@Paul_Crowther
The lack of communication regarding basic mechnanisms is highly frustrating.
Especially stuff like:
- When do markets get updated?
- When do facilities&services get updated?
- Or population?
- What does stuff like "Wealth", "Standard of Living", "Development" or "Happiness" even mean?
This is not a beta test, it is an exercise in frustration and futility.
We are supposed to "test" stuff without knowing any requirements at all?! To test anything meaningfully, we need to have at least a basic idea of what is supposed to happen, and when. Otherwise we have no chance of knowing whether anything is working close to being designed, or not at all. All the while we pump your customer service full of mails and issues and tickets.
You are basically telling us:
"look, here is a test case, it takes around 6-30 hours to complete. We don't tell you what the test case is, or what to do, and neither what the expected results are. And here is one sheet of paper with a high level abstract of what the system is supposed to do".
My users would escalate something like this faster than i can count to ten. And THEY even get paid for testing.
So yeah, my level of tolerance has now been exceeded.
I like colonization and find it fun.
But the unprofessional non-communication of this "Beta Test" by Frontier is neither fun, nor tolerable.
Go and test your systems yourself.
I mean, you didn't even test them enough to have the correct landing pads in the settlement descriptions. what? This is just sloppy.
Or actually communicate in a professional manner regarding features, test objects, what it is you want to be tested, how the system actually works. Like, on a basic level.
If you aren't able to do so, we will simply leave again in droves, so that the Elite Dangerous system switch back to an amount of traffic that do not exceed their limitations and break the whole game.
I am not willing anymore to pump hours upon hours into the game without any clue what is actually supposed to happen, or when, or whether it did, or whether it works as planned or doesn't.
EDIT:
For understanding my colonization frustration:
Week1: Claimed a system for my faction and started to build an Orbis. Built an Orbis in a week. Figured out this does not work and i am stuck in the poop and gas meta. Built some settlements and installations. Couldn't build a Coriolis around the sun, because placement is bugged. Left the system.
Week2: Built a Coriolis for a squadron mate. Scouted systems and communicated to the squadron. Finished the Coriolis 1 hour before weekly update. Just in time. Only for it to not come online. So no online station, no market. The outpost he built to start the system didn't come online either. So no missions and no possibility to BGS for our squadron faction.
Week3: Continued to build up my mates system. Helped two other mates to build a Coriolis. Wanted to flip a system colonized in week1 to our squadron. We played BGS, initiated conflict, and have a running conflict now for 6 days, and the game says we are on day2.
Today started week4. What i wanted to have, is an area with my squadron where we can build systems. Build up a ressource system. We did that. We delivered. We delivered 100s of thousands of tons. I personally probably around 200k over 3 weeks.
Everything else, everything that was supposed to work from Frontier's side?
Launch: Hardly any communication at all. About starting locations. About building tier 2 and 3 economies.
1st Thursday: Everything fine.
2nd Thursday: No station. No possibility to play BGS in the newly colonized system. No market. Other BGS is not working.
3rd Thursday: Again no market. No idea when this is supposed to happen. No idea whether this is a bug.
It is like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the Football.
You try to arrange the game around Frontier, around what works and what doesn't, only to have the ball pulled away again.
So i am rather annoyed now.