Purchase now or?

6 Hours ago I woulda said now...

Now I say wait...

From what I have heard, now if you want to practice in single and find the demigod that fits you.  Wait a week or 2 if you just want multiplayer right away.  I havent tired multi yet, so i cannot speak to how well it works.

There are some folks having trouble playing multiplayer.  That's a risk.

However, the single player game is fun and educational.  I'd buy it now for that and be even better when I played with others.

Single player freezes as well.  I would not recommend buying the game until they have put out a patch or two and things start working.

Says mr. bias!

I must confess that I am tempted to buy it now, however with all these issues I am also tempted to pirate (I know...) the game until some of the bugs and issues are sorted.

I do want the game, I just don't want to spend more time angry at a product that has plenty of good stuff going for it and end up thinking that the purchase was just as one of my more stupid purchases.

If you want a medicore single player game, buy it now

If you want a functional multiplayer game, do not buy it now

Buyers remorse hit me after spending 4 hours trying to get into a game - I can say I've been forced to kill the demigod process 10 times more then I've played any matches..

If you want to play online you should come back in a week or two. Your experience would likely be better than it is right now. You'll probably spare yourself from some anger/distress too .

Overall the game plays well when you finally get into a match, but connecting to matches is much more of a pain than it should be.

I'll make you a better deal, I'll buy it as soon as the most obnoxious issues and bugs are fixed.

edit: forgot to thank everyone that has posted their input, thanks again guys!

If you're a die hard DOTA fan, buy it now. I had a great first time experience with it. There are some issues though (not enough heroes is my main concern). But the great thing about Stardock games is that they support them really well. They always have tons of post-release support and additions. So if you're on the fence just wait until the next patch. Either way...you can't pass this one up. It's just too good and has SO much potential to be great later on.

A bit of an understatement.  So far I've spent about 60% of my time trying to connect and about 40% playing.  In my 40% playtime I really like the game.  In the 60% waiting and watching the Connection Info, I really hate it.  Connection Info shows exactly what is going on btw.  If only one person hasn't setup their ports exactly right, all of you will wait indefinitely.  You have to recognize that situation and try to join another game.  Often, it seems that you have to kill the game and restart it in order to get things back into a good state.

Well, here is the situation as I see it:

I wouldn't buy the game for the single player...it's not that I don't have fun playing single player, it's just that it gets repetitive facing the computers, and there isn't a lot of variety.  I think most players will agree that multiplayer is the fun part.

If you are planning on playing the game mostly over local LAN with your friends, go ahead and get it now...I've played many times with my friends over the LAN and it works just fine.

If you are sure you're going to purchase the game sooner or later, you might as well purchase it now: you'll have a bit of fun messing around in single player at the least.

However, if you're worried that the connection issues might never be fixed, and you don't want to buy it until you're sure, then it makes sense to wait a couple of weeks and see what happens, because I'm not completely convinced that they will be fixed, despite Stardock's good track record.  Just don't forget to see how it's going because the game really is quite fun.

just hold out for now. Just watch the forums and when you see a patch mentioned you will only have to look at the response to see how things are. If a patch is released and people are whining excessively then wait until the next patch... Basically, I say give it a month (maybe less) for the connection issues to be worked out.

Right. So I did the naughty thing and downloaded game...

...

I felt funny in my pants. I am buying it now, bugs or no bugs, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and had vivid visions of glorious skirmishes with foes most foul!

Yes, there were issues but none that would dissuade me from buying the game.

 Theres no reason to get it right now. The multiplayer is really not reliable, even if you do connect you will find yourself playing AI's online... WTF? Right? Why in the blue hell will I want to play online with AI's seriously? Tahts like wc3 2v2 Arragned Team, and then everyone leaves then instead of clicking END GAME you click Continue Playing, WHY?!

 I shouldn't of bought it, I regret it. And I learned, because I aint buying crap from stardock anymore.

 Single player? Why? Playing AI's? No thanks.

EDIT: Multiplayer? Why? Playing AI's? No thanks.

Eh, I'd buy it now. I've never experienced any freezing issues with the game at all like what one of the above posters commented on. I've only run into two issues other than the networking problem (which I don't even mind all that much) and that's my character freezing in place every now and then and not using the ability I told him to use, and I once had a FPS and sound popping issue, but its only happened once in the 27 times I've run the game (according to impulse), and I think it was actually an issue with a background program I had running.

I doubt it'll lower in price anytime soon, and unless you have a short fuse when it comes to patience you shouldn't mind the current issues too much, if you do then you can experiment and practice in singleplayer until the multiplayer issues are resolved, rather than jumping into MP a week after everyone else has already figured out the game. Puts you at a disadvantage for a day or two, it's not a huge issue, but theres really no harm in buying the game right away, entertaining yourself in SP and gaining experience and knowledge for later multiplayer battles.

Buy it and spread the word - the game deserves support. Very enjoyable. And you can single player skirmish

The game is passable in multiplayer IMO. A lot of games dont connect properly, but quite a lot do too. If I had to choose again I would buy it and put up with the inconvieniences because its not *that* bad, at least not for me so far, and it is heaps of fun.

The best way to support product is to purchase it. It'll will also help to keep the updates/expansions coming. I.E. Sins of a Solar Empire or Battlefield 2