No Single Player offline Mode then?

[V3teran]

I guess that I am very late and everything has been said a thousand times.

But I just want to point out that by not providing an offline mode when their customers expected it, Frontier is forcing those customers to either don't play (unlikely to happen) or hack the game and get what they want.

How can Frontier ask people to NOT hack the game and NOT play it when it's Frontier who failed to meet their initial promise?

Of course, once ED is hacked to work offline and the hacked version is distributed by the usual means, that will hurt the base of paying customers (the options will be "buy it to play online", or "download it and play offline for free").

It cannot be hacked to run offline unless you emulate the server authentication and even if this is done like Diablo 3 was its still very sketchy and does not work well.
The whole point is to combat game piracy now that its been explained to me in the other posts above.

 

[enbeekay]

Could do with a lot more quelling round here!
-
I agree that FD's announcement has, in hindsight, appeared a little clumsy. I think some people have gone rather overboard in their criticism of FD. As far I can see they have acted as transparently and honestly as it is possible to be. Nobody works well with someone looking over their shoulder.

I posted this on another thread

Waiter: "I'm sorry sir, i checked with the kitchen and we're put of lamb, may i recommend the steak?"
Normal reaction: "That is annoying, I was looking forward to the lamb, still the steak seems nice"
Forum reaction: "You're lying, i bet you've got loads of lamb back there, you're trying to make money out of me by selling side orders. This is a scam".
-
Vet: "I'm sorry, but Mr Fluffy was very old, I'm afraid his heart gave out"
Normal reaction: "That's so sad, thank you for trying, but sometime you just can't save them"
Forum reaction: "You could bring Mr Fluffy back to life, it's easy. You just restart his heat and remove the tumour. You just want to sell me a new cat"
-
Developer: "We had hoped to include an offline mode. Unfortunately in was not possible to develop the online version to a level we were happy with whilst still being able to provide an offline mode of sufficient quality. Therefore we have had to drop the offline mode in order to provide to online mode we planned."
Normal reaction: "That is terrible news, i was looking forward to that mode as i am a submariner. I would like to get a refund of my pre order as ED without offline mode is no good to me"
Forum reaction: "It's a conspiracy, clearly you want to force DRM by the back door so you can lock us in for micro transactions later. You're liars and scam artists, who deliberately advertised offline when you had no intention of ever providing it even when you easily could. I'm going to sue you as under EU law, unless you provide every single feature I thought you would, even if you set it out as a design intent, I am entitled to a full refund. I'm going call my credit card company and allege fraud to get a chargeback."

Poor Fluffy, RIP

 

[Sylv3r]

Tomorrow we will have on all walls a review from Elite witch is on highly survey.
Game journalists are reading this poll, it cant be missed.
Dunno the impact it will have but there will be one.
The ball is in Frontier hands, its impossible that the offline mode could be let down even with the reasons evocked by Mickael yesterday.
Offline was a promised feature. Now it isnt.
I repeat it doesnt affect me .. but as it affect backers and true followers/lovers of Elite it affect me.
They are in my community, in our community, we cant let them down and say .. you have no pôssbility to play : get out.
Its disrecpectfull.

 

[sbdags]

I think this thread might outlast the online game servers at this rate!

 

[SJT]

A more credible marketing strategy will be to ignore negativity (at least for now).

You can't ignore it if it's at your launch event with a bunch of journalists. Better to deal with it now.

 

[SuBSynk]

I guess that I am very late and everything has been said a thousand times.

But I just want to point out that by not providing an offline mode when their customers expected it, Frontier is forcing those customers to either don't play (unlikely to happen) or hack the game and get what they want.

How can Frontier ask people to NOT hack the game and NOT play it when it's Frontier who failed to meet their initial promise?

Of course, once ED is hacked to work offline and the hacked version is distributed by the usual means, that will hurt the base of paying customers (the options will be "buy it to play online", or "download it and play offline for free").

Lack of online authentication will ensure widespread piracy -almost instantly- not to mention hacking into the program files and modding all of which would be a disaster in my opinion.

 

[V3teran]

I trust the devs and I'm sure they made this decision to give us the best possible game. The only thing that worries me is that, usually, 'always online' means 'have fun pushing the "retry connection" button'. Yes: Sim City.

As long as the game syncs with the server once and then you go totally offline i see no problem. This should eliminate any dropouts while playing which would be a problem and would annoy me.

 

[tagos]

People expecting David Braben or any of the devs making a video apologizing are simply dreaming. Not going to happen. While I believe it is possible to make them change their minds, don't expect to come out and say they made a mistake.

A more credible marketing strategy will be to ignore negativity (at least for now) and emphasize on all the good points to secure as many sales as possible with the general public, who is totally not aware of the heated debates we have on this forum around newsletter information only a small proportion of players even know about.

Closing your eyes and covering your ears while chanting 'na na na, I can't hear you' is a strategy that rarely worked even before the internet was around. The story will continue to ripple out. Potential customers not on this forum already know and are making their own judgements and decisions. I can name 3 lost sales on another board myself. The only question is - who shapes the narrative. If FD don't then their angry critics will.

 

[Seonid]

Im not trolling

And I didn't say that you were did I? I'm afraid you misread what I posted.

 

[sbdags]

Offline was a promised feature. Now it isnt.

