Disclaimer: This is a long rant that I make no apologies for making if some haters out there don’t like what I have to say. If you’re content with a broken sim, so be it. I am not. This isn’t about your level of satisfaction with the current state of the sim, this is about my feelings on the subject. If you’re content, so be it, but please just ignore what I’m saying. I’m not interested in a debate or argument.
That said, here we go:
I’ve been very patient and somewhat gracious as problem after problem emerge after patches and updates. I’ve been understanding and encouraged after viewing developer Q&As where everyone reassures us that things will improve soon. Yet time and time again, things don’t improve. In fact, they often get worse.
This is a FLIGHT SIMULATOR. It goes without saying that aircraft should work in a FLIGHT SIMULATOR.
WHY, WHY, WHY is it every time an update comes along, something else gets broken? Why do improvements create problems that end up worse than original issues? Why does it take so long for a LARGE team of developers to fix these problems?
For MONTHS, even prior to release, we’ve been talking about issues that STILL EXIST today, ranging from airports to aircraft to weather.
Autopilots don’t work. Aircraft perform strange. Weather has problems, photogammetry is awful.
I paid a premium for aircraft that don’t work. INOP buttons are one thing, but basic systems that are functional are broken, with a constant stream of new problems that I discover every day.
I bug report, but it’s a tedious process. I don’t have time to go through all of the steps to send issue after issue via zendesk. I also frequently post here. I vote. Nothing changes.
All I want to do is fly. How can a flight simulation company somehow manage to make that nearly impossible, especially after every update?
I AM NOT A NEWBIE. I’ve been simming for 30 years. I know workarounds, I know how to tweak, I know how to troubleshoot. I’ve been following the progress of MSFS since the announcement. I’ve been following all of the concerns from the community along the way. This isn’t my first rodeo. That being said, I think I speak with a certain degree of experience in this space.
This sim in the current state is terrible.
Unless you fly GA, VFR, with minimal use of the autopilot, there’s a good chance that you will need to spend a day or two trying to fix problems instead of flying.
This is ridiculous, and nobody should be patting themselves on the back for a job well done. I would be embarrassed to put my name on any of this at this stage.
The latest bungle? The 320 with a completely broken autopilot. The stock version as well as the 32N. How in God’s name is this even possible? Not only can’t it follow the flight plan or maintain level flight, but even the heading doesn’t work, so unless we fly manually, which makes pitch out of control, along with roll, finding ways to make it work is a ridiculous process, and the solutions are even more bizarre.
Proposed workarounds found in the 32N Discord server don’t really work for many. “Turn off this computer, save and load this flight, disconnect the AP and turn it on…blah blah blah.” This time around, most of these don’t work. Come here to the forum and we get the same problems. No solutions. Wait for a fix from Asobo. It’s tiring. It’s annoying. It’s mind-bogglingly frustrating.
By the way, why should we need to get info on fixes over there when core problems lie within the MSFS code? That’s your job. Not mine, not the community’s.
3 months of promising to fix autopilots. 3 Months! We had months of problems with the 787 too and TBM. Don’t even get me started on the Longitude. That jet should have its airworthiness certificate revoked.
What the heck is going on over there?
I’ve all but given up on simming after this steady stream of frustrations. Star Wars is more-enjoyable at this juncture.
I waited nearly 2 years for this revolutionary sim to be released. I paid a premium for stuff that doesn’t work, including scenery that is pretty substandard too (have you seen all of the problems at KORD in the deluxe/premium versions, for example?).
The point I’m trying to make is that talk is one thing, but until some real improvements come along, I’m not really interested in loving this sim. I’m not interested in flying it. I’m not interested in making investments in scenery and other addons.
I’m also more than happy to offer my services to test stuff before you release things. I’d like to be part of the solution. I’m good at it.
Updates shouldn’t be released until they’re properly tested. Clearly, even if things are tested, they’re not picking up key elements that users find as soon as they jump into their favorite aircraft.
So, I give up. This isn’t fair.
You give me a sim that works, and I’ll be the most-loyal, most engaging user who will be a cheerleader for the team and the product publicly. Yet, that isn’t the case.
Thank you for ruining another holiday weekend that I had set aside time to fly. Now I can’t fly. Again.
I hope devs are also finding time to fly this weekend. Perhaps they will discover these glitches too.
I just hope we don’t have to wait weeks/months for fixes.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this will translate into actionable fixes that really work this time round.
If not, I fear that I will relegate MSFS to the recycle bin for the foreseeable future, and this may sound like I’m whining, but if you could experience the depth of frustration and perplexity that I have toward this sim, you’d appreciate the significance of that statement.
I’m clearly not alone in this regard. Reputations are hard to get back once they’re gone.
Best,
John