It would seem the comments pretty much line up with whatever preconceived notions existed before it came out. Could easily have said the same about 4k as even a 1080 Ti struggles to maintain fps that justify having a $2500 144 hz IPS screen .... just not there yet. OTOH, it's a very good time with respect to this.
I just picked Witcher 3 as an example, I'm sure other games will do worse and some other games will do better. But Vega 64 is only 48% as fast as the 2080 Ti. So... in other words....the best nVidia has to offer **with everything RTX turned on** is going to be about as fast as the best that AMD can offer... so from that standpoint, it's genius. Sure, the Devs have a long way to go in implementing their game code, nVidia has a long way to go in tweaking their drivers but as with any "new thang" this will occur over time. If there's no card to display it, then there's little incentive to code it into the game and no progress will be made.
Of course there's the price issue ...the 2080s are now the same $700 price that top tier cards have averaged since the year 2000. We know that the stock of 10xx cards is still significant so that price premium over the typical xx80 will remain at least till that is gone and production lines for 20xx cards can begin to meet demand. We see this every new generation, albeit to lesser extent because of unique conditions now (0 competition in top 4 tiers, overabundance of last gen cards in pipeline and , usual low initial yields). We also have the fact that the Ti usually doesn't arrive until 6 months or more after the xx80; all nVidia is doing here, is why don't we get some cash for these cards that pass while we are tweaking the line to improve yields ? If you are too impatient to wait until price stabilize, there's only 1 person to blame.
I won't speak to what makes sense today for the reason's above ... but I do expect that prices will drop to close to "usual" level, adjusted for inflation and yes, it does have extra capability. I will consider the 2080s a recommended buy when they hit $650 / $680-$690 for the AIBs. The Ti is going to have to get to $750 / $780-$799 before I can recommend it... which i don't expect will happen till May.
So given that the 2080 Ti is more than twice as fast as anything from AMD, other than price, what's there to whine **if you turn on RTX and get the same performance as a Vega 64 ?? Ya have a game where your system will be below 60 fps, leave it off, your twice as fast as Vega 64 ... you have a game at 140 fps, turn it ON and enjoy a better visual experience at the same speed as Vega 64. Sure the 2080 Ti is ridiculously priced ... why ?.... because they can. People are buying them up faster than hey can make them. The 2080 has MSRP of $700, normally we see AIB cards for $20-$40 more but as long as they sell faster than they can be built, vendors will of course take what they can get.
My B-I-L has a food truck he brings to county fairs and stuff. Stocking up, he fills up all his cabinets and refrigeration with food, selling his sammies for $5 each ... he runs outta food by 1 pm. Next time he tries $6 and goes home at 3 pm. Next time he tries $7 and he runs out 15 minutes before closing time.... So he charges $7 and will continue to do so until he finds food left over at the end of the day. Don't blame nVidia for what they are required to do by law... maximize the return to stockholders; blame the people who are causing new stock to be sold within 48 hours after arrival. When yields improve, and the "I gotta be 1st on my block to have one" / "Money doesn't matter" crowd's demand is filled, prices will drop.... as they always have.
The whining here is the same as we saw witht PhyX ... "not all games support it" ... so what ? I don't turn my AC on in the car most of the time, but it's damn nice on those hot summer days and it's needed. Who walks into a car dealership and says "So, you're saying that the car I want, with AC, is the exact same price as the one without it.... is that right ? Well that's stoopid, I only use the AC maybe 120 days a year or 33% of the time, so why would I want a feature I can't use 100% of the time ?