It’s not really ignoring you if they can’t estimate a release date. Blizzard and most other game developers usually don’t give a release date, because you can’t rush things like this, and by giving a date, they feel obligated to push for that date. If they can’t make the date, everyone gets pissy. They’re not ignoring you,they’re being careful.
Why do people assume they’re being ignored? I apologize but I just don’t see every post that appears on this board, especially ones that appear in ancient threads that I’ve already responded to.
So it sounds like you’ve seen my estimated release dates and just want to know why it “got pushed back”? These dates are just guess-work. My answers are vague because I only have a vague idea of when we’re going to release the alpha.
We’re not a fully funded company and if Runic is indie, then we must be XXXTREME INDIE!!! A significant portion of our team is only able to devote nights and weekends to the project because we cannot afford to pay them a full salary and they need to maintain other game-industry day jobs to pay their bills. This makes any sort of precision scheduling impossible because we cannot rely on people being able to work a consistent amount of time each week. There have been periods where people have had to crunch at their day-jobs, which generally causes their work on GD to grind to a halt for a couple weeks and dramatically slows down the project. 
Blizzard is a very well funded company with a huge full-time team, they’ve been working on D3 for a number of years and they’ve given out no information as of yet concerning a release date. I think it is quite reasonable in our position at Crate if we have to be a little vague with our release information. We’re really making an effort to be as open with the community as possible but until we have a firm idea of when we’ll be releasing, we can’t give you a firm answer. This definitely isn’t a project we want to rush out the door and I think guessing at a firm date and then slipping it has the potential to cause backlash.
Giving a release date only disappoint the fans in the long run if it gets postponed continously. And I can imagine it’s more stressful to work under the circumstances that you are racing with a clock.
I’m personally happy as long as we get some updates along the way. Just don’t rush it, or it’s gonna sting back hard that way.
I wasnt being pushy or anything and I’m not put out at all. 
I’m sure you read my posts as you answered other people who posted either right before or right after my posts. lol
I was just wondering why you seemed to have a fairly good grasp of when the game was going to be out 6 months ago but now things seem to be slipping and the game looks like it will be out much later than you had initially anticipated. Thanks for answering.
So is your best guess still 2011…or later? 
I wouldn’t even say I have a guess - basically, we’re setting certain goals for ourselves, which I am happy to share, but we won’t really know whether those goals are realistic until we get closer to them and are able to look at our progress over X number of prior months, look at the work remaining, and guesstimate whether our rate of progress will allow us to hit our goal.
Several months ago we felt like we would really like to release the alpha in early 2011 and it seemed like it might be possible. However, we’ve gotten a much better handle on the project since then and it is clear that an early 2011 alpha release is a long-shot. Part of the problem is that the scope of the project has grown. There has been a little bit of feature creep but the vast majority of the scope increase has been the result of calculated decisions. We’ve listened to what people want, we’ve seen that the bar is getting higher for even small-scope ARPGs, and we’ve had ideas along the way that we feel are definitely worth doing even if they push out release a bit.
Additionally, our original thinking was to release a really early, and naturally very rough, version of the game to Legendary fans - really at a pre-alpha state (since technically all the content is supposed to be completed by alpha) just so people could start playing with it and see the game develop. However, we’ve grown a little apprehensive about doing that. I think expectations have gotten quite high for the game and we don’t want people to have a negative reaction after playing the game in such an early rough state. I went into a lot of detail as to why this was probably a bad idea in another post responding to someone who asked that we do that.
Honestly, we started this as kind of an ultra-indie effort to make something fun for TQ fans that played similarly in all the good ways but also was new and unique. It feels like the expectation and the stakes have grown a lot since we started (probably our fault for continually improving the screenshots). So, we’re trying to meet those expectations and, while I think we’re doing a good job of it, it is adding time and challenge to the project.
I would say your screenshots and new feature announcements such as destructible environments and better quest/dialog tools have certainly raised the bar a bit. The best things about TQ are/were always the mastery combinations and the loot in my opinion though, and I think as long as you have those things right the majority of us will be pleased.
I think since most of us did not get a chance to give our opinions before TQ, and hadn’t experienced what you guys were capable of yet, that a lot of us have gotten really excited about being more involved with GD’s development.
