
>steam discussions become absolutely unusable being flooded with threads in all languages advertising invites to the playtest
>open up their own forum for actual feedback
>small period where developers actually listen to feedback, adding a bunch of community requested items and mechanics
>quickly overran by autists perfecting everything and developping metas
>and cheaters
>forum becomes overran by balance bitching
>development time is diverted away from actually adding stuff to the game to appease those obssessed with competitive
>create a bandaid fix competitive queue
>as well as an emergency anti-cheat
>and a barebones lobby system that still doesn't let you select a map even while the community is creating their own custom ones
>forums remain unusable filled with russians whining about bans and balance
>development is getting nowhere addressing all the demands
>create a second super super secret closed alpha with all the experimental shit
>THAT leaks onto the internet
>now the main branch just gets sloppy seconds
Pandora's Box was opened and it cannot be closed again. What began as a playtest lost all integrity by people taking it way too seriously.
The invite only alpha test should have only been for a couple weeks. Not a full year.
I can only hope their super duper secret branch is actually getting somewhere. Just give me an aram mode and the game will live forever in my eyes.