Those of us who were around when Heroes V hit the shelves, remember the promotions made by the developers about its online features. The "ghost mode" was touted (by us, even) as being an excellent feature, but in the end the online experience of H5 turned out to be ... well, rubbish. The sluggishness of the online features was one of the criticisms against the game (here's just one example).

At this point in time it looks like history is repeating itself. Despite the emphasis put on creating a stellar new online system for Heroes VI, despite the innovative ideas and hard work of the developers, the online features of this game are failing. Failing to achieve their inherent goals. There are currently several topics on the official forums, with players and fans (?) complaining that their connections are faulty. That the Conflux is down.

Some times news pop up on the Facebook page, but there are also unscheduled downtime, much to the frustration of the players (as can be seen in the above-mentioned topics on the official forums). It would seem that the server transition has not had the desired effect of improving the game's online features to the point at which this no longer happens.

The official CH position, of course, has been clear for some time. While we like the making of online features to boost the players' gaming experience, they need to work in order to be taken into account. Teacher as I am: an A for effort, but an F for overall completion. I am also beginning to worry about whether too much emphasis has been placed on the online system; that this could have impaired the resources used on building other aspects of the game. The feeling I am getting at the moment is something like: "imagine how great this game could be if..."