I agree completely and due to this the number of players able to actually play the game with any success has been dramatically reduced. Years of patches have made the skill requirement needed for this game rise exponentially. Basically the game has shrunk its potential player base down to a size by catering to the whims of melee veterans while ignoring the requests of new or ranged players. The proof is in the fact that most of the server is playing melee based builds because ranged is inferior, "for noobs" and has been nerfed to shit.
Didn't the latest large patch put any new player at a much larger advantage than they have ever been at? Instead of starting at level 1, they start at 25, right? I was level 32/33 before that patch and am now only 1 level higher than a skip the fun, which I think is fine. However, that change is certainly NOT ignoring requests of new players. The main beneficiary of that change IS new players. Anyway, the most likely request that a new player would have is probably something like "add guns pls" amirite?
As for ranged, it sure sucks for people that only enjoy ranged, but when many people are confronted by something that can do damage to them with little-no risk (mostly talking about HA/kiting ranged, really) they'll be mad. There are more melee players than ranged, so you'll piss off the smaller group rather than the larger, or both.
Crpg doesn't have enough players to fund a new game. Lately NA1 barely get to 50 players. The game is far to elitist and inaccessible for new players while years of patches and nerfs have left the veteran community alienated and frustrated. The developers need to take a serious look at where the game came from as warband native is both more popular and playable. After 6 years crpg has become a cesspool of players, a game not meant for casual gamers or people just looking to blow off steam. With only a couple hours of gaming time a week I will waste neither my time or money on this.
You're right, cRPG doesn't have a community that can fund a new game. That is, entirely on its own. That's why they are running a kickstarter; to inform non-crpg/warband players about their project, and hopefully part them with their hard-earned shekels.
Also, I completely disagree with your statement that patches made the skill requirement increase. If anything, they've done the opposite. The "turn-rate nerf" and overall slower combat speed compared to native can only benefit a newer player compared to some dueling beast like kaoklai.
Furthermore, since this is not a free mod, and requires a budget, I do not feel that the devs would intentionally make the game prohibitively difficult for a new, or simply unskilled player. After all, they would like the game to sell as much as possible while fulfilling their vision of what it should be. They'll do what they can to make it reasonably accessible, or they'll be making a poor decision.
