I see what you're saying Duke, and you're right on all accounts. I guess what makes it different for me is that I've been following development from the very start, so I've known all of it for years upfront.
Two years ago I already knew that they were not going the unlicensed start way as they did with ETS, as it very much complicated getting the licenses after that.
Also 2 years ago, I read that ATS would start out with just the state of California, so, expecting only one state at release my surprise has been positive that there are actually 2 states (3 soon (tm)) to start off with.
As for city density, the same goes for ETS to be honest and the novelty factor you had with ETS (where the cities look like nothing compared to reality, not even taking the scaling down factor into account) is the same novelty factory I'm experiencing with ATS now being European myself.
The truck licensing is a b*tch factor indeed. I've listened to the CEO interview for near to two hours, and they've been on the licensing for years. Each single model needs to be seperately licensed, and for example Paccar didn't even want to discuss licensing for older models initially, because they wanted to have their modern top models in the (released) game first. Same goes for Volvo. It's in ETS already, but getting the VNL in there needs starting from scratch with the whole licensing process again, talking with different people they had talked to before, as those switched jobs etc.
Meanwhile, SCS development team has grown from 16 to 60 people, there are two teams working on seperate state(s) DLC now, one in SE direction, one in NNE direction, and a lot more stuff is in development and/or wishlisted, like world of trucks development (virtual trucking companies and eventually coop multiplayer), as well as ETS still being supported (new licensed Renault model + adding south of France + reworking North of France coming up)
I do agree though, this is just the foundation of the game that needs years of building upon. If you're not in a hurry, wait for the extra state and 2 additional trucks, or the next DLC, or the next steam sale, or a year or two untill there is coop multiplay.
Currently I'm enjoying the game, mainly because the map is of much better quality then ETS, it has much better detailing, more diversity already, more personality, more grime, more elevation changes and curves in roads, more types of roads, better background scenery, better cities, more movement (from pedestrians to tumbleweeds) etc. The map itself, despite my high expectations, is even better then I thought it would be.
Lighting is better too, dawn and dusk are stunning, night is darker then ETS, night really feels like night now, also in cities.
More diversity in deliveries, next to companies you also deliver to car showrooms, gas stations, shops and roadworks, to name a few.
The new parking system is nice to where you can choose between skip parking entirely, easy parking (slightly easier then ETS) and hard parking (harder then ETS, and sometimes downright challenging, ever for me after 950 hours of play)
Good diversity in trailers, especially also in length and axle setup, and they look better as they have some proper weathering.
Also some personal dislikes, like trucksounds are a bit tame (but realistic for a modern well insulated truck cabin.
The thing I curently like least is the FFB, some of it like road surface FFB is OK, but steering while doing higher speed cornering has too little FFBin my opinion
All in all, I'm liking it so far, and knowing how many hours I will be pooring into this game, it's good value for me. Of course that might be different for others
