Well they released 2.0 like they said they would, and it's playable and a lot of people are enjoying it even with the bugs. Following the same pattern 3.0 will follow in the end of the year and will be , like 2.0 was, updated as they go.
Just an example (3.0 brought A LOT of new players to Crusader).
https://as.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/4zegsn/ive_been_too_intimidated_to_play_but_i_shouldnt/
I'm a kickstarter backer. I've ended up firmly in 'whale' territory, but I've barely played yet. For two reasons, really -
1) It is a buggy mess and I wanted more stability and features before trying properly.
2) I find the idea that other people have been playing a long time intimidating. I am a Dad to a one year old and three year old, and small business owner, so I don't have a lot of time for gaming. I thought I would embarrass myself, frankly.
After the 3.0 demo, I figured it was time to give it a go. Yes there were bugs, but I powered through. Before long I knew roughly what I was doing. I started to enjoy myself.
A lot.
Getting stuck into the chat, it's abundantly clear how warm and helpful the community is. Every other line was someone offering help to someone else. There was no begging. People were jumping at the chance to help others.
I experienced the magic of multicrew. I found myself in someone else's connie, in a turret. When the pilot was ejected, I took the helm and led a largely unsuccessful S&R mission. At this point, I realised I was spending a good half an hour just tracking people down after a cutlass exploded.
What I took away from this is:
People are so helpful because this is a nice community, but they are also nice because the game mechanics make helping people fun. One of my favorite gaming moments of the last few years was seeing a stranded cutlass turret gunner who had decided to float for half an hour instead of respawn find his way onto my ship.
Finally, I don't think we'll have a problem filling multicrew ships. I used to worry about this all the time. I have a lot of very big ships. When I spawned my Starfarer, people were falling over themselves to join the crew. I don't think I'll have a problem with any of my bigger ships, after all.
tl;dr - this community is making the game far more fun than its current state should allow. Also, the mechanics that are in the game already serve to increase immersion so much that tedious S&R missions become gripping.
There's the other side with people not knowing what to do because there is no tutorial whatsoever, but if you go with the right mindset, understanding that the game is in alpha stage and under heavy development, you can have a great time, actually a memorable time because what you can do in Crusader is unique in the sense that no other game provides the mechanics that it already offers.
