I must say I find this to be a very lackluster response. This isn't a minor bug, this is a significant problem with this title. Online co-op is a large part of the functionality of this game. And that isn't my opinion... I actually have no idea what value online co-op adds to this game because for me it has never worked and I have never experienced online play (and no, I wasn't trying to host while playing single player). I have the understanding that online co-op is an important feature of this title because it was so heavily emphasized in commercials, advertisements, pre-launch youtube videos... it is even on the cover. Important enough to list right next to the name of the game and winner of 150 awards.
I might be a little more understanding if I felt I had purchased an indie title, but y'all decided to put your big boy pants on and charge $60. Compounding the high price, I purchased two copies, because the entire point was to experience the game online (combined, I have now invested $120 dollars in this title).
To restate, with online functionality so important (you made me think it is important through your advertisements) and with a triple-A game price tag, online functionality needs to work.
Your response indicates that there is a better way to handle online play. It is fairly well known that peer to peer can be problematic, but that was still the design route taken. Why would a company so heavily pushing the value of online play make the choice to use a less reliable online mechanic? Why can't online play be handled by servers? Is it due to the cost of maintaining servers? Again, this was a full priced title. Is it too late? Is peer to peer too deeply embedded in the games code to change to server based multiplayer at this stage?
I will end with a story.
After attempting to connect and play with my brother in a variety of ways last night, with my xbox headset still on, I switched the source of my television over to cable. My brother, also feeling defeated, headed to his computer to open a chat with Microsoft support to ensure they knew this title wasn't working. Lo and behold, an advertisement for Divinity EE comes on the channel I was watching and guess what is mentioned, online coop! My brother seemed to enjoy the irony.
We want nothing more than to play this game. If I hadn't already made this clear, the only thing in the whole world I want right now is for this to get fixed. But if the response is simply "Peer to peer connections can have more trouble than server based" then I will be "looking into" the best way to ensure everyone knows this title doesn't work as advertised.
