AA3 is free, but in this case, you certainly get what you pay for...
Sadly, like too many things in life, the execution falls short -way short this time- of how things should be.
AA3 is plagued by bugs, glitches, lag and worst of all, a development bureaucracy that stays true-to-form to all bureaucracies in denials, inaccuracies, and evasive -even cavalier responses towards the playerbase's concerns and requests. If you pay any attention to the game's forum and community you quickly realize that there isn't a lot of effectiveness or consideration coming down from the development side of AA3. They seem to have conveniently and smugly adopted the words, "we are aware of the issue and currently there is no ETA for when the issue will be resolved" as a universal response to any and all of the myriad problems the current version (3.0.6) still has, months after the games release.
Some of the worst aspects of AA3 are: consistent lag (at least 100+ping) for the majority of players on practically every server; dozens of bugs and glitches that directly impede gameplay at nearly 100% frequency per-round of play; total lack of information regarding frequent authorization and master browser server outages and even worse -inaccurate information regarding game 'fixes', 'patches' and network statuses.
That said, underneath all of the substantial problems lies a great game, just begging to be patched well and patched comprehensively, such that one of the best tactical games in existence could emerge from the wreckage and reward the faithful for our patience. hahaha. ok now i sound like a bureaucrat...sorry.
We'll see how it pans out, but as of right now, "There's strong, and then there's Army Strong" doesn't really seem to mean that much, nor does, "Every Detail Counts" (AA3's original motto) in a game where just about every detail is fubar'd.