Creative Assembly,

We are fans of the Total War series of games who are greatly interested in the future development of the Total War games. We are concerned with the current state of support for the Rome: Total War game and would like to communicate our concerns to you. All of us love the game and appreciate the hard work of the developers at Creative Assembly. We are certain that there are still many bugs with the current game, which has had it's second official patch, patch 1.2. This is not unexpected. Rome is a very complex game, and we have nothing but admiration, sympathy, and appreciation for the good work of the developers and testers. We would greatly appreciate further patching of the game, or some communication about why this is not possible at this time. What can we do to help?

Some of us have attempted to post our concerns at your official web site, only to be met with post deletion and banning from the web site forums. This has not helped us to feel positively about the future of the Total War series, nor to be optimistic about future improvements to the game and its possible expansions. Post deletion and bannings, coupled with the few sporadic and negative 'official' posts from web site administrators have left many with bad feelings about the current state and future of the company. Moreover, we are prevented from engaging in meaningful dialogue with the Creative Assembly in any way that could be helpful to future improvements you should choose to make to your games.

Those of us who choose to add our names to this document have concluded that at this time we will not continue to purchase products from the Creative Assembly. This is unfortunate, especially considering we are some of your biggest fans. No product will please all the customers, and we do understand that. However, we do not understand, nor accept, the current enforced silence, denial of bugs, lack of communication, and heartless banning of those who would be your greatest supporters. Additionally, many of us will not accept that Rome: Total War has seen enough patching to warrant further support from our wallets.

Some of us would be satisfied with future improvements to the game through patching. Some will only be satisfied when they feel able to post their support and concerns at your official web site. Some will be satisfied if major bugs are addressed in the likely future expansion, while others will only purchase said expansion if the original product is fixed. We are a mixed crowd. But we share the fact that none of us will be purchasing an expansion or future games from Creative Assembly unless some things do change. We feel it is our obligation to inform you of our lack of future support because we are great fans of the company and the games you make. We do not feel we can sit idly by, quitting our affections and financial support for your great works so easily as to part in silence and anonymity.

To this end we have several suggestions on how to maintain and enlarge support for your products, and recoup the support of your dear fans who have added their names to this letter, some in bitterness, but most of us in hope.

Suggestion 1: Create a forum section for discussing problems and solutions, past and future patches, and current work-arounds for your products. Denying that there are bugs is an anachronistic response to the reality of complex software and informed fans. Let us discuss with each other, and hopefully with you, the possibilities of future improvements to Rome: Total War. A forum section dedicated to bugs and bug squashing is in no way a poor reflection of your products or some admission of imperfection. Bugs are part of modern software. We know about them, you know about them, and perhaps your many fans can help identify and squash them.

Suggestion 2: Some regular news and communication from your company about the future of the Total War series, including the future plans for patching or not patching bugs from the current bug list. The deadlock combination of silence, enforced silence, and a few poorly worded posts by your web site administrators could be broken by some forthright communication about upcoming plans, or lack of plans. A monthly letter-from-the-devs would be excellent.

Suggestion 3: Occasional, or increased two-way communication with members of the development team or administration. A few recent warm and casual words from GeromeGradsky went a long way in letting us know that you are still alive! But further, it let us know, indirectly, that there is still interest in improving Rome: Total War at the Creative Assembly. Without digging to and reposting this lone off-topic message, we would largely be in an information void.

Suggestion 4: Build, announce, and release another patch to Rome: Total War before or concurrent to any future expansion to the game. There are some bugs that many find crippling to the game, unfortunately. If they are ignored or only fixed in an expansion, quite a few fans will feel they have to pay for fixes that should be made to the original product and will vacate the series. If this suggestion seems somehow ignorant of your corporate reality, please forgive us. We have almost no information on the matter besides the readme from patch 1.2 and a single post from a moderator that only hints at the situation.

We have many more suggestions and would love to continue to share them with you. In no way do we expect or demand that you will take many, any, or all of these suggestions to direct action with regards to improving your web site forums and the Rome: Total War game. However, we must also add our own caveat that unless something changes along these lines we do not feel it would be reasonable of us to continue to purchase products from your company. We sincerely hope that in revealing our dissatisfaction and reasons for discontinuing purchases that we have helped the Creative Assembly to understand her fanbase and possibly to make some changes accordingly.

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Disclaimer: The opinions or dissent of any of the signees is not limited to or bound by this document. This is simply a letter of concern. Any promises, stated or implied by this document are invalid by reason that this is a statement of opinion, not a contract or claim to fact. We simply wish all the best for the Creative Assembly and hope that our concerns and willingness to discontinue future purchases will be seen in that light.