Where was it promised? I think you may be mistaken using this word. I've not seen a 'promise' made. KS wishlists are by no means promised deliverables. It clearly states so.

It was an intended feature - yes. However design changes have meant it is no longer viable. Shame but that is the fact of it.

Most of us will move on. Those that can't play (which is very unfortunate) and those that now won't play (slightly absurd) can get a refund to get their money back.

 

[Cosmo Bozo]

As I understand it, the current 'Solo' mode will still exist, which is that you need to be online to get various things updated from the servers, but you will not be playing with other players. However, there was a fully offline mode promised back in Kickstarter that now simply won't exist, and this was announced by a single casual comment in the last newsletter, which many people are rather annoyed about.

I wouldn't call it a single casual comment, the previous few paragraphs read like they are building up to the announcement and explaining the reasons(or making excuses depending on your viewpoint)

 

[Cmdr Esteban]

There are plenty of people on here who aren't exactly sympathetic to those who now can't play. I live in Australia - and my connection is unreliable, and my max data allowance (mobile broadband - I cannot get DSL) too small to play always online. When I expressed my disappointment yesterday:

- I was told to change ISPs (I can't - only one services my address)
- I was accused of lying by two different posters on the basis that I own a Surface Pro 2 - which I use to download games and patches from uni which I then copy to my gaming rig at home (apparently owning an SP2 means you automatically have good internet?)
- I was accused of living in North Korea (just weird)
- I was told I was selfish to even consider a refund on the basis that that money would be used to develop the game (even though I can't play it)

This was yesterday morning (Aus time) - and things have basically gone down hill from there.

I just cannot understand the motivation of those defending FD in this. It has caused huge disappointment to people like myself who have paid for a game on the basis that we could play it offline. And who learned yesterday that something they'd been looking forward to immensely has been taken away. I also bought a new gpu, a CH hotas set-up, a TrackIR and was in the process of ordering a new monitor - basically because I was so excited about this game and looking forward to playing properly once the offline version was released - no doubt many have spent more than me.

This is profoundly disappointing - but what's worse is being attacked by people who aren't affected in any way.

As an Australian with Telstra Bigpond (a kind of a joke internet connection), I sympathise. And the people attacking you and others over this are simply the selfish "I'm alright Jack" type, who we can well do without in this forum.

 

[Jason S]

Where was it promised? I think you may be mistaken using this word. I've not seen a 'promise' made. KS wishlists are by no means promised deliverables. It clearly states so.

It was an intended feature - yes. However design changes have meant it is no longer viable. Shame but that is the fact of it.

Most of us will move on. Those that can't play (which is very unfortunate) and those that now won't play (slightly absurd) can get a refund to get their money back.

"I will do it" or "It will get done" is a promise without using the word promise, you can make promises without using the promise word.

 

[Iain M Norman]

As long as the game syncs with the server once and then you go totally offline i see no problem. This should eliminate any dropouts while playing which would be a problem and would annoy me.

Solo Online requires a fairly constant connection to play. Not a just authenticate and go offline thing. It needs to access the galaxy API to get prices, system info, transactions, etc and many many other things.

 

[SJT]

Where was it promised? I think you may be mistaken using this word. I've not seen a 'promise' made. KS wishlists are by no means promised deliverables. It clearly states so.

It was an intended feature - yes. However design changes have meant it is no longer viable. Shame but that is the fact of it.

Most of us will move on. Those that can't play (which is very unfortunate) and those that now won't play (slightly absurd) can get a refund to get their money back.

No it was not promised. Nothing was promised. That fact that it was implied and David Braben used phrases like "there will be an offline mode" during kickstarter is enough to show a breach of trust. Whether it's a breach of contract is up to others to decide.

 

[Cmdr Cheese Wedge]

As long as the game syncs with the server once and then you go totally offline i see no problem. This should eliminate any dropouts while playing which would be a problem and would annoy me.

SOLO mode will always sync with the server in the same way as OPEN mode, true offline as you have described it wont be in the game.

 

[CMDRElJal]

I believe that we should show our sympathy with actions.
Refund is not what these people really want. What they want is the single player offline option.
If we really want to help them, what we have to do is to make FD to change this bad and unfair decision as I said if they want to decide on their own they should not ask for people's money. Backers are investors they have some demands. They paid for it and the company should honor the contract. That's professionalism.

 

[sbdags]

"I will do it" or "It will get done" is a promise without using the word promise, you can make promises without using the promise word.

Er... no you can't.

I promise you I will do it vs I will do it are two different statements. There are social repercussions of breaking a promise that you enter into when you use the word.

 

[tagos]

No it was not promised. Nothing was promised. That fact that it was implied and David Braben used phrases like "there will be an offline mode" during kickstarter is enough to show a breach of trust. Whether it's a breach of contract is up to others to decide.

This isn't a question of legalise it's a question of perception and reputation. Your points, even if technically correct, are of no practical significance.

 

[The Big One]

Since there is no way of knowing how this affair affects Frontier and their income, we can't even predict for how long they would be able, or interested to maintain the servers. (I am not interested in white knight's nonsense)

So I am leaning to the possibility of requesting a refund too.

It's stupid, but Frontier doesn't give me much choice here. I would never back this game, if I knew that the moment they turn off their servers, they turn off the game.