the team does good work....I have no problem saying that. The problem(s) (imo) have been managerial in nature. we'll have to see if that has been solved.
"3.0" Sandbox may not be the best example of their work...some ■■■■■■ will point out that it strips out the stuff that TFP changed with 1.0 and 2.0. lol
which even I will say is dickish. If the sliders work the way that has been speculated...these guys will have done a lot to make sure that these things all features and choices, work with and without each other. I still think it's great that they decided to do it...just not before actually getting Bandits and Story in the game. oh well.
I agree it is a controversial and risky move. On the other hand I think it is by far the most important update for console players after 1.0 up to release, far more important than bandits. IMHO TFP has kept the number of options small (a correct move while developing the game) with the rationale that people who want to play differently or who liked a removed feature too well could just install a mod. The game has been mod-friendly in a way that you'll find almost nowhere else. You could say it was a basic design principle, "play how you want, with mods".
That principle doesn't work with console though. So this update is a major design shift (even with a few detrimental effects for modding by the way) and gives to console players some of the "options" that have increased the PC versions replayability massively.