I do agree that allowing players to “play” an early alpha can be an issue, especially if people don’t realize what they are getting into. The best advice I can give, based on what I’ve read and experienced in the Elemental beta, is that you define very rigidly what you want people to report about and what you don’t want feedback about. If it’s just bugs, make sure people know to only report bugs. With Elemental people wanted to continue to suggest game altering changes with the release only a few months away. Obviously, these expectations were a bit unreasonable that late in the game.
Have to agree with Kardio there. If/when an alpha is released, whether earlier than you originally thought or afterwards, I think it’s important to have really specific guidelines for feedback, and obviously an alpha/beta tester forum and have it moderated very closely. Whether you have certain 1 week blocks of testing one thing, or it’s a free-for-all, not sure how you’d want it done, but definitely have guidelines for what you want.
I personally don’t think you should feel too anxious about an early pre-alpha release for Legendary fans. I’m biased, but let’s face it, I didn’t pay full price to play an alpha and complain how bad something might be… who’d pay money to do that? Cashed up kiddies perhaps? Haven’t seen any here yet.
I for one want to help test for whatever it is you want tested and I’m sure a lot of people here feel the same.
But we’ll stick by your decision on that front anyway.
Well, there is always the possibility of an illegal copy of the alpha getting out and people not having a good context for what they are playing and trashing it.
Yeah totally possible. Shame there’s people out there who don’t understand the concept of ‘testing’.
I’d make sure you stamp the words ALPHA PRE PRE RELEASE BUILD in as many places as possible then. It won’t hurt anyway.
Releasing the game through a digital distribution channel that registers the game to your account, something like Steam or Impulse (which handles pre-releases), might help cut down on the alpha sharing issue. Of course, where there is a will, there will always be a way for them.
I’ve personally just got the Legendary as a birthday gift, and might I add, the best one this year. This is because I’ve never tried Alpha or even Beta testing. Therefore I’m looking really forward to trying this out and contributing with some constructive criticism in order to reach the best solution possible.
So I’m for a pre-alpha release, if that can help you in the making of the game.
Impulse was mentioned in an prior response in the topic, and I’ll go ahead and add through such a service you could keep critical game data server-side** throughout the pre-release development stages. That, coupled with logon requirements through Impulse or similar system should help mitigate pre-release versions getting publicized by unauthorized players.
There are alternative options of course, but I thought that their approach addressed their own concerns about unauthorized pre-release access, and it seems to address your concern quoted above, as well.
As for me, while I’ve not sprung for the Legendary Gold Soooper Special Edition (yet…), I’m still actively monitoring this topic for hints about any special offer cut-off dates for pre-release purchasers. Keep posting your updates, Crate peoples, so I don’t lose out!
** I should add for those watching at home that the release version of Elemental doesn’t have such restrictive access control measures. What I described was an implementation strictly for the pre-release stages.
Legendary edition purchased, name set for credits.
The alpha can’t come quickly enough!
Have you guys considered Desura - This should be fairly possible… (http://www.desura.com)
It’s looking like a digital distribution service that gives more power to developer to control their store/product/release… it’s from the guys that are do ModDB and IndieDB - they’re currently in beta (but I’m sure they’d be open to the possibility of something like this considering they host mod/indie project pages) and have individual group/app security settings so you could only invite people who have bought the legendary edition to the group and allow them access to the download… !?
Registered just to mention this - been following this game for a bit, and thought now is as good of a time as any to follow the forums a little more closely and look at getting a ledgendary edition
Thanks for the heads up, we’ll have to check it out.
And Grim Dawn is bought, Legendary edition. Now the wait begins
Purchased the Legendary as well. Can’t Wait!
I think I speak for many when I say I really appreciate how open you have been. It’s refreshing and I’m grateful you and the other Crate staffers take the time to check in and not only listen to our concerns, questions and what-not, but address them as well.
So, a great big THANK YOU! from me and I’m sure many other GD fans out there. Keep up the excellent work. 
I concur with Sile, but can see your point Medierra. I suppose some sort of a legally binding NDA would be too much of a pain and too much of a problem to enforce. Kardiophylax suggestion about steam or another digital download service that handles pre-releases might be an option, but you would know best. It is your product, blood, sweat, & tears afterall.
So, I guess we’ll just have to wait patiently until you all are ready. Gonna, be a hard wait, but worth every minute I’m sure. 
Purchased the Legendary as well
Love the idea of the game and theme.
Played Mythos in testing before it all went belly up and i LOVED the
pistols and guns in the game and that whole feel.
Missed it and been looking for something similar since