Straight up - I love this game, and I love to play with other people online. Right now, I can't play with other people online, and it makes me a sad boy. Are you like me? Good - go get GameRanger, and your worries will disappear!
Since this last patch has, after just under 2 dozen attempts tonight, proven to make it unpossible for me to play online, I'll be going back to GameRanger to try and find games. I'm hoping that more legit players do, too.
I have no doubt the connection issues will be worked out in time, but I'd rather play the game, even with 3rd party software, than not play the game at all. I hope most of you feel the same, because the main drawback with GameRanger is that not enough legitimate players use it. It is our BEST option right now (and, in many regards, has been for the past month) until the powers-that-be at Stardock are able to fix the connection issues we've been dealing with since release.
If you're skeptical, just try it. It's a tiny file, it's a breeze to set up (takes less than 4 minutes from the time you click download to the time you're ready to join a game), it won't break your machine, and the savants at Microsoft had the foresight to include a snazzy uninstall utility with Windows should you decide that it isn't for you! If you want, PM me, and we can set up a time and meet on GameRanger just so you can see how great it works. It's not perfect - sometimes you have to restart a time or two to pick up everyone, but it's so seemless and, most importantly, quick, that it really isn't a pain.
Look for games with "v.0113" or "Legit Only" or something along those lines in the title.
*Oh, and Frogboy has even endorsed GameRanger several times over the past month as an alternative to the current system, so that's certainly saying something.
