First Time Poster Here
I come from a Product Development background. What
twister said about things taking time beyond the original estimates is definitely true. As with anything in life, it can happen, HOWEVER, good product companies have long gone with the mantra of
"Under Promise, Over Deliver". You'll never see a company like Samsung, Apple, Microsoft or Google play with their release dates.
Why?
Because you don't want too much hype building up to the point where the 'speculation of what might be' is so much greater than anything that could ever be released.
I see lots of people on here say, "SC didn't give you a date. You're the ones doing this to yourself with the hype." The truth is, that's how hype works. The human mind loves nothing more than to project in to the future and imagine what could be. You cannot use words like "Massive" with an undefined "Coming Soon" and not expect mass hysteria.
Personally, I was really excited about this update like any long time clasher, but following this thread and reading all the different ideas people have put forward has really made it stale for me now. Anything that comes by in the update now, no mater how "MASSIVE" will not be as wonderous as if it had just dropped. Speculation is good, but allowing for it to fester over a long time just sours the pie.
My suggestion to SuperCell; take all the time you need with your updates, just plan for it properly internally. Always pad and double pad your expectation for a release date. As you near the internal release date, with the product having passed through all forms of testing, then and ONLY then, use the words "Coming Soon" with a release date of no more than 2 weeks after that. Any pre-launch marketing that you have planned towards exciting your user base should be structured properly with specific dates. There has to a be a predictability factor to it. That's how you keep your user base salivating. Randomly dropping promotional videos with no pattern to it... that's just not how it's done. It gives people the impression that you're not a very seasoned / professional organisation and that you're just doing things willy nilly.
This particular update really reminded me of the Duke Nukem Vaporware days. I really hope you take this as constructive criticism from a fan.