I remember this dilemma from way back in WoM beta. If memory serves WoM was advertised as a game with multiplayer.

Than later it just "didn't happen". Yes, WoM was a "launchdate disaster". Ok, we've been through that, I can understand why everything went wrong in there. Then there was the whole "expansions for free" initiative. Good way to make up for original disappointment, or at least that's how it sounded at the time.

I've seen FE and FE-LH. LH is not out of beta yet, but it already looks like a (potentially) good SP game to me. FE, though... I don't know what to say about it. Nothing other than "what the heck was that?" comes to mind. A longer and less emotional way to describe it would be a "continuation of WoM beta leading nowhere".

The whole "elemental legacy" seems like one big journey towards a decent SP game.

Well, congratulations, I believe you're almost there. But you know what? I still feel disappointed. Why? Because I bought an MP game waaay back then, and only got an SP game by now.

Video games purchases in general are quite close to cat in a sack purchases, we all have our ways of dealing with it, "those things happen". I'm not disappointed about the money, wouldn't be the first time I paid for something that failed. I'm disappointed about the fact that I could have bought a good MP game and a pair of expansions to it by now if things went better in the development. Didn't happen. I could have bought a failed MP game with a free pair of expansions to it. Didn't happen. What happened is - I bough a failed MP game, got a failed SP expansion, and a good SP expansion to it. That, is the extent of disappointment.

Just for reference, a decent game like that with a working multiplayer is worth 50$ to me, without, it's worth 0. No really, if WoM wasn't originally listing MP among it's features I wouldn't care about this franchise at all.

I may not have seen the whole process, but I think it's clear enough how the original divide between the people who wanted SD to divert all the attention towards SP and those who didn't solved itself - "all those who didn't" gradually "packed-up and left the field of view".

This here post is a reminder that the "field of view" is not the same as "existence".

I don't know how "the people out there" feel about it in general, but I think there's quite a lot of gamers that share my viewpoint - Elemental nightmare has reached it's deciding phase. This mess have probably soiled your reputation a lot by now. You had a big enough credit of it though (all for good reasons I might add). People view you as a company that fixes it's mistakes, or at least they used to, back when all of it started. How the FE-LH launches will determine if that opinion will stay in your customers' minds.

It'll probably stay in the minds of those who wanted nothing other than single player game from this franchise. (even if that fixing took so long)

But what of MP audience? We aren't active here, sure, but that's because we had no reason to be. You kept sending mail from time to time informing your customers about the progress of the franchise, but there's been no word of MP progress. The "second" expansion will finally feature the SP content worth playing. What's next then?

Should those of us who wanted MP wait even longer? Or should we pack up and leave the elemental franchise behind us? Introducing MP into this is a complicated endeavour, I understand. But to be fair to your customers you should either do it, or at least man up and admit that you crossed-out this feature, and that there's nothing for us to anticipate here.

I'm asking for an official response, and not just to me in this post. Make it truly official, an announcement in the media or a newsletter - either that you will make it up to the MP-focused audience, or that you will not. Point is - if you can't preserve the reputation of people who fix their mistakes at least preserve a reputation of honest people.