Aaron "Apoc" Kaufman, the community manager for C&C 3, sent the following remarks via email:
Hey guys,
I find myself here again giving a brief "state of the union", because I've seen increasing threads and e-mails about my whereabouts and commitment to the C&C 3/KW community.
I would first like to say that I am as passionate as ever about this spectrum of the community and these two games and will continue fighting daily to see them supported.
I am currently discussing internally about the feasibility and timeline of our next patch for Kane's Wrath. As i said in a previous post, I don't have any further updates at this moment but our recent patch 1.01 has barely been out a few weeks and I would hope gives us some breathing room and reprieve from the high demands.
We're in the midst of finaling Red Alert 3 and I am a huge component of that as a producer and community manager with the commitments I have. 2POC's internship ended last week, but you'll still seem him around plenty once he gets acclamated with his school schedule. I am also in Leipzig, Germany this week for the Games Convention for Red Alert 3 and am typing this message to you at 3AM. It's incredibly intense and busy right now.
But, my heart is still engraved in C&C 3 and Kane's Wrath and I am working equally as hard on the prospect of our next patch and the SDK. I will say very honestly the MOD SDK situation is looking increasingly dire due to technical reasons, but I am exercising every option. I am also working early on our RA3 MOD SDK which I value as critical to the community to have as early on as possible.
And of course we have the Kane's Wrath Ladder Season going on right now, so we're not about to patch in the middle of that and throw the balance off, at least not right now.
So overall, its a very intense time right now and I am working intensely to share focus with Red Alert 3 and C&C3 / KW, the forum mods are working hard to keep peace here, our volunteer cheat-team is working hard to keep the game free of DC'ers, spammers, etc, this is an intense battlefield for APOC's Army at the moment.
I understand the desires of having a new patch soon and the SDK asap, but I want you guys to know neither is forgotten, its simply a busy time these past couple of weeks especially with Red Alert 3, but I assure you I am working on all the above for C&C 3 and KW to the best that I can internally and with my strong army of volunteers.
I appreciate those who understand and understand those who would like to see increased face time, I will absolutely keep you guys posted, especially when I have more concrete information. Unfortunately, I still don't have that but I hope the patch is keeping you busy in the meantime.
I will be around, once I'm back from Germany next week.
Cheers, your community manager (4 years now! =)
-APOC
A few things of note here: first of all, I don't think that releasing a patch within the last month should lessen the demand for a patch that fully fixes Kane's Wrath. The bottom line is never how often something is patched, but how well it is patched (and how good it is to begin with). Kane's Wrath was very poorly developed to begin with, and the patching has been anemic and slow to address the issues. Secondly, Aaron's honesty on the Kane's Wrath SDK is appreciated--though I think there are personnel concerns as well as technical ones at play. While I think it reflects poorly on EA to leave the KW modding and mapping communities in their current state, being upfront about their actions is a good sign. It certainly beats the EA circa 2003, which stated that products and add-ons were on their way, yet never produced them, or addressed their absence. Aaron deserves credit for this. I hope this policy of honesty continues, and I hope EA makes people like Aaron have an easier time being honest by developing and fully supporting top-flight products.
