MSFS 2024 - Did we get what we expected?

[StrohSchema7980]

After many years enjoying to fly in MSFS 2020, I had complete confidence in the Asobo team that MSFS 2024 had to be something special and outstanding. Also because it was announced as:

                   *Next Generation Flight Simulator* (FS 24 trailer)

Of course I wanted to be there and was excited by the images in the MSFS 24 trailer. Anyone who starts FS 24 today has these images in front of their eyes for several minutes, fantastic images and impressions under the motto:

                    *explore our world - the sky is calling* (MS 24 trailer).

I immediately felt positively addressed by these impressions. And I was even offered a job: „persue your dream of a career in aviation“. So I was immediately one of the pre-orderers.

What did we get?

I don’t want to report any new bugs, that’s tedious these days because you don’t know where to start. I would just like to outline the three fundamental changes that we have received, others than expected.

Streaming

We’ve got a 100% streaming model. MSFS 2024 only uses streaming to get all the data needed for the game. FS 24 now starts more or less quickly, but a selected career mission often cannot be initiated. And many times it‘s not even possible to close the program normally. Then only STR- ALT-DEL is the way out. Consequently every company manager who is panting after earning money is frustrated if his airplane doesn‘t generate any revenue. This is still the case until today. And there is no improvement in sight even after almost 3 months. Maybe the server capacity has to be expanded.

New UI for control inputs

And we’ve got a completely new UI for the inputs of the control elements. Because it was assumed that the FS 20 UI was probably not good enough. Was it? I consider the UI of FS 24 UI to be almost unusable, the numerous posts here say the same. There are now three categories for the inputs and many subcategories can be created for further personalization. It is overly complex and confusing. And technically it doesn‘t seem to work the way the programmers intended (inputs disappear). The FS20 controller UI was not perfect, but still understandable and manageable. Why change something that works well? Maybe for the 3rd party developers who are now selling interface tools for the FS 24 UI. UI for UI? OMG.

Career Mode

And we’ve got a company career mode. For me, that is the biggest disappointment and a source of constant frustration and anger. Everything has actually been said here in the forum, I will spare the community my comments. I just want to mention a remarkable post by SkipTalbot (Opinions on Career Mode: A Flawed Design? - #33 by SkipTalbot) that describes the fundamental problems of this mode perfectly. His conclusion:

So the design of Career Mode winds up being flawed on every level, from it’s implementation, to its game play components, and to its entire core.

What did I expect?

The answer is simple. That I can fly all the missions that are shown in the colorful trailers without having to set up a company. A few simple (cargo, sightseeing) missions can be flown without a company connection, but there are only very few and always of same boring type. Many missions from the colorful advertisements that you thought you would get are simply not offered. Even if you have all the certifications and licenses.

I was expecting a mission model like HPG offers with his action pack for the Airbus H 145 rotorcraft. Here you have a choice between different mission types, e.g. HEMS, SAR, Firefighter, Offshore Utility, Cargo etc. The program generates missions of your choice as many times as you like, always new and different. None of these missions last longer than half an hour, no boring 3-hour cross-country flights. After successfully completing your mission you‘ll receive a verbal thank you and a useful comment, nothing more. It doesn’t have to be more than that, because for me, the motto is: the mission challenge is the destination, not money making.
I thought that this or a similar model would be included in the new FS 24. I was wrong.

I liked the exiting pre sales announcements made by MS. I thought FS 24 would be something fantastic, something really new, something which even surpasses the FS 20. But now I‘m very disappointed. I thought about asking for a refund a few times, but then I told myself that it was my fault for having pre-ordered FS24 without waiting for the posts that were posted here.

[SebastianJ7210]

Share very similar feelings. I didn’t ask for a refund because I expected substantial fixes much sooner (two months later we’re pretty much on the same place), and because here I pay taxed for foreign commerce, so if I ask for a refund and later want to buy again would need to pay taxes again, and they amount for more than 50% of the price.

Edit: one thing more, the intro when you fire up 2024 is full of beautiful missions… which you can’t fly unless you have the time to do career mode, which several of us don’t have. I still can’t believe how half of the sim is blocked unless you don’t have any obligation and can do career mode instead of just having some missions to fly, as anyone would have thought. Innocent me I guess, never thought missions would be absolutely blocked unless you go into career.

