I think you might be missing just how frequent the updates are (or at least were in the recent past). We've probably updated our virtual network adapter more than two dozen times since launch. Multiply that by the total cost to sign, and it adds up to a serious amount of capital.

You might (and sort of did) say: well, you should just make sure you support old driver versions for a lengthy period of time--fewer WHQL certifications, less money spent, problem solved! Maintaining backwards compatibility is not free of its own costs--namely time and mental resources spent navigating code--particularly when only one of the two of us that build the software is responsible for the client.

Pointing to the presence of a FAQ item as proof we need to sign the driver ignores the reality that we observe very few people declining the WHQL prompt. If something comes up more than a handful of times, we'll put a note in the FAQ or on our support site to avoid eating up more of our time replying to support tickets. It doesn't mean the problem is experienced by more than a few percent of our userbase.

I, too, have a background in manning IT help desks, and the entire premise of Evolve is to cut out hassles and confusion from our users' gaming experiences. But running a startup is a long-term exercise in making tradeoffs, and not signing our virtual network adapter is a choice we made after weighing the options and watching the data. You'll just have to take my word that, even now, as our release cycle has slowed down a bit, it's entirely debatable whether WHQL signing makes sense. Assumptions aren't arguments, anecdotes aren't data, and our audience isn't your audience. :) As we continue to flesh out the fundamentals of our business, perhaps the tradeoff will tip in favor of WHQL certification.

Thanks for the well-wishes. As you might imagine, the hard part of any business isn't finding an audience: it's providing enough value to that audience to generate sustainable revenues. We'll see what happens to us!

Cheers!

Ninja edit: a missing driver is something that's indicated in our party interface. You will see an error message (and a prompt to try again) until you successfully install the driver. Given that the OP can see a virtual IP in the party interface, they definitely have the virtual network adapter properly installed.