Honestly as someone who plays for fortress mode alone, I'm fairly disappointed by having waited two years for largely no great improvements - it's as though we got approximately one or two bullet points out of ten
Two years ago the army arc was all the rage, that seems to have mostly disappeared
I wonder if the devs realize 90% of DF players play fortress mode exclusively, because seems like they shafted us on this release
Other than everything you're saying being false as others have pointed out, people really need to stop thinking of DF as 'fortress mode' and 'adventure mode' and thinking of it as the fantasy world simulator it actually is. Everything added to either mode will eventually tie together. Besides, whining about adventure mode getting attention instead of fortress mode is like whining about feeding starving 3rd world children when we could be spending that money on Hollywood celebrities.
EXACTLY. A lot of people don't seem to get the bigger picture with this thing. Toady is aiming towards a PROCEDURAL FANTASY WORLD GENERATOR, not just a Fortress game or an adventure game. Those are just windows to interact with the world. Presumably we'll eventually have more windows, plus starting scenarios, and whatnot. This update is absolutely the biggest update since Z levels, no question about it. The world is now ALIVE post worldgen, this is a HUGE HUGE HUGE deal. What we have now is the foundations to add everything else mentioned in all the dev notes.
Anyway, for the next big update after bug fixes I am hoping for more site related stuff. I.E. taverns & inns, mines and other industry sites, more realistic village layouts, schedules for NPC's inside sites so they are not just faking activities but actually doing things with an actual purpose and schedule, etc, oh and improvement and expansion of sites for other races as well. Probably throw in the crime and justice stuff along with this, so we have drama and thievery and justice going on inside these improved sites. Oh and throw in the ghosts and other additional night creatures that Toady hinted at back before DF2012 was released. I want those ruined/abandoned towns to have haunted structures! This stuff should come before the Army ARC in my opinion because it will give the armies and nations things to actually fight over and it provides a framework to start adding real faction diplomacy, politics, etc, I.E. wars and diplomacy with REAL purpose and not just faked or abstracted stuff. I.E. the humans and Dwarves go to war because human miners have taken over a valuable mine near the border and are refusing to leave, etc. I admit this stuff will have more immediate benefit for Adventure Mode players BUT it helps Dwarf Mode in the long term by creating a great foundation for the Army ARC that could come after.