MSFS 2024 disastrous release puts me near quitting sim flying

Talking with a friend of mine, both of us long time simmers (imagine, I have the printed manual for MSFS 95, lot of current flyers weren’t even born), both noticed how it’s been almost three weeks and we have practically logged zero hours, not in 2020 or 2024. The joysticks and pedals have dust on them (literally) and are stowed under our desks on to the side, unplugged. Both of us feel completely deceived since the release in 2024. I’m tired of making lists of issues and reporting bugs, since …

[marty2756]

I have less than 1 hour a day for MSFS on weekdays. The duration of missions of several hours is a problem for many. I don’t know what happened 15 min / 20 min missions that were already in the alpha. I think they will improve this, as many other things that make career incomplete today, as flying at night, a way to use a good ATC (3rd party), complete-working aircraft, and many other things.
Career clearly was not ready, but it’s a start. Hope they go in the right direction now.

[Tinkicker01]

Have to say a resounding no. The hyperbole was ramped up to the max on the weeks preceding the launch.

The reality is somewhat different.

It is very playable for me, but it is certainly not what I expected it to be.

[Saltash53]

It’s better than I expected and worked straight out of the box for me much better than 2020 did when that was released.

I had no idea I would be able to run a simulator this good with the PC I have, given that it struggled a little with 2020. I’ve not had to compromise on anything with 2024 the way I had to with 2020.

Yes, it has problems but for me the good far outweigh the bad.

I am strictly free flight only, no interest in career mode at all, if that makes a difference.

[Marcg11DiceMan]

Unfortunately I would say for me yes - I am just a Free Flight simmer and nothing in 2024 that was announced to me really made me anticipate 2024. I still bought it and am using it occasionally but its clearly going to take time to get it where I am off 2020. I expected it would be a small improvement over 2020 and thats what I see in 2024 - but the amount of simple bugs is still astounding to me in what was deemed a shippable product.

[CaseBug92496684]

Oh, the tragedy! The betrayal! Don’t worry your suffering won’t last forever. Yep, the release was a mess, no doubt! But while you’re here passionately venting your frustrations, the developers are, you know, actually working very hard fixing things. Crazy concept, right?

[SechsLarve42525]

NO
The problem with MSFS2024 is that many things have gotten worse compared to 2020.

[TheBlackWind977]

There’s people who would doubt that based on how so many trivial things still aren’t fixed. I’m not saying I don’t partially side with you on this, but people have a right to be upset after that release, and they are being pretty slow at rolling out updates. I mean really basic things like engine sounds not working, instruments not working - stuff like that. Things they’d know if they ever tried the aircraft even once while making this sim.

And to answer the OP: No.

[CaseBug92496684]

Yes, people have a right to be upset… no one’s saying you have to be thrilled about the issues. But there’s a difference between constructive criticism and senseless doom posting. If something is broken, report it. If you’re frustrated, give useful feedback. The real reason updates take time isn’t just because they’re fixing individual bugs, it’s because MSFS 2024 is a massively interconnected system. It’s a level of complexity that a lot of people here underestimate.

[TheBlackWind977]

Except reports don’t often amount to anything in my experience. Some of the most obvious game breaking things aren’t even on their list to fix.

I’m fairly sure of the bugs I’ve submitted in 2020 and here… none have ever been fixed, but I may have forgot one or two…

[mhron]

Yes. I’m loving it and it will surely get even better. Like MSFS2020 did.

[Salty9649]

Yes, I got what I expected, along with the bugs which I expected too. Especially based on how buggy 2020 was when it released.

Give it time, it’ll get better, just like 2020 did.

[CaseBug92496684]

I get it, it sucks when you report something and never see it get fixed. Although, I wouldn’t go as far as saying reports don’t amount to anything. Most of the fixes over the years have come from community feedback and bug reports. It just takes time… sometimes more than we’d like.

[TheBlackWind977]

@Salty9649

Yes, I got what I expected, along with the bugs which I expected too. Especially based on how buggy 2020 was when it released.

Give it time, it’ll get better, just like 2020 did.

