The game is not fun enough to be popular.

A game that requires me to work before having fun is not well designed.

And as Area.net would say: It's all int eh journey. I've had immense fun "Grinding" the ducats to buy new units. I enjoyed myself. It's not all about the end game.

That being said, Guild Wars 2 was a tad boring. The graphics are there, the gameplay was there... But there was no feel that you needed to go on, to keep playing, and I left pretty quickly.

Its appeal is not, say, watching my units develop as characters and tell an interesting story.

Actually, I'd go as far as saying they made everything clear and that's actually what they want to do. Like all those funny little random events that tell you "this guy has been caught stealing, do you beat him up (causing injuries) or let it slide (lose money)? The game really is all about building your company, remembering the small anecdotes, seeing your guys "grow".

Anyone who thinks I owe a company/game some amount of time in order to play their game is not thinking.

You don't seem to want to understand: Your reasoning is right, IF it was a game you bought. But it's not: It's a game made so that if you don't have time, you can spend money, and if you don't have money, you can spend time. Simple. Most F2P are made that way.

And a quick note: there is a difference between an in-game achievement (which might require work/grinding) and simply playing the game as it's meant. It's no achievement to finally, after sixty hours, be fielding the company I've been wanting to field since the first day. It's no achievement to say finally, I get to have fun!

What about enjoying the journey, enjoying the games you played, thinking of new strategies along as you progress, testing new stuff? The game is clearly meant to be played at all different AP levels.

2. Now RMT (Cyans) might seem to provide a solution. Buy all the units. Might need to spend a little time leveling them up, yeah, that part will suck, but then you're fine, right?

YOu can actually buy them levelled up.

There are a couple problems. One, I am restricted in number of companies, and number of slots, and number of units. I can own a single Worg. I can never have Worg A for List A, and Worg B for List B (and there are, in fact, 31 different permutations of Worg). And I don't have enough slots for five Fangs AND five Crossbows AND three Lonewolves, etc ...

As stated by the Devs, they intend to give a possibility to "respec" your units. For money (real or not). Once again, your problems seem to come from "It's a BETA, NOT THE FULL GAME" problem.

That being said, Guild Wars 2 was a tad boring. The graphics are there, the gameplay was there... But there was no feel that you needed to go on, to keep playing, and I left pretty quickly.

Interesting. I enjoyed the "journey" of Guild Wars. I could play through new zones and new stories, or gin up a PVP character with whatever spec I wanted at my fingertips.

DOW, however, is not selling an interactive story. It's selling a game with some thematic elements for flavor.

Like all those funny little random events that tell you "this guy has been caught stealing, do you beat him up (causing injuries) or let it slide (lose money)? The game really is all about building your company, remembering the small anecdotes, seeing your guys "grow".

I suppose I could superimpose a story onto my company with the game's aid, but now the game is asking me to provide my own entertainment, so I'm not sure why I'm giving it money or time. If I want to write my own stories, I fire up Word and write. If the game wants to tell an evolving story with my company as the protagonists, it needs to work harder.

The theme is engaging. The random events support the theme. That's cool, and I rather like it. But my company is not the focus for any story. After 30 hours with my first company, it's a bit larger. I have a few War Scars and Disfigured guys now. That's all very thematic, and a nice touch. But we're still getting randomly assigned to fight over ... uh, things. The same things we were fighting over in hour 5. It's not like my successes or failures have had any narrative impact, or like any story links one mission to another. It's not like my company has a distinct identity separate from every other similar or identical comp - the only thing distinguishing them is the number of benign injuries. Hell, I can't even name my troops without buying stuff.

My fighters are not characters. They are game pieces. And that's fine. If you want to pretend they're characters, and string together their missions in your head to comprise the Wacky Adventures of Kelrys the POB and His Sidekick, Hunter Bob, go ahead. But the game doesn't really support thinking of them in such a way.

Even if the game did support thinking of these pieces as characters, it wouldn't be the game I want to play (essentially a virtual tabletop wargame in the style of Warhammer, Confrontation, etc, which DOW, mechanically, does very well!).

Your reasoning is right, IF it was a game you bought. But it's not: It's a game made so that if you don't have time, you can spend money, and if you don't have money, you can spend time. Simple. Most F2P are made that way.

And that's a pretty awful way to work.

Charge me money for a game. Fine. Let me play for free, so I can test it out and maybe get "hooked". Great. Make the free-play annoying or distasteful to encourage me to pay money. Fair enough. Give me access to special stuff if I pay you more moneys. Fantastic.

But charging me more and more to get at the core fun of the game? You can do it if you want, but you won't get my money.

What about enjoying the journey, enjoying the games you played, thinking of new strategies along as you progress, testing new stuff? The game is clearly meant to be played at all different AP levels.

Certainly! I want to learn to be a better tactician! I want to test new stuff! I want to try new strategies! That sounds like fun! I don't want to have to pay out ever-increasing sums of money, or ever-increasing hours of my life, for the privilege of doing so!

As stated by the Devs, they intend to give a possibility to "respec" your units. For money (real or not). Once again, your problems seem to come from "It's a BETA, NOT THE FULL GAME" problem.

Wargames, in a nutshell:

Step 1: design a list given specific limitations and parameters.
Step 2: test it against other lists designed by other people.
Step 3: observe the outcome. Use it to inform Steps 1 and 2 next time.

My complaints stand. I will pay money for a game. I will not pay money (or time) each time I want to tweak or develop a new list. Tweaking IS the game. Designing new lists IS the game. I don't want to shell out more cash each time I do that.

Paying money to play the game is good for arcades; not so much for this.