I’m sure you’re right. I have faith it’ll get better too, but I look at some of the stuff they are working on and I can’t help but think, “Guys, can you just take a few minutes and make some of the aircraft flyable so that the rest of this stuff matters more?”

Most of the basic aircraft that come with the sim are a complete mess. I feel like the Cessna 172 was one of the only aircraft they ever booted up while working on the game! It’s pretty good :>)

[SylvesterRocket]

To answer the question for me.
I would say yes and no.

Yes I did expect some bugs at the beginning.
Yes I did expect that the marketing announces something bigger then they will deliver.
Yes the visuals look better than FS2020 at least for me.
Yes I think the career mode is a good startingpoint and could develop in something good. If done right.

No I did expect that MS/Asobo has learned from the past and would have made a beta before the launch.
No I did expect much quicker fixes and features based on the fact it is streamed now.
No I would have expected that they are at least close to FS2020 as a base line.
No I did expect a more clear and open communication.

So far FS2024 did bring me less joy than expected. Still have hope this will change over time. Right now I would say I am 30% happy and 70% sad. I was expecting this to be the other way around.

[SkipTalbot]

Thanks for the shout out. I had some naive hope left, but deep down I had a feeling this would happen, so I did get what I expected. The signs were there, and I had lived through the release of 2020. In any and every glimpse we got shortly before launch, the sim looked woefully unready, and I fully expected gamification of the career mode to some extent. You could practically read it on their faces at the global preview event. They looked weary or even incredulous as they described the new game, as I’m sure they knew the state in which it was. And yet when you finally do see the game, you’re still shocked: Wow! This is pre-alpha level software and the career mode is really really gamey.

“2024 works pretty good for me, but all I do is free flight with a couple planes that already worked well”.

I mean this is the bare minimum, lowest bar. We have that in 2020 already, so all you have to do is not f it up.

Every single one of 2024’s “revolutionary new features” is bug riddled and incomplete. The cornerstone features especially. Career has been covered, but even the streaming model. Watching runway textures disappear while you’re on short final, after they’ve already fully downloaded at least once. Yeah, it loads so much faster now, until you’re sitting there in a grey cockpit waiting for the gauges to trickle in, with no notification that you’re actually “ready to fly”. And you’re never quite sure if the plane just never downloaded properly, or if it’s expected to be broken like this because it’s incomplete.

But that’s just how it’s going to be. We’re in it for the long haul now as these fixes will take years, not just a couple sim updates.

And I say keep these posts coming. It’s the angry mob of villagers with pitchforks and torches that seem to most motivate them into action. Your polite and neatly filed bug reports are easily lost in the heap, and probably redundant. Yes, they know about the bugs. The sim is like that scene in Temple of Doom where every surface is just crawling. Yeah, go ahead and report each bug. You can’t take a step without them literally crunching under you feet.

[DaveBGaming]

When i saw the decent wildfire smoke in the trailer, i didn’t expect to end up with clouds. Especially when the smoke effects on the burning ships look far better.

When i saw these in the trailers & hearing them say ‘authentic aviation activities’ over & over, i expected audio positioning orders from the winchman & crane operator like they do in real life, all over the world (the writing & terrible AI voices needs a total rework anyways). This is meant to be a simulator, i shouldn’t need to exit the cockpit camera to see where i am in relation.

When i saw these in the trailers & preview events, i expected Glider & Air Racing missions.

When i saw these in the trailers & preview events, i actually expected heavy cargo ops (airborne cargo drops from the A400M would’ve been nice too) & commercial cargo transport missions to be in the sim.

When i saw the 747 Supertanker in the premium deluxe edition, i thought we’d actually get to use it for aerial firefighting missions, perhaps even with the retardant it’s well known for. Also, when i saw the Skycrane doing aerial firefighting in the trailer, i thought we’d actually get to do so.

Whilst on that topic. Why not give us the Chinook or H125? Same goes for other categories not being able to use suitable aircraft.

[IgnoredAce25687]

Imagine if (when) the career mode can be more akin to some of the third party training/mission packs from 2020. With brilliant spoken audio rather than the terrible terrible AI junk that the career mode currently has.

[RelativeBell177]

It should have been named FS 2026 for release in late 2025.